George Conway Spots Trump Interview Moment That Could Haunt Him In Court

Trump made the comments on Wednesday to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

This Has Officially Been the Hottest Summer Ever Recorded

Sky-high temperatures and brutal heat waves have scorched the planet these past three months, creating the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer on record, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and European climate service Copernicus announced today.

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Japan launched an X-ray telescope more advanced than its peers

Japan’s space agency has launched a rocket on September 6 at 7:42 PM EDT carrying a telescope that’s more advanced than NASA’s Chandra and other X-ray observatories already in orbit. The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission — or XRISM but pronounced as “crism” — is a mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA and with contributions by the European Space Agency. Lia Corrales, a University of Michigan astronomer and mission participant, told The New York Times that XRISM represents “the next step in X-ray observations.”

The telescope is considered more powerful than its predecessors because of its tools. One of them, called Resolve, is a microcalorimeter spectrometer with the capability to measure tiny increases in temperature when X-rays hit its 6-by-6-pixel detector. It must operate in an environment that’s a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, enabled by a multistage mechanical cooling process inside its refrigerator-sized container with liquid helium. But so long as it’s working, the tool can measure each individual X-ray energy and can provide information on its source’s composition, motion and physical state. 

The Times says the mission team expects Resolve’s spectroscopic data to be 30 times sharper than what Chandra’s instruments can provide. It can detect X-rays with energies that range from 400 to 12,000 electron volts, which NASA says can give us the data needed to know more about the hottest regions, the largest structures and the objects with the strongest gravity pull in the universe. XRISM’s science operations won’t begin until January, though, since scientists still have to switch on its instruments and tune them in the next few months. 

In addition to XRISM, the rocket also blasted off to space carrying the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission. The small-scale lander was nicknamed “Moon Sniper,” because it was designed to demonstrate that a pinpoint landing within 100 meters of a specific target is possible. Based on the latest information from JAXA, XRISM had already separated from its rocket and had already been inserted into orbit. Meanwhile, SLIM will keep traveling for months until it reaches the moon. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/japan-launched-an-x-ray-telescope-more-advanced-than-its-peers-072136401.html?src=rss

GOP Strategist Shreds ‘Incredibly Stupid’ Republican Move That May Wipe Them Out

The party of Donald Trump is suffering from its “banana republic wing,” lamented Mike Murphy.

Tropical Storm Lee Strengthens And Could Become ‘Strongest Hurricane Of The Year’

The storm is expected to develop into an “extremely dangerous” major hurricane by early Saturday and could cause seas around Puerto Rico to rise up to 12 feet.

That Was the Episode of Ahsoka We'd Been Waiting For

That sound you heard last night was the internet breaking over just how enjoyable the latest episode of Star Wars: Ahsoka was. After three episodes of mostly set up, the story inched forward, but that inch was filled with exciting action, major character beats, huge revelations, and a cameo we all knew was coming, but…

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Ahsoka Just Touched on One of Star Wars' Most Fascinating Force Mythologies

Our understanding of the Force in most Star Wars rarely matches the most esoteric imaginings a mystical energy field connecting all living things should be capable of. But sometimes a slice of Star Wars is willing to push that imagining beyond telekinesis and into something far more intriguing—and last night Ahsoka went…

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Joe Biden Jokes About Not Wearing A Mask After COVID Exposure

The president tested negative for coronavirus after his wife tested positive, but he’s been instructed to keep masking.

Ahsoka Just Touched on One of Star Wars' Most Fascinating Force Mythologies

Our understanding of the Force in most Star Wars rarely matches the most esoteric imaginings a mystical energy field connecting all living things should be capable of. But sometimes a slice of Star Wars is willing to push that imagining beyond telekinesis and into something far more intriguing—and last night Ahsoka went…

Read more…

Ellen Ripley, Snake Plissken, and Neo Finally Get the Trading Cards They Deserve

Two things that don’t usually go together are science fiction and sports. There are exceptions, like Rollerball and Real Steel, but for the most part, you get sci-fi movies or you get sports movies. Rarely both.

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