The Sky Tonight

October 11, 2016

Kepler Gets the 'Big Picture' of Comet 67P
Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 10, 2016
On Sept. 30, the European Space Agency concluded its Rosetta mission and the study of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During the final month of the mission, NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft had a unique opportunity to provide a "big picture" view of the comet as it was unobservable from Earth. Ground-based telescopes could not see comet 67P, because the comet's orbit placed it in the sky during daylight hours. From Sept. 7 through Sept. 20, the Kepler spacecraft, operating in its K2 ... read more

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Researchers discover effect of rare solar wind on Earth's radiation belts Researchers from the University of New Hampshire have captured unique measurements of the Van Allen radiation belts, which circle the Earth, during an extremely rare solar wind event. The findings, ... more		How to control polarization of light The results of this case can be used in the manufacture of the so-called spatial light modulators serving as a base for all LCDs, for example. They are arranged so that each pixel can switch the lig ... more		Measuring forces with oscillations A child swings on a swing, gaining momentum with its legs. For physicists, this is a reasonably easy movement. They call it parametric oscillation. Things are getting more complicated if - in additi ... more
				TESS will provide exoplanet targets for years to come NASA's search for planets outside of our solar system has mostly involved very distant, faint stars. NASA's upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), by contrast, will look at the brigh ... more		Science at cusp of 'transformational' grasp of life via cell modeling A paper recently published in the Journal of Molecular Biology shows how advances in molecular biology and computer science around the world soon may lead to a three-dimensional computer model of a ... more

Origin of minor planets' rings revealed A team of researchers has clarified the origin of the rings recently discovered around two minor planets known as centaurs, and their results suggest the existence of rings around other centaurs. Th ... more		What Swings a Star Around - Another Star or a Distant Planet? An international team of astronomers using the Subaru Telescope and led by a graduate student member of SOKENDAI (The Graduate University of Advanced Studies, Japan) has discovered companions circli ... more		Russia launches dozens of drones as Ukraine claims 'important success' Russian jets violate Estonian air space in 'brazen intrusion' U.S. defense in free fall		Hubble detects giant 'cannonballs' shooting from star Great balls of fire! NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected superhot blobs of gas, each twice as massive as the planet Mars, being ejected near a dying star. The plasma balls are zooming so fast ... more
				Bern-made laser altimeter taking off to Mercury University of Bern's Laser Altimeter BELA has been successfully tested during the last weeks and the last components will be delivered to ESA on 5 October. The first laser altimeter for inter-planet ... more		Are planets setting the sun's pace? The Sun's activity is determined by the Sun's magnetic field. Two combined effects are responsible for the latter: The omega and the alpha effect. Exactly where and how the alpha effect originates i ... more

6th Annual Modular Construction Summit for Oil and Gas Agenda - December 7-9 - Houston

Nuclear Plant Digitalization Conference - Nov 15-16 - Charlotte NC USA

Observing the birth of quasiparticles in real time The concept of quasiparticles is a powerful tool to describe processes in many-body quantum systems, such as solid-state materials. For example, when an electron moves through a solid, it generates ... more		Big data processing enables worldwide bacterial analysis Sequencing data from biological samples such as the skin, intestinal tissues, or soil and water are usually archived in public databases. This allows researchers from all over the globe to access th ... more		Fossil fuels harm health from 'cradle to grave': report Trash, mulch and security: All jobs for troops in Washington Rising oceans to threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050: report		Scientists solve mystery of the lone wolf wave Solitary waves or solitons, sometimes called lone wolf waves, are just what they sound like. Unlike normal waves, these nonlinear waves persist without dissipating - maintaining their shape, speed and energy even after colliding with other waves. ... more
Large volumes of data from ITER transferred to Japan at unprecedented speeds The National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), as the implementing agency of the BA activities, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Natural Sciences ... more		The death of a planet nursery? The dusty disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae exhibits circular features that may signal the formation of protoplanets. LMU astrophysicist Barbara Ercolano argues, however, that the innermost actual ... more		Turning to the brain to reboot computing Computation is stuck in a rut. The integrated circuits that powered the past 50 years of technological revolution are reaching their physical limits. This predicament has computer scientists scrambl ... more		Wandering black hole spotted by pair of X-ray telescopes The vast majority of black holes, whether supermassive or intermediate, are found at the centers of galaxies, but occasionally, a few are caught wandering. ... more

	Cassini data reveal subsurface ocean on Saturn's moon Dione Subsurface oceans are all the rage. Titan and Enceladus have one. Europa and Pluto probably have one. Ceres might have one. Now, Saturn's moon Dione is getting in on the action. ... more		Milkway's most-mysterious star is even stranger than astronomers thought A star known by the unassuming name of KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus has been raising eyebrows both in and outside of the scientific community for the past year. In 2015 a team of astronom ... more

EU to fast-track review of 2035 combustion-engine ban

Norway sovereign wealth fund drops French miner over environmental fears

EU split on 2040 climate goal ahead of UN summit

A Second Look at Plumes and the Search for life on Europa		Argonne ahead of the 'curve' in magnetic study		DarkLight enables visible light communication in the dark		New oscillating material may tap unused electromagnetic spectrum		Rosetta's comet adventure in numbers
Astronomers discover dizzying spin of the Milky Way Halo		Protoplanetary Disk Around a Young Star Exhibits Spiral Structure		Regional Forecasts of Solar Storms Set to Begin Oct. 1		Spiral Arms Embrace Young Star		NASA's Fermi Finds Record-Breaking Binary in Galaxy Next Door

ALMA catches stellar cocoon with curious chemistry

Where Primordial Galaxies Lurk

Rosetta: The end of a fairytale

Rosetta measures production of water at comet over two years

Alice Ultraviolet Spectrograph Completes Rosetta Mission to Comet 67P

Farewell Rosetta: ESA Mission to Conclude on Comet's Surface

Rosetta spacecraft headed for comet suicide crash

How to Merge Two Black Holes in a Simple Way

Moon and Mars on a plane

NASA's Asteroid-Bound Spacecraft Aces Instrument Check

New Low-Mass Objects Could Help Refine Planetary Evolution

Planet Mercury Found to Be Tectonically Active

Cosmic Dust Demystified by British Researchers

Hubble spots possible water plumes erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa

Rosetta: The end of a space odyssey

Rosetta: How to end the fairytale

Discovery of an Extragalactic Hot Molecular Core

NASA-Funded Sounding Rocket Solves One Cosmic Mystery, Reveals Another

Construction of Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Moves Forward

Universe is without direction, astronomers say

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