Rocky planets are thought to form through the random collision and sticking together of what are initially microscopic particles in the disc of material around a star. These tiny grains, known as cosmic dust, are similar to very fine soot or sand. However, in the outer regions around a brown dwarf -- a star-like object, but one too small to shine brightly like a star -- astronomers expected that grains could not grow because the discs were too sparse, and particles would be moving too fast to stick together after colliding.
Heavens
Spectacular jets powered by the gravitational energy of a super massive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy Hercules A illustrate the combined imaging power of two of astronomy's cutting-edge tools, the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and the recently upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico. Some two billion light-years away, the yellowish elliptical galaxy in the center of the image appears quite ordinary as seen by Hubble in visible wavelengths of light.
The results from both instruments made sense if these radar-bright regions (also the altimeter's dark regions) represented water ice covered by a layer of other material. The much rarer bright regions seen by the altimeter would then indicate ice exposed on the surface.
On Nov. 29 at 10 a.m. EST/U.S. (1 a.m. CHST local time/ 1500 UTC) Bopha's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph as it was moving through southern Yap State. The center of Tropical Storm Bopha was located near latitude 3.8 degrees north and longitude 147.4 degrees east. This is about 345 miles southeast of Woleai, and about 400 miles southwest of Weno Island, Chuuk. According to the National Weather Service in Tiyan, Guam, Bopha is expected to pass about 180 miles south of Woleai, on Friday night, Nov. 30. Tropical Storm Bopha is moving west-southwest at 10 mph.
The sheer number of efforts aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of the U.S. health care system – ranging from portions of the national Affordable Care Act to local programs at individual hospitals and practices – reflects the urgency and importance of the task. One aspect that has received inadequate attention, according to three physicians writing in the January 2013 issue of Academic Medicine, is training the next generation of experts needed to help lead these efforts.
Planetary scientists have identified water ice and unusually dark deposits within permanently shadowed areas at Mercury's north pole.
Using data collected by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, a team from UCLA crafted the first accurate thermal model of the solar system's innermost planet, successfully pinpointing the extremely cold regions where ice has been found on or below the surface.
Astronomers find planets in strange places and wonder if they might support life. One such place would be in orbit around a white or brown dwarf. While neither is a star like the sun, both glow and so could be orbited by planets with the right ingredients for life.
ATHENS, Ohio (Nov. 29, 2012)—Astronomers were puzzled earlier this year when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope spotted an overabundance of dark matter in the heart of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. This observation was surprising because dark matter and galaxies should be anchored together, even during a collision between galaxy clusters.
ARLINGTON, Va. —The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking to the sun for energy in an effort to help Marines do away with diesel-guzzling generators now used in combat outposts, officials announced Nov. 29.
The Renewable Sustainable Expeditionary Power (RSEP) program seeks to create a transportable renewable hybrid system that can provide Marines with electricity for a 15-day mission without relying on fuel resupply convoys that often become targets for adversaries.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29—Hoping to expand our understanding of auroras and other fleeting atmospheric events, a team of space-weather researchers designed and built NORUSCA II, a new camera with unprecedented capabilities that can simultaneously image multiple spectral bands, in essence different wavelengths or colors, of light.
A group headed by Remco van den Bosch from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has discovered a black hole that shakes the foundations of current models of galaxy evolution. This monster has 17 billion solar masses and is thus significantly heavier than the models predict. And even more significantly: the object could be the most massive black hole known to date.
Actuator saturation is ubiquitous in engineering systems. Anti-windup approach to dealing with actuator saturation has been receiving considerable attention from both the industry and the academic community during the past decades. Professor Zongli Lin and his student Xiongjun Wu developed a new anti-windup design paradigm that is capable of achieving significantly improved performances of the resulting closed-loop system. Their work, entitled "Design of multiple anti-windup loops for multiple activations," was published in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences, 55(9), 2012.
Economists and professionals praise the merits of competition, as it leads to lower prices and improvements in quality. But in the automobile smog-testing industry, competition can lead to corruption and even public health problems, according to research by USC Marshall School of Business Assistant Professor of Management Victor Bennett.
Driven by the strong demand for high-definition video, digital health services, the Internet of Things, and virtual reality, broadband, ubiquitous and convergent information access has become the most important engine to drive the development of the modern information society.
University of Alberta researchers discovered that elk are more frequently and more easily disturbed by human behaviour such as ATV drivers than by their natural predators like bears and wolves.
The U of A researchers, led by biologist Simone Ciuti, spent 12 months in southwestern Alberta. The study involved elk herds, made up of females and their off-spring. The researchers observed the animals' reactions to different rates of human disturbances in the form of vehicle traffic on nearby roads and off-road, all-terrain vehicles.