And this whole time you thought they were more similar to stars? On Earth, auroras like the Northern Lights provide a dazzling light show. According to new research, the same phenomenon occurs outside our solar system — but not necessarily around planets. Brown dwarf stars may host auroras of their own — ones 10,000 more…
Most Powerful Laser Ever Has Just Been Fired
This is awesome who doesn’t like lasers! Now the question is, what will they use this thing for? Scientists in Japan have set the record for the most powerful laser ever fired, producing a 2 petawatt pulse – that’s 2 quadrillion watts – using a device known as the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiment (LFEX).…
The Brightest Star Within 10,000 Light Years
Here is a cool video and description with pics of what is happening around one of the most studied and interesting stars: A gem from NASA Astrophysics. Eta Carinae is a binary system containing the most luminous and massive star within 10,000 light-years. A long-term study combined data from NASA satellites, ground-based observing campaigns and…
CERES Formations Get New Names In NASA Maps
Many have been keeping updated on the new photos that came back of Ceres over the last month or so. The mysteries are abound from discussions of a pyramid like formation on the surface to some very unusual bright spots. Now, they have named some of the formations of the surface as described here: Colorful…
One Of World’s Largest Telescopes To Be Linked To Supercomputer
Detecting planets, galaxies, quasars and other formations is just part of the challenge of astronomy. The other piece is analyzing the data and making sense of it as well as computer modeling to help illustrate things that we cannot necessrily make sense of as invidicuals. Now China is embarking on ambitious endeavor that may yield…
This Compound’s Melting Point Is As High As Two Thirds Of The Sun
Awesome…now what do we do with this? Hold on, hold on! We may have a new world record here. Researchers from Brown University may have found a substance with a melting point that beats out the previous record by a few hundred degrees. The candidate is a combination of three elements: hafnium, nitrogen and carbon, and…
No Way!
This has to be one of the neatest uses of the internet. Apparently these cosmic recordings have been uploaded to soundcloud: What do extraterrestrials listen to? Well, we don’t know for sure, but when NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2 into the Solar System in 1977, the space agency equipped the probes with the ‘Golden…
Impossibe EM Drive Propulsion System Actually Works!
This particular propulsion system is actually worthy of getting excited about. Sure, warp drive concepts are fascinating, and who’s to say they couldn’t be done one day but the EM Drive concept is something here and now: Over the past year, there’s been a whole lot of excitement about the electromagnetic propulsion drive, or EM…
When Will This Design Become Real?
The Jetsons cartoon is most famously referenced in that it was in a futuristic setting and had flying cars. Now, the company Terrafugia has brought a Jetsons type world closer to reality: When it comes to flying cars, humanity has gotten pretty good at waiting patiently. If we’re being realistic, it’s probably going to take…
This Light Emitting Device Flashes 90 Billion Times a Second
Awesome…this may speed up the internet as well as improve other scientific applications! (And it is just plain cool): Researchers have been able to develop a light-emitting device that is able to turn on and off as many as 90 billion times per second. The device could be a way to greatly speed up data…
Colonizing The Moon May Actually Be Affordable…Kind Of
Ah the famous moon landing in 1969. Since that time, (now a controversial topic depending on what you google), scientists and science fiction fans have discussed colonizing the moon. And now they think the costs would be much less than originally estimated: Returning humans to the moon could cost 90 percent less than expected, bringing…
They Are Hunting For Aliens Now On Jupiter’s Moons
Hey why should Mars and Pluto get all the attention right? Or the S.E.T.I. type missions of searching for alien life thousands of light years away? Now more attention in the search for extraterrestrial life will be focused on Jupiter’s moons: In the past year humanity has landed on a comet, ventured to Pluto and…
Cosmic Wind Has Affected Galactic Evolution
Apperently galactic dust and cosmic wind is now understood on a far greater level: Astronomers have long known that powerful cosmic winds can sometimes blow through galaxies, sweeping out interstellar material and stopping future star formation. Now they have a clearer snapshot of how it happens. A Yale University analysis of one such event in…
14 Year Old Kid Built a Nuclear Reactor…Seriously.
A boy genius at the age of 14 has built a nuclear reactor which is incredible, and science author Tom Clynes reports on the story after a series of questions and in person interview. Here is an excerpt on what happened: In his quest to better the world, Taylor Wilson ended up with radioactive pants.…
Apparently Pluto Has a Tail
Wow who knew but apparently the planet Pluto has some properties that resemble a comet. Here is an excerpt about this new discovery: Pluto has a tail! The path of New Horizons as it flew past Pluto on July 14 took it directly into the dwarf planet’s shadow, and while this provided a fascinating opportunity to see its atmosphere lit…
350 Year Old Question Is Finally Answered!
Its about time.. A seemingly simple scientific question has stumped scientists for over three centuries…until now. An interesting phenomenon that happens with two or more pendulum clocks which you would not intuitively think was complicated to figure out: Almost 350 years ago, Dutch inventor and scientist Christiaan Huygens observed that two pendulum clocks hanging from…
Brilliant Idea In Exploring Planets Like Jupiter
This new spacecraft invention is very clever and may help us find out more about planets with no surface: Jupiter and Saturn are two of the least explored worlds in our solar system. As gas giants, they have no surfaces to land on, and their atmospheres are crushingly heavy and violently windy. The Galileo spacecraft…
3 Interesting Perspectives On Aliens Or Lack Of Them
This writer or commenter on imgur puts together one of the most well thought out analasys of the Fermi Paradox. In case you don’t know the Fermi Paradox is the question of if there are aliens, why haven’t we found them yet or have we not been visited yet? (assuming that the pyramids or any…
Saturn’s Newly Discovered Ring is…Enormous
Saturn may be the most unusual and famous planet in out solar system depending on who you ask. The rings are of course famous and NASA may have discovered a big surprise in an undiscovered ring: Analysis of images taken by NASA’s infrared sky-mapping WISE telescope also show that the ring, discovered in 2009, is…
Would You Eat This Food or is it Gross?
The food arena is one of fierce debate. In addition, the advancements in 3D printing have been incredible, once starting out as a way to make figurines to actual metal industrial parts. Now they are crossing the two: Alex Lightman is a futurist who spends a lot of his time thinking about what new food…
