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| Cluster reveals Earth's bow shock is remarkably thin |
| A new study based on data from ESA's Cluster mission has revealed that the bow shock formed by the solar wind as it encounters Earth's magnetic field is remarkably thin: it measures only 17 kilometres across. Thin astrophysical shocks such as this are candidate sites for early phases of particle acceleration. The finding thus sheds new light on the much debated issue of particle injection in the context of cosmic ray acceleration. |
| Date: 16 Nov 2011 |
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| LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravitational waves |
| Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have far exceeded expectations, paving the way for a mission to detect one of the most elusive forces permeating through space - gravitational waves. |
| Date: 14 Nov 2011 |
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| Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation - Cosmic Vision Mission: MarcoPolo-R |
| This Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation (CISI) is open to the European science community for enabling assessment studies of the science instruments of the MarcoPolo-R mission. MarcoPolo-R, has been selected for assessment following the ESA Call for a Medium-size M3 mission opportunity in the Cosmic Vision (CV) 2015-2025 plan. The European science community is invited to propose dedicated studies on science instrumentation that would potentially be provided by the ESA Member States, should the mission be adopted. The Proposal submission deadline is 6 January 2012, at 14:00 CET. |
| Date: 14 Nov 2011 |
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| Hubble uncovers tiny galaxies bursting with starbirth in early Universe [heic1117] |
| Using its infrared vision to peer nine billion years back in time, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an extraordinary population of tiny, young galaxies that are brimming with star formation. |
| Date: 10 Nov 2011 |
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| Hubble directly observes the disc around a black hole [heic 1116] |
| A team of scientists has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe a quasar accretion disc - a brightly glowing disc of matter that is slowly being sucked into its galaxy's central black hole. Their study makes use of a novel technique that uses gravitational lensing to give an immense boost to the power of the telescope. The incredible precision of the method has allowed astronomers to directly measure the disc's size and plot the temperature across different parts of the disc. |
| Date: 04 Nov 2011 |
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