Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

A fizzy ocean on Enceladus

For years researchers have been debating whether Enceladus, a tiny moon floating just outside Saturn's rings, is home to a vast underground ocean. Is it wet--or not? Now, new evidence is tipping the scales. Not only does Enceladus likely have an ocean, that ocean is probably fizzy like a soft drink and could be friendly to microbial life.

Fermi's Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula

Fermi's Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Crab Nebula, one of our best-known and most stable neighbors in the winter sky, is shocking scientists with a propensity for fireworks—gamma-ray flares set off by the most energetic particles ever traced to a specific astronomical object. The discovery, reported today by scientists working with two orbiting telescopes, is leading researchers to rethink their ideas of how cosmic particles are accelerated.

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most enduring mysteries in solar physics is why the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. Now scientists believe they have discovered a major source of hot gas that replenishes the corona: narrow jets of plasma, known as spicules, shooting up from just above the Sun's surface. The finding addresses a fundamental question in astrophysics: how energy moves from the Sun's interior to create its hot outer atmosphere.

Happy New Year MMXI

Wishing you all a starry, joyous, peaceful and very happy New Year MMXI!!!
With best wishes,
Aadil.