Hot, active volcanoes produce almost half of Jupiter’s moon Io’s sulfur atmosphere, according to new observations using the ALMA telescope. The rest comes from cold sulfur deposits that freeze on the surface, then sublimate in sunlight. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/io-sulfur-volcanoes-hot-so2-cold-so2…
Tag: resolution
Inner jet of the blazar PKS 1749+096 investigated in detail
Using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), astronomers have performed high-resolution observations of the blazar PKS 1749+096. Results of this observational campaign, presented in a paper published October 23 on arXiv.org, provide essential information about the properties of the blazar’s inner jet. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-jet-blazar-pks.html…
Top 10 things to know about asteroid Bennu
Take a video tour of asteroid Bennu’s remarkable terrain and read a list of 10 cool things scientists know about this pristine remnant from the early days of our solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/top-10-things-to-know-about-asteroid-bennu-video-tour…
Technology ready for back-up detector X-IFU in Athena space telescope
In 2031, ESA launches its new X-ray space telescope Athena. SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research plays a large role in building one of its two instruments, the X-IFU spectrometer, by producing the camera plus the back-up detectors. SRON scientists have now successfully developed detectors that are optimized for a readout based on a special system called Frequency Domain Multiplexing. They…
Gamers Are Replacing Bing Maps Objects in Microsoft Flight Simulator With Rips From Google Earth
Microsoft’s flagship 2020 game Flight Simulator was supposed to showcase Bing Maps and Azure’s streaming capabilities. There’s just one small problem: gamers are overwriting Bing’s in-game 3D photogrammetry with entire cities ripped from Google Earth. From a report: “When playing the game, you’re essentially looking at an extremely high resolution image of the entire globe in 3D — think Google Earth…
Metal-poor globular cluster forces astronomers to rethink theories
The discovery of the most metal-poor globular cluster recorded to date has forced scientists to rethink how both galaxies and globular clusters form. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/metal-poor-globular-cluster-ext8-found-in-andromeda-galaxy…
Make Remote Work Permanent? No Way, Say Bay Area Leaders
Last month a regional government agency in the San Francisco Bay Area voted “to move forward” with a proposal to eventually require people at large, office-based companies to work from home three days a week “as a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions from car commutes,” according to NBC News. But today local newspapers report “Bay Area leaders are already saying,…
Venus setting captured in snapshots
This sequence of 64 images was captured by Monitoring Camera 2 onboard the Mercury Transfer Module from 40 minutes before until 15 minutes after closest approach of 10 720 km from Venus. The images were taken every 52 seconds. The camera provides black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-venus-captured-snapshots.html…
Pluto’s snowcapped mountains are unlike any on Earth
A new study shows how methane snow accumulates on Pluto’s mountain peaks. These snowcaps – first seen by New Horizons in 2015 – look a lot like ones on Earth, but form in a very alien environment. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/methane-snowcapped-mountains-on-pluto-new-horizons…
Live2Coursera: Coming Soon as a Zoom App
By Shravan Goli, Chief Product Officer, Coursera In August, we launched Live2Coursera to help instructors quickly move online by integrating Zoom lectures into their private courses and content libraries on Coursera. While this helped address the initial challenge of transitioning instruction online, internet connectivity and access to devices still impede learning for many students. Instructors […]
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