“Math Is Language Like English, Just Less Commonly Spoken”

Superfluidity consists of an anomalous liquid state of quantum nature which is under a very low temperature behaving as if it had no viscosity and exhibiting an abnormally high heat transfer. This phenomenon was observed for the first time in liquid helium and has applications not only in theories about liquid helium but also in astrophysics and theories of quantum gravitation.

Helium only ends boiling at 2.2 K and is when it becomes helium-II (superfluid helium), getting a thermal conductivity increased by a million times, in addition to becoming a superconductor. Its viscosity tends to zero, hence, if the liquid were placed in a cubic container it would spread all over the surface. Thus, the liquid can flow upwards, up the walls of the container. If the viscosity is zero, the flexibility of the material is non-existent and the propagation of waves on the material occurs under infinite velocity.

Because it is a noble gas, helium exhibits little intermolecular interaction. The interactions that it presents are the interactions of Van der Waals. As the relative intensity of these forces is small, and the mass of the two isotopes of helium is small, the quantum effects, usually disguised under the thermal agitation, begin to appear, leaving the liquid in a state in which the particles behave jointly, under effect of a single wave function. In the two liquids in which cases of superfluidity are known, that is, in isotopes 3 and 4 of helium, the first is composed of fermions whereas the second is composed of bosons. In both cases, the explanation requires the existence of bosons. In the case of helium-3, the fermions group in pairs, similar to what happens in the superconductivity with the Cooper pairs, to form bosons.

Helium’s liquidity at low temperatures allows it to carry out a transformation called Bose–Einstein condensation, in which individual particles overlap until they behave like one big particle.

Superfluid in astrophysics

The idea of superfluids existed within neutron stars was proposed by Russian physicist Arkady Migdal  in 1959. Making an analogy with Cooper pairs that form within superconductors, it is expected that protons and neutrons in the nucleus of a star of neutrons with sufficient high pressure and low temperature behave in a similar way forming pairs of Cooper and generate the phenomena of superfluidity and superconductivity.

The existence of this phenomenon was proven by NASA  in 2011 when analyzing the neutron star left by supernova Cassiopeia A.

sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4 animation: 1 & 2

The Opportunity to Rove on Mars! 🔴

Today, we’re expressing gratitude for the opportunity to rove on Mars (#ThanksOppy) as we mark the completion of a successful mission that exceeded our expectations.  

Our Opportunity Rover’s last communication with Earth was received on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm blanketed the solar-powered rover’s location on the western rim of Perseverance Valley, eventually blocking out so much sunlight that the rover could no longer charge its batteries. Although the skies over Perseverance cleared, the rover did not respond to a final communication attempt on Feb. 12, 2019.

As the rover’s mission comes to an end, here are a few things to know about its opportunity to explore the Red Planet.

90 days turned into 15 years!

Opportunity launched on July 7, 2003 and landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 for a planned mission of 90 Martian days, which is equivalent to 92.4 Earth days. While we did not expect the golf-cart-sized rover to survive through a Martian winter, Opportunity defied all odds as a 90-day mission turned into 15 years!

The Opportunity caught its own silhouette in this late-afternoon image taken in March 2014 by the rover’s rear hazard avoidance camera. This camera is mounted low on the rover and has a wide-angle lens.

Opportunity Set  Out-Of-This-World Records

Opportunity’s achievements, including confirmation water once flowed on Mars. Opportunity was, by far, the longest-lasting lander on Mars. Besides endurance, the six-wheeled rover set a roaming record of 28 miles.

This chart illustrates comparisons among the distances driven by various wheeled vehicles on the surface of Earth’s moon and Mars. Opportunity holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) of driving on Mars.

It’s Just Like Having a Geologist on Mars

Opportunity was created to be the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking from place to place on the Red Planet. Its mast-mounted cameras are 5 feet high and provided 360-degree two-eyed, human-like views of the terrain. The robotic arm moved like a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest. The mechanical “hand” of the arm holds a microscopic camera that served the same purpose as a geologist’s handheld magnifying lens.

There’s Lots to See on Mars

After an airbag-protected landing craft settled onto the Red Planet’s surface and opened, Opportunity rolled out to take panoramic images. These images gave scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets that tell part of the story of water in Mars’ past. Since landing in 2004, Opportunity has captured more than 200,000 images. Take a look in this photo gallery.

From its perch high on a ridge, the Opportunity rover recorded this image on March 31, 2016 of a Martian dust devil twisting through the valley below. The view looks back at the rover’s tracks leading up the north-facing slope of “Knudsen Ridge,” which forms part of the southern edge of “Marathon Valley

There Was Once Water on Mars?!

Among the mission’s scientific goals was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils for clues to past water activity on Mars. In its time on the Red Planet, Opportunity discovered small spheres of the mineral hematite, which typically forms in water. In addition to these spheres that a scientist nicknamed “blueberries,” the rover also found signs of liquid water flowing across the surface in the past: brightly colored veins of the mineral gypsum in rocks, for instance, which indicated water flowing through underground fractures.

The small spheres on the Martian surface in this close-up image are near Fram Crater, visited by the Opportunity rover in April 2004.

For more about Opportunity’s adventures and discoveries, see: https://go.nasa.gov/ThanksOppy.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Hubble’s Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot 

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, OPAL Program, STScI; Processing: Karol Masztalerz

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I’ve found it!), but ‘That’s funny…’”

— Isaac Asimov | Author - I, Robot | Professor - Biochemistry

Venus, Jupiter and Mars at Dawn - Oct 22, 2015

Image credit: Joseph Brimacombe

Our planet seen from Saturn, captured by the Cassini spacecraft

Image credit: NASA 

Polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs, also known as nacreous clouds, are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 meters (49,000–82,000 ft). They are best observed during civil twilight when the sun is between 1 and 6 degrees below the horizon as well as in winter and in more northerly latitudes. They are implicated in the formation of ozone holes. The effects on ozone depletion arise because they support chemical reactions that produce active chlorine which catalyzes ozone destruction, and also because they remove gaseous nitric acid, perturbing nitrogen and chlorine cycles in a way which increases ozone destruction.

source / images: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

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