The Space Foundation

The Space Foundation has publicly released The Space Report: The Guide to Global Space Activity, was released in a series of briefings held today in Washington, D.C., and continuing this week in New York City.

Among its revelations: the space industry now tops $180 billion in global revenues, and a newly created index of space equities has outperformed both the S and P 500 and NASDAQ.

The Space Foundation
_______________________________________________________
Accelerating electrons & Cosmic Rays
_______________________________________________________


This extraordinarily deep Chandra image shows Cassiopeia A (Cas A, for short), the youngest supernova remnant in the Milky Way.

Credit: NASA/CXC/ UMass Amherst/M.D.Stage et al.
_______________________________________________________

For the first time, astronomers have mapped the rate of acceleration of cosmic ray electrons in a supernova remnant. The new map shows that the electrons are being accelerated at close to the theoretically maximum rate. This discovery provides compelling evidence that supernova remnants are key sites for energizing charged particles.

The map was created from an image of Cassiopeia A, a 325-year-old remnant produced by the explosive death of a massive star. The blue, wispy arcs in the image trace the expanding outer shock wave where the acceleration takes place. The other colors in the image show debris from the explosion that has been heated to millions of degrees.

As the total energy of the cosmic rays behind the shock wave increases, the magnetic field behind the shock is modified, along with the character of the shock wave itself. Researching the conditions in the shocks helps astronomers trace the changes of the supernova remnant with time, and ultimately better understand the original supernova explosion.
Chandra Discovers Relativistic Pinball Machine Science Daily 15th Nov 2006
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________