New Horizons provided what will be the only close-up images of Pluto many of us will see in our lifetimes. The new feature names from the International Astronomical Union recognize the mission’s forerunners in Earth and space mythology and history. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/iau-approves-new-pluto-feature-names-2019…
Tag: Nitrogen
Two-dimensional (2-D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with a microfluidic diamond quantum sensor
Quantum sensors based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a promising detection mode for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy due to their micron-scale detection volume and noninductive-based sample detection requirements. A challenge that exists is to sufficiently realize high spectral resolution coupled with concentration sensitivity for multidimensional NMR analysis of picolitre sample volumes. In a new report now on Science Advances,…
‘Unprecedented’ discovery of unique infrared light signature on Neptune’s moon Triton
Triton orbits Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, some 2.7 billion miles from Earth—at the cold outer fringe of the Solar System’s major planet zone. Surface temperatures hover near absolute zero, so low that common compounds we know as gases on Earth freeze into ices. Triton’s atmosphere, which is 70,000 times less dense than Earth’s, is composed of nitrogen, methane…
Modeling exoplanet atmospheres
All atoms and molecules emit distinctive spectral lines across the spectrum, the details of which depend on the internal structures of the species (for example, the vibration and rotation properties of molecules) and how they are excited by their environments. Measurements of the features’ brightnesses, relative intensities, and shapes enable astronomers, at least in principle, to reconstruct most of the essential…
California Awards $70 Million To State Schools To Replace 200 Polluting Diesel School Buses With All-Electric Buses
The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $70 million to state schools to replace more than 200 diesel school buses with new, all-electric school buses. Electrek reports: The commission approved the funding this week. A total of $89.8 million has now been earmarked for new electric buses at schools in 26 California counties, as the commission’s School Bus Replacement Program works…
We Finally Know Why Florida’s Coral Reefs Are Dying, and It’s Not Just Climate Change
Hot water is killing Florida’s coral reefs. But it’s not the only factor bleaching them white. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65958-florida-coral-reefs-nitrogen.html
Scientists Could Use Aerogel Sheets To Make Mars Surface Fit For Farming
Scientists believe aerogel sheets could transform the cold, arid surface of Mars into land fit for farming. The Guardian reports: The “aerogel” sheets work by mimicking Earth’s greenhouse effect, where energy from the sun is trapped on the planet by carbon dioxide and other gases. Spread out in the right places on Mars, the sheets would warm the ground and melt…
Dragonfly aims for Saturn’s moon Titan
Scheduled for launch in 2026, the Dragonfly mission will look for clues to the origins of life, and possibly even evidence of life itself, on Saturn’s alien yet remarkably Earth-like moon Titan. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/dragonfly-mission-saturn-moon-titan…
Today in 2015: New Horizons at Pluto
The small, fast-moving New Horizons spacecraft is likely to be the only Pluto mission in the lifetimes of many of us. It changed forever the way we on Earth perceive this outermost world and its moons. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/july-4-2015-new-horizons-at-pluto…
Do organic crystals create ‘bathtub rings’ around Titan’s lakes and seas?
Scientists have been trying to figure what creates the so-called “bathtub rings” around lakes and seas on Saturn’s large moon Titan. Now they may have an answer: unusual organic crystals not found on Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/saturn-moon-titan-crystals-bathtub-rings-lakes-seas…