Dec 07, 2011 Alfvén waves are said to carry heat from the Sun’s photosphere out to its corona. “Giant twisting waves” have been detected in the Sun’s lower atmosphere, prompting heliophysicists to speculate that they are transporting heat energy upward from lower levels into the solar corona. Why the corona…
Dec 06, 2011 More news about black holes is increasing the distortion of reason. According to a recent press release, two black holes with masses exceeding “9 billion times the mass of the Sun” have been detected. The supposed “event horizon” in NGC 3842 is said to be “seven…
Dec 02, 2011 Gamma-rays are said to be particles with no mass, yet possessed of extreme momentum. According to a recent press release, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected several unidentified sources of intense gamma-ray emissions that are not seen in any other frequencies. NASA launched the telescope (formerly…
Nov 29, 2011 A ring of gas is said to be orbiting the center of our galaxy. In a previous Picture of the Day, a twisted ring of material within the nucleus of Centaurus A was discussed: active galaxies display characteristic axial jets and transverse, donut-shaped plasma discharges. According a…
Nov 28, 2011 Consensus opinions state that a star in the latter stages of its life will undergo violent upheavals as its supply of hydrogen fuel diminishes and the “ash” of heavier elements accumulates in its core. Before stars reach the final white dwarf stage in their evolution, it is…
Nov 22, 2011 Water has been reportedly found inside rocks brought back from the Moon. If it is there, where did it come from? In previous Picture of the Day articles, the presence of frozen water on the Moon was considered to be a theoretical possibility, but was not given…
Nov 18, 2011 Do the features on Europa indicate subsurface lakes? I care not what the sailors say: All those dreadful thunder-stones, All that storm that blots the day Can but show that Heaven yawns; Great Europa played the fool That changed a lover for a bull. — William Butler…
Nov 17, 2011 A thin mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide has been found above Saturn’s moon Rhea. A NASA press release states that the atmosphere on Rhea is 100 times less dense than that found on Europa by the Galileo space probe to Jupiter. Where does the oxygen come…
Nov 15, 2011 MESSENGER has completed 100 orbits around the planet Mercury. In the image at the top of the page, all the characteristics of an electric discharge leaping from Mercury’s surface to space can be seen. The crater walls are terraced, there is a peculiar spiral-shaped crater on the…
Nov 14, 2011 Neptune is the Solar System’s most remote planet. What drives its extraordinary winds? The winds on Jupiter average about 400 kilometers per hour, with the fastest streaming around the Great Red Spot at 635 kilometers per hour. On Saturn, wind speeds up to 1800 kilometers per hour…
