Category Astronomy/Space

Magetic field model/Magnetic anomaly. Credit: ESA

Satellites have been mapping the upper part of the Earth magnetic field by collecting data for 3 years and found some amazing features about the Earth’s crust. The result is the release of highest resolution map of this field seen from space to date. This ‘lithospheric magnetic field’ is very weak and therefore difficult to detect and map from space. But with the Swarm satellites it has been possible. “By combining Swarm measurements with historical data from the German CHAMP satellite, and using a new modelling technique, it was possible to extract the tiny magnetic signals of crustal magnetization with unprecedented accuracy,” said professor Nils Olsen from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

Most of the Earth magnetic field is gen...

Comet 67P that orbits the sun has growing fractures, collapsing cliffs and rolling boulders, according to scientists working on the Rosetta mission. Credit: NASA

Images returned from the ESA’s Rosetta mission indicate the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was a very active place during its most recent trip through the solar system, says a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. The images show the comet’s surface is full of growing fractures, collapsing cliffs and massive rolling boulders. Moving material buried some features on the comet’s surface and exhumed others. A study on 67P’s changing surface was released Tuesday in the journal Science.

“As comets approach the sun, they go into overdrive and exhibit spectacular changes on their surface,” said Ramy El-Maarry, ...

Galaxy UGC 7321 is surrounded by hydrogen gas, and as this gas is irradiated with UV radiation, it emits a diffuse red glow through a process known as fluorescence. This image shows the light emitted by stars inside the galaxy, surrounded by a red ring that represents the fluorescent emission induced by the UV radiation. Credit: M. Fumagalli/T. Theuns/S. Berry

Astronomers have developed a way to detect the UV background of the Universe, which could help explain why there are so few small galaxies in the cosmos. UV radiation is invisible but shows up as visible red light when it interacts with gas. An international team led by Durham University, UK, has now found a way to measure it using instruments on Earth...

Portals can allow the exploration of the dark sector with the Standard Model particles Portals mix or connect the dark sector particles with the Standard Model particles. Through the portals it is possible to explore the dark sector particles using the Standard Model particles. The portals play a basic and critical role in the study of the dark sector particles both theoretically and experimentally. Credit: Image courtesy of Institute for Basic Science

Once upon a time, the Universe was just a hot soup of particles. In those days, together with visible particles, other particles to us hidden or dark might have formed. Billions of years later scientists catalogued 17 types of visible particles, with the most recent one being the Higgs boson, creating the ‘Standard Model’...