Nebula 'Halo' Leaves Scientists Baffled

The cloud combination - or nebula - known as Ira's Ghost has been photographed by the Hubble Telescope with scientists wondering what it is that is lighting it up.

Ira's Ghost was first discovered in 1983 and is a "reflection nebula" which means it is lit up by a light source, rather than an "emission nebula" which is lit up from within.

What is puzzling the scientists is that they do not know where the light source is coming from.

They say they cannot find evidence of an external light source and therefore cannot explain why the nebula is throwing light into space.

Space enthusiasts say there should be a bright star nearby, but that is not the case.

One theory is that it could be a huge star that once travelled through the nebula at just under 125,000 mph.

The image was snapped by the Hubble as part of a "wish list" for the telescope to do when there was spare time.

As a "bonus" discovery, scientists are not too concerned about the origin - they are just delighted to have found something different.

Bookmark the storyNebula 'Halo' Leaves Scientists BaffledBookmark story form Add this to my favourites Stumble Upon Reddit Digg Delicious Newsvine Facebook CANCEL

Solar system 'two million years older than first thought'

The solar system could be almost two million years older than previously thought, scientists have discovered using evidence from one of the oldest meteorites.

The new study said the Solar System formed 4,568.2 billion years ago, which was between 300,000 and 1.9 million years earlier than previous estimates. Photo: NASA/ JPL
Researchers revised the age after analysing a mineral "relic" buried deep within the meteorite, known as an inclusion, found in the Sahara desert in northwest Africa.

These minerals, from a 1.49-kilo (3.2-pound) meteorite found in the Moroccan desert in 2004, are among the oldest solid materials formed following the birth of the Sun.

Experts said dating them could provide one of the most precise estimates of the age of the formation of the solar system.

Researchers from Arizona State University used a technique that relied on forms of lead atoms called isotopes to determine the age of this particular inclusion.

They found it formed 4.5682 billion years ago, which was between 300,000 and 1.9 million years earlier than previous estimates.

This age makes the inclusion the oldest material from the solar system that has been dated so far, according to the finding published in Nature Geoscience on Sunday.

"The age of the solar system can be defined as the time of formation of the first solid grains in the nebular disc surrounding the proto-Sun," said Dr Audrey Bouvier, a space scientist from the university's Centre for Meteorite Studies, who led the study.

"This age is estimated by dating calciumaluminium-rich inclusions in meteorites. These inclusions are considered as the earliest formed solids in the solar nebula.

"Their formation marks the beginning for several long and short-lived radiogenic clocks that are used to precisely define the timescales of Solar System events, such as the formation and evolution of planetary bodies."

She added: "From the consistently old ages in the studied inclusion, we conclude that the proto-Sun and the nebular disc formed earlier than previously thought."

Mars rover technology could improve solar power efficiency on Earth

Technology designed to help NASA scientists explore Mars could hold the secret to solving the world’s energy problems by improving solar power efficiency, experts claim. The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny

Solar panels could be kept free from dust and grime which hampers energy output using a self-cleaning system developed for NASA’s Mars rover robots.

The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny.

Dr Malay Mazumder, who helped create the technology for NASA, said it could help boost efficiency of large solar power plants, many of which are situated in arid and dusty desert locations.

"A dust layer of 4g per square metre decreases solar power conversion by 40 per cent," said Dr Mazumder, from Boston University.

"In Arizona, dust is deposited each month at over four times that amount. Deposition rates are even higher in Australia, the Middle East, and India."

The technology, used on the Mars rovers since they landed on the planet in 2004, involves coating the solar panel surface with electrodes of Indium tin oxide, a transparent, electrically-sensitive material.

Sensors monitor dust levels on the surface of the panel and energise the material when dust concentration reaches a critical level.

Electrodes on the panels then produce a cascading wave of electrostatic pulses, which shake off the dust leaving them clean and more energy efficient.

Dr Mazumder said the process removes about 90 per cent of dust in two minutes and uses only a small amount of the electricity generated by the panel for cleaning operations.

The research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Scientists have weight of the worlds on their shoulders

Scientists will now be able to accurately measure planets such as Jupiter thanks to a new breakthrough

AS scientific problems go, it has been one of the weightiest in the solar system: how do you accurately measure a planet, its moons and any rings it may have to see how heavy they are?
Now, an Australian-led international team of scientists has found a new method of weighing planetary systems that promises to fine-tune models of the solar system and improve spacecraft flight plans.

The breakthrough will also speed up the quest for gravity waves, the ripples in space and time that Albert Einstein predicted in his 1915 general theory of relativity.

The new planetary scale uses radio signals regularly emitted by small rapidly spinning stars called pulsars to measure the weight of planetary systems.

"This is the first time anyone has weighed planetary systems: planets with their moons and rings," said team leader David Champion.

"And, we've provided an independent check on previous results, which is great for planetary science."


The new technique is to be published in an upcoming edition of the Astronomical Journal.

Until now, scientists weighed planets by measuring the orbits of their moons or of spacecraft as they flew past them and calculating the planet's gravitational pull.

According to team member and CSIRO astrophysicist George Hobbs, the new approach is more versatile than existing methods.

"It can be widely used to detect a range of objects, from planets to asteroids," he said.

Cat-like crocodile roamed earth with the dinosaurs

A bizarre catlike crocodile that roamed the earth more than 100 million years ago could shed new light on evolution.

The discovery of the bizarre, lanky creature had mammal-like teeth and skinny legs shows that bony plated reptiles were once far more diverse than they are today.

It enjoyed land-based lifestyle on the African floodplains far removed from its aquatic descendants, preying on dragon flies and other insects and small animals.

The new species' fossilised remains were dug up from 105 million year old rock by palaeontologists scouring a river bank in Tanzania.

They were then able to create detailed digital images of its unusual teeth accurate to millionths of a meter using state of the art medical scanners.

Professor Patrick O'Connor, of Ohio University, said: "At first glance, this croc is trying very hard to be a mammal. Its head would fit in the palm of your hand.

"If you only looked at the teeth, you wouldn't think this was a crocodile. You would wonder what kind of strange mammal or mammal-like reptile it is."

"This gives us a number of interesting evolutionary-developmental research questions to begin addressing using living crocodiles as models."

He said it wasn't as heavily armoured as other crocodiles, except along the tail. This suggests the creature was quite mobile and probably actively foraged on land, unlike water-dwelling crocs.

Other aspects of its anatomy suggest it was a land-dwelling creature that likely feasted on insects and other small animals to survive.

The researchers, who have dubbed the animal Pakasuchus kapilimai, found one complete specimen and portions of seven other individuals.

Paka is Ki-Swahili for cat in reference to the animal's short, low skull with slicing, molar-like teeth, and souchos is ancient Greek for crocodile.

Prof O'Connor, who published his findings in Nature, said: "Once we were able to get a close look at the teeth, we knew we had something new and very exciting."

State of the Climate: Hottest Decade on Record

Experts say that sea ice is melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common, among other indicators.

The past decade was the hottest recorded, part of an unequivocal pattern of warming dating back 50 years, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report declared on Wednesday.

The annual “State of the Climate” report drew on the findings more than 300 climate scientists in 48 countries who measured 10 separate planetwide features, including air and sea temperatures, humidity, Arctic sea ice, glaciers, and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.

“The records come from many institutions worldwide,” Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the agency’s administrator, said in a statement. “They use data collected from diverse sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming.”

The findings do not include data from 2010, which is on pace to exceed the highest annual average global temperature ever recorded, NOAA said. This summer’s weather has been defined by extreme heat events in the eastern United States, Europe, Russia, China, Japan and the Middle East.
According to the report, each decade since the 1980s has been progressively warmer than the last, with an average warming of about one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit per decade.

“The temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,” said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report and chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. “Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common.”

The report also suggests that more than 90 percent of the warming over the past 50 years may have gone into the oceans.

Could wooden structure discovered at Stonehenge be a tomb?

An international team of archaeologists and scientists has found a previously undiscovered wooden structure just a little ways from the stone circle that the world knows as Stonehenge.

The team consists of scientists from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Austria.

Dr. Vince Gaffney, a professor from the University of Birmingham and the chair in Landscape Archaeology and Geomatics, led the international team of scientists on this archaeological dig in the southern part of England.

According to the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity (IAA), at the University of Birmingham, “Archaeologists from IAA have been involved in re-writing history, following the discovery of a major ceremonial monument less than one kilometre away from Stonehenge.”



The IAA article A new ‘henge’ discovered at Stonehenge, continues with “The new henge was discovered just two weeks into a three year international study that forms part of the multi-million Euro Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project. The aim of the project is to map 14 square kilometres of the Stonehenge landscape, to recreate visually the iconic prehistoric monument and its surroundings and transform how we understand the landscape.”

Dr. Gaffney adds, “It seemed to have a large-ditched feature, but it seemed to be made of individual scoops rather than just a straight trench. When we looked more closely we then realised there was a ring of pits about a metre wide going all the way around the edge.”

And, “When you see that as an archaeologist, you just look at it and think, ‘that’s a henge monument’ – it’s a timber equivalent to Stonehenge.”

The wooden structure was found when magnetic and radar scans were passed over an area about 900 meters (around 3,000 feet) from the site of Stonehenge.

The scans identified a cluster of deep pits, which were surrounded by a ring of smaller holes.

This newly discovered structure appears to be another circular area, similar to the one that is famously known by people all over the world.

According to the July 22, 2010 Huffington Post article Stonehenge Discovery: Wooden Structure Found Near Famous Monument, “The survey team which uncovered the structure said it could be the foundation for a circle of freestanding pieces of timber, a wooden version of Stonehenge.”

However, the article continues with a different perspective of the story: “… Tim Darvill, a professor of archaeology at Bournemouth University in southern England, expressed skepticism, saying he believed it was more likely a barrow, or prehistoric tomb.”

Stonehenge is located in the Salisbury Plain about 3.2 kilometers (2.0 miles) west from the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, and around 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) north of Salisbury, in the southern part of England, within the United Kingdom.

The earliest development of the prehistoric site, consisting of earthworks surrounded by a circular pattern of large standing stones, occurred somewhere in the period of 3100 to 2300 B.C., or around 5,000 years ago.

Further developments, including burial mounds, happened over the next two thousand or so years, and probably ending some time around 3,000 years ago. But, no one really knows for sure.

Please read the Huffington Post article, which was mentioned earlier, for more details on this exciting new discovery in the English county of Wiltshire.

The Huffington Post article also states, “The timber henge – a name given to prehistoric monuments surrounded by a circular ditch – would have been constructed and modified at the same time as its more famous relative, and probably had some allied ceremonial or religious function….”

And, “Exactly what kind of ceremonies those were is unclear. The new henge joins a growing complex of tombs and mysterious Neolithic structures found across the area.”

Also read the July 23, 2010 Cosmos article “Stunning new discovery rivals Stonehenge” for more information on the story.