This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.
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Hints of new particle rumored to fade, but data analysis continues
Particle physics fans are just going to have to wait.
Rumors swirling on the internet are casting doubt on hints of a new particle reported by scientists at the particle physics laboratory CERN in Geneva. But researchers say it’s still too soon to know whether the particle exists or not.
“Currently the data are still being recorded and analyzed and it is too early to conclude,” says Beate Heinemann of the University of California, Berkeley. “We hope to be able to present the new data in early August.” Heinemann is the deputy spokesperson of ATLAS, an experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. ATLAS scientists, along with those from a second LHC experiment, CMS, reported signs of the new particle in December (SN: 1/9/16, p. 7).
Physicists have rumored on Twitter and on blogs that evidence of the particle is disappearing with additional data — an outcome that would disappoint hordes of eager scientists.
After CMS and ATLAS researchers reported an unexpected bump in their data, physicists went into a frenzy (SN: 5/28/16, p. 11), posting hundreds of papers about the result online at arXiv.org.
But with the data they had in hand, physicists couldn’t tell if the signal was real, or just a random fluctuation that would vanish as quickly as it had appeared. Since May, the LHC has been colliding protons at a fever pitch (SN Online: 5/9/16).
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter's auroras on the poles of the gas giant. The observations were supported by measurements taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Juno will begin orbiting Jupiter on July 4. [Reply]
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter's auroras on the poles of the gas giant. The observations were supported by measurements taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Juno will begin orbiting Jupiter on July 4.
Oh my, God does provide some spectacular views for us all to see. [Reply]
So... Juno. Have you guys heard about this? I've been too busy to post about it, but man, the Juno project has been really exciting.
Here's the rundown:
Nasa sent a badass advanced probe named Juno, to survey Jupiter in ways we've never been able to before. There were some very advanced methods used that almost eclipse the awesomeness of the Mars landing.
First, take a moment to appreciate the humor in naming the probe "Juno." The God Jupiter had many mistresses, and many of Jupiter's moons are named after his mistresses. Jupiter was always trying to hide that fact. Juno was Jupiters wife, who constantly suspected him of cheating. So NASA sent basically sent Jupiter's wife to check up on him and his mistresses.
Anyway.. so NASA launched Juno back on August 5th, 2011. Here's the actual path Juno has taken in the 5 years since, taking advantage of both Earth's gravity for slingshotting off into space, and Jupiter's close pass to Earth this year:
Here's an actual photo taken on Juno's approach, showing Jupiter and several moons:
NASA's Juno spacecraft obtained this color view at a distance of 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from Jupiter, on June 21, 2016.
Here's the rundown of how it happened. The approach was very difficult to plan for:
Originally Posted by :
NASA's Juno mission, launched nearly five years ago, will soon reach its final destination: the most massive planet in our solar system, Jupiter. On the evening of July 4, at roughly 9 p.m. PDT (12 a.m. EDT, July 5), the spacecraft will complete a burn of its main engine, placing it in orbit around the king of planets.
During Juno's orbit-insertion phase, or JOI, the spacecraft will perform a series of steps in preparation for a main engine burn that will guide it into orbit. At 6:16 p.m. PDT (9:16 p.m. EDT), Juno will begin to turn slowly away from the sun and toward its orbit-insertion attitude. Then 72 minutes later, it will make a faster turn into the orbit-insertion attitude.
At 7:41 p.m. PDT (10:41 p.m. EDT), Juno switches to its low-gain antenna. Fine-tune adjustments are then made to the spacecraft's attitude. Twenty-two minutes before the main engine burn, at 7:56 p.m. PDT (10:56 p.m. EDT), the spacecraft spins up from 2 to 5 revolutions per minute (RPM) to help stabilize it for the orbit insertion burn.
At 8:18 p.m. PDT (11:18 p.m. EDT), Juno's 35-minute main-engine burn will begin. This will slow it enough to be captured by the giant planet’s gravity. The burn will impart a mean change in velocity of 1,212 mph (542 meters a second) on the spacecraft. It is performed in view of Earth, allowing its progress to be monitored by the mission teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, via signal reception by Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.
After the main engine burn, Juno will be in orbit around Jupiter. The spacecraft will spin down from 5 to 2 RPM, turn back toward the sun, and ultimately transmit telemetry via its high-gain antenna.
Juno starts its tour of Jupiter in a 53.5-day orbit. The spacecraft saves fuel by executing a burn that places it in a capture orbit with a 53.5-day orbit instead of going directly for the 14-day orbit that will occur during the mission's primary science collection period. The 14-day science orbit phase will begin after the final burn of the mission for Juno’s main engine on October 19.
