CERN – Jupiter Broadcasting

We take a look at hint of dark matter, reading your dreams, blackhole snacks, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Hints of Dark Matter

After two years a cosmic ray detector (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS) on the International Space Station has found the first tantalizing evidence of the cosmic footprints that may have been left by dark matter
Dark Matter
A type of matter hypothesized to account for 26.8% of the total mass in the universe
Its existence and properties are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation, and the large-scale structure of the universe
First theorized in 1932, the existence of dark matter for 80 years but has never actually observed it directly
Accelerators smashing particles together at high speed deep underground with special detectors have had no luck finding them, you can also look in space for the results of rare dark matter collisions
Unraveling the mystery of dark matter could help scientists better understand the composition of our universe and, more particularly, what holds galaxies together
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer | AMS
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS, is a 7-ton detector with a 3-foot magnet ring at its core was sent into space in 2011, transmitting its data to CERN, where it is being analyzed
Since its installation on 19 May 2011 it has measured over 30 billion cosmic rays at energies up to trillions of electron volts
Its permanent magnet and array of precision particle detectors collect and identify charged cosmic rays passing through AMS from the far reaches of space
Over its long duration mission on the ISS, AMS will record signals from 16 billion cosmic rays every year and transmit them to Earth for analysis by the AMS Collaboration.
Data
Currently, the total number of positrons identified by AMS, in excess of 400,000, is the largest number of energetic antimatter particles directly measured and analyzed from space
In the initial 18 month period of space operations, from 19 May 2011 to 10 December 2012, AMS analyzed 25 billion primary cosmic ray events
Of these, 6.8 million, were unambiguously identified as electrons and their antimatter counterpart, positrons.
If particles of dark matter crash and annihilate each other, they should leave a footprint of positrons-the anti-matter version of electrons-at high energy levels
The results show evidence that could be dark matter or could be energy could also originate from pulsars
By measuring the ratio between positrons and electrons and by studying the behavior of any excess across the energy spectrum, a better understanding of the origin of dark matter and other physics phenomena can be obtained
The curve of the plot of those positrons will be a clue as to what these results are, if the curve is one shape, it points to dark matter, while if it\’s another, it points to pulsars
While the results aren\’t enough to declare the case closed they expect a more definitive answer in a matter of months
Multimedia
YouTube | Installing the AMS | Space Station Live: First Findings from the AMS | ReelNASA
YouTube | Anouncement | Space Station Instrument Finds Excess Antimatter | NASAtelevision
YouTube | Animated Look inside the AMS | Sifting Through the Cosmic Sands for Dark Matter | VideoFromSpace
Further Reading / In the News
Scientists report hint of dark matter in first results from $2 billion cosmic ray detector (Update 4) | Phys.org
Cosmic ray detector confirms hints of dark matter | Matter & Energy | Science News
Dark Matter Possibly Found by $2 Billion Space Station Experiment | AMS | Space.com
Potential Dark Matter Discovery a Win for Space Station Science | Space.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Peering Into Your Dreams

A recent study shows that it may be possible to use brain activity patterns to understand something about what a person is dreaming about
The Study
Researchers recorded brain activity in three adult male volunteers during the early stages of sleep
Researchers chose to awaken the subjects in light sleep rather than in deeper \”rapid eye movement\” (REM) sleep solely to make the research easier to do
It takes at least an hour to reach first REM stage, it would be difficult to get sleep and dream data from multiple participants
Right after being awakened from the early stages of sleep, the researchers asked for detailed reports on what they had seen while sleeping
After gathering at least 200 such reports from the three men, the researchers used a lexical database to group the dreamed objects in coarse categories, such as street, furniture and girl
They used functional MRI to monitor brain activity of the participants and polysomnography to record the physical changes that occur during sleep
Then researchers compared evidence of brain activity when participants were awake and looking at real images to the brain activity they saw when participants were dreaming
Computer algorithms sorted through the patterns of brain activity, linking particular patterns with objects
On average, the computer could pick which of two objects had appeared in a dream 70 percent of the time
What the Results Could Mean
The study bolsters the notion that the vivid imagery of dreams, no matter how fantastic, is as real as waking life, from the brain’s perspective
Visual experiences you have when dreaming are detectable by the same type of brain activity that occurs when looking at actual images when you\’re awake
However it might be hard to remember a dream minutes after waking up, because particular neurotransmitters or brain regions involved in memory are not active during sleep
There is also evidence suggesting that the pattern of spontaneous brain activity is relevant to health issues
Caution Belief
The current approach requires the data of image viewing and sleep within the same person, but methods are being developed for aligning brain patterns across people
One expert said the results are intriguing, he was cautious that previous disappointments relating brain activity to complex visual experience and would like to see this replicated
Multimedia
YouTube | This is your brain on dreams | Digtal Carlisle
Further Reading / In the News
Dream contents deciphered by computer | Body & Brain | Science News
Could scientists peek into your dreams? | MedicalXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Blackhole Snacks on a Planet

Astronomers using the Integral space observatory were able to watch as the planet was eaten by a blackhole that had been inactive for decades
The Galaxy
Astronomers were using Integral to study a different galaxy when they noticed a bright X-ray flare coming from another location in the same wide field-of-view
The origin was confirmed as NGC 4845, 47 million light-years away, a galaxy never before detected at high energies
The blackhole in the center of NGC 4845 is estimated to have a mass of around 300,000 times that of our own Sun
The \’Eaten\’ Object
The halo of material suggest that the object was approximately 14–30 Jupiter masses, and so the astronomers say the object was either a super-Jupiter or a brown dwarf
It is believed that it was a ‘wandering’ planet, which would fit the description of recent studies
Astronomers estimate that only the external layers, ~10% total mass, were eaten by the blackhole, and that a denser core has been left orbiting the blackhole
The Emissions
The emission was traced from its maximum in January 2011, when the galaxy brightened by a factor of a thousand, and then as it subsided over the course of the year
Emissions brightened and decayed with a delay of 2–3 months between the object being disrupted and the heating of the debris in the vicinity of the blackhole.
By analyzing the characteristics of the flare astronomers were able to determine the source of the emission
This data came from a halo of material around the galaxy’s central blackhole as it tore apart and fed on the object
Of Note
This is the first time where we have seen the disruption of a substellar object by a blackhole
This \’event\’ might be similar to what is expected to happen with the supermassive blackhole at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy
Estimates are that events like these may be detectable every few years in galaxies around us
Multimedia
YouTube | blackhole Snacks On A Super-Jupiter | Animation | VideoFromSpace
Further Reading / In the News
Astronomers Watch as a blackhole Eats a Rogue Planet | UniverseToday.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Eyeing Europa

**Paul Hill @P_H_9_3 | Check This Out! **
Jupiter Europa Mission Funding
A resolution was recently passed by the House and Senate outlining the extent of government funding (75,000,000) for pre-formulation and/or formulation activities for a mission that meets the science goals outlined for the Jupiter Europa mission
Data recently uncovered the presence of magnesium sulfate salt, Epsom salt, on Europa’s surface which is suggestive of a cycling of Europa’s salty ocean with the surface.
Although this is good news, it’s also a reminder that potentially habitable moons don’t only orbit Jupiter, Enceladus the Saturnian moon is known to possess salty liquid water beneath its surface, plus an internal heat source, that generates Enceladus’ famous geysers
Europa In Other News
According to research Jupiter’s ice-encrusted moon Europa has hydrogen peroxide across much of the surface of its leading hemisphere, which could potentially provide energy for life if it has found its way into the moon’s subsurface ocean.
The availability of oxidants like peroxide on Earth was a critical part of the rise of complex, multicellular life
The highest concentration of peroxide found was on the side of Europa that always leads in its orbit around Jupiter,roughly 20 times more diluted than \’off the shelf\’ hydrogen peroxide, then drops off to nearly zero on the hemisphere of Europa that faces backward in its orbit.
The concentration of Hydrogen peroxide was first detected on Europa by NASA’s Galileo mission, which explored the Jupiter system from 1995 to 2003
Galileo observations were of a limited region. The new Keck data show that peroxide is widespread across much of the surface of Europa, and the highest concentrations are reached in regions where Europa’s ice is nearly pure water with very little sulfur contamination
Scientists think hydrogen peroxide is an important factor for the habitability of the global liquid water ocean under Europa’s icy crust because hydrogen peroxide decays to oxygen when mixed into liquid water
With high enough levels of compounds like peroxide could help to satisfy the chemical energy requirement needed for life within the ocean, if the peroxide is mixed into the ocean
Further Reading / In the News
Will the Europa Clipper Cruise to Jupiter\’s Moon? | Discovery News
Hydrogen Peroxide Could Feed Life on Europa | UniverseToday.com

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

Reviewing SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft Glitch

Last Time on SciByte
SciByte 84 (March 5, 2013)| HIV & SpaceX Troubles – SpaceX – Dragon Space Station Resupply Mission Glitch
March 1, 2013 Launch Glitch
Barely 11 minutes after the March 1 blastoff of the Dragon atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida contact had been lost
Right after spacecraft separation in low Earth orbit, a sudden and unexpected failure of the Dragon’s critical thrust pods had prevented three out of four from initializing and firing
What Happened
The oxidizer pressure was low in three tanks, which is required to orient the craft for two way communication and to propel the Dragon to the orbiting lab complex
The problem was that three of the check valves had a small design change to the check valves by the supplier that would have needed a magnifying glass to see the difference, because of the tiny change they got stuck
SpaceX had run the new check valves through a series of low pressurization systems tests and they worked well and didn’t get stuck, but SpaceX did not run the functional tests at higher pressures
Solution
The team was able to write some new software in real time to build pressure upstream of the check valves and then released that pressure
SpaceX had difficulty communicating with the spacecraft because it was in free drift in orbit
They worked closely with the Air Force to get higher intensity, more powerful dishes to communicate with the spacecraft and upload the software
The solution got the valves unstuck and then they worked well
In the meantime SpaceX will revert to the old check valves and run tests to make sure this failure doesn’t happen again
Multimedia
YouTube SpaceX Dragon Carrying NASA Cargo Arrives at International Space Station | NASATelevision
Further Reading / In the News
- How the Air Force and SpaceX Saved Dragon from Doom | UniverseToday.com

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

Parachute
An animation of seven images from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a “flapping” of the parachute that allowed the Curiosity rover to descend safely through Mars atmosphere images
The images were acquired by HiRISE between August 12, 2012 and January 13, 2013
The different images show distinct changes in the parachute, which is attached to the backshell that encompassed the rover during launch, flight and descent
This type of motion may kick off dust and keep parachutes on the surface bright, to help explain why the parachute from Viking 1 (landed in 1976) remains detectable
Argon Readings
Curiosity\’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument analyzed an atmosphere sample that found that the Martian atmosphere has about four times as much of a lighter stable isotope (argon-36) compared to a heavier one (argon-38)
This data is what we would expect to see with the theory that Mars lost much of its original atmosphere by a process of gas escaping from the top of the atmosphere
The results provided the the clearest and most precise measurements ever made of isotopes of argon in the Martian atmosphere, isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights
The ratio is much lower than the solar system\’s original ratio, as estimated from argon-isotope measurements of the sun and Jupiter which points to a process at Mars that favored preferential loss of the lighter isotope over the heavier one
The data also removes previous uncertainty about the ratio in the Martian atmosphere from 1976 measurements from NASA\’s Viking project and from small volumes of argon extracted from Martian meteorites
Daily Atmospheric Measurements
Curiosity measures several variables with the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), daily air temperature
While temperature measurements have climbed steadily since the measurements began eight months ago and is not strongly tied to the rover\’s location, the humidity has differed significantly at different places along the rover\’s route
In addition the REMS sensors detected many whirlwind patterns during the first hundred Martian days of the mission, though not as many as detected in the same length of time by earlier missions although no trails of dust devils have not been seen inside Gale Crater
Upcoming
For the rest of April, Curiosity will carry out daily activities for which commands were sent in March, using DAN, REMS and the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD).
Curiosity will be drilling into another rock where the rover is now, but that target has not yet been selected. The science team will discuss this over the conjunction period
Multimedia
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
Watch Curiosity’s Parachute Flap in the Martian Breeze | UniverseToday.com
Remaining Martian Atmosphere Still Dynamic | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

April 13, 2000 : 13 years ago : Oldest mouse Born : The mouse Yoda was born, and became the world\’s oldest mouse on his fourth birthday in 2004 (which at 1,462-days-old compares to about 136 in human-years). A dwarf mouse, Yoda lives with a larger female cage mate (Princess Leia) to provide him with protective body warmth. The life span of the average laboratory mouse is slightly over two years. Yoda lives in the laboratory of Dr Richard A. Miller, a professor of pathology in the Geriatrics Center of the University of Michigan Medical School, an expert on the genetics and cell biology of aging. For his studies, he has developed strains of mice, derived from wild mice captured in Idaho, that live longer, stay smaller and age more slowly than ordinary mice
World\’s Oldest Mouse Reaches Milestone Birthday, Teaches Scientists About Human Aging (Apr 13, 2004) | ScienceDaily

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Wed, Apr 10 | 10 pm and later | The \”Summer Star\” Vega rises in the NE
Wed, Apr 10 | New Moon
Sat, Apr 13 | ~ 1 hour after sunset | The crescent Moon is in the West with Jupiter to it\’s upper left.
Sat, Apr 13 | ~ 1 hour after sunset | The Crescent Moon is also between the Pleiades star cluster to its right and slightly below and the red giant star Aldebaran to it\’s upper left.
Saturn | Rises in the E-SE at the end of twilight,
Jupiter | After Sunset it is seen high in the W sky, dropping closer to the horizon as the evening goes on, climbing to it\’s highest point in the S around 2am DST
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Dark Matter & Reading Dreams | SciByte 89 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Meteorites & Asteroids | SciByte 82

chris — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:04:04 +0000

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We take a look at the Russian Meteorite ‘strike,’ a dark matter announcement, headaches, asteroid flyby, viewer feedback, an update on CERN, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

2013 Russian Meteorite Strike

Why didn\’t we \”See it coming?\”
NASA’s Near Earth Object Program and other skywatchers track thousands of larger asteroids, with smaller asteroids nearly impossible to track
There are probably about 100 million asteroids about it\’s size with about 100,000 being Near Earth Objects
Only one space rock that impacted the planet has ever been observed before it hit the Earth, a day before it exploded over Sudan.
Most meteorites that do hit the Earth tend to be smaller, and reflect only a couple percent of the light that hits them, and ones of this size have to be very close to be able to spot them with telescopic surveys
What Was Seen
On February 15, 2013 at 9:20 am (0320 GMT), an object was observed above Chelyabinsk which flew by at great speed and left a trail behind. Within two minutes there were two bangs,\” regional emergencies official said
It traveled through the atmosphere for about 30 seconds before breaking apart and producing violent airburst ‘explosion’ about 20-14 km (12-15 miles) above Earth’s surface
Measurements Coming In
On February 16 NASA revised it\’s measurements to about 55 feet (17 m) wide — with the power of the blast estimate of about 500 kilotons, 30 kilotons higher than before
Updated mass measurements estimated about 10,000 tons and was travelling 40,000 mph (64,373 km/h) when it exploded
New estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world
The first recording of the event being in Alaska, over 6,500 kilometers away, infrasound stations detect low-frequency sound waves that accompany exploding meteors, known as bolides
The Power
The explosion had the equivalent of up to 500,000 tons of TNT
About 30 times the energy output of the Hiroshima atomic bomb
Only 5 percent of the energy of the famous 1908 Tunguska meteor that downed trees over a 2,000-square-kilometer area in Siberia
Damage on the Ground
At least 300 buildings were damaged including schools, hospitals, a zinc factory and even an ice hockey stadium
In the area of damage there are huge facilities that include a nuclear power plant and the massive Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre
Radiation levels in the region also did not change and that 20,000 rescue workers had been dispatched to help the injured and locate those requiring help
Multimedia
YouTube Meteorite crash in Russia: Video of meteorite explosion that stirred panic in Urals region
YouTube Russian meteor explosion: Spectacular dash cam video of meteorite fireball falling in Urals| RussiaToday
YouTube Clip Meteorite blast wave blows out doors, window, and loading bay door| RussiaToday
YouTube Clip Footage; Parking Lot, Traffic Cam | Russia Today
YouTube Russia meteorite explosion: Zinc factory wall damaged, windows blown out | RussiaToday
Infographic Huge Russian Meteor Blast is Biggest Since 1908 | Space.com
Image / Video Gallery | Large meteor, possible meteorite near Chelyabinsk, Russia
Further Reading / In the News
Meteor explodes over Russia | Atom & Cosmos | Science News
Russia meteor virtually impossible to see coming | Atom & Cosmos | Science News
Airburst Explained: NASA Addresses the Russian Meteor Explosion | UniverseToday.com
Russian Meteor Blast Bigger Than Thought, NASA Says | Space.com
Meteor strike in Russia hurts almost 1,000 (w/ Video) | Phys.org
Russian Meteor Not Related to Asteroid Flyby, NASA Confirms | UniverseToday.com
Russian Fireball Is Biggest Meteor Blast in 100 Years | Near-Earth Asteroids | Space.com
Meteor Blast Rocks Russia | UniverseToday.com
Shouldn\’t We Have Been Able To See This Huge Meteor Coming? | popsci.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Dark Matter Announcement Coming

Dark Matter
The dark matter theory was born 80 years ago when Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky discovered that there was not enough mass in observable stars or galaxies to allow the force of gravity to hold them together
The Standard Model only accounts for only around four or five percent of the stuff in the Universe that we see
It could be useful for identifying the stable of particles and forces that regulate our daily life, the Standard Model only tells part of the cosmic story
Dark matter, could make up 23 percent, and dark energy, an enigmatic force that appears to drive the expansion of the Universe, could accounts for around 72 or 73 percent
Some physics theories suggest that dark matter is made of WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles), a class of particles that are their own antimatter partner particles
When matter and antimatter partners meet, they annihilate each other, so if two WIMPs collided, they would be destroyed, releasing a pair of daughter particles – an electron and its antimatter counterpart, the positron, in the process
Although we can not explain gravity, although we know how to measure gravity and exploit it for our needs
Announcement Coming Up
In about two weeks the first paper of results of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle collector mounted on the outside of the International Space Station, will be published
Researchers have said that the results bear on the mystery of dark matter, that \”It will not be a minor paper\” and that they rewrote the paper 30 times before they were satisfied with it
Even with this tease for a \’major announcement\’ scientists still say it represents a \”small step\” in figuring out what dark matter is, and perhaps not the final answer
Tracking Cosmic Particles
To track these phantom particles, physicists rely on several methods and tools
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, the biggest particle smasher in the world
The South Pole Neutrino Observatory, tracks subatomic particles known as neutrinos, which, according to physicists, are created when dark matter passes through the Sun and interacts with protons
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) aboard the International Space Station (ISS), captures gamma rays coming from collisions of dark matter particles.
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
Has the potential to detect the positrons and electrons produced by dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way
It was installed on the International Space Station in May 2011, and so far, it has detected 25 billion particle events, including about 8 billion electrons and positrons
This will first science paper from this instrument that will report how many of each were found, and what their energies are
If the experiment detected an abundance of positrons peaking at a certain energy, that could indicate a detection of dark matter,
What it Might Mean for What We Might Find
There is a lot of stuff that can mimic dark matter,\”
If the experiment detected an abundance of positrons peaking at a certain energy, that could indicate a detection of dark matter,
While electrons are abundant in the universe around us, there are fewer known processes that could give rise to positrons
The smoking gun signature is a rise and then a dramatic fall\” in the number of positrons with respect to energy
The positrons produced by dark matter annihilation would have a very specific energy, depending on the mass of the WIMPs making up dark matter
Another telling sign will be the question of whether positrons appear to be coming from one direction in space, or from all around
If they\’re from dark matter, scientists expect them to be spread evenly through space, but if they\’re created by some normal astrophysical process, such as a star explosion, then they would originate in a single direction
Regardless of whether AMS has found dark matter yet, the scientists said they expected the question of dark matter\’s origin to become clearer soon
Further Reading / In the News
Has Dark Matter Finally Been Found? Big News Soon | Space.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Lightning and Headaches

The New Study
A new study has found a 31 percent increase of the risk of headache and a 28 percent increased risk of migraine for chronic headache sufferers on days that lightning struck within 25 miles (40 kilometers) of their homes
In addition new-onset headaches and migraines increased by 24 percent and 23 percent, respectively
The Correlation
This is the first study to show a correlation between lightning and associated weather phenomena and the squalls in our heads
How exactly lightning might trigger headaches is still unknown but there are a number of possible explanations
Electromagnetic waves emitted from lightning could trigger headaches
Another explanation might be that lightning produces increases in air pollutants like ozone, and can cause release of fungal spores that might lead to migraine
Still Unknown
This study does show an apparent link between lightning and headaches; however, the exact mechanisms through which lightning and/or its associated meteorologic factors trigger headache is still unknown
Multimedia
YouTube Lightning = Headaches? | TheWeatherChannel
Further Reading / In the News
Newsflash: Lightning May Cause Headaches – News Watch | newswatch.nationalgeographic.com

The February 15th Asteroid Fly-By

The low down
On Friday, Feb. 15, the asteroid 2012 DA 14 roughly half a football field came well inside the orbit of even communication and weather satellites in geosynchronous orbit
It is the closest known approach to Earth for an object its size
It came within an altitude of 27,700 kilometers (17,200 miles). That is some 8000 km (5000 miles) inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites
The asteroid posed no danger to the Space Station crew and they had no chance to observe it
Although no NASA space-based assets were making measurements because it was moving so fast
Radar astronomers did plan to take images around eight hours after the flyby using the Goldstone antenna in California’s Mojave Desert
Multimedia
YouTube Early Radar Observations of Asteroid 2012 DA14 | JPLnews
YouTube (NEW!) Telescope View – Asteroid 2012 DA14 as it Passes Earth (short) | Credit : Daniel Lopez | joeyzola
vimeo Asteroid 2012 DA14 Passes the Earth | Credit : Daniel Lopez | Astronomy Picture of the Day
YouTube Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Safely Pass Earth NASA ANIMATION VIDEO | JrStudi0s
Further Reading / In the News
NASA – Asteroid 2012 DA14 – Earth Flyby Reality Check | NASA.gov
Russian Meteor Not Related to Asteroid Flyby, NASA Confirms | UniverseToday.com
NASA Unveils 1st Radar Video of Asteroid Flyby | Space.com
45 meter Asteroid to Skirt Very Near Earth on Feb 15 | UniverseToday.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Earth/Moon Relationship Simulations/Animations

Jason Null
What kind of program or software has a virtual model of the Earth and Moon
Free JAVA Simulators
Moon Phase and the Horizon diagram [free-java]
Lunar Phase Simulator [free-java]
Jonathan H
Why do I seem to see the moon in the sky during the day so often?
Different components to this
Lunar Phase Simulator [free-java]
The moon follow the same ‘orbital path’ as the sun, just as different speeds
Click [Start Animation] to the bottom left to get a feel for this
Higher latitudes have longer days and nights, which also gives the moon longer or fewer hours to be in the sky.
If you think about it each time the Moon sets or rises at night it is doing the opposite for someone on the daytime side of the Earth

— Updates —

CERN, the Higgs-Boson, and Upgrades

Upgrades
Over the past three years, CERN has slammed protons together more than six million billion times
Now seven months after the discovery announcement for a Boson, which they are now 99.9 percent certain is the Higgs-Boson, CERN scientists have brought CERN offline for an 18-month upgrade
The upgrade will boost the LHC\’s energy capacity, essential for CERN to confirm definitively that its boson is the Higgs, and allow it to probe new dimensions such as supersymmetry and dark matter
The Data
Scientists still have vasts amount of data to comb through during this downtime,
Even with the shutdown, CERN\’s researchers won\’t be taking a breather, as they must trawl through a vast mound of data
They expect that they will have much more information about the data from the last three years, and once they are able to go back through the data they will probably have more questions, some of which will lead to more tests under the new upgrades
What’s to Come
In 2011 the LHC has able to achieve collisions with an energy level of seven teraelectron volts
During 2012 CERN was able to increase to eight teraelectron volts
When it comes back online in 2015 after the upgrades are completed they will be able to achieve 13-14
It is expected that CERN will then run at those conditions for three to four years before more upgrades are installed
Social Media
CERN @CERN
Further Reading / In the News
CERN Website
After Higgs Boson, scientists prepare for next quantum leap

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

Space Station Communication

NASA\’s Mission Control center in Houston lost communication with the International Space Station at 9:45 a.m. ET (1445 GMT). [19 Feb 2013]
They restored contact with the space station at 12:34 p.m. ET (17:34 GMT),
A NASA official said \”Flight controllers were in the process of updating the station’s command and control software and were transitioning from the primary computer to the backup computer to complete the software load when the loss of communication occurred,\”
A main data relay system malfunctioned, and the computer that controls the station\’s critical functions switched to a backup
\”Mission Control Houston was able to communicate with the crew as the space station flew over Russian ground stations before 11:00 a.m. EST and instructed the crew to connect a backup computer to begin the process of restoring communications,\”
This is not the first time Mission Control has lost direct communication with the orbiting science laboratory
In 2010, the space station briefly lost communication with the ground when a primary computer failed and the backup had to take over. Communications were out for about one hour before NASA restored the connection
Further Reading / In the News
NASA Restores Contact with Space Station | Space.com
Temporary Comm Loss Interrupts Crew’s Day | NASA.gov

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

Drilling
Scientists were able to place the arm safely and drill vertically down into the rock to collect as much sample as possible
The gray tailing tells us that there\’s something different about the inside of this rock than the surface of the rock
A day after NASA\’s Mars rover Curiosity drilled the first sample-collection hole into a rock on Mars, the rover\’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument shot laser pulses into the fresh rock powder that the drilling generated
In the coming weeks, one of the things they are trying to do with this first hole is to use this gray powder that we collect to clean the internal surfaces of the drill.
Multimedia
YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (February 15, 2013): Curiosity Drills on Mars | JPLnews
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
Curiosity Drills on Mars | nasa.gov
Laser Hits on Martian Drill Tailings | https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

February, 20 1962 : 51 years ago : Glenn in orbit : John Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first U.S. manned orbital mission. [The first manned orbital flight was Yu. Gagarin on the the Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961]
Launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, he completed three-orbits around the earth, at a maximum altitude of approx. 162 miles and an orbital velocity of approx. 17,500 mph. He spotted Perth, Australia, when that city\’s residents greeted him by switching on their house lights in unison. A four-cent U.S. stamp was put on sale the same day, making it the first U.S. stamp issued on the day of the event it commemorated. Glenn returned to space 36 years later, making 134 more orbits as a crew member of the space shuttle Discovery (29 Oct – 7 Nov 1998) for investigations on space flight and the aging process.

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Mercury | Evening Twilight | Low in the W-SW it will be the brightest object in that part of the sky
Mars | Sunset | Getting harder to see and moving farther to Mercury\’s lower right
Jupiter | Starts in the S at dusk, moving to the SW and setting around 1-2am
Saturn | ~11-12 pm local | moving to the high southern skies by dawn
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Meteorites & Asteroids | SciByte 82 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Resolutions & Martian Meteorite | SciByte 76

chris — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:25:41 +0000

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We take a look at my version of the best and the worst science stories 2012, the science behind a few new years resolutions, IQ scores, a Martian Meteorite, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Show Notes:

“Best” and “Worst” of 2012

Retraction | Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos
Back in October 2011, CERN researchers timed the roughly 16,000 neutrinos and said that, on average, the neutrinos made the 450 mi [730 km], 2.43-millisecond trip roughly 60 nanoseconds faster than expected if they were traveling at light speed. (~ 0.0025% faster)
By February 2012 there were questions about wiring, GPS satellite timing, or missing suspected radiation should they have been FTL
The OPERA team later discovered that a loose fiber optic cable had introduced a delay in their timing system that explained the effect
A month later they measured the speed of neutrinos fired from CERN and found that they do indeed travel at light speed, as predicted
Some OPERA team members thought the whole episode had besmirched the collaboration’s reputation, and in March 2012, two of the team’s elected leaders lost a vote of no confidence and tendered their resignations.
Retraction | Hyung-In Moon
The Korean scientist Hyung-In Moon took the concept of scientific peer review to a whole new level by reviewing his own papers under various fake names
Peer review is a process in which scientific peers in the same field judge the merit of a submitted journal paper
The editors at a Medical Journal grew suspicious when four of his glowing reviews came back within 24 hours, when most reviewers take weeks or months to reply
Moon’s research, included a study on alcoholic liver disease and another on an anticancer plant substance
He admitted to falsifying data in some of his papers, and 35 of his papers were retracted in 2012
Retraction | Cell-phone Cancer links
Studies proposing a link between cellphone use and cancer often rely on weak statistics.
In 2008, scientists published a paper stating that cellphones in standby mode lowered the sperm count and caused other adverse changes in the testicles of rabbits
Although small and published in a rather obscure journal, the study made the news rounds.
In March 2012, the authors retracted the paper because the lead author didn’t get permission from his two co-authors
According to the retraction notice, there was a “lack of evidence to justify the accuracy of the data presented in the article.”
Retraction | Failure is Better?
Dutch social psychologist Diederik Stapel claimed that “failure sometimes feels better than success”
It now appears that his research is either mostly or completely fabricated
So far, 31 papers have been retracted
Another one of his studies that is now under suspicion found that meat eaters are more selfish and less social than vegetarians
My # 4 Story | Extremes
James Cameron is the first to go alone to Challenger Deep to almost 36,000 feet below sea level, during the Deep Sea Challenge.
The Mariana Trench,in the western Pacific Ocean, is deeper than Mount Everest is tall and only two other humans have ever visited it.
YouTube | Tiny sub used in James Cameron’s deep sea dive | CNN
Apollo 11 & James Cameron | SciByte 40 (April 3, 2012)
Felix Baumgartner jumped from a world record 128,100 ft [39,045 m] or just over 24 mi [39 km] and landed in eastern New Mexico on 14 October 2012
Baumgartner broke the speed of sound and the record for highest jump that had been set in 1960 by Col. Joe Kittinger
YouTube Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights | redbull
Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 (October 9, 2012)
My # 3 Story | Dragon Spaceship
On 22 May 2012 SpaceX successfully launched the Dragon C2+ with almost 900 pounds of cargo to the international space station in its first official mission in October
The pressurized section carried 1,014 pounds [460 kg] of non-critical cargo to the ISS, which included food, water, clothing, cargo bags, computer hardware, the NanoRacks Module 9 (student experiments and scientific gear) and other miscellaneous cargo
The vehicle returned with 1,367 pounds [620 kg]
On 23 August 2012, NASA announced that SpaceX and their Falcon 9-Dragon system was certified to begin their cargo delivery
Their $1.6 billion contract calls for at least 12 resupply missions. The first of those flights was launched on October 7, 2012
Mission Highlights: SpaceX’s Dragon Makes History | spacexchannel
My # 2 Story | Curiosity Touchdown Confirmed
The first-of-it’s-kind landing process included a supersonic parachute and a sky crane that brought the rover to less than 1.5 mi [2.4 km] away from the center of the target landing area
Spirit and Opportunity, have found compelling evidence that liquid water once persisted on the surface of Mars
With Curiosity scientists hope to determine if other things necessary for life were also present, these building blocks include six elements necessary to all life on Earth: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
It is also examining the history of the Martian atmosphere, an earlier thicker, wetter atmosphere may have provided better environmental conditions for supporting microbial life in Mars’ early history.
Mars Science Laboratory will study the rock and soil record in order to understand the geologic processes that created and modified the martian crust and surface through time. In particular, it would look for evidence of rocks that formed in the presence of water.
Curiosity has already found an ancient streambed where water flowed continuously for thousands of years long ago. It has also identified some simple organics on Mars, though researchers aren’t yet sure if the carbon within the molecules is native to the Red Planet.
YouTube | Curiosity Has Landed | JPLnews
My # 1 Story| Higgs-Boson
Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, said they used the Large Hadron Collider to detect a particle whose characteristics matched those of the Higgs boson.
The Higgs-Boson particle is part of the Higgs field, that is responsible for the mass of all the matter in the universe
While we know it is a Boson particle we are still waiting for more details on the characteristics of the particle to confirm it’s the Higgs-BOson
More results are expected in March 2013
YouTube : The Moment: CERN Scientist Announces Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ Discovery | linktv
YouTube : Peter Higgs rection to the anoucement
YouTube : “Peter Higgs’ reaction on the day itself” / Peter Higgs, François Englert | Paul0de0Haas
YouTube : Higgs Boson Discovery announcement by Peter Higgs | MuonRay
YouTube : The Higgs Boson, Part I | minutephysics
YouTube : Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ – What is it? BBC World News | mangstarrr
Social Media
DeepSea Challenge @DeepChallenge
Red Bull Stratos @RedBullStratos
Dragon Spaceship @DragonSpaceship
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
CERN @CERN
Further Reading / In the News
COTS–2 Press Kit
Mars Rover Landing Guru Makes ‘Best of 2012’ List | Space.com

— NEWS BYTE —

New Years Resolutions | Dieting

The low down
Although cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides and blood sugar all improve with weight loss, with weight regain they all return to pre-diet levels and, in some cases, to even higher levels
Maintaining weight loss is just as important as losing weight
Even partial weight regain is associated with worsened diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors
Significance
More than 100 postmenopausal women took part in a five-month weight-loss program study and were continued to br monitor the women for a year
During the weight-loss program the women lost an average of 25 pounds
After a year, two-thirds of the women had regained at least four pounds, on average regaining about 70 percent of the weight they had lost
Women who regained 4.4 pounds or more in the year following the weight-loss intervention had several worsened cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors
Women who maintained their weight loss a year later managed to preserve most of the benefits
Of Note
This study highlights the importance of not just losing weight, but the need to develop effective and enduring strategies so that this weight loss can be successfully maintained long term
People should be focusing on being healthy, not skinny,
It is important to create strategies for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight throughout their lifetime
Start with simple changes such as swapping seltzer or soda, keeping a daily food record, adding a salad to lunch and substituting a second vegetable for half the starch at dinner
Further Reading / In the News
Yo-yo dieting can hurt the heart, study finds | MedicalXPress.com

New Years Resolutions | Exercise

The low down
Olympic medallists live longer than the general population, regardless of country of origin, medal won, or type of sport played
However, those who engage in disciplines with high levels of physical contact, such as boxing, rugby and ice hockey, are at an increased risk of death in later life
Life Expectancy
Researchers compared life expectancy among 15,174 Olympic athletes who won medals between 1896 and 2010 with general population groups matched by country, sex, and age
All medallists lived an average of 2.8 years longer in eight out of the nine country groups studied.
Gold, silver and bronze medallists enjoyed roughly the same survival advantage, as did medallists in both endurance and mixed sports
Medallists in powersports had a smaller, but still significant, advantage over the general population.
While the study was not designed to determine why Olympic athletes live longer, possible explanations include genetic factors, physical activity, healthy lifestyle, and the wealth and status that come from international sporting glory
Intensity of Exercise
In a second study, researchers measured the effect of high intensity exercise on mortality later in life among former Olympic athletes
They tracked 9,889 athletes who took part in at least one Olympic Games between 1896 and 1936 and represented 43 disciplines requiring different levels of exercise intensity and physical contact
Two public health experts point out that people who do at least 150 minutes a week [~20min a day] of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity also have a survival advantage compared with the inactive general population
They also found that athletes from sports with high cardiovascular intensity (such as cycling and rowing) or moderate cardiovascular intensity (such as gymnastics and tennis) had similar mortality rates compared with athletes from low cardiovascular intensity sports, such as golf or cricket
Further Reading / In the News
Olympians live longer than general population… But cyclists no survival advantage over golfers | MedicalXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

IQ Score is Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be

The low down
After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record a research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one’s intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading
Significance
The study, which included more than 100,000 participants Utilized an online study open to anyone, anywhere in the world
The researchers asked respondents to complete 12 cognitive tests tapping memory, reasoning, attention and planning abilities, as well as a survey about their background and lifestyle habits.
While the team expected a few hundred responses, thousands and thousands of people took part, including people of all ages, cultures and creeds from every corner of the world
The results showed that when a wide range of cognitive abilities are explored, the observed variations in performance can only be explained with at least three distinct components: short-term memory, reasoning and a verbal component
Of Note
Scientists used a brain scanning technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to show that these differences in cognitive ability map onto distinct circuits in the brain.
Intriguingly, people who regularly played computer games did perform significantly better in terms of both reasoning and short-term memory
Smokers performed poorly on the short-term memory and the verbal factors
People who frequently suffer from anxiety performed badly on the short-term memory factor in particular
Further Reading / In the News
Researchers debunk the IQ myth | MedicalXPress.com

— Updates —

Martian Meteorite

The low down
A rare Martian meteorite recently found in Morocco contains minerals with 10 times more water than previously discovered Mars meteorites
The black, baseball-sized stone, which weighs less than 1 pound, is 2.1 billion years old, meaning it formed during what is known as the early Amazonian era in Mars’ geologic history.
Officially known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, is the second-oldest of 110 named stones originating from Mars that have been retrieved on Earth
This discovery raises new questions about when and how long the planet most like Earth in the solar system had conditions suitable for life
Significance
Early Mars was believed to be warm and wet, but the planet lost most of its atmosphere and its surface water to become a cold, dry desert that appears today
The time from when our meteorite is from is maybe a transitional period in the climate, when Mars was losing its atmosphere, losing its water on the surface
The rock is relatively rich in water – about 6,000 parts per million – compared with typical Martian meteorites that contain about 200- to 300 parts per million
That’s 10 times more water than other Martian Meteorites
It is similar to basaltic rocks on Earth that form in volcanic eruptions
NWA 7034, nicknamed “Black Beauty,” also contains tiny bits of carbon, formed from geologic, not biological activity
Scientists don’t know why more meteorites like Black Beauty haven’t been found on Earth. + The period of time from which they originated may be relatively short, or most may not survive the trip through Earth’s atmosphere
Of Note
Because it was so different from other Martian meteorites it took several months to identify, otherwise it would have taken less than a day
After the initial battery of tests revealed the rock’s unique nature, meteorite hunters returned to the area where it was found to search for other similar stones
Four more pieces, all smaller than the original, have now been found
Further Reading / In the News
Rare Water-Rich Mars Meteorite Discovered : Discovery News | news.discovery.com

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

EVENT
The drive during the mission’s 147th Martian day, or sol, on the Red Planet took Curiosity about 10 feet (3 meters) northwestward and brought the mission’s total driving distance to 2,303 feet (702 meters). The rover is within a shallow depression called “Yellowknife Bay,” which is a flatter and lighter-toned type of terrain from what the mission crossed during its first four months inside Gale Crater
After imaging during the holidays, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity resumed driving Jan. 3 and pulled within arm’s reach of a sinuous rock feature called “Snake River.”
Multimedia
YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 21, 2012): Curiosity’s Martian Holiday | JPLNews
YouTube Curiosity’s New Year Greeting for Times Square | JPLNews
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 21, 2012) | Transcript
[Curiosity Rover Explores ‘Yellowknife Bay’ | mars.jpl.gov](https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1407

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

Jan 9, 1998 : 14 years ago : Cosmological Constant : Two teams of international collaborations of scientists announced the discovery that galaxies are accelerating, flying apart at ever faster speeds, by observing distant, ancient exploding stars. This observation – named as Science magazine’s “Breakthrough of the Year for 1998” – implies the existence of a mysterious, self-repelling property of space first proposed by Albert Einstein, which he called the cosmological constant. Researchers in England, France, Germany, and Sweden are among the members of the Supernova Cosmology Project based at Berkeley National Laboratory (headed by Saul Perlmutter) and the High-z Supernova Search Team based in Australia (led by Brian Schmidt).

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Wed, Jan 9 | Dawn | Low in the SE Venus will be near the crescent Moon which is just a sliver at this point
Venus | ~ 45 min before Sunrise | Low in the E
Mars | End of sunset | Low in the SW, to the left is the star Fomalhaut
Jupiter | After Sundown | First “star” to appear in the E, climbing to the SE sky after dark, below it will be the orange star Aldebaran. Around 9pm local it will be at its highest point in the S
Saturn | 2am local | Rise in the E-SE, starts moderately high in the SE and the rings are the most visible in the last seven years
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Resolutions & Martian Meteorite | SciByte 76 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

End of the World? | SciByte 75

chris — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:47:38 +0000

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We take a look at the science of a few “end of the world” ideas, a few astronomy gift ideas, DARPA’s Probe Droid, the new Space Station crew, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Grab our Audible.com Pick: Red Moon Rising

Show Notes:

End of the World?

Gamma-Ray Burst
Gamma Ray Burst Event animation | SolarParallax
These are created by the collision of two collapsed stars
Gamma-ray bursts are extremely powerful, estimated to have 10 quadrillion times more energy than our sun
A burst 1,000 light years from the earth (further away than most of our stars) would create an explosion as bright as our sun and bring a hasty destruction to the Earth
While the atmosphere and the ozone would provide protection at first it would soon be cooked away by the radiation
UV rays would kill the photosynthetic plankton in the ocean, which provide most of the earth’s oxygen
At least one burst can be seen each day when watching our sky with gamma-ray vision; it can’t be too long before there is one closer to home
Solar Activity (Super-Flares and Decreased Activity
NASA | Biggest Solar Storm Since 2003 | NASAexplorer
NASA SDO – X2-class Solar Flare, January 27, 2012 | LittleSDOHMI
NASA | Active Region on the Sun Emits Another Flare | NASAexplorerNASAexplorer
The sun emits solar flares, also known as coronal mass ejections, towards earth frequently
These flares are large magnetic outbursts which contain high-speed subatomic particles
Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from the consequences of these potentially lethal flares
Evidence has been found that sun-like stars far from our solar system can briefly increase in brightness by 20 times and it is hypothesized that these increases are caused by super-flares, which are millions of times more powerful than the common solar flare
If our sun were to emit one of these super-flares it would literally fry the earth
On the other hand if our sun’s activity were to decrease by a mere 1% (which has been known to happen to many sun-like stars) we would be flung back into another ice age
Particle Accelerators
Lego LHC CERN end of the world! | frankfredlego·com
When electric fields are used to accelerate protons they could collide at speed fast enough to create black holes or bits of altered matter
Small black holes would slowly engulf our planet while pieces of altered matter, called strangelets, would destroy any ordinary matter they came in contact with, eventually annihilating the entire planet
Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?
NASA’s Official Press Release
YouTube ScienceCasts: Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday | ScienceAtNASA
Further Reading / In the News
End of the World: 10 Disasters That Could End It All At Any Given Second – Best of the Web Directory

— NEWS BYTE —

Holiday Gift Ideas

Planisphere / Star Finder
The Night Sky 20–30 N,
The Night Sky 30–40 N
The Night Sky 40–50 N
The Night Sky 50–60 N
The Night Sky Southern
Astronomy Books
Starfinder [Hardcover]
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe [Spiral-bound]
The One-Minute Astronomer: Tips, Tales, and Tours for the Casual Stargazer [Kindle Edition]
Star Watch: The Amateur Astronomer’s Guide to Finding, Observing, and Learning about Over 125 Celestial Objects [Paperback]
Binocular Highlights: 99 Celestial Sights for Binocular Users (Sky & Telescope Stargazing) [Spiral-bound]
Red LED Flashlight
Carson Optical LED Flashlight (Red)
Smith & Wesson Galaxy 13 LED Flashlight (10 White LED & 3 Red LED)
Smith & Wesson Galaxy 6 LED Flashlight (3 Red + 3 White LEDs)
Science “Kits” – What to keep in mind
Look at what level of knowledge the kit meant for
Is it safe considering everyone in the household?
Is Supervision Required?
Books in General
What is the person interested in? [ Science, Sports, History, …]
If the plan is to just get the person to read, pick the right level of reading skill, be open for subject of interest and fiction/non-fiction

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

DARPA … Probe Droid?

The low down
This UAV is capable of both hover and wing-borne flight, making the delivery and precision emplacement of a payload possible
A special robotic arm was designed with the capability of carrying up to 1 pound.
The low-cost vision system enables the UAV to autonomously search, find and track a target’s position relative to the hovering vehicle
The newly developed stereo vision system tracks the target and motion of the robotic arm.
The control logic maneuvers the vehicle and direct the robotic arm to accurately engage the emplacement target.
Vehicle stability can be maintained with the arm extended 6 feet with a 1-pound payload.
The goal was to show the team could quickly develop and integrate the right technology to make this work
Multimedia
YouTube V-Bat VTOL UAV | Headed to Target
YouTube V-Bat VTOL UAV | Search for and Find Target
YouTube V-Bat VTOL UAV | Arm Places Object
Further Reading / In the News
What an unmanned aerial vehicle can do with depth perception | phys.org

Snapshot Serengeti

The low down
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been trying to count and locate the animals of the Serengeti, and began placing automatic cameras across the park a couple of years ago.
They now have more than 200 cameras around the region – all triggered by motion – capturing animals day and night.
They have amassed millions of images so far, and more come in all the time. So they’ve team up with us here at the Zooniverse!
They need the help of online volunteers to spot and classify animals in these snapshot of life in Serengeti National Park. Doing this will provide the data needed to track and study these animals, whilst giving everyone the chance to see them in the wild.
Snapshot Serengeti

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

GRAIL End of Mission

Last time on SciByte
SciByte 74 | Spicy Foods & Mars – GRAIL’s Lunar Gravitational Map | December 11, 2012
SciByte 49 | Spinal Cord Injuries & Venus Transit – GRAIL Moon mission extension | June 5, 2012
SciByte 39 | Amazon & Martian Weather – First MoonKAM Image comes in from the Lunar Orbiters Ebb & Flow | March 27, 2012
SciByte 37 | Solar Storms & Higgs Boson – SPACECRAFT UPDATE – GRAIL Moon Probes Ebb and Flow | March 13, 2012
SciByte 27 | Revisiting the Moon – Moon meets GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory)
The low down
During the primary mission, they flew about 35 miles above the lunar surface. After getting bonus data-collecting time, they lowered their altitude to 14 miles (22 kilometers) above the surface
The two spacecraft were placed in an orbit that takes them within a kilometer of the surface, so low that they will hit the side of an unnamed mountain
GRAIL ends its successful mission by impacting the Moon on December 17, 2012 at approximately 5:27 p.m. EST (22:27 UT) near the north pole
Ebb struck first, followed 24 seconds later by Flow at 3,800 mph
Because is happened in darkness the crash was not visible from Earth; however, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter circling the moon will pass over the mountain and attempt to photograph the crash site
By design, the final resting place was far away from the Apollo landing sites and other historical spots on the moon
The spot on the lunar surface where NASA intentionally crashed its twin gravity-mapping moon probes has been named after the late Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space and who played a key role in Grail’s education and outreach efforts
Ride had led Grail’s MoonKAM project, which allowed schoolkids around the world to select lunar sites for Ebb and Flow to photograph
Multimedia
YouTube Last Flight for GRAIL’s Twin Spacecraft | NASASolarSystem
YouTube NASA Grail Twins Make Impact with Moon | NASAtelevision
Further Reading / In the News
Twin NASA spacecraft deliberately crash into moon | phys.org
GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang | news.nationalgeographic.com
SVS Animation 4023 – GRAIL Impacts the Moon | svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Moon Probes’ Crash Site Named After Sally Ride | Space.com
Moon probes set for smashing end | Atom & Cosmos | Science News |sciencenews.org

International Space Station – Expedition 34

The low down
Three new crewmembers of Expedition 34 are set to launch on Dec 19
Flight Engineer 3, Thomas Marshburn, NASA [Second spaceflight]
Flight Engineer 4, Chris Hadfield, CSA [Third spaceflight]
Flight Engineer 5, Roman Romanenko, RSA [Second spaceflight]
Expedition 34
How To Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem | UniverseToday.com

– UPDATE –

The Higgs=Boson steps closer to certainty

The low down
The latest research findings from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN show that the CMS and ATLAS experiments are now reporting that the significance of their observation of the Higgs-like particle is standing close to the 7 sigma level
This is well beyond the 5 required for a discovery, and that the new particle’s properties appear to be consistent with those of a Standard Model Higgs boson.
Even with these results much further analysis is needed to reveal the full details of its identity
The next update is scheduled for the spring 2013 conferences although with the LHC shutting down after the new year and resuming operations in 2015, we’ll probably have to wait some time longer.
Of Note
5 Sigma is 1 in about 1.7 million (1,744,278)
7 Sigma is 1 in about 390 billion (390,682,215,445)
Further Reading / In the News
CMS, ATLAS experiments report Higgs-like particle close to the 7 sigma level | phys.org

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity drove 63 feet (19 meters) northeastward early Monday, Dec. 10, approaching a step down into a slightly lower area called “Yellowknife Bay,” where researchers intend to choose a rock to drill.
Curiosity ended Monday’s drive about 30 percent shorter than planned for the day when it detected a slight difference between two calculations of its tilt, not an immediate risk, but a trigger for software to halt the drive as a precaution
Curiosity is approaching a lip where it will descend about 20 inches (half a meter) to Yellowknife Bay. The rover team is checking carefully for a safe way down. Yellowknife Bay is the temporary destination for first use of Curiosity’s rock-powdering drill, before the mission turns southwestward for driving to its main destination on the slope of Mount Sharp.
Self Portrait
The robotic arm on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity held the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera in more than 50 positions in one day to generate a single scene combining all the images, creating a high-resolution, full-color portrait of the rover itself.
A larger version of the previously released self-portrait is now available online, along with an animation video showing how it was taken, and a practice self-portrait taken earlier by Curiosity’s test-rover double on Earth
Multimedia
Curiosity Traverse Map, Sol 123 | marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
Mars Rover Self-Portrait Shoot Uses Arm Choreography | marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov
Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay | marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov
Mars Science Laboratory: Mars Rover Self-Portrait Shoot Uses Arm Choreography | marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov
Curiosity rover nearing Yellowknife Bay | phys.org
Mars rover self-portrait shoot uses arm choreography | phys.org

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

Dec 22 1882 : 130 years ago : Christmas tree lights : The first string of electric lights decorating a Christmas tree was created for his home by Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison. Previously, trees had been decorated with wax candles. The Dec 1901 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal advertised the Christmas tree lamps, first made commercially by the Edison General Electric Co. of Harrison, N.J. in strings of nine sockets, each with a miniature 2 candlepower, 32-volt, carbon-filament lamp*. Christmas tree lights quickly became the rage among wealthy Americans, but the average citizen didn’t use them until the 1920s or later. Character light bulbs became popular in the 1920s, bubble lights in the 1940s, twinkle bulbs in the 1950s and plastic bulbs by 1955. Image

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Fri, Dec 21 | 6:12 a.m. EST | Winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere and Summer in the Southern Hemisphere
Mercury, Venus and Saturn | SE @ dawn | Are still in a diagonal life, with Venus the brightest Saturn to the upper right, and Mercury to it’s lower left
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post End of the World? | SciByte 75 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Higgs Boson | SciByte 53

chris — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:39:31 +0000

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We take a look at the latest on the Higgs Boson, dinosaurs,smart headlights, old minerals, Carl Sagan, spacecraft updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Fill out my Wufoo form!

Show Notes

To Higgs-Boson or not to Higgs-Boson

_{YouTube Channel : linktv | YouTube Channel : minutephysics}

Last time on SciByte
Solar Storms & Higgs Boson | SciByte 37 – HiggsBoson [March 13, 2012]
Higgs Bosons & Tough Materials | SciByte 25 – Higgs-Boson confirmation just around the corner? [December 13, 2011]
Large Hadron Collider | SciByte 8 – So what is the Higgs-Boson Theory ? [July 20, 2011]
The low down
In 1964 physicists like Peter Higgs, François Englert and Robert Brout theorized about the existence of the Higgs boson and Higgs mechanism
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, will hold a seminar early in the morning on July 4 to announce the latest results from ATLAS and CMS, two major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that are searching for the Higgs boson
The Standard Model
The theory about electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, and the actions of known subatomic particles
It has more than 100 free parameters, making it impossible to obtain predictions without assigning fixed values to some
Boson
Sub-atomic particles are either fermions or bosons.
Fermions (electrons, protons, neutrons, …) and can be made up of other sub-atomic particles like quarks combine to form protons
There are different types of bosons, who can all occupy the same space
Gluons : carry the strong force but operate only at close range
W and Z bosons : W and Z bosons carry the weak force and operate at close range.
Photons : Photons are massless wave-like particles that are the basic building blocks of light and carry the electromagnetic force
??graviton boson?? – not yet been proven
Higgs Field
A field that is integral role in the model of the Weak Nuclear Force (radioactive decay)
Because it’s too tangled with the Weak Nuclear Force it has been very hard to detect
Would be responsible for how particles come together to form matter, and without it, the universe would have remained a particles shooting around at the speed of light.
Higgs-Boson
An excitation from the Higgs Field
The Standard Model hypothesizes only one Higgs-Boson, while the Supersymmetric Model says there could be up to five
The Discovery
Two different, independent, teams working at the CERN have announced that they have data about a new boson
Both the CMS (top) and the ATLAS (bottom) detectors see evidence of the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of photons in the form of a peak in a so-called mass plot
CMS researchers also see evidence of the Higgs decaying to a pair of particles called W bosons or a pair of particles called Z bosons
ATLAS team sees a similar peak in the mass plot for Higgs decaying into photon pairs and also see the Higgs decaying into Z bosons and other combinations of particles
All the data points to it being the heaviest boson ever found, with the energy that the theory says the Higgs-Boson should have, 126 GeV (gigaelecton volts) and weighing roughly 125 times the mass of the proton
Neither team said it was the Higgs-Boson because they don’t yet have information about the properties of the new boson yet
They were able to announce it because the statistics have now reached a level called 5 sigma, that there is only a one in 3.5 million chance the signal isn’t real.
What’s Next
Further information will be released later this year after more experimental data has been taken determining the nature of the new boson
Should the decay properties be different that we expect from a Higgs-Boson it could indicate there are more than one type of Higgs-Boson
There are still holes in the theories, in the standard model interactions between the Higgs and the other particles ought to force the mass of the Higgs to skyrocket to a value a trillion times larger
Most physicists suspect there are new particles out there that somehow counteract ballooning of the Higgs mass.
But will such particles have low enough masses to be discovered with any conceivable human-made atom smasher? “There’s absolutely no guarantee,”
After the start of the year the LHC is being upgraded, and will then be able to run at higher energies
Multimedia
YouTube : The Moment: CERN Scientist Announces Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ Discovery | linktv
YouTube : Peter Higgs rection to the anoucement
YouTube : “Peter Higgs’ reaction on the day itself” / Peter Higgs, François Englert | Paul0de0Haas
YouTube : Higgs Boson Discovery announcement by Peter Higgs | MuonRay
YouTube : The Higgs Boson, Part I | minutephysics
YouTube : Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ – What is it? BBC World News | mangstarrr
Social Media
CERN @CERN
ATLAS Experiment @ATLASexperiment
CMS Experiment CERN @CMSexperiment
Further Reading / In the News
Higgs-like Particle Discovered at CERN | UniverseToday.com
At Long Last, Physicists Discover Famed Higgs Boson | news.sciencemag.org
CERN physicists report strong evidence of Higgs boson | Phys.org
New boson could pave the way towards new discoveries | QuantumDiaries
New Particle at World’s Largest Atom Smasher is Likely Higgs Boson | space.com
New baby boson is born, weighing in at about 126 GeV | QuantumDiaries.org
Physicists bet they’re homing in on Higgs | ScienceNews.org
More clues soon in hunt for Higgs particle | Phys.org
Understanding what’s up with the Higgs boson | Phys.org
Physicists on alert for Higgs announcement | ScienceNews.org
Still Confused About the Higgs Boson? Read This | TheAtlantic.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Warm Blooded Dinosaurs?

_{Credit: Walter Myers /Stocktrek Images/Corbis | Credit:Meike Köhler}

A quick note
A newly discovered, in southern Germany, nearly complete fossilized skeleton hints that all dinosaurs may have sported feathers, which would make it the oldest known meat-eating dinosaur with feathers
The hatchling had a large skull, short hindlimbs, and long, hairlike plumage on its midsection, back, and tail.
Sciurumimus is from a completely different branch of the dinosaur family tree then other feathered dinosaur fossils found, suggesting feathered dinosaurs were the norm, not the exception
The low down
Yearly cycles of growth and nutrition are stamped in the bones of dinosaurs and reptiles like the rings of a tree
In lean times only thin sheets of new bone are laid down, and in ‘fat’ months larger sheets are laid down as animals pack on blood vessel-rich bone tissue
Under a microscope, the slender sheets of bone look like dark lines
These strips in the bones are seen in reptiles and dinosaurs, leading scientists to assume that dinosaurs were cold-blooded like reptiles
Significance
A new study analyzed bone slices, some as thin as a strand of hair, from 115 species of mammals all of which showed cyclical growth
The banding in the study looks just like those seen in dinosaur fossils.
The dinosaur fossils also provided evidence that dinosaurs probably had a high metabolic rate to allow fast growth, another indicator of warm-bloodedness
Of Note
Although this does not mean that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, but we can no longer assume they are cold-blooded either
Further Reading / In the News
Dinosaur debate gets cooking | ScienceNews.org
Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded: study | Phys.org
Dinosaurs Might Have Had Warm-Blooded Animals’ Fast Metabolism | ScientificAmerican.com
ScienceShot: Dino Bones Heat Up | news.ScienceMag.org
All dinosaurs may have had feathers | ScienceNews.org
“Beautiful” Squirrel-Tail Dinosaur Fossil Upends Feather Theory | news.NationalGeographic.com

Smart Headlight

_{YouTube Channel : LabEquipment}

The low down
In rain and snow conditions headlights reflect off of the precipitation back to driver
Carnegie Mellon professor and his team are working on ‘smart’ headlights that can streamlight in between the drops
Significance
The system consists of a co-located imaging and illumination system– camera, projector, and beamsplitter
The camera uses a 5 ms exposure time and the system has a total latency of 13 ms when the system runs at 120Hz. with an operating range about 13 feet in front of the headlights
The camera images the precipitation at the top of the field of view, the processor can tell where the drops are headed and sends a signal to the headlights, headlights then make their adjustments and react to dis-illuminate the particles all in about about 13 ms.
Simulations
Computer simulations predict system effectiveness for different systems set ups during a heavy rainstorm [25 mm/hr] on a vehicle traveling 30 km/hr
Simulations show that a system operating near 1,000 Hz, with a total system latency of 1.5 ms, and exposure time of 1 ms can achieve 96.8% accuracy, with 90% light throughput expected
The system would still have a significant [>= 70%] visibility improvement at 400 Hz
A prototype system has already validated simulations on laboratory-generated rain operating at 120 Hz
Simulations show that it is possible to maintain light throughput well above 90 percent for various precipitation types
Of Note
The prototype consists of a camera with gigabit ethernet interface (Point Grey, Flea3), DLP projector (Viewsonic, PJD62531), and desktop computer with Intel architecture (Intel i7 quad core processor).
The team says that it may take three to four more years of development and “commercializing it as a product will take additional years.”
Multimedia
YouTube : Smart Headlights Improve Visibility in Rain | LabEquipment
Further Reading / In the News
Smart headlights let drivers see between the raindrops | Phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

New mineral in old rock

The low down
A meteorite that fell in 1969 as an exploding fireball in the skies over Mexico, scattered thousands of pieces of meteorites across the state of Chihuahua
It is largest carbonaceous chondrite ever found on our planet and is considered by many the best-studied meteorite in history
Scientists have now discovered a new mineral embedded in that meteorite
Panguite is an especially exciting discovery since it is not only a new mineral, but also a material previously unknown to science
The mineral could be among the first solid objects formed in our solar system, dating back to over 4 billion years ago, before the formation of Earth and the other planets.
Further Reading / In the News
New Mineral Found in Meteorite is From Solar System’s Beginnings | UniverseToday.com

Carl Sagan’s personal archive

Last time on SciByte
SpaceX & Easter Island | SciByte 47 – The return of COSMOS? [May 22, 2012]
The low down
Carl Sagan’s personal archive – a comprehensive collection of papers contained within 798 boxes – was delivered to the Library of Congress recently for sorting
“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane provided an “undisclosed sum of money” to the Library to purchase the collection from Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan, who had kept the papers preserved in storage
The collection “ranges from childhood report cards to college term papers to eloquent letters”
Multimedia
Image : [Carl Sagan](
https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CarlSagan_20080903-browse–580×317.jpg)
Social Media
Library of Congress @librarycongress
Further Reading / In the News
Library of Congress Acquires Sagan’s Personal Collection, Thanks to Seth MacFarlane | UniverseToday.com

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

ISS Crew Returns to Earth

_{Credit: | Credit:}

The low down
On July 1, 2012, the Expedition 31 crew landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan near the town of Dzhezkazgan using a Soyuz TMA–03M spacecraft
Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed
Multimedia
YouTube Soyuz Undocks; Crew Heads Home – Undocking | NASAtelevision
YouTube Space Travelers Make Safe Return to Earth – landing | NASAtelevision
IMAGE GALLERY: Soyuz Landing Photos: 31st Space Station Crew Returns to Earth | Space.com
IMAGE : Landing Location | Credit: NASA TV
IMAGE : Flight Engineer Don Pettit Lifted Out | Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Full Fuselage Trainer finds new home

Last time on SciByte
Mining Asteroids & Shuttle Discovery | SciByte 44 – The Shuttle Shuffle Continues [May 1, 2012]
The low down
The Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT), is a life-size space shuttle mockup that was used by every person who flew on the shuttle while training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
The FFT is a 28-foot (8.5 meters) long compartment – comprising the shuttle’s iconic nose with its dual level flight- and mid-decks
NASA’s Super Guppy cargo aircraft delivered it to Seattle’s The Museum of Flight on Saturday, June 30
The Super Guppy is a wide-bodied turboprop aircraft previously used to deliver the room-size modules of the International Space Station to their Florida launch site.
Multimedia
YouTube : NASA Suppy Guppy fly by at Paine Field, Everett, WA June 30, 2012 | suds777
YouTube : NASA Super Guppy – Arrival Museum of Flight Seattle | SABredhawkn
YouTube : Paine Field Everett, Washington~ NASA Super Guppy Flyby 6–30–2012 | ClearBlueSea100
IMAGE : NASA Super Guppy Cargo Plane unloading the front part of the FFT
IMAGE : Space Vehicle Mockup Facility
Social Media
Museum of Flight @MuseumofFlight
Further Reading / In the News
NASA Space Shuttle Trainer Lands at Seattle’s Museum of Flight | Space.com
Space Shuttle Trainer Lifts Off for Seattle on NASA Aircraft

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

July 16, 1994 : 18 years ago : Shoemaker-Levy Comet : The first of 21 asteroids, major fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broken-up 2 years earlier, hit Jupiter, creating a 1200-mile wide fireball 600 miles high to the joy of astronomers awaiting the celestial fireworks, giving scientists their first chance to observe such a collision as it happened, and others through July 22. Jupiter is a gas giant, made up mostly of hydrogen and helium in gas and liquid form.When we observe Jupiter, we are looking not at a solid surface, but a banded atmosphere with swirling clouds and huge storms.

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for … ~1 hour before Sunrise
Venus and Jupiter remain the brightest ‘stars’ in the early morning sky in the East. With Venus being the brighter of the two, while Jupiter ‘on top’ the higher of the two.
The red star above and to the right of Venus is actually a real star called Aldebaran
The Pleiades star cluster can be seen above Venus and Jupiter, in nearly a straight line with the two planets and about the same distance.
Sun, July 15 | ~1 hour before Sunrise | Most of Europe and parts of Asia will get to see the Moon pass in front of Jupiter, called an occultation, Time and location tables
More on what’s in the sky this week
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Higgs Boson | SciByte 53 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Antimatter | SciByte 5

chris — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:00:21 +0000

This week on SciByte …
We look at anti-matter what it is, how they capture it, detect it and take a look at the CERN Large Hadron Collider where some of this research is going on. Plus we take a brief look at the AMS-02, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, that was recently launched on the Shuttle, looking for cosmic rays. All that and more, on SciByte!

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Did you know …

If an Atom was the size of a football field, the nucleus would be the size of a pea
Positrons (anitmatter Electrons) are used in PET medical scanners
By convention, the charge of an electron is −1, while that of a proton is +1, and neutron have no net electric charge

Paul Dirac

Formulated the Dirac equation [provided a description of electrons, elementary spin -½ particles; first theory to fully account for relativity in the context of quantum mechanics], which describes the behaviour of fermions
Predicted the existence of antimatter in 1928

Carl David Anderson

best known for his discovery of the positron in 1932, an electron with the same mass as normal electrons, but with a positive charge
Physicists soon concluded that every particle of matter has its own antiparticle with the same mass but opposite charge.

Antimatter

Antimatter is like a mirror image of matter. For every matter particle (a hydrogen atom, for example), a matching antimatter particle is thought to exist (in this case, an antihydrogen atom) with the same mass, but the opposite charge.
In 1955 the both the antineutron and antiproton were discovered
Just half a gram of antimatter would have the explosive force of 20 Hiroshimas but at current production rates it would take billions of years to make
All the antimatter that has been created so far in laboratories (since the 1930s) would not light up a lightbulb.

Naturally occurring source – Earth’s Van Allen Belt] :

Around both the Earth and Jupiter, there are belts of radioactive plasma that contain antimatter.

Naturally occurring sources – Thunderstorms

American Astronomical Society has discovered antimatter originating above thunderstorm clouds [Antimatter caught streaming from thunderstorms on Earth]
A thunderstorms produces an electrical field, Electrons become accelerated upwards
As the electrons accelerate upwards towards thinner atmosphere they accelerate to nearly the speed of light
The accelerated electrons strike an atom and emit Gamma Ray photons [estimates are that ~500 Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes per day]
When gamma rays pass near the nuclei of atoms, they can turn their energy into two particles: an electron-positron pair. [scientists now think that all TGFs emit electron/positron beams]

CERN [European Organization for Nuclear Research]

International organization whose purpose is to operate the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the Northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border and began operating in 2008. [Location MAP]
The term “CERN” is also used to refer to the laboratory itself, which employs approximately 2,600 full-time employees, as well as some 7,931 scientists and engineers representing 580 universities and research facilities and 80 nationalities.

“Most of the data is discarded,” Steven Goldfarb told the crowd via a video link from the ATLAS control room in Geneva. “If we took all the data we would be storing a petabyte of data every second, which is about a thousand of the disks that you can buy at the store.”

Creating Antihydrogen @ ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus)

The experiment begins by making a cloud of positrons and a cloud of antiprotons.

The antiprotons are created in an accelerator by smashing high-energy protons into a stationary target and then slowed and cooled in a series of steps involving a storage ring and electromagnetic traps.
The positrons are produced by a radioactive source and then accumulated and cooled in a special trap.
The clouds are injected into a superconducting magnetic trap, where they mix for about 1 s to create antihydrogen.
The charged positrons and antiprotons are then ejected from the trap, leaving behind neutral antihydrogen. While most of this antihydrogen is moving too quickly to be trapped, atoms with very little kinetic energy are held by a magnetic field gradient.

Trapping Antimatter @ ALPHA

Trapping antimatter is difficult, because when it comes into contact with matter, the two annihilate each other. So a container for antimatter can’t be made of regular matter, but is usually formed with magnetic fields.
These precious atoms of antimatter are then held in a kind of magnetic bottle, chilled to more than 272 degrees below zero
Scientists who’ve been trapping antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva say isolating the exotic particles has become so routine that they expect to soon begin experiments on this rare substance
“hope that by 2012 we will have a new trap with laser access to allow spectroscopic experiments on the antiatoms,” Fajans said in a statement
The team has now managed to capture 112 antiatoms in this new trap for times ranging from one-fifth of a second to 1,000 seconds, or 16 minutes and 40 seconds.

Antihydrogen

To date, since the beginning of the project, Fajans and his colleagues have trapped 309 antihydrogen atoms in various traps and was trapped for the first time November 2010
It has now been trapped for 16 minutes and 40 seconds
ALPHA physicists have planned two key experiments to be started later this year. One will determine if antihydrogen reacts to light the same way hydrogen does, the other will compare how they interact with gravity

At the moment, the anti-hydrogen atoms are held in their bottle at just half a degree above absolute zero. For the gravity experiments, conditions would need to be a few thousandths of a degree above the theoretically coldest achievable temperature

Detection

Scientists could detect the trapped antiatoms by turning off the magnetic field and allowing the particles to annihiliate with normal matter, which creates a flash of light
There may also be antimatter elsewhere in the universe, and a detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, has just been delivered to the International Space Station to look for it

AMS-02 : Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Designed to search for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays
The launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour flight STS-134 carrying AMS-02 took place on 16 May 2011, and the spectrometer was installed on 19 May 2011
AMS-02 tracks its first particle on the ISS!

Additional Information

Social Media

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The post Antimatter | SciByte 5 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The Sky Is Falling | J@N | 11.17.10

chris — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:10:32 +0000

Tonight’s show ROCKS! Wait, wh- oh we’re TALKING about rocks. Space rocks, to be exact. This week marks the high-point of this year’s Leonid Meteor Shower, and we’re gonna tell you all about our space rock stories, and include some tips on getting the best view.

We’ll also share some exciting space news about near-miss asteroids, Japanese space probes and anti-matter! Get SPACEY with us!

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Leonid Meteor Shower is peaking this week (11/16)
https://www.space.com/spacewatch/leonid-meteor-shower-peaking-now-101116.html
* Caused by debris from the Tempel-Tuttle Comet entering Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds. (comet revisits every ~33 years)
* Each fragment is no larger than a marble and most grains of sand.
* Light show caused by speeds of more than 160,000 mph (compared to rifle = 2,240 mph)

Top 10 Leonid Meteor Shower Facts: https://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/top10_leonidsfacts-10.html
* Neatest fact – you can LISTEN to the shower via radio waves.
* Also, the re-entry occasionally causes electromagnetic distortions that make it seem as though the meteors’ sound reaches earth BEFORE it is visible.

Japanese Space Probe accidentally brings home Asteroid dust
https://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/11/20101116_hayabusa_e.html
NewScientist article on subject: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19730-spacecraft-is-first-to-bring-asteroid-dust-to-earth.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
* The dust contains a mineral not found on Earth’s surface.

CERN scientists successfully contain Anti-hydrogen for the FIRST TIME
https://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-trapped-antihydrogen-20101118,0,2787137.story
Antimatter infographic: https://press.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/

Courtesy of Rikai: https://news.discovery.com/space/comet-hartley-2-pumps-out-the-cyanide.html

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The post The Sky Is Falling | J@N | 11.17.10 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.