Astronomers are celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s 33rd launch anniversary with an ethereal photo of the star-forming region NGC 1333. Hubble’s colorful view unveils an effervescent cauldron of glowing gasses and dust stirred up and blown around by several hundred newly forming stars embedded within the dark cloud.
Tag: dust
Desert dust collected from glacier ice helps document climate change
Researchers from The Ohio State University are using dust trapped in glacier ice in Tibet to document past changes in Earth’s intricate climate system – and maybe one day help predict future changes.
“Sensor for All” Air Quality Monitoring Innovation from Chula Engineering Paves the Way towards Sustainable Solutions to Dust Problem
Thailand’s PM2.5 dust particles level ranks as one of the highest in the world and poses health risks to the urban population. Having a reliable tool developed by Thais themselves to warn the public of PM2.5 dust conditions is crucial, and the “Sensor for All” project by Chula Engineering is an answer to this problem. During the past three years, a team of multidisciplinary experts of Chula Engineering has been working on installing sensor nodes, starting on the Chula campus, and expanding to cover the whole country.
Rutgers Astronomer Receives Packard Fellowship for Innovative Young Scientists
New Brunswick, N.J. (Oct. 15, 2020) – Blakesley Burkhart’s childhood days spent volunteering at a science museum and watching the Discovery Channel and sci-fi shows sparked her love of science and fascination with the stars. “These were the beginning years…
Dust Dampens Albedo Effect, Spurs Snowmelt in the Heights of the Himalayas
Dust blowing onto high mountains in the western Himalayas is a bigger factor than previously thought in hastening the melting of snow there, researchers show in a study published Oct. 5 in Nature Climate Change. That’s because dust – lots of it in the Himalayas – absorbs sunlight, heating the snow that surrounds it.
Galaxy Simulations Could Help Reveal Origins of Milky Way
Rutgers astronomers have produced the most advanced galaxy simulations of their kind, which could help reveal the origins of the Milky Way and dozens of small neighboring dwarf galaxies. Their research also could aid the decades-old search for dark matter, which fills an estimated 27 percent of the universe. And the computer simulations of “ultra-faint” dwarf galaxies could help shed light on how the first stars formed in the universe.
Discovery points to origin of mysterious ultraviolet radiation
Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) are gigantic clouds of hydrogen gas that produce ultraviolet light known as Lyman-alpha emissions. A study of Lyman-alpha blob 6 (LAB-6) is the first LAB with infalling gas feature. The findings suggest that star-forming galaxies are likely the primary energy source of Lyman-alpha radiation emitted from LAB-6.
Dimming Betelgeuse likely isn’t cold, just dusty, new study shows
Scientists at the University of Washington and Lowell Observatory report that Betelgeuse is significantly warmer than expected if its recent dimming had been triggered by cooling of the star’s surface. This may indicate that Betelgeuse instead sloughed off material from its outer layers.
A fragile crust protects from dust
From June 2016 to August 2018, Perry traversed the playa by bike, researching how it contributes to dust in the Salt Lake Valley’s air. In a report prepared for the Utah Department of Natural Resources and Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management, Perry details the current dust source regions on the playa and explains how declining lake levels, as well as damage to the playa, could make the problem worse.