Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientists discover the highest-energy light coming from the sun      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research details the discovery of the highest-energy light ever observed from the sun. The international team behind the discovery also found that this type of light, known as gamma rays, is surprisingly bright. That is, there's more of it than scientists had previously anticipated.

Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

New exoplanet discovery builds better understanding of planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of scientists have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a low-mass star called TOI-4860, located in the Corvus constellation.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning images of the Ring Nebula      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has recorded breath-taking new images of the iconic Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Gravitational arcs in 'El Gordo' galaxy cluster      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new image of the galaxy cluster known as 'El Gordo' is revealing distant and dusty objects never seen before, and providing a bounty of fresh science. The infrared image displays a variety of unusual, distorted background galaxies that were only hinted at in previous Hubble Space Telescope images.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics
Published

How heat treatment affects a milk alternative made from rice and coconut water      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Whether they're made from soybeans, almonds, oats, or just sourced straight from the cow, milk products must go through heat treatment to prevent harmful bacterial growth and keep them safe. But understanding how these processes affect new, plant-based milk formulations could make the beverages more pleasant to drink as well. Researchers have discovered how pasteurization and sterilization affects the look and feel of one such drink made from coconut and rice.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Way cool: 'freeze ray' technology      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An unusual discovery is now being developed as an on-demand cooling solution for high-flying military electronics.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Nuclear
Published

Fusion model hot off the wall      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Heat load mitigation is critical to extending the lifetime of future fusion device. Researchers have found a way to explain the rotational temperatures measured in three different experimental fusion devices in Japan and the United States. Their model evaluates the surface interactions and electron-proton collisions of hydrogen molecules.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Hubble sees evaporating planet getting the hiccups      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A young planet whirling around a petulant red dwarf star is changing in unpredictable ways orbit-by-orbit. It is so close to its parent star that it experiences a consistent, torrential blast of energy, which evaporates its hydrogen atmosphere -- causing it to puff off the planet.

Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Listen to a star 'twinkle'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many people know that stars appear to twinkle because our atmosphere bends starlight as it travels to Earth. But stars also have an innate 'twinkle' -- caused by rippling waves of gas on their surfaces -- that is imperceptible to current Earth-bound telescopes. In a new study, researchers developed the first 3D simulations of energy rippling from a massive star's core to its outer surface. Using these new models, the researchers determined, for the first time, how much stars should innately twinkle.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Using cosmic weather to study which worlds could support life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the next generation of giant, high-powered observatories begin to come online, a new study suggests that their instruments may offer scientists an unparalleled opportunity to discern what weather may be like on far-away exoplanets.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb snaps highly detailed infrared image of actively forming stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Young stars are rambunctious! NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the 'antics' of a pair of actively forming young stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. To find them, trace the bright pink and red diffraction spikes until you hit the center: The stars are within the orange-white splotch. They are buried deeply in a disk of gas and dust that feeds their growth as they continue to gain mass. The disk is not visible, but its shadow can be seen in the two dark, conical regions surrounding the central stars.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New planetary formation findings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered new evidence of how planets as massive as Jupiter can form.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers reveal new features of galactic black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of scientists, including astrophysicists, report on a dedicated observational campaign on the Galactic microquasar dubbed GRS 1915+105. The team revealed features of a microquasar system that have never before been seen. Using the massive Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, astronomers discovered a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signal in the radio band for the first time from any microquasar systems.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dark energy camera captures galaxies in lopsided tug of war, a prelude to merger      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The spiral galaxy NGC 1532, also known as Haley's Coronet, is caught in a lopsided tug of war with its smaller neighbor, the dwarf galaxy NGC 1531.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New image reveals secrets of planet birth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have gained new clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics
Published

Novel thermal sensor could help drive down the heat      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Excess heat from electronic or mechanical devices is a sign or cause of inefficient performance. In many cases, embedded sensors to monitor the flow of heat could help engineers alter device behavior or designs to improve their efficiency. For the first time, researchers exploit a novel thermoelectric phenomenon to build a thin sensor that can visualize heat flow in real time. The sensor could be built deep inside devices where other kinds of sensors are impractical. It is also quick, cheap and easy to manufacture using well-established methods.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb detects water vapor in rocky planet-forming zone      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Water is essential for life as we know it. However, scientists debate how it reached the Earth and whether the same processes could seed rocky exoplanets orbiting distant stars. New insights may come from the planetary system PDS 70, located 370 light-years away. The star hosts both an inner disk and outer disk of gas and dust, separated by a 5 billion-mile-wide (8 billion kilometer) gap, and within that gap are two known gas-giant planets.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

To stick or to bounce: Size determines the stickiness of cosmic dust aggregates      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Current evidence suggests that microparticles of cosmic dust collide and stick together to form larger dust aggregates that may eventually combine and develop into planets. Numerical models that accurately characterize the conditions required for colliding microparticle aggregates to stick together, rather than bounce apart, are therefore paramount to understanding the evolution of planets. Recent modeling suggests that dust aggregates are less likely to stick together after a collision as the size of the aggregates increases.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics
Published

Catalyst can control methane emissions in natural gas engines      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A catalyst using a single or just a few palladium atoms removed 90% of unburned methane from natural gas engine exhaust at low temperatures in a recent study. While more research needs to be done, the advance in single atom catalysis has the potential to lower exhaust emissions of methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases that traps heat at about 25 times the rate of carbon dioxide. Researchers showed that the single-atom catalyst was able to remove methane from engine exhaust at lower temperatures, less than 350 degrees Celsius (662 degrees Fahrenheit), while maintaining reaction stability at higher temperatures.