Scientists have been studying an exoplanet dubbed HD 189733b as it passes in front of its parent star dubbed HD 189733A. The reason scientists and researchers are scrutinizing this planet and star pair with the Hubble space telescope is because the planet appears to have an atmosphere that is quickly evaporating. The planet and star were first discovered in 2010 and was observed again in 2011 following a large solar flare from the star.
The planet is Jupiter-sized and scientists say that the intense plume of gas coming from the planet as it passes in front of the parent star was triggered by a massive eruption on the surface of the star. Scientists say that there were noted changes in the atmosphere of the planet after was bombarded with intense x-ray radiation from a solar flare emanating from the host star.
Observations made in 2011 showed that the planet's atmosphere was evaporating and releasing strong bursts of gas at a rate of at least 984 tons per second. Scientists are studying the planet and its parent star to learn more about space weather outside our solar system. Planet HD 189733b is a gas giant that orbits extremely close to the parent star. The planet orbits at 1/30 of the distance between the Earth and the sun and is approximately the size of Jupiter. The parent star is slightly smaller and cooler than our Sun, yet the surface temperature on the alien world is believed to be about 1830°F due to its close orbit.
[via Space.com]
Physicists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory have gone down in the Guinness World Records book as having created the highest man-made temperature ever recorded. The scientists were smashing gold ions together using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The smashing together of the ions created a fluid called quark-gluon plasma.
The smashing together of those gold ions simulated conditions similar to those during the creation of the universe and generated a temperature of 7.2 trillion degrees Fahrenheit. That is 250,000 times hotter than the temperature at the core of the sun. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is a gigantic 2.4 mile long ring where ions are accelerated to speeds close to that of light.
The experiment being conducted was called PHENIX. The experiment saw gold ions being accelerated around the ring from both directions and crashed together in one of six experimental chambers around the accelerator. The researchers observed the very brief formation of quark-gluon plasma, which is described as and nearly frictionless fluid with a temperature of 4,000,000,000,000°C.
[via LA Times]
Scientists now believe more than ever that Saturn's largest moon has an underground ocean. The discovery that presents this latest solid evidence is that Titan has been found to warp during its gravitational tides. This is leading science experts to believe that a large body of water slosed around under its outer shell.
It's long been a hypothesis that Titan, and other moons far in the deep reaches of the solar system, are capable of holding water underneath their surfaces, but the lack of technology makes it impossible to test these theories. There is however a spacecraft called Cassini, which has been in the Saturn area since 2004. It is the primary source in providing new information about the planet and its moons.
"Liquid water elsewhere in the solar system is one of the main goals of planetary exploration for NASA," said study lead author Luciano Iess, a planetary geodesist at Università La Sapienza in Rome. "This discovery points to the fact that many satellites in the outer solar system hide large amounts of liquid water," said planetary geodesis and lead author of the latest study Luciano Iess.
[via MSNBC]
Scientists now believe more than ever that Saturn's largest moon has an underground ocean. The discovery that presents this latest solid evidence is that Titan has been found to warp during its gravitational tides. This is leading science experts to believe that a large body of water slosed around under its outer shell.
It's long been a hypothesis that Titan, and other moons far in the deep reaches of the solar system, are capable of holding water underneath their surfaces, but the lack of technology makes it impossible to test these theories. There is however a spacecraft called Cassini, which has been in the Saturn area since 2004. It is the primary source in providing new information about the planet and its moons.
"Liquid water elsewhere in the solar system is one of the main goals of planetary exploration for NASA," said study lead author Luciano Iess, a planetary geodesist at Università La Sapienza in Rome. "This discovery points to the fact that many satellites in the outer solar system hide large amounts of liquid water," said planetary geodesis and lead author of the latest study Luciano Iess.
[via MSNBC]
Scientists now believe more than ever that Saturn's largest moon has an underground ocean. The discovery that presents this latest solid evidence is that Titan has been found to warp during its gravitational tides. This is leading science experts to believe that a large body of water slosed around under its outer shell.
It's long been a hypothesis that Titan, and other moons far in the deep reaches of the solar system, are capable of holding water underneath their surfaces, but the lack of technology makes it impossible to test these theories. There is however a spacecraft called Cassini, which has been in the Saturn area since 2004. It is the primary source in providing new information about the planet and its moons.
"Liquid water elsewhere in the solar system is one of the main goals of planetary exploration for NASA," said study lead author Luciano Iess, a planetary geodesist at Università La Sapienza in Rome. "This discovery points to the fact that many satellites in the outer solar system hide large amounts of liquid water," said planetary geodesis and lead author of the latest study Luciano Iess.
[via MSNBC]
The Phoenix Frankenprogram to harvest the corpses of expired satellites and cobble together new ones seemed like one of DARPA's more daft ideas, but this one has actually kicked off its first phase of development. The plan is to first launch a service craft -- replete with robotic arms and enough processing horsepower to work independently if needed -- followed by the tiny base-unit skeleton satlets. The service mothership would dip into an orbital area called the "graveyard", grabbing pre-chosen cadavers and picking off usable parts, especially valuable antenna arrays, with its robo-limbs. Those parts would be jury-rigged to the bare-bones units, creating usable Pentagon satellites and saving the $10,000 per pound launch cost. So far, a $2.5 million contract to develop the needed technology has been put in place, and bids for the no-frills satlets went out last week. Plenty of dirty work is still needed, so check the video after the break to see if the overly-elaborate plan can un-moot $300 billion of orbiting cold metal.
Pentagon starts Phoenix trial to harvest defunct satellites, MacGyver new ones from orbit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In the world of technology, having one of your inventions rendered in Lego form is the equivalent of a musician being parodied by Weird Al -- it's a sign you've truly made it and tribute to your influence. So, we're more than a little surprised to see that it's taken this long for the Turing Machine to be lovingly built from plastic bricks. The heart of this simple logic device is a Lego Mindstorms NXT set, but the soul is in Alan Turing's genius -- a man who was before his time and unjustly persecuted for failing to properly fit into society's molds. Dutch researchers Jeroen van den Bosand and Davy Landman built the device as a tribute to Turing, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this Saturday. If you're in Amsterdam you can see the machine yourself at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica's Turings Erfenis exhibit. Or, you can watch the short explanatory video after the break.
Continue reading Alan Turing's breakthrough machine gets a loving Lego tribute (video)
Alan Turing's breakthrough machine gets a loving Lego tribute (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We've watched our potential quad-mech overlords from KMel Robotics evolve from agile solo acrobats to worker bees to deft synchronized performers. It seemed only a matter of time before they would hunt down Sarah Connor en masse -- or take the show-biz world by storm. Fortunately for us, the tricky flyers chose to embrace their flamboyant side at a tour-de-force 16-quad lightshow in Cannes, where they opened the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase. The soaring automatons pulled all their past tricks out of the bag, flying precisely with mirrors to bounce lights from below, all timed to dramatic music --which they also had a hand in controlling. The sparkly treat awaits right after the break.
Robotic quadrotors' training now complete, proven with razzle-dazzle Cannes show (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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At certain point in every geek's life, their mother gives up and stops yelling at them to sit up straight. If the lack of constant reminders to maintain good posture has you slouching and hunching, there are countless technological substitutes. Even a few nice DIY ones. But we've got to give Ellen Sundh props for the simplicity of her solution. While similar projects rely on accelerometers, which can be difficult for the budding hobbyist to work with, to monitor the angle of your body, Bad Posture sticks with a simple bend sensor to keep tabs on your spinal cord. The flexible plastic is arranged vertically in a fabric belt that also houses an Arduino, a Wave Shield from Adafruit and a push button for calibration. Sit at your optimal angle, press the button and you're ready to go. Bend too much and the Wave Shield plays a warning -- "bad posture!" Check out the video after the break to see it in action.
Continue reading Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino
Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PermalinkAdafruit | Sundh.com | Email this | CommentsIf you think there are too many reality shows on this planet, just wait. If a pioneering Dutch company has its way, you'll be watching people live on an entirely different planet in a little over a decade from now. The project is called Mars One, and it aims to send people to the Red Planet in the year 2023, for the enjoyment of us Earthlings. This is a legitimate project, but of course we're skeptical about whether or not it will actually happen.
Here's how it will work. The show will send four trained astronauts to Mars, and every two years they will be joined by new inhabitants. Everyone will be bound by a stipulation that they can never return to Earth, so the population will grow ever so slowly. Apparently at some point a bunch of cameras will be set up on the planet, streams of which will be edited for a reality show like no other. It's been described as being like the CBS show Big Brother.
An ambassador to the project, physicist Gerard 't Hooft, said, "This project seems to be the only way to fulfill humanity's dream to explore outer space. It is going to be an exciting experiment. Let's get started." The monumental funding task will be handled by years of media spectacles. The first scheduled launch to Mars for initial equipment delivery is 2016. Hopefully we can look back on this post four years from now and say that things are actually on schedule.
[via Space.com]
When we initially did our Nook Tablet / Kindle Fire battle royal, the choice between the devices for comics fans largely came down to the preference between the Marvel and DC universes. The lines, however, are blurring. Thanks to today's announcement, Justice League fans should find as much to love in the Nook Tablet and Color as Avengers devotees. DC has brought more than 100 graphic novels to the aforementioned devices and Android tablets running the Nook app. Barnes & Noble also used the opportunity to announce the new Zoom View feature, which lets readers focus on individual panels -- functionality that sounds fairly similar to what Comixology offers in its own popular app. For more information about Crisis on Infinite Nooks, check out the press release after the break.
Continue reading DC Comics arrive on Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble lets you watch, zoom the Watchmen
DC Comics arrive on Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble lets you watch, zoom the Watchmen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The problem with laser weapons is this -- they need a lot, a lot of power. Seriously. Some of those big, plane-mounted prototypes choke down enough juice to power a whole city. Not so with the Laser-Induced Plasma Channel weapon being developed by researchers at Picatinny Arsenal. While still using plenty of electricity, this more moderately specced laser is just powerful enough to strip electrons off the air molecules around it generating a thin filament of plasma. Its not the high-intensity laser pulse that does the damage, though. Instead, the channel of plasma is used as a conduit for a high-voltage blast of electricity. That laser-assisted bolt of lightning could disable vehicles, people and even IEDs. There are plenty of obstacles, including making the weapon rugged enough for battlefield use and reliable enough to keep the plasma channel from leading the blast of electricity back into the laser and damaging it. Now, if only we could find the video that still above was taken from.
LIPC weapon combines lasers and lightning, proves soldiers are a bunch of nerds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |U.S. Army | Email this | CommentsReady to waste the morning away? Google has partnered with Lego Australia to allow users to build objects using the popular plastic blocks right from within their browser. You can choose from a multitude of different building blocks, and build anything that you can think up. Not only that, but your creation isn't randomly floating around the internet, instead assigned a virtual plot of land in Australia using Google Maps.
Once you fire up Build you'll be able to see a zoomed out map of Australia. As you search the continent and zoom in to different spots, you'll see different creations from netizens that you can interact with or simply observe. If you want to go about building your own creation, you can choose your own plot of land or have the map randomly select somewhere in Australia.
After you're finished, your final build is submitted to Google for approval, just to make sure anything naughty doesn't slip through. Build has launched in Australia first, with New Zealand next on the list. After that, Google will open it up to even more countries so that you can build on more familiar territories.
[via The Next Web]
When ASUS first teased the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 back at CES, many customers looked on, simmering with rage. You see, only several weeks earlier the company started selling the Transformer Prime, a top-tier tablet priced at a not-so-cheap $500. It was a state-of-the-art product...until ASUS unveiled the TF700, a tablet that was similar, only better. It, too, has a Tegra 3 chip and 8-megapixel camera, but it adds a higher-res, 1920 x 1200 display and promises improved signal reception, a pain point for the Prime.
Little did those disgruntled Prime owners know it would actually be a long time before the TF700 ever became available. Now, we're finally hearing it will go on sale in the US in mid-July, at which point the Prime is expected to drop in price before it gets discontinued. But is the TF700 all that much of an improvement over the original? And how does it stack up against comparably priced tablets, such as the new iPad, Acer Iconia Tab A700 and Toshiba Excite 10? Check out our early review to find out.
ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsNASA launched the Voyager 1 probe back in 1977 and sent it on its journey through our solar system to study planets as it passed on its way outside of our solar system. Back in December of 2011 NASA mentioned that Voyager 1 was entering into a new region of space, the stagnation region, which is sort of like a bubble around our solar system. This region is one of the last indicators that the probe is still within our solar system.
Voyager 1 may soon become the first manmade object to leave the solar system, and the probe could leave our solar system much sooner than previously thought. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are currently still in what's known as the Heliosheath where the sun's solar wind is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas. Both of the probes are still transmitting the data about the location through the Deep Space Network. The fact that a pair probes constructed in the 70s are still functional is impressive.
The scientists are watching three data sets to determine when the probe leaves our solar system. One of those data sets is the amount of galactic cosmic rays Voyager is encountering. The second data set is the intensity of energetic particles created inside the heliosphere. Scientists say that when the intensity subsides significantly, they will know Voyager has left our solar system. While Voyager is still within our solar system's heliosphere, magnetic field lines are running east to west and scientists believe when the probe passes into interstellar space, magnetic field lines are expected to be in a more north-south direction.
"From January 2009 to January 2012, there had been a gradual increase of about 25 percent in the amount of galactic cosmic rays Voyager was encountering," said Mr. Stone. "More recently, we have seen very rapid escalation in that part of the energy spectrum. Beginning on May 7, the cosmic ray hits have increased five percent in a week and nine percent in a month."
[via TheBunsenBurner]
This month you'll be getting a greater taste of what it means to be a scientific researcher on Easter Island courtesy of National Geographic, but before the big study is dropped, a few key bits have been revealed. The first of these comes from archaeologists Carl Lipo of Cal State Long Beach and Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii. These two fellows not only have new research leading us to believe that the island hadn't been inhabited until 400 years after common theory up until this point tells us it was, and they've found a new way that the famous rock head statues could have made their way to the shores of the island as well.
The first bit of this research that's been pushed thus far as the life and death of the original human inhabitants (and the stone head creators) shows them to have been relatively irresponsible with the ecosystem. In the 2005 book "Collapse" by UCLA anthropologist Jared Diamond, he shows Polynesians settling on the island at around AD 800, they choosing this remote, cool, and dry island to settle on with little thought of the consequences for farming and agriculture.
In his theory, these the inhabitants did indeed create the statues we see today, but the reason their society broke down was their cutting down of all the trees on the island without realizing that they wouldn't grow back quickly enough to maintain the environment. Once a tree is cut down on this island, it takes one whole heck of a lot more time to grow back than it does in a place that isn't ravaged by high winds and volcanic ash. Once the trees were cut down, the topsoil blew away and was destroyed, the people were forced to eat birds (all of the birds, as it were), then eventually each other. Once the Dutch arrived in 1722 on Easter Sunday, they found the inhabitants to have descended into barbarism.
New research from Libo and Hunt, published in their very recent book "The Statues That Walked," agrees with the idea that some sort of ecological disaster took place, but they've got a bit more to say about rats than Diamond's claims. This theory says that Polynesian settlers didn't arrive on the island until AD 1200 and that the rats that came with them on the boats they arrived on the island with took a large part in destroying the ecosystem. Rat teeth marks have been found on large amounts of buried nuts from Easter Island palms (now extinct), this leading these researchers to believe that the rats not only took a big bite out of the bird population, but the tree population as well – burying the nuts from the trees in this way stopped the seeds from being reseeded naturally, thus ending the tree line with great success.
As far as the stones went, it's been a common theory (with little evidence) that these massive heads were pulled down from the island's volcano (where their stone was indeed sourced) on massive sledges made of the wood from the trees that are now extinct. As part of the research done for this new project and study of the island, a team lead by Hunt and Lipo proved that with a "rock and roll" method of moving the stones with man-made ropes and a team of 18 people, the stones could very well have been maneuvered down from the volcano one at a time.
The footage of this moving of the stones as well as a whole bunch more research on the island will appear on National Geographic's "Nova" later this year – stay tuned!
[via LA Times]
Something happened this month that you probably weren't even aware of. Astronomers working at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wells, Australia spied an asteroid in the skies on June 10. That asteroid was originally estimated to be 500 m or 0.31 miles wide. The shocking part of the discovery is that on the cosmic scale the asteroid was going to pass fairly close to Earth.
The asteroid only came 3.4 million miles away from the planet, which in reality is a very long way away. The truly disturbing part for some scientists was no one even knew the asteroid was there until four days before it passed the earth. Had the asteroid actually been on a collision course with our planet, four days wouldn't give time to respond.
To add insult to injury, once the asteroid was closer to earth it was discovered that it was almost twice as large as previously believed at 0.62 miles wide. Scientists say the reason the size observations were so off was because the surface of the asteroid was very dark and didn't reflect light. The reason the asteroid went unobserved until it was so close to our planet had to do with the fact that it was detected in the southern hemisphere skies were we have a few asteroid watching programs.
[via Discovery]
Drobo's been delivering quality desktop storage for businesses and prosumers for awhile now, but previously, the company hadn't dipped its toe into Thunderbolt waters. But that's about to change with its two new units. The 5D is a BYOD desktop offering with two Thunderbolt ports and one USB 3.0 socket for connecting up to five hot-swappable, 3.5-inch drives to your Mac or PC. It also has an mSATA SSD for data-caching quickness and a variable-speed fan to keep things cool and quiet. We don't know exactly when the 5D will go on sale -- Drobo's not telling until July -- but it'll cost under $850 when it does, and that price includes a Thunderbolt cable.
Drobo debuts a duo of Thunderbolt drives: the 5D for desktops and the Mini for road warriors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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