The Best Science Images – February 2015
Science Scanner: Stars Younger than Thought, E-Cigarettes Not Really a Healthier Alternative, Red Grapes Help Burn Fat
Stars Are Younger than Thought A preliminary analysis of data gathered by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Planck mission has shown that the first stars of our universe are younger than first thought. Scientists said data gathered by the Planck mission between 2009 and 2013 shows that the universe remained completely dark for about 550 […]
Science Scanner: Mapping an Asteroid; Why the Universe Didn’t Collapse; Spicy Food Saves Lives
Scientists Create Geologic and Tectonic Map of Vesta the Asteroid A group of scientists used high-resolution images captured by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft between 2011 and 2012 to create what they say is the first total geologic and tectonic map of the asteroid Vesta. Details on the work appear in the December edition of the journal […]
Science Images of the Week
Astronomers Capture 3D Images of Mysterious Intergalactic Matter
For the first time, 3D images have been captured of a cosmological entity called the intergalactic medium (IGM). Until now, the structure of IGM had been theoretical. The discovery could provide astronomers with a new understanding of galactic and intergalactic dynamics. The images were captured with an instrument built at the California Institute of Technology […]
Data Shows Universe Could Collapse Any Minute
Our universe is at even greater risk of collapse than has been previously thought, according physicists in Denmark. Not only are the scientists predicting the end of the world… but the end of the universe! The prediction that the universe will collapse and compress into a small hard ball isn’t something new. Physicists have been […]
Hubble Spots Farthest Supernova Yet
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has found the farthest known supernova discovered to date. Nicknamed “SN Wilson,” after the American President Woodrow Wilson, scientists say supernova UDS10Wil, exploded more than 10 billion years ago, about 3.77 billion years after the Big Bang. SN Wilson is in a special class of exploding stars known as “Type Ia […]
Scientists Confirm Higgs Boson Discovery
Scientists working with the world’s largest atom smasher say the mystery particle they found last summer was a Higgs boson, which is believed to give mass to everything in the universe. However, while the physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) confirm the particle is a Higgs boson, it doesn’t appear to have […]
Scientists Discover Universe’s Largest Known Structure
Scientists have found the largest known structure in the universe, a cluster of galactic cores so vast it would take four billion years for a spacecraft traveling at the speed of light to cross it. The sighting challenges a theory from Einstein which suggests such a massive object shouldn’t exist in the universe. A quasar […]
Astronomers Discover Furthest Galaxy Ever
Scientists have discovered what could be the oldest, most distant galaxy in the universe, thanks to a unique combination of man-made and natural telescopes. The newly discovered galaxy, MACS0647-JD, was found by the Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble (CLASH). It is about 13.3 billion light years, or 125,825,000,000,000,000,000,000 km, from Earth. Scientists are […]