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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Scientists probe Neptune’s depths to reveal secrets of Icy Planets

    August 12, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Voyager image of Neptune. Credit: NASA

    Voyager image of Neptune. Credit: NASA

     
    Scientists have helped solve the mystery of what lies beneath the surface of Neptune – the most distant planet in our solar system. A new study sheds light on the chemical make-up of the planet, which lies around 4.5 billion kilometres from the sun. Extremely low temperatures on planets like Neptune – called ice giants – mean that chemicals on these distant worlds exist in a frozen state, researchers say.
     
    Frozen mixtures of water, ammonia and methane make up a thick layer between the planets’ atmosphere and core – known as the mantle. However, the form in which these chemicals are stored is poorly understood...
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    Day to Night and Back again: Earth’s Ionosphere during the Total Solar Eclipse

    August 12, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    graphic showing layers of Earth atmosphere

    A layer of charged particles, called the ionosphere, surrounds Earth, extending from about 50 to 400 miles above the surface of the planet. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein

     
    3 NASA-funded studies will use the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse as a ready-made experiment, courtesy of nature, to improve our understanding of the ionosphere and its relationship to the Sun. On Aug. 21, 2017, the Moon will slide in front of the Sun and for a brief moment, day will melt into a dusky night. Moving across the country, the Moon’s shadow will block the Sun’s light, and weather permitting, those within the path of totality will be treated to a view of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona.
     
    But the total solar eclipse will also have imperceptible effects, such as ...
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    Why Massive Galaxies don’t Dance in Crowds

    August 11, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Galaxy cluster Abell 2744, imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster lies in the constellation of Sculptor and contains several hundred galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Dupke (Eureka Scientific, Inc.), et al.

    Galaxy cluster Abell 2744, imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster lies in the constellation of Sculptor and contains several hundred galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Dupke (Eureka Scientific, Inc.), et al.

    Australian scientists have discovered why heavyweight galaxies living in a dense crowd of galaxies tend to spin more slowly than their lighter neighbours. “Contrary to earlier thinking, the spin rate of the galaxy is determined by its mass, rather than how crowded its neighbourhood is,” says study Associate Professor Sarah Brough of UNSW Sydney and the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics. The finding, based on a detailed study of more than 300 galaxies, is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

    To measure how fast their galaxies rotated, the researchers use...

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    Lunar Dynamo’s Lifetime Extended by at least 1 Billion Years

    August 11, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Environment/Geology

    The Apollo 15 moon rock sample, which was analyzed by MIT and Rutgers University researchers, consists of basalt fragments welded together by a dark glassy matrix that was produced by melting from a meteorite impact. The black scale cube is 1 centimeter across. Credit: NASA

    The Apollo 15 moon rock sample, which was analyzed by MIT and Rutgers University researchers, consists of basalt fragments welded together by a dark glassy matrix that was produced by melting from a meteorite impact. The black scale cube is 1 centimeter across. Credit: NASA

    Findings suggest 2 mechanisms may have powered the moon’s ancient churning, molten core. New evidence from ancient lunar rocks suggests that an active dynamo once churned within the molten metallic core of the moon, generating a magnetic field that lasted at least 1 billion years longer than previously thought. Dynamos are natural generators of magnetic fields around terrestrial bodies, and are powered by the churning of conducting fluids within many stars and planets...

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