Paper examines potential for satellite systems to be brought down by extreme space weather.
Category: space – Page 54
The Holy Grail of Physics: Superconductivity Without the Cold
Researchers found that fundamental constants determine the upper limit of superconducting temperatures, and luckily, our Universe allows for conditions where this breakthrough might be possible.
The Holy Grail of Physics: Room-Temperature Superconductivity
A new study, published on March 3 in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, suggests that room-temperature superconductivity — long considered the “holy grail” of condensed matter physics — may indeed be possible within the fundamental laws of the universe.
How heat from the sun plays a role in seismic activity on Earth
The role of solar heat in earthquake activity https://pubs.aip.org/aip/cha/article-abstract/35/3/033107/33…m=fulltext
Seismology has revealed much of the basics about earthquakes: Tectonic plates move, causing strain energy to build up, and that energy eventually releases in the form of an earthquake. As for forecasting them, however, there’s still much to learn in order to evacuate cities before catastrophes like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake that, in addition to causing the tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, resulted in more than 18,000 deaths.
In recent years, research has focused on a possible correlation between the sun or moon and seismic activity on Earth, with some studies pointing to tidal forces or electromagnetic effects interacting with the planet’s crust, core, and mantle.
In Chaos researchers from the University of Tsukuba and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan explored the likelihood that Earth’s climate, as affected by solar heat, plays a role.
Spectacular photo taken from ISS shows ‘gigantic jet’ of upward-shooting lightning towering 50 miles over New Orleans
A newly unveiled photo captured by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) provides a rare glimpse at an upward-shooting “gigantic jet” of lightning likely extending more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the U.S. coast.
The striking image was taken by an unnamed ISS crewmember on Nov. 19, 2024, but it was not initially shared by NASA or any other space organization. However, photographer Frankie Lucena, who specializes in capturing giant lightning sprites, stumbled across photos of the event on the Gateway to Astronaut photography of Earth website and shared them with Spaceweather.com, which reshared the shots Feb. 26.
Radio Telescopes Are Revealing a Trove of Faint Circular Objects in The Sky
New radio telescopes like ASKAP and MeerKAT are unveiling a ‘low surface brightness Universe’, enhancing our understanding of its hidden features.
Radio astronomers see what the naked eye can’t. As we study the sky with telescopes that record radio signals rather than light, we end up seeing a lot of circles.
The newest generation of radio telescopes – including the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and MeerKAT, a telescope in South Africa – is revealing incredibly faint cosmic objects, never before seen.
In astronomy, surface brightness is a measure that tells us how easily visible an object is. The extraordinary sensitivity of MeerKAT and ASKAP is now revealing a new “low surface brightness universe” to radio astronomers.
What’s Your Brain’s Role in Creating Space & Time?
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Physics is the business of figuring out the structure of the world. So are our brains. But sometimes physics comes to conclusions that are in direct conflict with concepts fundamental to our minds, such as the realness of space and time. How do we tell who’s correct? Are time and space objective realities or human-invented concepts?
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Astronomers detect new polar cataclysmic variable
Using the ROentgen SATellite (ROSAT), astronomers have discovered a new cataclysmic variable system of the polar subtype. The new polar, which received the designation ZTF J0112+5827, has an orbital period of approximately 81 minutes. The finding is detailed in a research paper published on the arXiv preprint server.
Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are binary star systems composed of a white dwarf and a normal star companion. They irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state. Polars are a subclass of cataclysmic variables distinguished from other CVs by the presence of a very strong magnetic field in their white dwarfs.
Now, a team of astronomers led by Jiamao Lin of the Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, China, reports the discovery of a new CV of the polar subclass. By examining the X-ray and cyclotron radiation characteristics of a CV candidate ZTF J0112+5827, they confirmed its polar nature.
Collaborative analysis improves theoretical understanding of hyperfine splitting in hydrogen
Two experiment collaborations, the g2p and EG4 collaborations, combined their complementary data on the proton’s inner structure to improve calculations of a phenomenon in atomic physics known as the hyperfine splitting of hydrogen. An atom of hydrogen is made up of an electron orbiting a proton.
The overall energy level of hydrogen depends on the spin orientation of the proton and electron. If one is up and one is down, the atom will be in its lowest energy state. But if the spins of these particles are the same, the energy level of the atom will increase by a small, or hyperfine, amount. These spin-born differences in the energy level of an atom are known as hyperfine splitting.
While it’s commonplace for many scientists to collaborate on nuclear physics experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, it’s rarer for the lab’s individual experiments to collaborate with each other. But that’s exactly what g2p in Jefferson Lab’s Experimental Hall A and EG4 in Experimental Hall B did.
