A group of commanders from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has broken away from the organization and formed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The creation of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is a blow to the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, as a top commander from Mohmand and his followers are among those who have defected.
The announcement of the formation of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan) was posted on the Twitter pages of Ihsanullah Ihsan, the former spokesman of the TTP, and Omar Khorasani, the "Personal Assistant" of Omar Khalid Khorasani, the former emir of the TTP in Mohmand. Omar Khalid was a senior leader in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar released a lengthy video (1:25) that was published on YouTube as well as Ihsan and Omar's Twitter pages. The new group includes Taliban factions from the tribal agencies of Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber, and Arakzai, and the districts of Charsadda, Peshawar, and Swat.
The group is headed by emir Maulana Qasim Khorasani, and Ihsan is its spokesman. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar's shura, or executive council, includes: Omar Khalid al Khorasani, the powerful commander from Mohmand; Mansoor Nazim Shura and Maulana Haidar from Arakzai; Maulana Adbullah from Bajaur; Qari Ismail from Khyber; Qari Shakil Haqqani from Charsadda; Mufti Misbah from Peshawar; and Maulana Yasin from Swat.
Qasim, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar's emir, says that "the leadership of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is a victim of narrow, personal objectives."
One of the commanders "says the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was formed for a purpose but the organization made mistakes and there were some internal differences," Arif Rafiq, an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute, told The Long War Journal. "So they are forming a new group to serve its original purpose of establishing an Islamic state."
Omar Khalid is a powerful commander who was in the running to take over the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan after the death of then emir Hakeemullah Mehsud in a US drone strike late last year. Omar Khalid is close to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, and has said that the Taliban seek to overthrow the Pakistani government, impose sharia, or Islamic law, seize the country's nuclear weapons, and wage jihad until "the Caliphate is established across the world." [For more information on Omar Khalid al Khorasani, see LWJ report, Quetta airbase attacks carried out by Pakistani Taliban, IMU.]
Omar Khalid al Khorasani's defection from the Movement of the Taliban has been telegraphed for some time. In February, he announced the execution of 23 Pakistani troops as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was engaged in negotiations with the government. The Taliban had called for all of its branches to halt attacks during negotiations.
The formation of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar indicates that some Taliban leaders either "see [TTP emir Mullah Fazlullah] as weak and want to have a more consolidated leadership of like-minded folks, or they took advantage of the fracturing and are now asserting their autonomy/independence," Rafiq said. Fazlullah has largely been silent since taking control of the Movement of the Taliban late last year. He is thought to be hiding along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and has been spotted in Nuristan several times.
The Mehsud branches of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which are primarily based in South and North Waziristan, are also "opposed to Fazlullah," Rafiq said. The Mehsud and the Taliban in Kurram are also said to have broken away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, according to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
Rafiq observed that "[t]his new organization seems to represent a rejection of Fazlullah's leadership and is an attempt to create a counter-umbrella organization."
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is the second splinter group to break away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan this year. In February, Ahrar-ul-Hind, which is headed by Maulana Umar Qasmi, a former leader in the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was formed after the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan opened peace talks with the Pakistani government. The group claimed to be based in Pakistan's "urban areas." Less than one month after announcing its formation, Ahrar-ul-Hind took credit for a suicide assault on a courthouse in Islamabad.
Asad Mansour, the spokesman for Ahrar-ul-Hind, declared, "It is very clear that Shariah can never be attained through talks." [See LWJ report, Pakistani jihadists form Ahrar-ul-Hind, vow to continue attacks.]
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was established in December 2007 with the goals of overthrowing the Pakistani government, establishing an Islamic state, and imposing sharia law. The group's first emir, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike in 2009. The group is closely tied to al Qaeda and attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in New York City in May 2010.
|
|
Posted: 25 Aug 2014 02:48 PM PDT
In a continuing escalation of violence, Boko Haram has now taken its campaign to another level, seizing and controlling large swaths of land in Nigeria's northeast. The group's five-year rampage has killed over 10,000 people, and the government's declaration of a state of emergency last year in the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa has done little to quell the violent insurgency. Boko Haram capped its recent takeover of Gwoza, a Borno town with a population of 50,000, by declaring an Islamic caliphate in the region.
Celebrating this achievement, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video over the weekend, which wasobtained by AFP. In the 52-minute film, Shekau declares the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria,asserting that "[f]or us there is nothing like Nigeria but Islamic Caliphate." He does not mention the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi or his recent declaration of a caliphate.
In Boko Haram's latest video, Shekau is shown standing in front of three SUVs, wearing military fatigues with a Kalashnikov slung across his body, as he rants to the camera while holding a notebook in his left hand from which he reads. He claims: "Allah commands us to rule Gwoza by Islamic law. In fact, he commands us to rule the rest of the world, not only Nigeria, and now we have started." Filmed in what looks to be a forest clearing, the video does not clearly indicate whether Shekau is in Gwoza or at some other location.
As in other Boko Haram videos, Shekau appears flanked by four of his fighters who each stand at attention, wearing a mask and holding the muzzle of a rifle. He declares that Boko Haram is responsible for recent attacks in Abuja, Damaturu, Damboa, and other areas of the country, and thanks Allah for their success.
Shekau further declares that the areas of Nigeria under Boko Haram's control now constitute a caliphate, stating, "We are in an Islamic Caliphate. We have nothing to do with Nigeria. We don't believe in this name." The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, confirmed reports earlier this month that Gwoza was controlled by the rebels.
During the first week of August, Boko Haram stormed Gwoza, killing at least 50 people, and raising its flag over the area. At the time of the attack, there were no Nigerian forces present to protect civilians.
Gwoza and its surroundings are no stranger to Boko Haram. In February, 121 people were killed in the village of Izghe, and on May 25, over 20 churchgoers were killed in Gwoza town during a service. The following day, six churches were among many properties set alight in Gwoza by the insurgents. Gwoza's emir, Alhaji Idrissa Timta, wasshot and killed by Boko Haram members in May. His successor, who is also his son, went missing in the Boko Haram attacks on Gwoza that occurred on Aug. 6.
Since early August, the Gwoza area has been subject to several more attacks. On Aug. 23, Boko Haram hit a police training academy outside of Gwoza for the third time this month. In the latest attack, at least 35 Nigerian police officers went missing. The Nigerian government has "refused to confirm whether the officers were killed in the raid, taken by Boko Haram, or had gone in hiding from the armed fighters," however.
The video also contains footage of Boko Haram fighters raiding villages, and Nigerian soldiers running away from the insurgents. Boko Haram members are shown walking alongside and behind several trucks and vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns. The video also shows that Boko Haram has more than one armored personnel carrier for its operations. And footage is included of Boko Haram fighters pillaging what looks to be a recently raided military base; the viewer is shown boxes of bullets and other ammunition, mortars, and other artillery being loaded into trucks.
In the latest message, Shekau vows to strike back at local community members who have joined vigilante groups in the region to protect themselves and their families. Going further, Shekau threatens:
And I swear by Allah that we will never stop killing you, because Allah commanded us to kill people like you. If we pity you and spare you, one day you will become infidels. So, to us, having pity on you is an act of disbelief. You can continue to run or hide your identities in women's attire, but we will get to you and remove the women's clothing off of you. Then, while you are shouting for mercy, we will strike, smash your heads and kill you all. Even if you don't do anything to us we will kill you .... We would do it even to avenge our brethren. You killed our brethren in large numbers.
He also vaguely threatens the United States, Israel, and France, saying: "Who is America in the sight of Allah? .... We don't fear you at all. .... We were the ones who carried out all these attacks. Not just Gwoza, all the attacks you see in Borno or any country we are the ones carrying them out. This is the life for us; it is our world and we are living it out.... This is the speech I have to make; which is a warning for worse things to come. Better submit to Allah before it becomes too late."
At the end of the video, Boko Haram includes gruesome footage showing approximately 20 men in civilian clothes lying on their stomachs with their hands tied behind their backs being executed by gunfire at close range. Two other men are beaten to death with shovels after they allegedly tried to escape dressed as women.
Responding to the video, the Nigerian military rejected Shekau's claims, releasing a statement on Twitter stating that Nigeria's "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact." The military has also promised to mount an offensive in the northeast "soon."
In addition to Gwoza, several other areas in Nigeria's north, particularly in Borno state, as well as one town in Yobe state, are thought to be under Boko Haram's control
The video provides the first reported instance of Shekau referring to a larger caliphate, a term and goal frequently mentioned by Islamic terrorists around the world, but it may suggest that Boko Haram's aims are not exclusively local. In a video released last month, Shekau had voiced his support for Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State, as well as for leaders of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
It is unclear whether Shekau's declaration of a caliphate in Nigeria amounts to an attempt to link his group to the Islamic State caliphate recently claimed in Syria and Iraq by al Baghdadi, or "if he is referring to a separate Nigerian caliphate."
Today the BBC reported that some 480 Nigerian troops have fled Boko Haram and crossed over the border into the Cameroon, and are being accommodated in the town of Maroa. The soldiers are said to have fled clashes with Boko Haram in the border towns of Gamboru Ngala and Banki in Borno state; the terror group killed over 300 people in Gamboru Ngala in May. The Nigerian military dismissed reports of a rout or mass defectionand claimed the soldiers were conducting a "tactical manoeuvre."
|
Τετάρτη 27 Αυγούστου 2014
INTERNATIONAL NEWS--Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar forms in northwestern Pakistan --Boko Haram's new caliphate
Windowless planes: is this the future of flying?
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 27 Αυγ 2014
Display screens projecting the sky outside could line the cabin of aircrafts if windowless planes become reality
Windowless planes could revolutionise air travel as airlines seek to reduce their spending on fuel and new supersonic aircraft are developed.
With this in mind, a French design agency has released renderings showing its proposed design for a private jet completely devoid of windows in its fuselage.
Instead, the cabin would be lined with thin screens that could display surrounding vistas or screen films and work presentations.
Technicon Design states that removing windows from aircrafts will reduce their weight, thus reducing fuel and maintenance costs and giving designers greater opportunities to enhance and beautify their interiors.
Gareth Davies, chief designer at Technicon Design, the company behind the concept, said:
"Certain elements are already possible...such as the flexible displays.
"The idea is to push the boundaries."
He added that future technology would hopefully allow people to display whatever images they wanted, the content only being "limited by your imagination."
For now, though, the technology remains only in the reach of the super-rich, but with the world's first commercial windowless plane already in the pipeline, it may be only a matter of time before the concept is adapted.
US engineering firm Spike Aerospace is planning to launch a windowless cabin on board its luxury Spike S-512 Supersonic Jet in 2018, which the company says will feature similar display screen technology.
Video courtesy: Technicon Design
Windowless planes could revolutionise air travel as airlines seek to reduce their spending on fuel and new supersonic aircraft are developed.
With this in mind, a French design agency has released renderings showing its proposed design for a private jet completely devoid of windows in its fuselage.
Instead, the cabin would be lined with thin screens that could display surrounding vistas or screen films and work presentations.
Technicon Design states that removing windows from aircrafts will reduce their weight, thus reducing fuel and maintenance costs and giving designers greater opportunities to enhance and beautify their interiors.
Gareth Davies, chief designer at Technicon Design, the company behind the concept, said:
"Certain elements are already possible...such as the flexible displays.
"The idea is to push the boundaries."
He added that future technology would hopefully allow people to display whatever images they wanted, the content only being "limited by your imagination."
For now, though, the technology remains only in the reach of the super-rich, but with the world's first commercial windowless plane already in the pipeline, it may be only a matter of time before the concept is adapted.
US engineering firm Spike Aerospace is planning to launch a windowless cabin on board its luxury Spike S-512 Supersonic Jet in 2018, which the company says will feature similar display screen technology.
Video courtesy: Technicon Design
First Drive: 2015 Volvo XC90
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 27 Αυγ 2014
Symbolising this historic day in Volvo’s 87 year history, the new XC90 will be the first of its cars to carry the company’s new more prominent iron mark, which has the iconic arrow elegantly aligned with the diagonal slash across the grille. Together with the T-shaped “Thor’s Hammer” DRL lights, the iron mark introduces an entirely new, distinctive and confident face for Volvo’s forthcoming generation of cars.
The XC90’s larger bonnet with its new topography, the beltline and the sharpened shoulders connecting with the tattoo-like, new rear lights are other important design signatures that will be mirrored across the range.
To add more visual muscle from the sides, the XC90 comes with a range of wheel sizes up to 22 inches.
The top of the range XC90 Twin Engine, which combines a two-litre, four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor, offers an unrivalled combination of power and clean operation: around 400 horsepower with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of around 60 g/km (NEDC driving cycle).
The XC90’s interior is the most luxurious to have been designed for a Volvo. The most striking feature is a tablet-like touch screen control console, which forms the heart of an all-new in-car control system. This system is virtually button free and represents an entirely new way for drivers to control their car and access a range of Internet-based products and services. It also helps create an interior that is modern, spacious and uncluttered.
The XC90’s larger bonnet with its new topography, the beltline and the sharpened shoulders connecting with the tattoo-like, new rear lights are other important design signatures that will be mirrored across the range.
To add more visual muscle from the sides, the XC90 comes with a range of wheel sizes up to 22 inches.
The top of the range XC90 Twin Engine, which combines a two-litre, four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor, offers an unrivalled combination of power and clean operation: around 400 horsepower with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of around 60 g/km (NEDC driving cycle).
The XC90’s interior is the most luxurious to have been designed for a Volvo. The most striking feature is a tablet-like touch screen control console, which forms the heart of an all-new in-car control system. This system is virtually button free and represents an entirely new way for drivers to control their car and access a range of Internet-based products and services. It also helps create an interior that is modern, spacious and uncluttered.
Ειναι αυτο το Στεματικο Υλικο στην πορεια της Γης; A Non Earth directed CME at 2014-08-27 05:36:00 UTC
Ο Ηλιος εχει αρχιση και ξερναη επικυνδινα. Ειναι αυτο το Στεματικο Υλικο στην πορεια της Γης;
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 27 Αυγ 2014
This Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), or plasma cloud, could be directed at Earth or be a backside event. Because these pictures/videos are taken from one vantage point it takes human investigation to determine the CMEs trajectory. If this CME is Earth directed and serious there will be more information made available via our FB or Twitter and of course our subscribers will be alerted appropriately.
Τι βρήκαν οι αρχαιολόγοι στο βυθό της Αργολίδας: Στο κυνήγι πολιτισμών ηλικίας 20.000 ετών.
Τι βρήκαν οι αρχαιολόγοι στο βυθό της Αργολίδας: Στο κυνήγι πολιτισμών ηλικίας 20.000 ετών.
27/8/14
Σε εξέλιξη βρίσκεται το ερευνητικό έργο της αποστολής Terra Submersa στο βυθό της Αργολίδας. Οπως αναφέρεται σε σχετική ανακοίνωση, ξεκινώντας από την Ερέτρια, έδρα της Ελβετικής Αρχαιολογικής Σχολής στην Ελλάδα και με ενδιάμεσους σταθμούς τον Πειραιά και το Ναύπλιο, τα μέλη της αρχαιολογικής αποστολής Terra Submersa, κατέληξαν στον όρμο της Κοιλάδας, στην Αργολίδα, στο σημείο διεξαγωγής των υποθαλάσσιων ερευνών.
H ελληνοελβετική αποστολή της οποίας ηγούνται αρχαιολόγοι του Πανεπιστημίου της Γενεύης, ήταν αποτέλεσμα συνεργασίας του μουσείου Laténium του Νοσατέλ, της Εφορίας Εναλίων Αρχαιοτήτων, της Ελβετικής Αρχαιολογικής Σχολής στην Ελλάδα και του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Θαλάσσιων Ερευνών. Στόχος της να διερευνήσει τα προϊστορικά τοπία που βρίσκονται βυθισμένα στον Αργολικό Κόλπο, σε μια προσπάθεια για την ανασύστασή τους, αλλά και για να εντοπιστούν τυχόν ίχνη ανθρώπινης δραστηριότητας.
Μελετώντας βυθισμένα τοπία
Στο τέλος της εποχής των παγετώνων, πριν από περίπου 20.000 χρόνια, η στάθμη της θάλασσας στην περιοχή, ήταν σημαντικά χαμηλότερη από ό,τι σήμερα. Με την ανασύσταση των βυθισμένων τοπίων, οι αρχαιολόγοι ελπίζουν να κατανοήσουν τη δυναμική μέσω της οποίας κατοικούνταν τότε οι παράκτιες ζώνες.
Στην αποστολή Terra Submersa, η έρευνα επικεντρώθηκε κοντά στο σπήλαιο Φράγχθι που βρίσκεται στη βόρεια όχθη του όρμου της Κοιλάδας, το οποίο κατοικήθηκε για σχεδόν 35.000 χρόνια, από την Παλαιολιθική έως την Νεολιθική εποχή. «Καταφέραμε να συλλέξουμε εκπληκτικά δεδομένα, η ανάλυση των οποίων θα απαιτήσει τουλάχιστον δύο χρόνια εργασίας» δήλωσε με ενθουσιασμό ο Julien Beck, επικεφαλής της αποστολής. «Τα προκαταρκτικά αποτελέσματα είναι ενθαρρυντικά!». Από τη χαρτογράφηση των βυθών, οι ερευνητές εντόπισαν "παλαιοακτές" που χρονολογούνται σε διάφορες περιόδους της προϊστορίας. Όλες οι ενδείξεις οδηγούν στην πεποίθηση ότι οι κάτοικοι του σπηλαίου Φράγχθι είχαν διαμορφώσει τις ακτές αυτές από τις οποίες οι επιστήμονες έχουν ανακτήσει κοχύλια και υπολείμματα ψαριών. Επιπροσθέτως, οι έρευνες με ηχοβολιστικά που είχαν εγκατασταθεί στο ηλιακό καταμαράν PlanetSolar, κατέγραψαν ρήγματα που μαρτυρούν τεκτονικές μετατοπίσεις στον Αργολικό κόλπο και τα οποία θα μπορούσαν να εξηγήσουν τη διαφορά στο βάθος των παλαιοακτών.
Το χρονικό των ερευνών στον όρμο της Κοιλάδας
Το ουσιαστικό ερευνητικό έργο άρχισε στις 10 Αυγούστου, ημέρα που κατέπλευσε στον όρμο της Κοιλάδας το MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, το μεγαλύτερο ηλιακό καταμαράν, το οποίο μετατράπηκε σε ερευνητική πλατφόρμα και βάση της επιστημονικής ομάδας της αποστολής.
Το φουτουριστικό σκάφος βοήθησε κυρίως στη λήψη γεωφυσικών μετρήσεων, οι οποίες θα επιτρέψουν στους ερευνητές του ΕΛΚΕΘΕ να μοντελοποιήσουν την τοπογραφία των αρχαίων παράκτιων ζωνών που τώρα είναι βυθισμένες, καθώς και για να εντοπιστούν τυχόν ίχνη της ανθρώπινης δραστηριότητας. Συνοδοιπόρος του στις έρευνες, το σκάφος «Αλκυών», του ΕΛΚΕΘΕ, εξοπλισμένο με ερευνητικά όργανα τεχνολογίας αιχμής.
Οι έρευνες ξεκίνησαν με ιδανικές καιρικές συνθήκες. Πλωτά όργανα μέτρησης ποντίστηκαν στο νερό καταγράφοντας λεπτομέρειες για το βυθό της περιοχής. Εκτός από την καταγραφή του βάθους με το βυθόμετρο, διεξήχθησαν έρευνες με σεισμικές τομές, από έναν πλωτό τομογράφο πυθμένα. Με βάση τα στοιχεία που συγκεντρώθηκαν οι ερευνητές μπορούν να σχηματίσουν μια σαφή εικόνα για την τομή του βυθού και το πώς αυτός έχει διαφοροποιηθεί στην πάροδο του χρόνου, σε βάθος δεκάδων χιλιάδων ετών.
Στη συνέχεια, με τη χρήση ηχοβολιστικού (side-scan sonar), ελήφθησαν δεδομένα που θα επιτρέψουν τη χαρτογράφηση του ανάγλυφου του πυθμένα, όπως αυτός είναι σήμερα. Για τη λήψη των μετρήσεων τα ερευνητικά σκάφη ακολουθούσαν προκαθορισμένες πορείες με απολύτως ελεγχόμενη ταχύτητα, ώστε να σαρώσουν ολόκληρη την υπό διερεύνηση περιοχή.
Οι έρευνες των θαλάσσιων γεωλόγων, που ολοκληρώθηκαν στις 22 Αυγούστου, έχουν καταδείξει σημάδια από την κοίτη ενός αρχαίου ποταμού, γεγονός ενθαρρυντικό για την ανακάλυψη περαιτέρω ευρημάτων, αφού ήταν σύνηθες στην αρχαία εποχή οι ανθρώπινες δραστηριότητες να αναπτύσσονται κοντά σε νερό.
Η λεπτομερής επεξεργασία των στοιχείων αυτών θα διαρκέσει επί μακρόν. Τα τελικά συμπεράσματα των ερευνών θα προκύψουν αφού προηγηθεί η διαδικασία επεξεργασίας, σύνθεσης και αξιολόγησης των ευρημάτων.
Το MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, είναι ένα καταμαράν που κινείται αποκλειστικά με ηλιακή ενέργεια. Στις 4 Μαΐου 2012, μετά από 584 ημέρες και περισσότερα από 60.000 χιλιόμετρα πλεύσης, το σκάφος ολοκλήρωσε τον πρώτο περίπολου της γης, που πραγματοποιήθηκε μόνο με την ενέργεια του ήλιου. Μετά από την απαραίτητη συντήρηση, το πλοίο έφυγε στις 8 Απριλίου 2013 από το λιμάνι της Λα Σιοτά (La Ciotat) της νοτιοανατολικής Γαλλίας, με προορισμό την ακτογραμμή των ΗΠΑ όπου και ξεκίνησε τη δεύτερη ζωή του, έχοντας μετατραπεί σε επιστημονική πλατφόρμα για την αποστολή «PlanetSolar Deepwater».
Σκοπός της αποστολής, σε συνεργασία με το Πανεπιστήμιο της Γενεύης, ήταν να συλλέξει φυσικές και βιολογικές μετρήσεις από το νερό και τον αέρα, κατά μήκος του ρεύματος του Κόλπου, με χρήση οργάνων υψηλής τεχνολογίας. Μετά από την επιτυχία της αποστολής, το MS Tûranor PlanetSolar πέρασε το χειμώνα στο Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly στη Λοριάν (Lorient) της βορειοδυτικής Γαλλίας.
15 Mind-Blowing Featured Images by NASA
Photograph by NOAA/NASA GOES Project
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the United States’ largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
They are also home to some of the most amazing images, visualizations and videos NASA has to offer! Please do yourself a favour and check out their incredible Flickr page which has thousands of images with wonderfully detailed descriptions.
Below is a collection of 15 mind-blowing featured images from NASA. Enjoy!
1. Huge Eruptive Prominence Seen on Sun
Photograph by NASA
The STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft caught this spectacular eruptive prominence in extreme UV light as it blasted away from the Sun (Apr. 12-13, 2010). This was certainly among the largest prominence eruptions seen by either the STEREO or SOHO missions. The length of the prominence appears to stretch almost halfway across the sun, about 500,000 miles. Prominences are cooler clouds of plasma that hover above the Sun’s surface, tethered by magnetic forces. They are notoriously unstable and commonly erupt as this one did in a dramatic fashion. [Source]
2. The Crab Nebula
This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans.
The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mostly of hydrogen. The rapidly spinning neutron star embedded in the center of the nebula is the dynamo powering the nebula’s eerie interior bluish glow. The blue light comes from electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around magnetic field lines from the neutron star. The neutron star, like a lighthouse, ejects twin beams of radiation that appear to pulse 30 times a second due to the neutron star’s rotation. A neutron star is the crushed ultra-dense core of the exploded star.
The Crab Nebula derived its name from its appearance in a drawing made by Irish astronomer Lord Rosse in 1844, using a 36-inch telescope. When viewed by Hubble, as well as by large ground-based telescopes such as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the Crab Nebula takes on a more detailed appearance that yields clues into the spectacular demise of a star, 6,500 light-years away.
The newly composed image was assembled from 24 individual Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 exposures taken in October 1999, January 2000, and December 2000. The colors in the image indicate the different elements that were expelled during the explosion. Blue in the filaments in the outer part of the nebula represents neutral oxygen, green is singly-ionized sulfur, and red indicates doubly-ionized oxygen. [Source]
3. Planet Earth
Photograph by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stockli
This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.
Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite, MODIS provides an integrated tool for observing a variety of terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric features of the Earth. The land and coastal ocean portions of these images are based on surface observations collected from June through September 2001 and combined, or composited, every eight days to compensate for clouds that might block the sensor’s view of the surface on any single day.
Two different types of ocean data were used in these images: shallow water true color data, and global ocean color (or chlorophyll) data. Topographic shading is based on the GTOPO 30 elevation dataset compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey’s EROS Data Center. MODIS observations of polar sea ice were combined with observations of Antarctica made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s AVHRR sensor—the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. The cloud image is a composite of two days of imagery collected in visible light wavelengths and a third day of thermal infra-red imagery over the poles. Global city lights, derived from 9 months of observations from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, are superimposed on a darkened land surface map. [Source]
4. Typhoon Nabi
Photograph by NASA
(3 September 2005) — Typhoon Nabi is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the International Space Station, as it swirls in the Pacific Ocean, heading toward southern Korea and Japan. At the time this image was taken Typhoon Nabi was ~23N 133E with sustained winds ~100 knots, gusting to 120 knots. [Source]
5. Manam Volcano, Papua New Guinea
Photograph by NASA / Jesse Allen
Papua New Guinea’s Manam Volcano released a thin, faint plume on June 16, 2010, as clouds clustered at the volcano’s summit. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite took this picture the same day. Rivulets of brown rock interrupt the carpet of green vegetation on the volcano’s slopes. Opaque white clouds partially obscure the satellite’s view of Manam. The clouds may result from water vapor from the volcano, but may also have formed independent of volcanic activity. The volcanic plume appears as a thin, blue-gray veil extending toward the northwest over the Bismarck Sea.
Located 13 kilometers (8 miles) off the coast of mainland Papua New Guinea, Manam forms an island 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide. It is a stratovolcano. The volcano has two summit craters, and although both are active, most historical eruptions have arisen from the southern crater.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: EO-1 – ALI [Source]
6. Phytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea
In this natural-color image from August 31, 2010, the ocean’s canvas swirls with turquoise, teal, navy, and green, the abstract art of the natural world. The colors were painted by a massive phytoplankton bloom made up of millions of tiny, light-reflecting organisms growing in the sunlit surface waters of the Barents Sea. Such blooms peak every August in the Barents Sea.
The variations in color are caused by different species and concentrations of phytoplankton. The bright blue colors are probably from coccolithophores, a type of phytoplankton that is coated in a chalky shell that reflects light, turning the ocean a milky turquoise. Coccolithophores dominate the Barents Sea in August. Shades of green are likely from diatoms, another type of phytoplankton. Diatoms usually dominate the Barents Sea earlier in the year, giving way to coccolithophores in the late summer. However, field measurements of previous August blooms have also turned up high concentrations of diatoms.
The Barents Sea is a shallow sea sandwiched between the coastline of northern Russia and Scandinavia and the islands of Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya. Within the shallow basin, currents carrying warm, salty water from the Atlantic collide with currents carrying cold, fresher water from the Arctic. During the winter, strong winds drive the currents and mix the waters. When winter’s sea ice retreats and light returns in the spring, diatoms thrive, typically peaking in a large bloom in late May.
The shift between diatoms and coccolithophores occurs as the Barents Sea changes during the summer months. Throughout summer, perpetual light falls on the waters, gradually warming the surface. Eventually, the ocean stratifies into layers, with warm water sitting on top of cooler water. The diatoms deplete most of the nutrients in the surface waters and stop growing. Coccolithophores, on the other hand, do well in warm, nutrient-depleted water with a lot of light. In the Barents Sea, these conditions are strongest in August.
The shifting conditions and corresponding change in species lead to strikingly beautiful multicolored blooms such as this one. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image. [Source]
7. The Tarantula Nebula
A blue-hot star, 90 times more massive than our Sun, is hurtling across space fast enough to make a round trip from Earth to the Moon in merely two hours. Though the speed is not a record-breaker, it is unique to find a homeless star that has traveled so far from its nest. The only way the star could have been ejected from the star cluster where it was born is through a tussle with a rogue star that entered the binary system where the star lived, which ejected the star through a dynamical game of stellar pinball.
This is strong circumstantial evidence for stars as massive as 150 times our Sun’s mass living in the cluster. Only a very massive star would have the gravitational energy to eject something weighing 90 solar masses. The runaway star is on the outskirts of the 30 Doradus nebula, a raucous stellar breeding ground in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud. The finding bolsters evidence that the most massive stars in the local universe reside in 30 Doradus, making it a unique laboratory for studying heavyweight stars. 30 Doradus, also called the Tarantula Nebula, is roughly 170,000 light-years from Earth. [Source]
8. Saturn’s Death Star/Pac-Man Moon
Photograph by NASA/JPL/Goddard/SWRI/SSI
The highest-resolution-yet temperature map and images of Saturn’s icy moon Mimas obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal surprising patterns on the surface of the small moon, including unexpected hot regions that resemble “Pac-Man” eating a dot, and striking bands of light and dark in crater walls.
The left portion of this image shows Mimas in visible light, an image that has drawn comparisons to the “Star Wars” Death Star. The right portion shows the new temperature map, which resembles 1980s video game icon “Pac Man.” [Source]
9. Detail of the Kamchatka Peninsula
Detail view of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. This is a false-color satellite image, acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on March 10, 2010.
10. Iceberg Collision at Mertz Glacier Tongue, Antarctica
At 94 kilometers (58 miles) by 39 kilometers (24 miles) in size, the B-09B iceberg is comparable to the state of Rhode Island, which is wider but not quite so long. After lingering near the Mertz Glacier in Eastern Antarctica for several years, the massive iceberg collided with the glacier tongue on February 12 or 13, breaking it away from the rest of the glacier. The former glacier tongue formed a new iceberg nearly as large as B-09B. These images, all from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite, show the iceberg and glacier tongue immediately before and after the collision.
The iceberg formed from the Mertz Glacier Tongue is 78 kilometers (48 miles) long by 39 kilometers (24 miles) wide and has a mass of 700-800 billion tons, reported BBC News. The glacier tongue had previously contributed to keeping a section of the ocean free of ice, a condition known as a polynya. The polynya provided a significant feeding site for wildlife like penguins. The shorter tongue may not protect the area from sea ice, reducing or even eliminating the polynya and the access to food it provided. [Source]
11. The Messier 66 Spiral Galaxy
Hubble has snapped a spectacular view of M 66, the largest “player” of the Leo Triplet, and a galaxy with an unusual anatomy: it displays asymmetric spiral arms and an apparently displaced core. The peculiar anatomy is most likely caused by the gravitational pull of the other two members of the trio.
The unusual spiral galaxy, Messier 66, is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo. Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is the member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies, part of the larger Messier 66 group. Messier 66 wins in size over its fellow triplets — it is about 100 000 light-years across.
This is a composite of images obtained through the following filters: 814W (near infrared), 555W (green) and H-alpha (showing the glowing of the hydrogen gas). They have been combined so to represent the real colours of the galaxy. [Source]
12. The Great Lakes, No Clouds
Late August 2010 provided a rare satellite view of a cloudless summer day over the entire Great Lakes region. North Americans trying to sneak in a Labor Day weekend getaway on the lakes were hoping for more of the same.
The Great Lakes comprise the largest collective body of fresh water on the planet, containing roughly 18 percent of Earth’s supply. Only the polar ice caps contain more fresh water. The region around the Great Lakes basin is home to more than 10 percent of the population of the United States and 25 percent of the population of Canada.
The image was gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite at 1:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time (18:30 UTC) on August 28. Open water appears blue or nearly black. The pale blue and green swirls near the coasts are likely caused by algae or phytoplankton blooms, or by calcium carbonate (chalk) from the lake floor. The sweltering summer temperatures have produced an unprecedented bloom of toxic blue-green algae in western Lake Erie, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. [Source]
13. Two Colliding Galaxies
Photograph by NASA, ESA, SAO, CXC, JPL-Caltech, and STScI
A beautiful new image of two colliding galaxies has been released by NASA’s Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like “arms,” seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced by tidal forces generated in the collision.
The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.
The X-ray image from Chandra shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas that have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions. This enriched gas, which includes elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium, and silicon, will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets. The bright, point-like sources in the image are produced by material falling onto black holes and neutron stars that are remnants of the massive stars. Some of these black holes may have masses that are almost one hundred times that of the Sun.
The Spitzer data show infrared light from warm dust clouds that have been heated by newborn stars, with the brightest clouds lying in the overlapping region between the two galaxies. The Hubble data reveal old stars and star-forming regions in gold and white, while filaments of dust appear in brown. Many of the fainter objects in the optical image are clusters containing thousands of stars.
The Chandra image was taken in December 1999. The Spitzer image was taken in December 2003. The Hubble image was taken in July 2004, and February 2005. [Source]
14. Permanent Light on Earth’s Surface
Photograph by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC
This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface.
The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region.
Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark, but lights are beginning to appear there. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya. [Source]
15. Earth: The Water Planet
Photograph by NASA / Robert Simmon and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen
Viewed from space, the most striking feature of our planet is the water. In both liquid and frozen form, it covers 75% of the Earth’s surface. It fills the sky with clouds. Water is practically everywhere on Earth, from inside the rocky crust to inside our cells.
This detailed, photo-like view of Earth is based largely on observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. It is one of many images of our watery world featured in a new story examining water in all of its forms and functions. Here is an excerpt: “In all, the Earth’s water content is about 1.39 billion cubic kilometers (331 million cubic miles), with the bulk of it, about 96.5%, being in the global oceans. As for the rest, approximately 1.7% is stored in the polar icecaps, glaciers, and permanent snow, and another 1.7% is stored in groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, and soil.
Only a thousandth of 1% of the water on Earth exists as water vapor in the atmosphere. Despite its small amount, this water vapor has a huge influence on the planet. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, and it is a major driver of the Earth’s weather and climate as it travels around the globe, transporting heat with it.
For human needs, the amount of freshwater for drinking and agriculture is particularly important. Freshwater exists in lakes, rivers, groundwater, and frozen as snow and ice. Estimates of groundwater are particularly difficult to make, and they vary widely. Groundwater may constitute anywhere from approximately 22 to 30% of fresh water, with ice accounting for most of the remaining 78 to 70%.” [Source]
If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends:
Εγγραφή σε:
Αναρτήσεις (Atom)