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Tracking the origins of speedy space particles
Feb. 1, 2011 — NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interaction during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft combined with computer models have helped track the origin of the energetic particles in Earth's magnetic atmosphere that appear during a kind of space weather called a substorm. Understanding the source of such particles and how they are shuttled through Earth's atmosphere is crucial to better understanding the Sun's complex space weather system and thus protect satellites or even humans in space. The results show that these speedy electrons gain extra energy from changing magnetic fields far from the origin of the substorm that causes them. THEMIS, which consists of five orbiting satellites, helped provide these insights when three of the spacecraft traveled through a large substorm on February 15, 2008. This allowed scientists to track changes in particle energy over a large distance.
Texas Astronomers "Weigh" Heaviest Known Black Hole in our Cosmic Neighborhood | The University of Texas at Austin
Jan. 12, 2011 Seattle — Astronomers led by Karl Gebhardt of The University of Texas at Austin have measured the most massive known black hole in our cosmic neighborhood by combining data from a giant telescope in Hawai'i and a smaller telescope in Texas. The result is an ironclad mass of 6.6 billion suns for the black hole in the giant elliptical galaxy M87.
Mock Mars Mission Crew Prepares to 'Land' on Red Planet | Space Travel & Spaceflight Simulation, Planet Mars
A 520-day mock mission to Mars is nearing its halfway point, with its crew of volunteers preparing for a simulated "landing" on the Red Planet next month. The Mars500 mission — a joint experiment by Russia, the European Space Agency and China — "launched" last June, and its six crewmembers have now spent more than 230 days locked in a windowless spaceship simulator in Moscow. The six men are due to "land" on Mars on Feb. 12, according to a Jan. 21 report by the Associated Press. The crewmembers will spend two days pretending to explore the planet's surface , and then they'll head back to Earth. All in all, their confinement should last more than 500 days, officials have said — hence the mission's name. Mars500 managers have announced that the crewmembers — three Russian men, two European men and one Chinese man — are holding up well so far, the Associated Press reported.
Beyond 2012: Why the World Didn't End If you're reading this story, it means the world didn't end on Dec. 21, 2012. Despite reports of an ancient Maya prophecy, a mysterious planet on a collision course with Earth, or a reverse in Earth's rotation, we're still here. The Mayan connection "was a misconception from the very beginning," says Dr.
2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?
From: evolutionaryleaps.com According to the British Geological Survey (BGS), we could now be headed into a magnetic reversal, thus validating the premise of both Not by Fire but by Ice and Magnetic Reversals and Evolutionary Leaps . The South Atlantic Anomaly is growing and spreading westwards from South Africa as the Earth’s internal magnetic field rapidly weakens in this region, says this article on the BGS website. "This may be early evidence of a forthcoming reversal in the direction of the Earth’s internal magnetic field." "We do not know in detail precisely what occurs during such reversals, including the changes observed in the magnetic field and the time a reversal takes to complete," the BGS adds. Since so little is known, and in order to determine where radiation risks may be increased and how the atmosphere might respond, the BGS is opening a South Atlantic Anomaly and South Georgia Magnetic Observatory.
British Geological Survey: Magnetic reversal may now be in progress
In the age of internet, television, and Lady Gaga, it’s easy to ignore the dazzling displays the sky gives us every night. In ancient times, however, human civilizations based their entire calendar, and thus their way of life, upon what they saw in the cosmos. While humanity’s interest in astronomy has diminished over the centuries, the sky remains nonetheless spectacular. Few people have the time to go stargazing every night, but here are 5 celestial events so awe-inspiring, everyone must see them in their lifetime. 5. Perseid Meteor Shower
The Top 5 Astronomical Events to Witness Before You Die | Fun Lists - Top 10 Lists
Submitted by chandra on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 14:38. Evidence for a recoiling black hole has been found using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and several ground-based telescopes. A new paper reports that this black hole kickback was caused either by a slingshot effect produced in a triple black hole system, or from the effects of gravitational waves produced after two supermassive black holes merged a few million years earlier. The discovery of this object, located in this composite image, comes from a large, multi-wavelength survey, known as the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). This survey includes data from Chandra, HST, XMM-Newton, as well as ground-based observatories. Of the 2,600 X-ray sources found in COSMOS, only one -- named CID-42 and located in a galaxy about 3.9 billion light years away -- coincides with two very close, compact optical sources.
A Black Hole Slingshot? | ChandraBlog
There are already two giant cosmic mysteries, sources of hard-to-account for anti-gravity and gravity, called dark energy and dark matter, respectively, which are ubiquitous in the universe. In honour of this, and because the flow cannot be accounted for by the observed distribution of matter in the universe, the Nasa team that found the cosmic drift calls it "dark flow". The find was made using data from Nasa's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which maps out changes (anisotropy) in the microwave (heat) radiation left over from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, when the universe was born.
Scientists glimpse 'dark flow' lurking beyond the edge of the universe
A brown dwarf could have a mass around four times that of Jupiter. I don't see how this Tyche object differs? "Brown dwarfs occupy the mass range between that of large gas giant planets and the lowest-mass stars; this upper limit is between 75[1] and 80 Jupiter masses (MJ). Currently there is some debate as to what criterion to use to define the separation between a brown dwarf from a giant planet at very low brown dwarf masses (~13 MJ ), and whether brown dwarfs are required to have experienced fusion at some point in their history." [en.wikipedia.org] And if there is an object out there, WISE will have an easier time finding it, if it is a brown dwarf emitting infrared radiation.
We come from the future.
Falcon Launch Report | 'Top secret' payload packed inside Dragon
'Top secret' payload packed inside Dragon SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: December 9, 2010 SpaceX has unveiled the identity of the mystery payload packed aboard the Dragon spacecraft during yesterday's orbital flight. "Before the successful launch, voyage, and recovery of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the first time in history a commercial company has recovered a spacecraft from orbit, reporters were buzzing with news of a 'secret'payload' stowed on board," SpaceX announced in a statement. "It was a payload so secret, SpaceXers made it Top Secret (think Val Kilmer 1984, not official US Government)," the company said. "So what was inside the mystery package?Loyola University researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys. The finding could lead to new TRIM5a-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.
Protein that destroys HIV discovered
Public release date: 25-Nov-2010 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Clare Ryan clare.ryan@ucl.ac.uk 44-020-767-99726 University College London A tenuous atmosphere infused with oxygen and carbon-dioxide has been discovered at Saturn's moon Rhea by the Cassini-Huygens mission, the first time a spacecraft has captured direct evidence of an oxygen atmosphere at a world other than Earth.
Cassini reveals oxygen atmosphere of Saturn's moon Rhea
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. , Nov. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Duane P. Snyder will announce the discovery of the first and only known ICE METEORITE containing EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE-FORMS on November 30, 2010 at 10:00am at the Ramada Inn Conference Center, 1555 Phoenix Road, South Haven, MI 49090. Also to be announced: The ICE METEORITE's particle analysis, it's gas analysis, where it likely came from and PHOTOS of EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE-FORMS found in the melt-water of the ICE METEORITE. Dr. Albert Schnieders of Tascon USA Inc, Chestnut Ridge, New York 10977, has commented that we basically found nearly all elements up to 90u in the sample spherical particles. snydericyrite.com is a website dedicated to releasing information on the ice meteorite found in year 2000 and the extraterrestrial life forms found in it.