Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Winter Skywatching: Spot Some Overlooked Constellations [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
As we are now well into Christmas week, many neighborhoods are marking the holiday season. Streets, homes and stores are decorated in lights and festooned in evergreen, and everywhere, there’s the smiling face of jolly old Saint Nick.
When I was a young boy growing up in the Bronx, one house in our neighborhood was transformed into a veritable twinkling wonderland in December. Its many decorations included a giant Christmas tree spangled with thousands of multicolored bulbs that almost seemed to rival the famous Rockefeller Center tree in Manhattan.
While such an outdoor display was quite unusual, if not unique, half a century ago, it seems that such elaborate displays are far more common today. In fact, in just the last 10 years, the practice of setting up extensive lighting displays has seemingly increased. [Holidays in Space: An Astronaut Photo Album]
But while most visitors gravitate toward such decorated homes to gawk and take pictures, my own primary interests were with the other neighborhood homes that were either across the street or positioned (unfortunately) on either side of the dazzling light show. I always felt kind of sorry for them, because, while they were adorned with their own pretty holiday decorations, none could hope to match their local version of Times Square.
And this is the perfect analogy for our current evening sky, since, at this festive time of year, nature also seems to decorate the sky with bright stars. To see what I mean, just go outside this week and face southeast at around 9 p.m., and you’ll be able to see the celestial version of a house decorated with bright lights and ornaments.
Orion, the mighty hunter
Orion is the constellation that seemingly has everything, and everyone from astronomy neophytes to assiduous amateur astronomers is always drawn to it.
Where else can you find two brilliant stars — ruddy Betelgeuse and blue-white Rigel — that are on diametrically opposite ends of the stellar evolution scale? Let’s also not forget the Hunter’s always-catchy three-star belt and the famous Great Nebula in his sword, known to be an incubator for new stars.
Indeed, all of these spectacular attractions often draw attention away from some of the interesting, albeit dimmer, star patterns that just happen to be in Orion’s immediate vicinity. So, in fairness, let’s check out some of these not-as-flashy constellations, which are still quite interesting in their own right. [Constellations of the Night Sky: Famous Star Patterns Explained (Images)]
The river of heaven
Located due south in the sky at around 10 p.m. is the River Eridanus, a long, curving and meandering stream that shares with the Milky Way the title “River of Heaven.”
Recently, we turned our attention to an unusually close approach to Earth of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Classical legend holds that Phaethon, son of the sun god Helios, fell into the River Eridanus after losing control of his father’s chariot, which carried the sun across the sky.
Eridanus is one of the sky’s long, winding constellations, consisting of a long trail of moderate-to-faint stars. It is nonetheless fun to trace out. Its source lies immediately to the west of Rigel in Orion, with a star called Cursa. Among the river’s long stream of stars is Epsilon Eridani, one of our closest stellar neighbors at a mere 10.7 light-years away from Earth. Back in 1960, Epsilon Eridani, was monitored by Project Ozma, the first-ever effort to detect radio signals from a possible alien civilization.
At the mouth of the river is first-magnitude Achernar, the brightest star in Eridanus. Achernar takes its name from the Arabic “Al Āhir al Nahr,” the “End of the River.” The star is positioned so far south that only those who live near or along the U.S. Gulf Coast can get a glimpse of this object as it pokes a short distance above the horizon.
The leaping hare
Just to the south of Orion and the west of Canis Major (the Big Dog) is a group of faint stars that seem to be arranged in the shape of a bow tie: Lepus, the Hare. Hares and jackrabbits belong to the genus Lepus. And since Orion particularly liked hunting hares, it seemed appropriate to place one below his feet in the sky. The brightest part of Lepus, composed of third- and fourth-magnitude stars, is arranged in a crude rectangle. Most of the other stars are between this group and Orion.
Lepus’ brightest star is called Arneb, which in Arabic means “hare”; it’s a double star whose components are about third- and11th-magnitude. One interesting variable star is labeled R Leporis. It is often placed in the same class as Mira Ceti, the Wonderful Star, because it has an irregular period of roughly 432 days. The English astronomer J.R. Hind first noted R Leporis in October 1845 and described it as “resembling a blood drop on the background of the sky.” [Best Telescopes for Beginners]
Noah’s dove
Below Lepus, we find Columbia, a star pattern not among the original 48 constellations usually attributed to the ancients. It was created by Petrus Plancius, a 16th-century Dutch theologian and cartographer.
In most of the older star atlases, Columbia appears as a dove holding an olive branch in its beak, apparently representing the dove that Noah sent out from the ark after the deluge had subsided, to see if the bird could find dry land — hence the pattern’s original Latin name, “Columba Noachii.” Within Columbia’s boundaries is the place from which the sun and its family of planets are receding in their swift flight toward the constellation Hercules, the “antapex of the sun’s way.”
In 1718, astronomer Edmond Halley (of comet fame) determined that the stars were not “fixed,” but rather moved across the sky in what we call their proper motion. In our winter sky, the sun’s path in space is taking us away from Columba at about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) per second with respect to other nearby stars.
And a unicorn too!
This week, after the moon has set, try to find Monoceros, the Unicorn, in the Milky Way between the dog stars Sirius and Procyon. Jakob Bartsch, Johannes Kepler’s son-in-law, is credited with identifying this star pattern in 1624, but it has been found on a Persian sphere from at least 100 years earlier.
Monoceros is the Latin form of a Greek word meaning “one horned,” and it seems that the mythical unicorn may have been invented as a confused description of a rhinoceros. The head of the Unicorn, or perhaps the tip of its horn, is a cloud of glowing gas popularly called “the Christmas Tree Cluster,” lying between Procyon and Betelgeuse of Orion, 2,600 light-years from Earth.
The brightest star in this nebula, designated S Monocerotis, is a very hot variable star that’s about 214,000 times more luminous than our sun. Astronomers now recognize the youth of this sort of star; probably less than 10 million years have passed since it began to shine. Other stars clustering in this nebula may not be more than 1 million or 2 million years old. They likely are less massive than S Monocerotis and still appear to be contracting gravitationally and therefore have not yet made it to a stable star life.
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Constellations ancient and modern grace the skies year round. Let’s see what you know about the star patterns that appear overhead every night.
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Would you believe a hot dog?
Finally, there is the antithesis of a complex sky pattern, in Canis Minor, the Little Dog. Its brightest star is Procyon, the eighth-brightest star in the sky. It is a yellow-white star, six times as luminous as the sun. Go outside this week and look low to the eastern horizon at around 8:30 p.m. and you’ll readily see it.
The name Procyon has been in use since the days of ancient Greece. It is the equivalent of the Latin word “Antecanis” or “Before the Dog.” This is an allusion to the fact that Procyon rises immediately preceding Sirius and thus heralds the appearance of the great Dog Star.
But there is only one other star in this constellation. Maybe instead of calling it the Little Dog, we should call it the Hot Dog?
In fact, many years ago, in a prerecorded sky show at New York’s Hayden Planetarium, the lecturer on the tape said, “You are somehow expected to see a little dog here, using Procyon and a neighboring star.” A voice in the dark called out, “I see it!” The next line on the tape was, “If you do see a dog here, perhaps you had better see a doctor, too.”
The lecturer’s next few lines were hard to hear over the laughter of the audience.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon Fios1 News, based in Rye Brook, N.Y. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39186-skywatching-overlooked-winter-constellations.html Winter Skywatching: Spot Some Overlooked Constellations
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Winter Skywatching: Spot Some Overlooked ConstellationsNASA Astronauts Share Christmas Memories from Space (Video) [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) share some of their favorite Christmas memories in a new holiday video.
Expedition 54 flight engineer Joe Acaba recalled a family trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean, for a special tropical Christmas.
“We were celebrating my sister-in-law’s 5-year battle against cancer,” Acaba said in the 90-second video, which NASA posted on YouTube Wednesday (Dec. 20). “She’s doing great. There’s nothing better than having the family together, celebrating it together. We love you, Liz!” [Holidays in Space: An Astronaut Photo Album]
Fellow Expedition 54 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei remembered coming downstairs on Christmas morning as a child and being overwhelmed by the number of presents waiting to be opened.
“It looked to me like the whole floor that the Christmas tree was on was full of gifts,” Vande Hei said. “That gave me proof that Santa Claus was real, so I almost got in some fights at school, because people were trying to convince me that Santa Claus wasn’t real.”
As far as favorite Christmas gifts go, Acaba cited a treasured BMX bike, sounding very much like the Southern California kid that he once was: “We would be out, riding through the orange groves, and just having a great time. It was totally cool.”
Vande Hei, by contrast, singled out something that kept him inside for long stretches.
“Gosh, my mom’s going to be disappointed in me for saying this,” he said. “When we got an Atari, I spent way too many hours playing on that thing.”
Six spaceflyers will spend the holidays aboard the orbiting lab this year. In addition to Acaba and Vande Hei, they are NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai, and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Alexander Misurkin (who commands Expedition 54).
ISS crewmembers’ schedules are pretty packed, but this group will definitely celebrate the season, as spaceflyers have for 17 straight years. (The station has been continuously staffed by rotating crews since November 2000.)
“We [already] have a Christmas tree aboard, and there is a new Christmas tree arriving soon,” Shkaplerov told reporters Saturday (Dec. 16), one day before he, Tingle and Kanai launched toward the ISS from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio arrived at the station on Tuesday (Dec. 19).
“We have packages and gifts from our families and friends, and packages on board the ISS labeled to open on Dec. 25 for U.S. crewmembers and Dec. 31 for us from Russia,” Shkaplerov added.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39190-nasa-astronauts-christmas-memories-video.html NASA Astronauts Share Christmas Memories from Space (Video)
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]NASA Astronauts Share Christmas Memories from Space (Video)What to Look For in the 2017 Christmas Sky [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
December is the month of the winter solstice, which a large part of mankind associates with such celebrations as Nativity festivals. The moment of the solstice occurred on Dec. 21 at 11:28 a.m. EST (0428 GMT): The sun, appearing to travel along the ecliptic, reached that point in the sky where it is farthest south of the celestial equator.
While a variety of customs have been linked with this special season for thousands of years, the exchanging of gifts is prevalent among many different cultures. Mother Nature herself offers two gifts to sky observers in northern, temperate latitudes: the longest nights and a sky more transparent than usual. One reason for the clarity of a winter’s night is that cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air can. Hence, on many nights in the summer, the warm, moisture-laden atmosphere causes the sky to appear hazier. By day it is a milky, washed-out blue, which in winter becomes a richer, deeper and darker shade of blue. For us in northern climes, this only adds more luster to that part of the sky containing the beautiful wintertime constellations, as this week’s sky chart shows. Indeed, the sky this time of year can be seen as nature’s holiday decoration to commemorate the winter solstice and enlighten the long, cold nights of winter.
The Yuletide evening sky is especially rewarding. The eastern sky is filled with brilliant stars and star patterns. Distinctive groupings of stars that form part of the recognized constellation outlines, or lying within their boundaries, are known as asterisms. Ranging in size from sprawling, naked-eye figures to minute stellar settings, they are found in every quarter of the sky and at all seasons of the year. The larger asterisms — ones like the Big Dipper in Ursa Major and the Great Square of Pegasus — are often better-known than their host constellations. Here are some of the best asterisms to spot as the year approaches its end. [Best Telescopes for the Money – 2017 Reviews and Guide]
The Northern Cross
During these frosty evenings, one of the most famous asterisms is in the northwest. Originally known simply as the “Bird” in ancient times, without any indication of what sort of bird it was supposed to represent, it later became the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. But the brightest six stars of Cygnus make up an asterism that’s more popularly called the Northern Cross. Bright Deneb decorates the top of the Cross. Albireo, at the foot of the Cross, is really a pair of stars of beautifully contrasting colors: a third-magnitude orange star and its fifth-magnitude blue companion are clearly visible in even a low-power telescope. While it is usually regarded as a summertime pattern, the Cross is best-oriented for viewing now: It appears to stand majestically upright on the northwest horizon at around 8:30 p.m. local time, forming an apt Christmas symbol. Furthermore, just before dawn on Easter morning, that cross lies on its side in the eastern sky.
The Great Hexagon
High toward the south, at around 10:30 p.m. in your local time zone, we see what astronomy author Hans A. Rey (1898 to 1977) called a Great Hexagon of bright winter stars. To the south and a little east lies Sirius; up to the west, Rigel. Still higher, reddish Aldebaran; then at the north end of the circle, Capella. South and slightly east, we come to Castor and Pollux, the heads of the Gemini twins. Finally, south again to Procyon: in all, seven bright stars in six constellations. In the center of the hexagon, more or less, you have the ruddy star Betelgeuse. This is the rich region that gives the winter sky its splendor.
A Christmas package
Can you also see a large package in the sky, tied with a pretty bow across the middle? Four bright stars outline the package, while three that are close together and in a straight line form the decorative bow. Now you can see how our modern imagination might work, but tradition tells us that those seven stars formed a mighty hunter called Orion, the most brilliant of the constellations, which is visible from every inhabited part of Earth. Two stars mark his shoulders, two more his knees and three his belt. Speaking of Orion’s belt, the legendary French astronomer Nicolas Camille Flammarion (1842 to 1925) referred to the three belt stars of Orion as “The Three Kings.” [Space Gifts 2017 – The Best Gift Ideas in the Universe]
Stay warm!
If you plan to be outside for a long period of time on these frosty, cold nights, remember that enjoying the starry winter sky requires protection against the prevailing low temperatures. One of the best garments to wear is a hooded ski parka, which is lightweight yet provides excellent insulation, along with ski pants, which are better than ordinary trousers. And it is also important to remember your feet. While two pairs of warm socks in loose-fitting shoes are often adequate, for protracted observing on bitter-cold nights, wear insulated boots.
And check out the moon
For those who receive a pair of binoculars or a telescope for a holiday gift, Christmas week will offer the best views for observing the moon, one of the most fascinating celestial bodies. In fact, we can see a wealth of detail on its surface even with just a little optical power. Around those times when the moon is half-lit or gibbous phase, those features lying close to the terminator — that variable line between the illuminated portion and the part of the moon in shadow — stand out in sharp, clear relief. In contrast, around the time of full phase, the moon appears flat and one-dimensional as well as dazzling to the eye. The moon will arrive at first-quarter phase on the day after Christmas, Dec. 26 (Boxing Day for our friends in Canada and the United Kingdom) at 4:20 a.m. EST (0920 GMT), when its disk will be exactly 50 percent illuminated. How does its brightness compare at that moment with full? One would think it’s half as bright, but in reality, astronomers tell us that a first-quarter moon is only 1/11th as bright as a full moon. And believe or not, it isn’t until just 2.4 days before full that the moon actually becomes half as bright as full!
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon Fios1 News, based in Rye Brook, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39189-christmas-night-sky-2017-explained.html What to Look For in the 2017 Christmas Sky
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]What to Look For in the 2017 Christmas SkyNew Report Slams Idea of a Missile Defense Shield in Space [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
WASHINGTON — It’s one of those ideas that never really goes away: The deployment of missiles in space to intercept ballistic missiles aimed at the United States and its allies. With North Korea testing ever more advanced nuclear weapons and delivery systems, the push to place interceptors in space is back in the conversation.
Congress is asking the Pentagon to investigate the possibility. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 authorizes the development of a “space-based ballistic missile intercept layer, capable of providing boost-phase defense.”
Don’t do it, warns a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The think tank included space-based missile interceptors as part of its series titled “Bad Ideas in National Security.”
This would be an attempt to resurrect the high-tech missile shield derided with the moniker ‘Brilliant Pebbles’ during the George H.W. Bush administration. The idea somehow has resurfaced after a hibernation period between Republican administrations, wrote Thomas Roberts, program coordinator and research assistant for the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS. [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Concepts Ever]
“Space-based missile interceptors are a bad idea because of their inefficiency and vulnerability,” said Roberts. “Investments in missile defense would be better directed to other, more effective areas.”
From a political standpoint, the consequences of a space-based missile interceptor system would be troubling, Roberts said, as such a system would be seen as overt weaponization of space.
Defending against a missile strike during the boost-phase is generally preferred but it presents the same challenge to space-based interceptors as it does for ground-based ones: having an interceptor close enough to the missile to respond when one is launched, Roberts explained. “The physics of orbital mechanics dictates that only interceptors in low-Earth orbit can reach a target missile in the required response time for a boost phase intercept — about 120 and 170 seconds for solid-and liquid-propelled missiles respectively.”
Satellites in LEO are in constant movement over the surface of the Earth, meaning a large constellation of satellites is needed to ensure at least one is within range of a particular place on Earth at all times, Roberts noted. While satellites in geostationary orbit stay fixed over one area, at an altitude of more than 22,000 miles, they are simply too far away for an interceptor to reach a missile while it’s still in its boost phase.
To defend against multiple missiles being launched at the same time — a salvo attack — several weapons must be within intercept range to provide effective coverage. Having a minimum of one interceptor available to strike a missile would require a constellation of hundreds of space-based interceptors, Roberts argued. Having multiple interceptors in position to defend against multiple missiles would mean thousands of interceptors in orbit. He cited a 2004 study by the American Physical Society suggesting that 1,646 satellites would be required for full-Earth coverage. The cost of such a system is estimated at $67 billion to $109 billion.
One inherent weakness of a space-based missile shield is that the use of even a single interceptor can undermine the effectiveness of the remaining interceptors, Roberts noted. An adversary could both launch a missile to create a gap and later launch a second missile through the gap. Filling gaps in coverage would require back-up interceptors in orbit, waiting to take the place of an expended one, or the ability to launch new interceptors with short notice. These options would require a substantially greater investment than a minimal satellite constellation.
Roberts said space-based interceptors could contribute to the greater missile defense complex by “thinning the herd” in a ballistic missile attack. But the physical constraints inherent to a boost phase intercept from orbit make it an impractical system to defend the United States and its allies. Investments in missile defense, he contends, would be better spent on adding a space-layer for tracking and target discrimination or additional land- and sea-based interceptors. The Outer Space Treaty does not prohibit placing conventional weapons like missile interceptors in space, as it does for nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in general. “But the fact that it is not prohibited does not make it a good idea.”
This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
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https://www.space.com/39188-missile-defense-shield-in-space-report.html New Report Slams Idea of a Missile Defense Shield in Space
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]New Report Slams Idea of a Missile Defense Shield in SpaceWeight loss: Man reveals how to lose belly fat fast after he shed four stone on this diet [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Sharing his before and after weight loss transformation pictures to Imgur, the man explained his story.
Known only as his username ‘Kanto2113’, he revealed he was 5’7”, and had weighed 15 stone four pounds before losing four stone five pounds.
He said: “My best friend sees a personal trainer at a gym that teaches children’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and my daughter started going three days a week. After about a month of sitting and watching her have fun and people around me work out I decided get off my ***.
“My friend pushed his training session back an hour so we could work out together with his weightlifting coach.
“I started counting calories and going to the gym two days a week in late April of 2017.
“I had used MyFitnessPal before in the past, but never with any direction. We set my calorie goal to 2100 calories (with 160g protein) at first and I stepped on the scale at 216lb. I’m 5’7″ and this is the heaviest I have ever been by a dozen or so pounds.”
Going in to detail on his diet, he wrote: “Food wise, I found 1800 calories to be tough at first, but once I started making smart choices, things were pretty easy.
“Eggs for breakfast, a protein bar and some tuna with crackers for lunch and tilapia with stemed veggies and a small amount of rice for dinner. Maybe some yogurt and granola for desert.
“Two days a week and CICO down to 160. I decided at that point that I’m happy with myself physically for the first time in my life, so I started eating more.
“I added 150 calories a day for a week or so, if I still loose, I add 150 more. I have been at 2600 calories for the last week or so and I weighed in 152 lbs this morning.”
Following a CICO plan helped the man lose so much weight, but it was also thanks to working out.
Detailing his fitness plan, he said: “Sessions are an hour long and involve about five min of stretching, jump rope and some activation exercises for 10 min, then about 40 min of lifting and some finishing stretches.
“At first I started doing dumbbell and kettle bell exercises. Renegade rows, lunges, farmers walk, squats, etc… After I lost a few pounds I took my first progress pic at 212.
“After I lost a bit more weight and got a bit stronger I started doing deadlift, barbell squats, bench press and overhead press. I found all of these to be a lot more fun that I ever thought lifting could be.”
Following a CICO diet isn’t the only way to lose dramatic amounts of weight, and another man has revealed how he got in shape.
Sharing his before and after pictures to Reddit, the man explained he achieved his goals by cutting out one particular thing from his diet.
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[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Weight loss: Man reveals how to lose belly fat fast after he shed four stone on this dietMetal Asteroid Psyche Is Ready for an Early Visit from NASA [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Three times further away from the sun than the Earth lies an enormous lump of metal. Around 252km in diameter, the metallic “M-class” asteroid 16 Psyche is the target of NASA’s next mission to the belt of giant rocks that encircles the inner solar system. And the space agency now plans to visit it much sooner than originally planned.
Not only has the launch has been brought forward one year to the summer of 2022, but NASA’s scientists have also found a way to get to Psyche (pronounced SYKe-ee) much faster by taking a more efficient trajectory. The new route means the Psyche spacecraft won’t have to swing around the Earth to build up speed and won’t pass as close to the sun, so it needs less heat protection. It is now due to arrive in 2026, four years earlier than the original timeline.
The main aim of the journey to Psyshe is to gather more information about our own solar system. Psyche is one of many wandering members of the asteroid belt. Unlike the rest of its rocky neighbours, Psyche appears to be entirely made of nickel and iron, just like the Earth’s core. This, together with its size, has led to the theory that it might be the remains of the inside of a planet.
Asteroids are made up of primitive materials, leftovers from the dust cloud from which our solar system originated. Different types of asteroids resemble the various steps it took to form planets from this dust cloud. This means they reveal a lot about the origin and evolution of our solar system. Scientists think Psyche could be what’s left of an exposed metal core of a planet very similar to Earth.
We actually derive much of our knowledge about asteroids and the evolution of planets from the study of meteorites. Many asteroids and comets are primitive protoplanetary bodies accumulated from the same dust cloud our solar system originates from. As these protoplanetary bodies collide, gravity pulls them together into ever-larger bodies. Eventually these bodies become big and hot enough to partially melt, allowing heavy materials such as iron to sink to the core – and lighter material such as silicon to rise to the surface.
This process, known as differentiation, explains why Earth and other planets such as Mercury, Venus or Mars have an iron core and silicon-rich mantle and crust. The 16 Psyche asteroid is thought to be the leftover iron core of a planet stripped of its mantle in a giant collision.
But many questions regarding the formation of Psyche remain. How do you strip a planet of its mantle only leaving the core? Perhaps there is an alternative formation mechanism of an iron-rich body that does not involve differentiation? Psyche may once have been molten and, if so, did it cool from the inside out or from its surface to the core?
Also, Earth’s magnetic field comes from a liquid outer core circling around a solid inner core. Did these processes occur on Psyche and create a magnetic field? What elements other than iron accumulate in a core? And how does the surface geology of an iron body look compared to a rocky or icy body?
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Asteroid Basics: A Space Rock Quiz
Asteroids are fascinating for lots of reasons. They contain a variety of valuable resources and slam into our planet on a regular basis, occasionally snuffing out most of Earth’s lifeforms. How much do you know about space rocks?
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Avoiding collisions
There are other reasons for visiting asteroids. For one thing, possible collisions with Earth can have devastating effects. The impact of an 15km-wide asteroid approximately 65m years ago is linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs. And the explosion of the 30m-diameter Chelyabinsk asteroid over Russia in 2013 led to injuries and damage on the ground. We need to know as much as possible about the composition and physical make-up of asteroids to devise the best ways to defend our planet.
Asteroids also provide resources. Those containing water or other valuable materials may act as stepping stones for human exploration of the solar system. And asteroids crossing Earth’s orbit may become convenient targets for mining operations, providing materials that are running out on Earth and potentially taking environmentally detrimental extraction methods off Earth. Companies including Planetary Resources and countries like Luxembourg have already started to pursue these ideas in earnest.
The Psyche spacecraft will carry four instruments to gather as much information about the asteroid as it can: a camera, a gamma-ray spectrometer to record what chemical elements are there, a magnetometer, and a radio gravity experiment. The data these devices collect should help us work out if Psyche is the frozen core of a former planet or simply a lump of unmelted metal. If it is a core, then it might help us determine exactly what’s at the centre of our own planet.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the lead scientist of the mission, probably summarised it best: “We learn about inner space by visiting outer space”.
Christian Schroeder, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Planetary Exploration, University of Stirling
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39142-metal-asteroid-psyche-early-nasa-visit.html Metal Asteroid Psyche Is Ready for an Early Visit from NASA
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Metal Asteroid Psyche Is Ready for an Early Visit from NASAPost Christmas detox: Five cheap and easy ways to give your body a diet overhaul [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
You don’t have to check yourself into a spa or invest in a special programme to undergo a detox diet.
There are a variety of food and drinks you can have, available from your local supermarket, or quick and easy lifestyle changes you can make which will not only save you money but help you feel refreshed.
Here are five cheap and easy ways to give your body a diet overhaul.
Drink hot water with the juice of half a lemon
Lemon juice can help aid digestion – it stimulates the liver helping good move through your body more smoothly. It’s also been found to relieve indigestion and improve your body’s nutrient absorption.
Drink lots of water
The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine recommends a certain amount of fluid to help your body function properly and remove waste.
If you are female, the recommendation is 2.7 litres daily and for a mean it is at least 3.7 litres. Don’t drink this all at once though, drink a steady supply throughout the day.
Drink apple cider vinegar
Apple cider vinegar gives the body a good dose of enzymes, helps with weight control, supports a healthy immune system and soothes skin and helps to keep it healthy, according to Health Line.
Take ginger
A study published in the September 2006 issues of Phytotherapy Research used rats and mice to confirm that ginger reduces inflammation, soothes pain and help regulate blood sugar. A popular way to take ginger is drinking ginger and lemon tea.
Exercise
According to Health Guidance, exercise helps with the body’s detoxification process as it keeps the body moving and speeds up blood circulation.
The body’s response every time we engage in exercise is to take in enough oxygen. Oxygen is essential to make our cells function, and can also remove toxins doing so.
Are you also looking to lose weight in the new year?
Diet plans that help you lose weight and get rid of belly fat can have a tendency to also leave those who follow them hungry, but a new regime promises to keep dieters satisfied.
Weight Watchers is one of the most popular ways to lose weight around the world, and they have recently introduced a new plan, the Flex programme.
Find out more about the Weight Watchers Flex programme here.
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https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/diets/896648/post-Christmas-detox-how-to-diet-weight-loss Post Christmas detox: Five cheap and easy ways to give your body a diet overhaul
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Post Christmas detox: Five cheap and easy ways to give your body a diet overhaulWeight loss: New diet plan will help you lose belly fat without feeling hungry [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Weight Watchers is one of the most popular ways to lose weight around the world, and they have recently introduced a new plan, the Flex programme.
Calling it their “most flexible and liveable programme ever”, Flex allows followers to eat a varied diet suited to their needs.
Clinical trials showed WW Flex produced better weight loss results among participants than in clinical trials of previous Weight Watchers programmes.
Speaking about the plan, Zoe Griffiths, Head of Programme and Public Health at Weight Watchers, said: “The Weight Watchers programme is always based on the latest nutritional, activity and psychological science and current health guidelines.
“WW Flex expands our range of zero Points foods to guide members toward a healthier pattern of eating. It offers the freedom and flexibility they need to make significant lifestyle changes that have positive benefits beyond just weight loss.
“The results are the best we’ve ever seen for a Weight Watchers programme in a clinical trial.”
A new cookbook has been released with recipe suggestions and meal planners to make it easy for dieters to follow.
Example dishes include honey roast salmon, mini fritters, and Indian-style chicken – and Express.co.uk has a recipe to get you started on your weight loss journey.
Kale, pancetta and poached eggs
Serves four. Prep time: 15 minutes, cook time: 20 minutes. Three SmartPoints per serving.
Ingredients
8 slices pancetta
125g shredded kale
3 shallots, finely chopped
1⁄2 cucumber, diced
1⁄2 teaspoon English mustard powder 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
11⁄2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
4 large eggs
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Put the pancetta on the prepared baking sheet, then cook for 8-12 minutes until golden. Transfer to a plate to cool and crisp up, then break it into pieces.
Blanch the kale in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Combine the kale, shallots and cucumber in a large bowl and set aside. Put the mustard powder in a small bowl and stir in the oil to make a smooth paste. Whisk in the cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon water, then stir in the mustard seeds and set aside.
Bring a large pan of water to a gentle simmer and add the white wine vinegar. Poach the eggs, one at a time, in the simmering water for 3 minutes until set, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. When all the eggs are cooked, remove the pan from the heat and return all 4 eggs to the water for 15 seconds to warm through.
Dress the kale salad with the mustard dressing, then divide it between 4 plates. Top with a poached egg and serve topped with the pancetta pieces.
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https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/diets/896554/weight-loss-weight-watchers-flex-recipes Weight loss: New diet plan will help you lose belly fat without feeling hungry
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Weight loss: New diet plan will help you lose belly fat without feeling hungryAstronauts Just Watched ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ in Space! [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Space Station movie night, complete with “bungee cord chairs”, drink bags, and a science fiction flick! pic.twitter.com/IPZ2thI8rw
— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) December 24, 2017
It’s official: “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is truly out of this world.
This photo from NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei captures movie night on the International Space Station astronauts and cosmonauts enjoy “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”
“Space Station movie night, complete with “bungee cord chairs’, drink bags, and a science fiction flick!” Vande Hei wrote on Twitter.
While Vande Hei didn’t mention “The Last Jedi” by name, you can clearly see the image of X-wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on the station’s big screen. [The Greatest “Star Wars” Villains Ever]
Earlier this month, NASA officials confirmed that the space station crew would be able to watch the new “Star Wars” film on a projection screen, but didn’t give a set time for the showing. The station has the screen and a high-definition video projector onboard for their movie night enjoyment.
It looks like the station crew waited until a recent crew change was complete to enjoy the film.
On Dec. 14, the day before “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opened in theaters nationwide, three station crewmembers — NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy — returned to Earth to end a 139-day space mission. They left behind NASA astronauts Joe Acaba, Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin, who remained aboard the space station as its Expedition 54 crew.
Then, on Dec. 17, three new crewmembers — NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai — launched to the space station. They arrived two days later.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39201-star-wars-the-last-jedi-astronauts-space-movie-night.html Astronauts Just Watched 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' in Space!
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Astronauts Just Watched ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ in Space!Weight loss: Man reveals diet that helped him lose four stone of fat in one year [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Sharing a before and after transformation picture to Imgur, the 6’2” man explained he started out at 17 stone five pounds.
But he managed to slim down to 13 stone two pounds thanks to overhauling his diet.
Explaining his background Imgur, user ‘thatbeardedfella’ wrote: “Okay so I had always been kind of chubby when growing up, but I rollerbladed a lot to stay remotely in shape.
“When I started working 50+ hours a week and stopped rollerblading, I started to gain weight.
“Eventually I decided I wanted to get fit, so I started weight lifting. for about two years I lifted while on a very strict diet of eat whatever the hell I felt like.
“Finally, I found that I was strong, but fat. Had muscles that worked well, but you couldn’t see them from behind the layer of fat quilted over them.”
He then went on to detail how he finally lost the weight, and said: “So I went on an outrageously strict diet and lost 35 pounds in about four months.
“From then I just changed my eating habits (moving to Japan helped), and have continued to lose weight. Still not where I would like to be, and that is okay, because beer.”
He concluded by joking: “Moral of the story, lifting weights makes you fat. Dieting correctly does not.”
His post attracted hundreds of views and comments with further questions on his weight loss and also congratulations on his success.
He is not the only man to share hiis incredible weight loss story on social media. Another man cut one food from his diet and stripped his belly fat fast.
Known only as his username ‘Pievo’, the man revealed he started out weighing 24 stone five pounds.
But in just ten months, he managed to get down to 15 stone nine pounds.
Explaining how he did it, he wrote: “Gave up the booze! Gym twice a day (cardio and strength training) nearly every day.
“Never skip leg days. Meal planning every week. Plenty of water.”
But despite his impressive transformation so far, the man said he was not finished.
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https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/diets/896058/weight-loss-diet-exercise-before-after-pictures Weight loss: Man reveals diet that helped him lose four stone of fat in one year
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Weight loss: Man reveals diet that helped him lose four stone of fat in one yearTuesday, January 30, 2018
‘Game of Thrones’ Climate Simulator Explains Crazy Weather of Westeros [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
If you’ve ever wondered what kind of weather Jon Snow faces as he fights against White Walkers in the hit television fantasy series “Game of Thrones,” the conditions are about the same as they are in Fairbanks, Alaska, according to a new climate simulation of the fictitious realm. Plus, dragons scorching up Westeros could further destabilize The Wall through global warming.
Thanks to the fantastic imaginations of three real researchers in the United Kingdom, a new paper purports to come from two beloved characters — scholarly-apprentice Samwell Tarly and former-wildling Gilly — who create a new climate simulation of their planet after digging through ancient manuscripts.
Climate simulations are modeled after basic physical principles, so scientists can use those techniques to model worlds other than Earth, including that worlds’ hypothetical weather and seasons. [Aidan Gillen, Littlefinger on ‘Game of Thrones,’ Stars in Comet Video]
Traced the map from the library (including mountains and hills), put the city of Qarth on the equator (see reference below), and made up some continents outside the Known Earth, to create a map of the world – first step complete to make the #GameOfThrones climate model! pic.twitter.com/db133gEkK0
— Samwell Tarly (@ClimateSamwell) December 3, 2017
“Because climate models are based on fundamental scientific processes, they are able not only to simulate the climate of the modern Earth, but can also be easily adapted to simulate any planet, real or imagined, so long as the underlying continental positions and heights, and ocean depths are known,” Dan Lunt, a researcher at the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol, said in a statement. Lunt is one of the real authors of the study.
George R.R. Martin, who wrote the series of books that “Game of Thrones” is based on, has provided many details about the continents Westeros and Essos in his books, which helped Lunt and his fellow researchers create the groundwork for an accurate study. One helpful detail was that the great trading city of Qarth was well-known as the center of the world, helping the team to locate an equator for the planet that would pass over the city
While much of the “Game of Thrones” climate seems similar to climates found on Earth, one of the most important fantasy elements within the story is that the seasons last years, not just a few months. So Lunt’s group adjusted the model to account for a periodical sway in the tilt of the planet’s axis that would allow the seasons to run longer. (Unlike in the “Game of Thrones” world, seasons on Earth last just a few months because the tilt of the planet’s axis remains, for the most part, constant.)
Just working on my paper (soon to appear in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of King’s Landing). Here is a figure illustrating the theory to explain the climate of #GameofThrones . (a) is the ‘real’ Earth; (b) is Westeros. pic.twitter.com/m49L5YJAYK
— Samwell Tarly (@ClimateSamwell) December 13, 2017
And as for the navigational stars that keep their positions in the night sky, guiding Essos traders year-round despite the planetary wobble causing long seasons? Well, the study blames it on Melisandre and the magic of the Lord of Light. I mean, if Jon Snow could be brought back from the dead and if the sorceress can appear young despite being quite old, surely she knows something about warping space-time.
While the researchers certainly produced the lengthy study as fans, the out-of-the-ordinary simulation has important implications for the science behind climate study. [See the Effects of Climate Change Across Earth (Video)]
“This work is a bit of fun, but it does have a serious side,” Carrie Lear, a researcher at Cardiff University who was also involved with the work, said in the statement. “Climate models simulate real physical processes which operate in both cooling and warming climates. Scientists working on [projects such as] the SWEET project are using exciting novel techniques to reconstruct the climate of super-warm states of Earth’s past.”
Scientists (@ClimateSamwell) have used a Climate Model to simulate and understand the climate of the world of #GameofThrones. Results described in a scientific paper:https://t.co/IdYxcJjWU2
Among other findings, The Wall has a climate in winter similar to that of Lapland! pic.twitter.com/8p0y5iIpRr— Samwell Tarly (@ClimateSamwell) December 20, 2017
The climate simulator ultimately yielded some interesting and nerd-worthy results. The hot-blooded members of the Martell family, for example, were definitely worthy of their sand snake nicknames: They enjoyed warm weather even in winter, with temperatures in their native Dorne reaching as high as 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The paper’s listed author, “Samwell Tarly,” also said he found helpful information for the Night’s Watch, which is what incentivized him to travel to the Citadel, the location of the manuscripts, in the television storyline. “In summer, only the high altitude [mountains] beyond The Wall remain below freezing (a potential hibernation zone for the White Walkers in summer — must remember to let the Lord Commander know)…” The study also found that Casterly Rock, the stronghold for the frequently villainous Lannister family, has a climate that’s similar to Houston’s.
Dragon breath might escalate global warming, too. “A doubling of carbon dioxide could result in a sea level rise of about 10 meters (32 feet) in the long term, surely enough to inundate parts of coastal cities (including King’s Landing), towns and villages, with resulting social unrest and instability, and possibly (even more) wars and deaths,” stated Tarly.
“As such,” Tarly said, “as a climate scientist, I strongly encourage all the Kingdoms of our planet to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide, and seek alternative ‘renewable’ energy (such as windmills).”
Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39182-game-of-thrones-climate-simulation-weather.html 'Game of Thrones' Climate Simulator Explains Crazy Weather of Westeros
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]‘Game of Thrones’ Climate Simulator Explains Crazy Weather of WesterosChristmas weight gain: Greedy Brits will put on THIS much between Christmas and New Year [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Research by Discount Supplements, an online retailer of health and fitness products, found that the average Christmas dinner of turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, gravy and assorted veg contains 1,992 calories.
That is just eight calories less than the average recommended daily calorie intake for women and just 508 calories less than men are recommended to scoff in an entire day.
The study found that Brits as a whole – a total of 52m adults – will pile on a massive 20 million stone, that’s just over 5lb each, between December 25 and January 1 as they tuck into treats, sweets and booze.
That’s the equivalent of just under 10,000 double decker buses.
The research also found that to burn off the average Christmas dinner, Brits need to run 18 miles without stopping.
Jon Hawkins, a personal trainer at Discount Supplements, said: “People need to realise that they risk their health and well-being.
“Too much alcohol, fatty foods and not enough exercise, especially for those working office jobs can lead to long term health issues.“
He added: “Over Christmas, both our eating habits and our attitudes towards food tend to change.
“Many of us use the excuse that because Christmas is a time to kick back, we’re given the green light to over indulge on food and drink.”
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https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/diets/894351/christmas-meal-weight-gain-new-years-resolution-weight-loss-tips Christmas weight gain: Greedy Brits will put on THIS much between Christmas and New Year
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Christmas weight gain: Greedy Brits will put on THIS much between Christmas and New YearUnidentified Object Sighting by Navy Pilots Left 1 ‘Pretty Weirded Out’ [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
“What people sometimes don’t get about science is that we often have phenomena that remain unexplained,” said an astrophysicist at MIT https://t.co/Z8UdjWmVCg
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 18, 2017
The U.S. Defense Department had a secret program to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects – in which former Navy pilots say they had a stunning encounter with a UFO in 2004.
The New York Times tells of the mission of Cmdr. David Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Jim Slaight, who were on training over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. They got a strange call from a radio operator. The military had been tracking strange aircraft in the region for about two weeks, the operator said. Sometimes these flying objects made sudden maneuvers, dove tens of thousands of feet, or even hovered.
Asked to investigate, Fravor and Slaight eventually spotted one – hovering 50 feet above the ocean and about 40 feet long, the newspaper says. (Fraser added that it appeared the object was causing a sort of boiling in the ocean, as the rest of the water looked calm.) [10 Alien Encounters Debunked]
Fraser descended, the object ascended to meet him, and then it veered suddenly. “It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen,: he said an interview with the Times, adding he was “pretty weirded out.” A few minutes later, the object disappeared.
Fravor returned to his carrier ship, where people mocked him for what he saw, he said to the Times. His superiors didn’t look into the matter, and Fravor moved on to other things in his career – such as serving in the Persian Gulf as air support during the Iraq war.
Fravor’s account includes a video – one of several that were recorded as a part of the program. The video shows a small object skirting from side to side and circling in view of the camera. The Times added that observers also underwent tests after their “encounters” to see how the experience affected them.
“I can tell you, I think it was not from this world,” Fravor added in a separate interview with ABC News. “I’m not crazy, haven’t been drinking. It was – after 18 years of flying, I’ve seen pretty much about everything that I can see in that realm, and this was nothing close.”
The news comes amid news that the U.S. government has been searching for UFOs, in secret, since at least 2007. While the defense department says that the program shut down in 2012 due to a lack of funding, the Times further reported that this program is still active.
The program was called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and had an annual budget of $22 million between 2008 and 2011. (By contrast, the budget of NASA as a whole was roughly $18.4 billion in fiscal 2011.)
This isn’t the first time that the government has looked into accounts of mysterious objects. In 2016, the Central Intelligence Agency released many previously classified documents that talked about unusual incidents, most of them in the 1950s.
While the scientific evidence on UFOs is inconclusive, many people still want to believe. A 2012 survey said that an estimated 80 million people in the U.S. believe in UFOs. Further, 1 in 10 respondents said they had seen UFOs for themselves.
In the Times interview, Fravor added that shortly after his encounter, he spoke with another pilot about what he saw. He told the pilot he had no idea. “It had no plumes, wings or rotors and outran our F-18s,” he told the Times, adding, “I want to fly one.”
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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https://www.space.com/39147-navy-pilots-ufo-sightings.html Unidentified Object Sighting by Navy Pilots Left 1 'Pretty Weirded Out'
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Unidentified Object Sighting by Navy Pilots Left 1 ‘Pretty Weirded Out’Oddball Object Tumbling Among the Stars Could Disrupt Planetary Science [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Our solar system’s first-known visitor from another star, the recently discovered object called ‘Oumuamua, could be a bonanza for researchers. With only a brief window of time to observe the cigar-shaped wanderer before it zooms beyond the reach of our best telescopes, astronomers have crammed in observations with the hopes of learning more about this interstellar interloper. Not only is the fast-moving object intriguing in its own right; it may also provide insights about how planetary systems evolve.
‘Oumuamua caught the eyes of astronomers on October 19 this year. Calculations revealed the space rock was traveling at 26 kilometers per second relative to the sun, a rapid clip that along with its extremely elongated orbital trajectory suggested it came from outside the solar system. Telescopes swiftly targeted the object, with most researchers expecting to see a cometary tail trailing from an icy visitor as it approached the sun. But to their surprise, ‘Oumuamua showed none. Instead, it looked more like an asteroid. “It does not a resemble a comet—it had no tail whatsoever,” says Karen Meech, who studies comets at the University of Hawai’i at Mnoa. Meech used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories to examine the mysteriously inert space tourist.
Asteroid or comet—why does it matter? The answer ties into our understanding of how planetary systems grow over time in their natal “protoplanetary” disks around young stars. Newborn giant planets can jostle one another, using their gravity to push each other around. They also lord their size over their smaller neighboring worlds—and especially over the kilometer-scale objects called “planetesimals” left behind as debris from the planet-forming process. When a giant planet throws its weight around, more than half of these planetesimals can wind up hurled from the system. Because most of a typical protoplanetary disk is icy—in 2016 Meech used solar system observations to estimate there were as many as 10,000 icy objects for every rocky object—icy objects should dominate the ejecta.
Location also makes a difference in what gets thrown out. Most gas giants lie on the other side of the “snow line,” a demarcation in a protoplanetary disk where its composition shifts from mostly rock to mostly ice. Objects on the star side are baked dry by starlight and thus predominantly rocky whereas objects on the darker outer side are colder and tend to retain more ice. In our solar system the snow line lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and astronomers believe that distance is roughly where it started out for other sunlike stars. As outlying gas giants shift their orbits, they become more likely to interact with nearby ices than the more distant rocky material closer-in to the star, adding fuel to the idea that most of the interstellar visitors we observe should be icy—including ‘Oumuamua.
“The population of planetesimals floating in space should be dominated by comets, not by asteroids,” says Sean Raymond, an astronomer at the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux in France who models the early solar system. In a recent paper Raymond argues the extrasolar visitor is more like a defunct comet than an asteroid, based on how the exoplanets we’ve observed so far are laid out. “It’s kind of weird that this object ‘Oumuamua doesn’t have any signs of activity.”
‘Oumuamua’s oddball spin could be related to its origins as well. According to new research posted on the preprint server arXiv.org, the visitor is tumbling willy-nilly rather than smoothly rotating on its axis. The researchers, who declined to comment due to embargo concerns, state in their paper “1I/’Oumuamua was likely set tumbling within its parent planetary system, and will remain tumbling well after it has left ours.” ‘Oumuamua’s motion, they speculate, could be due to a long-ago collision with another body or the extreme tidal torqueing it may have experienced during its ejection from its parent planetary system. Alternatively, its spin could come from the jetlike outgassing of icy material vaporizing in sunlight—the process that creates a cometary tail.
But, again, the object did not appear to sprout a tail when it closely approached our sun. If indeed ‘Oumuamua is an icy body, how did it avoid growing a cometary tail? David Jewitt, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angles, suspects any ice might be buried under a layer of material damaged by the charged particles known as cosmic rays that bombarded ‘Oumuamua while it traveled through space. “The prolonged exposure will toast the surface,” forming a protective crust, he says.
A crust of only half a meter could be enough to shield the ice, Jewitt adds. He calculated how heat could have moved through the object, using solar system analogues because its surface composition is unknown, and found it would not make it very far. “You’d only have to go a meter or two into the surface,” he says, “to reach the ‘interstellar temperature,'”—which is only a few degrees above absolute zero.
Not everyone thinks ‘Oumuamua could be a crusty comet. “I would not expect that volatiles would be sealed up in any particular way,” Meech notes. David Trilling, who studies asteroids at Northern Arizona University, says that although it is possible to strongly irradiate primitive material in the solar system, “it’s not obvious that you can get that irradiated goop on an interstellar object.”
Unfortunately, we are unlikely to ever know what materials comprise ‘Oumuamua because it is moving far too fast on its way out of the solar system for us to have a realistic chance of catching up to it with even our speediest spacecraft. But it left astronomers excited about the next one; they anticipate spotting about one interstellar visitor a year in the near future. If those objects all wind up being rocky, that could mean bad news for our understanding of planet formation. “If the first 10 [objects] were all rocky, then it would mean we’re really off on something important,” Raymond says. Most likely, it would mean the rocky material makes up a far larger portion of the natal disks than expected by the models. “We’d have to be way off on where planetesimals form,” he says.
In a separate paper U.C. Santa Cruz astrophysicist Greg Laughlin estimates that an abundance of rocky interstellar voyagers would require about 200 Earth-masses of debris to be ejected from every planet-hosting star, rather than the 10 Earth-masses current models call for. “It just doesn’t really work,” he says. “It’s just a little too much to ask for.”
If ‘Oumuamua is icy, Laughlin thinks it has important implications for Neptune-size worlds in the outer reaches of other planetary systems, which have been a challenge to observe. Because distant Jupiter-size worlds are only found around roughly one out of every 10 stars, he thinks the ejection of ‘Oumuamua-like objects might need a boost from an as-yet-undiscovered population of icy Neptune-like worlds in Jupiter-free systems.
For now, scientists are waiting for the more tourists from other solar systems to visit—hopefully streaming long tails behind them. “It’s not hopeless,” Jewitt says. “We just have to wait for the next 10 or so to be discovered. If none look like a comet, that would be interesting. It would tell us a little more than just seeing one object.”
This article was first published at ScientificAmerican.com. © ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
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https://www.space.com/39141-oddball-interstellaar-object-oumuamua-planetary-science.html Oddball Object Tumbling Among the Stars Could Disrupt Planetary Science
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Oddball Object Tumbling Among the Stars Could Disrupt Planetary ScienceWeight loss: Simple diet TRICK scientifically proven to boost slimming results [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Weight loss is mostly a case of eating the right foods and taking moderate exercise.
But there are other diet tricks slimmers can try which could increase the chances of weight loss success.
Research has found what dieters are eating and the exercise they are doing is not the be all and end all.
In fact, modern technology may be the answer to losing weight.
A study from the University of California found sharing the ups and downs of a weight loss journey helped with losing weight.
The study titled ‘Weight Loss Through Virtual Support Communities: A Role for Identity-based Motivation in Public Commitment’, examined the role of virtual communities and public commitment to setting and reaching weight loss goals.
Tonya Williams Bradford, study co-author, wrote: “Our research finds that individuals are more likely to realise success with personal goals when they make a public commitment to attaining them.
“By sharing success and setbacks in virtual support communities on social media, we found people are achieving better results. This works especially well with goals like weight loss, where before and after images can be shared online with other community members.”
Researchers followed two groups of people on weight loss journeys – those who had undergone surgery to lose weight and those who had not.
As part of their programmes, members of both weight loss groups used virtual support communities such as ObesityHelp.com and WeightWatchers.com.
Bradford explained: “Through our research, we found public commitment, which is a declaration of a position, increases the likelihood of compliance to a course of action and is a key part of a successful weight loss plan.”
The research also discovered virtual support communities offer a unique angle as they allow members anonymity, accessibility, availability and crucially, flexibility in how they represent their progress.
Bradford explained it is the process of building a community, and the reaching similar goals that helps keep participants motivated and accountable.
Sharing images and stories online does not have to be done through a website set up specifically for the purpose, with many people turning to social media sites such as Imgur to update their progress.
One man revealed online how he lost belly fat and got incredible abs.
The man revealed he was 5’8” and had weighed 14 stone six pounds before he started. But 11 months on, he was down to 13 stone and two pounds, as well as sporting an impressive set of abs.
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[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Weight loss: Simple diet TRICK scientifically proven to boost slimming resultsWhat is Astrophysics? [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Astrophysics is a branch of space science that applies the laws of physics and chemistry to explain the birth, life and death of stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae and other objects in the universe. It has two sibling sciences, astronomy and cosmology, and the lines between them blur.
In the most rigid sense:
- Astronomy measures positions, luminosities, motions and other characteristics
- Astrophysics creates physical theories of small to medium-size structures in the universe
- Cosmology does this for the largest structures, and the universe as a whole.
In practice, the three professions form a tight-knit family. Ask for the position of a nebula or what kind of light it emits, and the astronomer might answer first. Ask what the nebula is made of and how it formed and the astrophysicist will pipe up. Ask how the data fit with the formation of the universe, and the cosmologist would probably jump in. But watch out — for any of these questions, two or three may start talking at once!
Goals of astrophysics
Astrophysicists seek to understand the universe and our place in it. At NASA, the goals of astrophysics are “to discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars,” according NASA’s website.
NASA states that those goals produce three broad questions:
- How does the universe work?
- How did we get here?
- Are we alone?
It began with Newton
While astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, theoretical astrophysics began with Isaac Newton. Prior to Newton, astronomers described the motions of heavenly bodies using complex mathematical models without a physical basis. Newton showed that a single theory simultaneously explains the orbits of moons and planets in space and the trajectory of a cannonball on Earth. This added to the body of evidence for the (then) startling conclusion that the heavens and Earth are subject to the same physical laws.
Perhaps what most completely separated Newton’s model from previous ones is that it is predictive as well as descriptive. Based on aberrations in the orbit of Uranus, astronomers predicted the position of a new planet, which was then observed and named Neptune. Being predictive as well as descriptive is the sign of a mature science, and astrophysics is in this category.
Milestones in astrophysics
Because the only way we interact with distant objects is by observing the radiation they emit, much of astrophysics has to do with deducing theories that explain the mechanisms that produce this radiation, and provide ideas for how to extract the most information from it. The first ideas about the nature of stars emerged in the mid-19th century from the blossoming science of spectral analysis, which means observing the specific frequencies of light that particular substances absorb and emit when heated. Spectral analysis remains essential to the triumvirate of space sciences, both guiding and testing new theories.
Early spectroscopy provided the first evidence that stars contain substances also present on Earth. Spectroscopy revealed that some nebulae are purely gaseous, while some contain stars. This later helped cement the idea that some nebulae were not nebulae at all — they were other galaxies!
In the early 1920s, Cecilia Payne discovered, using spectroscopy, that stars are predominantly hydrogen (at least until their old age). The spectra of stars also allowed astrophysicists to determine the speed at which they move toward or away from Earth. Just like the sound a vehicle emits is different moving toward us or away from us, because of the Doppler shift, the spectra of stars will change in the same way. In the 1930s, by combining the Doppler shift and Einstein’s theory of general relativity, Edwin Hubble provided solid evidence that the universe is expanding. This is also predicted by Einstein’s theory, and together form the basis of the Big Bang Theory.
Also in the mid-19th century, the physicists Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) and Gustav Von Helmholtz speculated that gravitational collapse could power the sun, but eventually realized that energy produced this way would only last 100,000 years. Fifty years later, Einstein’s famous E=mc2 equation gave astrophysicists the first clue to what the true source of energy might be (although it turns out that gravitational collapse does play an important role). As nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and particle physics grew in the first half of the 20th century, it became possible to formulate theories for how nuclear fusion could power stars. These theories describe how stars form, live and die, and successfully explain the observed distribution of types of stars, their spectra, luminosities, ages and other features.
Astrophysics is the physics of stars and other distant bodies in the universe, but it also hits close to home. According to the Big Bang Theory, the first stars were almost entirely hydrogen. The nuclear fusion process that energizes them smashes together hydrogen atoms to form the heavier element helium. In 1957, the husband-and-wife astronomer team of Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, along with physicists William Alfred Fowler and Fred Hoyle, showed how, as stars age, they produce heavier and heavier elements, which they pass on to later generations of stars in ever-greater quantities. It is only in the final stages of the lives of more recent stars that the elements making up the Earth, such as iron (32.1 percent), oxygen (30.1 percent), silicon (15.1 percent), are produced. Another of these elements is carbon, which together with oxygen, make up the bulk of the mass of all living things, including us. Thus, astrophysics tells us that, while we are not all stars, we are all stardust.
Astrophysics as a career
Becoming an astrophysicist requires years of observation, training and work. But you can start becoming involved in a small way even in elementary and high school, by joining astronomy clubs, attending local astronomy events, taking free online courses in astronomy and astrophysics, and keeping up with news in the field on a website such as Space.com.
In college, students should aim to (eventually) complete a doctorate in astrophysics, and then take on a post-doctoral position in astrophysics. Astrophysicists can work for the government, university labs and, occasionally, private organizations.
Study.com further recommends the following steps to put you on the path to being an astrophysicist:
Take math and science classes all through high school. Make sure to take a wide variety of science classes. Astronomy and astrophysics often blend elements of biology, chemistry and other sciences to better understand phenomena in the universe. Also keep an eye out for any summer jobs or internships in math or science. Even volunteer work can help bolster your resume.
Pursue a math- or science-related bachelor’s degree. While a bachelor in astrophysics is the ideal, there are many other paths to that field. You can do undergraduate study in computer science, for example, which is important to help you analyze data. It’s best to speak to your high school guidance counselor or local university to find out what degree programs will help you.
Take on research opportunities. Many universities have labs in which students participate in discoveries — and sometimes even get published. Agencies such as NASA also offer internships from time to time.
Finish a doctorate in astrophysics. A Ph.D. is a long haul, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics points out that most astrophysicists do have a doctoral degree. Make sure to include courses in astronomy, computer science, mathematics, physics and statistics to have a wide base of knowledge.
Natalie Hinkel, a planetary astrophysicist who was then at Arizona State University, gave a lengthy interview with Lifehacker in 2015 that provided a glimpse into the rewards and challenges of being a junior astrophysics researcher. She described the long number of years she has put into doing her research, the frequent job switches, her work hours and what it’s like to be a woman in a competitive field. She also had an interesting insight about what she actually did day to day. Very little of her time is spent at the telescope.
“I spend the vast majority of my time programming. Most people assume that astronomers spend all of their time at telescopes, but that’s only a very small fraction of the job, if at all. I do some observations, but in the past few years I’ve only been observing twice for a total of about two weeks,” Hinkel told Lifehacker.
“Once you get the data, you have to reduce it (i.e. take out the bad parts and process it for real information), usually combine it with other data in order to see the whole picture, and then write a paper about your findings. Since each observation run typically yields data from multiple stars, you don’t need to spend all of your time at the telescope to have enough work.”
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com contributor.
Additional resources
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“What people sometimes don’t get about science is that we often have phenomena that remain unexplained,” said an astrophysicist at MIT https://t.co/Z8UdjWmVCg
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 18, 2017
Crashes in Roswell, New Mexico, and flashing lights over New Jersey — for decades, people around the world have looked up at the skies and reported mysterious unidentified objects (UFOs).
But are these sightings signs of alien visitation? And are they truly unexplained?
A recent New York Times investigation found that the Pentagon had, for years, funded a program to answer just that question. The program found several reports of aircraft that seemed to travel at high speeds and have no signs of propulsion, the Times reported.
While the vast majority of UFO sightings, when investigated, have turned out to be the result of ordinary Earthly phenomena, such as weather balloons, flares or rockets, some still leave experts scratching their heads — and looking to the skies for little green men. From white Tic Tacs to flashing lights, here are some of the most mysterious UFO sightings out there. [7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs]
Fighter pilot encounter
The Times investigation highlighted one of the most intriguing UFO sightings, which was captured on video. In 2004, two Navy F/A-18F fighter jets (also called Super Hornet or Hornet) encountered a mysterious flying object near San Diego, The New York Times reported. The object seemed to be traveling at high speeds, was surrounded by a glowing halo and was rotating as it moved. According to audio from the event, one of the fighter pilots exclaimed, “There’s a whole fleet of them,” the Times reported.
One of the Navy pilots who witnessed the bizarre event, Cmdr. David Fravor, recalled that the object looked like “a white Tic Tac, about the same size as a Hornet, 40 feet [12 meters] long with no wings,” Fravor told The Washington Post. As his plane approached the UFO, the mysterious object accelerated “faster than I’d ever seen anything in my life,” Fravor said.
Fravor, for his part, is convinced that the source of the object was extraterrestrial, he told The Washington Post.
French encounter
In 1981, a 55-year-old farmer in Trans-en-Provence, France, reported hearing a strange, high-pitched sound before seeing a flying saucer nearby. The lead-colored UFO took off almost immediately, he said.
What makes this sighting unique is that the farmer immediately contacted local police, who took soil and plant samples, according to a report of the incident. Experts from France’s UFO-investigating body, formerly called Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés (GEPAN), said the chemical evidence was consistent with heating of the soil and pressure from a heavy object. They also found traces of zinc and phosphate and evidence of abnormalities in the plants nearby.
However, skeptics said the smooshed plants could have been caused by tires, and cars had been heard traveling in the area around the same time as the farmer’s sighting. Because there was a military base nearby, another explanation is that the French military was testing an experimental craft.
Sighting by retired astronaut
In general, some of the most reputable or credible sightings come from those who are in the skies all day long: pilots and members of the military. The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) logged one such sighting in 2013, Vice reported. Late in the evening in 2013, the man, a former commercial pilot, fighter pilot and astronaut, was looking at the sky with his family in Athens, Texas, when he noticed what looked like an orange, glowing fireball.
“When I looked up into the sky, I saw a fairly large, orange, glowing orb moving rapidly overhead [at] right about 90 degrees of elevation,” the man reported to the NUFORC.
After a few minutes, a group of three similar objects followed the same flight path. Three minutes later, two more objects flew along that same route. The objects gave off no sound and seemed to glow from atmospheric heating, the man reported. He and his family attempted to record the objects using their iPhones, though the grainy, dark video was difficult to decipher, he said.
“They moved much faster than orbital satellites (International Space Station, for example) or airplanes, but much slower than meteors and did not change brightness as a meteor would upon entering the atmosphere,” the man said in his call. “I have no explanation for what we saw.”
Lights over Mount Shasta
Another report from the NUFORC came from an airline captain who was flying between Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, when he noticed glowing blue lights over Mount Shasta in California that appeared much brighter than the stars typically do in the area.
“The two lights were approximately an inch apart in the windscreen and the size of normal stars,” the captain noted in a report. Then, “one of the ‘stars’ just dimmed out over about a 10-second time span followed by the other one dimming out completely in about 10 seconds also.”
The lights were stationary, so they were not falling stars or satellites, he said. [UFO Quiz: What’s Really Out There]
“We were flying in crystal-clear skies and were not flying though any clouds whatsoever. These two lights were not following the typical west-to-east orbital path as most satellites do and were just sitting there kind of like ships hiding in plain sight,” the captain reported to the NUFORC.
The lights also appeared to be far above the level of the plane, which was flying at 38,000 feet (11,580 m).
Not so U-FOs
For every unexplained sighting, there are dozens that turn out to be military flares, weird cloud formations, weather phenomena or elaborate hoaxes. For instance, GEPAN’s database suggests that only 7 percent of all supposed UFO sightings are truly unexplained.
In the 1940s, the U.S. Air Force began investigating UFO sightings, and that program, called Project Blue Book, logged more than 12,000 reported sightings before it was shuttered in 1969. Most of those Project Blue Book sightings were ultimately explained. While a few remained unexplained, the people involved in the program were skeptical that these cases were true alien sightings or completely unknown physical phenomena.
“If more immediate, detailed, objective data on the unknowns had been available, probably these, too, could have been explained,” a report in the Project Blue Book archive noted. However, the fact that human factors are involved — in particular, personal impressions and interpretations, rather than accurate scientific data — it’s likely impossible to eliminate all unidentified sightings, the report noted.
Originally published on Live Science.
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[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]UFO Mysteries: These Sightings Have Never Been SolvedWeight loss: Man reveals THIS diet helped him lose belly fat and get incredible abs [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]
Sharing his before and after transformation pictures to Imgur and Reddit, the man, known only as ‘Kool_ADHD’, explained how he got in such good shape so fast.
The man revealed he was 5’8” and had weighed 14 stone six pounds before he started.
But 11 months on, he was down to 13 stone and two pounds, as well as sporting an impressive set of abs.
And there was one particular diet he followed to do it.
He said: “To cut down weight, I followed a very strict paleo diet. From there on, I decided it was time to put on some mass.
“At this point, I had never used any kind of Performance Enhancing substances ever.
“I wanted to try something really mild with no side effects and my choice fell on Ostarine. The supplements I used with Ostarine were creatine, l-glutamine and BCAAs. I didn’t stack it with any other SARM or PED.”
Going in to further detail about his training, he said: “At the very start I simply started by walking.
“Then I got a gym membership and did a very mild five day split. Just to make sure I’d go to the gym everyday but I wouldn’t tire myself out or get injured.
“Then I started going back to my local gymnastics club four hours a week. My schedule would look something like lifting/gymnastics/lifting/lifting/gymnastics and I would take the weekends off.
“So my workout considered of heavy compound lifts at the gym and bodyweight stuff at the gymnastics club.”
The paleo diet requires followers to only eat food available in paleolithic times.
This means nothing processed, and mostly means eating meat, fish, nuts, leafy green vegetables and seeds.
However, the NHS is also not a fan of Paleo, calling it a “fad diet”, with “several limitations”.
On the NHS Knowledge Service website, the page on Paleo says: “Low calorie, low salt diets are expected to have an effect on weight and blood pressure in people who are overweight or have high blood pressure.
“It is not clear if a “caveman diet” has any specific advantage beyond the modest weight loss.”
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Rebel Wilson’s weight loss journey began in 2016, and according to Woman’s Day magazine the star lost two stone in eight months by December that year.
The funny blonde debuted her slimmer figure at the wedding of her Pitch Perfect co-stars Anna Camp and Skylar Astin.
Vocal about her changing shape, the star was open on Instagram about her new fitness plan.
In May 2016 she posted an image of herself looking triumphant during a hike, wearing a red t-shirt an black backpack.
She captioned the image: “OMG just finished 4 fantastic days at #TheRanch4.0…so challenging but very rewarding! Not to mention I lost 8 pounds from marathon king over the four days!
“Thanks to the amazing staff and masseuses (free daily massages are part of the program)!! Feeling great!!”
Rebel looked fabulous at her most recent public appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon yesterday. The star donned a glamorous black sequin dress with red lining, which showed off her gorgeous curves.
It was quite the change from earlier times, when the actress appeared much bigger.
Now Rebel is working on a project with Australian hunk Liam Hemsworth, Isn’t it Romantic?
Rebel’s social media account give clues as to how she has achieved her weight loss.
Posts on the social media site also reveal her penchant for tennis and beach walks in her home town of Melbourne.
Rebel told Cosmopolitan in 2015: “Being unique and different was a really good thing.
“I walked into my agent’s office for the first time [in 2009], they looked at me and said, ‘Wow, we have nobody on our books like you’. And they signed me on my second day here.
“I wouldn’t ever want to compete with what I call ‘the glamours’ – the really gorgeous people. I’m about the brain, the heart and what’s on the inside. I feel really lucky to be the body type I am.”
Earlier this year she launched a plus-size clothing range, Rebel x Angels.
She looked stunning at the launch party with her hair up in a 60s beehive and pink shoes and a handbag in the same hue.
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[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]Pitch Perfect’s Rebel Wilson shows off impressive 2017 weight loss – how has she done it?