Category Astronomy/Space

Artist’s concept image of the hot molecular core discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: FRIS/Tohoku University. The figure is a derivative work of the following sources (ESO/M. Kornmesser; NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team; NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)/HEI

Astronomers have discovered a ‘hot molecular core’, a cocoon of molecules surrounding a newborn massive star, for the first time outside our Galaxy. The discovery marks the first important step for observational studies of extragalactic hot molecular cores and challenges the hidden chemical diversity of our universe...

Visualization of Earth’s magnetic environment, with the magnetic field as a protective shield, generated by the strong internal magnetic field in Earth’s core.. Credit: Martin Rother/GFZ

A geomagnetic storm on 1/17/13, provided unique observations that finally resolved a long-standing scientific problem. For decades, scientists had asked how particles hitting Earth’s magnetosphere were lost. A likely mechanism involved certain electromagnetic waves scattering particles into Earth’s atmosphere. More recently, another mechanism was proposed that caused particles to be lost in interplanetary space...

A new paper uses laboratory simulations of an Earth impact as evidence that a stratified layer beneath the rocky mantle — which appears in seismic data — was created when the Earth was struck by a smaller object. The authors argue this was the same impact that sent a great mass of debris hurtling into space, creating the moon. Credit: © Gudellaphoto / Fotolia

A layer of iron and other elements deep underground is the evidence scientists have long been seeking to support the hypothesis that the moon was formed by a planetary object hitting the infant Earth some 4.5 billion years ago, a new study led by Johns Hopkins University scientists argues...

Milky Way (stock image). A team of researchers has developed a new experimental Meteoric Ablation Simulator (MASI) that can help answer questions about cosmic dust and how it impacts Earth and everything on it. Credit: © sripfoto / Fotolia

University of Leeds team has developed a new experimental Meteoric Ablation Simulator (MASI) that can help answer questions about cosmic dust and how it impacts Earth and everything on it. The study of the evaporation of cosmic dust particles in the upper atmosphere has, until now, relied heavily on theoretical calculations. Evidence provided by field radar and optical observations of meteoroids is contradictory in relation to the height where each of the metals in the particles will ablate as they fall through the atmosphere...