upper

Venus’ extreme surface heat drives swirling winds in upper atmosphere, study finds

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The surface of Venus, as imaged by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/JPL) Scientists have shown how the swirling winds and searing heat on Venus work together in a revealing new study. The surface of Venus is hot enough to melt lead with temperatures averaging 872 degrees Fahrenheit (467 degrees Celsius). This extreme heat is … Read more

‘Ghost particle’ coming into focus: Scientists put upper limit on mass of neutrinos

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Every second, about 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body. These ghostly particles are fundamental to our understanding of the universe. But they’re extremely small — so small that scientists once thought they had no mass at all.  Neutrinos do indeed have mass, however, and physicists have now managed to put a new upper limit … Read more

Physicists Just Achieved a New Smallest Measurement of a Ghost Particle’s Mass

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Decaying isotopes of hydrogen have just given us the smallest measurement yet of the mass of a neutrino. By measuring the energy distribution of electrons released during the beta decay of tritium, physicists have determined that the upper limit for the mass of the electron antineutrino is just 0.8 electronvolts. That’s 1.6 × 10–36 kilograms … Read more

SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage breaks up in Earth’s atmosphere, 5 years after launch

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A SpaceX rocket’s upper stage appears to have broken up safely over Mexico, five years after sending a satellite into space. Local reports on Twitter indicated that a part of the Falcon 9 that sent the Echostar 23 mission aloft in March 2017 met its demise Saturday (Feb. 6) after falling into the Earth’s atmosphere. … Read more