Space

Primordial Gravitational Waves- BICEP Experiment May Confirm Inflationary Theory?

BICEP, the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization, is an experiment that used almost 100 detectors to scan the sky at microwave frequencies (100 GHz and 150 GHz, angular resolutions of 1.0° and 0.7°) in order to measure the polarization of ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Mar 15 2014 - 1:07pm

Planet Mercury Shrunk Far More Than Previous Estimates

New evidence gathered by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury solves an apparent enigma about Mercury's evolution.  The data indicate the tiny planet closest to the sun, only slightly larger than earth's moon, has shrunk up to 7 kilometer ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2014 - 3:30am

Rhythms From Martian Sands- What Did Our Viking Landers Find in 1976? Astonishingly, We Don't Know

Did our two Viking landers find life on Mars in 1976? Astonishingly, thirty seven years later, we still haven't sent anything to Mars able to answer this question for sure.  None of our spacecraft since Viking would be able to spot life which we now ...

Blog Post - Robert Walker - Sep 26 2015 - 10:57pm

Hot Jupiter! Water Detected On Tau Boo B

A research team has detected water vapor in the atmosphere of tau Boo b, a "hot Jupiter" planet outside our solar system.  The team applied a Doppler technique to the infrared to directly detect tau Boo b and demonstrate the presence of water in ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2014 - 9:59pm

Top Quark New Best Value: LHC And Tevatron Announces First Joint Result

The world's leading particle collider experiments, Fermilab's Tevatron and CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), have joined forces. Scientists from the four experiments involved — ATLAS, CDF, CMS and DZero — announced their joint findings on ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2014 - 12:53am

High-Energy Electrons: Zebra Stripes In The Van Allen Belt

Scientists have discovered a new, persistent structure in one of two radiation belts surrounding Earth  - high-energy electrons in the inner Van Allen radiation belt display a persistent pattern that resembles slanted zebra stripes. Surprisingly, this str ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 19 2014 - 8:54pm

What The Milky Way's Shape And Contents Really Look Like (You'll Need A Bigger Monitor)

2 million images collected by NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, which went into space in 2003, have been stitched together to create a 360 degree portrait of the Milky Way. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2014 - 4:55pm

Upcoming: A 'Surprise Discovery' In The Solar System

An international team of astronomers, led by Felipe Braga-Ribas (Observatório Nacional/MCTI, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), has used telescopes at seven locations in South America, including the 1.54-meter Danish and TRAPPIST telescopes at ESO’s La Silla Observa ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2014 - 8:59am

So Simple Even A Neutron Star Could Do It

How many ways can you describe an object? If you look at an apple, you might estimate its weight, shape and color but beyond that it is difficult. We are unable to describe the chemical composition of its flesh. Something similar also applies to astronomi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2014 - 9:39am

Asteroid Chariklo Has A Ring System Like Saturn

Astronomers have announced the surprise discovery that the asteroid Chariklo is surrounded by two dense and narrow rings, by far the smallest object to have rings.  The rings of Saturn are, of course, one of the most spectacular sights in the sky. Despite ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 26 2014 - 1:00pm