ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Scientists solve 40-year mystery over Jupiter's X-ray aurora

Posted: 09 Jul 2021 04:36 PM PDT

Researchers combined close-up observations of Jupiter's environment by NASA's satellite Juno, which is currently orbiting the planet, with simultaneous X-ray measurements from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory (which is in Earth's own orbit). The X-rays are part of Jupiter's aurora -- bursts of visible and invisible light that occur when charged particles interact with the planet's atmosphere. A similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights, but Jupiter's is much more powerful, releasing hundreds of gigawatts of energy, enough to briefly power all of human civilization.

Physicists take big step in race to quantum computing

Posted: 09 Jul 2021 07:41 AM PDT

A team of physicists has developed a special type of quantum computer known as a programmable quantum simulator capable of operating with 256 quantum bits, or 'qubits.'