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The Universe just got a little more crowded with the discovery of more than 300,000 potential galaxies in a tiny corner of the northern sky. A release of data gathered by the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network in Europe has added extraordinary new levels of detail to the map of radio waves across the cosmos, inspiring dozens of studies on everything from magnetic fields to black holes.
It's moments like these we should be grateful of our relative blindness to the radiance of the night sky - at least, if we want sleep at night. Invisible to the human eye, the Universe is in fact ablaze with low frequency waves produced by accelerating particles and electromagnetic fields.
Measuring that radio hum requires some pretty sensitive equipment. LOFAR's array of 20,000 antennas scattered across 48 stations in the Netherlands and abroad is like having a huge radio-sensitive eye on our planet's surface.
Among its many tasks is an intensive survey of the northern night sky at radio frequencies of around 120 to 168 megahertz, which is expected to provide new information on a variety of softly shining astronomical phenomena.
So far only about 20 percent of the survey has been completed, and of that, scientists all over the globe can only access about 10 percent of available data. That might not sound like much, but they're clearly having a field day with it. The journal Astronomy and Astrophysics has just published 26 studiesbased on this initial data release, covering quasars, blazars, black holes, and intergalactic electromagnetic fields.
One of the big reveals in the mosaic of sources are 325,694 points where the glow of radio waves surges to at least five times the background noise. Around 70 percent of these can be linked with an optical signal, so it's fairly safe to say these bright spots represent galaxies we can add to our cosmic roadmap.
It's no secret that galaxies of sufficient size often harbour gargantuan black holes that swallow everything within reach with such temerity, they vomit jets of matter shining in radio waves. What hasn't been clear is just how strict this rule is, and whether these core black holes ever manage to clear their plate.
This new data is helping persuade scientists that these monsters have relentless appetites.
"LOFAR has a remarkable sensitivity and that allows us to see that these jets are present in all of the most massive galaxies, which means that their black holes never stop eating," says astrophysicist Philip Bestfrom the University of Edinburgh.
Pinpointing the locations of new galaxies doesn't just help us understand their inner structures, it provides a valuable tool to understanding the vast stretches of nothingness in between. Usually, radio waves are produced by the turbulence stirred up as galaxies collide.
"What we are beginning to see with LOFAR is that in some cases, clusters of galaxies that are not merging can also show this emission, albeit at a very low level that was previously undetectable," says astrophysicist Annalisa Bonafede from the University of Bologna. "This discovery tells us that besides merger events, there are other phenomena that can trigger particle acceleration over huge scales."
The sensitivity of LOFAR's eye on the sky has also helped researchers trace out the faint magnetic fields that have been predicted to exist in intergalactic space but until now too hard to detect.
"Magnetic fields pervade the cosmos, and we want to understand how this happened," says University of Hamburg astronomer Shane O'Sullivan.
Closer to home, the sheer magnitude of raw data collected by surveys such as this demands new ways to process information that are not just time efficient, but also aren't chewing through too much power. The data management collaborative, SURF, is currently storing more than 20 petabytes of LOFAR's information, which is still only a little more than half of the total.
"We have been working together with SURF in the Netherlands to efficiently transform the massive amounts of data into high-quality images," says cosmologist Timothy Shimwell from the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and Leiden University.
SURF's technology and processes makes relatively short work of crunching the numbers into something that can be used by diverse teams of researchers. What's more, it's all run on 100 percent renewables.
This is just the beginning. There's plenty more sky left to uncover, which in the end could reveal around 15 million new sources of radio wave emissions, many stretching back to the dawn of the Universe. This is one bright future for the LOFAR sky survey.
This research was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
☆Pictured Below☆Spiral galaxy M106 superimposed with the LOFAR data (yellow). (Cyril Tasse/Paris Observatory/LOFAR)
Article By:
MIKE MCRAE
ScienceAlert
20 February 2019
It's moments like these we should be grateful of our relative blindness to the radiance of the night sky - at least, if we want sleep at night. Invisible to the human eye, the Universe is in fact ablaze with low frequency waves produced by accelerating particles and electromagnetic fields.
Measuring that radio hum requires some pretty sensitive equipment. LOFAR's array of 20,000 antennas scattered across 48 stations in the Netherlands and abroad is like having a huge radio-sensitive eye on our planet's surface.
Among its many tasks is an intensive survey of the northern night sky at radio frequencies of around 120 to 168 megahertz, which is expected to provide new information on a variety of softly shining astronomical phenomena.
So far only about 20 percent of the survey has been completed, and of that, scientists all over the globe can only access about 10 percent of available data. That might not sound like much, but they're clearly having a field day with it. The journal Astronomy and Astrophysics has just published 26 studiesbased on this initial data release, covering quasars, blazars, black holes, and intergalactic electromagnetic fields.
One of the big reveals in the mosaic of sources are 325,694 points where the glow of radio waves surges to at least five times the background noise. Around 70 percent of these can be linked with an optical signal, so it's fairly safe to say these bright spots represent galaxies we can add to our cosmic roadmap.
It's no secret that galaxies of sufficient size often harbour gargantuan black holes that swallow everything within reach with such temerity, they vomit jets of matter shining in radio waves. What hasn't been clear is just how strict this rule is, and whether these core black holes ever manage to clear their plate.
This new data is helping persuade scientists that these monsters have relentless appetites.
"LOFAR has a remarkable sensitivity and that allows us to see that these jets are present in all of the most massive galaxies, which means that their black holes never stop eating," says astrophysicist Philip Bestfrom the University of Edinburgh.
Pinpointing the locations of new galaxies doesn't just help us understand their inner structures, it provides a valuable tool to understanding the vast stretches of nothingness in between. Usually, radio waves are produced by the turbulence stirred up as galaxies collide.
"What we are beginning to see with LOFAR is that in some cases, clusters of galaxies that are not merging can also show this emission, albeit at a very low level that was previously undetectable," says astrophysicist Annalisa Bonafede from the University of Bologna. "This discovery tells us that besides merger events, there are other phenomena that can trigger particle acceleration over huge scales."
The sensitivity of LOFAR's eye on the sky has also helped researchers trace out the faint magnetic fields that have been predicted to exist in intergalactic space but until now too hard to detect.
"Magnetic fields pervade the cosmos, and we want to understand how this happened," says University of Hamburg astronomer Shane O'Sullivan.
Closer to home, the sheer magnitude of raw data collected by surveys such as this demands new ways to process information that are not just time efficient, but also aren't chewing through too much power. The data management collaborative, SURF, is currently storing more than 20 petabytes of LOFAR's information, which is still only a little more than half of the total.
"We have been working together with SURF in the Netherlands to efficiently transform the massive amounts of data into high-quality images," says cosmologist Timothy Shimwell from the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and Leiden University.
SURF's technology and processes makes relatively short work of crunching the numbers into something that can be used by diverse teams of researchers. What's more, it's all run on 100 percent renewables.
This is just the beginning. There's plenty more sky left to uncover, which in the end could reveal around 15 million new sources of radio wave emissions, many stretching back to the dawn of the Universe. This is one bright future for the LOFAR sky survey.
This research was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
☆Pictured Below☆Spiral galaxy M106 superimposed with the LOFAR data (yellow). (Cyril Tasse/Paris Observatory/LOFAR)
Article By:
MIKE MCRAE
ScienceAlert
20 February 2019
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Belmore Falls Morton NP
Celebration: countdown 33
The 4th Earl of Belmore brought his wife here, the southern highlands, to escape the oppressive heat and mendacity of the City of Sydney. These remain good reasons to follow in his footsteps, and climb to the falls renamed in honor of the Governor's impressive beard.
On 12 March 1868 he was attending a picnic when Prince Alfred (commander of the visiting steam-powered warship HMS Galatea) was shot in a Fenian assassination attempt. As most of the police in the state of New South Wales were Irish, New South Wales teetered on the edge of becoming an Irish state and perhaps part of a pan-Pacific union with the Americas. The Earl kept his cool and the rebellion was put down.
The Earl's wife enjoyed the highlands, and they had 13 children, one of whom (Lady Edith) is reputed to have turned into a greylag goose
This wide shot shows the two top plunges and hints at the two lower unseen. The river drops 330m (1080') in a series of plunges to the Kangaroo River.
This image is taken from my video of the falls. The original was toned for structure. For this image, i reviewed the range of video frames noting that the sunlight lit different trees as the mist rolled up the river. I chose a new frame, looking for a little more balance between left and right.
Celebrate: Thank you. To celebrate what we all achieved on G+, i am publishing the 50 most viewed posts in this collection until shutdown. This is a reprocessed image of Belmore Falls (33th most viewed - viewed 1,919,852 times).
After shutdown, you can find me by visiting https://wheretofind.me/@peterquinton
Adventure with me at my website: http://www.silenttheory.net
The books we wrote here on G+ are now on Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/peterquinton
My footprints are on GoogleMaps: https://goo.gl/maps/r2CtN5y38XJ2
#CelebrateCountdown (please feel free to use this hashtag to celebrate your own favorite posts)
Celebration: countdown 33
The 4th Earl of Belmore brought his wife here, the southern highlands, to escape the oppressive heat and mendacity of the City of Sydney. These remain good reasons to follow in his footsteps, and climb to the falls renamed in honor of the Governor's impressive beard.
On 12 March 1868 he was attending a picnic when Prince Alfred (commander of the visiting steam-powered warship HMS Galatea) was shot in a Fenian assassination attempt. As most of the police in the state of New South Wales were Irish, New South Wales teetered on the edge of becoming an Irish state and perhaps part of a pan-Pacific union with the Americas. The Earl kept his cool and the rebellion was put down.
The Earl's wife enjoyed the highlands, and they had 13 children, one of whom (Lady Edith) is reputed to have turned into a greylag goose
This wide shot shows the two top plunges and hints at the two lower unseen. The river drops 330m (1080') in a series of plunges to the Kangaroo River.
This image is taken from my video of the falls. The original was toned for structure. For this image, i reviewed the range of video frames noting that the sunlight lit different trees as the mist rolled up the river. I chose a new frame, looking for a little more balance between left and right.
Celebrate: Thank you. To celebrate what we all achieved on G+, i am publishing the 50 most viewed posts in this collection until shutdown. This is a reprocessed image of Belmore Falls (33th most viewed - viewed 1,919,852 times).
After shutdown, you can find me by visiting https://wheretofind.me/@peterquinton
Adventure with me at my website: http://www.silenttheory.net
The books we wrote here on G+ are now on Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/peterquinton
My footprints are on GoogleMaps: https://goo.gl/maps/r2CtN5y38XJ2
#CelebrateCountdown (please feel free to use this hashtag to celebrate your own favorite posts)
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https://youtu.be/GF2tg1yeUPo
20 Pound Cat Mr Grim chilling with me in the Garage. He's a Hefty Black Cat that weighs 20 Pounds. Please Like,Share,And Subscribe for more videos. Thanks for watching!
20 Pound Cat Mr Grim chilling with me in the Garage. He's a Hefty Black Cat that weighs 20 Pounds. Please Like,Share,And Subscribe for more videos. Thanks for watching!
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Mt. Fuji over the Chureito Pagoda at Dawn
Follow Yuga on:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/KritaYuga
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kuriyuga
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kritayuga
Follow Yuga on:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/KritaYuga
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kuriyuga
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kritayuga
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https://youtu.be/5B9m17u3ZE8
Mr Grim Being Cute as the cat wants attention. Please Like,Share,And Subscribe for more.
Mr Grim Being Cute as the cat wants attention. Please Like,Share,And Subscribe for more.
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Worried about high blood pressure? Try adding these heart-healthy drinks to your diet. Combined with regular exercise and a smart eating plan, they can help prevent and control hypertension. Here's how.
https://medmd.org/6-drinks-that-lower-blood-pressure/
https://medmd.org/6-drinks-that-lower-blood-pressure/
6 Drinks That Lower Blood Pressure
medmd.org
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7 Signs Your Liver is in Bad Condition
Because our organs are inside of us, we can’t exactly observe the abuse our organs are taking. However, there are 7 ways to notice when your organs aren’t working as well as they should be.
https://www.howfitness.info/7-signs-your-liver-is-in-bad-condition/
Because our organs are inside of us, we can’t exactly observe the abuse our organs are taking. However, there are 7 ways to notice when your organs aren’t working as well as they should be.
https://www.howfitness.info/7-signs-your-liver-is-in-bad-condition/
7 Signs Your Liver is in Bad Condition
howfitness.info
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We Need A Fossil Fuel Primer Because The Media Isn’t Telling Us Enough About Climate Change eg. scientists can prove that CO2 in the atmosphere comes from human activities and which ones
People sometimes declare that the world has always had periods of warming and cooling. So — how do we really be certain that today’s warming is primarily caused by humans? How do we know that putting too much carbon into the atmosphere (CO2) when we burn coal, oil, and gas or cut down forests is really the cause of current global warming trends? According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, we know human activities are driving the increase in CO2 concentrations because atmospheric CO2 contains information about its source.
Carbon from fossil fuels has a distinct “signature” — its composition of heavier and lighter atoms of carbon. The smaller the ratio of heavier to lighter carbon atoms, the higher the proportion of carbon from fossil fuels. Over the years, the ratio of heavy to light carbon atoms has decreased as the overall amount of CO2 has increased. This information tells scientists that fossil fuel emissions are the largest contributor of atmospheric CO2 concentrations since the pre-industrial era.
Interesting also on the economics around the effect of falling demand for fossil fuel from late 202's in that no we won't just have the option to pay more for it, it is worse than that, as the price for fossil fuels will actually fall meaning it is not economically viable to extract, produce, transport and sell = it won't be made available,. Which means we just won't have the choice to use it any longer. The article below is really well worth reading as it also looks at how media is, or is not, covering these issues and for example how often did media covering these issues disclose their ties to the fossil fuel industry.
See https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/18/we-need-a-fossil-fuel-primer-because-the-media-isnt-telling-us-enough-about-climate-change/
#climatechange #media
People sometimes declare that the world has always had periods of warming and cooling. So — how do we really be certain that today’s warming is primarily caused by humans? How do we know that putting too much carbon into the atmosphere (CO2) when we burn coal, oil, and gas or cut down forests is really the cause of current global warming trends? According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, we know human activities are driving the increase in CO2 concentrations because atmospheric CO2 contains information about its source.
Carbon from fossil fuels has a distinct “signature” — its composition of heavier and lighter atoms of carbon. The smaller the ratio of heavier to lighter carbon atoms, the higher the proportion of carbon from fossil fuels. Over the years, the ratio of heavy to light carbon atoms has decreased as the overall amount of CO2 has increased. This information tells scientists that fossil fuel emissions are the largest contributor of atmospheric CO2 concentrations since the pre-industrial era.
Interesting also on the economics around the effect of falling demand for fossil fuel from late 202's in that no we won't just have the option to pay more for it, it is worse than that, as the price for fossil fuels will actually fall meaning it is not economically viable to extract, produce, transport and sell = it won't be made available,. Which means we just won't have the choice to use it any longer. The article below is really well worth reading as it also looks at how media is, or is not, covering these issues and for example how often did media covering these issues disclose their ties to the fossil fuel industry.
See https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/18/we-need-a-fossil-fuel-primer-because-the-media-isnt-telling-us-enough-about-climate-change/
#climatechange #media
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Washington, D.C. (Feb. 19, 2019)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued an interim staff report after multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law—efforts that may be ongoing to this day. The report states:
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”You can now discover over 250 images from the Royal Society’s collections through The Watercolour World, a new geographically indexed website that allows you to explore the world’s history in watercolours via an interactive map. The ambitious aim of the project is to bring together over 80,000 watercolours documenting the world before the invention of the camera, to form an online research archive. Searching your favourite locations will keep you occupied for hours!”
World of watercolours | The Repository | Royal Society
blogs.royalsociety.org
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'Our little brown rat': first climate change-caused mammal extinction https://amp.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/our-little-brown-rat-first-climate-change-caused-mammal-extinction-20190219-p50yry.html -via Flynx
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Mohs Hardness Scale | #Geology #GeologyPage #Mohs
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale that characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material.
Read more : http://www.geologypage.com/2016/04/mohs-hardness-scale.html
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale that characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material.
Read more : http://www.geologypage.com/2016/04/mohs-hardness-scale.html
Mohs Hardness Scale | Geology Page
geologypage.com
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EARTH is ‘wobbling’ partly because of human impact on the planet – causing it to shift more than ten metres in the last century, scientists say.
https://rxscience.org/nasa-observes-wobbling-of-earth-worse-than-ever-happened/
https://rxscience.org/nasa-observes-wobbling-of-earth-worse-than-ever-happened/
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Ever since the dawn of man, we’ve been looking up into the night’s sky and asking questions, searching for answers and only to find more questions. Humans are relentless, we’ll do whatever it takes to answer these questions, including spending tons and tons and tons of cash to take space exploration to the next level, again and again. And damn it, we’ll do it again if need be.
This is an infographic collection of the 10 most expensive space missions ever undertaken.
https://mirrorcrunch.com/top-10-most-expensive-space-missions/
This is an infographic collection of the 10 most expensive space missions ever undertaken.
https://mirrorcrunch.com/top-10-most-expensive-space-missions/
10 Most Expensive Space Missions
mirrorcrunch.com
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Engineers can detect ultra rare proteins in blood using a cellphone camera
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Pan across a starburst galaxy
This video pans over NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of the interacting galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510, about 30 million light-years from Earth. Despite the difference in size, each galaxy gravitationally affects the other. The ring of starburst and the bar in the centre of the large spiral galaxy NGC 1512 are both in part created by the gravity of the much smaller NGC 1510.
The gas and dust in the smaller galaxy have been swirled up by NGC 1512. This kick-started star formation that is even more intense than in the large spiral galaxy. This causes the galaxy to glow with the blue hue that is indicative of hot new stars.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Music: Johan B Monell
https://youtu.be/CZBFm8cICrQ
This video pans over NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of the interacting galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510, about 30 million light-years from Earth. Despite the difference in size, each galaxy gravitationally affects the other. The ring of starburst and the bar in the centre of the large spiral galaxy NGC 1512 are both in part created by the gravity of the much smaller NGC 1510.
The gas and dust in the smaller galaxy have been swirled up by NGC 1512. This kick-started star formation that is even more intense than in the large spiral galaxy. This causes the galaxy to glow with the blue hue that is indicative of hot new stars.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Music: Johan B Monell
https://youtu.be/CZBFm8cICrQ
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Yemeni Nobel Laureate Amazed by Iran FM’s Behaviour
Tawakkol Karman, a female journalist supporting Yemen’s 2011 revolution who delivered a speech at the conference Sunday, said in a Facebook post this week that she was amazed by Zarif’s reactions after she strongly criticized Iran.
Tawakkol Karman, a female journalist supporting Yemen’s 2011 revolution who delivered a speech at the conference Sunday, said in a Facebook post this week that she was amazed by Zarif’s reactions after she strongly criticized Iran.
IFP Editorial Staff
ifpnews.com
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Neanderthal footprints found in Gibraltar | #Geology #GeologyPage
The international journal Quaternary Science Reviews has just published a paper which has involved the participation of Gibraltarian scientists from The Gibraltar National Museum alongside colleagues from Spain, Portugal and Japan.
Read more : http://www.geologypage.com/2019/02/neanderthal-footprints-found-in-gibraltar.html
The international journal Quaternary Science Reviews has just published a paper which has involved the participation of Gibraltarian scientists from The Gibraltar National Museum alongside colleagues from Spain, Portugal and Japan.
Read more : http://www.geologypage.com/2019/02/neanderthal-footprints-found-in-gibraltar.html
Neanderthal footprints found in Gibraltar | Geology Page
geologypage.com
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There are about two trillion galaxies approximately in our entire Universe. From colliding galaxy to interacting galaxy, here is a list of 10 most amazing galaxies in the universe.
https://rxscience.org/10-most-amazing-galaxies-in-the-universe/
https://rxscience.org/10-most-amazing-galaxies-in-the-universe/
10 Most Amazing Galaxies In The Universe
rxscience.org
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Watch ABC News Live
ABC News (Australia)
Started streaming 11 hours ago
This embedding tool is not for use by commercial parties. ABC News Homepage: http://abc.net.au/news Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abcnews Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/abcnews.au Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/abcnews_au Category News & Politics
For more information please visit the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQSwh3bgs5k&feature=player_embedded_uturn
ABC News (Australia)
Started streaming 11 hours ago
This embedding tool is not for use by commercial parties. ABC News Homepage: http://abc.net.au/news Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abcnews Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/abcnews.au Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/abcnews_au Category News & Politics
For more information please visit the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQSwh3bgs5k&feature=player_embedded_uturn
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