Why Peter Higgs leaves a massive legacy in the field of physics

NeRD

On April 8, 2024, British theoretical physicist Peter Ware Higgs passed away at the age of 94. It was almost 12 years ago, on July 4, 2012, in a fairly inauspicious lecture hall located in Geneva, Switzerland, when Higgs became an iconic figure in modern science. That was the day it was announced that collisions between particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) facility — arguably the most ambitious and audacious science experiment ever — revealed the existence of the Higgs Boson. The discovery of the Higgs boson, named for…

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See Jupiter close to a crescent moon (Mars near Saturn, too) in the ‘View a Planet Day’ night sky

NeRD

In an unofficial sense, I would like to dub today (April 10) as “View a Planet Day.”  In the early morning hours will be two planets that will appear very close to each other and then later that same day, in the early evening sky we’ll have a chance to see Jupiter hovering near to a slender waxing crescent moon, making for a rather eye-catching sight. And there will be other celestial objects out there to see and find as well among the brightest planets in the night sky. Here…

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The Marshall Star for April 10, 2024

NeRD

19 Min Read The Marshall Star for April 10, 2024 NASA, Marshall Help Viewers Celebrate Total Solar Eclipse in Arkansas A group of Marshall and agency team members traveled to Russellville, Arkansas, to help viewers experience the April 8 total solar eclipse through the eyes of NASA. Science and communication experts from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Stennis Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, and NASA Headquarters provided educational outreach opportunities and participated in panel discussions in Russellville, which experienced an eclipse totality of 4 minutes, 12 seconds. Marshall Space Flight…

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What happened when the moon ‘turned itself inside out’ billions of years ago?

NeRD

Over 4.2 billion years ago, the moon turned itself inside out to create the lunar surface that has become familiar to humanity.  Most scientists would agree the moon was created around 4.5 billion years ago, when another massive body in the solar system smashed into Earth, flinging molten material into space that coalesced as our natural satellite. How the birth of the moon proceeded after this violent start, however, has been described as “more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel” by a team of scientists from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and…

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NASA, Japan Advance Space Cooperation, Sign Agreement for Lunar Rover

NeRD

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, and Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, hold signed copies of an historic agreement between the United States and Japan to advance sustainable human exploration of the Moon, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Under the agreement, Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon. NASA will provide the launch and delivery of the rover to the Moon as well as two Japanese…

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More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science

NeRD

2 Min Read More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science SunSketcher volunteers captured sequences of eclipse images, revealing the precise size and shape of the Sun and testing theories of gravity! Credits: Clinton Lewis from New Harmony, IN/Western Kentucky University Thank you for helping us out! Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse. Together, these volunteers submitted more than 60,000 vital pieces of eclipse data to NASA science projects. More than 30,000 volunteers with the SunSketcher project pointed their smartphones toward the Sun and recorded…

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Media Invited to NASA’s Student Launch Challenge in Alabama

NeRD

Hundreds of students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched amateur rockets near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, during the Agency’s 2023 Student Launch competition. Credit: NASA/Charles Beason NASA’s 2024 Student Launch challenge will bring students from colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and informal education groups to launch amateur rockets and payloads Saturday, April 13, starting at 8:30 a.m. CDT at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Live streaming will begin at 8:20 a.m. CDT on NASA Marshall…

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Satellite views of solar eclipse 2024: See the moon’s shadow race across North America (video, photos)

NeRD

Satellites saw the moon’s shadow from space on Monday (April 8). The 2024 total solar eclipse was visible in parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico on that day, thrilling millions of spectators across North America  — and from space, satellites could see the shadow of the moon falling across those regions in real-time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showcased the resulting photos, taken with the organization’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series. For example, the imager on the GOES-16 satellite tracked the moon’s shadow using its…

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NASA’s DC-8 Completes Final Mission, Set to Retire

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The DC-8 aircraft returned to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1, 2024, after completing its final mission supporting Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ). The aircraft and crew were welcomed back with a celebratory water salute by the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 Fire Department. NASA/Steve Freeman  After 37 years of successful airborne science missions, NASA’s DC-8 aircraft completed its final mission and returned to the agency’s Armstrong Flight…

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NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara to Discuss Space Station Mission

NeRD

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is pictured inside the cupola aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA After spending six-and-a-half-months aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will participate in a news conference at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, April 15, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Media interested in participating in person must contact the…

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