NGC 6752 contains a high number of “blue straggler” stars, some of which are visible in this image. These stars display characteristics of stars younger than their neighbors, despite models suggesting that most of the stars within globular clusters should have formed at approximately the same time. Their origin is therefore something of a mystery. Studies of NGC 6752 may shed light on this situation. It appears that a very high number — up to 38 percent — of the stars within its core region are binary systems. Collisions between stars in this turbulent area could produce the blue stragglers that are so prevalent.
Behold, one of the most ancient celestial clusters in the Universe
After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have confirmed that they reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years. The scientists returned 40 litres of water to the surface - water isolated from earthly life forms since before Man existed. The scientists will later remove the frozen sample for analysis in December when the next Antarctic summer comes. They have now left the site.
Lake Vostok: Russian scientists confirm triumph as drilling is successful in Antarctica
As you probably know, one of the big goals –- arguably the big goal — of the LHC is to find the elusive Higgs Boson. The two biggest experiments in the Large Hadron Collider, ATLAS and CMS, announced their data updates yesterday. Both ATLAS and CMS have found a signal with relatively high significance suggesting that the Higgs Boson is real and that it has a mass of roughly 135 times the mass of a proton (or, to you experts, approximately 125 GeV). This is a big deal because 1) The Higgs Boson is the last undetected particle in the Standard Model of physics, and 2) The Higgs field is what gives other particles their mass.
A rich deposit of gas and dust in the NGC 3324 region fuelled a burst of starbirth there several millions of years ago and led to the creation of several hefty and very hot stars that are prominent in the new picture. Stellar winds and intense radiation from these young stars have blown open a hollow in the surrounding gas and dust. This is most in evidence as the wall of material seen to the centre right of this image. The ultraviolet radiation from the hot young stars knocks electrons out of hydrogen atoms, which are then recaptured, leading to a characteristic crimson-coloured glow as the electrons cascade through the energy levels, showing the extent of the local diffuse gas. Other colours come from other elements, with the characteristic glow from doubly ionised oxygen making the central parts appear greenish-yellow. (via Who do you see in this massive silhouette in space?)
The striking features in this image are the big red emission regions Barnards Loop and the Lambda Orionis Nebula (around Orions “head”), both predominantly visible in the light of ionized hydrogen (H-alpha, 656nm). Barnards Loop is a remnant of one or maybe several Supernova explosions. This loop is, as known from radio-astronomy, much more extended than it can be seen here. Just the inner part of the material is ionized by high energetic radiation of the Orion OB1-Association. This are the blue, hot and massive stars of Orions “belt” and the surrounding. A completely different star color is shown by Beteigeuze (Alpha Orionis, left “shoulder”) with its intensive orange. The surface temperature is with 3500 K very low and so the maximum of the radiated energy spectrum is positioned in red.
Interactive scale of the universe! With information about things of all sizes.
Fucking click it. You know you want to. You might learn something.
File this under creepy as shit:
Sydney scientists want to create designer babies with the DNA of three parents to prevent children inheriting life-threatening diseases.
IVF specialists argue they could eradicate mitochondrial mutations - which can cause multi-organ failure and fatal heart, liver and muscle conditions - by removing defective genes and replacing them with healthy DNA from a donor.
The procedure, described by scientific opponents as “fraught with danger”, would ensure women with the severe genetic condition do not pass it on to their children.
}
