Saturn Rings

Saturn's rings – and moons – might be younger than the dinosaurs

Astronomy, Featured, News / By / April 25, 2020

We determined Saturn’s gravitational field by reconstruction of Cassini’s trajectory during the Grand Finale, using a coherent microwave link between Earth tracking stations and the spacecraft. Range-rate measurements were obtained from the Doppler shift of a carrier signal sent from the ground at 7.2 GHz (X-band) and retransmitted back to Earth by Cassini’s onboard transponder at 8.4 GHz. An auxiliary downlink at Ka-band (32.5 GHz) was also recorded.

High quality production photos of Robonaut (R2) in Building 14 EMI chamber and R1/EMU photos in Building 32 - Robonaut Lab. Photo Date: June 1, 2010. Location: Building 14 - EMI Chamber/Building 32 - Robonaut Lab. Photographers: Robert Markowitz & Bill Stafford.

Who is better in Space? Us or the Robots? A creative inquiry.

Featured, Opinions / By / April 18, 2020

Human Vs Robotic exploration has been – and is still- of a major reason for debate between many scientists. Each presents their own claims and why their ideas are better. It has also been( as usual) a major topic in SciFi movies and has attracted a lot of fans. Before we delve into the pros …

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Astronomy, Learn Physics, NASA, News / By / January 5, 2022

NASA has shortlisted four proposals for its next astrophysics missions, due for launch in 2025. The agency has funding to fly two of them, and the four will now each receive funds for a nine-month period of technical study. The two missions will be chosen next year.

Astronomy, Featured, News / By / January 5, 2022

Galaxy clusters are among the largest structures in the universe, containing thousands of individual galaxies, dark matter and hot gas. At the heart of the Ophiuchus cluster there is a large galaxy that contains a supermassive black hole with a mass equivalent to 10 millions suns.

Astronomy, Featured / By / January 5, 2022

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a joint Nasa and European Space Agency (ESA) mission, is set to be launched from Cape Canaveral just after 4am UK time on Monday morning, and will reach its vantage point above the planetary plane by the end of 2021.

Deconstructing Schrödinger's cat

Featured, Learn Physics, Modern Physics, News / By / February 16, 2020

The paradox of Schrödinger’s cat—the feline that is, famously, both alive and dead until its box is opened—is the most widely known example of a recurrent problem in quantum mechanics: its dynamics seem to predict that macroscopic objects (like cats) can, sometimes, exist simultaneously in more than one completely distinct state. Many physicists have tried to solve this paradox over the years, but no approach has been universally accepted. Now, however, theoretical physicist Franck Laloë from Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (ENS-Université PSL) in Paris has proposed a new interpretation that could explain many features of the paradox. He sets out a model of this possible theory in a new paper in EPJ D.

Image: 'Pale Blue Dot' revisited

Astronomy, NASA, News / By / February 13, 2020

The picture, named “The Pale Blue Dot” was obtained on 14th February, 1990, moments before the camera and the several other instruments of the Voyager were powered off for conservation of battery, since the probe wouldn’t make a close flyby past any other objects during their lifetime.

Blue Sky along a body of water

Why is the sky blue?

Astronomy / By / February 12, 2020

As we are human beings, we all are curious – an intrinsic behavior that is associated with us. As any curious being would be, we are also very aware of our environment and the changes that happen to it- we are very good at noticing changes that we even have developed many models and theories …

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My Friend, Albert Einstein

Featured, Opinions / By / February 8, 2020

He was one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known, yet if I had to convey the essence of Albert Einstein in a single word, I would choose simplicity. Perhaps an anecdote will help. Once, caught in a downpour, he took off his hat and held it under his coat. Asked why, he explained, with admirable logic, that the rain would damage the hat, but his hair would be none the worse for its wetting. This knack for going instinctively to the heart of a matter was the secret of his major scientific discoveries- this and his extraordinary feeling for beauty.