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Tag: plasma
Betelgeuse is smaller, closer, and won’t explode any time soon
According to new research, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse – which began to dim dramatically in brightness in late 2019 – might not explode for another 100,000 years. The star is also smaller and closer to us than first thought. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuse-supergiant-smaller-closer-wont-explode-soon…
Voyager Spacecraft Detect An Increase In the Density of Space Outside the Solar System
As Voyager 2 moves farther and farther from the Sun, the density of space is increasing. “It’s not the first time this density increase has been detected,” notes SciencAlert. “Voyager 1, which entered interstellar space in 2012, detected a similar density gradient at a separate location.” From the report: Voyager 2’s new data show that not only was Voyager 1’s detection…
KDE Plasma 5.20 Released
KDE’s Plasma 5.20 is now available, bringing a bunch of refinements as well as some larger features. Some of the KDE Plasma 5.20 highlights include (via Phoronix): – Numerous fixes to the KWin window manager / compositor including a number of Wayland fixes. Among the Wayland work in Plasma 5.20 includes Klipper support and middle-click paste, mouse and touchpad support nearly…
What is interstellar space?
You might be surprised to learn that interstellar space isn’t just vacuum. It’s full of gases, elements, and dust – very thinly spread, to be sure – but the building blocks of stars and planets. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-interstellar-space…
Was the moon magnetized by impact plasmas?
The moon, Mercury and many meteorite parent bodies contain a magnetized crust, which is commonly credited to an ancient core dynamo. A longstanding alternative hypothesis suggests the amplification of the interplanetary magnetic field and induced field of the crust (crustal field) via plasma generated through meteoroid impacts. In a new report now published on Science Advances, Rona Oran and a research…
Testing a fiery reentry
What would a satellite look like as it burns up in the atmosphere? Researchers attempted to duplicate this fiery fate for a bulky satellite electronics box using a plasma wind tunnel. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-fiery-reentry.html…
Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely To Work,’ Studies Suggest
JoshuaZ writes: Recent research into the Sparc fusion reactor design make it seem likely to work. Unlike some other fusion reactor designs, Sparc uses high-temperature superconductors which are capable of much stronger magnetic fields in a more closely-confined location. Sparc will be much smaller than large-scale international project ITER, which after multiple delays is now not scheduled to even start fusion…
Insight-HXMT discovers closest high-speed jet to black hole
Insight-HXMT, China’s first space X-ray astronomical satellite, has discovered a low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) above 200 kiloelectron volts (keV) in a black hole binary, making it the highest energy low-frequency QPO ever found. The scientists also found that the QPO originated from the precession of a relativistic jet (high-speed outward-moving plasma stream) near the event horizon of the black hole. These…
Scientists propose possible mechanisms to explain coronal mini-jets in activated tornado-like prominence
Solar jets are a common phenomenon in the solar atmosphere. They mainly appear as transient collimated plasma ejections. Some studies have shown that jets may play an important role in heating the corona and initiating solar winds. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-scientists-mechanisms-coronal-mini-jets-tornado-like.html…