Author: Earl
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Physicists observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole theorem for the first time
There are certain rules that even the most extreme objects in the universe must obey. A central law for black holes predicts that the area of their event horizons — the boundary beyond which nothing can ever escape — should never shrink. This law is Hawking’s area theorem, named after physicist Stephen Hawking, who derived…
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Astronomers uncover evidence that there could be many more Earth-sized planets than previously thought
Some exoplanet searches could be missing nearly half of the Earth-sized planets around other stars. New findings from a team using the international Gemini Observatory and the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory suggest that Earth-sized worlds could be lurking undiscovered in binary star systems, hidden in the glare of their parent stars.…
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Stellar explosion in 1054 C.E. may have been a third flavor of supernova
Astronomers have found convincing evidence that supernovae come in a third flavor, powered by a long-suspected explosive mechanism that may explain a bright supernova humans observed 1,000 ago and that birthed the beautiful Crab Nebula.The evidence is an exploding star observed in 2018, the first that fits all six criteria for a hypothesized type of…
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Operations Underway to Restore Payload Computer on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope
Not looking good! NASA is continuing to diagnose a problem with the payload computer on the Hubble Space Telescope after completing another set of tests on June 23 and 24. The payload computer halted on June 13 and the spacecraft stopped collecting science data. The telescope itself and its science instruments remain in good health…
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Molecular Clouds All the Way Down
Gas to Stars Each of the many hundreds of stars we can see with our naked eye, or the many thousands we can see with the aid of telescopes, has their own special story of how they came to be. Now self-gravitating balls of gas, these stars in the night sky began as clumps in dense molecular clouds.…
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Curiosity’s skycrane maneuver
CURIOSITY’S SKYCRANE MANEUVER In this artist’s concept, Curiosity is in the final moments of its descent toward Mars, and is being lowered from the descent stage to the surface on three cables. NASA / JPL Entry, descent, and landing for Curiosity will include a combination of technologies inherited from past NASA Mars missions, as well as new…
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The Milky Way’s Double Bubble
The Milky Way’s Double Bubble When it comes to blowing bubbles, never go toe-to-toe with a galaxy. Ten years ago, astronomers were astonished to discover large bubble-like structures emerging from the heart of our Galaxy. More impressive than any bubble you might have blown as a child, these balls of plasma span thousands of light-years and are…
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The new light-based quantum computer Jiuzhang has achieved quantum supremacy
The new light-based quantum computer Jiuzhang has achieved quantum supremacy A second type of quantum computer has now performed a calculation impossible for a traditional computer. Source: www.sciencenews.org/article/new-light-based-quantum-computer-jiuzhang-supremacy
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The Search for Dark Matter Is Dramatically Expanding
The Search for Dark Matter Is Dramatically Expanding The Search for Dark Matter Is Dramatically Expanding Physicists are checking whether dark matter tickles different types of detectors, nudges starlight, warms planetary cores, or even lodges in rocks. EVER SINCE ASTRONOMERS reached a consensus in the 1980s that most of the mass in the universe is invisible—that…
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‘WTF?’: newly discovered ghostly circles in the sky can’t be explained by current theories, and astronomers are excited
‘WTF?’: newly discovered ghostly circles in the sky can’t be explained by current theories, and astronomers are excited In September 2019, my colleague Anna Kapinska gave a presentation showing interesting objects she’d found while browsing our new radio astronomical data. She had started noticing very weird shapes she couldn’t fit easily to any known type…
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Solid phosphorus and fluorine in the dust from the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
New research indicates comets carry all the elements required for life. ABSTRACT Here, we report the detection of phosphorus and fluorine in solid particles collected from the inner coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko measured Source: academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/499/2/1870/5911597
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Amino acid found in the atmosphere of Venus
Amino acids are considered to be prime ingredients in chemistry, leading to life. Glycine is the simplest amino acid and most commonly found in animal proteins. It is a glucogenic and non-essential amino acid that is produced naturally by the living body and plays a key role in the creation of several other important bio-compounds…
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Comparison of images with and without Adaptive Optics
Adaptive optics control the surfaces of a telescope’s optic – often the main mirror – to take into account the turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. By doing this, the distortion caused by the “twinkling” we can even see when we look at stars with our eyes alone can be removed. This image shows a comparison…
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SwRI instruments aboard Rosetta help detect unexpected ultraviolet aurora at a comet
SwRI instruments aboard Rosetta help detect unexpected ultraviolet aurora at a comet Data from Southwest Research Institute-led instruments aboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft have helped reveal auroral emissions in the far ultraviolet around a comet for the first time. Source: www.swri.org/press-release/rosetta-ultraviolet-aurora-comet-67p-churyumov-gerasimenko