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Surprise finding: Discovering a previously unknown role for a source of magnetic fields
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Feature describes unexpected discovery of a role the process that seeds magnetic fields plays in mediating a phenomenon that occurs throughout the universe and can disrupt cell phone service and knock out power grids on Earth.
Penn State Engineers to Study Use of Beamed Microwave Energy to Launch Space Vehicles
Penn State College of Engineering
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has awarded two Penn State College of Engineering faculty members funding totaling more than $823,000 for a three-year program to develop and use a facility to study the use of beamed microwave energy to launch space vehicles off the surface of Earth.
Superflares From Young Red Dwarf Stars Imperil Planets
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Violent outbursts of seething gas from young red dwarf stars may make conditions uninhabitable on the planets that orbit them. Scientists found that flares from the youngest red dwarfs they surveyed are much more energetic than when the stars are older. They also detected one of the most intense stellar flares ever observed in ultraviolet light -- more energetic than the most powerful flare from our Sun ever recorded.
UAH to Host Space Commercialization Workshop on Oct. 23 from 2 to 6 p.m.
University of Alabama Huntsville
The workshop, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Charger Union Theater on the UAH campus. It will feature two panel discussions and a keynote address from Kevin O'Connell, Director, Office of Space Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce.
How to Weigh a Black Hole Using NASA's Webb Space Telescope
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Astronomers will use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to measure the mass of the black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 4151.
Acrylic Tanks Provide Clear Window Into Dark Matter Detection
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Scientists have a new window into the search for dark matter - an acrylic vessel that features a grouping of 12-foot-tall transparent tanks with 1-inch-thick walls. The tanks, which will surround a central detector for a nearly mile-deep experiment under construction in South Dakota called LUX-ZEPLIN, will be filled with liquid that produces tiny flashes of light in some particle interactions.
WIU Receives NSF Grant to Study the Formation of the Most Massive Stars in the Galaxy
Associate Professor Esteban D. Araya, of Western Illinois University's Department of Physics, received a $148,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a three-year project researching the earliest phases of star formation. "Collaborative Research: A Multiscale Approach to Understand Outflows During High-Mass Star Formation" is a combined effort between WIU and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (which also received an NSF grant) to study the role of outflows during the formation of the most massive stars in our Galaxy.
Missing gamma-ray blobs shed new light on dark matter, cosmic magnetism
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Scientists, including researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, have compiled the most detailed catalog of such blobs using eight years of data collected with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The blobs, including 19 gamma-ray sources that weren't known to be extended before, provide crucial information on how stars are born, how they die, and how galaxies spew out matter trillions of miles into space.
Researchers Discover New Type of Stellar Collision
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering
New observations of a stellar phenomenon by a team of researchers, including University of Minnesota astrophysicists, has solved a 348-year-old mystery.
Scientists Present New Clues to Cut Through the Mystery of Titan's Atmospheric Haze
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Experiments at Berkeley Lab helped scientists zero in on a low-temperature chemical mechanism that may help to explain the complex molecular compounds that make up the nitrogen-rich haze layer surrounding Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
When Is a Nova Not a 'Nova'? When a White Dwarf and a Brown Dwarf Collide
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Using ALMA, an international team of astronomers found evidence that a white dwarf and a brown dwarf collided in a short-lived blaze of glory that was witnessed on Earth in 1670 as Nova sub Capite Cygni (a New Star below the Head of the Swan), which is now known as CK Vulpeculae.
Solving a Plasma Physics Mystery: Magnetic Reconnection
Department of Energy, Office of Science
Magnetic reconnection causes space storms that can damage satellites and disrupt the grid. While it's a common process in the universe, plasma physics researchers don't fully understand why it occurs so abruptly and quickly. New research is supporting a theory that may hold the key.
Newly Detected Microquasar Gamma-Rays 'Call for New Ideas'
Los Alamos National Laboratory
The first-ever detection of highly energetic radiation from a microquasar has astrophysicists scrambling for new theories to explain the extreme particle acceleration. A microquasar is a black hole that gobbles up debris from a nearby companion star and blasts out powerful jets of material.
WVU Experts Weigh in on Nobel Prize-Winning Laser Research and Women's Contributions to Physics
West Virginia University
Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Using the Hubble and Kepler space telescopes two astronomers have found the first compelling evidence for a moon outside our Solar System. The data indicate an exomoon the size of Neptune, in a stellar system 8,000 light-years from Earth.
Scientists Discover New Nursery for Superpowered Photons
Michigan Technological University
A strange star system in our own Milky Way is producing some of the most powerful gamma rays ever seen. Messengers from this microquasar may offer a glimpse into bizarre objects at the centers of distant galaxies.
Peering into 36-million-degree plasma with SLAC's X-ray laser
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
a team of researchers has used an X-ray laser to measure, for the first time, how a plasma created by a laser blast expands in the hundreds of femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) after it's created. Their technique could eventually reveal tiny instabilities in the plasma that swirl like cream in a cup of coffee.
Animal Study Suggests Deep Space Travel May Significantly Damage GI Function in Astronauts
Georgetown University Medical Center
Deep space bombardment by galactic cosmic radiation could significantly damage gastrointestinal tissue leading to long-term functional alterations, according to a study by investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center, which also raises concerns about high risk of tumor development in the stomach and colon.
New space instrument goes for a spin
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Scientists and engineers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are using a unique centrifuge facility to evaluate a flight-ready telemetry system for evaluating a nuclear weapons test missile launch.
NAS taps UAH CSPAR director to head decadal survey for plasma physics
University of Alabama Huntsville
Dr. Gary Zank, director of The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), has been named to co-chair a committee performing a decadal survey for plasma physics.
Researchers Prepare to Explore Extreme Lunar Environments
Stony Brook University
As the United States prepares to visit the surface of the Moon once again, scientists from the RIS4E node of NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), led by researchers from the Stony Brook University College of Arts and Sciences, are partnering with Astrobotic Technology to demonstrate the robotic technologies needed to explore and study our nearest neighbor's most interesting and challenging destinations.
Looking Back in Time to Watch for a Different Kind of Black Hole
Georgia Institute of Technology
A simulation done by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has suggested what astronomers should look for if they search the skies for a direct collapse black hole in its early stages.
Breaking the Symmetry Between Fundamental Forces
Scientists improve our understanding of the relationship between fundamental forces by re-creating the earliest moments of the universe.
Study Explores Possibility of Life on Moons of Rogue Planets
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
It sounds like the stuff of George Lucas' universe, but it may be real. There may be life on the moons of rogue planets -- solitary planets that have been ejected from their host star and which drift through the galaxy. A few observations and some prevailing theories about planet formation and life inspired UNLV astrophysicists to consider this possibility. The results of their study will appear in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
First Particle Tracks Seen in Prototype for International Neutrino Experiment
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
The largest liquid-argon neutrino detector in the world has just recorded its first particle tracks, signaling the start of a new chapter in the story of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).
First Particle Tracks Seen in Prototype for International Neutrino Experiment
Brookhaven National Laboratory
The largest liquid-argon neutrino detector in the world has just recorded its first particle tracks, signaling the start of a new chapter in the story of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE's scientific mission is dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of neutrinos, the most abundant (and most mysterious) matter particles in the universe.
Hubble Uncovers Never Before Seen Features Around a Neutron Star
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Astronomers using Hubble's near-infrared vision to look at nearby neutron star RX J0806.4-4123 were.surprised to see a gush of infrared light coming from a region around the neutron star. That infrared light might come from an 18-billion-mile-across circumstellar disk.
FSU Researcher Finds Earth-Like Gravity May Solve Astronaut Vision Ailment
Florida State University
Exposure to artificial Earth-like gravity in space may be the answer to vision problems faced by astronauts.
Astronomer to study the "extreme universe" with international team
West Virginia University - Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Sarah Burke-Spolaor, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has accepted a distinguished fellowship with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Global Scholars Program. She will pursue her research as one of 12 members of the 2018 Global Scholars cohort. Three of these individuals will join CIFAR's Gravity and the Extreme Universe program.
Hubble Goes Wide To Seek Out Far-Flung Galaxies
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
A new Hubble observing campaign, called BUFFALO, will boldly expand the space telescope's view into regions adjacent to huge galaxy clusters previously photographed by the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes under a program called Frontier Fields.
VLBA Measures Asteroid's Characteristics
Long Baseline Observatory
In an unusual observation, astronomers used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to study the effects on radio waves coming from a distant radio galaxy when an asteroid in our Solar System passed in front of the galaxy. The observation allowed them to measure the size of the asteroid, gain new information about its shape, and greatly improve the accuracy with which its orbital path can be calculated.
Astronomer to Study the 'Extreme Universe' with International Team
West Virginia University
A West Virginia University astronomer is working to locate the origin of fast radio bursts coming from outside the Milky Way Galaxy.
John Christian Named AIAA Associate Fellow
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
John Christian, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been elected to the Class of 2019 Associate Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
GBT Upgrade to Sharpen Telescope's Vision
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded more than $1.3 million to upgrade its Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia with an innovative precision laser ranging measurement system.
Small, Short-Lived Drops of Early Universe Matter
Particle flow patterns suggest even small-scale collisions create drops of early universe quark-gluon plasma.
Fierce Winds Quench Wildfire-Like Starbirth in Far-Flung Galaxy
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Astronomers using ALMA, with the aid of a gravitational lens, have detected the most-distant galactic "wind" of molecules ever observed, seen when the universe was only one billion years old. By tracing the outflow of hydroxyl (OH) molecules - which herald the presence of star-forming gas in galaxies - the researchers show how some galaxies in the early universe quenched an ongoing wildfire of starbirth.
Mysterious "Lunar Swirls" Point to Moon's Volcanic, Magnetic Past
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
The mystery behind lunar swirls, one of the solar system's most beautiful optical anomalies, may finally be solved thanks to a joint Rutgers University and University of California Berkeley study. The solution hints at the dynamism of the moon's ancient past as a place with volcanic activity and an internally generated magnetic field. It also challenges our picture of the moon's existing geology.
Expert Pitch: Tree Ring Dating Confirms Historical Accounts of 'Blood Aurora'
West Virginia University
In a paper published today in Nature Communications, a worldwide team of researchers has used tree ring dating to confirm that two significant "cosmic events" occurred in 774 and 993 CE. Cross-cultural eyewitness accounts of red or "blood" aurora correspond with these years. The study measured carbon-14 content in 44 wood samples taken from five continents, including two samples from Mongolia provided by West Virginia University geographer Amy Hessl, a co-author on the paper.
Berkeley Lab, Intel, Cray Harness the Power of Deep Learning to Better Understand the Universe
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
A collaboration between computational scientists at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center and engineers at Intel and Cray has yielded another first in the quest to apply deep learning to data-intensive science: CosmoFlow, the first large-scale science application to use the TensorFlow framework on a CPU-based high performance computing platform with synchronous training.
National Academy of Sciences Committee on Exoplanets Releases Priorities for Next Decade
University of Notre Dame
Justin R. Crepp, associate professor of physics and director of the Engineering and Design Core Facility, was one of 14 members who served on the committee that is part of the upcoming 2020-2030 NAS decadal survey in astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science.
Success in Critical Communications Tests for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
When NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is en route to and in orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, continuous communications with its Mission Operations Center (MOC) in Baltimore will be essential. Recently, at the Space Telescope Science Institute--home of the MOC--Webb's Flight Operations Team successfully completed two critical communications tests.
Meet David Livoti: Radiofrequency Technician in Collider-Accelerator Department
Brookhaven National Laboratory
David Livoti developed a passion for designing and studying the performance of electronics while building devices to measure snowfall amounts as an intern at Brookhaven Lab. One year later, Livoti is helping to maintain acceleration systems for the Lab's particle accelerators .
Water Worlds Could Support Life, Study Says
University of Chicago
The conditions for life surviving on planets entirely covered in water are more fluid than previously thought, opening up the possibility that water worlds could be habitable, according to a new paper from the University of Chicago and Pennsylvania State University.
Solar Eruptions May Not Have Slinky-like Shapes After All
University of New Hampshire
Revisiting some older data, University of New Hampshire researchers discovered new information about the shape of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) - large-scale eruptions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun - that could one day help protect satellites in space as well as the electrical grid on Earth.
LHC scientists detect most favored Higgs decay
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
Today at CERN, the Large Hadron Collider collaborations ATLAS and CMS jointly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson transforming into bottom quarks as it decays. This is predicted to be the most common way for Higgs bosons to decay yet was a difficult signal to isolate because background processes closely mimic the subtle signal. This new discovery is a big step forward in the quest to understand how the Higgs enables fundamental particles to acquire mass.
Indiana University physicist available to comment on Higgs boson quark decay discovery
Auroras on the Moon? Which Moon?
Charged particles emanating from Jupiter's magnetosphere are powered up to create the northern and southern lights on Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.
Water on the moon: What it means, how it got there and could we drink it?
University of Delaware
Sally Dodson-Robinson, a professor of Physics and Astronomy, can comment on the recent discovery of direct evidence of surface exposed ice water on the moon.
Study Is 'Further Evidence' of Resources in Abundance at the Poles of the Moon, Expert Says
University of Notre Dame
First Science with ALMA's Highest-Frequency Capabilities
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
A team of scientists using the highest-frequency capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has uncovered jets of warm water vapor streaming away from a newly forming star. The researchers also detected the "fingerprints" of an astonishing assortment of molecules near this stellar nursery.
National Ignition Facility Reveals How Hydrogen Becomes Metallic Inside Giant Gas Planets
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Swirling dense metallic hydrogen dominates the interiors of Jupiter, Saturn and many extra-solar planets. Building precise models of these giant planets requires an accurate description of the transition of pressurized hydrogen into this metallic substance - a long-standing scientific challenge. In a paper published by Science, a research team led by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory describes optical measurements of the insulator-to-metal transition in fluid hydrogen, resolving discrepancies in previous experiments and establishing new benchmarks for calculations used to construct planetary models. The multi-institution team included researchers from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, University of Edinburgh, University of Rochester, Carnegie Institution of Washington, University of California, Berkeley and The George Washington University.
Hubble Paints Picture of the Evolving Universe
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Astronomers have just assembled one of the most comprehensive portraits yet of the universe's evolutionary history, based on a broad spectrum of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and other space and ground-based telescopes. This photo encompasses a sea of approximately 15,000 galaxies -- 12,000 of which are star-forming -- widely distributed in time and space. Astronomers using the ultraviolet vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have captured one of the largest panoramic views of the fire and fury of star birth in the distant universe. The field features approximately 15,000 galaxies, about 12,000 of which are forming stars.
Physicist Tristan Smith to Explore Dark Universe with NASA Grant
Swarthmore College
Assistant Professor of Physics Tristan Smith has received a NASA grant to support his work in developing new ways to identify and measure the physics of the dark universe.
Unraveling the Nature of 'Whistlers' from Space in the Lab
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles present research on a curious cosmic phenomenon known as "whistlers" -- very low frequency packets of radio waves that race along magnetic field lines. Appearing in the Physics of Plasmas, the study provides new insights into the nature of whistlers and space plasmas and could one day aid in the development of practical plasma technologies with magnetic fields, including spacecraft thrusters that use charged particles as fuel.
Parker Solar Probe Launches on Historic Journey to Touch the Sun
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida Sunday, Aug. 12, to begin its journey to the Sun
A Video Game Can Change the Brain, May Improve Empathy in Middle Schoolers
University of Wisconsin-Madison
A fantastical scenario involving a space-exploring robot crashing on a distant planet is the premise of a video game developed for middle schoolers by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to study whether video games can boost kids' empathy, and to understand how learning such skills can change neural connections in the brain.
Magnetic Fields Can Quash Zonal Jets Deep in Gas Giants
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Magnetic fields around a planet or a star can overpower the zonal jets that affect atmospheric circulation. New research by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and a collaborator from the Australian National University (ANU) provides a theoretical explanation for why self-organized fluid flows called zonal jets or "zonal flows" can be suppressed by the presence of a magnetic field.
UAH/MSFC/SAO partnership creates instrument to fly in sun's corona on probe
University of Alabama Huntsville
The UAH, MSFC and SAO have created and tested the only instrument that will sample the solar wind while exposed directly to it aboard NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP)
46th annual SLAC Summer Institute celebrates Standard Model at 50
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The event attracted 124 participants and explores the successes and challenges of the theory that describes subatomic particles and fundamental forces.
Renovations Lead to Big Improvement at Nuclear Astrophysics Lab
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
In nature, the nuclear reactions that form stars are often accompanied by astronomically high amounts of energy, a challenge for nuclear astrophysicists trying to study these reactions; the chances of re-creating such a spark are unfathomably low. However, after recent renovations to its accelerator, one laboratory reported record-breaking performance. Following six years of upgrades to the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source at the Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics, researchers report improved results, discussed in Review of Scientific Instruments.
Aboard the International Space Station, Researchers Investigate Complex Dust Behavior in Plasmas
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
400 kilometers above Earth, researchers examined waves in complex plasma under microgravity conditions and found that the microparticles behaved in nonuniform ways in the presence of varying electrical fields. They report some of the first findings from the Plasma-Kristall 4 experiment, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, in Physics of Plasmas.
Develop 3D Printed Material for Space Station
South Dakota State University
A team of mechanical engineering senior design students will collaborate with NASA to develop and test innovative feedstock materials that can be 3D printed in space through X-Hab.
One cool camera: LSST's cryostat assembly completed
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Work on the camera for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) has reached a major milestone with the completion and delivery of the camera's fully integrated cryostat. With 3.2 gigapixels, the LSST camera will be the largest digital camera ever built for ground-based astronomy. It's being assembled at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Astronomers Uncover New Clues to the Star that Wouldn't Die
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Based on new data, researchers suggest that it takes more than a massive outburst to destroy the mammoth star Eta Carinae. The 1840s eruption may have been triggered by a prolonged stellar brawl among three rowdy sibling stars, which destroyed one star and left the other two in a binary system. This tussle may have culminated with a violent explosion when Eta Carinae devoured one of its two companions, rocketing more than 10 times the mass of our Sun into space. The ejected mass created gigantic bipolar lobes resembling the dumbbell shape seen in present-day images.
Particle physicists team up with AI to solve toughest science problems
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
A group of researchers, including scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, summarize current applications and future prospects of machine learning in particle physics in a paper published today in Nature.
Risa Wechsler named director of KIPAC
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Risa Wechsler has been appointed director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), a joint institute of the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. On Sept. 15, she'll take over from Tom Abel, whose five-year term at the helm of the institute is coming to an end.
Pair of Colliding Stars Spill Radioactive Molecules into Space
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Astronomers have made the first definitive detection of a radioactive molecule in interstellar space: a form, or isotopologue of aluminum monofluoride (26AlF). The new data - made with ALMA and the NOEMA radio telescopes - reveal that this radioactive isotopologue was ejected into space by the collision of two stars, a tremendously rare cosmic event that was witnessed on Earth as a "new star," or nova, in the year 1670.
Think Twice Before Moving to Mars--Planetary Scientist Refutes Terraforming in NASA Study
Northern Arizona University
Proponents of "terraforming" Mars to make it habitable propose releasing greenhouse gases from the planet's surface such as carbon dioxide (CO2) to trap heat, warm the climate and ultimately increase the atmospheric pressure. The plausibility of achieving this with current technology is the focus of a new study sponsored by NASA just published in Nature Astronomy.
WVU Expert Says Water on Mars Would Be Extremely Acidic but Could Host Life
West Virginia University
With new and compelling evidence for water existing beneath the south pole of Mars, a West Virginia University professor says this underground lake is likely to be extremely salty and more acidic than battery acid. Life forms that can survive in extreme physical and geochemical conditions are found in abundance in acid salt lakes such as those in Chile and western Australia, she said.
Emma McBride and Caterina Vernieri Receive 2018 Panofsky Fellowships at SLAC
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Emma McBride and Caterina Vernieri are the recipients of this year's Panofsky Fellowships at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. McBride will develop techniques to study matter in extreme conditions like the ones inside planets and stars. Vernieri will continue her research on the Higgs boson and its interactions with other elementary particles, which could lead to the discovery of new phenomena on nature's most fundamental level.
Enduring 'Radio Rebound' Powered by Jets From Gamma-Ray Burst:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Astronomers using ALMA studied a cataclysmic stellar explosion known as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and found its enduring "afterglow." The rebound, or reverse shock, triggered by the GRB's powerful jets slamming into surrounding debris, lasted thousands of times longer than expected. These observations provide fresh insights into the physics of GRBs, one of the universe's most energetic explosions.
Saturn and Mars Team Up to Make Their Closest Approaches to Earth in 2018
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed Saturn and Mars near their closest approaches to Earth in June and July 2018. It's now summertime in Saturn's northern hemisphere and springtime in Mars' southern hemisphere. The Hubble images show that Earth isn't the only planet where intense spring and summer storms wreak havoc.
Seoul National University Student Minjung Kim Wins 2018 Scharff-Goldhaber Prize
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) awarded the 2018 Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber Prize to Minjung Kim, a graduate student at Seoul National University.
Gas 'Halos' Surrounding Young Galaxy Contain Clues to Its Growth
Most of the ordinary matter in the universe isn't in the form of a star or a planet, but gas. And most of that gas exists not in galaxies but around and between them. A team of astronomers has found a new way to study the gas surrounding a young galaxy, BX418, with an eye toward finding clues to how the first galaxies formed.
Astronomer on Team That Discovered 12 New Moons of Jupiter Available to Discuss Findings
Northern Arizona University
Chad Trujillo is part of the team that is searching for Planet X, a large ice planet that orbits outside of Pluto. They also discovered a dwarf planet in 2014.
Breathing Lunar Dust Could Pose Health Risk to Future Astronauts
Stony Brook University
Future astronauts spending long periods of time on the Moon could suffer bronchitis and other health problems by inhaling tiny particles of dust from its surface, according to new research.
Newly Discovered Jupiter Moons Have Been Through "A Lot of Violence"
University of Delaware
Proposal for Interstellar Mapping Probe Awarded $496 Million Grant by NASA
University of Alabama Huntsville
NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program has awarded $496 million to fund the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission concept.
Late NASA Voyager Imaging Guru Was NMSU's First Astronomy Ph.D.
New Mexico State University (NMSU)
Bradford Smith led the imaging team for NASA's Voyager missions and stoked the imaginations of people worldwide with pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. He was also the first student to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University in 1973.
A Supercool Component for a Next-Generation Dark Matter Experiment
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
A large titanium cryostat designed to keep its contents chilled to minus 148 degrees has completed its journey from Europe to South Dakota, where it will become part of a next-generation dark matter detector for the LUX-ZEPLIN (experiment.
NSF's IceCube Observatory Finds First Evidence of Cosmic Neutrino Source
An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, subatomic particles that can emerge from their sources and, like cosmological ghosts, pass through the universe unscathed, traveling for billions of light years from the most extreme environments in the universe to Earth.
Observatories Team Up to Reveal Rare Double Asteroid
Green Bank Observatory
Near-Earth asteroid 2017 YE5 was discovered with observations provided by the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey on Dec. 21, 2017, but no details about the asteroid's physical properties were known until the end of June. This is only the fourth "equal mass" binary near-Earth asteroid ever detected, consisting of two objects nearly identical in size, orbiting each other.
VLA Gives Tantalizing Clues About Source of Energetic Cosmic Neutrino
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
A single, ghostly subatomic particle that traveled some 4 billion light-years before reaching Earth has helped astronomers pinpoint a likely source of high-energy cosmic rays for the first time. Subsequent observations with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have given the scientists some tantalizing clues about how such energetic cosmic rays may be formed at the cores of distant galaxies.
Q&A: Berkeley Lab's Spencer Klein Talks About IceCube Then and Now, and What's Next
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
In this Q&A, Berkeley Lab physicist Spencer Klein, who has been a part of the IceCube collaboration since 2004, discusses Berkeley Lab's historic contributions to IceCube, and IceCube's contributions to science.
Hubble and Gaia Team Up to Fuel Cosmic Conundrum
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Using the Hubble and Gaia space observatories, astronomers have made the most precise measurements to date of the expansion of space, which may suggest reworking our understanding of the physics of the universe.
NASA's Webb Space Telescope to Inspect Atmospheres of Gas Giant Exoplanets
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
In April 2018, NASA launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Its main goal is to locate Earth-sized planets and larger "super-Earths" orbiting nearby stars for further study. One of the most powerful tools that will examine the atmospheres of some planets that TESS discovers will be NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Since observing small exoplanets with thin atmospheres like Earth will be challenging for Webb, astronomers will target easier, gas giant exoplanets first.
Oxygen Levels on Early Earth Rose and Fell Several Times Before the Successful Great Oxidation Event
University of Washington
Earth's oxygen levels rose and fell more than once hundreds of millions of years before the planetwide success of the Great Oxidation Event about 2.4 billion years ago, new research from the University of Washington shows.
Meet Claire Lee: Particle Physicist and Non-Traditional Science Communicator
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Particle physicist Claire Lee is no stranger to the spotlight. Lee's performance background and comfort on stage are advantages when it comes to communicating science in front of large audiences.
Yet Again, Einstein's Theory Passes the Test with Flying Colors
An international team of astronomers, which includes Duncan Lorimer, West Virginia University professor of physics and astronomy, has tested Einstein's theory using three stars orbiting each other: a neutron star and two white dwarfs. Their findings prove that Einstein's theory still passes the test in such extreme conditions.
Even Phenomenally Dense Neutron Stars Fall Like a Feather
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Astronomers have given one of Einstein's predictions on gravity its most stringent test yet. By precisely tracking the meanderings of three stars in a single system - two white dwarf stars and one ultra-dense neutron star - the researchers determined that even phenomenally compact neutron stars "fall" in the same manner as their less-dense counterparts
Geologist to Research Environments Similar to Mars
West Virginia University - Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Is there life on Mars? One WVU researcher is discovering ways to improve the search for life on the desert planet.
Boldly Going Where No Plant Has Gone Before
University of Kentucky
Working with space commercialization company Space Tango, a team of UK College of Pharmacy researchers are studying the potential medicinal benefits of sending plants to space.
United States and Italy Sign Agreement to Collaborate on Sterile Neutrino Research
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Italian Embassy, on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, signed an agreement for collaboration on research with the international Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program hosted at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Tracking Down Helium-4's Quarks and Gluons
Scientists obtain the first exclusive measurement of deeply virtual Compton scattering of electrons off helium-4, vital to obtaining an unambiguous 3-D view of quarks and gluons within nuclei.
Methane-Producing Microbial Communities Found in Fracking Wells
Ohio State University
New research has uncovered the genetic details of microbes found in fracking wells. Not only do a wide array of bacteria and viruses thrive in these crevices created by hydraulic fracturing - they also have the power to produce methane, according to a study led by scientists at The Ohio State University and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Predicting Magnetic Explosions: From Plasma Current Sheet Disruption to Fast Magnetic Reconnection
Supercomputer simulations and theoretical analysis shed new light on when and how fast reconnection occurs.
Defying Gravity: FSU Professor's Work to Be Conducted at International Space Station
Florida State University
A Florida State University professor's latest experiments will take place far above the Earth when astronauts at the International Space Station begin working with FSU on what's called a chemical garden.
Researchers Find Last of Universe's Missing Ordinary Matter
University of Colorado Boulder
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have helped to find the last reservoir of ordinary matter hiding in the universe.
Studying Mars on Earth: Planetary scientist conducting astrobiological research in Mojave Desert
Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University assistant professor Christopher Edwards was recently awarded a $1.2 million grant from NASA to understand the habitability of Mars by studying extreme, Mars-like environments on Earth.
Studying Mars on Earth: Planetary scientist conducting astrobiological research in Mojave Desert
Northern Arizona University
Christopher Edwards received a $1.2 million grant from the PSTAR program to explore extreme environments on Earth for habitability and biosignatures, which can allow scientists to predict what to look for in space missions.