Instead of monkey see, monkey do, it’s now dog see, dog do. Also, black holes have a new role in the universe: they’re magnifying glasses. And you’ve heard of the five-second rule when you drop food on the ground? Well, now scientists have weighed in on it.
That, and more, in this week’s edition of News For Nerds. Let’s get our nerd on right now! (more…)
Well, you don’t see this everyday.
A quasar more than 1 billion light years from Earth is providing unexpected help in the effort to identify distant galaxies. You see, the energy spewing from the black hole at the center of the quasar known as SDSS J0013+ 1523 is acting as a magnifying glass, making it easier to see the areas around (and beyond) it.
The result is that another galaxy, much farther away but in juuusssttt the right position, has come into view for the first time, allowing scientists to get a good look at both galaxies at the same time.
You can chalk this up as another victory for Albert Einstein, who first predicted this phenomenon in his groundbreaking theory of general relativity. Here’s how Space.com describes it:
According to the theory, very large masses warp the space-time around them, even causing light to bend as it travels through the region. Thus, light from faraway objects can sometimes be magnified by the bent space-time to provide a larger and brighter — though also distorted and curved — view.
If you’re interested in this kind of thing — and really, why wouldn’t you be? — there are plenty of other cool resources at your disposal. You can start with this video about the ways that black holes warp time and space, and continue on with this article about the ways that black holes eat up the mysterious space-stuff known as dark matter.
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Black Hole Blows 200,000 Year-Old Gas Bubble
Mars, Up Close and in High Definition
Stars Wars comes to life, your brain is exposed for being hyperactive, and scientists discover the perfect handshake. Those are just a few of the stories in this week’s edition of News For Nerds. Let’s get our nerd on! (more…)
If you’ve read The Web of Titan, you know that in the book, the crew of Galahad enjoy their first concert of the journey. And even if you haven’t read the book yet, I guess you know about the concert now anyway. So there.
But regardless of how you heard about it, we are excited to announce that the song ‘A New Life’, written and performed aboard Galahad by Lita Marques, is now available online! You can hear the song and watch the video here, on our ClubGalahad YouTube page. And, of course, it’s completely free. Enjoy.
A new partnership between NASA and Microsoft Research’s WorldWide Telescope has made available more than half a billion high-resolution images of the planet Mars. Also available: narrated guided tours of the Red Planet that cover topics such as extraterrestrial life and future potential human mission sites.
Want to fly over a mountain or zoom past a crater? You can do that. Interested in examining volcanoes, caves and glacial deposits? No problem. Care to make a virtual landing on Martian soil? You can do that, too.
Made possible through a new breed of public-private partnership that NASA hopes will make space more accessible to those of us who like this sort of thing, this new access to Mars is unprecedented. But it doesn’t stop there. The Terapixel sky image brings you the most comprehensive, seamless view of the night sky you’ve ever seen.
Come to think of it, why are you still reading this post? Hurry over to WorldWide Telescope and start exploring!
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Out in the depths of space, a bubble of hot gas has been discovered which measures more than 1,000 light years across and has been growing for 200,000 years. And-oh-by-the-way… it’s coming from a black hole.
Pretty cool, eh?
The black hole in question is a microquasar, which means that it emits jets of high-speed particles. Microquasars have been known to produce gas bubbles before, but never anything as big as this one, which is twice as big and ten times as powerful as any other known example.
All of this is taking place about 12 million light years away from us, in a galaxy called NGC 7793. (It’s a hip neighborhood.) Scientists aren’t sure yet about the size of the black hole itself, but their discovery is shedding some new light on how black holes emit energy. It has long been thought that the primary source of energy release was through x-rays. This finding, however, seems to indicate that jets of high-speed particles serve the same purpose, but with the added benefit of a giant bubble of hot gas.
Science is cool.
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How much do you know about your home planet? How much do you really know? The fine folks over at LiveScience.com have a fun, easy way to find out: they’ve got a slideshow quiz that is guaranteed to up your Earth IQ.
The best part about interactive quizzes like this is that you learn about things that you’ve often wondered about, but also about things you’ve never considered!
For instance, here are a few of the questions you’ll come across:
And there’s plenty of interplanetary goodness, too. What is the largest canyon in the solar system? And how much would a 100-pound person weigh on Mars?
Test your planetary IQ. See how it stacks up against your friends’. Then check back for more Space and Science news later in the week!
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Antimatter particles found within Earth
After a week off, it’s time to get our nerd on again! This week we find out that our bodies are no longer being fooled by caffeine; we discover a flying car that could actually be in our driveways soon; and if you’re looking for love, just turn on some music.
We explore all of that, and more, in this week’s News For Nerds. Read on… (more…)