Category Astronomy/Space

Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications ) Physicist Will Fox with Magnetic Reconnection Experiment.

Reconnection occurs when the magnetic field lines in plasma – the collection of atoms and charged electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions, that make up 99% of the visible universe — converge and forcefully snap apart. Electrons that exert a varying degree of pressure form an important part of this process as reconnection takes place. Their findings could lead to more accurate predictions of damaging space weather and improved fusion experiments.

The team found that variation in the electron pressure develops along the magnetic field lines in the region undergoing reconnection...

In a typical Alfvén wave, the particles (yellow) move freely along the magnetic field lines (blue).
Credits: NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman, data visualizer

NASA scientists are reshaping the basic understanding of the kinetic Alfvén wave in space. When NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale – or MMS – mission was launched, the scientists knew it would answer questions fundamental to the nature of our universe – and MMS hasn’t disappointed. A new finding provides observational proof of a 50-year-old theory and reshapes the basic understanding of the kinetic Alfvén wave...

The Large Magelanic Cloud is a well-known satellite or dwarf galaxy that closely orbits the Milky Way and is visible in Earth’s southern hemisphere. RIT researchers make the case for the existence of “missing” satellite galaxies that are cloaked in dark matter and cannot be directly observed. Credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble

Research conducted by scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology rules out a challenge to the accepted standard model of the universe and theory of how galaxies form by shedding new light on a problematic structure...

Research into space farming has resulted in numerous Earth-based advances (e.g., LED lighting for greenhouse and vertical farm applications; new seed potato propagation techniques, etc.) There are still many technical challenges, but plants and associated biological systems can and will be a major component of the systems that keep humans alive when we establish ourselves on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Credit: NASA

How plants are grown beyond Earth? Plants, and specifically crop plants, will be a major component of proposed regenerative life-support systems as they provide food, oxygen, scrub carbon dioxide, and aid in water recycling – all in a self-regenerating or ‘bioregenerative’ fashion...