BEGINNING TODAY

All postings for this blog will appear on my blog:  JOURNAL FOR DAILY PAGES....  all of the internal page links have been switched.  This blog will remain open should anyone want to revisit previous articles that have been posted.

Morgan Freeman on Racism

 

Attention Readers

 BEGINNING MONDAY JULY 12, 2021...

I have decided to combine three of my blogs into one blog, therefore as of the above date, all postings for this blog will appear on my blog:  JOURNAL FOR DAILY PAGES....  all of the internal page links have already been switched.  This blog will remain open should anyone want to revisit previous articles that have been posted.

Stellar Evolution

Sometimes when a star reaches the end of its life it does so with a cataclysmic bang. In quick time it shreds itself, throwing out the raw materials that will seed the next generation of stars and planets. Even companion stars can be caught up in the explosion and scarred by the fallout.

Astronomers have found that this scarring can tell them a great deal about the binary star system as it was before the explosion even occurred. With most stars being a part of multiple star systems, this is of particular interest to scientists trying to understand their evolution.

But not all stars will go supernova as they run out of fuel – only the more massive ones have enough self-gravity to actually explode. A star needs to have roughly eight times more mass than our Sun for what is known as a core-collapse supernova to occur.  And it is gravity that drives the processes that lead to this dramatic ending.

For most of its life, a star exists in a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium, where the inward and outward forces on the star are finely balanced. Gravity draws in surrounding matter towards the star’s core, while radiation pressure from the heat being generated within pushes outwards and prevents the star from imploding.

In fact, these two forces are inextricably linked. If the core were to cool a little, the inward force of gravity would exceed the outward radiation pressure and the star would contract. The contraction would increase the temperature and pressure of the star again, returning it to equilibrium.

The real excitement comes as the star runs out of fuel and can no longer support itself against its own weight. Within a split second the core collapses, sending a shockwave radiating out through the star blowing it apart and causing one of the most energetic events we see anywhere in the Universe.

How much energy are we talking about? Roughly as much as the Sun will generate over something like 10-billion years. All produced in barely a fraction of that time.  If there is a nearby companion star, it can be hit by debris from the explosion. When this happens, the surface heats up and causes the star to swell, a bit like having a burn blister on your skin.

The star blister can be 10 or even 100 times larger than the star itself, but it lasts only for a very short time. Within a few decades, the blister heals, and the star shrinks back to its original form.

The team of Australian and Japanese astronomers, including post-doc researcher Dr Ryosuke Hirai from Monash University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), have carried out hundreds of computer simulations to investigate how companion stars inflate depending on their interactions with nearby supernovae. They then applied their results to SN2006jc, a supernova that was first seen by amateur astronomers and preceded by something that was, well, a little confusing.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE,
CLICK HERE...

China's Super Carrier

A new aircraft carrier, currently under construction in Shanghai, is the most visible sign of China's rapidly expanding navy. It is larger than China's current two carriers and differs in key aspects. But the natural comparison is to the U.S. Navy's latest carriers, the Ford Class.

Aircraft carriers are a strategic priority for the world’s leading navies. Experienced players such as the Royal Navy, French Navy (Marine Nationale) and Indian Navy are all in the process of bringing in new carriers. And Japan, South Korea and likely other countries are all taking steps to join the club. But nowhere is the capability gathering steam as much as in China. The Chinese Navy (PLAN) has already commissioned two carriers based on the Russian Admiral Kutzenov class. But their third carrier, known as Type-003, promises to take the PLAN to the next level.

Meanwhile the U.S. Navy, for decades the world leader in this technology, is also modernizing with a new class of super carrier. The first Ford Class ship, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was commissioned in 2017. While it has suffered some teething problems it remains the largest and most modern carrier afloat.

The Type-003 is very close in size to the U.S. Navy’s carriers. And although the definition is vague, it seems fair to also describe it as a “super carrier”.

Fresh commercial satellite imagery from Kompsat, via Shadowbreak Inti., allows us to finally measure the size and layout of the Type-003. This permits a general high-level comparison to the Ford Class.

The imagery shows that it is approximately 320 meters (1,050 feet) long. This is about 13 meters (43 feet) shorter than the Ford Class. And it seems less than it sounds if you placed the two ships side by side.

The Chinese ship does have a narrower flight deck however, It’s width of about 73 meters (240 feet) is very similar to preceding Type-001 and Type-002 carriers. There may be logistical reasons for this, such as dry dock sizes. Or it may simply be that the Chinese planners were happy with the width of the current carriers.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Civilization Most Likely

The Milky Way is 13 BILLION years old. Some of our Galaxy’s oldest stars were born near the beginning of the Universe itself. During all these eons of time, we know at least one technological civilization has been born – US!

But if the Galaxy is so ancient, and we know it can create life, why haven’t we heard from anybody else? If another civilization was just 0.1% of the Galaxy’s age older than we are, they would be millions of years further along than us and presumably more advanced. If we are already on the cusp of sending life to other worlds, shouldn’t the Milky Way be teeming with alien ships and colonies by now?

Maybe. But it’s also possible that we’ve been looking in the wrong place. Recent computer simulations by Jason T. Wright et al suggest that the best place to look for ancient space-faring civilizations might be the core of the Galaxy, a relatively unexplored target in the search for extra terrestrial intelligence.

The Churn
Older mathematical models of space colonization have tried to determine the time required for a civilization to spread throughout the Milky Way. Given the size of the Milky Way, wide-scale galactic colonization could take longer than the age of the Galaxy itself. However, a unique feature of this new simulation is its accounting for the motion of the Galaxy’s stars.  

The Milky Way is not static, as assumed in prior models, rather it is a churning swirling mass. Colonization vessels or probes would be flying among stars that are themselves in motion. The new simulation reveals that stellar motion aids in colonization contributing a diffusing effect to the spread of a civilization.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

ATTENTION READERS

 BEGINNING MONDAY JULY 12, 2021...

I have decided to combine three of my blogs into one blog, therefore as of the above date, all postings for this blog will appear on my blog:  JOURNAL FOR DAILY PAGES....  all of the internal page links have already been switched.  This blog will remain open should anyone want to revisit previous articles that have been posted.

Who's To Blame?

Women have become prey for “female-identifying” inmates in Californian prisons. A California law is being blasted by women’s rights groups for allowing transgender inmates to pick the gendered prison of their choice, citing abuse of females by men.

In a letter to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) accused the state of violating the constitutional rights of incarcerated women and subjecting them to “physical, psychological, and emotional harm” by allowing men into their living quarters to “prey on women.”

“Under the law as written, there is no method to screen out males who genuinely self-identify as transgender from those who are using the system to prey on women. Even if sincere self-identification was the criterion for transfer, however, it would not mitigate or remove the danger posed to women. A 2009 report found 20% of trans-identified men in California are sex offenders, and 50% have committed crimes against persons,” the letter reads.

“Those running the prison system know how dangerous conditions have become for the women in California state custody. Many of the correctional officers have openly acknowledged that they expect the women will be raped and assaulted, there will likely be pregnancies, and, in general, the environment will be ripe for exploitation of the women and challenging to control.”

The WoLF has received numerous complaints from women who have been subject to abuse and traumatized at the hands of male inmates who transferred to their prisons, WoLF Legal Director Lauren Adams said.

“We are working with a woman who was punched in the face so hard by a new transfer that she couldn’t chew for three days. He was taken away and released back in a different yard with no restrictions,” Adams said. “He was her cellmate. She had to sleep with him.”

Adams added that many women who have been sexually abused in the past now have to share communal showers with nude men.

“One woman went in there with two naked men showering who still had penises,” Adams added. “It was incredibly traumatic and scary, to know for, [possibly], the rest of their lives they are going to be subjected to this.”

The state currently has 273 transfer requests. 266 of the requestees are housed at male institutions and are seeking to be transferred to female institutions, while only seven from female institutions are requesting a transfer to male institutions. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the state has 1,286 inmates who identify as transgender or nonbinary.

So far, 24 male prisoners have been transferred to female institutions. WoLF speculates that many of the male inmates looking to transfer to women’s prisons are not transgender, but are looking to escape their current living situation.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Ancient Human Discovered

Researchers working in Israel have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human that lived alongside our species more than 100,000 years ago.

They believe the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the "last survivors" of a very ancient human group.  The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Details have been published in the journal Science.

The team members think the individual descended from an earlier species that may have spread out of the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and given rise to Neanderthals in Europe and their equivalents in Asia.  The scientists have named the newly discovered lineage the "Nesher Ramla Homo type".

Dr Hila May of Tel Aviv University said the discovery reshaped the story of human evolution, particularly our picture of how the Neanderthals emerged. The general picture of Neanderthal evolution had in the past been linked closely with Europe.
 
"It all started in Israel. We suggest that a local group was the source population," she told BBC News. "During interglacial periods, waves of humans, the Nesher Ramla people, migrated from the Middle East to Europe."

The team thinks that early members of the Nesher Ramla Homo group were already present in the Near East some 400,000 years ago. The researchers have noticed resemblances between the new finds and ancient "pre-Neanderthal" groups in Europe.  "This is the first time we could connect the dots between different specimens found in the Levant" said Dr Rachel Sarig, also from Tel Aviv University.

"There are several human fossils from the caves of Qesem, Zuttiyeh and Tabun that date back to that time that we could not attribute to any specific known group of humans. But comparing their shapes to those of the newly uncovered specimen from Nesher Ramla justify their inclusion within the [new human] group."  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Our Divided House

 

Stupid Laws

 

Our Milky Way Galaxy

Photos from satellites and other sources are just one of the ways we learn about the universe around us. NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, for example, can create composite views of radio waves and X-ray waves, which is exactly what we see in this new image of the Milky Way. And wow, is it awesome.

The photo, originally released in May, shows a composite image of our galaxy’s core, and combined Chandra’s X-ray images with radio-wave data from South Africa’s MeerKAT Radio Telescope. NASA colorized the striking image so that all of the lightwaves are visible to the human eye. The brighter band at the center of the image is the Milky Way’s plane, which is a disk of matter where most of its stars are located.

The accompanying explainer video from NASA (above) states that the image “contains a wealth of scientific information” to explore. One of the most fascinating elements found within the image are threads—long, narrow bands of X-rays comprised of superheated gas and magnetic fields. One such thread runs perpendicular to our galaxy’s plane and looks to have X-ray and radio emission intertwined. It measures 20 light-years long but is only one-hundredth that size in width. Researchers think the threads were formed due to magnetic fields that collided with and twisted around each other.

NASA’s panoramic image uncovered several other amazing elements as well, like enormous plumes of hot gas that extend 700 light-years above and below the Milky Way’s plane. These plumes are believed to be heated by things like supernova explosions and hard-to-detect magnetic reconnections. There is also a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, too, which also impacts movement and other elements.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...