The Cosmic Web Imager

  May 2, 2014 Make room for “dim matter”. The Intergalactic Medium (IGM) is where galaxies are born, according to standard theories; it is also where they live. It is thought to be a diffuse gas connecting all galaxies in the Universe. Composed primarily of ionized hydrogen atoms, its density…

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A Bend in Time

  May 01, 2014 A University of Michigan press release announces “warped space-time” around a so-called “neutron star”. Could electricity provide a better explanation? The smeared lines of an iron spectrum have given NASA and University of Michigan astronomers another mystery to solve when it comes to explaining the universe. Using the XMM-Newton…

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Polar Mesospheric Clouds

Apr 30, 2014 Could noctilucent clouds be part of Earth’s auroral phenomena? On April 25, 2007 NASA launched the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft on a multi-year mission to study the highest visible clouds, otherwise known as polar mesospheric clouds, or noctilucent clouds. Although AIM’s primary mission…

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Oxygen on Rhea

  Apr 29, 2014 Where did the extremely rarified atmosphere on Rhea come from? Relative to Saturn, Rhea is most likely negatively charged. Saturn’s powerful opposite charge is probably initiating an electric discharge, causing the water in Rhea’s icy surface to dissociate, so the presence of oxygen around the moon is not…

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Weighing the Void

Apr 28, 2014 Can the Universe be weighed in the balance? What causes the formation of compact galactic clumps and filaments? One proposal is that gravitational “tidal forces” pull stars and gas out of other galaxies as they pass by each other. Another suggestion is based on the movement of…

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On Donder! On Blitzar!

Apr 25, 2014 Radio bursts from intergalactic space. Several Picture of the Day articles address the problems with Gamma Ray Bursters (GRB). GRBs are said to be incredibly powerful electromagnetic emissions generated by neutron star collisions, supernova explosions, or black hole “birth pangs”. The first few GRBs detected by the…

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What Is Electricity?

  Apr 24, 2014 The Electric Universe hypothesis proposes that electricity lights the stars and forms the web of galaxy clusters in the Universe. But what is it? First, “electricity” is a catchall term that describes several different phenomena: piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and even bioelectric activity are all forms of electricity. In…

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A Fuzzy, Burning Star

  Apr 23, 2014 Venus is a young, electrically active planet. “Venus was described as a ‘hairy star,’ a ‘star that smoked’ and as ‘a stupendous prodigy in the sky.’ So it is significant that one of the earliest space-age discoveries about Venus was its ‘cometary magnetotail’, in the form…

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Volcanic Mercury

  Apr 18, 2014 Was the innermost planet once wracked by explosive vulcanism? The MESSENGER spacecraft has been a satellite of Mercury for a little more than three years. Its arrival on March 18, 2011 marked one of the longest voyages to cover the shortest distance of any mission. MESSENGER…

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