Comet NEOWISE is now heading out of the inner solar system. It probably can’t be seen with the eye now, although large binoculars can still pick it up. Here’s a beautiful telescopic image of the comet, near the globular star cluster M53. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/photo-comet-neowise-and-globular-cluster-m53…
Tag: speed of light
Is there life below the Martian surface?
Galactic cosmic rays are high energy particles from explosive events like supernovae, zinging through our solar system, constantly bombarding both Earth and Mars. A researcher suggests they supply enough energy to make subsurface life on Mars possible. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/is-there-life-below-the-martian-surface…
Researchers Achieve AI Breakthrough Using Light To Perform Computations
“Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in the development of artificial intelligence by using light instead of electricity to perform computations,” reports the Independent. “The new approach significantly improves both the speed and efficiency of machine learning neural networks…”
A paper describing the research, published this week in the scientific journal Applied Physics Reviews, reveals that their photon-based (tensor) processing unit (TPU) was…
‘Looking at an Alien Sky’: New Horizons Probe Sees Stars From a New View
Long-time Slashdot reader JoeRobe writes: Space.com and other outlets are reporting on new pictures of Wolf 359 and Proxima Centauri sent back from New Horizons. The images show clear parallax between the view from Earth and from the spacecraft 6.9 billion km away. In effect, New Horizons is looking up at a visually different star field than we are… NASA has…
Wowzer! Pluto spacecraft sees parallax for Proxima
New images from the fringes of our solar system. The fast-moving New Horizons spacecraft sees a parallax shift – a different apparent position against the background stars – for Proxima Centauri. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-horizons-parallax-for-proxima-centauri…
Cosmic quasars embrace 1970s fashion trend
Researchers from Russia, Germany, Finland and the U.S. have studied more than 300 quasars—spinning black holes that produce beams of plasma. The team has found that the shape of these so-called astrophysical jets changes from parabolic to conical at some distance from the black hole, reminiscent of the iconic flared jeans of the ’70s. By effectively measuring these “cosmic pants,” the…
Galactic star formation and supermassive black hole masses
Astronomers studying how star formation evolved over cosmic time have discovered that quiescent galaxies (galaxies that are currently not making many new stars) frequently have active galactic nuclei. These AGN accrete material onto hot circumnuclear disks, and the resultant energy is released in bursts of radiation, or as jets of particles moving at close to the speed of light. The suspicion…
MAXI J1820+070: Black hole outburst caught on video
Astronomers have caught a black hole hurling hot material into space at close to the speed of light. This flare-up was captured in a new movie from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-05-maxi-j1820070-black-hole-outburst.html…
Why clouds form near black holes
Clouds in the greater universe are clumpy areas of greater density than their surroundings. Space telescopes have observed these cosmic clouds in the vicinity of supermassive black holes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/cosmic-clouds-form-near-black-holes…
Is NASA Actually Working On a Warp Drive?
“Is NASA really working on… a warp drive?” asks Popular Mechanics? Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shares their report:
An internal feasibility report suggests the agency might be, or at least that the idea of traveling through folded space is part of the NASA interstellar spaceflight menu. In the report, advanced propulsion physicist Harold “Sonny” White explains the ideas of theoretical physicist (and…