Category Astronomy/Space

The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right), detected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the gray scale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). The ice is concentrated at the darkest and coldest locations, in the shadows of craters. This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface.
Credit: NASA

Using data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument, scientists have identified 3 specific signatures that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon...

This artist’s impression of one of the most distant, oldest, brightest quasars ever seen is hidden behind dust. The quasar dates back to less than one billion years after the big bang.
Credit: NASA/ESA/G.Bacon, STScI

Results are among the strongest evidence yet for ‘spooky action at a distance’. New research boosts the case for quantum entanglement. Scientists have used distant quasars, one of which emitted its light 7.8 billion years ago and the other 12.2 billion years ago, to determine the measurements to be made on pairs of entangled photons. They found correlations among more than 30,000 pairs of photons – far exceeding the limit for a classically based mechanism.

Take, for instance, two particles sitting on opposite edges of the universe...

The atmospheric phenomenon ‘STEVE’ which appears as a purple and green light ribbon in the sky. Credit: © Ryan / Fotolia

Thin ribbons of purple and white light that sometimes appear in the night sky were dubbed a new type of aurora when brought to scientists’ attention in 2016. But new research suggests these mysterious streams of light are not an aurora at all but an entirely new celestial phenomenon. Amateur photographers had captured the new phenomenon, called STEVE, on film for decades. But the scientific community only got wind of STEVE in 2016. When scientists first looked at images of STEVE, they realized the lights were slightly different than light from typical auroras but were not sure what underlying mechanism was causing them.

In a new study, researchers analyzed a STEVE event...

Jovian cloudscape, courtesy of NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Dora

Hydrogen is the most-abundant element in the universe and the simplest, but that simplicity is deceptive. Lab-based mimicry allowed an international team of physicists including Carnegie’s Alexander Goncharov to probe hydrogen under the conditions found in the interiors of giant planets – where experts believe it gets squeezed until it becomes a liquid metal, capable of conducting electricity. Their work is published in Science.

Hydrogen is the most-abundant element in the universe and the simplest – comprised of only one proton and one electron in each atom...