Portal:Physics/2012 Selected pictures

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This is an archive of the entries that have appeared or will appear on the Wikipedia Physics Portal.

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January

A laser beam towards the Milky Way centre. European Southern Observatory (ESO) Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory.


(

astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope
(VLT).

Yepun’s laser beam crosses the majestic southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. More background information can be found at "A Laser Beam Towards the Milky Way's Centre." from the European Southern Observatory web site.


February

The

arcminutes
across, two parts in a million of the whole sky

  • The Hubble Deep Field
    The Hubble Deep Field
  • Details from the Hubble Deep Field illustrate the wide variety of galaxy shapes, sizes and colours found in the distant universe.
    Details from the Hubble Deep Field illustrate the wide variety of galaxy shapes, sizes and colours found in the distant universe.


March

The

arcminutes
across, two parts in a million of the whole sky

The Hubble Deep Field


Details from the Hubble Deep Field illustrate the wide variety of galaxy shapes, sizes and colours found in the distant universe.


April

The Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition (2nd edition, 2005)

undergraduate students at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech) in 1961–63.

It includes lectures on

quantum physics
, and the relation of physics to other sciences. Six readily accessible chapters were later compiled into a book entitled Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, and six more in Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time.


May

Animation of the act of unrolling a circle's circumference, illustrating the ratio π. This file has annotations. Move the mouse pointer over the image to see them


June

Date 1535: "Representations to the Teaching of Optics" edited and printed by Johannes Petreius. This was originally printed on paper. See here for more information.


July

Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a

Keplerian Telescope), and mentioned the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary Galileo Galilei
.


August

Discovery of Pluto's
fifth moon:

S/2011 (134340) 1
(or "P4"), Pluto's fourth discovered satellite. The moon is estimated to have a diameter of between 10 and 25 kilometers (6 and 16 mi), and orbital period of 20.2 ± 0.1 days.



September

Difference between classical and modern physics

The basic domains of physics

While physics aims to discover universal laws, its theories lie in explicit domains of applicability. Loosely speaking, the laws of

absolute time and space with spacetime and allowed an accurate description of systems whose components have speeds approaching the speed of light. Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and others introduced quantum mechanics, a probabilistic notion of particles and interactions that allowed an accurate description of atomic and subatomic scales. Later, quantum field theory unified quantum mechanics and special relativity. General relativity allowed for a dynamical, curved spacetime, with which highly massive systems and the large-scale structure of the universe can be well-described. General relativity has not yet been unified with the other fundamental descriptions; several candidate theories of quantum gravity
are being developed.


October

Magnetosphere of Jupiter

Earth's magnetosphere, Jupiter's is stronger by an order of magnitude, while its magnetic moment is roughly 18,000 times larger. The existence of Jupiter's magnetic field was first inferred from observations of radio emissions at the end of the 1950s and was directly observed by the Pioneer 10
spacecraft in 1973.
electrical circuit
is closed through it.
ultraviolet radiation, producing ions of sulfur and oxygen
: S+, O+, S2+ and O2+. These ions escape from the satellite's atmosphere and form the Io plasma torusIo's interaction with Jupiter's magnetosphere. As a result of several processes, the plasma slowly leaks away from Jupiter
Bow shock


November

Difference between classical and modern physics

The basic domains of physics

While physics aims to discover universal laws, its theories lie in explicit domains of applicability. Loosely speaking, the laws of

absolute time and space with spacetime and allowed an accurate description of systems whose components have speeds approaching the speed of light. Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and others introduced quantum mechanics, a probabilistic notion of particles and interactions that allowed an accurate description of atomic and subatomic scales. Later, quantum field theory unified quantum mechanics and special relativity. General relativity allowed for a dynamical, curved spacetime, with which highly massive systems and the large-scale structure of the universe can be well-described. General relativity has not yet been unified with the other fundamental descriptions; several candidate theories of quantum gravity
are being developed.


December

James Clerk Maxwell

electromagnetic theory. This unites all previously unrelated observations, experiments, and equations of electricity, magnetism, and optics into a consistent theory.[4] Maxwell's equations demonstrate that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon, namely the electromagnetic field. Subsequently, all other classic laws or equations of these disciplines became simplified cases of Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's achievements concerning electromagnetism have been called the "second great unification in physics",[5] after the first one realised by Isaac Newton
.


  1. ^ 134340 is Pluto's Minor Planet Center number, assigned following its demotion from full planetary status in 2006.[1] "S/2012 P 1" is the format that would have been used without the demotion.


  1. Purch
    . September 11, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  2. ^ "James Clerk Maxwell". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 24 February 2010. Scottish physicist best known for his formulation of electromagnetic theory
  3. ^ James Clerk Maxwell
  4. ^ "James Clerk Maxwell". IEEE Global History Network. 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  5. doi:10.1109/6.123329
    .
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