Saturn's ring mystery: Why are opacity and density a mismatch?
In studying the mass of Saturn’s rings, astronomers have stumbled on a surprising finding: more opacity does not necessarily mean more mass, as one might expect."Appearances can be deceiving," Phil Nicholson, an astronomy professor at Cornell University, said in an announcement."A good analogy is how a foggy meadow is much more opaque than a swimming pool, even though the pool is denser and contains a lot more water," explained Dr. Nicholson, who participated in a recent analysis of data collec..>> view originalThe 'Floating Hills' of Pluto (Photo)
Hills of water ice on Pluto 'float' in a sea of frozen nitrogen and move over time like icebergs in Earth's Arctic Ocean — another example of Pluto's fascinating geological activity. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI Mini-mountains of water-ice creep across Pluto's surface, carried slowly along by the dwarf planet's nitrogen-ice glaciers, a newly released photo suggests. The image, which was captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic Pluto flyby last July, shows that the ..>> view originalCongress Scolds NASA, Underscoring How Far We Are From Mars
NASA's big Mars plan. Congress looked it over on Wednesday and found it wanting. Image from NASA It seemed like Congress was finally in the mood to appreciate NASA. After all, the federal space agency has been doing the kind of work that gets a space agency noticed the past couple of years. It pulled off the first launch of the Orion spacecraft in 2014, and then the agency followed up by discovering water on Mars and giving us unprecedented images of Pluto in 2015. And Congress responded wi..>> view originalScientists discover prehistoric 'Jurassic butterfly'
Scientists have discovered an insect that went extinct for more than 120 million years and featured many of the traits associated with modern butterflies including markings on the wing called eye spots. Known as Kalligrammatid lacewings, paleobotanists for the past century have known they lived in Eurasia during the Mesozoic. But it’s taken recent discoveries of well-preserved fossils from two sites in northeastern China to demonstrate how similar they were to modern butterflies. Thanks to exte..>> view originalPandemic Decimating Bee Populations Worldwide Is Man-Made And Driven By European Honeybees
Study found that the pandemic that is currently destroying bee populations around the world is man-made. The Deformed Wing Virus is largely driven by the European honeybee Apis mellifera populations.(Photo : Paul Rollings | Flickr) There is a disease currently destroying bee populations around the world. New study found that the disease is manmade and is being driven by the honeybee populations in Europe called the Apis mellifera. The dreaded Deformed Wing Virus is destroying bee hives around ..>> view originalDeep-Sea Creature 'Purple Socks' May Hold Clue To Evolution Of Animal Life
Researchers from Australia and the United States have discovered four new species of purple sock-like creatures that belong to the genus Xenoturbella. This allowed them to identify the placement of the creatures in animal tree of life. (Photo : Greg Rouse | Scripps Oceanography) An international team of scientists from Australia and the United States may have finally determined the identity of a worm-like animal that had baffled Swedish biologists for close to six decades. Since the discovery..>> view originalNew species of tarantula found near Folsom Prison named for Johnny Cash
Aphonopelma johnnycashi, one of 14 new species of tarantula. (Chris A. Hamilton) A study published Thursday in ZooKeys announced the discover of a staggering 14 new species of tarantula. The researchers were trying to clean up the taxonomy of the genus Aphonopelma, a group of tarantula species native to the Americas. Before the new study from Auburn University and Millsaps College, scientists had identified over 50 different species in the genus. But this record was wrong: Many of the speci..>> view originalVolcano erupts spectacularly with fiery blast
TOKYO -- One of Japan's most active volcanos erupted spectacularly Friday evening with a fiery blast that sent lava rolling down its slope.Japan's Meteorological Agency said Sakurajima on the southern island of Kyushu erupted at around 7 p.m.Japanese television showed an orange burst out of the side of the volcano, near the summit, accompanied by lightning-like flashes. Dark gray smoke billowed into the sky.The Meteorological Agency banned entry to the area, expanding an existing no-go zone aro..>> view originalMirror Installation Complete for NASA's Next Space Telescope
In a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a robotic arm installs the last of 18 mirrors onto the James Webb Space Telescope structure. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn the 18 mirrors for the Webb Telescope In this rare view, the James Webb Space Telescope's 18 mirrors are seen fully installed on the James Webb Space Telescope structure at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credits The biggest-ever space telescope is now one major step cl..>> view originalShared noses: Extinct wildebeest relative was remarkably dinosaur-like
You might not expect to find many similarities between a mammal and a reptile, particularly if they lived millions of years apart. But scientists have found that two such extinct beasts share a rare, distinctive facial feature.An extinct relative of the wildebeest and a duck-billed dinosaur both had bizarre crests on their heads. But it wasn't the protruding bump that has most intrigued scientists, it's what they found beneath.The bony crest is hollow, forming a trumpet-shaped nasal passage unl..>> view original
Friday, February 5, 2016
Saturn's ring mystery: Why are opacity and density a mismatch? and other top stories.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment