http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org) —Scientists will seek to gain answers to these questions with the launch of the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRIment (CIBER) on a Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket between 11 and 11:59 p.m. EDT, June 4 from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. http://phys.org/news288334503.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 05:55:22 EST news288334503 (Phys.org) —This year, astronomers around the world have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of X-ray astronomy. Few objects better illustrate the progress of the field in the past half-century than the supernova remnant known as SN 1006. http://phys.org/news285435636.html Space & Earth Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:40:51 EST news285435636 (Phys.org) —The supernova, designated SN UDS10Wil, belongs to a special class of exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae. These bright beacons are prized by astronomers because they can be used as a yardstick for measuring cosmic distances, thereby yielding clues to the nature of dark energy, the mysterious force accelerating the rate of expansion of the Universe. http://phys.org/news284293714.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:28:41 EST news284293714 (Phys.org) —A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory points to the origin of a famous supernova. This supernova, discovered in 1604 by Johannes Kepler, belongs to an important class of objects that are used to measure the rate of expansion of the Universe. http://phys.org/news282830952.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:09:49 EST news282830952 A team of astronomers including Carnegie's Ian Thompson have managed to improve the measurement of the distance to our nearest neighbor galaxy and, in the process, refine an astronomical calculation that helps measure the expansion of the universe. Their work is published March 7 by Nature. http://phys.org/news281795884.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:00:01 EST news281795884 For decades, the strange substance called dark matter has teased physicists, challenging conventional notions of the cosmos. http://phys.org/news280395798.html Physics Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:43:38 EST news280395798 (Phys.org)—Sussex physicists have taken a  small step towards fulfilling Einstein's dream of proving there is only one fundamental force in nature. http://phys.org/news279524358.html Physics Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:00:01 EST news279524358 (Phys.org)—A field that permeates the universe and gives rise to a new force, or "fifth force," between massive objects may be a candidate for dark energy and an explanation for why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. This field, called the symmetron field, is so named because it has a symmetry in regions of high density, while in regions of low density, such as a vacuum, the symmetry is broken and the field mediates the new force. http://phys.org/news278574377.html Physics Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:00:02 EST news278574377 (Phys.org)—An international team of physics researchers is looking to add credence to a theory that might help explain the nature of dark matter and dark energy – using magnetometers placed strategically around the globe. As they describe in their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the aim is to measure the energy in the walls of theoretic domains that control both dark matter and dark energy. http://phys.org/news277976924.html Physics Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:40:01 EST news277976924 (Phys.org)—Research by University of Arizona astronomy professor Rodger Thompson finds that a popular alternative to Albert Einstein's theory for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe does not fit newly obtained data on a fundamental constant, the proton to electron mass ratio. http://phys.org/news276969783.html Physics Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:03:09 EST news276969783 In 2004 the Supernova Cosmology Project based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used the Hubble Space Telescope to find a tantalizing supernova that appeared to be almost 10 billion light-years distant. But researchers had to wait years until a new camera was installed on the Hubble before they could confirm the spectrum and light curve of supernova SCP-0401—the supernova furthest back in time useful for precise measures of the expansion history of the universe. http://phys.org/news276958641.html Space & Earth Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:30:01 EST news276958641 (Phys.org)—Researchers from Canada, California, and Poland have devised a straightforward way to test an intriguing idea about the nature of dark energy and dark matter. A global array of atomic magnetometers – small laboratory devices that can sense minute changes in magnetic fields – could signal when Earth passes through fractures in space known as domain walls. These structures could be the answer to the universe's darkest mysteries. http://phys.org/news276761980.html Physics Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:19:51 EST news276761980 (Phys.org)—Alex Harvey, a physics professor at the City University of New York has uploaded a paper to the preprint server arXiv, in which he claims Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger were writing letters back and forth to one another in a way that indicated that that the two were on the precipice of discussing the possibility of the existence of dark energy. http://phys.org/news274432441.html Physics Tue, 11 Dec 2012 07:14:33 EST news274432441 Supercomputer simulations have revealed that a type of oddly dim, exploding star is probably a class of duds—one that could nonetheless throw new light on the mysterious nature of dark energy. http://phys.org/news272565880.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:45:01 EST news272565880 BOSS, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, is mapping a huge volume of space to measure the role of dark energy in the evolution of the universe. BOSS is the largest program of the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) and has just announced the first major result of a new mapping technique, based on the spectra of over 48,000 quasars with redshifts up to 3.5, meaning that light left these active galaxies up to 11.5 billion years in the past. http://phys.org/news271956524.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:00:01 EST news271956524 (Phys.org)—On November 9, 2012, ceremonies on the summit of Cerro Tololo, Chile will mark the dedication of the Dark Energy Camera and the beginning of the 50th anniversary celebration of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Speakers will include Drs. David Silva (NOAO Director), R. Christopher Smith (Director of AURA Observatories in Chile), Nicole van der Bliek (CTIO Director), Joshua Frieman (Director of the Dark Energy Survey), Timothy Abbott and Alistair Walker (CTIO), and Brenna Flaugher (Fermilab). http://phys.org/news271087737.html Space & Earth Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:09:03 EST news271087737 Scientists have great expectations for the newly operational Dark Energy Camera, which may significantly advance our understanding of the mysterious force expanding the Universe at an ever accelerating rate. Find out more about this highly anticipated new camera and what it is expected to reveal during live webcast from the Kavli Foundation. You'll be able to ask questions to Fermilab scientists Brenna Flaugher, project manager for the Dark Energy Camera, and Joshua Frieman, director of the Dark Energy Survey. Viewers may submit questions via Twitter using the #KavliAstro hashtag, or email to info@kavlifoundation.org. http://phys.org/news269249306.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:28:45 EST news269249306 (Phys.org)—Former President Bill Clinton recently expressed his support for interstellar travel at the 100 Year Spaceship Symposium, an international event advocating for human expansion into other star systems. Interstellar travel will depend upon extremely precise measurements of every factor involved in the mission. The knowledge of those factors may be improved by the solution a University of Missouri researcher found to a puzzle that has stumped astrophysicists for decades. http://phys.org/news269018335.html Physics Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:19:10 EST news269018335 (Phys.org)—Astronomers have constructed the largest-ever three-dimensional map of massive galaxies and distant black holes, which will help the investigation of the mysterious "dark matter" and "dark energy" that make up 96 percent of the universe. http://phys.org/news268473485.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:58:16 EST news268473485 (Phys.org)—Astronomers in Germany have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm to help them chart and explain the structure and dynamics of the universe around us with unprecedented accuracy. The team, led by Francisco Kitaura of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, report their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. http://phys.org/news267701392.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:30:03 EST news267701392 (Phys.org)—University of Michigan physicists built parts of a telescope camera that just captured its first image in a major survey designed to help scientists understand why the universe is expanding at an ever-faster rate. http://phys.org/news267429440.html Space & Earth Fri, 21 Sep 2012 06:57:26 EST news267429440 With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes as well as a cosmic magnification effect, a team of astronomers led by Wei Zheng of The Johns Hopkins University has spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever detected. http://phys.org/news267281708.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:55:23 EST news267281708 (Phys.org)—Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. That ancient starlight has now found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly-constructed Dark Energy Camera, the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created, has captured and recorded it for the first time. http://phys.org/news267096404.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:28:55 EST news267096404 The installation of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) onto the Subaru Telescope took place on August 16-17, 2012. The availability of this extraordinary new instrument marks the beginning of a new era in observational astronomy and is a testament to the fruits of international collaboration. The 3-ton, 3-meter (9 feet) high instrument mounted at prime focus contains 116 innovative, highly sensitive CCDs. HSC's 1.5 degree wide field of view (FOV) substantially increases the Subaru Telescope's FOV beyond that available with the present instrument (the Subaru Prime Focus Camera, Suprime-Cam) by seven times. http://phys.org/news266743055.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:17:58 EST news266743055 (Phys.org)—Dark energy, a mysterious substance thought to be speeding up the expansion of the Universe is really there, according to a team of astronomers at the University of Portsmouth and LMU University Munich. http://phys.org/news266647126.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Sep 2012 05:39:00 EST news266647126 The research group from the University of Tokyo and Keio University discovered that a Type Ia supernova occurs after its companion star evolves into a faint helium white dwarf in many cases, given the fact that the white dwarf is spinning in the progenitor system. http://phys.org/news265994573.html Space & Earth Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:23:05 EST news265994573 The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) has released the largest three-dimensional map of massive galaxies and distant black holes ever created. The new map pinpoints the locations and distances of over a million galaxies. It covers a total volume equivalent to that of a cube four billion light-years on a side. http://phys.org/news263656639.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:57:29 EST news263656639 (Phys.org) -- The galaxy NGC 4700 bears the signs of the vigorous birth of many new stars in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. http://phys.org/news262862347.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:19:15 EST news262862347 The first-ever mission dedicated to looking for dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities believed to explain the composition of the universe as we know it, will be launched in 2020, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news259399144.html Space & Earth Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:19:13 EST news259399144 The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, is celebrating its 25th birthday this week. It first turned its dish to the heavens this week in 1987, and now, a quarter of a century later, the JCMT continues to lead the world in submillimetre astronomy. http://phys.org/news254802677.html Space & Earth Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:33:41 EST news254802677