Science Discussion

Dove Satellite - Observing Earth With A Cubesat

1 Like

DNA sequenced in space for first time

1 Like

http://hi-news.ru/space/10-rasprostranennyx-zabluzhdenij-o-kosmose.html Rus ver

http://listverse.com/2013/11/05/10-common-misconceptions-about-space/

1 Like

Really enjoyed the thorough explanation of the misconception of “zero gravity”; it’s really hard to be able to communicate that abstraction to people when media really circulates it.

1 Like

Jupiter’s Wild North Pole, Southern Auroras Photographed for 1st Time - space.com

Listen: Jupiter’s Auroral Radio Emissions Captured by Spacecraft | Video

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image of Jupiter’s north pole on Aug. 27, from a distance of 120,000 miles (195,000 kilometers).

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

NASA’s Juno probe took this image of Jupiter’s south pole on Aug. 27, 2016, from a distance of 58,700 miles (94,500 kilometers).

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Juno captured this infrared image of Jupiter’s southern lights on Aug. 27, 2016. Such views are not possible from Earth.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM

7 Likes

Oooo hellish :smile:

A question occurred to me while looking at that image: what is the relationship between infra-red and heat when it comes to imaging? I never quite figured it out. I understand infra-red’s place on the EM spectrum and that temperature is a measure of the movement (or energy) of the molecules, but I seem to be missing the link.

Help me @Kichae, you’re my only hope!

… Or someone else? :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes

I suspect you’ve fallen prey to a very common stumbling block: You’ve conflated temperature and heat, or maybe more specifically heat and warmth.

Something is warm when it feels like it has a higher temperature than you, or than the embient environment. Heat, on the other hand, is merely the transfer of energy in a way that doesn’t do any useful work. Both heat and work can raise an object’s temperature.

We can take the temperature of an object by measuring its IR output because an object that is radiating IR light due to it being warm will give off a certain amount of IR radiation per square metre that is dependent on its temperature, assuming the radiation is thermal radiation. The IR light being given off by the auora here isn’t caused by thermal emissions, though, so we can’t tell the temperature of the gas by imaging it.

So, in this case, there’s actually no direct relationship between IR imaging and temperature. On the other hand, the IR light that is being captured by the imager isn’t doing much work (it does a little, as it pushes the space craft ever so slightly), so the relationship between imaging and heat is basically that the image is of heat. But that’s true regardless of the wavelength of light captured in an image!

7 Likes

The place is falling apart and could really do with

SCIENCE!

BBC Panorama - Sellafield’s Nuclear Safety Failings

*UK BBC Iplayer - will require VPN to watch outside of UK.

1 Like

BBC Iplayer ran this two part documentary again this week.

*UK BBC Iplayer - will require VPN if viewed outside UK.

1 Like

BBC The Sky at Night - Sept 2016 - Interstellar: The Journey to Proxima b

Following the discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the team focuses on our nearest neighbouring star.

UK BBC Iplayer - VPN will be required outside the UK

Science!

Incoming! New Warning System Tracks Potentially Dangerous Asteroids

A new early warning system may help speed up calculations of when and where incoming asteroids could strike Earth.

On Feb. 15, 2013, a meteor exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Scientists created reconstructions of the meteor explosion, like this one by Sandia National Laboratory, to help refine models on the frequency of such asteroid impacts.

Credit: Sandia National Labs/Simulation: Mark Boslough, Rendering: Brad Carvey; Photo by Olga Krugolva/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

In pictures: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-37337537

2 Likes

Crash Boom!, and that’s that.

Rosetta mission ends in comet collision

2 Likes

Strange matter wins physics Nobel

And I was thinking Dr strange matter or Doesn’t matter would win.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37486373

Tiny machines win chemistry Nobel prize

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37486374

BBC The Sky at Night - Goodbye Rosetta: A Sky at Night Special

The team visits the ESA as the Rosetta mission reaches its conclusion and the spacecraft is crashed into the surface of comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

UK BBC Iplayer, vpn might be required outside UK

Jupiter’s Stripes Go Deep, and Other Surprises from Juno Probe - space.com

From NASA: This composite image depicts Jupiter’s cloud formations as seen through the eyes of Juno’s microwave radiometer (MWR) instrument as compared to the top layer, a Cassini imaging science subsystem image of the planet. The MWR can see a couple of hundred miles into Jupiter’s atmosphere with the instrument’s largest antenna. The belts and bands visible on the surface are also visible in modified form in each layer below.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/GSFC

1 Like

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2016/10/21/uranus-may-have-two-undiscovered-moons

1 Like

Electroboom is pretty neat YouTuber, if you guys are interested.

3 Likes