Summary: Scientists in Scotland have successfully altered the speed of light. Incredible in my humble opinion. To do this, they used a mask to alter the shape of a photon. This slowed the light down. Then the photon was released back into free space and raced against a photon of unaltered shape. Amazingly, the altered particle remained at the lower speed.
At this initial stage it is nothing more than a curiosity but it could have implications for astronomy. While it would not make a difference in small distances such as between Earth and the moon, if photons mutate shape in nature then our distances to far off stars and galaxies may not be as accurate as previously assumed.
BBC News
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Astronomical Updates
Highest Quality image of Ceres:
Ceres, the 950-km wide dwarf planet has a new image that is clearer than ever before. The resolution beats that of Hubble's image of Ceres. The cool thing is the image quality can only improve as Dawn approaches.
BBC News
New Horizons setting it's sights on Pluto:
The New Horizons probe will be zooming by Pluto on July 14th of this year but before it reaches the planet, it must start taking images to calibrate it's instruments and check its trajectory. The first images, with Pluto only as a tiny speck, should be released this week. Researchers are hoping that this mission will reveal many surprises about Pluto including new moons and possible rings.
BBC News
Large Asteroid and it's Moon:
The asteroid 2004 BL 86 was seen with a moon as it passed relatively close to Earth. The asteroid itself is 325m wide and it's moon is 70m wide.
BBC News
Ceres, the 950-km wide dwarf planet has a new image that is clearer than ever before. The resolution beats that of Hubble's image of Ceres. The cool thing is the image quality can only improve as Dawn approaches.
BBC News
New Horizons setting it's sights on Pluto:
The New Horizons probe will be zooming by Pluto on July 14th of this year but before it reaches the planet, it must start taking images to calibrate it's instruments and check its trajectory. The first images, with Pluto only as a tiny speck, should be released this week. Researchers are hoping that this mission will reveal many surprises about Pluto including new moons and possible rings.
BBC News
Large Asteroid and it's Moon:
The asteroid 2004 BL 86 was seen with a moon as it passed relatively close to Earth. The asteroid itself is 325m wide and it's moon is 70m wide.
BBC News
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