A new multimillion-rand telescope in the Karoo will offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the stars. The MeerLICHT instrument in Sutherland will be specifically linked to the MeerKAT radio telescope
Astronomers using robotic cameras said on Wednesday that they had found 10 new planets outside our solar system, while a second team said they had found the youngest planet yet. The findings add to a growing list of more than 270 so-called extrasolar planets, they told a meeting of astronomers in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Not Even Fragments Will Remain When The Sun Expands In 7.59 Billion Years
New York: Scientists claim to have built a supercomputer which has confirmed the Standard Model theory of the Universe to even greater precision than before. The 30-year-old theory encapsulates understanding of all the material that makes up the universe. However, it excludes the force of gravity which is the missing piece in the jigsaw that would extend the Model into a complete theory. The project's enormously complex calculations relate to the behaviour of tiny particles found in the nuclei of atoms, known as quarks. In order to carry out these calculations, the researchers first designed and built a supercomputer that was among the fastest in the world, capable of tens of trillions of calculations per second. The computations themselves have taken a further three years to complete. The results have revealed that the Standard Model's claim to be the best theory invented holds firm. It raises the stakes for the riddle to be solved by experiments to be conducted later this year. "Modern supercomputers and improved theoretical techniques are allowing us to explore the limits of the Standard Model to an unprecedented precision. "The next stage will be to combine such computations with new experimental results expected from the Large Hadron Collider to unravel the next level of fundamental physics,' lead scientist professor Chris Sachrajda of the University of Southampton was quoted by the ScienceDaily as saying. Added co-researcher professor Richard Kenway: "Although the Standard Model has been a fantastic success, there were one or two dark corners where experiments had been inconclusive as vital calculations were not accurate enough. We shone a light on one of these, but nothing was lurking there.' PTI
Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) human space mission proposal has got its first significant budgetary share, Rs 125 crore, while the Department of Space has got 24 per cent raise in outlay for its 2008-09 activities. The space budget of Rs 4,074 crore, compared with Rs 3,290 crore last fiscal, partially provides for at least three major projects
Allocation Will Help Begin Work Related To Manned Flight, Says Isro TEAM TOI India's ambitious plan to launch manned space missions received a boost on Friday with the government sanctioning more than Rs 100 crore for the initiative. With the budgetary allocation jumping from Rs 4 crore to Rs 125 crore this year, the Rs 10,000-crore space programme now seems to be steadily moving from the drawing boards to the launchpad at Sriharikota. Tentatively, the lift off is slated for 2014. Speaking to TOI on Friday, Isrospokesperson S Satish said the massive hike meant that the pre-project activities related to the manned flight would be initiated this year. This will essentially mean preparing the infrastructure for the flight, he said, adding that GSLV MK3 three-stage rocket, now under development, would be used for the mission. The first developmental flight of this rocket is expected to take place in early 2009. Apart from using it for a manned space flight, the GSLV Mk3 is intended to place into orbit four-tonne class of communication satellites in the geosynchronous transfer orbit. The project envisages the development of a number of technologies which include a 200-tonne solid booster, 25-tonne cryogenic engines and 110-tonne liquid-stage engines as core boosters. Welcoming the hike for the project in the budget, India's first and only spaceman Rakesh Sharma said the move reflected the government's
Since the beginning of the space age, astronomers have dreamed of putting telescopes and other instruments on the far side of the moon. Not only would that avoid all the distortions and disturbances caused by Earth's turbulent atmosphere, but equally important, the moon's mass would block the noisy torrent of radio signals emanating from Earth. Only in the moon's radio "shadow' could the farseeing radio telescopes envisioned for the future pick up the extremely faint signals left over from the early universe, signals that would otherwise be drowned out by the broadcast barrage from Earth. But placing astronomy equipment on the always far side of the moon was well beyond the capabilities of the Apollo programme, and no robotic lunar mission could do it either, which is why the telescopes were never developed. With NASA planning to send astronauts back to the moon sometime after 2019, those dreams of a radio telescope looking out through the galaxies from the protected side of the moon have been revived. The agency recently awarded two planning grants for research on the necessary technologies and on how to put them in place. The $500,000 grants to a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and to the Naval Research Laboratory will be used to flesh out ideas for designing folded-up radio antennas that would pop open after being dropped on the lunar surface, for transmitting the flood of data that the antennas could theoretically collect, and for taking advantage of the planned presence of astronauts on the moon.
New York: Astronomers at the University of Sussex claim to have calculated that the Sun will vapourise Earth in about 7.6 billion years unless our planet's orbit is altered. According to them, the Sun's slow expansion will cause the temperature on the surface of the Earth to rise
Astronomers claim to have discovered a rich diversity of at least 67 gravitational lenses around a number of massive elliptical and lenticular-shaped galaxies in the distant Universe, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The strong lensing produced by massive galaxies is much more common than the usual giant "arc' gravitationally lensed galaxies that Hubble has previously observed; but they are generally more difficult to find as they extend over a smaller area and have a wide variety of shapes, the NASA said. Gravitational lensing occurs when light travelling towards earth from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted as it encounters a massive object. These gravitational lenses often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early universe than they would normally be able to. The massive objects that create the lenses are usually huge clusters of massive galaxies. "We typically see the gravitational lens create a series of bright arcs or spots around a galaxy cluster. What we are observing here is a similar effect but on much smaller scale
Experts have discovered that the Milky Way is twice as thick than previously believed. According to a report in ABC, the discovery was made by professor Bryan Gaensler from the University of Sydney and his team. The research team found out that the enormous spiral-shaped collection gas and stars is 12,000 light-years thick when seen edge-on, not 6000 as scientists previously thought. "This was quite a stunning result,' said Gaensler. "It was a bit of a shock to us. It's like walking out into your backyard and finding your tree is twice the size you remembered,' he added. The researchers made their discovery without high-tech equipment or powerful telescopes. Instead, they downloaded publicly available data from the internet and carefully analyzed it.
Washington: American warships are moving into position to try to shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite as early as Wednesday before it tumbles into the Earth's atmosphere, Pentagon officials said here on Tuesday. Armed with two specially modified interceptor missiles, the
