Did You Know :: Eternal Clock Could Keep Time After Universe Dies

Scientists have proposed a way to build a clock that will keep perfect time forever.



The idea for an eternal clock that would continue to keep time even after the universe ceased to exist has intrigued physicists. However, no one has figured out how one might be built, until now.

Did You Know :: M101 @ Pinwheel Galaxy

This composite image of M101 (aka, the "Pinwheel Galaxy") combines data from four of NASA's space-based telescopes. X-rays from Chandra (purple) reveal the hottest and most energetic areas due to exploded stars, superheated gas, and material falling toward black holes. Infrared data from Spitzer (red) shows dusty lanes in the galaxy where stars are forming, while Hubble data (yellow) traces the light from stars. Ultraviolet emission detected by GALEX (blue) shows emission from young stars.

Source : Chandra x-ray observatory

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Management Team

Melaka Planetarium Adventure Science Centre

Did You Know :: Harvest Energy from Moonlight

It looks like a giant, glass marble. But this globe is no game. It's a sun-tracking, solar energy concentrator created by Barcelona-based architects Rawlemon and, according to the designers, is able to collect not just sunlight but moonlight as well. The weatherproof sphere is designed to rotate and follow the sun across the sky. It's so sensitive to light that at night, it can even harvest moonlight and convert it into electricity. Andre Rawlemon, the architect and designer, says his spherical, sun-tracking glass globe is able to concentrate sunlight and moonlight up to 10,000 times and that the system is 35 percent more efficient than photovoltaic designs that track the sun. One of Rawlemon's idea is to build these globes into the exterior walls of buildings and use them to generate electricity.

Source : via Design Boom and Inhabitat Credit: Andre Rawlemon

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Management Team

Melaka Planetarium Adventure Science Centre

Did You Know :: Surprisingly Bright Super Bubble

This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44, so named because it is the 44th nebula in a catalog of such objects in the Magellanic Clouds. The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2-m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow. 

A long-running problem in high-energy astrophysics has been that some superbubbles in the LMC, including N44, give off a lot more X-rays than expected from models of their structure. These models assume that hot, X-ray emitting gas has been produced by winds from massive stars and the remains of several supernovas. A Chandra study published in 2011 showed that there are two extra sources of N44’s X-ray emission not included in these models: supernova shock waves striking the walls of the cavities, and hot material evaporating from the cavity walls. The Chandra observations also show no evidence for an enhancement of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the cavities, thus ruling out this possibility as a third explanation for the bright X-ray emission. Only with long observations making full use of the capabilities of Chandra has it now become possible to distinguish between different sources of the X-rays produced by superbubbles.

Source: 

Chandra x-ray observatory

www.nasa.gov/

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Management Team

Melaka Planetarium Adventure Science Centre

Did You Know :: CURIOSITY IS IN GOOD HEALTH

On Sol 42 (Sept. 17, 2012), Curiosity drove about 105 feet (32 meters), toward the east-southeast, bringing the mission's total driving distance to about 850 feet (259 meters). The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument was used at two stops during the drive to check for hydrogen in the soil beneath the rover. During this sol, the rover used its Mast Camera to observe Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, as each passed in front of the sun. Curiosity continues to work in good health. Sol 42, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ends at 11:12 a.m. Sept. 18, PDT.

Source/Credit : NASA Langley Research Centre

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Management Team

Melaka Planetarium Adventure Science Centre

Did You Know :: VESTA - "Asteroid" or Another "Dwarf Planet" ?

Vesta : Image taken by Dawn Spacecraft

Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, with a mean diameter of about 525 kilometres (326 mi). It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on 29 March 1807, and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.

Did You Know :: Origin of Life

Hypotheses about the origins of life may be divided into several categories. Most approaches investigate how self-replicating molecules or their components came into existence.