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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Liberal Sprinkling of Salt discovered around a Young Star

    February 10, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Artist impression of Orion Source I, a young, massive star about 1,500 light-years away. New ALMA observations detected a ring of salt — sodium chloride, ordinary table salt — surrounding the star. This is the first detection of salts of any kind associated with a young star. The blue region (about 1/3 the way out from the center of the disk) represents the region where ALMA detected the millimeter-wavelength “glow” from the salts.
    Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; S. Dagnello

    A team of astronomers and chemists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has detected the chemical fingerprints of sodium chloride (NaCl) and other similar salty compounds emanating from the dusty disk surrounding Orion Source I, a massive, young star in a dusty cloud behind the Orion Nebula.

    “It’...

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    Shedding Light on the Science of Auroral Breakups

    February 10, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Scientists study the energetic particles behind stunning light show. Scientists have quantitatively confirmed how energetic an auroral breakup can be. Using a combination of cutting-edge ground-based technology and new space-borne observations, they have demonstrated the essential role of an auroral breakup in ionizing the deep atmosphere. The research furthers our understanding of one of the most visually stunning natural phenomena.

    Auroras, also known as Northern or Southern lights depending on whether they occur near the North or South Pole, are natural displays of light in the Earth’s sky. Typically these lights are dimly present at night...

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    Evidence for a New Fundamental Constant of the Sun

    February 8, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The sun’s corona — its outermost layer of atmosphere.
    Credit: Dr. Richard Morton, Northumbria University Newcastle

    New research undertaken at Northumbria University, Newcastle shows that the Sun’s magnetic waves behave differently than currently believed. After examining data gathered over a 10-year period, the team from Northumbria’s Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering found that magnetic waves in the Sun’s corona – its outermost layer of atmosphere – react to sound waves escaping from the inside of the Sun.

    These magnetic waves, known as Alfvénic waves, play a crucial role in transporting energy around the Sun and the solar system...

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    Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune

    February 7, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    During its routine yearly monitoring of the weather on our solar system’s outer planets, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new mysterious dark storm on Neptune (right) and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus (left).
    Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong and A. Hsu (University of California, Berkeley)

    During its routine yearly monitoring of the weather on our solar system’s outer planets, Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new mysterious dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus. Like Earth, Uranus and Neptune have seasons, which likely drive some of the features in their atmospheres...

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