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Diamond drizzle forecast for Saturn and Jupiter
Lightning storms create carbon soot that might be compressed into diamonds as it falls through the atmosphere.
- Maggie McKee
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News |
NASA ponders Kepler’s future
Spacecraft could continue to hunt for planets — or take on alternative tasks, such as asteroid spotting.
- Ron Cowen
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Letter |
The domination of Saturn’s low-latitude ionosphere by ring ‘rain’
A pattern of features is detected, superposed on Saturn’s low-latitude infrared glow, that implies the transfer of charged species derived from water (ring ‘rain’) from the ring plane to the ionosphere, ultimately leading to the global modulation of upper atmospheric chemistry.
- J. O’Donoghue
- , T. S. Stallard
- & J. S. D. Blake
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Letter |
Energy release in the solar corona from spatially resolved magnetic braids
Solar observations at a resolution of 0.2 arc seconds show the reconnection and relaxation of magnetic braids in a coronal active region, leading to the dissipation of sufficient energy to heat the structures to about 4,000,000 K.
- J. W. Cirtain
- , L. Golub
- & C. E. DeForest
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News & Views |
Andromeda's extended disk of dwarfs
Deep-imaging observations of the Andromeda galaxy and its surroundings have revealed a wide but thin planar structure of satellite galaxies that all orbit their host in the same rotational direction. See Letter p.62
- R. Brent Tully
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News Feature |
Data teleportation: The quantum space race
Fierce rivals have joined forces in the race to teleport information to and from space.
- Zeeya Merali
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News |
Microsatellites aim to fill weather-data gap
Commercial network would use radio-sounding system.
- Eric Hand
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Brief Communications Arising |
Causes of an ad 774–775 14C increase
- Adrian L. Melott
- & Brian C. Thomas
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News |
Europe sets modest goals for space
European Space Agency sees flat funding for science but gears up for stronger ties with NASA on human spaceflight.
- Edwin Cartlidge
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News |
Single photon could detect quantum-scale black holes
Tabletop experiment proposed to show whether space-time is made of indivisible units.
- Ron Cowen
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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News |
Gas cloud hurtling towards Milky Way's black hole may harbour young star
Researchers suggest the recently-spotted gas cloud is a planet-forming disk of matter.
- Ron Cowen
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Letter |
No meridional plasma flow in the heliosheath transition region
The radially outward flow of plasma from the Sun is expected to be deflected when it meets the flow of interstellar plasma through which the Solar System moves, but the spacecraft Voyager 1 unexpectedly finds that the deflected, meridional, flow is consistent with zero within the transition region.
- Robert B. Decker
- , Stamatios M. Krimigis
- & Matthew E. Hill
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News & Views |
Collision course
Four billion years from now, the Andromeda galaxy will have a close encounter with the Milky Way. The two galaxies will commence a dance of disruption that will, over the course of another two billion years, lead to their complete union.
- R. Brent Tully
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Letter |
A massive, cooling-flow-induced starburst in the core of a luminous cluster of galaxies
X-ray, optical and infrared observations reveal a very high rate of star formation in the core of an extremely luminous galaxy cluster; this starburst seems to be triggered by a cooling flow of the dense intracluster plasma.
- M. McDonald
- , M. Bayliss
- & A. Zenteno
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News |
Magnetic fields boost atoms’ bonding skills
New molecular bonding mechanism predicted in exotic stars’ atmospheres.
- Zeeya Merali
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News |
NASA set to choose low-cost Solar System mission
With less-frequent selections, proposers worry about rising costs and complexity.
- Eric Hand
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News & Views |
Swirls in the corona
Observations made by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory have been used to identify signatures of a conduit through which energy could be transported from the surface of the Sun into its corona. See Letter p.505
- Stephen J. Bradshaw
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Letter |
Magnetic tornadoes as energy channels into the solar corona
Rotating magnetic structures in the Sun can channel energy outwards from the convection zone and may explain how the energy required to heat the outer layers of the Sun reaches its upper atmosphere.
- Sven Wedemeyer-Böhm
- , Eamon Scullion
- & Robert Erdélyi
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News |
Stellar UK scope faces closure
Specialize or die is the mantra for medium-sized instruments.
- Eric Hand
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Letter |
Early differentiation and volatile accretion recorded in deep-mantle neon and xenon
Noble gas contents of the Iceland mantle plume show that neither the Moon-forming impact nor billions of years of mantle convection has erased the signature of Earth’s heterogeneous accretion and early differentiation.
- Sujoy Mukhopadhyay
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World View |
Let's mine asteroids — for science and profit
The commercial dream of trawling space for valuable minerals could bring enormous benefits to a wide range of sciences, argues Martin Elvis.
- Martin Elvis
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News & Views |
Geomagnetism under scrutiny
New calculations show that the electrical resistance of Earth's liquid-iron core is lower than had been thought. The results prompt a reassessment of how the planet's magnetic field has been generated and maintained over time. See Letter p.355
- Bruce Buffett
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News |
Sunny outlook for space weather forecasters
Companies seek to sell tailor-made predictions of geomagnetic storms to airlines and electricity suppliers.
- Eric Hand
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World View |
Commercial space flight is a game-changer
The first private-sector flight to the International Space Station will open up myriad opportunities for science, says Alan Stern.
- Alan Stern
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News |
Space-station rendezvous set to spur research push
Upcoming docking of commercial supply craft heralds easier access to orbiting laboratory.
- Eric Hand
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News |
Survey finds no hint of dark matter near Solar System
Result poses a cosmic dilemma but critics prescribe caution.
- Ron Cowen
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Comment |
Prepare for the coming space weather storm
We need to improve estimates of geomagnetic storm size, says Mike Hapgood, so we can be ready for huge disruptions to electrical systems.
- Mike Hapgood
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News |
Satellites expose 8,000 years of civilization
Archaeologists develop large-scale method to identify ancient human settlements.
- Virginia Gewin
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Letter |
Light echoes reveal an unexpectedly cool η Carinae during its nineteenth-century Great Eruption
Light echoes from the massive binary star η Carinae reveal it to have been much cooler than models suggest during its Great Eruption in 1840 but the cause of the eruption remains unknown.
- A. Rest
- , J. L. Prieto
- & K. Mandel
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Letter |
Abrupt acceleration of a ‘cold’ ultrarelativistic wind from the Crab pulsar
Observations of γ-rays from the Crab pulsar suggest that the energy of the pulsar wind changes from electromagnetic to kinetic over a relatively short distance close to the light cylinder of the pulsar.
- F. A. Aharonian
- , S. V. Bogovalov
- & D. Khangulyan
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News |
Fission power back on NASA’s agenda
Space-technology report prioritizes nuclear propulsion.
- Eric Hand
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News |
A whiff of interstellar cloud
NASA satellite sniffs 'alien' atoms from beyond the Solar System.
- Eric Hand
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Letter |
Generation of scaled protogalactic seed magnetic fields in laser-produced shock waves
Experimental simulations of galaxy-forming conditions using lasers show that the Biermann battery generates seed magnetic fields, which turbulence can amplify to affect galaxy evolution.
- G. Gregori
- , A. Ravasio
- & F. Miniati
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Letter |
Creation and diagnosis of a solid-density plasma with an X-ray free-electron laser
Experimental study of the interactions between intense X-rays and solid matter illustrate the generation of a solid-density plasma governed by electron–ion collisions; these results should inform future high-intensity X-ray experiments involving dense samples, such as X-ray diffractive imaging of biological samples, material science investigations, and the study of matter in extreme conditions.
- S. M. Vinko
- , O. Ciricosta
- & J. S. Wark
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News |
Three tiny exoplanets suggest Solar System not so special
Kepler telescope discovers miniature extrasolar planetary system
- Ron Cowen
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News |
365 days: Images of the year
Flying rhinos and furious rats vie with graphene knots and space technology in 2011’s most striking pictures.
- Daniel Cressey
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News & Views |
The ultimate fate of planets
A planetary system has been found in a startlingly tight orbit around an evolved star. The finding challenges the idea that close-in planets are destroyed as their host star evolves. See Letter p.496
- Eliza M. R. Kempton
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Comment |
Asia's space race
Greater global cooperation is needed to avert the risk of further militarization, says James Clay Moltz.
- James Clay Moltz
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Q&A |
Turning point: Jonathan Cirtain
Former athlete's move into solar physics and telescope design leads to award.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
China forges ahead in space
Mars-probe problems are a minor blip in a bold strategy.
- David Cyranoski
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Research Highlights |
Mind the black-hole gap
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News |
Time is running out for the leap second
Abolition would see 'official' time unmoored from the Sun.
- Zeeya Merali
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News |
Dragon offers ticket to Mars
A cargo carrier designed for low Earth orbit could provide a cheap route to the red planet.
- Eric Hand
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News & Views |
Shedding light on the fabric of space-time
The idea that space-time might be fundamentally fuzzy is much debated among theorists. A search for signatures of this effect on light from distant cosmic sources has come up empty-handed, but shows the potential of this approach.
- Giovanni Amelino-Camelia
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News |
Sun-watchers hope giant telescope will get green light
Observatory would reveal structures that trigger sunspots and space weather.
- Eric Hand
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News |
Close-ups reveal a weirder Mercury
MESSENGER spacecraft results challenge theories about the planet's early history.
- Ron Cowen
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News Feature |
Military surveillance data: Shared intelligence
The military has a vast array of scientifically valuable data — some more accessible than you think.
- Geoff Brumfiel