ScienceDaily: Space & Time News

Mars exploration: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft completes first deep dip campaign Posted: 19 Feb 2015 06:19 PM PST NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution has completed the first of five deep-dip maneuvers designed to gather measurements closer to the lower end of the Martian upper atmosphere.

Giving shape to black holes' intense winds Posted: 19 Feb 2015 06:19 PM PST By looking at the speed of ambient gas spewing out from a well-known quasar, astronomers are gaining insight into how black holes and their host galaxies might have evolved at the same time.

Scientists identify mineral that destroys organic compounds, with implications for Mars Curiosity Mission Posted: 19 Feb 2015 06:17 PM PST Scientists have discovered that the mineral jarosite breaks down organic compounds when it is flash-heated, with implications for Mars research. Jarosite is an iron sulphate and it is one of several minerals that NASA’s Curiosity Mission is searching for, as its presence could indicate ancient habitable environments, which may have once hosted life on the red planet.

Hubble gets best view of a circumstellar debris disk distorted by a planet Posted: 19 Feb 2015 11:22 AM PST Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to take the most detailed picture to date of a large, edge-on, gas-and-dust disk encircling the 20-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris. The new image traces the disk in closer to the star to within about 650 million miles of the star.

A new view of the solar system: Astrophysical jets driven by the sun Posted: 19 Feb 2015 08:56 AM PST New research suggests that the sun's magnetic field controls the large-scale shape of the heliosphere much more than expected. The new model shows that the magnetic field squeezes the solar wind along the sun's north-south axis, producing two jets. These jets are then dragged downstream by the flow of the interstellar medium -- the gases and dust that lie between star systems.

Scientists observe 'god particle' analogue in superconductors: 'Tabletop' technique Posted: 19 Feb 2015 07:17 AM PST The Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the Higgs boson -- the 'God particle' believed responsible for all the mass in the universe -- took place in 2012 at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The first hint of Higgs was inspired by the study of superconductors -- a special class of metals that, when cooled to very low temperatures, allow electrons to move without resistance. Now, a research team has reported the first-ever observations of the Higgs mode in superconducting materials.

Classical nova explosions are major lithium factories in the universe Posted: 19 Feb 2015 05:58 AM PST Astronomers observed Nova Delphini 2013 which occurred on August 14, 2013. They discovered that the outburst is producing a large amount of lithium (Li). Lithium is a key element in the study of the chemical evolution of the universe because it likely was and is produced in several ways: through Big Bang nucleosynthesis, in collisions between energetic cosmic rays and the interstellar medium, inside stellar interiors, and as a result of novae and supernova explosions. This new observation provides the first direct evidence for the supply of Li from stellar objects to the galactic medium.

Does dark matter cause mass extinctions and geologic upheavals? Posted: 19 Feb 2015 05:58 AM PST New research concludes that Earth's infrequent but predictable path around and through our Galaxy's disc may have a direct and significant effect on geological and biological phenomena occurring on Earth. Scientists conclude that movement through dark matter may perturb the orbits of comets and lead to additional heating in the Earth's core, both of which could be connected with mass extinction events.

Searching for signs of a force from the 'dark side' in particle collisions Posted: 19 Feb 2015 05:49 AM PST Scientists searching for signs of elusive “dark photons” as an explanation for an anomaly in a groundbreaking physics experiment have nearly ruled out their role.

For the first time, spacecraft catch solar shockwave in the act: 'Ultrarelativistic, killer electrons made in 60 seconds Posted: 18 Feb 2015 11:13 AM PST On Oct. 8, 2013, an explosion on the sun's surface sent a supersonic blast wave of solar wind out into space. This shockwave tore past Mercury and Venus, blitzing by the moon before streaming toward Earth. The shockwave struck a massive blow to the Earth's magnetic field, setting off a magnetized sound pulse around the planet.

Getting a grip on exotic atomic nuclei Posted: 18 Feb 2015 07:16 AM PST A new model describing atomic nuclei more accurately predicts the properties of various exotic isotopes that are created in supernova explosions or inside nuclear reactors.