Heavens | Page 620 | Science Codex

High-energy electrons and elusive cosmic rays hint at dark matter

Using the Large Area Telescope aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope scientists are making some exciting discoveries about cosmic rays. Scientists in the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Space Science Division were instrumental in the design and development of the Large Area Telescope (LAT).

Cosmic rays are electrons, positrons, and atomic nuclei that move at nearly the speed of light. Astronomers believe that the high-energy cosmic rays originate from exotic places in the galaxy, such as the debris of exploded stars.

Study: Bariatric surgery patients have 67 percent lower chance of complications at top hospitals

Golden, CO (July 28, 2009) – The HealthGrades Fourth Annual Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals Study released today identifies 88 hospitals as "best" performers (five-star rated), with mortality rates, complication rates and patient lengths of stay that are dramatically lower than poorly rated hospitals.

Galaxy Zoo citizen scientists help astronomers discover rare 'Green Pea' galaxies

New Haven, Conn.—A team of astronomers has discovered a group of rare galaxies called the "Green Peas" with the help of citizen scientists working through an online project called Galaxy Zoo. The finding could lend unique insights into how galaxies form stars in the early universe.

The Galaxy Zoo users, who volunteer their spare time to help classify galaxies in an online image bank, came across a number of objects that stuck out because of their small size and bright green color. They dubbed them the Green Peas.

Hubble turns its eyes on that Jupiter collision

For the past several days the world's largest telescopes have been trained on a recent Jupiter impact and its unfolding drama 580 million kilometres away. Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, allocated discretionary time to a team of astronomers led by Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado to keep up with the recent events.

NASA celebrates Chandra X-Ray Observatory's 10th anniversary

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Chandra, three new versions of classic Chandra images will be released during the next three months. These images, the first of which is available Thursday, provide new data and a more complete view of objects that Chandra observed in earlier stages of its mission. The image being released today is of E0102-72, the spectacular remains of an exploded star.

Space goers may prevent muscle atrophy with a spin on the centrifuge

When the Apollo 11 crew first got back from the moon, they showed no ill effects from seven days spent in weightlessness. But as American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts began conducting longer-duration space flights, scientists noticed a disturbing trend: the longer humans stay in zero gravity, the more muscle they lose. Space travelers exposed to weightlessness for a year or more — such as those on a mission to Mars, for example — could wind up crippled on their return to Earth, unable to walk or even sit up.

China and India get front row seats at longest solar eclipse in a century

Jupiter has a new spot the size of the pacific ocean

Jupiter is boasting a dark bruise the size of the Pacific Ocean, something first noticed by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley on Sunday, July 19.

In visible light, the bruise appears dark against the bright surface of Jupiter. The near infrared image showed a bright spot in Jupiter's southern hemisphere, where an object's impact had propelled reflective particles high into the relatively clear stratosphere

Life on earth came from other planets?

Life on Earth came from other planets. So concludes a new study which will appear in the inaugural issue of the online science journal, Cosmology.com

For thousands of years scientists and theologians have debated the origins of life. So far, the consensus is that abiogenesis, a theory which stipulates that inanimate matter gave rise to the first living organisms, best explains life’s origins.

Astronomers discover fireworks display in Helix Nebula

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A star does not die without getting noticed and may even leave the universe with "fireworks." At the end of its life cycle, a star begins to collapse in the middle and throws new material into space. The new material eventually becomes incorporated into new planets and life. Now, a University of Missouri professor identified new features in the material that is being ejected from the dying star Helix Nebula.

Metamaterials make laboratory test of relativity a reality

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity describes how the gravity of a massive object, such as a star, can curve space and time. It has been successfully used to predict such astronomical observations as the bending of starlight by the sun, small shifts in the orbit of the planet Mercury and the phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Now, it may soon be possible to study the effects of general relativity in bench-top laboratory experiments.

New findings on the birth of the solar system

A team of international astrophysicists, including Dr Maria Lugaro from Monash University, has discovered a new explanation for the early composition of our solar system.

The team has found that radioactive nuclei found in the earliest meteorites, dating back billions of years, could have been delivered by a nearby dying giant star of six times the mass of the sun.

Dr Lugaro said the findings could change our current ideas on the origin of the solar system.

NASA satellites watch cyclone Dolores go out kicking

The remaining clouds and showers that were once tropical storm Dolores are fading at sea, more than 940 miles west of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Dolores has now weakened into a remnant low pressure area but continues to kick up 11 foot high waves at sea.

On Friday, July 17 at 6:30 a.m. EDT, Dolores' fragmented showers and thunderstorms were located near 20 degrees north latitude and 125 degrees west longitude moving northwest near 15 knots (17 mph). Sustained winds were still around 20 knots (23 mph) and its minimum central pressure had gone up to 1006 millibars.

Apollo 11 moon rocks still crucial 40 years later, say WUSTL researchers

A lunar geochemist at Washington University in St. Louis says that there are still many answers to be gleaned from the moon rocks collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic moonwalk 40 years ago July 20.

And he credits another WUSTL professor for the fact that the astronauts even collected the moon rocks in the first place.

LROC's first look at the Apollo landing sites

The imaging system on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently had its first of many opportunities to photograph the Apollo landing sites. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) imaged five of the six Apollo sites with the narrow angle cameras (NACs) between July 11 and 15, within days of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.