A magnet made out of ytterbium atoms is only a billionth of a degree warmer than absolute zero. Understanding how it works could help physicists build high temperature superconductors Physics 1 September 2022 By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan Ytterbium atoms have been used to make a very cold magnet Carlos Clarivan/Science Photo […]
interstellar space
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Rogue black holes are usually detected by the matter falling into them, but the first truly isolated black hole has been found because of the way it bends the light of a distant star Space 3 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins Artist’s illustration of a rogue black hole Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski […]
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The classic 1979 sci-fi horror film “Alien” was advertised with the memorable tagline, “In space no can hear you scream.” It did not say anything about humming. Instruments aboard NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which nine years ago exited our solar system’s outer reaches, have […]
Voyager 1, which is the farthest human-made object from Earth and the first to enter interstellar space, has been detecting a “faint, persistent hum” that scientists have attributed to interstellar gas. Phys.org, citing research published in Nature Astronomy, reported that the spacecraft’s Plasma Wave System has picked up a “persistent signature produced by […]
Theia, perhaps as big as the proto-Earth, would have delivered its densest rocks inside the planet. Hagai Perets By Paul VoosenMar. 23, 2021 , 5:40 PM Scientists have long agreed that the Moon formed when a protoplanet, called Theia, struck Earth in its infancy some 4.5 billion years ago. Now, […]
As NASA’s Perseverance rover fell through the Martian atmosphere last week, a video camera on the spacecraft captured the breakneck deployment of its parachute, which was decorated with splotches of reddish orange and white. Those splotches were a secret message. During a news conference Monday, Allen Chen, the engineer in […]
Forty years ago, in August and September of 1977, a band of humans launched a pair of robots to explore the solar system and probe the infinite darkness beyond. “3, 2, 1. We have ignition and we have liftoff!” Taking advantage of a rare planetary alignment, the twin Voyager spacecraft […]