Particle surge casts light on dark matter: related news

Particle surge casts light on dark matter

SCIENTISTS may have detected dark matter - the mysterious substance thought to make up 85 per cent of the universe - for the first time.

Dark matter may shine with invisible 'dark light'

Mysterious dark matter could be shining with its own private kind of light. This "dark radiation" would be invisible to us, but could still have visible effects.

Dark Matter Discovered Near Solar System?

gpronger writes "The ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter) has potentially discovered the presence of dark matter close (only 3000 light-years) to our solar system. The system detected a large amount of high energy cosmic rays which match the theoretical signature of dark matter annihilating itself. The universe is believed to be composed of about 25% dark matter, but there has been little evidence of it. This discovery, if correct, would be the first." The paper was published in Nature, but it requires a subscription to see beyond the abstract.

A Chance to See Dark Matter

Most of the matter in the universe is the mysterious dark matter, which astronomers can detect through gravitational effects but cannot actually see. The visible matter, or baryonic matter, that we're familiar with seems to make up only about 5% of the known universe compared to the 25% of dark matter!

Are We Close to Finding Dark Matter?

Scientists say he search for the mysterious substance which makes up most of the Universe could soon be at an end. A massive computer simulation was used to show the evolution of a galaxy like the Milky Way, and analysts were able to "see" gamma-rays given off by dark matter. Dark matter is believed to account for 85 per cent of the Universe's mass but has remained invisible to telescopes since scientists inferred its existence from its gravitational effects more than 75 years ago. If the computations are correct, the findings could help NASA's Fermi Telescope to search for the dark matter and open a new chapter in our understanding of the Universe.

Space Dust Is Dark Matter

A small number of scientists defines space dust as the observable portion of dark matter. Space dust is comprised of small particles (about 0.1 mm) which reflect light on a very large scale. This is what can be seen of dark matter, not observable directly, but its hypothetical effects have been noticed.

Podcast: Questions Show - Light speed, Andromeda Galaxy, Dark Matter and Black Holes

Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: will reaching light speed destroy the Universe? When is Andromeda going to look really, really cool with the unaided eye? Why didn't dark matter all turn into black holes? And there's even more. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tackle it for a future show.

Underground Lab To Probe Ratio of Matter To Antimatter

Wired reports on the Enriched Xenon Observatory 200, a particle detector scientists hope will answer the question of why there is significantly more matter than antimatter in the universe. Quoting: "The new detector will try to fill in the picture, determining basic features of [neutrinos], like their mass and whether or not they, unlike almost all other particles, are their own antiparticles. That quirk is why some scientists believe neutrinos could be the mechanism for the creation of our matter-filled universe. Almost all other particles have an antiparticle twin that, if it comes into contact with the particle, immediately annihilates it. But if neutrinos are their own antiparticles they could conceivably be knocked onto matter's 'team,' thereby causing the cascading win for matter over antimatter that we know occurred.

Simulation points scientists to dark matter

This simulation shows the projected distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way. Myriad concentrations of dark matter are embedded within the galaxy's halo, and their dense centers emit energetic gamma rays from the annihilation of particles.

Stars that Eat Dark Matter Live Longer

A recent study indicates that there are stars in the proximity of the Milky Way's core that feed on dark matter, thus prolonging their lifespan with more than a billion years. Finding them would possibly help understanding what dark matter really is and how exactly it functions.

The Whereabouts of Dark Matter Revealed

According to a Reuters article, a recent vast-scale simulation of the creation and evolution of a Milky Way-type of galaxy has indicated some potential places in space where scientists should search for dark matter. Although the existence of the matter that forms a huge part of the universe has been known for a long time, and theoretically proved, all efforts to actually discover it turned out to be useless. However, in light of their research, experts may yet stand a chance.

Where will new Fermi telescope find dark matter?

More than a billion particles were included in a simulation of dark matter in a Milky Way-like galaxy. The annihilation of dark matter in a cloud-like halo around the galaxy should produce a diffuse glow of gamma rays that could be detected by NASA's new Fermi telescope (Simulation: Virgo Consortium)

Simulations Predict Where We Can Find Dark Matter

p1234 writes with this excerpt from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics: "Simulations by the Virgo team show how the Milky Way's halo grew through a series of violent collisions and mergers from millions of much smaller clumps that emerged from the Big Bang. ... If Fermi does detect the predicted emission from the Milky Way's smooth inner halo, then it may, if we are lucky, also see gamma-rays from small (and otherwise invisible) clumps of dark matter which happen to lie particularly close to the Sun. ... The largest simulation took 3.5 million processor hours to complete. Volker Springel was responsible for shepherding the calculation through the machine and said: 'At times I thought it would never finish.' Max Planck Director, Professor Simon White, remarked that 'These calculations finally allow us to see what the dark matter dis

Galaxy survey casts doubt on cold dark matter

The physical properties of most galaxies in the universe can be explained in terms of just a single parameter. That’s the controversial conclusion of a team of astronomers in the UK and US, who have studied some 200 galaxies using radio and optical telescopes. The team believes that their discovery could mean that cold dark matter — an invisible substance that some astrophysicists have invoked to explain the formation and motion of galaxies — does not exist. However, not all astrophysicists are convinced.

New Type of Particle May Have Been Found

An anonymous reader writes "The LHC is out of commission, but the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is still chugging along, and may have just discovered a new type of particle that would signal new physics. New Scientist reports that the Tevatron's CDF detector has found muons that seem to have been created outside of the beam pipe that confines the protons and anti-protons being smashed together. The standard model can't explain the muons, and some speculate that 'an unknown particle with a lifetime of about 20 picoseconds was produced in the collision, traveled about 1 centimeter, through the side of the beam pipe, and then decayed into muons.' The hypothetical particle even seems to have the right mass to account for one theory of dark matter.

Mysterious Dark Matter Might Actually Glow

The strange stuff makes up about 85 percent of the heft of the universe. It's invisible, but researchers know it's there because there is not enough regular matter -- stars and planets and gas and dust -- to hold galaxies and galaxy clusters together. Some other unseen material, dubbed dark matter, must be gluing things together.

Scientists closer to finding dark matter

Researchers may be closer to detecting dark matter, the mysterious matter that scientists believe makes up the majority of the observable universe.

7th-Grader Designs Three Dimensional Solar Cell

Hugh Pickens writes "12-year-old William Yuan's invention of a highly-efficient, three-dimensional nanotube solar cell for visible and ultraviolet light has won him an award and a $25,000 scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. 'Current solar cells are flat and can only absorb visible light'" Yuan said. 'I came up with an innovative solar cell that absorbs both visible and UV light. My project focused on finding the optimum solar cell to further increase the light absorption and efficiency and design a nanotube for light-electricity conversion efficiency.' Solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.

Canon Increases Resolution But Lowers Noise with EOS 50D: Tech Test

Typically, boosting the number of megapixels in an imaging sensor without increasing the actual size of the chip itself results in more image "noise" (that is, more of those ugly colored flecks that often pollute low-light images). This is because the millions of individual pixels have to be smaller in order to squeeze onto the sensor, meaning they have less surface area for absorbing light. The result is unwanted noise when shooting in low light at high light-sensitivity settings as the camera's processor struggles to brighten a dark image. Canon says it has fixed this problem with its new 15.1-megapixel EOS 50D digital SLR. The camera employs larger microlenses over each pixel to funnel in extra light, and also features an extra-powerful processor that Canon claims helps keep images crisp and clear.

Hubble Heritage Celebrates 10 Years

The landmark 10th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's Hubble Heritage Project is being celebrated with a 'landscape' image from the cosmos. Cutting across a nearby star-forming region, called NGC 3324, are the "hills and valleys" of gas and dust displayed in intricate detail. Set amid a backdrop of soft, glowing blue light are wispy tendrils of gas as well as dark trunks of dust that are light-years in height. NGC 3324 is located in the constellation Carina, about 7,200 light-years away from Earth. This image is a composite of data taken with two of Hubble's science instruments. Data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2006 isolated light emitted by hydrogen. More recent data, taken in 2008 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), isolated light emitted by sulfur and oxygen gas.

Fork Particle Visual FX SDK Complete for PC and Xbox 360 Live Arcade

Fork Particle Visual FX SDK Complete for PC and Xbox 360 Live Arcade Pleasanton, CA-based Fork Particle has launched its "Fork Particle Visual Effects SDK Complete" for PC and Xbox Live Arcade developers, a toolkit the company says helps developers implement advanced particle system special effects and reduce production time. The toolkit is also currently available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Photoshop Fundamentals: Create a Cast Light Effect

This realistic light effect casts the shadow of window blinds on a person in an ordinary photo. The effect provides more focus and impact to the photo’s subject by creating a light source illusion. In the initial step, you’ll prepare the image by first converting it to Lab Color mode, which enables you to flexibly adjust luminosity and color. In following steps, you’ll use Channels, create a displacement map image, use the Lasso and the Rectangular Marquee tools, plus the Gaussian Blur and Displace filters. In the last step, you’ll complete the cast light effect by changing color levels with the Color Balance Adjustment layer.

Anti-Matter Created By Laser At Livermore

zootropole alerts us to a press release issued today by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, announcing the production of 'billions of particles of anti-matter.' "Take a gold sample the size of the head of a push pin, shoot a laser through it, and suddenly more than 100 billion particles of anti-matter appear. The anti-matter, also known as positrons, shoots out of the target in a cone-shaped plasma 'jet.' This new ability to create a large number of positrons in a small laboratory opens the door to several fresh avenues of anti-matter research, including an understanding of the physics underlying various astrophysical phenomena such as black holes and gamma ray bursts." The press release doesn't characterize the laser used in this experiment, but it may have been this one.

Atari Sets PLAYSTATION(R)3 Ablaze This November With Alone in the Dark: Inferno

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One of this year's most innovative video games will get a blazing rework for its PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system debut this November as Atari ignites Alone in the Dark: Inferno. Development studio Eden Games has responded to the feedback of media and gamers and has turned up the heat to deliver an even more entertaining, immersive and action-packed blockbuster experience for PLAYSTATION 3 system. The hosts of sizzling gameplay enhancements, red-hot content and the hellish storyline have inspired the name Alone in the Dark: Inferno for the ultimate Alone in the Dark experience on PLAYSTATION 3 system. Alone in the Dark: Inferno stays true to the storyline of the previous versions in which gamers take on the role of paranormal investigator Edward Carnby and over the course of one apo

Dark matter, new planets could bring physics Nobel

(AP) -- Scientists who have pursued dark matter, hunted for undiscovered planets and advanced nanotechnology were being touted Monday as candidates for the 2008 Nobel Prize in physics.

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