Recent Comments

    Category Astronomy/Space

    New data from Antarctic Detector firms up Cosmic Neutrino sighting

    August 22, 2015, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    This is one of the highest-energy neutrino events from a survey of the northern sky superimposed on a view of the IceCube Lab at the South Pole. Credit: IceCube Collaboration

    This is one of the highest-energy neutrino events from a survey of the northern sky superimposed on a view of the IceCube Lab at the South Pole. Credit: IceCube Collaboration

    Researchers using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have sorted through the billions of subatomic particles that zip through its frozen cubic-kilometer-sized detector each year to gather powerful new evidence in support of 2013 observations confirming the existence of cosmic neutrinos.

    It heralds a new form of astronomy using neutrinos, the nearly massless high-energy particles generated in nature’s accelerators: black holes, massive exploding stars and the energetic cores of galaxies...

    Read More

    Solving one of the most intriguing Q’s in Astrochemistry: DIBs

    August 21, 2015, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    This artist's conception symbolically represents complex organic molecules, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, seen in the early universe. These large molecules, comprised of carbon and hydrogen, are among the building blocks of life. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is the first telescope to see polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons so early--10 billion years further back in time than seen previously. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

    This artist’s conception symbolically represents complex organic molecules, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, seen in the early universe. These large molecules, comprised of carbon and hydrogen, are among the building blocks of life. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is the first telescope to see polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons so early–10 billion years further back in time than seen previously. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

    DIBs  (diffuse interstellar bands) are a collection of about 400 absorption bands that show up in spectra of light that reaches the earth after traversing interstellar medium. Indications exist they may arise from the presence of large hydrocarbon molecules. Recent experiments lend novel credibility to this hypothesis.

    Among the hydrocarbons that are p...

    Read More

    Origin of Saturn’s F ring and its Shepherd Satellites revealed

    August 21, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Images of Saturn’s Main Rings, the F Ring, and its Shepherd Satellites Obtained by Cassini /The narrow F ring located just outside of the outer edge of the main rings. Two satellites sandwiching the F ring slightly above and to the left of the center of the image are the shepherd satellites Prometheus (inner orbit) and Pandora (outer orbit) (NASA/PIA12717) Credit: Image courtesy of Kobe University

    Images of Saturn’s Main Rings, the F Ring, and its Shepherd Satellites Obtained by Cassini /The narrow F ring located just outside of the outer edge of the main rings. Two satellites sandwiching the F ring slightly above and to the left of the center of the image are the shepherd satellites Prometheus (inner orbit) and Pandora (outer orbit) (NASA/PIA12717) Credit: Image courtesy of Kobe University

    Saturn’s F ring and its shepherd satellites are natural outcome of the final stage of formation of Saturn’s satellite system. Saturn, which is the 2nd largest planet in our solar system, is known to have multiple rings and satellites. In 1979, Pioneer 11 discovered the F ring located just outside the main ring system that extends tens of thousands of kilometers...

    Read More

    Detection of Gamma Rays from a newly discovered Dwarf Galaxy may point to Dark Matter

    August 20, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise -- it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists at Carnegie Mellon, Brown, and Cambridge universities. The exact source of this high-energy light is uncertain at this point, but it just might be a signal of dark matter lurking at the galaxy's center. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi-LAT Collaboration/Geringer-Sameth & Walker/Carnegie Mellon University/Koushiappas/Brown University

    A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise — it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists at Carnegie Mellon, Brown, and Cambridge universities. The exact source of this high-energy light is uncertain at this point, but it just might be a signal of dark matter lurking at the galaxy’s center. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi-LAT Collaboration/Geringer-Sameth & Walker/Carnegie Mellon University/Koushiappas/Brown University

    A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise – it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists...

    Read More