Technology image of the week: a docking ring for joining ESA’s ATV space truck to the International Space Station goes on show at ESA’s technical heart
The Case of the Missing Ceres Craters
Scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission have found that, surprisingly, Ceres lacks any truly large impact basins.
The Case of the Missing Ceres Craters
Scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission have found that, surprisingly, Ceres lacks any truly large impact basins.
CryoSat sets new standard for measuring sea levels

Trying to measure sea levels around rugged coastlines is not always an easy task. ESA’s CryoSat satellite is making a difference with its radar altimeter.
Kickstarter provides a way to save the Pluto Discovery Telescope
Help preserve the 13-inch telescope that Clyde Tombaugh used to find the dwarf planet Pluto.
The case of the missing large craters on Ceres
The dwarf planet Ceres has a lack of large craters where there should be many.
Philae prepares to take its eternal rest
ESA plans on shutting down communication attempts with the ill-fated comet lander.
Gravitational vortex detected around black hole
X-rays from iron tell the tale of swirling space-time.
Evidence of Strong Proton Shape Fluctuations from Incoherent Diffraction
Author(s): Heikki Mäntysaari and Björn Schenke
Improved models of gluon fluctuations within protons have been developed and applied to particle collision data, pointing to strong gluon fluctuations at high energies.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 052301] Published Mon Jul 25, 2016
Making for Mercury
Tales from the Materials and Electrical Component Lab: this video covers the selection of materials for ESA’s mission around the innermost planet
Meandering Moon feature
Space science image of the week: Hadley Rille could be an ancient channel that once carried lava across the Moon
This exoplanet system has tightly packed planets in ultra-precise orbits
A Florida Institute of Technology student helps uncover the strange behavior of the Kepler-80 system.
How a weird Mars rock may be solid proof of an ancient oxygen atmosphere
When researchers found a compound that shouldn’t have been there, it revealed a missing piece of Mars’ history.
Nagu virvatuluke
Paremalt, läbi metallist toru, tuleb infrapuna (ja seega silmale nähtamatu) laseri kiir. See kiir koondub väikeseks täpiks ja tekitab õhu molekulidest plasma. Plasma omakorda kiirgab valget, suunatud valgust. Foto: Zhijun Xu, Nankai Ülikool.
Measuring g using a rotating liquid mirror: enhancing laboratory learning
We describe a low-cost yet experimentally challenging method to measure the acceleration of gravity,
g , using a liquid in a rotating bowl and a laser pointer. The idea underpinning this novel method
is that the rotating liquid surface will form a pa…
Week In Images
Our week through the lens: 18-22 July 2016
Another dark matter search comes up empty
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment has found no traces of dark matter.
JAXA may remake its X-ray observatory Hitomi for a 2020 launch
The spacecraft tumbled out of control shortly after first light earlier this year.
Gamification: using elements of video games to improve engagement in an undergraduate physics class
Gamification has been extensively implemented and studied in corporate settings and has proven to be
more effective than traditional employee-training programs, however, few classroom studies of
gamification have been reported in the literature. Our …
Historical Records Miss a Fifth of Global Warming: NASA
A new NASA-led study finds that almost one-fifth of the global warming that has occurred in the past 150 years has been missed by historical records due to quirks in how global temperatures were recorded.
Historical Records Miss a Fifth of Global Warming: NASA
A new NASA-led study finds that almost one-fifth of the global warming that has occurred in the past 150 years has been missed by historical records due to quirks in how global temperatures were recorded.
NASA Mars Rover Can Choose Laser Targets on Its Own
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is using onboard software to select rocks to zap with its laser spectrometer and to autonomously point the instrument at the targets.
NASA Mars Rover Can Choose Laser Targets on Its Own
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is using onboard software to select rocks to zap with its laser spectrometer and to autonomously point the instrument at the targets.
ExoMars/TGO hangout

Join us on 26 July for a Google hangout with updates and Q&A with ESA experts and scientists focusing on the crucial milestones during the spacecraft’s seven-month cruise to the Red Planet
Return to the underwater Space Station

This year, NASA’s underwater training mission for astronauts promises to be longer and better than ever. Starting on 21 July, space agencies will test technologies and research international crew behaviour for long-duration missions using a permanent underwater base off the coast of Florida.
Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 22 July, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of Tonga’s Tongatapu island
Mars navigation

Operations image of the week: ESA is using quasars – some of the Universe’s most enigmatic objects – to perform ultraprecise navigation for ExoMars
Kepler hauls in 100 new planets in its phoenix-like new mission
The new haul includes four Earth-like planets in one solar system
Here’s your chance to see inside the Apollo 11 Command Module
The Smithsonian releases an interactive 3-D model of the home of the Apollo 11 astronauts.
Planetary scientists used a rare conjunction to hunt for habitability on two promising exoplanets
The TRAPPIST-1 system may have three habitable planets. Now we know a little more about two of them.
Shakedown test
Technology image of the week: shaker testing of a radiator panel to ensure hard-working telecommunication satellites keep their cool in space
The Moon still carries the scars from an ancient protoplanet impact
A larger-than-believed object carved a mark on the Imbrium Sculpture region.
What the man who first looked for microbes on Mars has to say about the Viking anniversary
Gilbert Levin directed one of the microbiology experiments. 40 years later, here’s what he has to say.
Dragon chase
The SpaceX Dragon CRS-9 cargo vessel seen chasing the International Space Station from Leiden, The Netherlands, just a few hours before this morning’s berthing.
Integral equations for the electromagnetic field in dielectrics
We study static the electric field and electromagnetic waves in dielectric media. In contrast to the
standard approach, we use, formulate and solve integral equations for the field. We discuss the case
of an electrostatic field of a point charge plac…
Facilitating conceptual change in students’ understanding of concepts related to pressure
The aim of this research was to explore the effects of three different types of methods of learning
physics (conceptual change-based, real life context-based and traditional learning) on high school
physics students in the 11th grade in terms of conc…
The biomechanics of solids and fluids: the physics of life
Biomechanics borrows and extends engineering techniques to study the mechanical properties of
organisms and their environments. Like physicists and engineers, biomechanics researchers tend to
specialize on either fluids or solids (but some do both). …
Applying classical geometry intuition to quantum spin
Using concepts of geometric orthogonality and linear independence, we logically deduce the form of
the Pauli spin matrices and the relationships between the three spatially orthogonal basis sets of
the spin-1/2 system. Rather than a mathematically ri…
Surveying college introductory physics students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving
Students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving in physics can greatly impact their actual
problem solving practices and also influence their motivation to learn and ultimately the
development of expertise. We developed and validated an attit…
X Marks the Spot for Milky Way Formation
A new understanding of our galaxy’s structure began in an unlikely way: on Twitter.
X Marks the Spot for Milky Way Formation
A new understanding of our galaxy’s structure began in an unlikely way: on Twitter.
Water Dielectric Effects in Planar Confinement
Author(s): Alexander Schlaich, Ernst W. Knapp, and Roland R. NetzMolecular dynamics simulations indicate that the dielectric constant of water may dramatically change when the liquid is confined between two surfaces.[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 048001] Publi…
Making for space
ESA’s new Advanced Manufacturing Lab will probe the application of 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing techniques for future space missions
Active tracking of astronaut rad-exposures targeted
Radiation is an invisible hazard of spaceflight, but a new monitoring system for ESA astronauts gives a realtime snapshot of their exposure. The results will guide researchers preparing for deep-space missions to come.
How astronomers used Twitter to understand our galaxy
A collaborative effort led to the discovery of an X-shaped bulge.
Here’s why we can’t just rocket nuclear waste into the sun
Orbital mechanics, ruining your dreams for 13.5 billion years.
The largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere returns its first image
South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope is still under construction, but ready to return valuable scientific information.
Here are NASA’s near-future plans for our solar system
Giant space telescopes, continued exploration of Mars, and an eye towards Jupiter’s moons mark an exciting roadmap for the agency’s future.
NASA Scientists to Discuss 2016 Climate Trends, Impacts
NASA climate experts will discuss recent trends in global temperatures and Arctic sea ice, plus research to better understand their impacts, on a July 19 media telecon.
NASA’s Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During Its K2 Mission
An international team of astronomers has discovered and confirmed a treasure trove of new worlds using NASA’s Kepler spacecraft on its K2 mission.
NASA Selects Five Mars Orbiter Concept Studies
NASA has selected five U.S. aerospace companies to conduct concept studies for a potential future Mars orbiter mission.
What lies beneath

ESA’s Venus Express reveals details on Venus’ surface by studying patterns of clouds in its thick atmosphere
Nameless and ancient

Space Science Image of the Week: Ancient areas of Mars are peppered with impact craters similar to this unnamed pit in Noachis Terra, viewed by ESA’s Mars Express
How Venus’ cold cloud layers can reveal the world below
Wind movements could provide subtle clues to what’s going on below.
Chilly summer for Sentinel-2B
While most of us may be looking forward to spending some time in the sunshine this summer, the Sentinel-2B satellite is being subjected to the extreme cold of space to make sure it is fit for life in orbit.
Comment on ‘From the pinhole camera to the shape of a lens: the camera-obscura reloaded’
In the article ‘From the pinhole camera to the shape of a lens: the camera-obscura reloaded’ ( Phys.
Educ . 50 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0031-9120/50/6/706] 706
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0031-9120/50/6/706] ), the authors show that a prism arra…
Modelling of a collision between two smartphones
In the predominant approach in physics textbooks, the collision between particles is treated as a
black box, where no physical quantity can be measured. This approach becomes even more evident in
experimental classes where collisions are the simplest…
NASA Sails Full-Speed Ahead in Solar System Exploration
With NASA’s Juno poised to study Jupiter’s origins, NASA continues to explore our solar system to help answer questions about our origins and future and whether we are alone.
NASA’s Next Mars Rover Progresses Toward 2020 Launch
After an extensive review process, NASA is ready to proceed with final design and construction of its next Mars rover, currently targeted to launch in summer of 2020 and arrive on Mars in February 2021.
Many planets ripe for life may be doomed by billions of years of violent collisions
Crashing planets means bad news for evolving life.
Detection of Zeptojoule Microwave Pulses Using Electrothermal Feedback in Proximity-Induced Josephson Junctions
Author(s): J. Govenius, R. E. Lake, K. Y. Tan, and M. Möttönen
A new technique detects as few as 200 microwave photons at a time by the heat they supply to an electrical circuit.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 030802] Published Fri Jul 15, 2016
Week In Images
Our week through the lens: 11-15 July 2016
Chandra witnesses the aftermath of a violent stellar merger
Although Gammy-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the universe, a new study shows that scientists may be missing a majority of these powerful cosmic detonations.
Bringing the magic of light to remote areas where resources are scarce: beautiful demonstrations of interference patterns using laser pens and fibres
The training of physics teachers in remote areas in the developing world requires dedicated trainers
(who typically are volunteers), as well as robust logistics. The latter must include the supply of
equipment for experiments in the classroom. This t…
Corrigendum: Dynamics of a sliding ladder leaning against a wall (2015 Phys. Educ . 50 329–34)
Description unavailable
Introducing electric fields
The clear introduction of basic concepts and definitions is crucial for teaching any topic in
physics. I have always found it difficult to teach fields. While searching for better explanations I
hit on an approach of reading foundational texts and el…
NASA to Discuss Next Mars Rover on Facebook Live
NASA will host a Facebook Live event Friday, July 15 at 10 a.m. PDT, about NASA’s next Mars rover, Mars 2020, which is moving forward with final design and construction.
Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 15 July, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of the Sundarbans, in Bangladesh
Tim returns to the UK
ESA astronaut Tim Peake seen arriving back in the UK for the first time after his six-month Principia mission
Astronomers mapped 1.2 million galaxies in a hunt for dark energy
Hundreds of astronomers have collaborated to make the largest three-dimensional map of galaxies on our universe.
New Horizons celebrates a year since it flew past Pluto
Once a small, dim point of light, we now know it’s a fascinating, active world.
Playing with a bulb lamp: RTL measurements and modelling
The electric, thermal and optical behaviour of an incandescent lamp was studied by a real time
laboratory (RTL) apparatus, using two voltage probes and a light probe. The software STELLA was used
to model the phenomena and to analyse the transient be…
A Laplace transform approach to the reflection and transmission of electrons at semi-infinite potential barriers
The logic of the Schrödinger equation may be understood most readily by a consideration of a very
important class of problems, i.e. those of the transmission and reflection of electrons through
semi-infinite potential barriers. In this paper I revis…
Europe’s workhorse Sentinel ready for action

Getting the bigger picture on the health of our planet drew another step closer today as Europe’s Sentinel-3A satellite was handed over to Eumetsat for operations.
NASA captures the Moon crossing the face of the Earth, for the second time
For the second time in a year, a NASA camera has documented the moon traversing across the Earth.
The first view of a water “snowline” in a protoplanetary disk
ALMA takes the first image of a water “snowline” around a star with a violent outburst.
This is the first image Juno has sent back since it began orbiting Jupiter
On July 4th, Juno entered orbit. Now the JunoCam is on, and here’s its first post-orbit picture of the jovian system.
Far-out Proba-3
Technology image of the week: ESA’s double-satellite Proba-3 will be going where no Proba minisatellite has gone before
Fluid dynamics in porous media with Sailfish
In this work we show the application of Sailfish to the study of fluid dynamics in porous media.
Sailfish is an open-source software based on the lattice-Boltzmann method. This application of
computational fluid dynamics is of particular interest to …
Low cost 3D-printing used in an undergraduate project: an integrating sphere for measurement of photoluminescence quantum yield
We report upon the exploitation of the latest 3D printing technologies to provide low-cost
instrumentation solutions, for use in an undergraduate level final-year project. The project
addresses prescient research issues in optoelectronics, which woul…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View
The JunoCam camera aboard NASA’s Juno mission is operational and sending down data after the spacecraft’s July 4 arrival at Jupiter.
Black Hole Makes Material Wobble Around It
The European Space Agency’s orbiting X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, has proved the existence of a “gravitational vortex” around a black hole.
CryoSat reveals recent Greenland ice loss

In the most detailed picture to date, information from ESA’s CryoSat satellite reveals how melting ice in Greenland has recently contributed twice as much to sea-level rise as the prior two decades.
A new look at the Orion Nebula nets a bevy of planetary-mass objects
Infrared images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) reveal unanticipated low-mass objects.
Some of the first supernovae may be looking a little blue
To find nebulae from the first supernovae, we need to look for blue lines.
Was Juno the fastest spacecraft ever? Only kind of.
It all has to do with the point of view of the observer, in a sense.
ESA commits to next stage of UK revolutionary rocket engine

The UK’s Farnborough airshow today saw ESA’s commitment to the next step in developing a revolutionary air-breathing rocket engine that could begin test firings in about four years.
Comet cliffs
Space Science Image of the Week: The steep cliffs of the Hathor region pictured in a stunning view of Rosetta’s comet
A new dwarf planet was found in a deep solar system sky survey
Orbiting beyond Neptune lies 2015 RR245, a newly discovered dwarf planet.
Ancient gusts of cosmic radiation could have affected Earth’s biology
Prehistoric supernovae explosions may have played a role in the development of Earth’s biosphere.
‘Frankenstein’ Galaxy Surprises Astronomers
About 250 million light-years away, there’s a neighborhood of our universe that astronomers had considered quiet and unremarkable.
Astronomers find a freak Frankenstein galaxy made of parts of other galaxies
The unassuming galaxy turns out to have a lot of parts taken from galaxies that came before.
Working with the nature of science in physics class: turning ‘ordinary’ classroom situations into nature of science learning situations
In the science education research field there is a large body of literature on the ‘nature of
science’ (NOS). NOS captures issues about what characterizes the research process as well as the
scientific knowledge. Here we, in line with a broad bod…
Using Tracker to prove the simple harmonic motion equation
Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is a common topic for many students to study. Using the free, though
versatile, motion tracking software; Tracker , we can extend the students experience and show that
the general equation for SHM does lead to the correct…
The Sky on Earth project: a synergy between formal and informal astronomy education
In this paper we present the Sky on Earth project funded in 2008 by the Italian Ministry of
Instruction, Research and University, inside its annual public outreach education program. The
project’s goal was to realise a stable and open-access astron…
An axiomatic approach to Maxwell’s equations
This paper suggests an axiomatic approach to Maxwell’s equations. The basis of this approach is a
theorem formulated for two sets of functions localized in space and time. If each set satisfies a
continuity equation then the theorem provides an int…
Erratum: Yet another encounter with the golden ratio: balancing laminar bodies on the edge (2016 Eur. J. Phys. 37 055001 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0143-0807/37/5/055001] )
Description unavailable
The Clifford algebra of physical space and Dirac theory
The claim found in many textbooks that the Dirac equation cannot be written solely in terms of Pauli
matrices is shown to not be completely true. It is only true as long as the term ##IMG##
[http://ej.iop.org/images/0143-0807/37/5/055407/ejpaa2c9bieq…
Electromagnetic potentials basis for energy density and power flux
In rounding out the education of students in advanced courses in applied electromagnetics it is
incumbent on us as mentors to raise issues that encourage appreciation of certain subtle aspects
that are often overlooked during first exposure to the fi…
Book Review – Networked Learning
Chris Jones book uniquely and thoroughly explores networked learning as a relational perspective between society, the individual learner, and most of the salient points in between. Everyone involved in higher education, should read and digest this book…
