2018 Full Moon Calendar

Moon Calendar 2018 photo: efendicafe

The moon shows its full face to Earth once a month. Well, sort of.

In fact, the same side of the moon always faces the planet, but part of it is in shadow. And, in reality most of the time the "full moon" is never perfectly full. Only when the moon, Earth and the sun are perfectly aligned is the moon 100 percent full, and that alignment produces a lunar eclipse. And sometimes — once in a blue moon — the moon is full twice in a month (or four times in a season, depending on which definition you prefer). 

The next full moon of the year will be in February and rise on Feb. 10, a Friday night. It will peak at 7:33 p.m. EST (0033 Saturday morning GMT). The February full moon is known as the Snow Moon, among its other names. 


he first full moon of January occured on Thursday, Jan. 12. It peaked at 6:34 a.m. EST (11:34 Universal Time). The Algonquins of New England called it the Wolf Moon, according to the Farmer's Almanac. Other cultures have different names, including Holiday Moon (Chinese), Cold Moon (Cherokee), Quiet Moon (Celtic) and Rainbow Fish Moon (New Guinea). 

Full moons in 2017

Many cultures have given distinct names to each recurring full moon. The names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. The Farmer's Almanac lists several names that are commonly used in the United States. The almanac explains that there were some variations in the moon names, but in general, the same ones were used among the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names.

This is when full moons will occur in 2017, according to NASA:

Date Name U.S. East UTC
Jan. 12 Wolf Moon 6:34 a.m. 11:34
Feb. 10 Snow Moon 7:33 p.m. 00:33 (2/11)
Mar. 12 Worm Moon 10:54 a.m. 15:54
Apr. 11 Pink Moon 2:08 a.m. 07:08
May 10 Flower Moon 5:43 p.m. 22:43
June 9 Strawberry Moon 9:10 a.m. 14:10
July 9 Buck Moon 12:07 a.m. 05:07
Aug. 7 Sturgeon Moon 2:11 p.m. 19:11
Sept. 6 Harvest Moon 3:03 a.m. 08:03
Oct. 5 Hunter's Moon 2:40 p.m. 19:40
Nov. 4 Beaver Moon 12:23 a.m. 05:23
Dec. 3 Cold Moon 10:47 a.m. 15:47

Additional full moon names

Other Native American people had different names. In the book "This Day in North American Indian History" (Da Capo Press, 2002), author Phil Konstantin lists more than 50 native peoples and their names for full moons. He also lists them on his website, AmericanIndian.net.

Amateur astronomer Keith Cooley has a brief list of the moon names of other cultures, including Chinese and Celtic, on his website. For example:

Chinese moon names

Month Name                  Month         Name
January Holiday Moon        July  Hungry Ghost Moon
February Budding Moon        August  Harvest Moon
March Sleepy Moon    September  Chrysanthemum Moon
April Peony Moon    October  Kindly Moon
May Dragon Moon           November White Moon
June Lotus Moon             December Bitter Moon

Full moon names often correspond to seasonal markers, so a Harvest Moon occurs at the end of the growing season, in September, and the Cold Moon occurs in frosty December. At least, that's how it works in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are switched, the Harvest Moon occurs in March and the Cold Moon is in June. According to Earthsky.org, these are common names for full moons south of the equator.

January: Hay Moon, Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Mead Moon
February (mid-summer): Grain Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Wyrt Moon, Corn Moon, Dog Moon, Barley Moon
March: Harvest Moon, Corn Moon
April: Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon
May: Hunter’s Moon, Beaver Moon, Frost Moon
June: Oak Moon, Cold Moon, Long Night’s Moon
July: Wolf Moon, Old Moon, Ice Moon
August: Snow Moon, Storm Moon, Hunger Moon, Wolf Moon
September: Worm Moon, Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Sugar Moon, Chaste Moon, Sap Moon
October: Egg Moon, Fish Moon, Seed Moon, Pink Moon, Waking Moon November: Corn Moon, Milk Moon, Flower Moon, Hare Moon December: Strawberry Moon, Honey Moon, Rose Moon

Zodiac Moon Calendar 2017 photo: Astrocal

Just a phase

Here's how a full moon works:

The moon is a sphere that travels once around Earth every 27.3 days. It also takes about 27 days for the moon to rotate on its axis. So, the moon always shows us the same face; there is no single "dark side" of the moon. As the moon revolves around Earth, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun — what we see when we look at the moon is reflected sunlight. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, which means sometimes it rises during daylight and other times during nighttime hours.

Here’s how the moon's phases go:

At new moon, the moon is between Earth and the sun, so that the side of the moon facing toward us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from Earth.

A few days later, as the moon moves around Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight. This thin sliver is called the waxing crescent.

A week after new moon, the moon is 90 degrees away from the sun in the sky and is half-illuminated from our point of view, what we call first quarter because it is about a quarter of the way around Earth.

A few days later, the area of illumination continues to increase. More than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight. This phase is called a waxing gibbous moon.

When the moon has moved 180 degrees from its new moon position, the sun, Earth and the moon form a line. The moon’s disk is as close as it can be to being fully illuminated by the sun, so this is called full moon.

Next, the moon moves until more than half of its face appears to be getting sunlight, but the amount is decreasing. This is the waning gibbous phase.

Days later, the moon has moved another quarter of the way around Earth, to the third quarter position. The sun's light is now shining on the other half of the visible face of the moon.

Next, the moon moves into the waning crescent phase as less than half of its face appears to be getting sunlight, and the amount is decreasing.

Finally, the moon moves back to its new moon starting position. Because the moon’s orbit is not exactly in the same plane as Earth’s orbit around the sun, they rarely are perfectly aligned. Usually the moon passes above or below the sun from our vantage point, but occasionally it passes right in front of the sun, and we get an eclipse of the sun.

Each full moon is calculated to occur at an exact moment, which may or may not be near the time the moon rises where you are. So when a full moon rises, it’s typically doing so some hours before or after the actual time when it’s technically full, but a casual skywatcher won’t notice the difference. In fact, the moon will often look roughly the same on two consecutive nights surrounding the full moon.

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2016 WF9 An unidentified object with a width of one kilometer will pass by Earth next month. NASA scientists are confused

2016 WF9 (artist rendition) photo: wikipedia An artist’s rendition of 2016 WF9 as it passes Jupiter’s orbit inbound toward the sun. JPL manages NEOWISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

A mysterious object will fly above the earth in the next month (February 2017). His features are so unusual that researchers at NASA failed to find out what it is, according IFL Science.

The object was named WF9 2016 was observed in NEOWISE project of NASA, on November 27, 2016. Researchers say it may have at least one kilometers wide. Most will approach Earth on February 25, reaching a distance of 51 million kilometers.

Orbit of 2016 WF9 on 25 February 2017, closest approach to Earth photo: wikipedia

The object caused confusion among researchers at NASA, because they do not know whether it is an asteroid or a comet. In general, asteroids are more rocky and metallic, while comets have ice in their composition, their notes IFL Science.


,, 2016 WF9 could be a comet. This article illustrates that the boundary between asteroid and comet is very small, '' James Bauer supports NASA.

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Einstein's Theory Just Put the Brakes on the Sun's Spin

Credit: NASA/SDO

Although the sun is our nearest star, it still hides many secrets. But it seems that one solar conundrum may have been solved and a theory originally proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein could be at the root of it all.

Nov. 21, 1905: It Was a Very Good Year, If You Were Einstein Wired

Twenty years ago, solar astronomers realized that the uppermost layer of the sun rotates slower than the rest of the sun's interior. This is odd. It is well known the sun rotates faster at its equator than at its poles — a phenomenon known as "differential rotation" that drives the sun's 11-year solar cycle — but the fact that the sun has a sluggish upper layer has been hard to understand. It's as if there's some kind of force trying to hold it in place while the lower layers churn below it.

Solar Rotation Varies by Latitude NASA

Now, researchers from University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA), Brazil, and Stanford University may have stumbled on an answer and it could all be down to fundamental physics. It seems that the light our sun generates has a braking effect on the sun's surface layers.


"The sun won't stop spinning anytime soon, but we've discovered that the same solar radiation that heats the Earth is 'braking' the sun because of Einstein's Special Relativity, causing it to gradually slow down, starting from its surface," said Jeff Kuhn, of IfA Maui, in a statement.

Solar Radiation | EM SC 100: First Year Seminar

Special relativity predicts that photons, which carry the electromagnetic force (i.e. light), also carry a tiny amount of momentum. If you have enough photons travelling away from an object, they will carry away a large amount of momentum. In the case of the sun's 4 billion year lifetime, the surface has lost a lot of momentum to photons, causing a slowdown of the uppermost 5 percent of the sun. This mechanism, called the Poynting-Robertson effect, has been observed in interplanetary dust, which feels the drag of the sun's radiation, causing it to fall from the asteroid belt into the inner solar system.

What affects dust inevitably affects the soup of super-heated gas in the sun's upper layers and, over its lifetime, the drag caused by photons being emitted from the sun has created a measurable and, until now, mysterious effect.

Using several years of data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the researchers were able to measure waves traveling through the sun to precisely measure the size of the layer that is experiencing this slowdown. The technique, known as "helioseismology," is very similar to measuring the seismic waves travelling through the Earth to measure the strength of an earthquake. The material these seismic waves travel through changes the waves so seismologists can "see" underground.

Helioseismology: Probing the interior of a star PNAS

Though the sun isn't a solid planet made from rock and metal, its dense plasma interior also allows waves to travel, creating oscillations on the surface that can be measured. Helioseismology therefore allows astronomers to "see" into our nearest star, revealing many details about its interior that may not be obvious on the surface. And in this case, by using helioseismology and studying the sun's magnetic field passing from space into the sun's interior, we can gauge how much of a drag Einstein's special relativity has had on the sun's surface.

"This is a gentle torque that is slowing it down, but over the Sun's 5 billion year lifetime it has had a very noticeable influence on its outer 35,000 kilometers [22,000 miles]," said Kuhn. 

These findings have accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters and can be previewed on the arXiv pre-print service.

Using our sun as a laboratory for other stars, Kuhn's team believe that a similar effect likely happens for all stars and could have a strong influence on stellar evolution. Now solar astronomers are very interested to understand how this solar slowdown impacts the sun's magnetic field that threads through the entire solar system. As the sun's magnetism is the root cause of space weather that can trigger solar flares and coronal mass ejections that could interfere with satellites and power grids, this research could have a key role to play in our understanding of solar impacts on Earth.

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• A new theory on the Creation of the Universe, disprove the Big Bang

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Chandra X-Ray Observatory Recently discovered new SPT0346-52. Galaxy is undergoing an extraordinary boom of stellar construction, clues to universe’s evolution and big bang

The distorted galaxy in the simulation results from a collision between two galaxies, followed by them merging. Astronomers think such a merger could be the reason why SPT0346-52 is having such a boom of stellar construction. Once the two galaxies collide, gas near the center of the merged galaxy (shown as the bright region in the center of the simulation) is compressed, producing a burst of new stars. The composite inset shows X-ray data from Chandra (blue), short wavelength infrared data from Hubble (green), infrared light from Spitzer (red) at longer wavelengths, and infrared data from ALMA (magenta) at even longer wavelengths. (The light from SPT0346-52 is distorted and magnified by the gravity of an intervening galaxy, producing three elongated images in the ALMA data located near the center of the image. SPT0346-52 is not visible in the Hubble or Spitzer data, but the intervening galaxy causing the gravitational lensing is detected.) There is no blue at the center of the image, showing that Chandra did not detect any X-rays that could have signaled the presence of a growing black hole. Credit: Image courtesy of CXC Press Office.

A recently discovered galaxy is undergoing an extraordinary boom of stellar construction, revealed by a group of astronomers led by University of Florida graduate student Jingzhe Ma using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The galaxy known as SPT 0346‐52 is 12.7 billion light years from Earth, seen at a critical stage in the evolution of galaxies about a billion years after the Big Bang.

Chandra Overview NASA

Astronomers first discovered SPT 0346‐52 with the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope, then observed it with space and ground-based telescopes. Data from the NSF/ESO Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile revealed extremely bright infrared emission, suggesting that the galaxy is undergoing a tremendous burst of star birth.

South Pole Telescope - Wikipedia

SPT 0346-52 is part of a population of strong gravitationally-lensed galaxies photo: discovered Sci-News.com

However, an alternative explanation remained: Was much of the infrared emission instead caused by a rapidly growing supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center? Gas falling towards the black hole would become much hotter and brighter, causing surrounding dust and gas to glow in infrared light. To explore this possibility, researchers used NASA's Chandra X‐ray Observatory and CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array, a radio telescope.

No X‐rays or radio waves were detected, so astronomers were able to rule out a black hole being responsible for most of the bright infrared light.

About Australia Telescope Compact Array - CSIRO

"We now know that this galaxy doesn't have a gorging black hole, but instead is shining brightly with the light from newborn stars," Ma said. "This gives us information about how galaxies and the stars within them evolve during some of the earliest times in the universe."

Stars are forming at a rate of about 4,500 times the mass of the Sun every year in SPT0346-52, one of the highest rates seen in a galaxy. This is in contrast to a galaxy like the Milky Way that only forms about one solar mass of new stars per year.

"Astronomers call galaxies with lots of star formation 'starburst' galaxies," said UF astronomy professor Anthony Gonzalez, who co-authored the study. "That term doesn't seem to do this galaxy justice, so we are calling it a 'hyper-starburst' galaxy."

The high rate of star formation implies that a large reservoir of cool gas in the galaxy is being converted into stars with unusually high efficiency.

Astronomers hope that by studying more galaxies like SPT0346‐52 they will learn more about the formation and growth of massive galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centers.

"For decades, astronomers have known that supermassive black holes and the stars in their host galaxies grow together," said co-author Joaquin Vieira of the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. "Exactly why they do this is still a mystery. SPT0346-52 is interesting because we have observed an incredible burst of stars forming, and yet found no evidence for a growing supermassive black hole. We would really like to study this galaxy in greater detail and understand what triggered the star formation and how that affects the growth of the black hole."

Joaquin Vieira Wins Sloan Fellowship Astronomy at Illinois

SPT0346‐52 is part of a population of strong gravitationally-lensed galaxies discovered with the SPT. It appears about six times brighter than it would without gravitational lensing, which enables astronomers to see more details than would otherwise be possible.



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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Sciencedaily . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

NASA's Chandra Observatory photographed "The Hand of God"

Pulsar B1509

A fascinating X-ray image of a "cosmic hand" was recorded by Chandra observatory

Chandra that rotates above the Earth at a height of 500 km, managed to photograph a rotating neutron star - a pulsar - that releases energy during its rotation. Although the pulsar is only 20 km in diameter, which gives birth nebula in space stretches over a distance of 150 light years.

 Pulsar called B1509, is located at a distance of 17,000 light-years from Earth. Golden-reddish portions of the photo represents parts of a neighboring gas cloud, energized by the flow of ions and electrons emitted by the pulsar. With a little imagination, the image can be likened to that of a hand, and astronomers have called a "hand of God", inspired by the "eye of God", another great cosmic image, obtained by European astronomers in February.















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Chances are very high that Europa , Jupiter's moon host alien life. NASA announcement

Europa, Jupiter's satellite, is hosting an ocean under the ice and water vapor erupting from the surface, said NASA astronomer from William Sparks, during a press teleconference. This means that there may exist extraterrestrial life. The discovery was made in 2013, but astronomers have taken three years to confirm and make a Inspection.

William Sparks said Europe is the second closest satellite of Jupiter, orbiting once every three days. ,, We obtained 10 images of Europe while in front of Jupiter's orbit, "said Sparks.

Observations made with the Hubble telescope, have revealed the discovery of vapor on the surface that could prove the existence of an ocean under the ice.

Brithney Schmidt, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at the Institute of Technology in Atlanta, said on Europa was measured, its size is similar to our moon. In some areas the ice is broken, the majority of the planet is covered peaks. ,, It will be very difficult to penetrate the ice to reach the water, '' she said. Steam and could help researchers analyze the composition under the ice, without having to drill.

Jennifer Wiserman researcher in the project Hubble at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, says that Hubble was the only one who managed to investigate Jupiter and Europe at this level. The UV rays, water vapor were found on the surface of Europe. ,, We are excited at the thought that we will use the James Webb Space Telescope that will launch in 2018. It will study in more detail the fumes emitted by the satellite Europa. We are extremely interested in planets with characteristics similar to those of Earth '. Although the discovery vapor was conducted in 2013, one of the researchers said: ,, It took a lot of work to process images. After all the work we have already achieved results. It is not as if you take a picture, you need a lot of preparation. ''

'' The amount of material that would have produced steam at the level that I saw could be worth millions of kilograms, '' said William Sparks. Each tool analyzes the steam probe on the surface of Europa. There are a lot of assumptions that may explain the presence of water on Europa.

Among the tools that researchers have used to analyze Europe are UV, heat-sensitive instruments and compositional tools such as Cassini, which can fly through fog and steam can analyze the composition. Researchers said they still are not sure if steam comes from the evaporation of water beneath the frozen layer of Jupiter's moon.

Vapors are not necessarily placed in the poles, they appeared and disappeared, were present more often in equator. ,, We believe that the ship is made of hydrogen and oxygen, but more research will reveal us whether it is water vapor or not, '' said one of the researchers.

Researchers need to further investigate the existence of vapor to ensure that substances that are formed can support extraterrestrial life.
The discovery was made using images recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope.

In the teleconference attended by Paul Hertz, director of the Division of Astrophysics at the NASA headquarters in Washington, William Sparks, an astronomer at the Institute of Science in Baltimore, Brithney Schmidt, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at the Institute of Technology Atlanta, and Jennifer Wiserman researcher in the project Hubble at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Astrobiologists have said long before that Europe could support extraterrestrial life. In the story ,, 2001 A Space Odyssey '', Arthur C. Clarke said that Europe is a satellite of Jupiter with a diameter of 3,100 kilometers that could have a liquid ocean beneath its frozen surface. Also astrononii it believes that underground ocean is in connection with the rocky mantle and by contact might produce a chemical reaction that can create life.

The most interesting aspect is the fact that researchers who controls the Juno probe will not let her collapse on the satellite after the mission, as happened in other cases because they do not want contaminating Jupiter's moon.

Source: Wattsup with That

NASA will make important disclosures about Jupiter's moon, Europa

NASA will host a teleconference Monday, September 26, at 2 p.m. EDT (21:00 GMT) in which will present new discoveries about Jupiter's moon, Europa.

Following a campaign observation satellite, astronomers will present unique results that could reveal the presence of a subterranean ocean under the ice of Europe. The discovery was made using images recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope.

In the teleconference will be attended by Paul Hertz, director of the Division of Astrophysics at the NASA headquarters in Washington, William Sparks, an astronomer at the Institute of Science in Baltimore, Brithney Schmidt, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at the Institute of Technology Atlanta, and Jennifer Wiserman researcher in the project Hubble at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Astrobiologists have said long before that Europe could support extraterrestrial life. In the story ,, 2001 A Space Odyssey '', Arthur C. Clarke said that Europe is a satellite of Jupiter with a diameter of 3,100 kilometers that could have a liquid ocean beneath its frozen surface. Also astrononii it believes that underground ocean is in connection with the rocky mantle and by contact might produce a chemical reaction that can create life.


The most interesting aspect is the fact that researchers who controls the Juno probe will not let her collapse on the satellite after the mission, as happened in other cases because they do not want contaminating Jupiter's moon.


Source: Wattsup with That

Water existed on Mars billions of years before scientists about the phenomenon Consider Possible

The new evidence provided by NASA spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have revealed that the entire network of lakes and streams fed by melted snow on Mars existed much earlier than it imagined researchers.

Based on the new images taken on ancient region, north of Mars, researchers said there was a considerable amount of water ,, '' with about a billion years before the '' wet Age '' of the red planet to end. This indicates that the planet was suitable for microbial life for much longer than estimated by the researchers.

,, I discovered valleys carrying water to lake basins, '' said a team member, Sharon Wilson, of the Smithsonian Intitutului. ,, Some of the lakes filled pools indicates that there was a considerable amount of water in those times, '' she added.

Wilson and his team analyzed images recorded in the northern area of ​​Mars called Arabia Terra (an extremely eroded known as one of the oldest areas of the planet)

Researchers were able to identify signs of water evaporated long ago. ,, One of the lakes in the region can be compared with the amount as Lake Tahoe, '' Wilson said. The researcher explained that this lake was fed by a Martian valley south out of bed in the north and pouring a large pool called Heart Lake.

Heart Lake is part of the whole system of lakes and valleys that stretch 150 kilometers along the northern planet. The team estimated that the lake could support a quantity of 2,790 cubic kilometers of water. Based on information gathered from 22 craters in the area, the team concluded that these lakes there were two or three billion years. Meanwhile melted snow each season could supply all water areas.


Researchers said they found such formations in other parts of Mars, but the north and south of the equator humid regions were much more extensive.

Source: Science Alert

NASA announced the next mission to Mars

In March 2016, the launch of the probe from NASA, InSight has been postponed due to an error. The ship was to examine the interior of Mars.

But NASA said recently that mission launch will take place on May 5, 2018, will arrive on Mars after almost seven months, on November 26.

InSight is a stationary probe that will pierce the surface of Mars to five meters deep, to measure the temperature of the planet. Mission previously was postponed because of a breakage of the void that was discovered at one of the instruments probe called Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, which was to detect signals of earthquakes on Mars, the impacts from meteorites and other phenomena, such as sandstorms and landslides.

Launch to Mars can only occur at certain times when the planets are aligned in a certain way for the probe to reach the destination quicker. NASA warned that delaying the mission could affect other missions. The initial budget for the mission was 675 million dollars, the delay will cost another 153 million dollars.

Source: IFL Science

Do Black Holes have a back door?

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

One of the biggest problems when studying black holes is that the laws of physics as we know them cease to apply in their deepest regions. Large quantities of matter and energy concentrate in an infinitely small space, the gravitational singularity, where space-time curves towards infinity and all matter is destroyed. Or is it? A recent study by researchers at the Institute of of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, CSIC-UV) in Valencia suggests that matter might in fact survive its foray into these space objects and come out the other side.

Published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, the Valencian physicists propose considering the singularity as if it were an imperfection in the geometric structure of space-time. And by doing so they resolve the problem of the infinite, space-deforming gravitational pull.

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

"Black holes are a theoretical laboratory for trying out new ideas about gravity," says Gonzalo Olmo, a Ramón y Cajal grant researcher at the Universitat de València (University of Valencia, UV). Alongside Diego Rubiera, from the University of Lisbon, and Antonio Sánchez, PhD student also at the UV, Olmo's research sees him analysing black holes using theories besides general relativity (GR).

Specifically, in this work he has applied geometric structures similar to those of a crystal or graphene layer, not typically used to describe black holes, since these geometries better match what happens inside a black hole: "Just as crystals have imperfections in their microscopic structure, the central region of a black hole can be interpreted as an anomaly in space-time, which requires new geometric elements in order to be able to describe them more precisely. We explored all possible options, taking inspiration from facts observed in nature."

Using these new geometries, the researchers obtained a description of black holes whereby the centre point becomes a very small spherical surface. This surface is interpreted as the existence of a wormhole within the black hole. "Our theory naturally resolves several problems in the interpretation of electrically-charged black holes," Olmo explains. "In the first instance we resolve the problem of the singularity, since there is a door at the centre of the black hole, the wormhole, through which space and time can continue."

This study is based on one of the simplest known types of black hole, rotationless and electrically-charged. The wormhole predicted by the equations is smaller than an atomic nucleus, but gets bigger the bigger the charge stored in the black hole. So, a hypothetical traveller entering a black hole of this kind would be stretched to the extreme, or "spaghettified," and would be able to enter the wormhole. Upon exiting they would be compacted back to their normal size.

Seen from outside, these forces of stretching and compaction would seem infinite, but the traveller himself, living it first-hand, would experience only extremely intense, and not infinite, forces. It is unlikely that the star of Interstellar would survive a journey like this, but the model proposed by IFIC researchers posits that matter would not be lost inside the singularity, but rather would be expelled out the other side through the wormhole at its centre to another region of the universe.

Another problem that this interpretation resolves, according to Olmo, is the need to use exotic energy sources to generate wormholes. In Einstein's theory of gravity, these "doors" only appear in the presence of matter with unusual properties (a negative energy pressure or density), something which has never been observed. "In our theory, the wormhole appears out of ordinary matter and energy, such as an electric field" (Olmo).

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

The interest in wormholes for theoretical physics goes beyond generating tunnels or doors in spacetime to connect two points in the Universe. They would also help explain phenomena such as quantum entanglement or the nature of elementary particles. Thanks to this new interpretation, the existence of these objects could be closer to science than fiction.


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Was Venus Once A Habitable World Like Earth?

Experts assume that traces habitable landforms would have disappeared after a few hundred million years.

Until now, attention to the search for a habitable planet was focused on Mars, since it is assumed that it had a structure similar to Earth. There are, however, argue that we should take into account other variables such as, for example, Venus.

In a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team of American researchers simulated the appearance that supposedly had a Venus, recreating how its surface showed, but the amounts of sunlight that reached here. The experiment results have led scientists to conclude that the planet was habitable in 2.9 billion years ago and 715 million years before, because here there is a temperature and water surfaces similar to those on Terra.

However, no evidence was found so far to indicate the presence of water on the surface of Venus, as it happens, for example, in the case of Mars. Here, researchers have identified the fingerprints of former rivers and oceans and believe that such structures could be found on Venus, but they were reshaped during volcanic activity occurred ago over 700 million years.

Experts have assumed, since Venus there was a habitable environment, should not exclude the possibility that there existed forms of life: ,, Both planets have oceans where water might have come into contact with rocks and organic molecules, giving rise to chemical processes. From what we know so far, these are the conditions that make possible the emergence of life, "says David Grinspoon, one of the coordinators of the study conducted by the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona.

Although Venus was habitable for nearly 2 billion years, it is uncertain whether complex life forms could have developed during this period. In this regard, we are given the example of the Earth, where the development of complex organisms lasted about 3 billion years.

Even if the history of living on Venus could be considered, scientists say, however, that we need much more information to reach a conclusion in this regard

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• Cloudy days on exoplanets may hide atmospheric water

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by iflscience.com . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Researchers have unraveled another mystery of the planet Ceres

Researchers in the United States have been causing disappearance of craters on Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt in our solar system.

The new findings suggest that the disappearance of craters could be produced over a hundred million years due to the frozen surface of the planet and geothermal activity. ,, We concluded that a significant number of craters on Ceres was obliterated beyond the recognized geological measurements over time, due to which the resulting film composition and evolution in the earth, '' said Simone Marchi, from Southwasr Research Institute of Colorado.

Before you find out possible reasons for the huge craters missing from Ceres, the team used a computer simulation to see how many formations should be.

They concluded that the planet formation should be at least 10-15 big craters with a diameter of at least 400 km. Thanks to NASA mission, researchers have found that there are only 16 craters on Ceres, but none has a diameter greater than 100 km.

The only similar formations are planitiae ,, '' (extended depressions) which were probably created following severe impacts with other objects. The team tried to discover how he managed to ,, violate Ceres' computer simulated data. They have developed several theories, though none is yet concrete.

One hypothesis is that Ceres formed long before the solar system to arise during the impacts with other objects were more rare. Over time, the dwarf planet's orbit placed it in the asteroid belt.

Another theory is reflected by geothermal activity, complemented by the frosted surface of the planet.

Lack is not the only huge craters geological mystery that researchers have recently solved

Earlier this month, researchers at NASA have discovered evidence suggesting that small bright spots discovered in the crater of Ceres come from an impact which scraped some of the planet's surface and left behind traces of sodium carbonate.



Source: sciencealert

The Milky Way's Halo Spins With The Galaxy

Astronomers from the University of Michigan have, for the first time, measured the speed at which the Milky Way halo is rotating, a discovery that could provide new clues on how galaxies form and evolve.

Our galaxy is surrounded by a gaseous halo that extends for many hundreds of thousands of light-years from the center. It has a mass comparable to the Milky Way itself and it was believed to be still, compared to our quickly rotating galaxy.

"This flies in the face of expectations," lead author Edmund Hodges-Kluck said in a statement. "People just assumed that the disk of the Milky Way spins while this enormous reservoir of hot gas is stationary – but that is wrong. This hot gas reservoir is rotating as well, just not quite as fast as the disk."

The gas in the halo is incredibly hot, millions of degrees, but very spread out so it's difficult to estimate how quickly it's moving. The researchers had to carefully detect movement as the gas moved in front of very bright extragalactic sources, like active supermassive black holes and quasars.

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, they reported that the gas is moving at about 180 kilometers per second (400,000 mph), which is only slightly slower than the rotational velocity at the rim of the Milky Way (240 km/s, 540,000 mph).

"The rotation of the hot halo is an incredible clue to how the Milky Way formed," continued Hodges-Kluck. "It tells us that this hot atmosphere is the original source of a lot of the matter in the disk."

Galaxies are believed to have formed when intergalactic materials began to fall into the large gravitational wells formed by dark matter. The rotation of the halo tells us how quickly the material must fall towards the center, and also how quickly the Milky Way came together.

"Now that we know about the rotation, theorists will begin to use this to learn how our Milky Way galaxy formed – and its eventual destiny," added Professor Joel Bregman, co-author of the study.

Source: iflscience

JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT IS MYSTERIOUSLY HOT AND MAY BE GENERATING HEAT IN THE PLANET'S ATMOSPHERE

Heating System Researchers believe that the energy from the Great Red Spot may be contributing to heating the atmosphere. Karen Teramura, UH IfA, James O’Donoghue

Jupiter's most distinctive feature is so hot right now.

In a paper published in Nature today, researchers have found that the spot is hot -- hot enough that it might explain the mysteriously high temperatures of Jupiter's atmosphere.

The researchers write that during observations of Jupiter made at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii they discovered that "the upper atmosphere above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot—the largest storm in the Solar System—is hundreds of degrees hotter than anywhere else on the planet."

Hot Spot

An artist's illustration of Jupiter

The placement of the hot spot at the very visible Great Red Spot led the researchers to conclude that the heat source was coming from lower levels in the atmosphere and traveling upwards.

The observations have the potential to answer a question that has long puzzled scientists, and has been labeled the "giant-planet energy crisis". Jupiter's atmosphere is just too hot -- hotter than can be explained by heat from the sun alone. So where is that extra heat coming from?


With these new observations, researchers think that they might have an answer. The Great Red spot is a giant storm, where parts of the atmosphere are roiling as the storm makes its way across the planet. The frenetic energy in the storm generates waves that travel through the atmosphere.





Both acoustic and mechanical waves can transfer energy to higher altitudes in the atmosphere, heating up those outer layers. The same kind of phenomenon has been observed in thunderstorms over the Andes, albeit on a much smaller scale.

We're likely to learn even more about Jupiter and its atmosphere in the coming months, now that NASA's Juno spacecraft has arrived at the panet, and will start sending back more data and pictures soon.



Other articles on the same theme:

• SEE JUPITER’S AURORAS LIKE NEVER BEFORE

• NASA's Juno spacecraft is almost at Jupiter Prepare for awesome pictures!

• Chances are very high that Europa , Jupiter's moon host alien life. NASA announcement

• Unusual phenomenon on the surface of one of Jupiter's moons. It's happening every 42 hours

Source: popsci