Particle track images from LHC

Collisions involving two beams of particles have not yet begun at CERN's LHC, but until they do here are some images of beams colliding with the detectors and some simulation images...

ESA's Planck mission starts well

Planck, ESA's mission to study the early universe has started imaging the sky. Located in L2, it has produced it's first images of the CMB(Cosmic Microwave Background).

Planck will use sensitive radio receivers operating with an accuracy down to the microkelvin and operating at extremely low temperatures to collect and characterise CMB radiation. As well as attempting to gain more understanding of the early universe, it also hopes to shed light on the nature of the mysterious dark matter. The image above shows the milky way in the visible spectrum and the CMB as the false colour strip.

Magnetic monopoles have been detected in a magnet for the first time

Until now, magnetic monopoles were hypothetical particles proposed by physicists that carry a single magnetic pole, North or South. In 1931 Paul Dirac theorised that magnetic monopoles could exist at the end of tubes, called Dirac strings, that have a magnetic field.

Using a single crystal of Dysprosium Titanate, a ceramic of the titanate family, Jonathan Morris and Alan Tennant of the Helmholtz Centre Berlin produced such a string with the help of neutron scattering. This all happens at 0.6 to 2 Kelvin.

LHC

The LHC is planned to run at 3.5 TeV when it is restarted in November 2009. Energy will be bumped

up afterwards, assuming all goes well. All tests on its electrical connections show that no further repairs are needed for safe operation. Now we can look forward to the first collisions. Images will be posted as soon as they are released.

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