Why Is Mercury Shrinking?

I want to be a new genre.

(via Etsy)

Chandra/Hubble/Spitzer X-Ray/Visible/Infrared Image of M82.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC and JPL-Caltech

SpaceTime 20181010 Series 21 Episode 80 is now out

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available as a free twice weekly podcast through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, Audio Boom, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast coast to coast across the United States on Science360 Radio by the National Science Foundation in Washington D.C. and around the world on Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/ SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary SpaceTime YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceTimewithStuartGary

Today’s stories…

Another lander touches down on the asteroid Ryugu Japan’s Hyabusa2 spacecraft has successfully deployed a third lander rover onto the rugged boulder strewn surface of the asteroid Ryugu – located some 300 million kilometres from Earth.

New Neutron Star discovery challenges existing theories Existing theories about Neutron stars have taken a blow with astronomers detecting radio jets emanating from a neutron star with a strong magnetic field.

New sub-atomic particles discovered at the super collider Physicists have discovered two new sub atomic particles with hints of a possible third.

Intergalactic stars flying towards the Milky Way Astronomers have discovered dozens of stars flying through intergalactic space heading towards the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Science Report Russia widely condemned over a series of cyber-security attacks. Users demanding higher purity types of ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, and cocaine. Australia records its driest September on record. Wireless broadband connections the most popular means of accessing the Internet. Alex on tech Prince Charles gives the thumbs down to artificial intelligence.

Last Saturday’s show….

Opportunity still silent Scientists are increasing the frequency of commands being sent to the still silent Opportunity Mars rover on the surface of the red planet.

Neutrino experiment records its first tracks The world’s largest liquid-argon neutrino detector has just recorded its first particle tracks.

One hundredth Ariane 5 launch Arianespace has successfully carried out its 100th Ariane 5 launch.

October Skywatch A busy month with three meteor showers in October–the Draconids, the Taurids and the Orionids.

The Science Report A new class of antibiotics to combat the growing problem of deadly multi-drug resistant bacteria. New solar flow battery that both soaks up sunlight and store it as chemical energy for later use. How bombing air raids during World War Two affected the ionosphere. Warnings that industries dominated by the opposite sex tend to have higher rates of divorce.

SpaceTime Background SpaceTime is Australia’s most respected astronomy and space science news program. The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, galactic and stellar evolution, physics, spaceflight, and general science. SpaceTime features interviews with leading Australian scientists about their latest research. The show is broadcast coast to coast across the United States by the National Science Foundation on Science360 Radio and around the world on Tune in Radio. SpaceTime is available in Australia as a twice weekly podcast which averages around three million downloads annually. It’s hosted on line through Bitez.com on all major podcast platforms. SpaceTime began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on ABC NewsRadio. Stuart Gary created the show while he was NewsRadio’s Science Editor and evening News anchor. Gary wrote, produced and hosted the program, consistently achieving 9 percent of the Australian radio audience share - according to Neilsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, & Perth). The StarStuff podcast was hosted by ABC Science on line achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually. Sadly, the popular program was axed in 2015 during ABC budget cuts. Rather than remain with the ABC, Gary resigned to continue producing the show independently and rebranding it as SpaceTime. The first episode of SpaceTime was broadcast on February 8th 2016 and the show has been in continuous production ever since. SpaceTime now reaches an audience almost three times greater that it achieved as StarStuff and continues to grow.

Cherenkov Radiation: When Electrons go Faster than the Speed of Light!

Well faster than light is an overstatement in the sense that it only happens in water. Basically the speed of light in water is 0.75c and although matter can be accelerated faster than that it is still below the speed of light in a vacuum. And that’s what basically causes the blue light or Chernenkov radiation, particles in a medium moving faster than the speed of light in that medium. 

How does that happen though? Well that is due to very excited neutrinos produced by the nuclear reactor colliding with the nuclei of the water that is surrounding it. The collision produces muons and electrons which have the resulting momentum faster than the speed that light can travel in water. Which in turn brings the electrons in the surrounding water atoms/molecules to a higher state, and when they return back to the ground state they emit light in the wavelength of the resulting momentum transfer from those excited particles. 

A common analogy is the sonic boom of a supersonic aircraft or bullet. The sound waves generated by the supersonic body propagate at the speed of sound itself; as such, the waves travel slower than the speeding object and cannot propagate forward from the body, instead forming a shock front. In a similar way, a charged particle can generate a light shock wave as it travels through an insulator.

More science and gifs on my blog: rudescience Gif made from: This video References: (x), (x). You can donate to support more science content on tumblr: here

Crew Safe After Soyuz Launch Abort

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are in good condition following an aborted launch of their Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 4:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, October 11 (2:40 p.m. in Baikonur) carrying American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. Shortly after launch, there was an anomaly with the booster and the launch ascent was aborted, resulting in a ballistic landing of the spacecraft. Search and rescue teams were deployed to the landing site. Hague and Ovchinin are out of the capsule and are reported to be in good condition.

Note: This video is edited for length, but includes the launch, the initial report of the issue, and the confirmation that the crew landed safely.

Carina nebula [ 564 x 888]

I want to be a fairytale ending.

(via Recycled Blog)

VIDEO FROM THE SURFACE OF A COMET

This is truly incredible.

Details:

Remember Rosetta? That comet-chasing European Space Agency (ESA) probe that deployed (and accidentally bounced) its lander Philae on the surface of Comet 67P? This GIF is made up of images Rosetta beamed back to Earth, which have been freely available online for a while. But it took Twitter user landru79 processing and assembling them into this short, looped clip to reveal the drama they contained.

Just let Earth enjoy the theory of general relativity, Mars.

P.S. Today (in 1905) the theory of special relativity was revealed!