Recalling X-rays may bring back memories of fractures or routine dental examinations. However, this highly intense light has the ability to reveal more than just our skeletal structure. It is also employed to investigate the intricate realm of molecules, including real-time analysis of biochemical reactions. However, a significant challenge arises as scientists have yet to examine a solitary atom using X-rays. Up until this point,.

Scientists have successfully characterized a single atom using X-rays. They were able to distinguish the type of atoms they observed, as there were two different ones. Additionally, they successfully studied the chemical behavior exhibited by these atoms.

Scanning probe microscopes are able to capture images of atoms, but it’s impossible to determine their composition without the use of X-rays. With our advanced technology, we have the ability to precisely identify the specific type of an individual atom and analyze its chemical state simultaneously,” stated Professor Saw Wai Hla, a senior author from the University of Ohio and the Argonne National Laboratory.

Once we achieve that, we can track the materials all the way down to the smallest possible unit of just one atom. This will have a significant impact on the environmental and medical sciences and potentially lead to groundbreaking discoveries that could greatly benefit humanity. This discovery has the potential to revolutionize the world.

Through careful analysis, the study successfully monitored the movement of an iron atom and a terbium atom, which belong to the group of rare-earth metals. Both of them were placed within their respective molecular hosts. An ordinary X-ray detector was enhanced with an additional, unique one. This particular one featured a specialized, sharp metal tip that needed to be positioned in close proximity to the sample in order to gather the X-ray-excited electrons. By analyzing the measurements obtained from the tip, the team was able to determine the composition of the substance, and that’s not the end of it.

“We have also been able to detect the chemical states of individual atoms,” Hla explained. When you look at the chemical states of an iron atom and a terbium atom in their molecular hosts, it is clear that the terbium atom stays alone and its chemical state does not change because it is a rare-earth metal. On the other hand, the iron atom exhibits strong interactions with its surrounding environment.

The signal observed by the detector has been likened to fingerprints. Researchers can gain a comprehensive understanding of a sample’s composition and explore its physical and chemical properties. This has the potential to greatly enhance the performance and application of a wide range of materials, both commonly used and more obscure ones.

“The technique employed and the concept demonstrated in this study have made significant advancements in the field of X-ray science and nanoscale studies,” stated Tolulope Michael Ajayi, the first author of the paper and conducting this research as part of his PhD thesis. Furthermore, the utilization of X-rays for the detection and analysis of individual atoms has the potential to bring about significant advancements in research and pave the way for innovative technologies in fields like quantum information and the identification of trace elements in environmental and medical studies, among others. This accomplishment also paves the way for cutting-edge instrumentation in the field of materials science.

The study has been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

A previous iteration of this article was published in May 2023.

Orbex, a small launch company based in the UK, got more money from backers, including Scotland’s national bank. The company is now getting ready for its first orbital launch, but the date for that mission has not yet been set.

With its start in 2015, Orbex is one of only a few companies in Europe racing to make the next generation of launch vehicles. The retirement of the Ariane 5 and big delays to the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets have left a huge gap that these companies are trying to fill. Without these vehicles, there is almost no native launch capacity coming out of Europe.

But Orbex also has a chance because of his absence. The company is working on what is sometimes called a “microlauncher.” It is a two-stage vehicle called Prime that is only 19 meters tall and can take up to 180 kilograms of payload. Rocket Lab’s Electron is the most similar. It’s only a meter shorter, but it can take up to 300 kilograms.

The fact that Orbex is small is not a problem for the company. In fact, Orbex CEO Philip Chambers told TechCrunch via email that the company is seeing “positive market conditions” for its product.

“There is a pent-up demand for sovereign launch capabilities,” he said. “We are seeing an exponential growth of satellites being launched into LEO, and demand for launch is far exceeding supply. At the moment, it’s not possible to launch a single kilogram from Europe.” “We will let European customers choose how to launch their own payloads and let them launch European payloads from European soil.”

Prime will take off from a new spaceport being built with money from the UK’s national space agency in Sutherland, which is in northern Scotland. The end goal is to use a patented recovery technique that the company calls REFLIGHT. This is an interstage device that sits between the rocket stages. When the booster comes off, four “petals” will unfold and, along with a parachute, create enough drag for a soft landing in the ocean.

It’s possible that a bigger car will be made in the future, but Chambers made it clear that Prime was the company’s top goal. He did say, though, that many of the rocket’s main technologies could be used with bigger packages.

Considering the laws of physics, it would be logical for Orbex to explore the option of using larger vehicles in order to compete on cost per kg.

The company is starting its Series D round with £16.7 million ($20.7 million) in new funding, including investments from Octopus Ventures, BGF, Heartcore, EIFO, and other contributors. Following the closure of a £40.4 million ($50 million) Series C in October 2022, Orbex has secured additional capital. Although a spokesperson has confirmed that the new funding will assist Orbex in accelerating the development of Prime, ensuring its readiness and scalability for the launch period, the specific launch window has not been announced yet.

Not long after one of the closest supernovae of the century was found, another one just a little farther away has shown up. Professional pictures of the star exploding have not been released yet, but amateur pictures are filling in the gaps. However, many of the amateurs live too far north to be able to take part.

Since the invention of the telescope, there haven’t been any supernova explosions in our galaxy, though there might be some that are dust-obscured. Adding 1987a to our local group of galaxies is the only one that astronomers have seen in their entire careers. That’s a shame, because these are some of the coolest and most useful astronomical events, and a galaxy the size of the Milky Way should have one about every hundred years.

That makes the next ring of galaxies beyond the local group even more important. This century, there have been five galaxies that are 22 million light-years away or less. This new one, SN 2024ggi, was seen for the first time on April 11 and may still be getting brighter.

Last year, small telescopes were able to see the most recent nearby supernova, 2023xf. As an added bonus, it was in the Pinwheel galaxy, which is always a popular place for amateur astronomers to look.

SN 2024ggi is in NGC 3621, which isn’t quite as impressive because we see it all the way along one edge. Even so, if you have a good enough telescope, it’s still a beautiful sight. NGC 3621 is 22 million light-years away, which is a million more than the Pinwheel. However, these numbers aren’t exactly accurate, so it’s possible that it’s a little closer. Both are going almost the opposite way. The pinwheel is so far to the north that it never sets in Europe or most of North America. While NGC 3621 is at 33 degrees south, it’s almost impossible to see from Britain and can only be seen for a short time from most of the US.

Magnitude is a measure of how bright a star is. Magnitudes 5 and below can be seen with the naked eye in dark skies, while magnitudes above 5 get fainter.

ATLAS, which stands for the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System, made the new find. ATLAS’ main job is to look for space rocks close by. With four telescopes on three continents, it now finds more supernovae than any other sky survey. When it was found, SN 2024ggi was about 19th magnitude, which means that backyard astronomers would need a very large telescope.

That’s not unusual; just this year, dozens of supernovae were recorded at 16th or 14th magnitude. However, because they were so far away, very few got brighter than that. At the same brightness, 2023ixf was seen, but it got brighter by more than a hundred times and reached its brightest point at 10.9. It has gone down to 12th magnitude after almost a year.

Many people say that 2024 g is brighter than a 12th magnitude star nearby, even though official records show that it is getting brighter to 14th magnitude. There would be a lot more people with the right tools to catch it if that’s the case.

Five supernovae have been seen in the Pinwheel galaxy since 1900 because it is so busy making new stars. This is the first supernova seen in NGC 3621.