World's Smallest Nano-Laser Created

World's Smallest Semiconductor Laser Created

Physics graduate student Charlotte Sanders' research with professor Ken Shih helped develop the world's smallest nanolaser. She stands here with a molecular beam epitaxy machine that she designed and built in collaboration with the Department of Physics Machine Shop and with assistance from co-author Dr. Jisun Kim. The machine is used to create a smooth silver thin film critical to the function of the laser. (Credit: Alex Wang)

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) — Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with colleagues in Taiwan and China, have developed the world's smallest semiconductor laser, a breakthrough for emerging photonic technology with applications from computing to medicine.

The scientists report their efforts in this week's Science.

MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726142158.htm

Sources: University of Texas at Austin, American Association for the Advancement of Science, ScienceDaily

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First Light: Largest Gamma-Ray Telescope

Largest ever Cerenkov telescope sees first light

This telescope is dedicated to observing the most violent and extreme phenomena of the universe in high-energy gamma rays.

By Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany — Published: July 27, 2012

View of the full H.E.S.S. array with the four 12-meter telescopes and the new 28-meter H.E.S.S. II telescope Credit: H.E.S.S. Collaboration, Clementina Medina

On July 26, 2012, the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) II telescope started operation in Namibia. Dedicated to observing the most violent and extreme phenomena of the universe in high-energy gamma rays, H.E.S.S. II is the largest Cerenkov telescope ever built — the new portion has a 92-foot-diameter (28 meters) mirror. Together with the four smaller (12 meter) telescopes already in operation since 2004, the H.E.S.S. observatory will continue to define the forefront of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy and will allow deeper understanding of known high-energy cosmic sources such as supermassive black holes, pulsars and supernovae, and the search for new classes of high-energy objects.

MORE: http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2012/07/Largest%20ever%20Cerenkov%20telescope%20sees%20first%20light.aspx

Sources: Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany, Astronomy Magazine

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Most U.S. Flags on Moon Still Standing

Apollo Moon Landing Flags Still Standing, Photos Reveal

by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor

Date: 27 July 2012 Time: 05:03 PM ET

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images of each Apollo site taken at roughly the same orientation but with different sun angles to show the travel of shadows. Combined with knowledge of the Apollo site maps which show where the flag was erected relative to the Lander, long shadows cast by the flags at three sites - Apollo 12, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 - show that the these flags are still “flying”, held aloft by the poles. There is no indication of a flag shadow in this Apollo 11 image. CREDIT: NASA View full size image

An enduring question ever since the manned moon landings of the 1960s has been: Are the flags planted by the astronauts still standing?
Now, lunar scientists say the verdict is in from the latest photos of the moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC): Most do, in fact, still stand.
"From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11," LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson wrote in a blog post today (July 27). "Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct!"

MORE: `http://www.space.com/16798-american-flags-moon-apollo-photos.html

Source: Space.com

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NASA "Scotch Tape-Type" X-Ray Telescope in Future?

NASA X-Ray Mirror Idea Inspired by Scotch Tape (No, Really!)

by SPACE.com Staff

Date: 27 July 2012 Time: 05:13 PM ET

NASA scientist Maxim Markevitch is studying the feasibility of building a low-cost X-ray space telescope mirror from plastic tape and tightly rolling it like the Scotch tape in most homes and offices. The whiteboard drawing shows the shape of the X-ray mirror roll. CREDIT: NASA/D. McCallum View full size image

Scotch tape, that transparent, sticky hero of offices everywhere, could be a NASA superstar as well.
The rolled-up adhesive tape is the inspiration behind a novel idea for a completely new kind of X-ray mirror for big telescopes in space. The concept, dreamed up by NASA scientist Maxim Markevitch, is this: Instead of building an expensive telescope mirror to capture high-energy "hard" X-rays in space, why not create a mirror from tightly rolled plastic tape at a much lower cost?
"I remember looking at a roll of Scotch tape and thinking, 'Was it possible to use the same design for capturing hard X-rays?'" Markevitch explained in a NASA statement. "I talked with a few people, and to my surprise, they didn't see any principal reasons why it couldn't be done."
Markevitch and a team of other X-ray space optics experts at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have begun testing materials that could be used to build a rolled mirror sensitive enough to collect hard X-rays from deep space.

MORE: http://www.space.com/16799-nasa-x-ray-mirror-scotch-tape.html

Source: Space.com

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Citizen Scientists Help Classify Faint Galaxies

Citizen Science Sheds Light on Galaxy Evolution

 

Citizen scientists are helping astronomers understand how galaxies and their resident supermassive black holes grow.

In 2007 a simple online project invited the public to classify vast numbers of faint galaxies captured in beautiful panoramas by the Hubble Space Telescope. The trained human eye, astronomers judged, could still do a better job of assigning galaxies to their correct shape classifications than the best automated algorithms.

Five years later the Galaxy Zoo project is still going strong, but the classifications, still made by ordinary folks, have gotten more complex and ever more useful.
MORE: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Citizen-Science-Sheds-Light-on-Galaxy-Evolution-163852416.html

Source: Sky and Telescope Magazine - Posted by Monica Young, July 26, 2012

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