NASA – Page 28 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

First Observational Test of the ‘Multiverse’

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2011Sciencealternative universes, big bang, bubble, bubble universes, cmb, cmb radiation, cmb sky, cosmic microwave background radiation, daniel mortlock, european space agency, hiranya peiris, modern theories of fundamental physics, multiverse, NASA, physicists, planck satellite, powerful computer algorithm, signs of bubble universe collisions, sky, stephen feeney, theory, ucl, universe, university college london, wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe, wmap

The theory that our universe is contained inside a bubble, and that multiple alternative universes exist inside their own bubbles – making up the ‘multiverse’ – is, for the first time, being tested by physicists.

Two research papers published in Physical Review Letters and Physical Review D are the first to detail how to search for signatures of other universes. Physicists are now searching for disk-like patterns in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation – relic heat radiation left over from the Big Bang – which could provide tell-tale evidence of collisions between other universes and our own. (more…)

Farmers More Likely to be Green if They Talk to Their Neighbors

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2011Environmentenvironmental behavior, global environmental sustainability, grain-to-green program, harvard university, journal ecological modeling, michigan state university, NASA, plant and harvest, reenroll their land, rural chinese neighbors, san diego state university, southwestern china, systems integration and sustainability, wolong nature reserve, xiaodong chen

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Besides helping each other plant and harvest, rural Chinese neighbors also influence each other’s environmental behavior – farmers are more likely to reenroll their land in a conservation program if they talk to their neighbors about it.

Scientists from Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability used a simulation model to study the amount of land farmers in the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China re-enrolled in the Grain-to-Green Program, which aims to reduce soil erosion by converting sloping cropland to forest or grassland. Farmers receive an annual payment of either 5,000 pounds of grain or $498 for each 2.5 acres enrolled in the program. In 2005, this was about 8 percent of the farmers’ income. (more…)

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Enters Orbit Around Asteroid Vesta

By Guest PostJuly 17, 2011Scienceasteroid, asteroid vesta, ceres, charles bolden, dawn, dawn spacecraft, dwarf planet, german aerospace center, gravitational pull, gravity, italian space agency, jet propulsion laboratory, los angeles, main asteroid belt between mars and jupiter, marshall space flight center in huntsville, max planck institute for solar system research, NASA, President Obama, spacecraft, university of california, vesta

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on Saturday became the first probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Dawn will study the asteroid, named Vesta, for a year before departing for a second destination, a dwarf planet named Ceres, in July 2012. Observations will provide unprecedented data to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system. The data also will help pave the way for future human space missions. (more…)

Cassini Captures Images and Sounds of Saturn Storm

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2011Scienceandrew ingersoll, austrian academy of sciences, california institute of technology, cassini, cassini spacecraft, cloud, earth, georg fischer, graz, hemispheres, iowa city, journal nature, jupiter, NASA, northern hemisphere, pasadena, pictures from cassini, saturn storm, saturn storm watch, solar illumination, storm alley, university of iowa, weather on saturn

PASADENA, Calif. — Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.

On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears approximately 35 degrees north latitude of Saturn. Pictures from Cassini’s imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers). (more…)

Sun and Planets Constructed Differently, Analysis from Nasa Mission Suggests

By Guest PostJuly 3, 2011Sciencebernard marty, centre national de la recherche scientifique, dugway, earth, gaseous nebula, genesis mission, george jarzebinski, heavy elements, isotopes, isotopic composition of oxygen, kevin mckeegan, martian, megasims, NASA, neutrons, o 16, oxygen and nitrogen, oxygen atoms, oxygen on mars, Paris, planets, protons, rocky planet, roger wiens, secondary ion mass spectrometer, solar material, solar system, solar wind, sun, utah, utah test and training range, veronika heber

The sun and the solar system’s rocky inner planets, including the Earth, may have formed differently than previously thought, according to UCLA scientists and colleagues analyzing samples returned by NASA’s Genesis mission.

The data from Genesis, which collected material from the solar wind blowing from the sun, reveal differences between the sun and planets with regard to oxygen and nitrogen, two of the most abundant elements in our solar system, the researchers report in two studies in the June 24 issue of the journal Science. And although the differences are slight, the research could help determine how our solar system evolved. (more…)

Making a Spectacle of Star Formation in Orion

By Guest PostJuly 1, 2011Scienceconstellation of orion, dust clouds, dusty nebula, green ring, messier 78, microns, NASA, nebula, photometer, spitzer, spitzer space telescope

Looking like a pair of eyeglasses only a rock star would wear, this nebula brings into focus a murky region of star formation. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope exposes the depths of this dusty nebula with its infrared vision, showing stellar infants that are lost behind dark clouds when viewed in visible light.

Best known as Messier 78, the two round greenish nebulae are actually cavities carved out of the surrounding dark dust clouds. The extended dust is mostly dark, even to Spitzer’s view, but the edges show up in mid-wavelength infrared light as glowing, red frames surrounding the bright interiors. Messier 78 is easily seen in small telescopes in the constellation of Orion, just to the northeast of Orion’s belt, but looks strikingly different, with dominant, dark swaths of dust. Spitzer’s infrared eyes penetrate this dust, revealing the glowing interior of the nebulae. (more…)

Radar for Mars Gets Flight Tests at NASA Dryden

By Guest PostJune 22, 2011Sciencedesert, dryden flight research center, edwards, environmental conditions, fa 18 aircraft, florida, jet propulsion laboratory, kennedy space center, mars, mars landing radar software, mars radar, mars science laboratory mission, martian atmosphere, microbial life, NASA, nasa technology, pasadena, southern california

Southern California’s high desert has been a stand-in for Mars for NASA technology testing many times over the years. And so it is again, in a series of flights by an F/A-18 aircraft to test the landing radar for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The flight profile is designed to have the F/A-18 climb to 40,000 feet (about 12,000 meters). From there, it makes a series of subsonic, stair-step dives at angles of 40 to 90 degrees to simulate what the Mars radar will see while the spacecraft is on a parachute descending through the Martian atmosphere. The F/A-18 pulls out of each dive at 5,000 feet (about 1,500 meters. Data collected by these flights will be used to finesse the Mars landing radar software, to help ensure that it is calibrated as accurately as possible. (more…)

A Green Ring Fit for a Superhero

By Guest PostJune 19, 2011Scienceastronomers, citizen scientist, constellation scorpius, diminutive guardians, emerald nebula, galactic plane, Galaxy, green ring of dust, infrared colors, infrared detectors, NASA, o stars, planet oa, public astronomy projects, rcw 120, spitzer, spitzer space telescope, superhero green lantern, the milky way project, ultraviolet light, zooniverse

This glowing emerald nebula seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is reminiscent of the glowing ring wielded by the superhero Green Lantern. In the comic books, the diminutive Guardians of the Planet “Oa” forged his power ring, but astronomers believe rings like this are actually sculpted by the powerful light of giant “O” stars. O stars are the most massive type of star known to exist.

Named RCW 120 by astronomers, this region of hot gas and glowing dust can be found in the murky clouds encircled by the tail of the constellation Scorpius. The green ring of dust is actually glowing in infrared colors that our eyes cannot see, but show up brightly when viewed by Spitzer’s infrared detectors. At the center of this ring are a couple of giant stars whose intense ultraviolet light carved out the bubble, though they blend in with the other stars when viewed in infrared. (more…)

Tag Archives: NASA