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Dark Energy Changes the Universe

Dark energy has the cosmoslogists scratching their heads. Observations taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and future space telescopes will be needed in order to determine the properties of dark energy, which makes up about 70 percent of the universe. Probing dark energy, the energy in empty space causing the expanding universe to accelerate, ...

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DarkEnergyChangestheUniverse
Physics

Many Happy Returns!

The boomerang is a bent or angular throwing club with the characteristics of a multi-winged airfoil. When properly launched, the boomerang returns to the thrower. Although the boomerang is often ... Continue reading

ManyHappyReturns
Astronomy

The Minor Planets

Asteroids are rocky fragments left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Most of these fragments of ancient space rubble - sometimes referred to by scientists as ... Continue reading

MinorPlanets
Science

NASA's First Historic Challenge

In a time of uncertainty at home and abroad, an American president proposes bold new steps in the exploration of space. He calls for 'longer strides' which 'may hold the key to our future here on ... Continue reading

NASAsFirstHistoricChallenge
Geology

The Hole Scoop on Ozone

Ozone is a molecule containing three oxygen atoms. It is blue in color and has a strong odor. Normal oxygen, which we breathe, has two oxygen atoms and is colorless and odorless. Ozone is much less ... Continue reading

OzoneHole

Ultraviolet Light

UltravioletLightUltraviolet light is a form of radiation which is not visible to the human eye. It's in an invisible part of the 'electromagnetic spectrum'. Radiated energy, or radiation, is given off by many objects: a light bulb, a crackling fire, and stars are some examples of objects which emit radiation. The type of radiation being emitted depends on the temperature of the object. A coal glowing red in a barbecue is cooler than our Sun, which appears yellow, which is cooler still than some stars which appear bright white.

If a prism is used to break-up the radiated light from an object into its component colors, the 'visible light' which our eyes can see makes up only a small part of the total spectrum. Visible light runs from the familiar blue to green to yellow to orange to red. Red light is the least energetic of the colors of visible light, and blue is the most energetic. Beyond the red end of the visible part of the spectrum lies the infrared and radio radiation. Infrared 'light' is familiar to us as heat, while radio waves are used for TV and radio broadcasts.

Beyond the blue end of the visible spectrum lies ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma-rays. All of the X-rays, gamma-rays and ultraviolet light emitted by stars are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. That is why we need to send our telescopes into space (such as Astro-2 !) in order to measure the ultraviolet light from stars and galaxies. Many scientists are interested in studying the invisible universe of ultraviolet light, since the hottest and most active objects in the universe give off large amounts of ultraviolet energy.