Universe Today - 10 new stories for 2015/11/17

10 new stories for 2015/11/17 Astronomy Cast Ep. 393: The Standard Model – Leptons & Quarks   Physicists are getting a handle on the structure of the Universe, how everything is made of something else. Molecules are made of atoms, atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons, etc. Even smaller than that are the quarks and the leptons, which seem to be the basic building blocks of all matter. (...) Read the rest of Astronomy Cast Ep. 393: The Standard Model – Leptons & Quarks (46 words) © Fraser for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Atoms, electrons, leptons, neutrons, particles, protons, quarks Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   NASA vs. Cigarettes: A Numbers Game A photo of the full moon, taken from Apollo 11 on its way home to Earth, from about 18,520 km (10,000 nm) away. Credit: NASA People often criticize the amount of money spent on space exploration. Sometimes it’s well-meaning friends and family who say that that money is wasted, and would be better spent on solving problems here on Earth. In fact, that’s a whole cultural meme. You see it played out over and over in the comments section whenever mainstream media covers a space story. While solving problems here on Earth is noble, and the right thing to do, it’s worth pointing out that the premier space exploration body on Earth, NASA, actually has a tiny budget. When you compare NASA’s budget to what people spend on cigarettes, NASA looks pretty good. (...) Read the rest of NASA vs. Cigarettes: A Numbers Game (846 words) © Evan Gough for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 8 comments | Post tags: Curiosity Rover, Hubble, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA, Space Shuttle Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   Cosmologist Thinks a Strange Signal May Be Evidence of a Parallel Universe A simulation of the early Universe. Credit: M. Alvarez, R. Kaehler, and T. Abel In the beginning, there was chaos. Hot, dense, and packed with energetic particles, the early Universe was a turbulent, bustling place. It wasn’t until about 300,000 years after the Big Bang that the nascent cosmic soup had cooled enough for atoms to form and light to travel freely. This landmark event, known as recombination, gave rise to the famous cosmic microwave background (CMB), a signature glow that pervades the entire sky. Now, a new analysis of this glow suggests the presence of a pronounced bruise in the background — evidence that, sometime around recombination, a parallel universe may have bumped into our own.(...) Read the rest of Cosmologist Thinks a Strange Signal May Be Evidence of a Parallel Universe (377 words) © Vanessa Janek for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 6 comments | Post tags: baryon, Big Bang, bubble universe, CMB, cosmic microwave background, Cosmology, electron, eternal inflation, inflation, Multiverse, parallel universe, photon, proton, recombination, spectrum Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   New Dwarf Planet is Most Distant Object Yet Observed in our Solar System A newly found object named V774104 was found using the Subaru Telescope. Credit: Scott Sheppard, Chad Trujillo, and David Tholen. It has been estimated that there may be hundreds of dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt and Oort Cloud of the outer Solar System. So far we've found – and actually seen – just a few. This past week, one more dwarf planet was added to the list and comes in at the most distant object ever seen in the Solar System. This newly found world, initially named V774104, is about 15.4 billion kilometers from the Sun. At 103 AU, it is three times further from the Sun than Pluto, and is more distant than the previous record holder, Eris, which lies at 97 AU. The discovery of V774104 was announced by one of the astronomers who found the object, Scott Sheppard, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences fall meeting last week. Sheppard, along with Chad Trujillo and David Tholen used Japan's 8-meter Subaru Telescope in Hawaii to make the find. (...) Read the rest of New Dwarf Planet is Most Distant Object Yet Observed in our Solar System (610 words) © nancy for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 2 comments | Post tags: 2012 VP113, dwarf planet, Sedna, Solar System, V774104 Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   Cygnus Freighter Fueled and Loaded to Resume American Cargo Launches to Space Station First enhanced Orbital ATK Cygnus commercial cargo ship is fully assembled and being processed for blastoff to the ISS on Dec. 3, 2015 on a ULA Atlas V rocket. This view shows the Cygnus, named the SS Deke Slayton II, and twin payload enclosure fairings inside the Kennedy Space Center clean room. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The largest and most advanced version of the privately developed Cygnus cargo freighter ever built by Orbital ATK is fueled, loaded and ready to go to orbit – signifying a critical turning point towards resuming American commercial cargo launches to the space station for NASA that are critical to keep it functioning. The enhanced and fully assembled commercial Cygnus was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, during an exclusive tour inside the clean room facility on Friday, Nov. 13, where it is undergoing final prelaunch processing at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Blastoff of Cygnus atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket on the OA-4 resupply mission under contract to NASA is anticipated on (...) Read the rest of Cygnus Freighter Fueled and Loaded to Resume American Cargo Launches to Space Station (1,365 words) © Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Atlas V rocket, cargo resupply, commercial resupply services (CRS), Commercial Space, CRS, Cygnus, Cygnus cargo vessel, Cygnus Orb-3, Dan Tani, deke slayton, kennedy space center, NASA, OA-4, Orbital ATK, SpaceX, SpaceX CRS-7, SS Deke Slayton II, ULA Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   Sweet Sights for November Nights A pretty crescent Moon will be the first thing you’ll see appear in the sky tonight. Look southwest shortly after sunset to spot it. Source: Stellarium Clear night ahead? Let’s see what’s up. We’ll start close to home with the Moon, zoom out to lonely Fomalhaut 25 light years away and then return to our own Solar System to track down the 7th planet. (...) Read the rest of Sweet Sights for November Nights (896 words) © Bob King for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 3 comments | Post tags: Fomalhaut, helium, Janssen, Moon, Piscis Austrinus, Uranus Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   Book Review: Dawn of Small Worlds Were you a bit saddened when Pluto lost its rank as a planet in our solar system? Perhaps before this you had thought that we had a firm understanding of our solar system and we were ready to look further. Apparently, as Michael Moltenbrey writes in his book “Dawn of Small Worlds, Dwarf Planets, Asteroids, Comets”, we’re anything but familiar with all the items wandering about our Sun. Yet, he shows that the contents of our solar system do have some reason and rationale even if we’re still finding out just what exactly is out there. (...) Read the rest of Book Review: Dawn of Small Worlds (654 words) © Mark for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Book Reviews Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   'Explody' Taurid Meteors Produce Persistent Trains   "The landscape was just at the verge of trying to silently explode with vibrant colors of red, gold and oranges," said photographer Brad Goldpaint as he described the autumn view during his hike to Deadfall Basin in California to set up his cameras to try and capture a few Taurid meteors. But the landscape wasn't the only thing about to explode. Later that night Brad captured a few "exploding" meteors that produced what are called persistent trains: what remains of a meteor fireball in the upper atmosphere as winds twist and swirl the expanding debris. Brad created a time-lapse video from the event and slowed down the footage to highlight the trains. (...) Read the rest of ‘Explody’ Taurid Meteors Produce Persistent Trains (252 words) © nancy for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 4 comments | Post tags: Brad Goldpaint Photography, Meteor Showers, meteors, Persistent Trains, Taurid Meteors Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   Weekly Space Hangout – Nov. 13, 2015: Daniel Stern, Project Scientist on NuSTAR   Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain) Special Guest: Daniel Stern, Project Scientist on NuSTAR. Guests: Morgan Rehnberg (cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg ) Alessondra Springmann (@sondy) Kimberly Cartier (@AstroKimCartier ) (...) Read the rest of Weekly Space Hangout – Nov. 13, 2015: Daniel Stern, Project Scientist on NuSTAR (180 words) © Fraser for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Deimos, exoplanets, JPL, Mars, NASA, NuSTAR, Planetary Science, Pluto, Venus Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •   A New "Mathematical" Definition Proposed for What Constitutes a Planet Three exoplanet candidates found by the Planet Hunters citizen science project. Credit: Zooniverse In the current (heated) debate of what constitutes a planet, it seems everyone can agree at least one thing: The current definition put forth by the International Astronomical Union is actually quite vague and it really only applies to our own Solar System. So while the definition is unclear at best in our own neighborhood, it also doesn't provide a framework for classifying the thousands of exo-worlds that are being discovered on almost a weekly basis. Since math has been dubbed "the language of the Universe" it seems rather fitting and logical to use arithmetic to help in framing a better definition for planethood. This week, UCLA professor Jean-Luc Margot has proposed a simple mathematical test that can be used to separate planets from other bodies like dwarf planets and minor planets. He says his new system is easy. "One should not need a teleportation device to decide whether a newly discovered object is a planet," Margot said. (...) Read the rest of A New “Mathematical” Definition Proposed for What Constitutes a Planet (375 words) © nancy for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | 27 comments | Post tags: exoplanets, Extrasolar Planets, Planet News, planets, UCLA Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh        • Email to a friend • View comments • Track comments •         You Might Like Click here to safely unsubscribe from "Universe Today." 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