Astronomers have accurately measured the distance between Earth and a particular black hole for the first time. And wow, is it close.
The researchers determined that the black hole V404 Cygni is located 7,800 light-years from Earth — or just slightly more than half the distance that was previously assumed.
That puts it relatively nearby to Earth, where the distance to the center of the galaxy is about 26,000 light-years, and the nearest star beyond the sun is a mere 4.2 light-years away.
Full article on Space.com
Black Hole Closer to Earth Than Thought
Single light wave flashes out from fibre laser
A long-elusive goal of physics has been reached – producing a pulse of light so short that it contains just a single oscillation of a light wave.
The flashes are almost as short as a light pulse can be, according to the laws of physics. The new super-short pulses could used as flashguns to sense very small, very fast events such as a single photon interacting with a single electron, says Alfred Leitenstorfer of the University of Konstanz in Germany. A single-cycle pulse packs in energy more densely than a pulse containing more wave peaks and troughs.
Full article by Jeff Hecht on New Scientist
Jesus-era Home Found in Nazareth
Days before Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus -- a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy.
Full article by Diaa Hadid on Discovery News
12 Amazing Christmas Lights Around the World
Christmas is celebrated all over the world, and people express their excitement and creativity through decoration. Meet 12 of the most amazing Christmas lights around the world on Oddee
Scientists Discover and Image Explosive Deep-Ocean Volcano
Scientists funded by NOAA and the National Science Foundation recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered, describing high-definition video of the undersea eruption as spectacular. Eruption of the West Mata volcano, discovered in May, occurred nearly 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in an area bounded by Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.
A Look at Titan's Lake
The Cassini science team has released humanity's first picture of what sunlight glinting off a lake looks like on another world. This is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of liquid hydrocarbons on its surface.NASA says its scientists have been looking for the glint of light off Titan since the well-endowed Cassini spacecraft began circling Saturn in July 2004.
Titan's northern polar region, where most of the lakes are located, has been blanketed in winter darkness. As sunlight returned to the north about six months ago, the team caught what it called a moment of serendipity.
Father Christmas 'buried in Ireland'
The remains of St Nicholas, the man who inspired Father Christmas, are buried at Jerpoint Abbey in County Kilkenny, Ireland, historians believe.
Experts claim that the philanthropist St Nicholas of Myra is entombed at the 12th century abbey after his body was moved there 800 years ago.
Full story on The Telegraph
Experts claim that the philanthropist St Nicholas of Myra is entombed at the 12th century abbey after his body was moved there 800 years ago.
Full story on The Telegraph
Scientists unveil world's first bionic fingers
Experts have unveiled what they claim are the world's first bionic fingers which they hope will transform the lives of people with missing digits.
The motor-powered ProDigits have been developed by Touch Bionics, the Livingston, West Lothian company which made the bionic i-Limb hand.
The unit fits over the person's palm to help people with any number of missing digits.
Those fitted with the device can bend, touch, pick up and point.
The motor-powered ProDigits have been developed by Touch Bionics, the Livingston, West Lothian company which made the bionic i-Limb hand.
The unit fits over the person's palm to help people with any number of missing digits.
Those fitted with the device can bend, touch, pick up and point.
Full story on BBC News
'Jesus-Era' Burial Cloth Casts Doubt on Turin Shroud
An international team of researchers has found fragments of a burial shroud that cast serious doubt on the Turin shroud, the controversial linen cloth venerated by many Catholics as the proof that Christ was resurrected from the grave.
Full article by Rossella Lorenzi on Discovery News
Indian scientists claim signs of life detected on the Moon
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium on Friday.
Full article by Barghavi Kerur on DNA India
Coconut-carrying octopus
Veined Octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, showing sophisticated tool use behaviour. Footage shot by Dr Julian Finn of Museum Victoria.
Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved
What would Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland be without the Cheshire Cat, the trial, the Duchess's baby or the Mad Hatter's tea party? Look at the original story that the author told Alice Liddell and her two sisters one day during a boat trip near Oxford, though, and you'll find that these famous characters and scenes are missing from the text.
The absurdities of Lewis Carroll's classic disguise an attack on new-fangled mathematics, says literary scholar Melanie Bayley. Read her article on New Scientist
First Super-Earths Discovered Around Sun-like Stars
Astronomers say it’s a "neck-and-neck race" as to whether the first potentially habitable planets will be detected from the ground or from space, and today an international team of planet hunters announced they have discovered as many as six low-mass planets around two nearby Sun-like stars, using two ground-based observatories. This haul of planets includes two "super-Earths" with masses 5 and 7.5 times the mass of Earth.
Full article by Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today
World's Oldest Santa Figurine Believed Found
Archaeologists working in Akron, Ohio, claim to have found the world's oldest three-dimensional representation of Santa Claus.
Known as the "Blue Santa," the object was made circa 1884 by The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company, which burned to the ground in 1904. The figurine is 2.5 inches tall.
Full article by Jennifer Viegas on Discovery News
Dark Matter Detected?
Around the internet, blogs are all abuzz that an experiment searching for dark matter, CDMS, has cancelled all of their upcoming announcements and will be holding a special press conference on the 18th (this Friday!) to release their latest findings.
Ethan Siegel explains everything here
Sorry
Sorry for not posting yesterday and today. My little daughter has got chickenpox, and I'm taking care of her. Trying to keep her from scratching herself... it's a battle!
I might be able to post tomorrow.
While I'm away, check out TYWKIWDBI
Naacal
STS-119 spacewalkers seen from Earth
Astronauts working outside the International Space Station on one of the trusses at the Earth side.
When they passed over Europe, at least one of the spacewalkers were captured with a telescope from the Netherlands
First (of many) Gorgeous Pictures from the New VISTA
Well, the WISE infrared all-sky satellite may be delayed until Monday, but the new infrared southern sky survey telescope VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) right here on Earth has gone online and released its first few gorgeous pictures.
This first one is of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), a star-forming region in the constellation Orion.
More pictures and full article by Nicholos Wethington on Universe Today
Super-Massive Black Holes Observed at the Center of Galaxies
An international team of scientists has observed four super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies, which may provide new information on how these central black hole systems operate.
These super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies are called active galactic nuclei. For the first time, the team observed a quasar with an active galactic nucleus, as part of the group of four, which is located more than a billion light years from Earth.
Full article on ScienceDaily
Brightest Gamma-Ray Flare in Universe Spotted
A distant galaxy with a giant black hole in its center has been acting up recently, emitting extremely bright flashes of gamma ray light.
The flares began Sept. 15, making the galaxy currently the brightest source of gamma rays in the sky and boosting its own brightness to more than 10 times its regular luminosity over the summer. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been observing the phenomenon to learn more about how such active galaxies work. Astronomers think this galaxy, identified as 3C 454.3, is what's called a blazar.
Full story on Space.com
The flares began Sept. 15, making the galaxy currently the brightest source of gamma rays in the sky and boosting its own brightness to more than 10 times its regular luminosity over the summer. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been observing the phenomenon to learn more about how such active galaxies work. Astronomers think this galaxy, identified as 3C 454.3, is what's called a blazar.
Full story on Space.com
Twin moons above Mars
Look, up in the sky: It's Phobos and Deimos, in a duo performance captured for the first time by camera. Europe's Mars Express orbiter did the legwork last month, snapping pictures at least every second for 1.5 minutes on Nov. 5. The images, along with a cool movie, were released this morning.
Full article by Irene Klotz on Discovery News
Ancient Amazon civilisation laid bare by felled forest
Signs of what could be a previously unknown ancient civilisation are emerging from beneath the felled trees of the Amazon. Some 260 giant avenues, ditches and enclosures have been spotted from the air in a region straddling Brazil's border with Bolivia.
The traditional view is that before the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese in the 15th century there were no complex societies in the Amazon basin – in contrast to the Andes further west where the Incas built their cities. Now deforestation, increased air travel and satellite imagery are telling a different story.
Full article by Linda Geddes on New Scientist
The traditional view is that before the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese in the 15th century there were no complex societies in the Amazon basin – in contrast to the Andes further west where the Incas built their cities. Now deforestation, increased air travel and satellite imagery are telling a different story.
Full article by Linda Geddes on New Scientist
The Most Psychedelic Lake on Earth
The Spotted Lake near the city of Osoyoos in British Columbia, right at the Washington state border, is not the result of someone’s too vivid imagination but of the many different mineral deposits found in it: The lake is rich in calcium, sodium and magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) and even silver and titanium. It is called Kliluk by the Okanagan Indians who have known of the lake’s therapeutic powers for generations.
The lake changes colour throughout the year and therefore is beautiful to look at in any season. But it is only in the summer from about June to mid September that the lake water level lowers due to evaporation and reveals the “walkways” and different pools, the lake’s “spots.” Osoyoos in fact means “narrowing of the waters” in the Okanagan language.
Full article and more pictures on Environmental Graffiti
Earth's Atmosphere Came from Outer Space
A new study finds the gases which formed the Earth's atmosphere – as well as its oceans – did not come from inside the Earth but from comets and meteorites hitting Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment period. A research team tested volcanic gases to uncover the new evidence. "We found a clear meteorite signature in volcanic gases," said Dr. Greg Holland the project's lead scientist. "From that we now know that the volcanic gases could not have contributed in any significant way to the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore the atmosphere and oceans must have come from somewhere else, possibly from a late bombardment of gas and water rich materials similar to comets."
Full article by Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today
Mega-flood filled the Mediterranean in months
A flood of biblical proportions filled the present-day Mediterranean Sea in a matter of months. At its peak the mega-flood caused the sea's level to rise by over 10 metres per day.
Around 5.6 million years ago the Mediterranean Sea almost completely evaporated when it became disconnected from the Atlantic Ocean. This was due to uplift of the Strait of Gibraltar by tectonic activity, combined with a drop in sea level. Further tectonic activity 5.3 million years ago lowered the Strait and reconnected the dry Mediterranean basin with the Atlantic.
Full article by Kate Ravilious on New Scientist
Hubble Takes a New "Deep Field" Image with Wide Field Camera 3
Hubble's latest image is another stunner: a new version of the Ultra Deep Field – this time in near-infrared light and taken with the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3. This is the deepest image yet of the Universe in near-infrared, and so the faintest and reddest objects in the image are likely the oldest galaxies ever identified, and they likely formed only 600–900 million years after the Big Bang. This image was taken in the same region as the visible Ultra Deep Field in 2004, but this new deep view at longer wavelengths provides insights into how galaxies grew in their formative years early in the Universe's history.
Full article by Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today
Full article by Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today
More unknown light phenomenons in Northern Norway
As someone of you probably recalls, I wrote about an unknown light phenomenon observed in Northern Norway one month ago. Now I have to bring up the topic again, after a massive wave of sightings was reported in Northern Norway last night. Moving spirals, blue rays, shape-changing light globes were observed inseveral cities triggering hundreds of phone calls to emergency numbers.
The online edition of the norwegian newspaper VG has many pictures taken in different locations, including this stunning one taken in Tromsø:
or this one taken in Ånstad:
There are also some videos that are really worth seeing, here, here, and here
Norwegian scientist can't find any natural explanations for these phenomenons, and think that the lights could be caused by russian missile testings in the Northern Sea, but Russia has today denied that the lights have been originated by their activities.
I'll post updates if they'll come.
UPDATE: Another picture gallery on yr.no
UPDATE 2: According to the Barents Observer, an anonymous russian military source says the light was the result of a failed launch of a Bulava missile from the Typhoon submarine "Dmitri Donskoy" in the White Sea area.
Mystery of Changing Star Brightness Deepens
Unusual fluctuations in the brightness of older sun-like stars have long mystified astronomers, and new, detailed observations of the phenomenon have only deepened the mystery.
The new data, taken with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, contradict all of the explanations that astronomers have previously put forward to account for years-long variations seen in the brightness of one-third of sun-like stars that are in the later stages of their lives.
"We have obtained the most comprehensive set of observations to date for this class of sun-like stars, and they clearly show that all the possible explanations for their unusual behavior just fail," said study team member Christine Nicholls of Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australia.
Full article on Space.com
The new data, taken with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, contradict all of the explanations that astronomers have previously put forward to account for years-long variations seen in the brightness of one-third of sun-like stars that are in the later stages of their lives.
"We have obtained the most comprehensive set of observations to date for this class of sun-like stars, and they clearly show that all the possible explanations for their unusual behavior just fail," said study team member Christine Nicholls of Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australia.
Full article on Space.com
