Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/justin-bieber-and-usher-sued-for-10-dollars-million/
melissa gilbert deadliest catch dwts sean hannity bobby petrino fired buffett rule lollapalooza lineup
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Telling time on Saturn
Friday, May 3, 2013
A University of Iowa undergraduate student has discovered that a process occurring in Saturn's magnetosphere is linked to the planet's seasons and changes with them, a finding that helps clarify the length of a Saturn day and could alter our understanding of the Earth's magnetosphere.
Saturn's magnetosphere is the third largest structure in the solar system, eclipsed only by the magnetic fields of the sun and Jupiter. Unlike Earth, which has a visible rocky surface and rotates once every 24 hours, Saturn is composed mostly of clouds and liquid gas layers, each rotating about the planet at its own rate of speed. This variation in rotation made it difficult for scientists to pin down time for the planet.
Decades ago, a strong and naturally occurring radio signal, called Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR), was believed to give an accurate measurement of a Saturn day. But data gathered by an ESA/NASA spacecraft proved otherwise.
Now, using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which entered orbit around Saturn in 2004, UI space physicist Donald Gurnett and other scientists showed that the north and south poles have their own SKR "days" that vary over periods of weeks and years. How these different periods arise and are driven through the magnetosphere has become a central question of the Cassini mission, according to NASA officials.
The discovery by Tim Kennelly, a UI junior majoring in physics and astronomy, is one of the first direct observations of seasonal changes in Saturn's magnetosphere. In addition, the finding carries over to all planets having a magnetosphere, including Earth.
"I'm pleased to have contributed to our understanding of Saturn's magnetosphere so early in my career," says Kennelly, the lead author of the paper published online in the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Journal of Geophysical Research. "I hope this trend continues."
Scientists have known for some time that Saturn's magnetospheric processes are linked together, from the activity generating the SKR emission relatively near the planet to the periodic signatures in Saturn's magnetosphere stretching millions of miles downstream in the planet's magnetotail. But they didn't know how they were linked.
Kennelly analyzed phenomena recorded between July 2004 and December 2011 by Cassini's UI-built Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument and came to some novel conclusions about how the events are linked. First, he looked at inward-moving "flux tubes" composed of hot, electrically charged gas, called plasma. Focusing on the tubes when they initially formed and before they had a chance to dissipate under the influence of the magnetosphere, he found that the occurrence of the tubes correlates with activity in the northern and southern hemisphere depending upon the season.
Kennelly found that during winter in the northern hemisphere, the occurrence of flux tubes correlates with SKR period originating in the northern hemisphere. A similar flux tube and SKR correlation was noted for the southern hemisphere during southern winter. The events are strongly ordered, he says, and follow Saturn's seasonal changes.
This finding may alter how scientists look at the Earth's magnetosphere and the Van Allen radiation belts that affect a variety of activities at Earth ranging from space flight safety to satellite and cell phone communications.
Commenting on his research experience, Kennelly says, "I'm really happy with the support I've received from Don Gurnett's group. They let me do a lot of the research on my own. I'm really appreciative." He adds that he will begin applying to graduate schools next semester and plans to earn his doctorate in plasma physics.
###
University of Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu
Thanks to University of Iowa for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 54 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128124/Telling_time_on_Saturn
ashley olsen new apple tv sun flare love hewitt new ipad solar flare joseph kony 2012
Why the Air Force Flies 50-Year-Old Tankers
The cause of the U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crash in northern Kyrgyzstan today?and the fate of the crew of three?is unknown at this time. But today?s news is likely to reopen questions over why the United States is dependent on aircraft that were developed in the 1950s to extend the range of its warplanes, and what is being done to replace an aircraft that the Air Force acknowledges uses obsolete parts and aged avionics.
The answers to both questions are troubling. The Pentagon tried to replace its aging fleet of tankers in 2001, but scandal and industrial disputes derailed the effort. Even now, a dozen years later, we?re not even close. The Air Force now has 418 KC-135 tankers in its inventory, but only 178 replacements will be ready to fly in 2028. That means these old birds will be flying for quite some time?until 2040?a fact that forced the Air Force to embark on a recently concluded upgrade to extend the life of the KC-135 fleet.
That effort, which ended in April, added a digital flight director, a radar altimeter, an electronic engine instrument display, and Automatic Flight Control System to the aircraft. None of these safety enhancements were on the KC-135 that crashed this week. But if weather or visibility was a factor, the radar altimeter could have been particularly helpful to provide ground proximity warning.
Here?s what?s at stake. The United States is a powerhouse of power projection?the ability to move people and material across the globe exactly when needed. Every branch of the military uses KC-135s operated (mostly) by National Guard units to extend the range of their aircraft, because fuel is the true limit on an aircraft?s range and ability to stay overhead. Need an A-10 Warthog to stay overhead long enough to support Army units on the ground? Want a B-2 Spirit to take off from Missouri and spook North Korea? Require an MV-22 Osprey to bring Marines far inland without fighting for a beachhead? You need a refueling tanker.
The U.S. has known for years that an aging fleet of tankers could be a weak link in American defense planning. In a 2004 report, the General Accountability Office?noted that its investigators "reviewed the aerial refueling fleet in 1996 and found that KC-135 aircraft were aging and becoming increasingly costly to maintain and operate." At the time, the Air Force had a plan to keep the KC-135s flying until about 2030. But once Congress expressed an interest in the airplanes, the Air Force?s mood shifted from complacency to urgency?it wanted the refuelers in service by 2013.?"The Air Force stated that the urgency was due to growing operating and support costs, declining aircraft availability, and an increasing possibility that a fleet-wide grounding event would prevent continued operation of the KC-135," the GAO report said.
Then, during the 2000s, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed that urgency was founded. Twin wars demonstrated how vital tankers are to an extended fight program, and showed the heavy toll that a fast pace of operations could place on the fleet. Congress backed the tanker replacement program as a no-brainer, but something terrible happened on the way to the flight line?the Washington, D.C., procurement process.
Boeing won the contract for a new tanker, but in 2003 the deal fell apart amid allegations of crooked contracting. One former Air Force official and the Boeing executive who hired her were both given jail sentences. The contract was reopened, closed, reopened, disputed by others in the industry who?d lost the contract, and subjected to General Accountability Office review and political speeches. At the end of the day?and at the end of the decade?the KC-135s were still flying with no replacement in sight. (Amazingly, the Air Force keeps them at about an 80 percent mission readiness level.)
Boeing, the original victor, emerged as the winner of a $35 billion contract for 179 new tankers, called the KC-46. (That amount does not include future maintenance and parts, which could reach $100 billion.) ?"Our number one acquisition priority in Air Mobility Command?and it remains the Air Force?s number one priority?is making sure the KC-46 tanker delivers on time," USAF Gen. Paul Selva, head of AMC said recently. "And on cost."
With luck, the new aircraft will be ready in 2028. That leaves hundreds of KC-135s still in the fleet, serving as the aged backbone of future military operations until 2040. And all the while, the cost to maintain and repair the aircraft rises, not to mention the cost of keeping them safe to fly.
Calendar 2013 john boehner HGTV Dream Home 2013 eric cantor eric cantor HGTV Sugar Bowl 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Hubble sees the remains of a star gone supernova
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vAuf-b2yUaMG-__qT9GB7Fk5Rc1AWOJ5ns4hgjd3n_C4p_zpVvDiIveQATzRzqCFkhCuev15Ju5s2P75cJCtKqCH_DJnHJHaMx8aqYlRs=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 3-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Rob Gutro
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
301-286-4044
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life.
SNR 0519 is located over 150 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish), a constellation that also contains most of our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Because of this, this region of the sky is full of intriguing and beautiful deep sky objects.
The LMC orbits the Milky Way galaxy as a satellite and is the fourth largest in our group of galaxies, the Local Group. SNR 0519 is not alone in the LMC; the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope also came across a similar bauble a few years ago in SNR B0509-67.5, a supernova of the same type as SNR 0519 with a strikingly similar appearance.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 3-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Rob Gutro
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
301-286-4044
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life.
SNR 0519 is located over 150 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish), a constellation that also contains most of our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Because of this, this region of the sky is full of intriguing and beautiful deep sky objects.
The LMC orbits the Milky Way galaxy as a satellite and is the fourth largest in our group of galaxies, the Local Group. SNR 0519 is not alone in the LMC; the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope also came across a similar bauble a few years ago in SNR B0509-67.5, a supernova of the same type as SNR 0519 with a strikingly similar appearance.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/nsfc-hst050313.php
joe kennedy iii joseph kennedy iii ghost hunters lightsquared david lee honduras prison fire do not call list
Exclusive Interview: The Last Crusade of Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam ...
By A.C. FERRANTE / Editor in Chief
Posted: May 1st, 2013 / 07:13 PM
INNERSPACE movie poster | ?Warner Bros. Video
This article originally appeared in EON MAGAZINE on February 11, 2000. The interview with Jeffrey Boam was conducted in 1996
For some, the death of screenwriter Jeffrey Boam two weeks ago at age 53 proved to be but a footnote in many publications. Screenwriters rarely receive the credit they deserve, and, because of that, are often overlooked and remain in the shadows of the stars and directors whose names are usually plastered above the main title.
Of course, for genre fans, Jeffrey Boam, whose death was attributed to a rare lung ailment, was one of today?s best screenwriters. From INNERSPACE to INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, Boam knew how to combine action, humor and characters into an exciting package. Even his comic book adaptation of THE PHANTOM in 1996 was quintessential Boam ? and if you chose to ignore Billy Zane?s silly purple costume, you would have found at its heart a solid retro-adventure very much akin to the Indiana Jones universe.
One of the pleasures of writing about the genre is getting the opportunity to talk with these unsung genre heroes at length. Back in 1996, I spent a very enjoyable two hours talking with Boam about his writing technique, breaking into the business and his unique career.
In tribute, EON offers excerpts from this interview ? most of which appears in print for the very first time.
*********
Growing up in Northern California, Jeffrey Boam was oblivious to Hollywood but always felt the impact of the cinema.
?One of the first movies I fell in love with was TOM JONES,? he recalled. ?To me, it was a movie filled with the joy of life. It was hard to get scripts in 1964, but I sent away for it in New York, and when I got it I was surprised how brief the scenes and dialogue where. I remember the movie being so dense and the scenes filled with so much dialogue that when I read the script there was barely a speech no more than two lines. I learned that that dialogue is usually brief exchanges not speeches, and I learned that simply by looking at the page of the screenplay and not seeing big blocks of dialogue even though that?s how I perceived the movie to be.?
While Boam had a fascination with the written word, he initially started off as an art student ?leading me to think that somehow how I could use my art talents to get into the movie business.?
His skills leaned toward storyboard artist or designing posters, but when he picked up a UCLA catalogue, he noticed they actually had a film department.
?I applied and once I got there I thought I would study directing but it proved to be pretty costly because you had to pay for your own film, processing and rental equipment,? said Boam. ?I didn?t have the money to do that so I took a writing course because I had the money to buy paper and I already had a typewriter. That?s how I got into the writing field.?
Breaking into the business came pretty easy for Boam as well, after writing a couple of spec scripts.
?My writing teacher called me out of the blue one day and said ?I know a producer who is looking for scripts from young writers and I thought you might have something?,? said Boam, who said a couple of his scripts were shown to the producer who saw potential in his work.
?He liked them a lot but it wasn?t really what he was looking for,? added Boam. ?He did say it showed a lot of talent and that his girlfriend was just starting out as an agent and was looking for clients. I told him that ?I?m looking for an agent,? so we got together, and I was her first client and she was my first agent and I immediately got jobs.?
Ironically enough, Boam admitted that he never had a first big sale: ?I never sold a script, much to my disappointment.?
?I never had any scripts on the market actually,? he added. ?The only two scripts I ever wrote that could be sold were the first two that got me my first writing job. From that point on, I?ve been working on assignment. That?s been good. It?s kept me employed, but it?s also kept me out of the spec screenplay market pretty much.?
THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR | ?Warner Bros. Video
One of Boam?s first major genre assignments was adapting Stephen King?s THE DEAD ZONE for Lorimar and working for SINGIN? IN THE RAIN director Stanley Donen long before David Cronenberg became attached.
?Stanley was interested in making a movie that would connect with contemporary youthful audiences, and at the time Stephen King was it because every one was making Stephen King movies,? he recalled. ?I think Stanley would have done a great job, but the script we developed together is very close to the script that David wound up making.?
When Donen left the project, it fell apart at Lorimar and Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights with Debra Hill coming aboard as producer.
?Two years after I stopped working with Stanley, I got a call from Debra saying ?We want to make THE DEAD ZONE, and we want to use your script,?? recalled Boam. ?So I spent a week with David and Debra reshaping the script I had done with Stanley.?
The reason Cronenberg himself didn?t pen the screenplay ? having scripted every other film he directed prior to that ? was simple according to Boam: ?David is a good writer, but he is a very quirky writer and couldn?t write something as mainstream as THE DEAD ZONE.?
?When you start calling THE DEAD ZONE mainstream, then it shows you how out there Cronenberg is,? laughed Boam. ?David read the script that I wrote, and I think the script helped him decide to make the movie.?
In the summer of 1987, Boam had two big genre efforts released ? INNERSPACE and THE LOST BOYS, which he was writing both at the same time.
?THE LOST BOYS, I felt, had a movie hidden under a lot of unsuccessful writing, and we were unearthing it,? said Boam. ?I worked with another director on that too ? Richard Franklin [PSYCHO II, ROAD GAMES, PATRICK] and we developed a much more straighter movie than the one that was ultimately made. ?When Joel Schumacher came aboard, he had a real vision for the look of the movie and the first thing? he said is ?E.T.?take this out of the suburbs.? Originally it was a movie that took place like E.T. or POLTERGEIST in suburbia and he wanted to get rid of that completely, which he did.?
As for INNERSPACE, Boam had felt the initial script didn?t seem to hold up well.
?The idea was kind of ridiculous, which was a person miniaturized and put into someone else?s body,? said Boam. ?That?s all I kept from the original script. They originally thought it might be Michael J. Fox inside Arnold Schwarzenegger?s body. I actually kept turning it down, and they were persistent and kept coming back to me.?
Under contract at the time to Warner Bros., Boam realized that the studio wasn?t making the movies he wanted to write, so he decided to write a movie they wanted to make. The experience of writing INNERSPACE liberated his imagination.
?It was such a goofy idea that there were no limits to it,? he said. ?I felt I could do anything, and so the script I wrote was very loony and far out there but everybody loved it. Dick Donner, Joe Dante, John Carpenter and even Steven Spielberg wanted to do it. So when Steven wanted to do it, Warner?s thought I was a God and any amount of money it would take to do the movie they would spend. Steve ultimately decided he only wanted to produce so Joe came along and really latched on to the idea.?
An assignment for LETHAL WEAPON 2 followed, working for director Richard Donner which proved to be quite grueling.
?You do a lot of changes on the LETHAL WEAPON movies because Donner is very spontaneous and always wants something new the day he shoots the scene,? recalled Boam. ?He?ll call me up around seven in the morning saying ?We?re about to shoot this scene, I have this idea, what do you think? Can you fax it to me?? So we were constantly altering the script as we went along.?
Shortly after LETHAL, Steven Spielberg called with the Holy Grail of writing gigs (so to speak).
?I forget what he said, but it was something like, ?You wanna get real rich?? and I said ?Yeah, why?? and he said, ?I think you should do the next Indiana Jones movie?,? recalled Boam. ?He said he had to talk to George because George didn?t know me from Adam. So a long time went by, and I actually put it out of my mind. Then Steven called me for some other reason, and I said ?By the way, anything going on for the Indiana Jones idea?? and he said, ?I think George is going to call you soon.? So I got a call from George and he wanted to meet me at Amblin. I went over there, met with George and got along real well and the next step was spending about two weeks with George working out the story for INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.?
The process proved to be very simple according to Boam. ?Lucas had ideas for set pieces already in mind,? recalled Boam. ?The whole thing in Venice with motorboards and the two hulls the motorboat gets crushed between was already in his mind. And what I brought to it especially was this whole Sean Connery thing. The father character had never been evolved. This was actually Lucas? fourth attempt to do a third INDIANA JONES movie. There were two other writers who had kind of false starts, but nobody really tackled the father relationship or the father?s character, so that gave me a lot to work with.?
At the time of this interview (1996), Boam had actually done a couple of drafts for INDY 4 but said he couldn?t really talk too much about it.
?George is very happy with the script and Steven is happy with it too, but the next step is to get Harrison on board,? Boam said at the time.
Another key project for Boam was serving as creator and co-producer on FOX?s THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR. which lasted one ill-fated season.
?That was the first TV series that made it on the air,? he said. ?I had developed eight or nine shows at various networks and this was the only one to go.?
The experience proved to be very satisfying for Boam because he notes that producing the pilot was much like doing a movie. However, FOX didn?t have enough faith in the series to keep it going for another season.
?The ratings were not good, but the show had a lot of fans,? said Boam. ?I think FOX somewhat believed in the show, and I think if there was an opening, they might have gone for another season.?
The last filmed project of Boam?s was THE PHANTOM in 1996, and while it followed in the shadow of other failed pulp comics brought to the big screen (THE ROCKETEER and THE SHADOW), he said working with Lee Falk?s classic character proved to be an easier challenge than anticipated.
?I stayed pretty close to the source material,? he noted. ?I actually never heard of THE PHANTOM until the project was offered to me, and when I got it, I did some research and realized this comic has been going on for 60 years. It was extremely popular when it was first introduced in the ?30s and is still popular in foreign countries. I figured if it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.?
Though Boam became known for his genre work, the film that he really enjoyed working on was the 1988 Chevy Chase comedy FUNNY FARM.
?FUNNY FARM was based on a book, and after reading it I loved it ? it was exactly the kind of movie I always wanted to write,? said Boam. ?It needed a lot of work because it wasn?t told in the fashion that could be filmed, but I loved the idea of working with Chevy. He was a comedy hero of mine and still is.?
The tone of the movie changed when director George Roy Hill came aboard, but Boam was pleased nonetheless.
?It was different from what I expected?George wanted to do a much classier version than I ever imagined it to be,? said Boam. ?I imagined it to be a little cruder, more low-brow humor, rougher and more like the movies Chevy was doing at the time, but George was a classy guy and he wasn?t going to do that. He does what he does. He made the movie classy, and I think a lot of Chevy?s fans were let down because it wasn?t as raucous and vulgar as they might have expected.?
Ironically enough, Boam originally thought he would use screenwriting to eventually segue into directing, yet aside from helming the TALES FROM THE CRYPT episode ?Creep Course,? he soon found that writing was where his true love remained.
?Writing basically became such a challenge and a goal that directing became secondary,? he said. ?[Doing that episode] made me want to stop directing, actually. It was so jarring to go from the life as a writer to being a director, even though it was only a four-week commitment, that I didn?t really enjoy it.
?I didn?t like the fact that I had to do it all day long and that the job required me to get up, go to work, come home and go to bed,? he recalled. ?It was too labor intensive. I enjoy doing other things during the day other than working and I missed the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I didn?t like to devote my every waking hour to pursue one single thing which is what a director does. I really have no interest in doing that again. I?m happy being a writer.?
Boam is survived by his wife of 24 years and three children (two daughters and one son) and his devotion to his family and being there for them was one of the main reasons he preferred the life of a writer, since it allowed him to be at home. It also helped with other aspects of life as well.
?It?s worked out great ? I never have to worry about not being here when the cable man shows up,? laughed Boam. ?This is a great luxury in life.?
EON?s wishes go out to Boam?s family. His talent and good-nature will certainly be missed.
?1996, 2000, 2013 by Anthony C. Ferrante
Article Source:?Assignment X
Article:?Exclusive Interview: Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam
Related Posts:
Source: http://www.assignmentx.com/2013/exclusive-interview-the-last-crusade-of-screenwriter-jeffrey-boam/
space shuttle discovery spacex tupac hologram tupac back tax deadline death race buffet rule
Unannounced Acer Iconia W3 8-inch tablet leaks on Amazon, priced at $380
Acer's Iconia W3 tablet hasn't been formally announced, but that hasn't stopped Amazon from giving the TBA product a shiny new home on its website. The page appears to be a bit incomplete, with the summary listing an "1.5 GHz Apple A4" in the processor field, which we can't imagine is correct. The product description below might be a bit more on point, though. There you'll find a dual-core Atom Z2760 processor, an 8.1-inch 1280 x 800-pixel CrystalBrite LCD display, integrated graphics with 64MB of memory, 32 gigs of internal storage, 2GB of RAM, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, 2-megapixel front- and rear-facing cameras, and a two-cell 3,500mAh battery, keeping the Windows 8 tab powered for up to 8 hours. There's no word on when the 1.1-pound slate is set to ship (or when it'll make an official debut, for that matter), but assuming the Amazon web producers have managed to input pricing info correctly, you'll be able to pick one up for $380 sometime in the future.
[Thanks, Jake]
Filed under: Tablets, Amazon, Acer
Source: Amazon
Battlefield 4 Summly monsanto Shakira Human Rights Campaign bioshock infinite smokey robinson
An anarchic region of star formation
May 2, 2013 ? The Danish 1.54-metre telescope located at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile has captured a striking image of NGC 6559, an object that showcases the anarchy that reigns when stars form inside an interstellar cloud.
NGC 6559 is a cloud of gas and dust located at a distance of about 5000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The glowing region is a relatively small object, just a few light-years across, in contrast to the one hundred light-years and more spanned by its famous neighbour, the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, eso0936). Although it is usually overlooked in favour of its distinguished companion, NGC 6559 has the leading role in this new picture.
The gas in the clouds of NGC 6559, mainly hydrogen, is the raw material for star formation. When a region inside this nebula gathers enough matter, it starts to collapse under its own gravity. The centre of the cloud grows ever denser and hotter, until thermonuclear fusion begins and a star is born. The hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms, releasing energy that makes the star shine.
These brilliant hot young stars born out of the cloud energise the hydrogen gas still present around them in the nebula [1]. The gas then re-emits this energy, producing the glowing threadlike red cloud seen near the centre of the image. This object is known as an emission nebula.
But NGC 6559 is not just made out of hydrogen gas. It also contains solid particles of dust, made of heavier elements, such as carbon, iron or silicon. The bluish patch next to the red emission nebula shows the light from the recently formed stars being scattered -- reflected in many different directions -- by the microscopic particles in the nebula. Known to astronomers as a reflection nebula, this type of object usually appears blue because the scattering is more efficient for these shorter wavelengths of light [2].
In regions where it is very dense, the dust completely blocks the light behind it, as is the case for the dark isolated patches and sinuous lanes to the bottom left-hand side and right-hand side of the image. To look through the clouds at what lies behind, astronomers would need to observe the nebula using longer wavelengths that would not be absorbed.
The Milky Way fills the background of the image with countless yellowish older stars. Some of them appear fainter and redder because of the dust in NGC 6559.
This eye-catching image of star formation was captured by the Danish Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (DFOSC) on the 1.54-metre Danish Telescope at La Silla in Chile. This national telescope has been in use at La Silla since 1979 and was recently refurbished to turn it into a remote-controlled state-of-the-art telescope.
Notes
[1] These young stars are usually of spectral type O and B, with temperatures between 10,000 and 60,000 K, which radiate huge amounts of high energy ultraviolet light that ionises the hydrogen atoms.
[2] Rayleigh scattering, named after the British physicist Lord Rayleigh, happens when light is scattered off particles of material that are much smaller than the wavelength of the light. It is much more effective for short wavelengths of light, that is, wavelengths corresponding to the blue end of the visible spectrum, so the result is a bluish diffuse light. This is the same mechanism that explains the blue colour of the daytime cloud-free sky.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/zRze14ddwwc/130502082252.htm
Alexis Wright Monsanto Protection Act college board Jenna Wolfe miami heat Jarome Iginla Jessica Brown Findlay
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)