Northern leg of the LIGO facility on the Hanford Reservation (LIGO)
Six years and nearly 400 million dollars later, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) still hasn’t turned up the evidence for gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are predicted by fundamental Einstein general relativity theories, but we haven’t been able to detect them. Is it because the first generation laser interferometers are not sensitive enough? Is it because LIGO needs more time to see through the cosmic noise to root out the gravitational wave signature? This is a deeply worrying non-development for physicists as a null result means that something isn’t quite right. We are certain (in theory) that these waves should be rippling through space-time (after all, massive objects are colliding and exploding all the time throughout the Universe), but if we can’t detect the things in our own cosmic back yard, something must be awry. In a recent publication, LIGO scientists have discussed the lack of evidence for gravitational waves, but remain upbeat that they can still be found… Continue reading “Gravitational Wave Theory Takes Another Kick in the Teeth”
I’ve been captivated by the commotion caused by this summer’s “switch on” of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. Much of the last few month have been focused around a lawsuit that Walter Wagner filed in Honolulu, Hawaii four months ago.
The disk of the Sun as viewed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO/MDI)
As you can see, the Sun is keeping quiet, devoid of sunspots. As the world awaits an increase in solar activity to celebrate the onset of a new solar cycle, our closest star keeps a blank face and keeps us guessing. This most recent image was taken today by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument. MDI measures plasma velocity and magnetic field strength at the top of the convection zone, so it is an invaluable sunspot detector. Sunspots are a good indicator about how active the Sun is, as when the magnetic field becomes stressed and twisted, it is forced from the convection zone, through the photosphere, chromosphere and high into the corona. These protrusions then fill with plasma and glow as coronal loops. The more magnetic activity there is, more sunspots appear. But, it would seem, the Sun remains magnetically inactive seven months since the beginning of Solar Cycle 24… Continue reading “Breaking News: The Sun is Still Doing Nothing (Much)”
Branson and Rutan inspect Eve at the Mojave Air and Space Port (Virgin Galactic)
The new addition to the Virgin Galactic family has been rolled out during an early morning ceremony in the middle of the Californian Mojave Desert. Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan proudly showed off “Eve,” the first of two WhiteKnightTwo mother ships that will fly up to four times a day. This is a big moment for Branson and Rutan as it brings their dreams of space tourism to a new reality… Continue reading “Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo Sees First Light”
The termination shock, the point at which the interstellar medium interacts with the heliosphere (NASA)
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is set for launch in October and it will carry out some pretty cool science when in space. Orbiting Earth 200,000 miles away, IBEX will be on the lookout for tiny, but significant particles originating from the edge of our solar system. Why? It turns out these neutral atoms will provide information on the location and characteristics of the point at which the Solar System’s edge mixes with the tenuous gas between the stars. So how are they generated? How do we know they originate from the termination shock? Continue reading “IBEX, The Energetic Neutral Atom Hunter”
The Mars walker taking a stroll across the Red Planets surface (AboveTopSecret.com)
So the new X-Files movie has been released (awesome), there’s been a surge in alien stories (on YouTube, the most reputable scientific resource), NASA astronauts are citing that UFOs are actually extraterrestrials visiting Earth (of course), and now we have beings with big heads having a stroll on the Martian surface. It must be the season for it… Continue reading “Rolling Rock or Walking Martian?”
Chandra observation of Cassiopeia A, a young supernova remnant in our galaxy - a prominant source of high-energy particles (NASA/CXC/MIT/UMass Amherst/M. D. Stage et al.)
There is something strange happening in the core of the Milky Way. A space observatory measuring the energy and distribution of gamma-rays in the cosmos has made an unexpected (and perplexing) discovery. It would seem there is a very high proportion of gamma-ray photons emanating from our galactic core with a very distinctive signature; they have a precise energy of 511 keV (8×10-14 Joules), and there’s a lot of them. So what could possibly be producing these 511 keV gamma-rays? It turns out, 511 keV is a magic number; it is the exact rest mass energy of a positron (the antimatter particle of the electron). So this is fairly conclusive evidence that positrons are dying (i.e. annihilating) in vast numbers in our galactic nuclei. Still, this is of little help to astrophysicists as there is no known mechanism for producing such high numbers of annihilating positrons. Ideas have been put forward, but there’s a new possibility, involving some new particle physics and some lateral thinking… Continue reading “New Exotic Particle May Explain Milky Way Gamma-Ray Phenomenon”
The THEMIS satellites lined up inside the Earth's magnetotail. A reconnection event occurred between the 4th and 5th satellites (NASA)
Although magnetic reconnection is one of the bedrock theories within the field of space plasma physics, it has been very difficult to observe. We know that magnetic instabilities and electric currents operate within the plasma environment, but the triggering mechanism is difficult to understand. Reconnection occurs near the surface of the Sun and it occurs where the solar wind interacts with the sunward geomagnetic field. It also happens in the magnetotail (i.e. in the shadow of the Earth, where the magnetosphere is swept behind our planet by the pressure of the solar wind) and is most commonly linked with a terrestrial phenomenon: the aurora. Now, for the first time, scientists have located the point at which the magnetic field lines snap, blasting a huge amount of energy right at the Earth… Continue reading “Auroral Substorm: THEMIS Pinpoints Location of Magnetic Reconnection in Magnetotail”
When a Carnival starts off with a quote from a classic book, you know you’re in for a treat:
Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.
– Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
This is where we begin with the FlyingSinger (a.k.a. Bruce Irving) who takes us on a journey throughout the space blogosphere stopping at the Sun, Venus, Mars and the occasional black hole. Check out the great website “Music of the Spheres” to read the full contingent of this week’s Carnival. From Astroengine.com, I decided to enter our Sun and why it is so special…
The Lucifer Project: Using the Cassini probe to detonate like a nuclear weapon inside the atmosphere of Saturn… oh dear, here we go again… (NASA/US Dept. of Defence)
Here comes another doomsday scenario, this time from the friendly gas giant Saturn. The story goes like this: NASA is working with secret organizations (such as the Illuminati or the Freemasons) to fulfil their dreams of “playing God” and creating a second Sun in the Solar System. This plan has many aims, but primarily they want to use the Cassini probe to trigger a catastrophic chain reaction inside Saturn so nuclear fusion is possible, generating a mini-Sun. This has been tried before, when the Galileo probe was dropped into the atmosphere of Jupiter in 2003 (but it obviously failed at first attempt). Cassini is carrying about 33 kg of plutonium, making it the ultimate cruise missile aimed at Saturn, atmospheric pressures eventually kick-starting a nuclear explosion in two years time.
Whilst this makes for interesting reading, yet again, the science is deeply flawed. We can expect this doomsday scenario (and yes, it is predicting the end of the world) to gain some strength before the Cassini mission is terminated in 2010…. only this time the Devil (Lucifer) is involved…
In the first part of this mini-series on the Universe Today, I look into the science behind a doomsday scenario known as The Lucifer Project (or simply Project Lucifer). I have heard of variations on this theme for many years, and at first it sounds possible, but then simple logic dictates that turning Jupiter or Saturn into a Sun is rather more sci-fi than sci-fact. In fact, the transformation of Jupiter into a second Sun is not a new idea. In the novel and movie 2010: Odyssey Two (notice the correlation with the date?) created by the late, great Arthur C. Clarke, Jupiter is the focus of the mysterious storyline. Black monoliths breed inside the gas giant’s atmosphere, at first creating a big black spot (again, notice the similarity with the 2003 black spot observation?), increasing its density and mass to a point where nuclear fusion can be sustained. The movie finishes with various views of the new binary solar system. A great movie.
A scene from the movie 2010 where a black spot appears on Jupiter
So, it would seem, Project Lucifer is loosely based on Arthur C. Clarke’s novel (minus Galileo creating a nuclear chain reaction). Obviously, the 2003 Galileo collision with Jupiter had no lasting effect on the planet, conspiracy theorists are now looking at the 2010 Cassini collision with Saturn for their story. Therefore, last night I wrote Project Lucifer: Will Cassini Turn Saturn into a Second Sun? (Part 1) to address some of the technical reasons why a Cassini re-entry into Saturn’s atmosphere (or Galileo’s re-entry into Jupiter in 2003 for that matter) cannot miraculously pull all the tiny pieces of plutonium (non-weapon grade by the way) together to form a crude nuclear weapon. In the next part, I’ll look into the physics behind a star and look at why gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn are called “failed stars”…
astroengine.com 
