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    Category Astronomy/Space

    First observation of the hyperfine splitting in antihydrogen

    August 5, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    Antimatter research laboratory. Credit: Professor Niels Madsern

    Antimatter research laboratory. Credit: Professor Niels Madsern

     
    Swansea University scientists at CERN have again made a landmark finding, taking them one step closer to answering the question of why matter exists and illuminating the mysteries of the Big Bang and the birth of the Universe. The physicists from the University’s College of Science, working with an international collaborative team at CERN, describe the first observation of spectral line shapes in antihydrogen, the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen.
     
    Professor Mike Charlton said: “The existence of antimatter is well established in physics, and it is buried deep in the heart of some of the most successful theories ever developed...
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    Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune

    August 5, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Images of Neptune taken during twilight observing revealed an extremely large bright storm system near Neptune's equator (labeled 'cloud complex' in the upper figure), a region where astronomers have never seen a bright cloud. The center of the storm complex is ~9,000 km across, about 3/4 the size of Earth, or 1/3 of Neptune's radius. The storm brightened considerably between June 26 and July 2, as noted in the logarithmic scale of the images taken on July 2. Credit: N. Molter/I. De Pater, UC Berkeley & C. Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory

    Images of Neptune taken during twilight observing revealed an extremely large bright storm system near Neptune’s equator (labeled ‘cloud complex’ in the upper figure), a region where astronomers have never seen a bright cloud. The center of the storm complex is ~9,000 km across, about 3/4 the size of Earth, or 1/3 of Neptune’s radius. The storm brightened considerably between June 26 and July 2, as noted in the logarithmic scale of the images taken on July 2.
    Credit: N. Molter/I. De Pater, UC Berkeley & C. Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory

    Striking images of a storm system nearly the size of Earth have astronomers doing a double-take after pinpointing its location near Neptune’s equator, a region where no bright cloud has been seen before...

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    Our Solar system’s ‘Shocking’ origin story

    August 4, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The colors represent the relative amounts of short-lived radioactive isotopes, such as iron-60, injected into a newly formed protoplanetary disk (seen face on with the protostar being the light purple blob in the middle) by a supernova shock wave. Credit: Image courtesy of Alan Boss

    The colors represent the relative amounts of short-lived radioactive isotopes, such as iron-60, injected into a newly formed protoplanetary disk (seen face on with the protostar being the light purple blob in the middle) by a supernova shock wave. Credit: Image courtesy of Alan Boss

    New evidence supporting the supernova shock theory of our Solar System’s origin. According to one longstanding theory, our Solar System’s formation was triggered by a shock wave from an exploding supernova. The shock wave injected material from the exploding star into a neighboring cloud of dust and gas, causing it to collapse in on itself and form the Sun and its surrounding planets...

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    Exoplanet Shines with Glowing Water Atmosphere

    August 4, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Researchers have found that a "hot Jupiter" exoplanet named WASP-121b (left) has a stratosphere hot enough to boil iron. The planet is as close to its host star (right) as possible without the star's gravity ripping the planet apart. Credit: Engine House VFX, At-Bristol Science Centre, University of Exeter

    Researchers have found that a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet named WASP-121b (left) has a stratosphere hot enough to boil iron. The planet is as close to its host star (right) as possible without the star’s gravity ripping the planet apart. Credit: Engine House VFX, At-Bristol Science Centre, University of Exeter

    Distant ‘hot Jupiter’ has a stratosphere hot enough to boil iron. Scientists have found compelling evidence for a stratosphere on an enormous planet outside our solar system. The planet’s stratosphere – a layer of atmosphere where temperature increases with higher altitudes – is hot enough to boil iron. WASP-121b, located ~900 light years from Earth, is a gas giant exoplanet commonly referred to as a “hot Jupiter.”

    An international team of researchers, led by the University of Exeter wit...

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