Scientists have found a way to use the Hubble Space Telescope as an extremely precise galactic tape measure, multiplying our previous capabilities by 10. This increase will result in a more accurate understanding of the size of the observable Universe. plus new insight into the mysterious force known as dark energy.
Forget UFOs — there are a lot of objects and events in space that are identified, but still completely incomprehensible. From planets in our solar system, to inexplicable energy bursts from across the universe, here are some of the enduring mysteries of the space and time we call home.
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We humans are a sentimental horde, which is why we get squeamish about places where people used to live, and places where people bit the dust. But how much should we value preserving the past when it impedes our ability to move into the future? The battle over the fate of a few long-shipwrecked vessels is forcing us to confront some uncomfortable questions about progress.
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The stargazers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have released a huge three-dimensional map of outer space, a core part of its six-year survey of the skies. Encompassing four billion light-years cubed, the researchers hope to use the map to retrace the movements of the universe through the last six billion years. Using the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III), the center says the data will help improve their estimates for the quantity of dark matter in space and the effect that dark energy has on the universe’s expansion, “two of the greatest mysteries of our time” — if you’re an astrophysicist. Even if you’re not, you’ll still want to board the animated flight through over 400,000 charted galaxies — it’s embedded after the break.
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Scientists release biggest ever 3D map of the universe, lacks turn-by-turn navigation (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
This week we swing by some superhero news, look at how solar panels might shape up in the future, explore a Lego forest and see how to grab dark matter just using some household gold and strands of DNA. Not only that, we discover how the sun likes to celebrate the fourth of July with its own firework display. This is alt / week
Continue reading Alt-week 7.8.2012: Solar flares, trapping dark matter, and life-sized Lego trees
Alt-week 7.8.2012: Solar flares, trapping dark matter, and life-sized Lego trees originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In 1933, Fritz Zwicky—a Swiss astronomer working at CalTech—had an amazing revelation. He realized that the amount of matter that we can see through our telescopes doesn’t match the behavior of the Universe. There had to be something else that we couldn’t see. Something that accounts for an astonishing 83 percent of all existing matter but is invisible to us. More »
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