Sound waves could power hard disk drives of the future
Our need to store data is growing at an astonishing rate. An estimated 2.7 zettabytes (2.721) of data are currently held worldwide, equivalent to several trillion bytes for every one of the 7 billion...
View ArticleFirst photo of planet in making captured
There are 450 light-years between Earth and LkCa15, a young star with a transition disk around it, a cosmic whirling dervish, a birthplace for planets.
View ArticleCosmic jets light up black hole's snack
A black hole is often thought of as a giant galactic vacuum cleaner constantly sucking in cosmic material, tearing it apart and swallowing it. So black holes should do exactly the same thing with...
View ArticleMysterious sharp symmetric features detected around young double star
(Phys.org)—An international team of astronomers, led by Markus Janson of Stockholm University in Sweden, has discovered mysterious sharp symmetric features around young double star, named AK Sco. The...
View ArticleThe skeleton of the Milky Way
Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is a typical barred spiral galaxy, a flattened disk of about a hundred billion stars, gas, and dust that is roughly one hundred thousand light-years in diameter. The...
View ArticleTwisted magnetic fields give new insights on star formation
Using new images that show unprecedented detail, scientists have found that material rotating around a very young protostar probably has dragged in and twisted magnetic fields from the larger area...
View ArticleAndromeda IV turns out to be a solitary gas-rich dwarf galaxy
(Phys.org)—Andromeda IV, discovered in 1972 by Canadian astronomer Sidney Van den Berghan, is believed to be an irregular satellite of our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31. Now, a...
View ArticleTeam reports that black hole activity can be observed via visible rays
All you need is a 20 cm telescope to observe a nearby, active black hole.
View ArticleAdding a new dimension to the early chemistry of the solar system
Using sophisticated computer simulations, an international research team have discovered new insights into the chemical composition of the dust grains that formed in the solar system 4.5 billion years...
View ArticleClocking the rotation rate of a supermassive black hole
A recent observational campaign involving more than two dozen optical telescopes and NASA's space based SWIFT X-ray telescope allowed a team of astronomers to measure very accurately the rotational...
View ArticleVLA shows earliest stages of planet formation
New images of a young star made with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) reveal what scientists think may be the very earliest stages in the formation of planets. The scientists used the VLA to...
View ArticleStorage density beyond 10 Tb/in2 possible for heat-assisted magnetic recording
(Phys.org)—Global demand for data storage is constantly increasing, driven by new technologies such as Big Data and the Internet of Things, as well as personal and enterprise storage. The hard disk...
View ArticleEliminating mechanical vibrations leads to better performing mechatronic systems
For precision engineering systems, such as CD and DVD players, anti lock braking systems and computer hard disk drives, vibration can significantly affect performance. Now, A*STAR engineers have...
View ArticleGas giant planet discovered near the Milky Way's bulge
(Phys.org)—Using the gravitational microlensing technique, astronomers have recently detected what appears to be a Saturn-like planet residing near the Milky Way's bulge. The newly discovered exoplanet...
View ArticleWater ice detected at the surface of a distant star's disk
(Phys.org)—A team of Japanese astronomers has recently discovered water ice at the surface of a distant star's disk. Using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) installed on the Gemini South...
View ArticleDid comets kick-start life on Earth? Chemists find missing piece of puzzle
The origin of life on Earth has been a matter of intense debate throughout human history. Even today, scientists don't know whether the molecular building blocks of life were created on Earth or...
View ArticleOur sun may have eaten a super-Earth for breakfast
Our solar system sure seems like an orderly place. The orbits of the planets are predictable enough that we can send spacecraft on multi-year journeys to them and they will reliably reach their...
View ArticleImage: Hubble captures NGC 4111
The elegant simplicity of NGC 4111, seen here in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, hides a more violent history than you might think. NGC 4111 is a lenticular, or lens-shaped, galaxy...
View ArticleLight echoes give clues to planet nursery around star
Imagine you want to measure the size of a room, but it's completely dark. If you shout, you can tell if the space you're in is relatively big or small, depending on how long it takes to hear the echo...
View ArticleCometary belt around distant multi-planet system hints at hidden or wandering...
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio observatory in Chile have made the first high-resolution image of the belt of comets (a region analogous to the Kuiper...
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