Discovery of a blue supergiant star born in the wild

Apr. 10, 2013 ? A duo of astronomers, Dr. Youichi Ohyama (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica or ASIAA, Taiwan) and Dr. Ananda Hota (UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in the Basic Sciences or CBS, India), has discovered a blue supergiant star located far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation Virgo.

Over 55 million years ago, the star emerged in an extremely wild environment, surrounded by intensely hot plasma (a million degrees centigrade) and amidst raging cyclone winds blowing at four million kilometers per hour. Research using the Subaru Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope (CFHT) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) revealed unprecedented views of the star formation process in this intergalactic context and showed the promise of future investigations of a possibly new mode of star formation, unlike that within our Milky Way.

About one thousand galaxies reside in a cluster filled with million-degree hot plasma and dark matter. The Virgo cluster, the nearest cluster of galaxies located about 55 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, is an ideal laboratory to study the fate of gas stripped from the main body of galaxies falling into the intra-cluster medium. Does star formation take place in the clouds of stripped gas? If so, how? Dr. Ohyama and Dr. Hota focused on the trail of IC 3418 to explore a potentially new mode of star formation. Dr. Hota has been collecting data from multiple telescopes since 2006 to understand this galaxy, which he first spotted in the GALEX data during his Ph.D. research.

IC 3418 is a small galaxy falling into the Virgo cluster of galaxies at such a high speed (a thousand kilometers per second) that its blanket of cool gas strips off. As it passed through the cluster, its stripped-off cool gas formed a 55,500 light-years-long trail that looks very much like the water vapour condensation trail from a supersonic jet's path. Hot plasma surrounds the trail of IC 3418, and it has not been clear whether the clouds of cool gas would vaporize like water sprinkled on a hot frying pan or condense further to form new young massive stars. The GALEX ultraviolet image shows that new massive stars do form in the trail. How did the stripped gas condense to form new stars without getting vaporized by the hot plasma? This process does not conform to star formation in our Milky Way Galaxy where massive stars develop in groups inside of stellar nurseries sheltered within giant cold molecular gas clouds.

Dr. Ohyama suspected that a tiny dot of light emission in the trail of IC 3418 might be different from other blobs of ultraviolet light emissions in the trail. Spectroscopy of the little dot from Subaru Telescope's Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) revealed something stunning. Dr. Ohyama recalls, "When I first saw the spectrum, I was so puzzled, since it did not look like anything I had known of in extra-galactic astronomy." Unlike typical star-forming regions, the telltale signs of stellar nurseries were missing.

Intense UV-radiation usually ionizes/heats-up the surrounding gas when a star is born. Instead of any sign of heated gas, the observation showed fast winds blowing out of the stellar atmosphere at a speed of about 160 kilometers per second. Comparison with emissions from nearby stars made it clear that this massive, hot (O-type) star had passed its youth and was now aging; it was at a stage known as Blue Supergiant star and would soon face its explosive death as a supernova.

Dr. Ohyama commented on the significance of the research: "If our interpretations are correct, this is probably the farthest star ever discovered with spectroscopic observation. Since we only observed for a fraction of the night with the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope, there is huge potential for stellar spectroscopy with extremely large telescopes, e.g., the Thirty Meter Telescope, being planned for the future. We look forward to that exciting time."

Dr. Hota emphasized how important it is for astronomers to pay attention to this exotic system: "Precisely because the thermal and dynamic contrast of star formation that our research shows cannot be observed within our Milky Way, the details revealed by the Subaru Telescope's spectroscopy and the deep, sharp imaging of CFHT are opening up a new avenue for investigating the baffling fundamentals of star formation." Future in-depth investigations of this cocktail of hot plasma and turbulent, cold gas may reveal very different characteristics of stars, which may remain wild, exotic objects, challenging current theories of star formation.

This research was partially supported by the following:

• National Science Council of Taiwan (grant to Dr. Ohyama)
• National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCRA-TIFR) and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), both in India (for Visiting Astronomer position to Dr. Hota).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Youichi Ohyama, Ananda Hota. Discovery of a Possibly Single Blue Supergiant Star in the Intra-cluster Region of Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (2): L29 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/767/2/L29

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/top_science/~3/3UKjZOosQyI/130410194227.htm

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The Wrong Fight

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks as Sen. Mike Lee looks on during a press conference. Both senators have signed a letter promising to oppose any gun-restriction legislation.

Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt wrapped up at the Republican leadership press conference?the typical, news-challenged Recitation of the Talking Points?and walked into a wall of reporters. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell had signed on to a pre-emptive filibuster of any gun bill. Would Blunt join him?

?I think it?s better to debate these issues and vote on ?em,? said Blunt. ?But I?ll decide, as everybody else will, what they?re gonna do on that when there?s a for-certain bill with the ability to offer amendments.? Maybe they didn?t need to block a vote on the bill right away. ?We always have the 60-vote standard on whether to go to a final vote or not.?

In 2010, Blunt easily won a Senate race in a state that?s getting redder. He has an A rating from the National Rifle Association. Wayne LaPierre actually campaigned for him that year, headlining one of the events on Blunt?s ?Second Amendment Tour.? And so reporters kept following Blunt to make sure they hadn?t dreamt these quotes.

?I missed the first part of that,? asked one reporter. ?You believe we should allow this gun legislation to proceed to debate??

?Oh, I don?t think I said that,? said Blunt. ?I said I?ll be anxious to see what the actual gun legislation looks like when Sen. Reid brings it to the floor. But as a general principle, it?s better to debate the bill.?

That didn?t quite end it. Blunt was asked whether his colleagues?like McConnell, the leader in the Senate?were wise to threaten a filibuster. ?Let?s see if they can truly argue that Republicans weren?t able to propose any alternatives,? he said. Another reporter arrived and inserted her recording device into the scrum.

?I wanted to ask you,? she said, ?and you may have addressed this already, whether you support the filibuster??

Not a feeding frenzy, but close to it. As Blunt patiently answered the questions, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was announcing that he?d seek cloture on gun control legislation. Not even 24 hours had passed since reporters were tut-tutting about President Obama?s ?last ditch? push for gun control. Was everybody wrong? Was the bill going to pass?

Yes and no. Yes, the consensus idea that the gun debate was over, that Obama had blown it by not moving faster, was strange and hasty. Nine times out of 10 it?s safe to assume that Congress won?t pass a bill. It?s Congress! But the ?gun safety? lobby (best to scare-quote the term, as it?s a media-tested replacement for ?gun control?) had said for months that it would accept a gun bill far, far reduced from the recommendations of the White House?s task force. Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly?s own gun control activism was focused on passing universal background checks. The families of Newtown massacre victims, in Washington, D.C. this week for another round of tear-jerking and lobbying, have focused their campaign on a vote, period, not on any specific bill.

The Republican Party in the Senate isn?t built for nuance like that. Their struggles began on March 22, when Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz released an open letter to Reid promising to ?oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions.? That quickly turned into flypaper for Republicans who wanted to make a pre-emptive pro?freedom-and-America stand. And this was covered as ?momentum building for a filibuster.?

We?ve been trapped in this Wonderland of spin before. In February, opponents of defense nominee Chuck Hagel promised to filibuster his nomination. Ted Cruz wrote a letter; they signed onto it. They had the votes to delay Hagel with one filibuster, but over the next congressional recess, as damaging Hagel intel failed to emerge, the 41-senator squad fell apart. The hardcore Hagel foes revealed how weak they were with another letter, asking the president to withdraw the nomination. That only got 14 signatures. You either have 41, or you don?t have a filibuster. The White House won.

So the Senate lurched on to the gun bill?and conservatives tried the exact same strategy. The White House?s gun bill push has never been about a must-have provision. Like the 2009 push for health care reform or the 2010 Dodd?Frank offensive, it?s been about getting something done and letting the Senate Democrats figure out the ?something.? If the final gun bill looks like the compromise being put together by Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, well, sure, fine. Obama?s new tribute to gun violence victims isn?t ?they deserve an assault weapons ban.? It?s ?they deserve a vote.? How better to prove that, and to get the discussion away from the details that were weakening the background checks push, then another fight with the Senate conservatives?

This frustrated the Senate?s more experienced Republicans. A filibuster draws attention to a cause when it?s done well. But if you?re serious about killing a bill, you can debate it and attach a ?poison pill? amendment?a tactic that sunk the post-Columbine gun bills of 1999. That could still happen this year. First, Republicans had to explain (and explain and explain) their filibuster stances.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker wasn?t on board with the filibuster. ?This is one senator who likes to read a bill before I make a decision about what I?m gonna do,? he said. ?What?s the bill? It could be a negotiated agreement between Manchin and Toomey. I saw them on the floor for a few moments and wished them well.?

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham didn?t want to block a vote, either. ?As long as we get amendments, I want to proceed to the bill,? he said. ?I think we should be allowed to amend it. I?m not afraid of this debate. I want this debate.?

Even Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who?d signed the filibuster letter, opened up room to allow a vote. ?It was an easy letter to sign, because I took an oath to defend the Constitution,? he told reporters. ?I try to be pretty flexible. The letter was about any bill that would restrict Second Amendment rights.?

By late afternoon Democrats had heard as many as 10 Republicans buck the filibuster, on the record. If those senators were serious, a few red state Democrats, like Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, would be free to cast ?no?s? and then cut re-election ads. Reid wouldn?t say he had the votes to win, but neither would Cruz.

?That will be up to the members of the Senate,? Cruz said to a throng of reporters outside a Capitol Hill elevator. ?In my view every senator has a responsibility to actively protect the bill of rights. Any bill that would undermine the bill of rights should, in my opinion, be subject to a 60-vote threshold.?

Cruz kept talking, asking the press to focus on things like ?the prosecution priorities of the Obama Justice Department? instead of the gun bill du jour. He talked, and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, walked pass the press corps, generally unnoticed, which isn?t a bad thing to be if you think you?re going to win.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=1f7dc8f179c55bcf79c691835b24e48d

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'Spooky action at a distance' aboard the International Space Station

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Albert Einstein famously described quantum entanglement as "spooky action at distance"; however, up until now experiments that examine this peculiar aspect of physics have been limited to relatively small distances on Earth.

In a new study published today, 9 April, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics, researchers have proposed using the International Space Station (ISS) to test the limits of this "spooky action" and potentially help to develop the first global quantum communication network.

Their plans include a so-called Bell experiment which tests the theoretical contradiction between the predictions of quantum mechanics and classical physics, and a quantum key distribution experiment which will use the ISS as a relay point to send a secret encryption key across much larger distances than have already been achieved using optical fibres on Earth.

Their calculations show that "major experimental goals" could already be achieved with only a few overhead passes of the ISS, with each of the experiments lasting less than 70 seconds on each pass.

"During a few months a year, the ISS passes five to six times in a row in the correct orientation for us to do our experiments. We envision setting up the experiment for a whole week and therefore having more than enough links to the ISS available," said co-author of the study Professor Rupert Ursin from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Furthermore, the only equipment needed aboard the ISS would be a photon detection module which could be sent to the ISS and attached to an already existing motorised commercial photographer's lens (Nikon 400 mm), which sits, always facing the ground, in a 70 cm window in the Cupola Module.

For the Bell experiment, a pair of entangled photons would be generated on the ground; one would be sent from the ground station to the modified camera aboard the ISS, while the other would be measured locally on the ground for later comparison.

Entangled photons have an intimate connection with each other, even when separated over large distances, which defies the laws of classical physics. A measurement on one of the entangled photons in a pair will determine the outcome of the same measurement on the second photon, no matter how far apart they are.

"According to quantum physics, entanglement is independent of distance. Our proposed Bell-type experiment will show that particles are entangled, over large distances -- around 500 km -- for the very first time in an experiment," continued Professor Ursin.

"Our experiments will also enable us to test potential effects gravity may have on quantum entanglement."

The researchers also propose a quantum key distribution experiment, where a secret cryptographic key is generated using a stream of photons and shared between two parties safe in the knowledge that if an eavesdropper intercepts it, this would be noticed.

Up until now, the furthest a secret key has been sent is just a few hundred kilometres, which would realistically enable communication between just one or two cities.

Research teams from around the world are looking to build quantum satellites that will act as a relay between the two parties, significantly increasing the distance that a secret key could be passed; however, the new research shows that this may be possible by implementing an optical uplink towards the ISS and making a very minor alteration to the camera already on-board.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institute of Physics.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. T Scheidl, E Wille, R Ursin. Quantum optics experiments using the International Space Station: a proposal. New Journal of Physics, 2013; 15 (4): 043008 DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/15/4/043008

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/strange_science/~3/trjxLci6-Kc/130409095412.htm

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Watch a Navy Laser Gun Blast a Drone Right Out of the Sky

It may sound like sci-fi, but lasers are definitely the future of war. As are drones. So what could be better than to see them go up against each other in a blaze of explosive glory? Looks like in the rock-paper-scissors game of modern combat, laser beats drone. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9Coa2NHp3jE/watch-a-navy-laser-gun-blast-a-drone-right-out-of-the-sky

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Small Business Confidence Retreats After Three Months of Gains

Will Sequester Take a Bite Out of Restaurants' Business?

Fred Deluca, Subway founder & CEO, explains how government cuts could impact consumer spending, jobs and the economy.

American Entrepreneurship at Risk?

A factor in the jobs drag is mandatory federal spending cuts. "One reason is the sequester. I think that will start to kick in," Moody's economist Mark Zandi said last week on CNBC. "I think that will start to show up in jobs in the next few months. The other thing is health care." (Read more: Sequestration ? CNBC Explains)

For employers, there has been a heavy cloud of uncertainty about anticipated spending cuts and costs associated with Obamacare that go into effect in 2014.

But unlike larger private sector businesses, smaller employers usually don't have buffers such as large cash reserves to ride out federal budget cuts. Most smaller firms also can't quickly pivot business strategies to ride out a rough patch. So their strategy has largely been staying in a holding pattern?including hiring decisions.

Fred Deluca, the founder of privately held Subway Restaurants, said the government is simply out of touch with small-business owners. Policies including Obamacare discourage entrepreneurship and the American dream of owning your own business, Deluca told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" in February.

Added NFIB's Dunkelberg, "For the sector that produces half the private GDP and employs half the private sector workforce?the fact that they are not growing, not hiring, not borrowing and not expanding like they should be, is evidence enough that uncertainty is slowing the economy."

?By CNBC's Heesun Wee; Follow her on Twitter @heesunwee

(Read more: Subway 'Wouldn't Exist' If Started Today Due to Regulations: Founder Deluca)

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100623684

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Video: KPMG: LA-Based Partner Provided Non-Public Info to Outsid...

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51479334/

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Red Motion mount eliminates shutter judder, we go eyes-on (video)

Red announced its new Motion lens mount prior to opening its booth at NAB, and now we've had a chance to see this guy in action. The mount, which is compatible with the company's Epic and Scarlet cameras, is meant to fix the CMOS rolling shutter problem. The Motion includes a liquid crystal shutter that's placed in front of the main sensor and is timed to engage when the sensor is fully open. It also adds up to 8x neutral density, which can be enabled electronically through the camera UI with 1/100-stop precision. In a demo at Red's NAB booth, the camera captured every flash of a strobe -- without the new mount, some flashes would likely slip through the cracks. It's set to ship for $4,500 in the fall (or possibly this summer), and will be available with Canon EF or PL mounts. You can see it in action today in the hands-on demo after the break.

Gallery: Red Motion mount hands-on

Filed under: Cameras

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