On October 8 A Privileged Few Could See Auroras In Abnormally Low Latitudes, As The Spectacular Pictures

The astro-fashion-loving Internet collectively gasped when ESA’s Hubble twitter account posted three gorgeous gowns, by Czech designer Jirina Tauchmanova with only credit “Photo: Vasek”, which google thinks is a Canadian tennis player. For four long days I couldn’t find anymore images, until, today! Which is why I’m sharing a belated #FashionFriday and #StarrySunday combo.

These gown were shown at Serbia Fashion Week back in December 2015 as Jirina Tauchmanova‘s Spring/Summer 2016 collection – I hope that means they will be available for purchase soon!

I think I recognize at least two of the images, NGC 602 & 30 Doradus, but I’m going to have to see these in person to be sure, yes, definitely, and probably try them on, too.

–Emily

Well, this is definitely the most fun I’ve had while making a post.

Inspired by this one from capnphaggit. Images & copyrights: Trifid Nebula (M20) by Marcus Davies, The Cat’s Eye Nebula and Star-forming region Sharpless 2-106 by NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Please don’t remove the credits.

Stellar Outburst Brings Water Snow Line Into View

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo. 13 July 2016

Artist’s impression of the water snowline around the young star V883 Orionis

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has made the first ever resolved observation of a water snow line within a protoplanetary disc. This line marks where the temperature in the disc surrounding a young star drops sufficiently low for snow to form. A dramatic increase in the brightness of the young star V883 Orionis flash heated the inner portion of the disc, pushing the water snow line out to a far greater distance than is normal for a protostar, and making it possible to observe it for the first time. The results are published in the journal Nature on 14 July 2016.

ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

Young stars are often surrounded by dense, rotating discs of gas and dust, known as protoplanetary discs, from which planets are born. The heat from a typical young solar-type star means that the water within a protoplanetary disc is gaseous up to distances of around 3 au from the star [1] — less than 3 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun — or around 450 million kilometres [2]. Further out, due to the extremely low pressure, the water molecules transition directly from a gaseous state to form a patina of ice on dust grains and other particles. The region in the protoplanetary disc where water transitions between the gas and solid phases is known as the water snow line [3].

The star V883 Orionis in the constellation of Orion

But the star V883 Orionis is unusual. A dramatic increase in its brightness has pushed the water snow line out to a distance of around 40 au (about 6 billion kilometres or roughly the size of the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto in our Solar System). This huge increase, combined with the resolution of ALMA at long baselines [4], has allowed a team led by Lucas Cieza (Millennium ALMA Disk Nucleus and Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile) to make the first ever resolved observations of a water snow line in a protoplanetary disc.

Shifting water snowline in V883 Orionis

The sudden brightening that V883 Orionis experienced is an example of what occurs when large amounts of material from the disc surrounding a young star fall onto its surface. V883 Orionis is only 30% more massive than the Sun, but thanks to the outburst it is experiencing, it is currently a staggering 400 times more luminous — and much hotter [5].

ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis (annotated)

Lead author Lucas Cieza explains: “The ALMA observations came as a surprise to us. Our observations were designed to look for disc fragmentation leading to planet formation. We saw none of that; instead, we found what looks like a ring at 40 au. This illustrates well the transformational power of ALMA, which delivers exciting results even if they are not the ones we were looking for.”

ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

The bizarre idea of snow orbiting in space is fundamental to planet formation. The presence of water ice regulates the efficiency of the coagulation of dust grains — the first step in planet formation. Within the snow line, where water is vapourised, smaller, rocky planets like our own are believed to form. Outside the water snow line, the presence of water ice allows the rapid formation of cosmic snowballs, which eventually go on to form massive gaseous planets such as Jupiter.

Zooming on the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

The discovery that these outbursts may blast the water snow line to about 10 times its typical radius is very significant for the development of good planetary formation models. Such outbursts are believed to be a stage in the evolution of most planetary systems, so this may be the first observation of a common occurrence. In that case, this observation from ALMA could contribute significantly to a better understanding of how planets throughout the Universe formed and evolved.

The protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis (artist’s impression)

Notes: [1] 1 au, or one astronomical unit, is the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun, around 149.6 million kilometres.This unit is typically used to describe distances measured within the Solar System and planetary systems around other stars. [2] This line was between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter during the formation of the Solar System, hence the rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars formed within the line, and the gaseous planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune formed outside. [3] The snow lines for other molecules, such as carbon monoxide and methane, have been observed previously with ALMA, at distances of greater than 30 au from the protostar within other protoplanetary discs. Water freezes at a relatively high temperature and this means that the water snow line is usually much too close to the protostar to observe directly. [4] Resolution is the ability to discern that objects are separate. To the human eye, several bright torches at a distance would seem like a single glowing spot, and only at closer quarters would each torch be distinguishable. The same principle applies to telescopes, and these new observations have exploited the exquisite resolution of ALMA in its long baseline modes. The resolution of ALMA at the distance of V883 Orionis is about 12 au — enough to resolve the water snow line at 40 au in this outbursting system, but not for a typical young star. [5] Stars like V883 Orionis are classed as FU Orionis stars, after the original star that was found to have this behaviour. The outbursts may last for hundreds of years. More information: This research was presented in a paper entitled “Imaging the water snow-line during a protostellar outburst”, by L. Cieza et al., to appear in Nature on 14 July 2016. The team is composed of Lucas A. Cieza (Millennium ALMA Disk Nucleus; Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile), Simon Casassus (Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile), John Tobin (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands), Steven Bos (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands), Jonathan P. Williams (University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA), Sebastian Perez (Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile), Zhaohuan Zhu (Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA), Claudio Cáceres (Universidad Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile), Hector Canovas (Universidad Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile), Michael M. Dunham (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), Antonio Hales (Joint ALMA Observatory, Santiago, Chile), Jose L. Prieto (Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile), David A. Principe (Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile), Matthias R. Schreiber (Universidad Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile), Dary Ruiz-Rodriguez (Australian National University, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia) and Alice Zurlo (Universidad Diego Portales & Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile). The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA. ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. Links: Research paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1626/eso1626a.pdf Photos of ALMA: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=Atacama%20Large%20Millimeter/submillimeter%20Array For more information about ALMA, visit: https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/alma.html Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Richard Hook/A. Angelich (NRAO/AUI/NSF)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/ALMA//L. Cieza/IAU and Sky & Telescope/Videos: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/L. Cieza./ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/M. Kornmesser. Music: Johan B. Monell. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

I’ve been receiving tonnes of questions on Note - Taking recently, so I’d thought I make a post. Plus, I had fun making these graphics.

There are three different methods that I prefer when it comes to note taking:

Notes written During the Lecture

I highly recommend taking notes during the lecture.

I also use abbreviations for quicker and more efficient note taking. Some examples of abbreviation that I use are:

w/ - With

w/o - Without

e.g. - For example

Notes written After the Lecture

As for notes written after the lecture, I tend to seek the help of Google Spreadsheets or Microsoft Excel. This way I am able to organise information learnt. I do this by dividing the information provided into two columns, one for keywords or questions and the other for definitions and answers. 

*Note: This method was adapted from the note taking method I’ve used during college. 

Rewritten Notes

I also rewrite my notes. My rewritten notes are arranged based on the order they appear in the syllabus unless there are pieces of information that are related to more than one topic.

I use a black pen or pencil for my written notes, as well as coloured pens and highlighters to highlight the key words and terminologies for emphasise.

Before writing them down, I tend to visualise the layout - alternating between words and pictures/diagram. This definitely helps me with remembering for exams. All I have to do is imagine that I’m looking at that page and I can remember where everything is.

______________________________________________________________________

Please click on the images for a much clearer view. 

Well, that’s all from me! I hope that you found this information helpful. And, don’t hesitate to ask me questions if you’re confused about this method of note-taking, or any other problems you might have. For more information of how to survive university, follow this page. And, for more medical school chronicles, follow me on IG. Follow my studygram/medgram for more content. 

Bits and pieces of the Carina Nebula

A site of intense star formation, the Carina Nebula complex is home to some of the brightest and most massive stars in our Galaxy, the Milky Way.

This immense nebula contains a dozen or more brilliant stars that are estimated to be at least 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun. The most rich and extensive one is the variable star Eta Carinae.

The visible-light view comes from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory and the infrared picture comes from the HAWK-I camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope.

Credit: ESO

This is a 392 year old shark that was recently discovered in the Arctic Ocean.

This guy was wandering the oceans back in 1627 🦈

Would It Be A Bad Thing to Wipe Out A Species … If It’s A Mosquito?

Mosquitoes have a nasty reputation.

The species Aedes aegypti, for example, is currently responsible for spreading the Zika virus through the Americas and also infects humans with dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever.

This raises the question: Should there be an effort to get rid of Aedes aegypti for good?

“There’s been lots of debate in the last 10 years whether we should eradicate mosquitoes, or at least the 100 species or so that serve as disease vectors for humans,” says David Magnus, director of Stanford University’s Center for Biomedical Ethics. “If you look at the science, the majority [of scientists] think we could probably eliminate mosquitoes without too much harm on the environment.”

Read the full story here.

Illustration: Matthew Twombly

Oculus Superum, Red Nebula

Yes! It’s not ~very~ legal, but I think this is very important to know if you gonna do research.

I also read somewhere saying that if you have this kind of issue and you aren’t really in a rush, you could reach out to the people that did the research and ask them for the article! We all have the same problem with publication sites and most people just want their research to be known and cited. They would love to help you too, we’re all scientists after all. I, personally, haven’t tried this yet since I’m currently not doing any research, so I’m not 100% sure about the success probability. But hey, it worth a shot I have to say.

I havent seen anyone talk about this yet so im making a post. 

So lets say you’re researching something for a paper (or just for fun) and the research paper you want to read is behind a paywall, or the site makes you create an account first, or makes you pay to download, or limits you to only 5 free articles, or otherwise makes it difficult for you to read what you want.

do not fear! copy the link to the article

go to sci-hub.se         (the url is always changing so its best to check out whereisscihub.now.sh to find what the current url is)

slap the article link in there

bam! free access! 

The Earth from Russia’s Elektro-L satellite

This image compilation, comprised of images taken by the Russian Elektro-L weather satellite, was taken from a geostationary orbit at a distance of 36,000 km. It shows the changing illumination of Earth as it rotated on the autumnal equinox and illustrate the concept of a geostationary orbit. At this height, the satellite is orbiting at fast as the earth is spinning and stays in the same location relative to the surface of earth.

Credit: Vitaliy Egorov