Giant planet pileups in far-flung star systems

Giant planet pileups in far-flung star systems

Top brainboxes armed with a British supercomputer say that they've cracked the riddle of just why it is that massive planets - spied across the vasty interstellar gulfs in recent times - tend to prefer certain orbits around their faraway parent stars.
"Our models offer a plausible explanation for the pile-ups of giant planets observed recently detected in exoplanet surveys," says Richard Alexander of Leicester uni.

It seems that known exoplanets, most of which are enormous gas giants on the lines of Jupiter or Saturn here in our solar system, are found mainly at distances around 1 Astronomical Unit (AU) from their own suns. This is the same distance as Earth is from our Sun.

We here on the Reg farflung-planets-glimpsed-across-the-vasty-gulfs-of-interstellar-space desk had sort of formed an unscientific impression that this might be because the techniques used to spot exoplanets struggle to see anything which is not a) vast and b) quite close to its parent star. But according to Alexander and his colleague Ilaria Pascucci of Arizona uni, this isn't true: as star systems form, they naturally tend to accumulate gas-giants at this sort of distance - our system is atypical in having them much further out.
"Our results show that the final distribution of planets does not vary smoothly with distance from the star, but instead has clear ‘deserts' – deficits of planets – and ‘pile-ups' of planets at particular locations," says Pascucci.
The two boffins' theory shows that as a young star system collapses onto its central sun, the interplay between the hot solar wind blasting material outward and gravity sucking it inward changes sharply according to distance bands, which results in a clear band from say 1 to 2 AU out. Gas-giant worlds naturally get moved inwards through this clear band and then achieve orbit once they hit the next band of dust and proto-stuff.
According to a Leicester uni statement announcing the new research:

Giant planets migrate inward before they finally settle on a stable orbit around their star. This happens because as the star draws in material from the protoplanetary disk, the planets are dragged along, like a celebrity caught in a crowd of fans.
However, the researchers discovered that once a giant planet encounters a gap cleared by photo-evaporation, it stays put.

"The planets either stop right before or behind the gap, creating a pile-up," explains Pascucci

Announcing the 2012 Google News elections section

Announcing the 2012 Google News elections section

Who just endorsed whom? What do the latest polls say? How much money did they raise this quarter? Keeping up with the 2012 elections in the U.S. and staying abreast of breaking developments can be quite a task in today’s fast-paced news cycle.

So today, we’re excited to continue our tradition of supporting you during elections season. Google News is launching an Elections section on its homepage which will organize and present elections coverage as it grows through the general election --

The Elections section will be visible by default for all US users and will be located beneath the Health section. It will bring readers the latest and most relevant news stories, using all of the ranking intelligence that users have come to expect of Google. You should also check out Google’s official elections page, YouTube’s collection of candidate videos, and the elections Trends Dashboard to find out more about how people are interacting with the elections online.

Death Star SUCKS PLASMA FROM SUN in NASA riddle vid

Death Star SUCKS PLASMA FROM SUN in NASA riddle vid

Vid Keen-eyed skywatchers have spotted a mysterious object emerging from the Sun that, according to the tinfoil-hatted YouTube majority, can only be a UFO, a small black hole, a world-destroying weapon or maybe a new planet.
Images show a shadowy spherical object apparently tethered to home world's star by a dark string. After much debate on YouTube, folks had come to the natural conclusion that it was some sort of alien ship fuelling up on solar plasma or possibly a new planet being born, particularly because you can see a Star Wars Death Star-like sphere blast away from the Sun.
One particular avid sun-worshipper going by the name of Sunsflare posted the video, a composite of telescope imagery taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, on his Facebook page as well as on YouTube, and asked for boffins' opinions on the phenomenon.
C. Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, who also runs a website called The Sun Today, kindly obliged in a posted video answer to Sunsflare that, unfortunately for ET-lovers everywhere, explained that the tethered sphere was actually quite a common occurrence.
"Filaments, when you see them on the solar disc at certain wavelengths, they appear to be dark because they're cooler material in relation to what's in the background. When you see them on the edge of the sun we call them prominences but they're the same objects," Young said.
"They sit in this kind of tunnel called the filament channel so when you look at it from the edge of the sun, what you see is this spherical object and you're actually looking down the tunnel."
You can hear and see his full explanation here.
Joseph Gurman, project scientist in the Solar Physics Laboratory at the Goddard centre, told Life's Little Mysteries that when a prominence extends out of the Sun, it's usually a sign that it's about to erupt - just as this one did.
"It's generally accepted, though still not conclusively proven, that prominence eruptions occur when the overlying magnetic field that contains the prominence material is disrupted," he said. ®

India to launch RISAT-1 next month

India is expected to launch next month an indigenously designed and developed satellite that has the unique capability of imaging during day and night and in all weather conditions. “The Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) is likely to be launched in the second half of April from Sriharikota space port,” an Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) official said. The spacecraft, country’s first microwave remote sensing satellite, was originally scheduled to be launched this month but the ISRO row, the fallout of the punitive action against four former space scientists for their role in the Antrix-Devas deal, delayed the preparations. Nearly two years ago, India launched a Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) with all weather capability and ability to penetrate through clouds, but it was realised in association with Israel Aerospace Industries. Bangalore-headquartered Isro said RISAT-2 has enhanced the country’s capability in the management of disasters. RISAT-1, weighing around 1850 kg, is slated for launch by Isro’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C19 (XL)) into a 536 km orbit. Besides use in the agriculture sector, RISAT-1 could also be used to keep round-the-clock vigil on the countrys borders and help in anti-terrorist and anti-infiltration operations. The satellite carries a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload, operating in a multi-polarisation and multi-resolution mode to provide images with coarse, fine and high spatial resolutions, respectively.

Nobel scientist who warned of thinning ozone dies

Nobel scientist who warned of thinning ozone dies  

AP F. Sherwood Rowland. File photo

TOPICS

environmental issues climate change
human interest people
science and technology

F. Sherwood Rowland, the Nobel prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth’s ozone layer, has died. He was 84.

Rowland died Saturday at his home of complications from Parkinson’s disease, the dean of the University of California, Irvine’s physical sciences department said Sunday.

“We have lost our finest friend and mentor,” Kenneth C. Janda said in a statement. “He saved the world from a major catastrophe - never wavering in his commitment to science, truth and humanity and did so with integrity and grace.”

Rowland was among three scientists awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for explaining how the ozone layer is formed and decomposed through chemical processes in the atmosphere.

The prize was awarded more than two decades after Rowland and post-doctoral student Mario Molina calculated that if human use of chlorofluorocarbons, a by-product of aerosol sprays, deodorants and other household products, were to continue at an unchanged rate, the ozone layer would be depleted after several decades. Their work built upon findings by atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen.

Their prediction caught enormous attention and was strongly challenged partly because the non-toxic properties of CFCs were thought to be environmentally safe. Their work gained widespread recognition more than a decade later with the discovery of the ozone hole over the Earth’s polar regions.

“It was to turn out that they had even underestimated the risk,” a Nobel committee said in its award citation for Rowland, Molina and Crutzen.

Mr. Molina said his former mentor never shied from defending his work or advocating a ban on CFCs.

“He showed me that if we believe in the science ... we should speak out when we feel it’s important for society to change,” Mr. Molina told The Associated Press.

“Isn’t it a responsibility of scientists, if you believe that you have found something that can affect the environment, isn’t it your responsibility to do something about it, enough so that action actually takes place?” Rowland said at a White House climate change roundtable in 1997.

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” he asked.

Rowland was survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Joan, a son and a daughter.

New Volkswagen Vento Diesel Comfortline launched

New Volkswagen Vento Diesel Comfortline launched

 

 

 

 

 

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Extending its range of mid-level Vento sedan models, German car manufacturer Volkswagen has launched the Vento diesel Comfortline at prices of Rs 8.74 lakh and Rs 8.56 lakh (ex-showroom, Maharashtra).
The newest variant has the same specifications and features as those of the current Vento diesel line-up in addition to body-coloured exterior door handles and mirrors, rear centre arm rest, fog light front and rear and electrically adjustable outside rear mirror.
Neeraj Garg, Member of Board & Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said, “Since the introduction of the Vento, we have received requests for the mid-level trimline and it is our pleasure to be able to provide the customers with their desired car.”

 

Magic mirror to take stress out of shopping

Store managers are hoping a magic mirror that tries your clothes on for you will help take the stress out of shopping - and lure consumers back from the internet.

The virtual changing room allows shoppers to sample outfits without putting them on - with the help of a 58-inch plasma screen and a depth-sensing camera.

The new device, which goes on display at Manchester's Trafford Centre tomorrow, allows shoppers to sample clothes from a number of retailers all in one place.

Using 3D technology, the mirror can superimpose dresses, skirts and tops over a live picture of a shopper's body as they move in front of a camera placed on top of the screen, the Daily Mail reported.

Movement sensors and technology similar to that used on an XBox games console are used to judge the consumer's size and distance from the camera.

Shoppers can change the size or the outfit - from retailers such as Karen Millen and Coast - at the wave of a hand until they find the best match, before heading straight to the store to pick it up.

Marketing manager Kelly Da Silva Fernandes, 26, who tried out the magic mirror, said: "It's a great way to save time and allows you to scan through a large number of outfits very quickly. It's great fun to be with a group of girls too."
Adam Vahed, managing director of Apache Solutions, who developed the technology, said: "I took a 58-inch plasma screen TV and mounted a depth-sensing camera on top.
"It has worked really well, so far, with women's clothing, so we are now developing the software for menswear and children."
Caroline Aikman, marketing manager for the Trafford Centre, said: "This is our secret weapon against the rise of internet shopping, you just can't get this type of theatre and experience online. We want to put the excitement back into shopping."