NASA sends coldest place in universe into space

Scientists will be able to create a temperature 100 million times colder than the depths of space to study the behaviour of atoms

A graphic of the Cold Atom Lab. Pic: NASA

The coldest place in the universe is on Earth, or was on Earth. NASA has just launched it into space.

NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is a chamber which cools a cloud of atoms known as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero - 100 million times colder than the depths of space.

CAL is a box the size of an ice-chest, designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and it uses lasers and magnets to ensure the atoms are cooled to within the limits of existence.

Getting matter this cold is of huge benefit to scientists because it reveals the effects of quantum mechanics, including superfluidity.

Keeping atoms this cold is not just about using refrigeration, though - it is a matter of eliminating all of the forces acting on (and thus affecting the temperature of) those atoms.

The gravity of Earth is causing NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory to warm up too much under the planet's enormous pull.

The experiments will be carried out on the International Space Station

"Studying these hyper-cold atoms could reshape our understanding of matter and the fundamental nature of gravity," said CAL Project Scientist Robert Thompson.

"The experiments we'll do with the Cold Atom Lab will give us insight into gravity and dark energy - some of the most pervasive forces in the universe."

On Earth, BECs are dragged down by the pull of gravity and can only be observed for a fraction of a second.

In the microgravity environment of the International Space Station, however, the freely evolving BECs can be observed for up to 10 seconds.

As superfluid, BECs seem to have zero viscosity, where their atoms move without friction as if they were all one solid substance.

Most of Mars’ atmosphere was lost to space: NASA

This low-angle self-portrait of Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called "Buckskin" on lower Mount Sharp. (Nasa FIle Photo)

Solar wind and radiation were responsible for stripping the Martian atmosphere, transforming Mars from a planet that could have supported life billions of years ago into a frigid desert world, new results from NASA have revealed.

“We’ve determined that most of the gas ever present in the Mars atmosphere has been lost to space,” said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), University of Colorado in Boulder.

The findings showcased that about 65% of the argon (a noble gas which is the third-most abundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere) that was ever in the atmosphere has been lost to space.

CO2 is of interest because it is the major constituent of Mars’ atmosphere and because it’s an efficient greenhouse gas that can retain heat and warm the planet.

“We determined that the majority of the planet’s CO2 was also lost to space by sputtering. There are other processes that can remove CO2, so this gives the minimum amount of CO2 that’s been lost to space, explained Jakosky.

Liquid water, essential for life, is not stable on Mars’ surface because the atmosphere is too cold and thin to support it.


However, evidence such as features resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water indicates the ancient Martian climate was much different - warm enough for water to flow on the surface for extended periods.

“This discovery is a significant step toward unraveling the mystery of Mars’ past environments,” added Elsayed Talaat, MAVEN programme scientist in a paper to be published in the journal Science.

There are many ways a planet can lose some of its atmosphere.

For example, chemical reactions can lock gas away in surface rocks, or an atmosphere can be eroded by radiation and a stellar wind from a planet’s parent star.

The new result reveals that solar wind and radiation were responsible for most of the atmospheric loss on Mars, and the depletion was enough to transform the Martian climate.

The team made its estimate using data from the Martian upper atmosphere, which was collected by MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS).

Algae can survive nearly a year and a half in outer space
The plants returned to Earth after 530 days outside the International Space Station.

Algae from the Arctic Circle are used to tough weather, and it turns out they're also able to survive the extreme conditions of outer space. Two specimens recently spent 16 months on the exterior of the International Space Station and became the first plants to make it through these conditions.


The algae, of the Sphaerocystis species, returned to Earth last June after 530 days on a panel outside the ISS, the Fraunhofer research organization announced last week. The specimens withstood conditions including intense ultraviolet radiation, temperatures ranging from -20°C to 47.2°C, and, of course, the vacuum of space.


That said, this all occurred in ideal conditions. "These algae had been desiccated [dehydrated] before they went into space, and during their time on the ISS they were kept dormant, with no growth, no development and almost no metabolism," René Demets of the European Space Agency toldNew Scientist. "But the experiment shows that some terrestrial organisms are robust enough to cope with months of exposure to open space conditions without a spacesuit."

Within days of returning, the algae began behaving normally again, but researchers have yet to examine potential damage to the algal DNA. As New Scientist notes, the survival of the algae adds credence to the "panspermia"theory, which suggests that comets and meteorites can bring life to sterile planets. It also provides insight into whether humans could transport plants to grow on other planets.

Eye candy from space: The most beautiful panoramas and photos of the universe around us

Spacewalkin’ in a winter wonderland

Credit: NASA.

Located within the Milky Way, about 5,500 light years from Earth, frosty-looking NGC 6357 is actually a “cluster of clusters” containing at least three clusters of young stars as well as the rest of the older, dimmer population of local stars. X-ray exposures from Chandra and ROSAT reveal hundreds of point sources, which are the young stars in NGC 6357, as well as diffuse X-ray emission from hot gas, supernovae, and even cavities like bubbles that have been blown by the radiation and material blowing away from the surfaces of massive stars. This composite image contains X-ray data from Chandra and ROSAT in purple, infrared data from Spitzer in orange, and visible-spectrum data from the UKIT’s SuperCosmos Sky Survey in blue.

Pismis 24-1

Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble).

This genuinely stunning and somehow very 80s tableau from the emission nebula NGC 6357, in Scorpius, depicts two different big names from the interstellar who’s who list. Pismis-1, the bright star in the cluster above, was once believed to be 200-300 solar masses, which would have been crazy huge. It’s been since revised down to “just” a hundred solar masses, which still means we can expect its life cycle to include a supernova — possibly a hypernova — and then a black hole. Below, there’s a bright young star blowing a stellar bubble inside the nebula. Its ultraviolet glow is part of what made it so hard for us to measure the mass of Pismis-1 and its fellows. Is it just me, or does it really look like this is painted on black velvet?


The spice must flow

Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA

It was not immediately clear to me that this was not from another planet. I thought it was from somewhere on the slopes of Mars, where the CO2 ice sublimates and makes water-like traces in the sand as it scoots down the dunes — but it is in fact from the Anti-Atlas mountain range bordering the Sahara in western Algeria. While it wasn’t an image of an exoplanet per se, we’re an exoplanet according to everywhere else in the Universe and this was taken from space by the Copernicus satellite, so here are some geological fractals for your viewing pleasure. The neat circular crater in the center is from an asteroid impact some 70 million years ago, which took place before the K-T boundary and while the dinosaurs were still quite alive

Mystic Mountain

Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI).

Splashy and sexy, the Mystic Mountain is actually one region of intense turbulence and high-energy stellar activity within the larger Carina Nebula. Pairs of opposing jets at the ends of these collapsing columns of gas are flung from accretion jets: hallmarks of stars being born. All that activity is eating the columns away from within, while it’s being burned away by other stars in its neighborhood. The denser, more opaque regions here have been resistant to the erosion. In this composite image, different colors correspond to the glow of different elements: oxygen in blue, hydrogen and nitrogen in green, and sulfur in red.
The Pinwheel Galaxy

Credit: European Space Agency & NASA

Messier 101 is found within Ursa Major, and it’s riddled with fun stuff. Supergiant star-forming regions litter the arms of this face-on spiral galaxy, of roughly equivalent size to the Milky Way but 23 million light years away. This composite image integrates data from the visible and infrared, and also used photographs from the ground-based Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).
Orion, the Hunter

The Horsehead Nebula, imaged in the visible spectrum, with an opaque cloud of dust silhouetted against a luminous cloud of gas. The bright but unrelated star in the lower left foreground is Zeta Orionis, the easternmost star in Orion's belt. Credit: T.A.Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)

Orion, the Hunter with his belt and sword, is a familiar presence in the night sky almost everywhere on the planet. It’s composed of very bright, faraway stars and nebulae, which means that long after apparent motion has distorted most of our other constellations beyond recognition, Orion will still shine as a beacon to people around the world. But not everywhere gets to see views like these. Observatories around the world worked together to make these composite images of the violently beautiful star nurseries in and near Orion, with data from many different parts of the EM spectrum. Looking at the sky in different spectra reveals very different portraits of the visible universe, including the deepest view of the Orion Nebula ever taken.

Hubble's sharpest-ever view of the Orion Nebula, composited from hundreds of images taken throughout the visible and infrared. This nebula covers the apparent angular size of the full moon. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

The reflection nebula Messier 78, in Orion. This nebula is illuminated by reflected light from two nearby stars, about 1400 light years from Earth.. Credit: ESO/Igor Chekalin

The Orion Nebula, imaged with multiple infrared exposures using the VLT in Chile. The full size image is >16000x12000px, more than 1GB, and tends to saturate your RAM, although it is glorious to behold (and pan and zoom through!). Credit: ESO/H. Drass et al.

The Horsehead Nebula, imaged in the visible spectrum, with an opaque cloud of dust silhouetted against a luminous cloud of gas. The bright but unrelated star in the lower left foreground is Zeta Orionis, the easternmost star in Orion's belt. Credit: T.A.Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42), captured and composited in ten-minute near-infrared exposures.
 The image covers a region of sky about one degree by 1.5 degrees. Credit: ESO

Stellar nursery in Centaurus

Credit: ESO

“Nursery” might be in the name, but these places are anything but peaceful or serene. Nebulae shine so brightly because their component matter has been so thoroughly irradiated that it’s excited to a higher energy level and gives off photons as it calms back down. Bombarded by radiation in the UV, X-ray and gamma bands, star nurseries are even hostile to themselves. This star nursery lies at the center of a nebula in Centaurus that’s wracked with explosions and radiation so intense that they’re actually eroding away the dark, backlit clouds of dust you can see here silhouetted against the glow. In the ESO’s own words, the clouds — called Thackeray globules — are sizzling away in the onslaught like “lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan.” They’ll probably be destroyed by their environment long before they can collapse to form new stars.


The Eagle Nebula

Credit: ESO

The Eagle Nebula spreads its wings here in the visible spectrum. Also visible near the heart of the nebula are the Pillars of Creation, themselves an iconic and much-photographed place in space.

The Medusa Nebula

Credit: ESO

The Medusa Cascade might be a figment of the Doctor Who universe, but we’ve a gorgeous Medusa of our own in the real world — the Medusa Nebula. As the Sun-like star at the core of this nebula died, it exploded and left behind these wisps and filaments of gas and dust. Stars like this one end their lives as white dwarf stars. At the end of its life span, our sun will become an object like this.

Bonus: Paranal is charging their laser

Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky

Full disclosure: this one is more like eye candy of the tech that makes the other eye candy. This laser on the Very Large Telescope excites atmospheric sodium, thought to be left over from ancient meteorites. (You might recognize in the laser beam the flat yellow color of a sodium street light.) It’s creating an “artificial star” at an altitude of 90 km, whose interference characteristics help cancel out interference from water vapor and atmospheric detritus. The whole process actually reduces optical noise and gives the telescope a view almost as clear as if there were no atmosphere at all. 15,000 feet up in the Atacama Desert, where there’s barely a visible atmosphere to begin with, the ESO radio telescopes can take advantage of some of the clearest skies on Earth.

'Roundest known space object' identified

Astronomers claim to have discovered the roundest object ever measured in nature.

Artwork: Kepler 11145123 (L) compared to the Sun

Kepler 11145123 is a distant, slowly rotating star that's more than twice the size of the Sun.

Researchers were able to show that the difference between its radius as measured to the equator and the radius measured to the poles was just 3km.

"This makes Kepler 11145123 the roundest natural object ever measured," said lead author Prof Laurent Gizon.

He added that it was "even more round than the Sun".

Prof Gizon, from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), and his colleagues used a technique called asteroseismology - the study of how stars pulsate, or oscillate.

Nasa's Kepler space telescope observed the star's oscillations continuously for more than four years.

The periodic expansions and contractions of Kepler 11145123 can be gleaned from fluctuations in its brightness. And from these data, astronomers were able to extract information about its shape.

Using the method, Prof Gizon and his colleagues discovered that the star rotated faster at the surface than in the core, contributing to an unexpected rounding of its form.

The difference of 3km, between the polar and equatorial radii, is tiny compared to the star's mean radius of 1.5 million km.

The authors say that this distortion is probably caused by factors other than rotation alone. They suggest that a weak magnetic field surrounds the star, making the star appear even more rounded.

The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

Space Scientists Launch Crowdfunding Campaign To Spot A 'Blue Dot' In Space

Space scientists and research organisations are on a mission to spot a blue dot in our nearest star system, which will indicate there might be life on other Earth-like planets.

Representational image/Reuters

Through “Project Blue: A Space Telescope to Photograph Another Earth” scientists and experts from University of Massachusetts Lowell and SETI Institute, among others, are appealing to the public to fund their search to find life in neighbouring star system Alpha Centauri A and B. With funds raised, they will build a telescope to observe planets.

Their goal is actually really simple (well in theory at least because a task like this can take years) to capture an image visible to the naked eye of orbiting planets. Spotting a “pale blue dot” could indicate the existence of oceans or even an atmosphere, which means the possibility of life.

The project plans to launch in 2020, only four years away so “we started this campaign,” they wrote on Kickstarter, “with the belief that together, people all over the world could push the boundaries of discovery in space, and possibly achieve one of the greatest milestones of human exploration”.

New Discovery Holds the Key to Possible Alien Life on Mars

Space News: New Discovery Holds the Key to Possible Alien Life on Mars

Alien life in Mars might have been possible in a recently discovered depression.
(Photo : NASA/Getty Images)

Scientists have recently discovered a strange depression on Mars that might finally answer the age-old question if there are extreterrestrial life or aliens on Mars.


Since ancient times, humanity has always been interested in what lies beyond the threshold of the planet's atmosphere. There have been troves of theories, scientific initiatives and researches dedicated to uncovering the truth surrounding the existence of alien life.

Mere days ago, RDMag published a report detailing the discovery of a peculiar depression on the surface of the red planet. The depression, which is located near the rim of the Hellas basin, seems to have all the requirements that could foster microbial life. According to Joseph Levy, research associate from the University of Texas and lead author of the study, the location is warm and chemical-rich enough to have been able to produce primitive forms of life.

"We were drawn to this site because it looked like it could host some of the key ingredients for habitability - water, heat and nutrients," explained Levy in a statement as reported by The Independent.



The team initially encountered the odd depression in 2009. However, it was not until earlier this year when scientists were able to analyze the location using stereoscopic images.

"These landforms caught our eye because they're weird looking. They're concentrically fractured so they look like a bulls-eye. That can be a very diagnostic pattern you see in Earth materials" explained Levy.

Nevertheless, Levy's research is not the only study that tackled the existence of alien life in Mars recently. According to Dr. Christian Schroder from Stirling University, life in Mars could only have been possible beneath the planet's dry surface.


"For life to exist in the areas we investigated, it would need to find pockets far beneath the surface, located away from the dryness and radiation present on the ground" explained Schroder as reported by The Independent.