Physics and Astronomy

Sensors that detect and count single photons, the smallest quantities of light, with 88 percent efficiency have been demonstrated by physicists at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). This record efficiency is an important step toward making reliable single photon detectors for use in practical quantum cryptography systems, the most secure method known for ensuring the privacy of a communications channel.

Described in the June issue of Physical Review A, Rapid Commun

New images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a large depression called Iani Chaos and the upper reaches of a large outflow channel called Ares Vallis.

To see images go to: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMIKO0DU8E_0.html

Image strips were taken in October 2004, during three orbits from a 350-kilometre altitude, with a

The Virgo consortium, an international group of astrophysicists from the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada and the USA has today (June 2nd) released first results from the largest and most realistic simulation ever of the growth of cosmic structure and the formation of galaxies and quasars. In a paper published in Nature, the Virgo Consortium shows how comparing such simulated data to large observational surveys can reveal the physical processes underlying the build-up of real galaxies and black hol

The ESTEC Test Centre is one of the four major test centres in Europe for the verification of spacecraft at system level, the others being Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft (IABG), INTESPACE (ITS), and the Alcatel Test Centre in Cannes. In general there is good visibility for these large test centres, and also for the Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL) centre of excellence for optics testing.

However, visibility for smaller facility providers is less evident. In fact there have

An unmanned Foton-M spacecraft carrying a mainly European payload was put into orbit by a Russian Soyuz-U launcher today at 14:00 Central European Time (18:00 local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Following the launch and nine minutes of propelled flight, the Foton-M2 spacecraft is now in low-earth orbit where it will remain for 16 days before its reentry module lands close to the Russian/Kazakh border.

During the mission European experiments and equipment

Satellite that could help solve mystery to be deactivated in September

Observations of a cosmic explosion detected on Feb. 15 by two NASA satellites have thrown into doubt one popular explanation for such explosions and have also seriously weakened the argument for yet another, according to University of Chicago astrophysicist Don Lamb. But solving the mystery any time soon may be forestalled by plans to shut down one of the satellites in September.

The explosion in que