Antennae: A Galactic Spectacle

Antennae: A Galactic Spectacle

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A new composite image from NASA's Great Observatories presents a stunning display of the Antennae galaxies.

X-ray data from Chandra (blue), optical data from Hubble (gold and brown), and infrared data from Spitzer (red) are featured.

Supernova explosions are enriching the intergalactic gas with elements like oxygen, iron, and silicon that will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets



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 bytidal forces generated in the collision.

Wide-field Optical Image

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 overlap 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.

Fast Facts for Antennae:
Credit X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J.DePasquale; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: NASA/STScI
Release Date August 05, 2010
Scale Image is 3.4 arcmin across, (about 61,000 light years).
Category Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
Coordinates (J2000) RA 12h 01m 53.70s | Dec -18° 52' 35.5''
Constellation Corvus
Observation Date Dec 1, 1999; Dec 29, 2001; Nov 22, May 31, Apr 18, Jul 10 & Jul 13, 2002
Observation Time 117 hours (4 days 21 hours)
Obs. ID 315, 3040-44, 3718
Instrument ACIS
Also Known As NGC 4038, NGC 4039
Color Code Optical (Yellow), X-ray (Blue), Infrared (Red)

Darting eyes in REM sleep are seeing objects in your dreams

Seeing an imaginary scene (Image: Victor Habbick Visions/Getty)

Your body may be still, but as you dream, your eyes can flicker manically. The rapid eye movement stage of sleep is when we have our most vivid dreams – but do our flickering eyes actually “see” anything?

It is a question psychologists have been asking since REM sleep was first described in the 1950s, says Yuval Nir at Tel Aviv University in Israel. “The idea was that we scan an imaginary scene,” says Nir. “It’s an intuitive idea, but it has been very difficult to provide evidence for it.”

Until now, much of the evidence has been anecdotal, says Nir. “People who were woken up when their eyes were moving from left to right would say they were dreaming about tennis, for example,” he says.

More evidence comes from a previous study that monitored the sleep of people who have a disorder that means they often physically act out their dreams. Their eye movements matched their actions around 80 per cent of the time – a man dreaming about smoking, for example,appeared to look at a dream ashtray as he put out a cigarette.

But most of the REM sleep these people had was not accompanied by body movements, making it hard to know for sure. And other researchers have argued that the eye flickers can’t be linked to “seeing” anything because rapid eye movements happen in both fetuses and people who are blind – neither group would have experience of vision and so wouldn’t be expected to move their eyes to follow an object, for example.

In the mind’s eye

To investigate further, Nir and his colleagues monitored people who have epilepsy and have electrodes implanted deep into their brains to help with treatment.

These electrodes were mostly in the medial temporal lobe, a region that responds strongly to pictures, and allowed the team to record the activity from around 40 neurons in each volunteer’s brain as they slept. They found that activity seemed to spike around a quarter of a second after an eye flicker, just as it did when the volunteers saw an image when awake. “It is very plausible that they are looking at a dream image,” says Nir.

“It is extremely interesting… that these eye movement produce something like visual processing during dreaming,” says Michael Czisch at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. He thinks we might see visual scenes as a side effect of when memories are replayed during sleep.

Because the researchers didn’t wake their volunteers, they can’t be sure what they were dreaming, Nir says. “But we are sure that the brain is alternating between different mental imagery,” he says. “Every time you move your eyes, a new image forms in the mind’s eye.”

20 ΝΕΚΡΟΙ ΜΕΤΑ ΑΠΟ ΥΠΕΡΧΥΛΥΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΝΕΙΛΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΣΟΥΔΑΝ

Περισσότερα από είκοσι άτομα έχασαν τη ζωή τους από τις έντονες βροχοπτώσεις στο Σουδάν. Τουλάχιστον δέκα άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους στο Ελ Gedaref όπως τα σπίτια τους κατέρρευσαν. Ένα πλοίο βυθίστηκε στο Νείλο και πέντε επιβάτες φέρεται να πνιγεί. Άλλα χωριά και μικρές πόλεις στις βόρειες πολιτείες της Σουδάν αναφερθεί έξι ατυχήματα. Η εφημερίδα El Intibaha είπε ότι πέντε άνθρωποι σκοτώθηκαν σε Gedaref Wasal από καταρρακτώδεις βροχές, και την Κυριακή, τουλάχιστον πέντε άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους στην περιοχή που συνορεύει με την Αιθιοπία ονομάζεται El Saraf, στο Ελ Gallabat τοποθεσία, όταν τα σπίτια τους κατέρρευσαν. Άλλες πηγές εφημερίδες απόσπασμα που αναφέρουν ότι τουλάχιστον 14 άτομα έχασαν τη ζωή τους στο Ελ Gedaref. Πέντε άνθρωποι φέρεται να πνιγεί στην περιοχή των Βερβέρων, κατάσταση ποταμό Νείλο, όταν πλοίο βυθίστηκε τους. Τα θύματα του πλοίου, εκθέσεις Ελ Ayam εφημερίδα, ήταν τέσσερις γυναίκες και ένα παιδί. Βαρύ πλημμύρες που λήγει στο Νείλο έχουν προκαλέσει ισχυρά ρεύματα. Η αστυνομία στην πολιτεία του ποταμού Νείλου επιβεβαίωσαν ότι τέσσερα παιδιά σκοτώθηκαν όταν τα σπίτια τους κατέρρευσαν υπό το βάρος της βροχής. Σε Nierteti στην Κεντρική Νταρφούρ, ένας άνθρωπος που ονομάζεται Badriya Χαρούν Yahya Χαρούν πνίγηκαν όταν προσπάθησε να διασχίσει ένα μεγάλο ρεύμα την Κυριακή. Εφημερίδα El Mihar ανέφερε σουδανική μετεωρολόγοι, οι οποίοι επιβεβαίωσαν ότι τα νερά του Νείλου αναμένεται να αυξηθεί μέσα στις επόμενες ημέρες.

21 ΝΕΚΡΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΚΥΜΑ ΚΑΥΣΩΝΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟ

Τουλάχιστον 21 άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους και άλλοι 66 υπέστησαν εξάντληση στην Αίγυπτο λόγω της σοβαρής κύμα καύσωνα που σαρώνει τον αραβικό χώρα. Δεκαπέντε άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους στην πρωτεύουσα Κάιρο, τέσσερις στην πόλη Ματρούχ και δύο στην Άνω αιγυπτιακή πόλη Κένα, το Υπουργείο Υγείας είπε σε μια δήλωση χθες. Η θερμοκρασία έφτασε τους 39 βαθμούς Κελσίου στο Κάιρο και 45 βαθμούς Κελσίου το επαρχίες Άνω Αίγυπτο το Σάββατο, σύμφωνα με την Αιγυπτιακή Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία (EMA). Οι άνθρωποι έχουν ενημερωθεί για να κρατήσει μακριά από το άμεσο ηλιακό φως. Το κύμα καύσωνα αναμένεται να συνεχιστεί μέχρι τις 25 Αυγούστου.

Coast Guard Intercepting Submarine Carrying $181 Million In Drugs

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 7 Αυγ 2015

The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew seizes narcotic bales from a self-propelled semi-submersible submarine interdicted in international waters off the coast of Central America, July 19, 2015. The Coast Guard recovered more than 6 tons of drugs from the 40-foot vessel. Video by 94th Airlift Wing 

NASA Sees Soudelor Reach Category 5 Typhoon Status(VIDEO)

NASA Sees Soudelor Reach Category 5 Typhoon Status

NASA's Aqua satellite and RapidScat instrument analyzed Super typhoon Soudelor's extent and winds as it reached Category Five typhoon status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale.

On Aug. 4, 2015, at 4:10 UTC (12:10 a.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this visible-light image of Super typhoon Soudelor.

Credits: NASA Goddard's MODIS Rapid Response Team

RapidScat is a NASA instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station. RapidScat gathered surface wind speed and direction data on Soudelor on Aug. 3 at 1900 UTC (3 p.m. EDT) when it just west of Mariana Islands. RapidScat measured saw the strongest sustained winds circled the center. Sustained winds at that time were near 135 knots (155 mph/250 kph).

RapidScat gathered wind speed and direction data on Soudelor on Aug. 3, 2015, at 1900 UTC (3 p.m. EDT) just west of Mariana Islands. RapidScat measure sustained winds around the center at more than 36 meters per second/70 knots/80.5 mph/129.6 kph).

Credits: NASA JPL, Doug Tyler

On Aug. 4 at 4:10 UTC (12:10 a.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible-light image of Super typhoon Soudelor that clearly showed its 12-nautical-mile-wide eye. Thick bands of powerful thunderstorms surrounded the storm and spiraled into the center.

At 0900 (5 a.m. EDT), Super typhoon Soudelor had maximum sustained winds near 140 knots (161.1 mph/ 259.3 kph). Those typhoon-force winds stretched out up to 40 miles from the center, while tropical-storm-force winds extended 185 miles from the center. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects the storm to maintain that intensity for another 24 hours.

Soudelor was located near 18.6 North latitude and 138.8. East longitude, about 750 nautical miles (863 miles/1,389 km) from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Soudelor was moving to the west-northwest at 13 knots (14.9 mph/24.0 kph).

This super typhoon was generating extremely rough seas, with maximum significant wave height to 48 feet (14.6 meters)!

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast takes Soudelor on a west-northwesterly path near the Japanese island of Ishigakijima on August 7 and then over northern Taiwan before making landfall in southeastern China on August 8.

The storm is predicted to weaken as it continues on its trek to the west-northwest. Interests in the path of this Super typhoon should prepare for storm surge, heavy rainfall, mudslides in high terrain areas, and typhoon-force winds.

Disguised Cristiano Ronaldo wows boy in Madrid street with his skills

Cristiano Ronaldo showed off his skills. Credit: Monster

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo went onto a street in the Spanish capital heavily disguised, much to the shock of a young boy.

The former Manchester United forward put on a wig, fake beard and some body fat before showing off his skulls with a ball.

Ronaldo showed off his skills, much to the amusement of onlookers until he revealed his identity to a young fan.

The youngster was given a ball by Ronaldo, as a group of supporters realised who was the mystery figure, as they immediately surrounded him.

Last updated Tue 4 Aug 2015

Embarking on the 32nd Annual North Cascade Glacier Climate Project

AUGUST 2, 2015

Embarking on the 32nd Annual North Cascade Glacier Climate Project

Sholes Glacier snowcover Aug. 5, 2013 (Jill Pelto) and Sholes Glacier July 23, 2015 (Oliver Grah)

For the 32nd straight summer we will be investigating North Cascade glaciers and their response to climate change over the next three weeks (that means no new posts until Aug. 20).  In 1984 the program was initiated to study the impacts of climate change across an entire mountain range, instead of on just one glacier.  This had been a high priority of the National Academy of Science, I felt I could address.  The glaciers in the North Cascades provide water resources for irrigation, hydropower, salmon and municipal supply.  During our 32 years we have seen the loss of 25% of the entire glacier volume of the range.  Unfortunately 2015 is almost certainly going to be the worst year during this period.  We will likely lose over 5% of the volume of these glaciers in one year.  The problem has been high freezing elevations in the winter, note the difference from other years below.  Because of the drought conditions glaciers are even more crucial to runoff, note the daily spike in flow due to glacier melt in the Nooksack River in July, black arrows.  Blue arrow indicates rain storm.

Freezing levels on Mount Baker during winter 2015 versus previous winters.  Nooksack River discharge from the USGS in July.

This has been followed by the warmest June and now July the region has seen. This has led to record low streamflow from either rain, groundwater or snowpack from non-glacier areas.  The result is that in glacier fed basins glacier runoff which is above normal because of the warm temperatures is even more important.  We are measuring flow below glaciers and melting on glaciers to quantify the percent of total flow contributed by glaciers.  In 2014 in the North Fork Nooksack River glaciers contributed more than 40% of total stream discharge in the river on 21 days, all in August and September. We again with the Nooksack Indian Tribe will be examining the issue, particularly at Sholes Glacier. We will also be measuring the mass balance, terminus change and mapping ten glaciers we visit every year, including Columbia Glacier seen below.

Terminus of Columbia Glacier and accumulation zone looking bare in 2005, the lowest snowpack year of the last 32 until this year

The glaciers are all in Wilderness areas which means no motorized vehicles or equipment, we have to hike everything in.  This has provided the opportunity to spend over 600 nights in a tent examining the glaciers, hiking/skiing over 3000 miles across the glaciers, and eating oatmeal each morning for breakfast.  It has also provided the opportunity to train and work with more than 60 different scientists.  This year the field team consists of Erica Nied from the University of Colorado, Tyler Sullivan from the University of Maine, Jill Pelto from the University of Maine for the seventh year and myself for the 32nd year.  We will be joined at times by Justin Wright, Oregon State, Tom Hammond, University of Washington, Ben Pelto University of Northern British Columbia, Oliver Grah and Jezra Beaulieu of the Nooksack Indian Tribe. Below are three videos from last year that illustrate: 1: How and why we measure mass balance. 2. The Nooksack Indian Tribe perspective on threats of glacier runoff and our measurements of it.  3. A video from Melanie Gajewski last summer focussed on the experience of working in the field each summer.