Skip to main content

Home/ SciByte/ Group items tagged scibyte127

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Mars Base

Research pair offer three possible models of Pluto ahead of New Horizons visit - 0 views

  • Two space researchers
  • have published a paper
  • they describe three possible interior models of the former planet Pluto
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • the possibilities include: an undifferentiated rock/ice mixture, a differentiated rock/ice mixture, and an ocean covered with ice
  • The third possibility suggests the likelihood, they claim, of tectonic action on the dwarf planet
  • Scientists believe that Pluto came to exist as it does today, in part due to a collision billions of years ago that led also to the formation of its moon Charon
  • When celestial bodies collide, not only do they knock each other around, they produce heat—heat, the researchers suggest that could still be evident today
  • Pluto circles the sun in an elliptical orbit, thus sometimes it's much closer to the sun than other times
  • When near, it has a defined atmosphere, when far away however, its atmosphere actually freezes to its surface
  • something that could hide ridges in the ice and thus evidence of both tectonic activity and an ocean beneath the crust of ice
  • nce New Horizons will arrive during a time when its atmosphere is frozen to the surface, it might be difficult to determine which of the three proposed models actually describes the relationship between its exterior and interior
  • a theory that suggests that shortly after impact, Pluto and Charon were much closer together
  • the gravity attraction between them would have caused both to be egg shaped.
  • As time passed, melted ice from the impact would have created an icy crust on top of an ocean on Pluto
  • as Charon moved farther away, the attractive pull would have diminished, causing ice plates to form and crack against one another, a form of tectonics.
  • If that were the case, the two add, then in all likelihood, when New Horizons begins sending back images, they should see evidence of such tectonic action—plate edges thrust into the air
Mars Base

Is Saturn Making a New Moon? - 0 views

  • A bright clump spotted orbiting Saturn at the outermost edge of its A ring may be a brand new moon in the process of being born
  • have not seen anything like this before
  • In images acquired with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera in 2013
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • a 1,200-kilometer-long, 10-kilometer-wide arc of icy material was observed traveling along the edge of the A ring
  • The arc is thought to be the result of gravitational perturbations caused by an as-yet unseen embedded object about a kilometer wide — possibly a miniature moon in the process of formation
  • The half-mile-wide object has been unofficially named “Peggy,”
  • According to the team’s paper, Peggy’s effects on the A ring has been visible to Cassini since May 2012
  • Eventually Peggy may coalesce into a slightly larger moon and move outward, establishing its own orbital path around Saturn
  • This is how many of Saturn’s other moons are thought to have formed much further back in the planet’s history
  • While it is possible that the bright perturbation is the result of an object’s breakup rather than formation, researchers are still looking forward to finding out more about its evolution.
Mars Base

Easter Sunday Space Station Rendezvous and Berthing for SpaceX Dragon Freighter Succees... - 0 views

  • The SpaceX 3 Dragon commercial cargo freighter successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Easter Sunday morning, April 20
  • The mission is the company’s third cargo delivery flight to the station.
  • The Dragon vehicle loaded with nearly 2.5 tons of science experiments
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Dragon will remain attached to the station until May 18
  • There are over 150 science experiments loaded aboard the Dragon capsule for research to be conducted by the crews of ISS Expeditions 39 and 40
  • CRS-3 mission will deliver some 5000 pounds of science experiments
  • a pair of hi tech legs for Robonaut 2
  • a high definition Earth observing imaging camera suite (HDEV)
  • a laser optical communications experiment (OPALS) and essential gear
  • the VEGGIE lettuce growing experiment
  • spare parts, crew provisions, food, clothing and supplies to the six person crews
Mars Base

Our Guide to the Bizzare April 29th Solar Eclipse - 0 views

  • On April 29th, an annular solar eclipse occurs over a small D-shaped 500 kilometre wide region of Antarctica
  • 2014 has the minimum number of eclipses possible in one year, with four: two partial solars and two total lunars
  • This month’s solar eclipse is also a rarity in that it’s a non-central eclipse with one limit
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • the center of the Moon’s shadow — known as the antumbra during an annular eclipse — will juuuust miss the Earth and instead pass scant kilometres above the Antarctic continent
  • out of 3,956 annular eclipses occurring from 2000 BCE to 3000 AD, only 68 (1.7%) are of the non-central variety
  • An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is too distant to cover the disk of the Sun, resulting in a bright “annulus” or “ring-of-fire” eclipse
  • several southern Indian Ocean islands and all of Australia will still witness a fine partial solar eclipse from this event
  • A scattering of islands in the southern Indian Ocean will see a 55% eclipsed Sun.
  • for Australia
  • Perth seeing a 55% eclipsed Sun and Sydney seeing a 50% partial eclipse.
  • in Sydney and eastern Australia
  • the eclipse occurs low to the horizon to the west at sunset
  • The safest method to view a partial solar eclipse is via projection
Mars Base

April 25 - Today in Science History - Scientists born on April 25th, died, and events - 0 views

  • Hubble Space Telescope
  • In 1990, the $2.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in space from the Space Shuttle Discovery into an orbit 381 miles above Earth. It was the first major orbiting observatory, named in honour of American astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble. It was seven years behind schedule and nearly $2 billion over budget. In orbit, the 94.5-in primary mirror was found to be flawed, giving blurred images and reduced ability to see distant stars. However, correcting optics were successfully installed in 25 Dec 1993. The telescope 43-ft x 14-ft telescope now provides images with a clarity otherwise impossible due to the effect of the earth's atmosphere. Instrument packages capture across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Mars Base

April 24 - Today in Science History - Scientists born on April 24th, died, and events - 0 views

  • First Chinese satellite
  • In 1970, the People's Republic of China became the fifth nation with a satellite in orbit with the launch of DFH-1, from Jiuquab Satellite Launch Center. It had a design life of 15 days, and for propaganda, it transmitted the Communist China national anthem, The East is Red (in Chinese "Dongfanghong," hence the initials DFH). It had a 72-face polyhedral shape, 1-m diam., mass 173-kg. It was followed by on 3 Mar 1971 by a second DFH named SJ-1 (Practice-1). The first four nations with satellites in space were the USSR (Sputnik on 4 Oct 1957), the U.S. (Explorer-I on 31 Jan 1958), France (Astrix-1 on 26 Nov 1965 and Japan (Osumi 5, 11 Feb 1970). After China, Britain launched its Prospero satellite on 28 Oct 1972)
Mars Base

ADHD: Scientists discover brain's anti-distraction system -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

  • This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction.
  • doctoral student
  • made the discovery during his master's thesis research
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • This is the first study to reveal our brains rely on an active suppression mechanism to avoid being distracted by salient irrelevant information when we want to focus on a particular item or task
  • other scientists first discovered the existence of the specific neural index of suppression in his lab in 2009
  • r results show clearly that this is only one part of the equation and that active suppression of the irrelevant objects is another important part
  • psychologists say their discovery could help scientists and health care professionals better treat individuals with distraction-related attentional deficits
  • Distraction is a leading cause of injury and death in driving and other high-stakes environments
  • disorders associated with attention deficits, such as ADHD and schizophrenia, may turn out to be due to difficulties in suppressing irrelevant objects rather than difficulty selecting relevant ones
  • researchers are now turning their attention to understanding how we deal with distraction
  • looking at when and why we can't suppress potentially distracting objects, whether some of us are better at doing so and why that is the case.
Mars Base

Casual marijuana use linked to brain abnormalities in students - 0 views

  • Young adults who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation
  • This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes
  • the degree of brain abnormalities in these regions is directly related to the number of joints a person smoked per week
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • The more joints a person smoked, the more abnormal the shape, volume and density of the brain regions
  • Some of these people only used marijuana to get high once or twice a week
  • think a little recreational use shouldn't cause a problem
  • data directly says this is not the case
  • Scientists examined the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala—key regions for emotion and motivation, and associated with addiction—in the brains of casual marijuana users and non-users
  • chers analyzed three measures: volume, shape and density of grey matter
  • to obtain a comprehensive view of how each region was affected.
  • Both these regions in recreational pot users were abnormally altered for at least two of these structural measures
  • The degree of those alterations was directly related to how much marijuana the subjects used
  • Through different methods of neuroimaging, scientists examined the brains of young adults
  • ages 18 to 25, from Boston-area colleges; 20 who smoked marijuana and 20 who didn't. Each group had nine males and 11 females
  • The users underwent a psychiatric interview to confirm they were not dependent on marijuana
  • The changes in brain structures indicate the marijuana users' brains are adapting to low-level exposure to marijuana
  • The study results fit with animal studies that show when rats are given tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) their brains rewire and form many new connections. THC is the mind-altering ingredient found in marijuana
  • think when people are in the process of becoming addicted, their brains form these new connections
  • In animals, these new connections indicate the brain is adapting to the unnatural level of reward and stimulation from marijuana. These connections make other natural rewards less satisfying
  • The brain changes suggest that structural changes to the brain are an important early result of casual drug use
  • researchers did not know the THC content of the marijuana, which can range from 5 to 9 percent or even higher
  • The THC content is much higher today than the marijuana during the 1960s and 1970s, which was often about 1 to 3 percent
Mars Base

First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed: It may have liquid water - 0 views

  • The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory
  • The initial discovery, made by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, is one of a handful of smaller planets found by Kepler and verified using large ground-based telescopes
  • his Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the Sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • neither Kepler (nor any telescope) is currently able to directly spot an exoplanet of this size and proximity to its host star
  • can do is eliminate essentially all other possibilities so that the validity of these planets is really the only viable option
  • With such a small host star, the team employed a technique that eliminated the possibility that either a background star or a stellar companion could be mimicking what Kepler detected
  • the team obtained extremely high spatial resolution observations from the eight-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai
  • using a technique called speckle imaging, as well as adaptive optics (AO) observations from the ten-meter Keck II telescope
  • The Gemini "speckle" data directly imaged the system to within about 400 million miles (about 4 AU, approximately equal to the orbit of Jupiter in our solar system) of the host star and confirmed that there were no other stellar size objects orbiting within this radius from the star
  • The host star, Kepler-186, is an M1-type dwarf star relatively close to our solar system, at about 500 light years and is in the constellation of Cygnus
  • The star is very dim, being over half a million times fainter than the faintest stars we can see with the naked eye
  • Five small planets have been found orbiting this star, four of which are in very short-period orbits and are very hot
  • Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) on the Gemini North telescope
  • is a visiting instrument
  • works on a principle that utilizes multiple short exposures of an object to capture and remove the noise introduced by atmospheric turbulence producing images with extreme detail
1 - 12 of 12
Showing 20 items per page