Extreme Eclipse Spotted 10,000 Light Years Away

If you think winter nights are long, think again.

You could be living in a world where, once every 69 years, the sun almost totally disappears for three and a half years.

Researchers have discovered a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, that boasts a new record for the longest known stellar eclipse and the longest time between eclipses.

It smashes the record held by the previous system, Epsilon Aurigae - a giant star that is eclipsed by its companion star every 27 years, for periods ranging from 640 to 730 days.

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Researchers have discovered a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, that boasts a new record for the longest known stellar eclipse and the longest time between eclipses. It is 10,000 light years from Earth and is referred to by its catalogue number TYC 2505-672-1. Illustration of the system is shown 

The new system is 10,000 light years from earth and while it doesn't yet have name, it is referred to by its catalogue number TYC 2505-672-1. 

The discovery was made from photographic plates taken by Harvard in the 1980s as part of the Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) program, by a team of astronomers from Vanderbilt and Harvard Universities.

‘It’s the longest duration stellar eclipse and the longest orbit for an eclipsing binary ever found by far,’ said Joey Rodriguez, a doctoral student and the lead author of the paper.

The university had recently started to put the plates, from between 1980 and 1989, into a digital form when the binary system caught the attention of Sumin Tang, a postdoc student.

Tang presented her own results on the system at a conference, which led to Rodriguez and Tang collaborating.

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The eclipse smashes the record held by the previous system, Epsilon Aurigae - a giant star that is eclipsed by its companion star every 27 years, for periods ranging from 640 to 730 days. The light curves from Epsilon Aurigae are pictured top, while the light curves for the new binary system are shown bottom

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The research team found 9,000 pictures of the binary star system taken by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (Kelt), shown. They used the pictures to discover that the system is made of a pair of red giant stars

They found 9,000 pictures of the system taken by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (Kelt).

They discovered that the system is made of a pair of red giant stars. 

One of the stars had been stripped down to a relatively small core and surrounded by an extremely large disk of material that produces the extended eclipse.

The system is so far away that they could only extract a limited amount of data, but could estimate the surface of the companion star is about 2,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun. 

The distance between the two is about as far as our sun to Uranus.

RECORD HOLDING ECLIPSES  

OLD RECORD HOLDER: EPSILON AURIGAE

Eclipsed every 27 years

Eclipses lasting from 640 to 730 days

2,000 light years from Earth

NEW RECORD HOLDER: TYC 2505-672-1

Eclipsed every 69 years

Eclipses lasting 1277 days

10,000 light years from Earth

‘Right now even our most powerful telescopes can’t independently resolve the two objects’ said Rodriguez. 

‘Hopefully, technological advances will make that possible by 2080 when the next eclipse occurs.’

‘One of the great challenges in astronomy is that some of the most important phenomena occur on astronomical timescales, yet astronomers are generally limited to much shorter human timescales,# said co-author Keivan Stassun, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt.

‘Here we have a rare opportunity to study a phenomenon that plays out over many decades and provides a window into the types of environments around stars that could represent planetary building blocks at the very end of a star system’s life.’

This system will allow researchers to carefully study the eclipse in 2080 when the next one is predicted.

If you think winter nights are long, think again.

You could be living in a world where, once every 69 years, the sun almost totally disappears for three and a half years.

Researchers have discovered a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, that boasts a new record for the longest known stellar eclipse and the longest time between eclipses.

It smashes the record held by the previous system, Epsilon Aurigae - a giant star that is eclipsed by its companion star every 27 years, for periods ranging from 640 to 730 days.

+3

Researchers have discovered a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, that boasts a new record for the longest known stellar eclipse and the longest time between eclipses. It is 10,000 light years from Earth and is referred to by its catalogue number TYC 2505-672-1. Illustration of the system is shown 

The new system is 10,000 light years from earth and while it doesn't yet have name, it is referred to by its catalogue number TYC 2505-672-1. 

The discovery was made from photographic plates taken by Harvard in the 1980s as part of the Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) program, by a team of astronomers from Vanderbilt and Harvard Universities.

‘It’s the longest duration stellar eclipse and the longest orbit for an eclipsing binary ever found by far,’ said Joey Rodriguez, a doctoral student and the lead author of the paper.

The university had recently started to put the plates, from between 1980 and 1989, into a digital form when the binary system caught the attention of Sumin Tang, a postdoc student.

Tang presented her own results on the system at a conference, which led to Rodriguez and Tang collaborating.

+3

The eclipse smashes the record held by the previous system, Epsilon Aurigae - a giant star that is eclipsed by its companion star every 27 years, for periods ranging from 640 to 730 days. The light curves from Epsilon Aurigae are pictured top, while the light curves for the new binary system are shown bottom

+3

The research team found 9,000 pictures of the binary star system taken by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (Kelt), shown. They used the pictures to discover that the system is made of a pair of red giant stars

They found 9,000 pictures of the system taken by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (Kelt).

They discovered that the system is made of a pair of red giant stars. 

One of the stars had been stripped down to a relatively small core and surrounded by an extremely large disk of material that produces the extended eclipse.

The system is so far away that they could only extract a limited amount of data, but could estimate the surface of the companion star is about 2,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun. 

The distance between the two is about as far as our sun to Uranus.

RECORD HOLDING ECLIPSES  

OLD RECORD HOLDER: EPSILON AURIGAE

Eclipsed every 27 years

Eclipses lasting from 640 to 730 days

2,000 light years from Earth

NEW RECORD HOLDER: TYC 2505-672-1

Eclipsed every 69 years

Eclipses lasting 1277 days

10,000 light years from Earth

‘Right now even our most powerful telescopes can’t independently resolve the two objects’ said Rodriguez. 

‘Hopefully, technological advances will make that possible by 2080 when the next eclipse occurs.’

‘One of the great challenges in astronomy is that some of the most important phenomena occur on astronomical timescales, yet astronomers are generally limited to much shorter human timescales,# said co-author Keivan Stassun, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt.

‘Here we have a rare opportunity to study a phenomenon that plays out over many decades and provides a window into the types of environments around stars that could represent planetary building blocks at the very end of a star system’s life.’

This system will allow researchers to carefully study the eclipse in 2080 when the next one is predicted.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3452599/Total-eclipse-century-Record-breaking-event-plunges-star-darkness-THREE-YEARS.html#ixzz40ZMuZ3EK
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Extreme Eclipse Spotted 10,000 Light Years Away

This is an artists conception of binary star system TYC-2505-672-1. (Jeremy Teaford, Vanderbilt University)

A total eclipse of the Sun lasts about 12 minutes here on Earth, but if you live in the binary star system TYC 2505-672-1, one sun disappears for three-and-a-half years as it is eclipsed by its companion.
Writing in the Astronomical Journal, researchers from Vanderbilt and Harvard universities say these long eclipses happen every 69 years in the system that is nearly 10,000 light-years away. They say that sets records for both “longest duration stellar eclipse and the longest period between eclipses in a binary system.”
Binary systems contain two stars that orbit each other.
"It's the longest duration stellar eclipse and the longest orbit for an eclipsing binary ever found …by far," said lead author and Vanderbilt doctoral student Joey Rodriguez.
The researchers said the previous record holder was Epsilon Aurigae, which is eclipsed by its fellow star every 27 years for between 640 and 730 days.
The researchers made the discovery using two resources.
First, they accessed the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), a non-profit group of amateur and professional astronomers who study variable stars. The group provided the paper’s authors with “a few hundred” observations of TYC 2505-672-1's latest eclipse.
The researchers also used the Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH), which contains thousands of photographic plates made by Harvard astronomers from 1890 and 1989.
Using the available observations, the team believes the system is made up of two red giant stars. One of these stars, they say, has been “stripped down to a relatively small core,” creating a large disc of debris that causes the long eclipses.
"About the only way to get these really long eclipse times is with an extended disk of opaque material. Nothing else is big enough to block out a star for months at a time," Rodriguez said.

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The phone that really CAN tell you if you're hot or not: Caterpillar's latest Android phone has built in thermal imaging camera

• The $600 Cat S60 has underwater camera and thermal imaging camera 
• Rugged smartphone runs on Android Marshmallow and can survive drops
• It also has Gorilla Glass 4 display, and touchscreen works with wet fingers

By Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com

When you think of Caterpillar, yellow and black construction machinery is more likely to come to mind than smartphones.

But, in the image of its famed rugged equipment, the brand’s newest smartphone is built to withstand a beating – and it has thermal imaging sensors built into it.

The $600 Cat S60 has promised to give users a ‘sixth sense,’ and with a strengthened die cast frame and the ability to function underwater for an hour at a depth of roughly 16 feet, the firm says it is essentially indestructible.

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When you think of Caterpillar, yellow and black construction machinery is more likely to come to mind than smartphones. But, in the image of its famed rugged equipment, the brand’s newest smartphone is built to withstand a beating – and it has thermal imaging sensors built right into it

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE PHONE 

The Cat S60 can survive a drop of almost six feet, and will function under water for up to an hour at a depth of almost 16 feet.

The smartphone is dustproof and has a die cast frame, along with a Gorilla Glass display.

Along with underwater capabilities, the phone also has a thermal image camera, allowing users to see 'invisible' heat contrast. 

The Cat S60 is a smartphone, a thermal camera, and an underwater camera all in one.

It runs on Android Marshmallow, and has a 3800mAh battery.

According to Caterpillar, the S60 is the first phone to contain an integrated thermal camera, using an embedded heat visualization device made by FLIR.

By creating an image that highlights temperature differences, the camera shows heat that is invisible to the naked eye.

The practical uses are expansive, from detecting heat loss around windows and doors to identifying overheating appliances, or flaws in insulation.

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Minecraft’s first big update of the year comes to PC and Pocket Edition Mike Minotti

Above: More Minecraft.

Image Credit: Microsoft

Correction: We originally stated that the 13 redstone skins cost $2 each, but they actually all come in a bundle for $2 total.
Minecraft’s getting more content today.
Microsoft announced today that the first big update of the year for its block-building game is available now for the Windows 10 and mobile versions. Minecraft, which is on just about every platform imaginable, has sold over 70 million copies (which is why Microsoft bought Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014). However, this new content, called the Overworld Update, is currently only available on PC and mobile. Sorry, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U players.
“With the Overworld Update, make more advanced mechanical contraptions with additional components, including comparators, repeaters, dispensers, droppers, hoppers and more,” Microsoft details on its site, Xbox Wire. “Stumble upon witch huts as you explore spooky swamps, and steal their unique potions to use for yourself. Other new gameplay elements include slime blocks, wearable pumpkins, and red sandstone.”
Microsoft is also rolling out new skins based on the game’s redstone component along with the update. Two of them, the Composer and Artisan, are free, with 13 more available in a bundle for $2.

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App shakes up earthquake science by turning users into sensors

Quake warning: The app provides a countdown to the start of an earthquake.— Reuters

NEW YORK: Smartphones could become the makeshift quake detectors of the future, thanks to a new app launched designed to track tremors and potentially save the lives of its users.

MyShake, available on Android, links users to become an all-in-one earthquake warning system; it records quake-type rumblings, ties a critical number of users to a location, and could eventually provide a countdown to the start of shaking.

Its inventors say the app, released by the University of California, Berkeley, could give early warning of a quake to populations without their own seismological instruments.

"MyShake cannot replace traditional seismic networks like those run by the US Geological Survey," said Richard Allen, leader of the app project and director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.

"But we think MyShake can make earthquake early warning faster and more accurate in areas that have a traditional seismic network, and can provide life-saving early warning in countries that have no seismic network."

Earthquake-prone countries in the developing world with poor ground-based seismic network or early warning systems include Nepal, Peru, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, he said.

The algorithm behind MyShake, developed by a handful of Silicon Valley programmers, relies on the same technology smartphone gamers depend on to sense the phone's orientation, known as the accelerometer, in order to measure movement caused by quakes.

What smartphones lack in sensitivity - they can only record earthquakes above magnitude 5 within 10 km - they make up for in ubiquity.

Currently, 300 smartphones equipped with MyShake within a 110km square area are enough to estimate a quake's location, magnitude and origin time.

There were some 3.4 billion smartphone subscriptions worldwide in 2015, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, so the app's creators hope to build a seismic network covering the globe.

"We want to make this a killer app, where you put it on your phone and allow us to use your accelerometer, and we will deliver earthquake early warning," Allen said.

Sophisticated early-warning systems can warn of coming quakes as much as a few minutes before they begin, but cannot stop them causing death and destruction on a large scale.

Nepal is still rebuilding after two separate earthquakes in April and May 2015 that killed 9,000 people, injured more than 22,000 and damaged or destroyed nearly 900,000 houses.  —  Reuters

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New App Turns Android Smartphones Into Earthquake Detectors Indo-Asian News Service ,

File picture shows a seismograph readout.    

A new Android app is capable of detecting tremors and sending the data to scientists.
The developers of the MyShake app claim to be able to detect a magntitude five earthquake from 10 kilometres away or less.
The app collects quake data at a central site, where an algorithm confirms that an earthquake is indeed occurring.
"The location, origin time, and magnitude of the earthquake are then determined on the basis of multiple triggers from the network of phones. This information can be used to estimate the shaking intensity and the remaining time until damaging waves arrive at a target location," read an excerpt of the study, published in the Science Advances journal.
Worried about your phone's battery life when using the app? The team has sought to reassure users.
"The MyShake application currently uses about the same power that a smartphone uses when it is on but is not being used. For most users, a phone running MyShake does not need to be charged more than once every 24 hours."
Of course, the app requires plenty of users to be truly effective. So how accurate is it then?
Well, the team said that out of 1000 simulations (featuring 200 phones), the apps missed about three percent of events.
"We also conducted a second group of 1000 simulations without earthquakes, just false triggers. None of these generated a false event. This is because we require >60 percent of active phones within a 10-km radius region to trigger for an event declaration," the team explained.

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New App Turns Android Smartphones Into Earthquake Detectors. Indo-Asian News Service ,

Researchers have developed an app that can turn smartphones into a worldwide seismic network that could eventually warn users of impending jolts from a nearby earthquake.
With the help of a smartphone's accelerometer - the motion-detection instrument - the app, called MyShake taps a phone's ability to record ground shaking from an earthquake.
The android app, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store, runs in the background with little power, so that a phone's onboard accelerometers can record local shaking any time of the day or night.
For now, the app only collects information from the accelerometers, analyses it and, if it fits the vibrational profile of a quake, relays it and the phone's GPS coordinates to the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, for analysis.
However, once enough people are using it, the seismologists plan to use the data to warn people miles from ground zero that shaking is rumbling their way.
"MyShake cannot replace traditional seismic networks like those run by the US Geological Survey, UC Berkeley, the University of Washington and Caltech, but we think MyShake can make earthquake early warning faster and more accurate in areas that have a traditional seismic network, and can provide life-saving early warning in countries that have no seismic network," said the leader of the app project Richard Allen from the University of California, Berkeley.
A crowd-sourced seismic network may be the only option today for many earthquake-prone developing countries, such as Nepal or Peru, that have a sparse or no ground-based seismic network or early warning system, but do have millions of smartphone users.
"In my opinion, this is cutting-edge research that will transform seismology," UC Berkeley graduate student Qingkai Kong, who developed the algorithm at the heart of the app, said.
Smartphones can easily measure movement caused by a quake because they have three built-in accelerometers designed to sense the orientation of the phone for display or gaming.
While constantly improving in sensitivity for the benefit of gamers, however, smartphone accelerometers are far less sensitive than in-ground seismometers.
But they are sensitive enough to record earthquakes above a magnitude 5 -- the ones that do damage -- within 10 kilometres.
And what these accelerometers lack in sensitivity, they make up for in ubiquity. There are an estimated one billion smartphones worldwide, the researchers said.
In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers described the algorithm in the mobile app that analyses a phone's accelerometer data and distinguishes earthquake shaking from normal vibrations, such as walking, dancing or dropping the phone.
In simulated tests, the algorithm that the researchers developed successfully distinguished quakes from non-quakes 93 percent of the time.

Boko Haram fighters trained in Somalia- President

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/boko-haram-fighters-trained-in-somalia-president/

Boko Haram fighters trained in Somalia- President

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/boko-haram-fighters-trained-in-somalia-president/

Manchester United are to name Old Trafford’s South Stand, which contains the only original part of the 1910 stadium infrastructure, after one of the club and England’s legends, United director Bobby Charlton.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/news/

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Global warming: West Antarctic ice sheet could melt in next 1,000 years!

Zee Media Bureau

London: A new study suggests that the West Antarctic ice sheet may disappear within the next 1,000 years in the wake of global warming.

The Antarctic and Greenland are covered by ice sheets, which together store more than two thirds of the world's freshwater. As temperatures rise, ice masses melt; in consequence the global sea level rises and threatens the coastal regions.
"Given a business-as-usual scenario of global warming, the collapse of the West Antarctic could proceed very rapidly and the West Antarctic ice masses could completely disappear within the next 1,000 years," said one of the study authors, Johannes Sutter from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
The Antarctic already today contributes to the annual sea level rise with 0.4 millimetres, as per scientific findings.

“If the ocean temperature rises by more than two degrees Celsius compared with today, the marine-based West Antarctic ice sheet will be irreversibly lost. This will then lead to a significant Antarctic contribution to the sea level rise of some three to five metres,” Sutter noted.
For the study, the researchers analysed the changes to the Antarctic ice sheet in the last interglacial period and applied their findings to future projections.
The climate scientists used two models in their study. A climate model that includes various Earth system components such as atmosphere, oceans and vegetation, and a dynamic ice sheet model that includes all basic components of an ice sheet (floating ice shelves, grounded inland ice on the subsurface, the movement of the grounding line).
Two different simulations were used with the climate model for the last interglacial period to feed the ice sheet model with all the necessary climate information.
The findings were published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
(With Agency inputs)

First Published: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 - 22:17

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What's going on with polar ice sheets?

With the Arctic and Antarctic experiencing below average, if not record-low, sea-ice coverage, climate and polar researchers are scrambling to quantify how ice-loss could effect global sea levels.

By Ben Thompson, Staff\

 

Recent measurements show that the Arctic’s sea ice extent in January was the lowest ever in the satellite record, while the Antarctic also saw lower than average ice coverage last month and a major ice sheet there could be verging on instability.
The reports come at a time when climate and polar researchers are investigating the potential for heavy melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the effects the loss of the ice could have on global sea levels.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), January’s sea ice extent in the Arctic averaged 5.2 million square miles, down from the more than 5.6-million-square-mile average observed between 1981 and 2010. The previous January low came in 2011; this month’s mark was around 35,000 square miles less than that record.

Recommended: Climate change: Is your opinion informed by science? Take our quiz!

The NSIDC, which researches and manages data about frozen regions around the globe and their climates, says the drop varied significantly from highs observed last January. The month’s unusually high temperatures, which were caused by a strong negative phase arctic oscillation – a variance in air pressure between the poles and more central latitudes – led to the extremely low ice coverage throughout much of the Arctic region.

The Barents, Kara, and East Greenland seas had “unusually low ice coverage,” and less than average coverage in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk was observed. Ice in the waters surrounding most of northeastern Canada and western Greenland were reported to be “near average.”
This data continues a negative decade-over-decade trend for January. The month’s average now sits at negative 3.2 percent every decade based on data collected since 1979. It also continues a trend of a less than 5.5-million-square-mile extent reported in each consecutive January since 2005.
Despite what appears to be a consistent downward tendency in sea ice extent, a recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that the rate of Arctic ice loss may actually be slowing, at least in the Atlantic. Even though the January trend is on a negative trajectory, a tendency for more ice overall has been observed since 2005.
“There is little doubt that we will see a decline in Arctic sea ice cover in this century in response to anthropogenic warming,” according to the research letter. However, “internal climate variations and other external forcings could generate considerable spread in Arctic sea ice trends on decadal timescales.”
This research is supported by analysis of Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Atlantic, ocean patterns that circulate warm water to the Arctic and reduce the ice extent. While the study focuses on the Atlantic’s circulation, warming waters on the other side of the pole could persist.
Another recently released study concerning an Antarctic ice sheet could also point to changes in ice levels at that pole and its effects on global waters. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), “considered the major contributor to global sea level rise” tens of thousands of years ago, could be primed to repeat history if the effects of greenhouse gases partially melt or collapse the sheet. The WAIS could have added several meters to seawater levels globally at a time when polar temperatures averaged 2 degrees Celsius higher than they are today.
While the researchers behind the study and its simulations are still not certain about the effects of the potential WAIS melt, “Given a business-as-usual scenario of global warming, the collapse of the West Antarctic could proceed very rapidly and the West Antarctic ice masses could completely disappear within the next 1,000 years,” according to lead author Johannes Sutter of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
The study estimates that the melt could lead to a sea level increase of 3 to 5 meters, notwithstanding a the potential for a rise of several more if ice at the Arctic pole also continues to disappear.

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Arctic Warms, Antarctic Ice Shelves Weaken

by Kieran Mulvaney 

 

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Arctic sea ice in January reached a record new low.

Christine Zenino, via Wikimedia Commons

Gallery

GlobalWarmingRightBeforeYourEyes:Photos

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Arctic sea ice extent hit a new January low last month, as warm temperatures enveloped the region and low air pressure allowed cold air to escape to mid-latitudes.
Arctic sea ice extent during January averaged 5.2 million square miles (13.53 million square kilometers), which is 402,000 square miles (1.04 million square kilometers) below the 1981 to 2010 average for the month and 35,000 square miles (90,000 square kilometers) below the previous record January low in the satellite era, which occurred in 2011. This was largely driven by unusually low ice coverage in the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, and the East Greenland Sea on the Atlantic side, and below average conditions in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk.

Earth's 2015 Temperatures Warmest On Record

Temperatures across most of the Arctic Ocean during January were a remarkable 13 degrees F (6 degrees C) above average. This was to a large extent a result of the Arctic Oscillation — a variation in pressure patterns in the Northern Hemisphere — entering a strong negative phase during the first three weeks of the month, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which released the figures. That meant that lower air pressures allowed warmer air to push north, and cold air to head the other way.
However, NSIDC underlined that, even allowing for such extremes as a result of natural fluctuations, the overall trend is clear: January sea ice extent in the Arctic is declining by an average of 3.2 percent per decade. Since January 2005, that extent has not once been above 5.5 million square miles (14.25 million square kilometers) during the month; from the start of the satellite record through 2004, it had never been below that level.
Antarctic sea ice extent was also below average for the month, just one year after it reached record high levels. Indeed, on average Antarctic sea ice continues to increase in extent (albeit at a far lower level than Arctic sea ice is decreasing) despite the fact that the ocean around it is warming.

What’s Ahead For Climate Change In 2016?

Several theories have been offered to explain this, including changes in wind or water circulation patterns, or increases in snowfall. Another theory is that melting glaciers and ice shelves — which, unlike sea ice, are freshwater, which freezes at a higher temperature than saltwater — are causing a freshening of the sea surface along the edges of the Antarctic continent.
It’s certainly the case that numerous Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves are melting, including some that had previously been considered stable. In some cases, this has led to outright collapse: For example, Larsen-A in the Antarctic Peninsula collapsed in 1995, followed by Larsen-B in 2002, and now their larger neighbor, Larsen-C, twice the size of Wales, may well join them.
Unlike sea ice — which, as its name reflects, is frozen ocean — ice shelves are floating on the sea surface while still anchored to the shore; as they melt or collapse, they add to the total volume of the ocean. Of particular long-term concern is the fact that ice shelves that fringe Antarctica also act as “dams” for the massive ice sheet that covers the continental landmass; were those plugs to be removed, it is postulated, it could ultimately result in the loss of that ice sheet, with globally catastrophic levels of sea level rise.

Global Warming Right Before Your Eyes: Photos

A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change attempted to quantify how much of such ice shelves could “safely” be lost without starting to affect the dynamics of the ice sheet behind them. The authors combined satellite radar data with airborne observations of ice thickness to create models to calculate the buttressing effect of ice shelves.
They found that, on average, 13 percent of total ice shelf area is “passive shelf ice:” it’s floating ice that provides no further buttressing. That is to say, the loss of such passive shelf ice would not in itself affect the ice sheet, although it would expose a “safety band” of ice behind it.
“Once ice loss through the calving of icebergs goes beyond the passive shelf ice and cuts into the safety band, ice flow toward the ocean will accelerate, which might well entail an elevated contribution to sea-level rise for decades and centuries to come,” explained study co-author Dr Johannes Fürst, from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg’s Institute of Geography. Unfortunately, some ice shelves have less passive ice than others.
“The Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas (in the West Antarctic) have limited or almost no passive ice shelf, which implies that further retreat of current ice-shelf fronts will have serious dynamic consequences,” Furst added. ”This region is particularly vulnerable as ice shelves have already been thinning at high rates for two decades.”

Tags sea level rise sea ice Ice Glaciers
http://news.discovery.com/earth/arctic-warms-antarctic-ice-shelves-weaken-160209.htm

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Marc Andreessen’s comments about India deeply upsetting: Mark Zuckerberg

"I want to respond to Marc Andreessen's comments about India yesterday. I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all," Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook posting yesterday afternoon. 

 

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As the controversy refused to die down, Mark Zuckerberg on tried to distance himself from the comments made by his board member.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg has distanced himself from the comments made by Marc Andreessen about India, saying the remarks were “deeply upsetting” and did not represent the company’s thinking.
“I want to respond to Marc Andreessen’s comments about India yesterday. I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook posting yesterday afternoon.
His comments came after Andreessen made a objectionable tweet after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ruled against Facebook’s free but restricted internet programme.
“Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” Andreessen tweeted, immediately evoking a sharp reaction from Indians.
Andreessen quickly deleted the tweet and apologized through a series of tweets yesterday.
“Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India,” he said later in a series of tweets.
“I am a huge admirer of the nation of India and the Indian people, who have been nothing but kind and generous to me for many years. I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation. I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me,” Andreessen said.
As the controversy refused to die down, Zuckerberg on tried to distance himself from the comments made by his board member.
“India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people. It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Facebook stands for helping to connect people and giving them voice to shape their own future, he said.
“But to shape the future we need to understand the past. As our community in India has grown, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the need to understand India’s history and culture,” Zuckerberg said.
“I’ve been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country,” Zuckerberg wrote.

 

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Facebook board director Andreessen ‘sorry’ for India Internet remarks

Marc Andreessen has apologised for his tweets, which many believed were highly offensive. (Photo courtesy: Wikipedia)

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Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist and Facebook Inc board director, apologised on Wednesday for a series of tweets that condemned the Indian government for banning the social media company’s controversial Free Basics programme, including one which stated that “anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the India people”.
Trai introduced rules on Monday preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, effectively dismantling Facebook’s Free Basics program, which offered a pared-back version of Internet services.
Andreessen, who often takes to Twitter to offer his opinions, said the new rules meant that India’s poor had been denied access to the Internet. Only 252 million out of India’s 1.3 billion people have Internet access.
“Denying world’s poorest free partial Internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong,” Andreessen wrote.
“Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?


On Wednesday, Facebook condemned Andreessen’s Twitter outburst.
“We strongly reject the sentiments expressed by Marc Andreessen last night regarding India.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also condemned his colleague’s comments, saying that he found them “deeply upsetting”.

(Photo courtesy: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook profile)

Dozens of Twitter users blasted Andreessen for his comments, which he deleted and apologised for on Wednesday in a series of tweets.
“I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation,” he wrote. “I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me.”

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Mobile Version Of Final Fantasy IX Needs Around 4GB Of Space

By Jenni 

The Apple iOS and Android versions of Final Fantasy IX have launched. People can immediately purchase and play the JRPG on their phones and tablets, provided they have enough space. The initial download for the game starts at about 2GB, depending on your device.

For Apple iOS device owners, the initial size is 2.01GB, while Android device owners will encounter a 1.8GB download. Once launched, additional data will be downloaded to the device. Since it will end up being around 4GB, a person will need around 8GB free before starting the process.

Final Fantasy IX is the tale of Zidane, a young thief, who inadvertently stole the princess of Alexandria. (Fortunately, she wanted to be stolen.) They team up with a young black mage named Vivi, who finds himself questioning his very existence. As their party grows, the group finds themselves needing to save the world. The mobile versions of the game add achievements, HD movies and character models, an autosave function, and seven game boosters to make the adventure easier.

Final Fantasy IX is immediately available on iTunes and Google Play. It will be 20% off from February 10-21, 2016. A release date for the Windows PC port has yet to be announced.

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Final Fantasy IX is now available on iOS and Android

Just a couple weeks ago, Square Enix made a surprising move. We know that they've been working on remakes and remasters of various Final Fantasy titles, but one we hadn't heard about was IX. So when they showed off the game running on a mobile device, people went nuts.

While Squeenix showed off some gameplay and gave us a look at what kind of controls we could expect from the game, what they didn't tell us was when we could actually expect the game to be released. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long, as the game is already available on both Android and iOS.
While Final Fantasy VII will always be my favorite, as it was my first introduction to the JRPG, IX is a close second. Somewhere I still have my original Playstation memory card with the save files for both games. Not that it would do me much good for this digital version.
To celebrate its mobile launch, you'll find the game priced at $16.99 until February 21^st. You'll need to clear off a fair bit of space on your phone though, as the download clocks in at just over 2GB. The PC version of the game is expected sometime in “early 2016,” though no other specific information was given.
VIA: Polygon

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Nuclear fusion experiment gets under way in Germany

The nuclear fusion research center at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. (Stefan Sauer/dpa via AP)

Scientists in Germany have started an experiment they hope will advance the quest for nuclear fusion, considered a clean and safe form of nuclear power.

Following nine years of construction and testing, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald injected a tiny amount of hydrogen into a doughnut-shaped device - then zapped it with the equivalent of 6,000 microwave ovens.
The resulting super-hot gas, known as plasma, lasted just a fraction of a second before cooling down again, long enough for scientists to confidently declare the start of their experiment a success.
"Everything went well today," said Robert Wolf, a senior scientist involved with the project. "With a system as complex as this you have to make sure everything works perfectly and there's always a risk."
Among the difficulties is how to cool the complex arrangement of magnets required to keep the plasma floating inside the device, said Mr Wolf. Scientists looked closely at the hiccups experienced during the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland more than five years ago to avoid similar mistakes, he said.
The experiment in Greifswald is part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy.
Advocates acknowledge that the technology is probably many decades away, but argue that - once achieved - it could replace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Construction has already begun in southern France on ITER, a huge international research reactor that uses a strong electric current to trap plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to take place. The device, known as a tokamak, was conceived by Soviet physicists in the 1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but extremely difficult to operate.
The team in Greifswald, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, is focused on a rival technology invented by the American physicist Lyman Spitzer in 1950. Called a stellarator, the device has the same doughnut shape as a tokamak but uses a complicated system of magnetic coils instead of a current to achieve the same result.
The Greifswald device should be able to keep plasma in place for much longer than a tokamak, said Thomas Klinger, who heads the project.
"The stellarator is much calmer," he said. "It's far harder to build, but easier to operate."
Known as the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, or W7-X, the 400 million euro (£302 million) device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat. Helium also has the advantage of "cleaning" any minute dirt particles left behind during the construction of the device.
While critics have said the pursuit of nuclear fusion is an expensive waste of money that could be better spent on other projects, Germany has forged ahead in funding the Greifswald project.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, personally pressed the button at Wednesday's launch.
"As an industrial nation we want to show that an affordable, safe, reliable and sustainable power supply is possible, without any loss of economic competitiveness," she said. "The advantages of fusion energy are obvious."
Although it is not designed to produce any energy itself, scientists hope that over the coming years W7-X will test many of the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power.

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German lab takes further step closer to nuclear fusion

Frank Jordans

Scientists in Germany flipped the switch on an experiment they hope will advance the quest for nuclear fusion, considered a clean and safe form of nuclear power.

Following nine years of construction and testing, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald injected a tiny amount of hydrogen into a doughnut-shaped device — then zapped it with the equivalent of 6,000 microwave ovens.
The resulting super-hot gas, known as plasma, lasted just a fraction of a second before cooling down again, long enough for scientists to declare the start of their experiment a success.
“Everything went well today,” said Robert Wolf, a senior scientist on the project.

“With a system as complex as this you have to make sure everything works perfectly and there’s always a risk.”
The experiment in Greifswald is part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy.
Advocates acknowledge that the technology is probably many decades away, but argue that, once achieved, it could replace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, personally pressed the button at yesterday’s launch.

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Stellarator' successfully recreates conditions found on the SUN: Reactor creates plasma using hydrogen in a test that takes us a step closer to nuclear fusion

• Experts injected hydrogen into reactor and heated it to create plasma
• This effectively mimicked conditions inside the sun and other stars
• In December, the scientists proved the reactor could work with helium
• It's part of a global effort to harness nuclear fusion - a clean energy source 

By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline

 Scientists in northeast Germany have successfully completed their latest experiment on the road to harnessing nuclear fusion power. 

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it became plasma, effectively mimicking conditions inside the sun.

It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy. 

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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it became plasma (pictured), effectively mimicking conditions inside the sun. It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at high temperatures and release large amounts of energy

Advocates acknowledge that the technology is likely many decades away, but argue that - once achieved - it could replace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear fission reactors.

Construction has already begun in southern France on ITER, a huge international research reactor that uses a strong electric current to trap plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to take place. 

The device, known as a tokamak, was conceived by Soviet physicists in the 1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but extremely difficult to operate.

HOW DOES FUSION POWER WORK? 

Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms.

When deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse, they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.

This is down by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma. 

Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that it doesn't cool down and lost it energy potential.

These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma. 

For energy production. plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.

The team in Greifswald, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, is focused on a rival technology invented by the American physicist Lyman Spitzer in 1950. 

Called a stellarator, the device has the same doughnut shape as a tokamak but uses a complicated system of magnetic coils instead of a current to achieve the same result.

The Greifswald device should be able to keep plasma in place for much longer than a tokamak, said Thomas Klinger, who heads the project.

'The stellarator is much calmer,' he said in a telephone interview. 

'It's far harder to build, but easier to operate.'

Known as the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, or W7-X, the device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat.

Helium also has the advantage of 'cleaning' any minute dirt particles left behind during the construction of the device.

David Anderson, a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin who isn't involved in the project, said the project in Greifswald looks promising so far.

'The impressive results obtained in the startup of the machine were remarkable,' he said in an email. This is usually a difficult and arduous process. 

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The hydrogen was heated in the doughnut-shaped Wendelstein 7-X machine (illustrated). Called a stellarator, the device uses a complicated system of magnetic coils to trap plasma long enough for fusion to take place

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The Wendelstein 7-X machine in Germany, which cost €1billion to build, creates conditions similar to those inside stars (illustrated). It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy

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The nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is pictured. The device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat

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Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms. In stellarators, plasma is contained by external magnetic coils which create twisted field lines around the inside of the vacuum chamber (illustrated)

'The speed with which W7-X became operational is a testament to the care and quality of the fabrication of the device and makes a very positive statement about the stellarator concept itself. 

'W7-X is a truly remarkable achievement and the worldwide fusion community looks forward to many exciting results.'

While critics have said the pursuit of nuclear fusion is an expensive waste of money that could be better spent on other projects, Germany has forged ahead in funding the Greifswald project.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, attended today's event, which took place in her constituency.

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The massive microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million°C. This has been designed to mimic the conditions seen inside the sun (stock image)

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The first plasma created in Wendelstein 7-X is pictured. It consisted of helium and reached a temperature of about 1 million°C. Over the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power

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Technical director Hans-Stephan Bosch holds up computer images showing the first plasma generated at the 'Wendelstein 7-X' nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in December

Over the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test many of the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power, said John Jelonnek, a physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.

Jelonnek's team is responsible for a key component of the device, the massive microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million °C. 

Compared to nuclear fission, which produces huge amounts of radioactive material that will be around for thousands of years, the waste from nuclear fusion would be negligible, he said.

'It's a very clean source of power, the cleanest you could possibly wish for. We're not doing this for us, but for our children and grandchildren.'

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