Mercury In Enhanced Color, Imaged By MESSENGER  

Experiment resolves mystery about wind flows on Jupiter

Using a spinning table and a massive garbage can, geophysicist leads team in simulating the planet’s atmosphere

One mystery has been whether the jets exist only in the planet’s upper atmosphere – much like Earth’s own jet streams – or whether they plunge into Jupiter’s gaseous interior. If the latter is true, it could reveal clues about the planet’s interior structure and internal dynamics.

Now, UCLA geophysicist Jonathan Aurnou and collaborators in Marseille, France, have simulated Jupiter’s jets in the laboratory for the first time. Their work demonstrates that the winds likely extend thousands of miles below Jupiter’s visible atmosphere.

This research is published online in Nature Physics.

Keep reading

How I Discovered Halley’s Comet, by Edmond Halley

On Monday, June 10, in the Evening, the Sky being very serene and calm, I was desirous to take a view of the disk of Mars (then very near the Earth, and appearing very glorious) to see if I could distinguish in my 24 Foot Telescope, the Spots said to be seen on him. Directing my Tube for the purpose, I accidentally fell upon a small whitish Appearance near the Planet, resembling in all respects such a Nebula … The Reverend Mr. Miles Williams, Mr. Alban Thomas, and myself contemplated this Appearance for above an Hour … and we could not be deceiv’d as to its Reality; but the slowness of its Motion made us at that time conclude that it had none, and that it was rather a Nebula than a Comet.

Read more. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]

4 hour star trails timelapse at Point Reyes

Hydra 3K Medium Mech da Marco Marozzi

China’s giant alien-hunting telescope is ready

Our alien-hunting game just got a lot stronger with the completion of a huge radio telescope in the Guizhou province of China. It’s called the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), and it’s designed to listen for signs of alien life out in the cosmos. The telescope is finished, but the construction was not without human rights controversy.

Follow @the-future-now

Comet McNaught.

Observing the Skies Above by Kirby Wright on Flickr.

Scientists slow the speed of light

By Kenneth Macdonald

A team of Scottish scientists has made light travel slower than the speed of light. 

They sent photons - individual particles of light - through a special mask. It changed the photons’ shape - and slowed them to less than light speed. 

The photons remained travelling at the lower speed even when they returned to free space. 

The experiment is likely to alter how science looks at light.

Continue Reading

Image of Saturn taken by Cassini spacecraft in October 28, 2016.

Credit: NASA / JPL / Cassini

Comet lander Philae wakes up: How it happened and what’s next

By Lauren Raab

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, surprised and delighted scientists this weekend by waking up and reestablishing contact with Earth, seven months after running out of power. It “spoke” for more than a minute, according to the European Space Agency, and it’s expected to be able to continue gathering information and sending it home.

Here’s a look at what the lander has done so far and what will happen next.

Continue Reading.