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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Fruit flies journey to ISS to study effects of zero gravity on the Heart

    May 28, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, such as those planned for use as model organisms for variable gravity studies aboard the International Space Station. Credits: NASA

    Fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, such as those planned for use as model organisms for variable gravity studies aboard the International Space Station.
    Credits: NASA

    Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) today announced 6 boxes of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) to study the impact of weightlessness on the heart. The fruit flies are scheduled to launch on June 1, 2017, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and will travel to the ISS via a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

    Living in zero gravity is known to negatively impact the body’s cardiovascular system...

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    Biggest Ever Simulations help Uncover the History of the Galaxy

    May 27, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1.The dark matter density 500 million years after the Big Bang, centred on what would become the Milky Way. Red, blue and yellow colours indicate low, intermediate and high density regions.
    Credit: Robert J. J. Grand, Facundo A. Gomez, Federico Marinacci, Ruediger Pakmor, Volker Springel, David J. R. Campbell, Carlos S. Frenk, Adrian Jenkins and Simon D. M. White
    2. A composite of images from the simulation. (Left) Projected gas density of the galaxy environment about 10 billion years ago. Depicted are filamentary gas structures that feed the main galaxy at the centre. (Middle) Bird’s eye view of the gas disc in the present day. The fine detailed spiral pattern is clearly visible. (Right) Side-on view of the same gas disc in the present day...

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    Volunteers help find Star that exploded 970 million years ago, predating the dinosaurs

    May 27, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. Artist's impression of Type Ia Supernova, Image: ESA 2. The left is the "new image" from a couple of nights ago while the middle one is the "reference" image taken a couple of years ago, the right image is the difference between "new" and "reference." The researchers said there is clearly an exploding star in the outskirts of the galaxy. Credit: ANU

    1. Artist’s impression of Type Ia Supernova, Image: ESA
    2. The left is the “new image” from a couple of nights ago while the middle one is the “reference” image taken a couple of years ago, the right image is the difference between “new” and “reference.” The researchers said there is clearly an exploding star in the outskirts of the galaxy. Credit: ANU

    Online volunteers, including a woman from Belgium and a Scottish man, have helped astronomers at The Australian National University (ANU) find a star that exploded 970 million years ago, predating the dinosaurs’ time on Earth. ANU has invited everyone with an interest in astronomy to join the University’s search for supernovae, which scientists can use to measure the Universe and acceleration of its growth.

    Dr Brad Tucker said his team was ab...

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    Extreme Jupiter Weather and Magnetic Fields

    May 26, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. This image combines an image taken with Hubble Space Telescope in the optical (taken in spring 2014) and observations of its auroras in the ultraviolet, taken in 2016. Credit: NASA, ESA and J. Nichols (University of Leicester) 2. Juno spacecraft 3. Jupiter's poles are covered in cyclones, some as big as the Earth

    1. This image combines an image taken with Hubble Space Telescope in the optical (taken in spring 2014) and observations of its auroras in the ultraviolet, taken in 2016. Credit: NASA, ESA and J. Nichols (University of Leicester)
    2. Juno spacecraft
    3. Jupiter’s poles are covered in cyclones, some as big as the Earth

    Astronomers publish predictions of planetary phenomena on Jupiter that informed spacecraft’s arrival. New observations about the extreme conditions of Jupiter’s weather and magnetic fields by University of Leicester astronomers have contributed to the revelations and insights coming from the first close passes of Jupiter by NASA’s Juno mission. Juno made its first scientific close-up, known as a ‘perijove’, on 27 August last year...

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