Physics and Astronomy News Archive: September 2013

Image: NASA Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane on Mars

NASA Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane on Mars

Source: NASA/JPL   Posted: 9/23/13

Data from NASA's Curiosity rover has revealed the Martian environment lacks methane. This is a surprise to researchers because previous data positive detections.
Image: Understanding a new kind of magnetism

Understanding a new kind of magnetism

Source: MIT   Posted: 9/23/13

Researchers use low-frequency laser pulses to probe the properties of a kind of fluctuating magnetism known as a spin-liquid state.
Image: Chasing the black holes of the ocean

Chasing the black holes of the ocean

Source: ETH   Posted: 9/23/13

According to researchers some of the largest ocean eddies on Earth are mathematically equivalent to the mysterious black holes of space.
Image: NASA's Deep Impact Produced Deep Results

NASA's Deep Impact Produced Deep Results

Source: NASA/JPL   Posted: 9/23/13

Launched on a clear winter day in January 2005, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft spanned 268 million miles (431 million kilometers) of deep space in 172 days, then reached out and touched comet Tempel 1.
Image: French Physicist Receives Half-Milion Pound Prize

French Physicist Receives Half-Milion Pound Prize

Source: Balzan   Posted: 9/23/13

Alain Aspect receives the 2013 Balzan Prize 'For his pioneering experiments which led to a striking confirmation of Quantum Mechanics as opposed to local hidden-variable theories.'
Image: Nominations for 2014 Fundamental Physics Prize

Nominations for 2014 Fundamental Physics Prize

Source: FPP   Posted: 9/8/13

Three winners of the Physics Frontiers Prize will be announced this November and become nominees for the 2014 $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize
Image: Dark Energy Survey begins five-year mission

Dark Energy Survey begins five-year mission

Source: Fermilab   Posted: 9/8/13

On Aug. 31, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) officially began. Scientists on the survey team will systematically map one-eighth of the sky (5000 square degrees) in unprecedented detail.