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A cycloid is the curve traced by a point on the rim of a circular wheel as the wheel rolls along a straight line without slippage. It is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve. The inverted cycloid (a cycloid rotated through 180°) is the solution to the brachistochrone problem (i.e., it is the curve of fastest descent under gravity) and the related tautochrone problem (i.e., the period of an object in descent without friction inside this curve does not depend on the object's starting position). The cycloid has been called "The Helen of Geometers" as it caused frequent quarrels among 17th-century mathematicians. Historians of mathematics have proposed several candidates for the discoverer of the cycloid. Mathematical historian Paul Tannery cited similar work by the Syrian philosopher Iamblichus as evidence that the curve was likely known in antiquity. English mathematician John Wallis writing in 1679 attributed the discovery to Nicholas of Cusa, but subsequent scholarship indicates Wallis was either mistaken or the evidence used by Wallis is now lost. Galileo Galilei's name was put forward at the end of the 19th century and at least one author reports credit being given to Marin Mersenne. Beginning with the work of Moritz Cantor and Siegmund Günther, scholars now assign priority to French mathematician Charles de Bovelles based on his description of the cycloid in his Introductio in geometriam, published in 1503. In this work, Bovelles mistakes the arch traced by a rolling wheel as part of a larger circle with a radius 120% larger than the smaller wheel. Galileo originated the term cycloid and was the first to make a serious study of the curve. According to his student Evangelista Torricelli, in 1599 Galileo attempted the quadrature of the cycloid (constructing a square with area equal to the area under the cycloid) with an unusually empirical approach that involved tracing both the generating circle and the resulting cycloid on sheet metal, cutting them out and weighing them. He discovered the ratio was roughly 3:1 but incorrectly concluded the ratio was an irrational fraction, which would have made quadrature impossible). Around 1628, Gilles Persone de Roberval likely learned of the quadrature problem from Père Marin Mersenne and effected the quadrature in 1634 by using Cavalieri's Theorem. However, this work was not published until 1693 (in his Traité des Indivisibles). Constructing the tangent of the cycloid dates to August 1638 when Mersenne received unique methods from Roberval, Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes. Mersenne passed these results along to Galileo, who gave them to his students Torricelli and Viviana, who were able to produce a quadrature. This result and others were published by Torricelli in 1644, which is also the first printed work on the cycloid. This led to Roberval charging Torricelli with plagiarism, with the controversy cut short by Torricelli's early death in 1647. In 1658, Blaise Pascal had given up mathematics for theology but, while suffering from a toothache, began considering several problems concerning the cycloid. His toothache disappeared, and he took this as a heavenly sign to proceed with his research. Eight days later he had completed his essay and, to publicize the results, proposed a contest. Pascal proposed three questions relating to the center of gravity, area and volume of the cycloid, with the winner or winners to receive prizes of 20 and 40 Spanish doubloons. Pascal, Roberval and Senator Carcavy were the judges, and neither of the two submissions (by John Wallis and Antoine Lalouvère) were judged to be adequate.:198 While the contest was ongoing, Christopher Wren sent Pascal a proposal for a proof of the rectification of the cycloid; Roberval claimed promptly that he had known of the proof for years. Wallis published Wren's proof (crediting Wren) in Wallis's Tractus Duo, giving Wren priority for the first published proof. Fifteen years later, Christiaan Huygens had deployed the cycloidal pendulum to improve chronometers and had discovered that a particle would traverse an inverted cycloidal arch in the same amount of time, regardless of its starting point. In 1686, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz used analytic geometry to describe the curve with a single equation. In 1696, Johann Bernoulli posed the brachistochrone problem, the solution of which is a cycloid. The cycloid through the origin, generated by a circle of radius r, consists of the points (x, y), with Solving for t and replacing, the Cartesian equation is found to be: An expression of the equation in the form y = f(x) is not possible using standard functions. The first arch of the cycloid consists of points such that When y is viewed as a function of x, the cycloid is differentiable everywhere except at the cusps where it hits the x-axis, with the derivative tending toward or as one approaches a cusp. The map from t to (x, y) is a differentiable curve or parametric curve of class C∞ and the singularity where the derivative is 0 is an ordinary cusp. The cycloid satisfies the differential equation: The evolute of the cycloid has the property of being exactly the same cycloid it originates from. This can otherwise be seen from the tip of a wire initially lying on a half arc of cycloid describing a cycloid arc equal to the one it was lying on once unwrapped (see also cycloidal pendulum and arc length). There are several demonstrations of the assertion. The one presented here uses the physical definition of cycloid and the kinematic property that the instantaneous velocity of a point is tangent to its trajectory. Referring to the picture on the right, and are two tangent points belonging to two rolling circles. The two circles start to roll with same speed and same direction without skidding. and start to draw two cycloid arcs as in the picture. Considering the line connecting and at an arbitrary instant (red line), it is possible to prove that the line is anytime tangent in P2 to the lower arc and orthogonal to the tangent in P1 of the upper arc. One sees that: - P1, Q and P2 are aligned because (equal rolling speed) and therefore . Since by construction, it follows . - If A is the meeting point between the perpendicular from P1 to the straight of O1O2 and the tangent to the circle in P2, then the triangle P1AP2 is isosceles because and (easy to prove seen the construction). For the previous noted equality between and then and P1AP2 is isosceles. - Conducting from P2 the orthogonal straight to O1O2, from P1 the straight line tangent to the upper circle and calling B the meeting point is now easy to see that P1AP2B is a rhombus, using the theorems concerning the angles between parallel lines - Now consider the speed V2 of P2. It can be seen as the sum of two components, the rolling speed Va and the drifting speed Vd. Both speeds are equal in modulus because the circles roll without skidding. Vd is parallel to P1A and Va is tangent to the lower circle in P2 therefore is parallel to P2A. The total speed of P2, V2, is then parallel to P2P1 because both are diagonals of two rhombuses with parallel sides and has in common with P1P2 the contact point P2. It follows that the speed vector V2 lies on the prolongation of P1P2. Because V2 is tangent to the arc of cycloid in P2, it follows that also P1P2 is tangent. - Analogously, it can be easily demonstrated that P1P2 is orthogonal to V1 (other diagonal of the rhombus). - The tip of an inextensible wire initially stretched on half arc of lower cycloid and bounded to the upper circle in P1 will then follow the point along its path without changing its length because the speed of the tip is at each moment orthogonal to the wire (no stretching or compression). The wire will be at the same time tangent in P2 to the lower arc because the tension and the demonstrated items. If it would not be tangent then there would be a discontinuity in P2 and consequently there would be unbalanced tension forces. One arch of a cycloid generated by a circle of radius r can be parameterized by the area under the arch is The arc length S of one arch is given by Another immediate way to calculate the length of the cycloid given the properties of the Evolute is to notice that when a wire describing an evolute has been completely unwrapped it extends itself along two diameters, a length of 4r. Because the wire does not change length during the unwrapping it follows that the length of half an arc of cycloid is 4r and a complete arc is 8r. \|This section requires expansion. (December 2009)\| If a simple pendulum is suspended from the cusp of an inverted cycloid, such that the "string" is constrained between the adjacent arcs of the cycloid, and the pendulum's length is equal to that of half the arc length of the cycloid (i.e., twice the diameter of the generating circle), the bob of the pendulum also traces a cycloid path. Such a cycloidal pendulum is isochronous, regardless of amplitude. The equation of motion is given by: Several curves are related to the cycloid. - Curtate cycloid: Here the point tracing out the curve is inside the circle, which rolls on a line. - Prolate cycloid: Here the point tracing out the curve is outside the circle, which rolls on a line. - Trochoid: refers to any of the cycloid, the curtate cycloid and the prolate cycloid. - Hypocycloid: The point is on the edge of the circle, which rolls not on a line but on the inside of another circle. - Epicycloid: The point is on the edge of the circle, which rolls not on a line but on the outside of another circle. - Hypotrochoid: As hypocycloid but the point need not be on the edge of its circle. - Epitrochoid: As epicycloid but the point need not be on the edge of its circle. All these curves are roulettes with a circle rolled along a uniform curvature. The cycloid, epicycloids, and hypocycloids have the property that each is similar to its evolute. If q is the product of that curvature with the circle's radius, signed positive for epi- and negative for hypo-, then the curve:evolute similitude ratio is 1 + 2q. Use in architecture Use in violin plate arching Early research indicated that some transverse arching curves of the plates of golden age violins are closely modeled by curtate cycloid curves. Later work indicates that curtate cycloids do not serve as general models for these curves, which vary considerably. - List of periodic functions - Tautochrone curve - Cajori, Florian (1999). A History of Mathematics. New York: Chelsea. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8218-2102-2. - Tannery, Paul (1883), "Pour l'histoire des lignes et surfaces courbes dans l'antiquité", Bulletin des sciences mathèmatique (Paris): 284 (cited in Whitman 1943); - Wallis, D. (1695). "An Extract of a Letter from Dr. Wallis, of May 4. 1697, Concerning the Cycloeid Known to Cardinal Cusanus, about the Year 1450; and to Carolus Bovillus about the Year 1500". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 19 (215–235): 561. doi:10.1098/rstl.1695.0098. (Cited in Günther, p. 5) - Whitman, E. A. (May 1943), "Some historical notes on the cycloid", The American Mathematical Monthly 50 (5): 309–315, doi:10.2307/2302830 (subscription required) - Cajori, Florian, A History of Mathematics (5th ed.), p. 162, ISBN 0-8218-2102-4(Note: The first (1893) edition and its reprints state that Galileo invented the cycloid. According to Phillips, this was corrected in the second (1919) edition and has remained through the most recent (fifth) edition.) - Roidt, Tom (2011). Cycloids and Paths (MS). Portland State University. p. 4. - Cantor, Moritz (1892), Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik, Bd. 2, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, OCLC 25376971 - Günther, Siegmund (1876), Vermischte untersuchungen zur geschichte der mathematischen wissenschaften, Leipzig: Druck und Verlag Von B. G. Teubner, p. 352, OCLC 2060559 - Phillips, J. P. (May 1967), "Brachistochrone, Tautochrone, Cycloid—Apple of Discord", The Mathematics Teacher 60 (5): 506–508(subscription required) - Victor, Joseph M. (1978), Charles de Bovelles, 1479-1553: An Intellectual Biography, p. 42, ISBN 978-2-600-03073-1 - Martin, J. (2010). "The Helen of Geometry". The College Mathematics Journal 41: 17–28. doi:10.4169/074683410X475083. - de Bouelles, Charles (1503), Introductio in geometriam ... Liber de quadratura circuli. Liber de cubicatione sphere. Perspectiva introductio., OCLC 660960655 - Torricelli, Evangelista (1644), Opera geometrica, OCLC 55541940 - Walker, Evelyn (1932), A Study of Roberval's Traité des Indivisibles, Columbia University (cited in Whitman 1943); - Conner, James A. (2006), Pascal's Wager: The Man Who Played Dice with God (1st ed.), HarperCollins, p. 224, ISBN 9780060766917 - C. Huygens, "The Pendulum Clock or Geometrical Demonstrations Concerning the Motion of Pendula (sic) as Applied to Clocks," Translated by R. J. Blackwell, Iowa State University Press (Ames, Iowa, USA, 1986). - Playfair, Q. "Curtate Cycloid Arching in Golden Age Cremonese Violin Family Instruments". Catgut Acoustical Society Journal. II 4 (7): 48–58. - Mottola, RM (2011). "Comparison of Arching Profiles of Golden Age Cremonese Violins and Some Mathematically Generated Curves". Savart Journal 1 (1). - An application from physics: Ghatak, A. & Mahadevan, L. Crack street: the cycloidal wake of a cylinder tearing through a sheet. Physical Review Letters, 91, (2003). link.aps.org - Edward Kasner & James Newman (1940) Mathematics and the Imagination, pp 196–200, Simon & Schuster. - Wells D (1991). The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 445–47. ISBN 0-14-011813-6. - O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Cycloid", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. - Weisstein, Eric W., "Cycloid", MathWorld. Retrieved April 27, 2007. - Cycloids at cut-the-knot - A Treatise on The Cycloid and all forms of Cycloidal Curves, monograph by Richard A. Proctor, B.A. posted by Cornell University Library. - Cycloid Curves by Sean Madsen with contributions by David von Seggern, Wolfram Demonstrations Project. - Cycloid on PlanetPTC (Mathcad	23
A number to the power of negative one is equal to one over that number. For example, five to the negative one power equals one over five, or 1/5.Know More The negative exponent rule says that when doing calculations with negative exponents, any negative exponents in the top half of a fraction get moved to the bottom half and become positive exponents. This works for any negative power, not only the power of one. For example, to calculate five to the negative two power, first move the expression to the denominator and make it positive. This gives one over five to the positive two power, which is equal to 1/25. The reverse is also true. Negative exponents in the denominator of a fraction get moved up to the numerator and become positive exponents.Learn more in Arithmetic The specific comparison operator used for "not equal to" varies across various programming languages. In computer programming, comparison operators let one determine whether two entities are related in a specific way.Full Answer > The cube root of 54 is equal to 3.78. The cube root of a number, x, is equal to the number, y, such that y times y times y equals x. For the number 54, 3.78 times 3.78 times 3.78 is equal to 54.Full Answer > Zero squared is still equal to zero because zero times any real number is zero. Squaring a number simply means to multiply it by itself, or to raise it to the exponent of two. For example, zero squared can be written as 0*0 or 02.Full Answer > One cubic centimeter is equal to one milliliter, or a thousandth of a liter. This also means that a cube that is one cubic centimeter measures one centimeter on all of its sides (length, width and height).Full Answer >	23
\|nth root (√)\| In mathematics, the remainder is the amount "left over" after performing some computation. In arithmetic, the remainder is the integer "left over" after dividing one integer by another to produce an integer quotient (integer division). In algebra, the remainder is the polynomial "left over" after dividing one polynomial by another. The modulo operation is the operation that produces such a remainder when given a dividend and divisor. Formally it is also true that a remainder is what is left after subtracting one number from another, although this is more properly called the difference. This usage can be found in some elementary textbooks; colloquially it is replaced by the expression "the rest" as in "Give me two dollars back and keep the rest." However, the term "remainder" is still used in this sense when a function is approximated by a series expansion and the error expression ("the rest") is referred to as the remainder term. If a and d are integers, with d non-zero, it can be proven that there exist unique integers q and r, such that a = qd + r and 0 ≤ r < \|d\|. The number q is called the quotient, while r is called the remainder. The remainder, as defined above, is called the least positive remainder or simply the remainder. The integer a is either a multiple of d or lies in the interval between consecutive multiples of d, namely, q⋅d and (q + 1)d (for positive q). At times it is convenient to carry out the division so that a is as close as possible to an integral multiple of d, that is, we can write - a = k⋅d + s, with \|s\| ≤ \|d/2\| for some integer k. In this case, s is called the least absolute remainder. As with the quotient and remainder, k and s are uniquely determined except in the case where d = 2n and s = ± n. For this exception we have, - a = k⋅d + n = (k + 1)d - n. A unique remainder can be obtained in this case by some convention such as always taking the positive value of s. In the division of 43 by 5 we have: - 43 = 8 × 5 + 3, so 3 is the least positive remainder. We also have, - 43 = 9 × 5 - 2, and −2 is the least absolute remainder. These definitions are also valid if d is negative, for example, in the division of 43 by −5, - 43 = (−8)×(−5) + 3, and 3 is the least positive remainder, while, - 43 = (−9)×(−5) + (−2) and −2 is the least absolute remainder. In the division of 42 by 5 we have: - 42 = 8 × 5 + 2, and since 2 < 5/2, 2 is both the least positive remainder and the least absolute remainder. In these examples, the (negative) least absolute remainder is obtained from the least positive remainder by subtracting 5, which is d. This holds in general. When dividing by d, either both remainders are positive and therefore equal, or they have opposite signs. If the positive remainder is r1, and the negative one is r2, then - r1 = r2 + d. For floating-point numbers When a and d are floating-point numbers, with d non-zero, a can be divided by d without remainder, with the quotient being another floating-point number. If the quotient is constrained to being an integer, however, the concept of remainder is still necessary. It can be proved that there exists a unique integer quotient q and a unique floating-point remainder r such that a = qd + r with 0 ≤ r < \|d\|. Extending the definition of remainder for floating-point numbers as described above is not of theoretical importance in mathematics; however, many programming languages implement this definition, see modulo operation. In programming languages While there are no difficulties inherent in the definitions, there are implementation issues that arise when negative numbers are involved in calculating remainders. Different programming languages have adopted different conventions: Pascal chooses the result of the mod operation positive, but does not allow d to be negative or zero (so, a = (a div d )*d + a mod d is not always valid). C99 chooses the remainder with the same sign as the dividend a. (Before C99, the C language allowed other choices.) Perl, Python (only modern versions), and Common Lisp choose the remainder with the same sign as the divisor d. Haskell and Scheme offer two functions, remainder and modulo – PL/I has mod and rem, while Fortran has mod and modulo; in each case, the former agrees in sign with the dividend, and the latter with the divisor. Euclidean division of polynomials is very similar to Euclidean division of integers and leads to polynomial remainders. Its existence is based on the following theorem: Given two univariate polynomials a(x) and b(x) (with b(x) not the zero polynomial) defined over a field (in particular, the reals or complex numbers), there exist two polynomials q(x) (the quotient) and r(x) (the remainder) which satisfy: where "deg(...)" denotes the degree of the polynomial (the degree of the constant polynomial whose value is always 0 is defined to be negative, so that this degree condition will always be valid when this is the remainder.) Moreover q(x) and r(x) are uniquely determined by these relations. This differs from the Euclidean division of integers in that, for the integers, the degree condition is replaced by the bounds on the remainder r (non-negative and less than the divisor, which insures that r is unique.) The similarity of Euclidean division for integers and also for polynomials leads one to ask for the most general algebraic setting in which Euclidean division is valid. The rings for which such a theorem exists are called Euclidean domains, but in this generality uniqueness of the quotient and remainder are not guaranteed. - Smith 1958, p. 97 - Ore 1988, p. 30. But if the remainder is 0, it is not positive, even though it is called a "positive remainder". - Ore 1988, p. 32 - Pascal ISO 7185:1990 22.214.171.124 - Larson & Hostetler 2007, p. 154 - Rotman 2006, p. 267 - Larson & Hostetler 2007, p. 157 - Larson, Ron; Hostetler, Robert (2007), Precalculus:A Concise Course, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-618-62719-6 - Ore, Oystein (1988) , Number Theory and Its History, Dover, ISBN 978-0-486-65620-5 - Rotman, Joseph J. (2006), A First Course in Abstract Algebra with Applications (3rd ed.), Prentice-Hall, ISBN 978-0-13-186267-8 - Smith, David Eugene (1958) , History of Mathematics, Volume 2, New York: Dover, ISBN 0486204308 - Davenport, Harold (1 x999). The higher arithmetic: an introduction to the theory of numbers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-521-63446-6. Check date values in: - Katz, Victor, ed. (2007). The mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam : a sourcebook. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691114859. - Schwartzman, Steven (1994). "remainder (noun)". The words of mathematics : an etymological dictionary of mathematical terms used in english. Washington: Mathematical Association of America. ISBN 9780883855119. - Zuckerman, Martin M. Arithmetic: A Straightforward Approach. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-912675-07-1.	23
In number theory, the law of quadratic reciprocity is a theorem about modular arithmetic that gives conditions for the solvability of quadratic equations modulo prime numbers. There are a number of equivalent statements of the theorem. One version of the law states that for p and q odd prime numbers, and denoting the Legendre symbol. This law, combined with the properties of the Legendre symbol, means that any Legendre symbol can be calculated. This makes possible to determine for any quadratic equation , where p an odd prime, if it has a solution. However, it does not provide any help at all for actually finding the solution. (The article on quadratic residues discusses algorithms for this.) - The fundamental theorem must certainly be regarded as one of the most elegant of its type. (Art. 151) The first section of this article gives a special case of quadratic reciprocity that is representative of the general case. The second section gives the formulations of quadratic reciprocity found by Legendre and Gauss. - 1 Motivating example - 2 Terminology, data, and two statements of the theorem - 3 Connection with cyclotomy - 4 History and alternative statements - 4.1 Fermat - 4.2 Euler - 4.3 Legendre and his symbol - 4.4 Gauss - 4.5 Other statements - 4.6 Jacobi symbol - 4.7 Hilbert symbol - 5 Other rings - 6 Higher powers - 7 See also - 8 Notes - 9 References - 10 External links Consider the polynomial f(n) = n2 − 5 and its values for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, ... The prime factorizations of these values are given as follows: A striking feature of the data is that with the exceptions of 2 and 5, the prime numbers that appear as factors are precisely those with final digit 1 or 9. Another way of phrasing this is that the primes p for which there exists an n such that n2 ≡ 5 (mod p) are precisely 2, 5, and those primes p that are ≡ 1 or 4 (mod 5). The law of quadratic reciprocity gives a similar characterization of prime divisors of f(n) = n2 − c for any integer c. Terminology, data, and two statements of the theorem A quadratic residue (mod n) is any number congruent to a square (mod n). A quadratic nonresidue (mod n) is any number that is not congruent to a square (mod n). The adjective "quadratic" can be dropped if the context makes it clear that it is implied. When working modulo primes (as in this article), it is usual to treat zero as a special case. By doing so, the following statements become true: - Modulo a prime, there are an equal number of quadratic residues and nonresidues. - Modulo a prime, the product of two quadratic residues is a residue, the product of a residue and a nonresidue is a nonresidue, and the product of two nonresidues is a residue. Table of quadratic residues This table is complete for odd primes less than 50. To check whether a number m is a quadratic residue mod one of these primes p, find a ≡ m (mod p) and 0 ≤ a < p. If a is in row p, then m is a residue (mod p); if a is not in row p of the table, then m is a nonresidue (mod p). The quadratic reciprocity law is the statement that certain patterns found in the table are true in general. In this article, p and q always refer to distinct positive odd prime numbers. −1 and the first supplement First of all, for which prime numbers is −1 a quadratic residue? Examining the table, we find −1 in rows 5, 13, 17, 29, 37, and 41 but not in rows 3, 7, 11, 19, 23, 31, 43 or 47. (−1 ≡ 2 (mod 3), −1 ≡ 4 (mod 5), −1 ≡ 10 (mod 11), etc.) The former primes are all ≡ 1 (mod 4), and the latter are all ≡ 3 (mod 4). This leads to The first supplement to quadratic reciprocity: ±2 and the second supplement For which prime numbers is 2 a quadratic residue? Examining the table, we find 2 in rows 7, 17, 23, 31, 41, and 47, but not in rows 3, 5, 11, 13, 19, 29, 37, or 43. The former primes are all ≡ ±1 (mod 8), and the latter are all ≡ ±3 (mod 8). This leads to The second supplement to quadratic reciprocity: −2 is in rows 3, 11, 17, 19, 41, 43, but not in rows 5, 7, 13, 23, 29, 31, 37, or 47. The former are ≡ 1 or ≡ 3 (mod 8), and the latter are ≡ 5 or ≡ 7 (mod 8). 3 is in rows 11, 13, 23, 37, and 47, but not in rows 5, 7, 17, 19, 29, 31, 41, or 43. The former are ≡ ±1 (mod 12) and the latter are all ≡ ±5 (mod 12). −3 is in rows 7, 13, 19, 31, 37, and 43 but not in rows 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 41, or 47. The former are ≡ 1 (mod 3) and the latter ≡ 2 (mod 3). Since the only residue (mod 3) is 1, we see that −3 is a quadratic residue modulo every prime which is a residue (mod 3). 5 is in rows 11, 19, 29, 31, and 41 but not in rows 3, 7, 13, 17, 23, 37, 43, or 47. The former are ≡ ±1 (mod 5) and the latter are ≡ ±2 (mod 5). Since the only residues (mod 5) are ±1, we see that 5 is a quadratic residue modulo every prime which is a residue (mod 5). −5 is in rows 3, 7, 23, 29, 41, 43, and 47 but not in rows 11, 13, 17, 19, 31, or 37. The former are ≡ 1, 3, 7, 9 (mod 20) and the latter are ≡ 11, 13, 17, 19 (mod 20). The observations about −3 and +5 continue to hold: −7 is a residue (mod p) if and only if p is a residue (mod 7), −11 is a residue (mod p) if and only if p is a residue (mod 11), +13 is a residue (mod p) if and only if p is a residue (mod 13), ... The more complicated-looking rules for the quadratic characters of +3 and −5, which depend upon congruences (mod 12) and (mod 20) respectively, are simply the ones for −3 and +5 working with the first supplement. For example, for −5 to be a residue (mod p), either both 5 and −1 have to be residues (mod p) or they both have to be nonresidues:i.e., p has to be ≡ ±1 (mod 5) and ≡ 1 (mod 4), which is the same thing as p ≡ 1 or 9 (mod 20), or p has to be ≡ ±2 mod 5 and ≡ 3 mod 4, which is the same as p ≡ 3 or 7 (mod 20). See Chinese remainder theorem. The generalization of the rules for −3 and +5 is Gauss's statement of quadratic reciprocity: These statements may be combined: - Let q* = (−1)(q−1)/2q. Then the congruence x2 ≡ p (mod q) is solvable if and only if x2 ≡ q* (mod p) is. Table of quadratic character of primes \|R\|\|q is a residue (mod p)\|\|q ≡ 1 (mod 4) or p ≡ 1 (mod 4) (or both)\| \|N\|\|q is a nonresidue (mod p)\| \|R\|\|q is a residue (mod p)\|\|both q ≡ 3 (mod 4) and p ≡ 3 (mod 4)\| \|N\|\|q is a nonresidue (mod p)\| Another way to organize the data is to see which primes are residues mod which other primes, as illustrated in the above table. The entry in row p column q is R if q is a quadratic residue (mod p); if it is a nonresidue the entry is N. If the row, or the column, or both, are ≡ 1 (mod 4) the entry is blue or green; if both row and column are ≡ 3 (mod 4), it is yellow or orange. The blue and green entries are symmetric around the diagonal: The entry for row p, column q is R (resp N) if and only if the entry at row q, column p, is R (resp N). The yellow and orange ones, on the other hand, are antisymmetric: The entry for row p, column q is R (resp N) if and only if the entry at row q, column p, is N (resp R). This observation is Legendre's statement of quadratic reciprocity: It is a simple exercise to prove that Legendre's and Gauss's statements are equivalent – it requires no more than the first supplement and the facts about multiplying residues and nonresidues. Connection with cyclotomy The early proofs of quadratic reciprocity are relatively unilluminating. The situation changed when Gauss used Gauss sums to show that quadratic fields are subfields of cyclotomic fields, and implicitly deduced quadratic reciprocity from a reciprocity theorem for cyclotomic fields. His proof was cast in modern form by later algebraic number theorists. This proof served as a template for class field theory, which can be viewed as a vast generalization of quadratic reciprocity - I confess that, as a student unaware of the history of the subject and unaware of the connection with cyclotomy, I did not find the law or its so-called elementary proofs appealing. I suppose, although I would not have (and could not have) expressed myself in this way that I saw it as little more than a mathematical curiosity, fit more for amateurs than for the attention of the serious mathematician that I then hoped to become. It was only in Hermann Weyl's book on the algebraic theory of numbers that I appreciated it as anything more. History and alternative statements There are a number of ways to state the theorem. Keep in mind that Euler and Legendre did not have Gauss's congruence notation, nor did Gauss have the Legendre symbol. In this article p and q always refer to distinct positive odd primes. He did not state the law of quadratic reciprocity, although the cases −1, ±2, and ±3 are easy deductions from these and other of his theorems. He also claimed to have a proof that if the prime number p ends with 7, (in base 10) and the prime number q ends in 3, and p ≡ q ≡ 3 (mod 4), then Euler conjectured, and Lagrange proved, that Proving these and other statements of Fermat was one of the things that led mathematicians to the reciprocity theorem. Translated into modern notation, Euler stated: - If q ≡ 1 (mod 4) then q is a quadratic residue (mod p) if and only if p ≡ r (mod q), where r is a quadratic residue of q. - If q ≡ 3 (mod 4) then q is a quadratic residue (mod p) if and only if p ≡ ±b2 (mod 4q), where b is odd and not divisible by q. This is equivalent to quadratic reciprocity. He could not prove it, but he did prove the second supplement. Legendre and his symbol Fermat proved that if p is a prime number and a is an integer, Thus, if p does not divide a, Legendre lets a and A represent positive primes ≡ 1 (mod 4) and b and B positive primes ≡ 3 (mod 4), and sets out a table of eight theorems that together are equivalent to quadratic reciprocity: \|Theorem\|\|When\|\|it follows that\| He says that since expressions of the form - (where N and c are relatively prime) will come up so often he will abbreviate them as: Legendre's version of quadratic reciprocity He notes that these can be combined: The supplementary laws using Legendre symbols Legendre's attempt to prove reciprocity is based on a theorem of his: - (i.e. they don't all have the same sign) E.g., Theorem I is handled by letting a ≡ 1 and b ≡ 3 (mod 4) be primes and assuming that and, contrary the theorem, that Then has a solution, and taking congruences (mod 4) leads to a contradiction. This technique doesn't work for Theorem VIII. Let b ≡ B ≡ 3 (mod 4), and assume Then if there is another prime p ≡ 1 (mod 4) such that the solvability of leads to a contradiction (mod 4). But Legendre was unable to prove there has to be such a prime p; he was later able to show that all that is required is "Legendre's lemma": but he couldn't prove that either. Hilbert symbol (below) discusses how techniques based on the existence of solutions to can be made to work. Gauss first proves the supplementary laws. He sets the basis for induction by proving the theorem for ±3 and ±5. Noting that it is easier to state for −3 and +5 than it is for +3 or −5, he states the general theorem in the form: - If p is a prime of the form 4n + 1 then p, but if p is of the form 4n+3 then −p, is a quadratic residue (resp. nonresidue) of every prime, which, with a positive sign, is a residue (resp. nonresidue) of p. In the next sentence, he christens it the "fundamental theorem" (Gauss never used the word "reciprocity"). Introducing the notation a R b (resp. a N b) to mean a is a quadratic residue (resp. nonresidue) (mod b), and letting a, a′, etc. represent positive primes ≡ 1 (mod 4) and b, b′, etc. positive primes ≡ 3 (mod 4), he breaks it out into the same 8 cases as Legendre: \|1)\|\|±a R a′\|\|±a′ R a\| \|2)\|\|±a N a′\|\|±a′ N a\| \|3)\|\|+a R b −a N b \|±b R a\| \|4)\|\|+a N b −a R b \|±b N a\| \|5)\|\|±b R a\|\|+a R b −a N b \|6)\|\|±b N a\|\|+a N b −a R b \|7)\|\|+b R b′ −b N b′ \|−b′ N b +b′ R b \|8)\|\|−b N b′ +b R b′ \|+b′ R b −b′ N b In the next Article he generalizes this to what are basically the rules for the Jacobi symbol (below). Letting A, A′, etc. represent any (prime or composite) positive numbers ≡ 1 (mod 4) and B, B′, etc. positive numbers ≡ 3 (mod 4): \|9)\|\|±a R A\|\|±A R a\| \|10)\|\|±b R A\|\|+A R b −A N b \|11)\|\|+a R B\|\|±B R a\| \|12)\|\|−a R B\|\|±B N a\| \|13)\|\|+b R B\|\|−B N b +N R b \|14)\|\|−b R B\|\|+B R b −B N b All of these cases take the form "if a prime is a residue (mod a composite), then the composite is a residue or nonresidue (mod the prime), depending on the congruences (mod 4)". He proves that these follow from cases 1) - 8). Gauss needed, and was able to prove, a lemma similar to the one Legendre needed: The proof of quadratic reciprocity is by complete induction (i.e. assuming it is true for all numbers less than n allows the deduction it is true for n) for each of the cases 1) to 8). Gauss's version in Legendre symbols These can be combined: Note that the statements in this section are equivalent to quadratic reciprocity: if, for example, Euler's version is assumed, the Legendre-Gauss version can be deduced from it, and vice versa. This form of quadratic reciprocity is derived from Euler's work: Euler's statement can be proved by using Gauss's lemma. Gauss's fourth proof consists of proving this theorem (by comparing two formulas for the value of Gauss sums) and then restricting it to two primes: Let a, b, c, ... be unequal positive odd primes, whose product is n, and let m be the number of them that are ≡ 3 (mod 4); check whether n/a is a residue of a, whether n/b is a residue of b, .... The number of nonresidues found will be even when m ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4), and it will be odd if m ≡ 2, 3 (mod 4). He gives the example. Let a = 3, b = 5, c = 7, and d = 11. Three of these, 3, 7, and 11 ≡ 3 (mod 4), so m ≡ 3 (mod 4). 5×7×11 R 3; 3×7×11 R 5; 3×5×11 R 7; and 3×5×7 N 11, so there are an odd number of nonresidues. Eisenstein formulates this: Mordell proved the following to be equivalent to quadratic reciprocity: The Jacobi symbol is a generalization of the Legendre symbol; the main difference is that the bottom number has to be positive and odd, but does not have to be prime. If it is prime, the two symbols agree. It obeys the same rules of manipulation as the Legendre symbol. In particular and if both numbers are positive and odd (this is sometimes called "Jacobi's reciprocity law"): However, if the Jacobi symbol is +1 and the bottom number is composite, it does not necessarily mean that the top number is a quadratic residue of the bottom one. Gauss's cases 9) - 14) above can be expressed in terms of Jacobi symbols: and since p is prime the left hand side is a Legendre symbol, and we know whether M is a residue (mod p) or not. The formulas listed in the preceding section are true for Jacobi symbols as long as the symbols are defined. Euler's formula may be written and 2 is a residue mod the primes 7, 23 and 31: 32 ≡ 2 (mod 7), 52 ≡ 2 (mod 23), and 82 ≡ 2 (mod 31), but 2 is not a quadratic residue (mod 5), so it can't be one (mod 15). This is related to the problem Legendre had: if we know that , we know that a is a nonresidue modulo every prime in the arithmetic series m + 4a, m + 8a, ..., if there are any primes in this series, but that wasn't proved until decades after Legendre. Eisenstein's formula requires relative primality conditions (which are true if the numbers are prime) The quadratic reciprocity law can be formulated in terms of the Hilbert symbol where a and b are any two nonzero rational numbers and v runs over all the non-trivial absolute values of the rationals (the archimedean one and the p-adic absolute values for primes p). The Hilbert symbol is 1 or −1. It is defined to be 1 if and only if the equation has a solution in the completion of the rationals at v other than . The Hilbert reciprocity law states that , for fixed a and b and varying v, is 1 for all but finitely many v and the product of over all v is 1. (This formally resembles the residue theorem from complex analysis.) The proof of Hilbert reciprocity reduces to checking a few special cases, and the non-trivial cases turn out to be equivalent to the main law and the two supplementary laws of quadratic reciprocity for the Legendre symbol. There is no kind of reciprocity in the Hilbert reciprocity law; its name simply indicates the historical source of the result in quadratic reciprocity. Unlike quadratic reciprocity, which requires sign conditions (namely positivity of the primes involved) and a special treatment of the prime 2, the Hilbert reciprocity law treats all absolute values of the rationals on an equal footing. Therefore it is a more natural way of expressing quadratic reciprocity with a view towards generalization: the Hilbert reciprocity law extends with very few changes to all global fields and this extension can rightly be considered a generalization of quadratic reciprocity to all global fields. There are also quadratic reciprocity laws in rings other than the integers. In his second monograph on quartic reciprocity Gauss stated quadratic reciprocity for the ring Z[i] of Gaussian integers, saying that it is a corollary of the biquadratic law in Z[i], but did not provide a proof of either theorem. Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet showed that the law in Z[i] can be deduced from the law for Z without using biquadratic reciprocity. For an odd Gaussian prime π and a Gaussian integer α, gcd(α, π) = 1, define the quadratic character for Z[i] by the formula Let λ = a + b i and μ = c + d i be distinct Gaussian primes where a and c are odd and b and d are even. Then where is the Jacobi symbol for Z. For an Eisenstein prime π, Nπ ≠ 3 and an Eisenstein integer α, gcd(α, π) = 1, define the quadratic character for Z[ω] by the formula Let λ = a + b ω and μ = c + d ω be distinct Eisenstein primes where a and c are not divisible by 3 and b and d are divisible by 3. Eisenstein proved where is the Jacobi symbol for Z. Imaginary quadratic fields Let k be an imaginary quadratic number field with ring of integers For a prime ideal with odd norm and define the quadratic character for by the formula for an arbitrary ideal factored into prime ideals define and for define Let be an integral basis of For with odd norm Nν, define (ordinary) integers a, b, c, d by the equations, and define a function χ(ν) where ν has odd norm by If m = Nμ and n = Nν are both odd, Herglotz proved Also, if Polynomials over a finite field Let F be a finite field with q = pn elements, where p is an odd prime number and n is positive, and let F[x] be the ring of polynomials in one variable with coefficients in F. If and f is irreducible, monic, and has positive degree, define the quadratic character for F[x] in the usual manner: If is a product of monic irreducibles let Dedekind proved that if are monic and have positive degrees, The attempt to generalize quadratic reciprocity for powers higher than the second was one of the main goals that led 19th century mathematicians, including Carl Friedrich Gauss, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, Gotthold Eisenstein, Richard Dedekind, Ernst Kummer, and David Hilbert to the study of general algebraic number fields and their rings of integers; specifically Kummer invented ideals in order to state and prove higher reciprocity laws. The ninth in the list of 23 unsolved problems which David Hilbert proposed to the Congress of Mathematicians in 1900 asked for the "Proof of the most general reciprocity law [f]or an arbitrary number field". In 1923 Artin, building upon work by Furtwängler, Takagi, Hasse and others, discovered a general theorem for which all known reciprocity laws are special cases; he proved it in 1927. The links below provide more detailed discussions of these theorems. - Euler's criterion - Zolotarev's lemma - Proofs of quadratic reciprocity - Cubic reciprocity - Quartic reciprocity - Eisenstein reciprocity - Artin reciprocity - Gauss, DA § 4, arts 107–150 - E.g. in his mathematical diary entry for April 8, 1796 (the date he first proved quadratic reciprocity). See facsimile page from Felix Klein's Development of Mathematics in the 19th century - See F. Lemmermeyer's chronology and bibliography of proofs in the external references - Lemmermeyer, pp. 2–3 - Gauss, DA, art. 182 - Lemmermeyer, p. 3 - Lemmermeyer, p. 5, Ireland & Rosen, pp. 54, 61 - Ireland & Rosen, pp. 69–70. His proof is based on what are now called Gauss sums. - This section is based on Lemmermeyer, pp. 6–8 - The equivalence is Euler's criterion - The analogue of Legendre's original definition is used for higher-power residue symbols - E.g. Kronecker's proof (Lemmermeyer, ex. p. 31, 1.34) is to use Gauss's lemma to establish that - Gauss, DA, arts 108–116 - Gauss, DA, arts 117–123 - Gauss, DA, arts 130 - Gauss, DA, Art 131 - Gauss, DA, arts. 125–129 - Gauss, DA, arts 135–144 - Because the basic Gauss sum equals - Because the quadratic field is a subfield of the cyclotomic field - Ireland & Rosen, pp 60–61. - Gauss, "Summierung gewisser Reihen von besonderer Art", reprinted in Untersuchumgen uber hohere Arithmetik, pp.463–495 - Lemmermeyer, Th. 2.28, pp 63–65 - Lemmermeyer, ex. 1.9, p. 28 - By Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet in 1837 - Gauss, BQ § 60 - Dirichlet's proof is in Lemmermeyer, Prop. 5.1 p.154, and Ireland & Rosen, ex. 26 p. 64 - Lemmermeyer, Prop. 5.1, p. 154 - Lemmermeyer, Thm. 7.10, p. 217 - Lemmermeyer, Thm 8.15, p.256 ff - Lemmermeyer Thm. 8.18, p. 260 - Bach & Shallit, Thm. 6.7.1 - Lemmermeyer, p. 15, and Edwards, pp.79–80 both make strong cases that the study of higher reciprocity was much more important as a motivation than Fermat's Last Theorem was - Lemmermeyer, p. viii - Lemmermeyer, p. ix ff The Disquisitiones Arithmeticae has been translated (from Latin) into English and German. The German edition includes all of Gauss's papers on number theory: all the proofs of quadratic reciprocity, the determination of the sign of the Gauss sum, the investigations into biquadratic reciprocity, and unpublished notes. Footnotes referencing the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae are of the form "Gauss, DA, Art. n". - Gauss, Carl Friedrich; Clarke, Arthur A. (translator into English) (1986), Disquisitiones Arithemeticae (Second, corrected edition), New York: Springer, ISBN 0-387-96254-9 - Gauss, Carl Friedrich; Maser, Hermann (translator into German) (1965), Untersuchungen über höhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithemeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition), New York: Chelsea, ISBN 0-8284-0191-8 The two monographs Gauss published on biquadratic reciprocity have consecutively numbered sections: the first contains §§ 1–23 and the second §§ 24–76. Footnotes referencing these are of the form "Gauss, BQ, § n". - Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1828), Theoria residuorum biquadraticorum, Commentatio prima, Göttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Göttingen 6 - Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1832), Theoria residuorum biquadraticorum, Commentatio secunda, Göttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Göttingen 7 These are in Gauss's Werke, Vol II, pp. 65–92 and 93–148. German translations are in pp. 511–533 and 534–586 of Untersuchungen über höhere Arithmetik. Franz Lemmermeyer's Reciprocity Laws: From Euler to Eisenstein has many proofs (some in exercises) of both quadratic and higher-power reciprocity laws and a discussion of their history. Its immense bibliography includes literature citations for 196 different published proofs for the quadratic reciprocity law. Kenneth Ireland and Michael Rosen's A Classical Introduction to Modern Number Theory also has many proofs of quadratic reciprocity (and many exercises), and covers the cubic and biquadratic cases as well. Exercise 13.26 (p 202) says it all Count the number of proofs to the law of quadratic reciprocity given thus far in this book and devise another one. - Bach, Eric; Shallit, Jeffrey (1966), Algorithmic Number Theory (Vol I: Efficient Algorithms), Cambridge: The MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-02405-5 - Edwards, Harold (1977), Fermat's Last Theorem, New York: Springer, ISBN 0-387-90230-9 - Lemmermeyer, Franz (2000), Reciprocity Laws: from Euler to Eisenstein, Berlin: Springer, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-12893-0, ISBN 3-540-66957-4 - Ireland, Kenneth; Rosen, Michael (1990), A Classical Introduction to Modern Number Theory (second edition), New York: Springer, ISBN 0-387-97329-X - Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), "Quadratic reciprocity law", Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4 - Quadratic Reciprocity Theorem from MathWorld - A play comparing two proofs of the quadratic reciprocity law - A proof of this theorem at PlanetMath - A different proof at MathPages - F. Lemmermeyer's chronology and bibliography of proofs of the Quadratic Reciprocity Law (233 proofs)	23
The numbers at the vertices add up to the numbers in the rectangles between them. What number does each question mark represent? How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments. If you don't have the time to provide feedback we'd really appreciate it if you could give this page a score! We are constantly improving and adding to these starters so it would be really helpful to know which ones are most useful. Simply click on a button below: This starter has scored a mean of 4.0 out of 5 based on 15 votes. The numbers at the vertices are 5, 8 and 13. Note to teacher: Doing this activity once with a class helps students develop strategies. It is only when they do this activity a second time that they will have the opportunity to practise those strategies. That is when the learning is consolidated. Click the button above to regenerate another version of this starter from random numbers. Teacher, do your students have access to computers? Here is the URL for a concise version of this page without comments or answers. Here is the URL which will take them to a student version of this activity with many different levels of difficulty.	23
Mixed fractions are numbers made up of a whole number and a fraction, such as 2 1/2. In order to divide them, they must be converted into improper fractions first. Here's how to do it. Part 1 of 3: Converting Mixed Fractions to Improper Fractions 1Multiply each whole number by the denominator of the fraction. So, let's say you're working with the following problem: 6 1/2 ÷ 2 1/4. Here's how you multiply each whole number by each denominator in the fraction: - For 6 1/2, just multiply 6 and 2. 6 x 2 = 12 - For 2 1/4, just multiply 2 and 4. 2 x 4 = 8 2Add the product to the numerator of each fraction. Here's how you do it: - For 6 1/2, just add 12 and 1 to get 13. - For 2 1/4, just add 8 and 1 to get 9. 3Place the new number over the old denominator of each fraction. This will finish the process of converting mixed fractions to improper fractions. Here's what you do: - For the mixed number 6 1/2, just place 13 over 2 to get 13/2. - For the mixed number 2 1/4, just place 9 over 4 to get 9/4. 4Know what to do if one of the numbers is a whole number. If you're doing this stage of the process when one of the two numbers is a whole number, then turn it in to a fraction by putting the whole number over one. So, 3 = 3/1. Part 2 of 3: Dividing Improper Fractions 1Write the division problem using the new improper fractions. Here's what you would write: - 13/2 ÷ 9/4 2Flip the numerator and denominator of one of the fractions and replace the division sign with a multiplication sign. It doesn't matter which fraction you do this with; once you flip the denominator and numerator of one of the fractions (finding the inverse), then it'll be okay to multiply them. Let's say you're flipping the numerator and denominator of the second fraction. Here's how you would write it: - 13/2 x 4/9 3Multiply the numerators together to find the new numerator. All you do is multiply 13 by 4. 13 x 4 = 52. 4Multiply the denominators together to find the new denominator. All you have to do is multiply 2 by 9. 2 x 9 = 18. The answer is 52/18. 5Simplify the problem if necessary. To simplify the fraction 52/18, you will have to divide both the numerator and the denominator of the fraction by its highest common factor. In the case of 52 and 18, 2 is the largest number that evenly divides into both these numbers. 52/2 = 26 and 18/2 = 9. You can't go any further because 26 and 9 don't share any common factors except for one. So, 52/18 = 26/9. - Some problems will require you to state the final answer in mixed number form. If you need to convert back from improper fractions to mixed numbers, then read on. Part 3 of 3: Converting Improper Fractions Back Into Mixed Numbers 1Divide the denominator into the numerator. If you're working with 26/9, you should divide 9 into 26. 26/9 = 2. 9 x 2 = 18. This gives you a remainder of 8. 2Use the result as a whole number. Now, the whole number is 2. 3Place the remainder over the original denominator. 8 over 9 is 8/9. 4Put it all together. The final answer is 2 8/9.Ad We could really use your help! LCD monitor repair? New Era hats? In other languages: Italiano: Dividere le Frazioni Miste, Español: dividir fracciones mixtas, Português: Dividir Frações Mistas, Français: diviser des nombres mixtes, Deutsch: Dividieren von gemischten Brüchen, Nederlands: Gemengde breuken delen, 中文: 求带分数的除法, Русский: делить смешанные дроби, Bahasa Indonesia: Membagi Pecahan Campuran Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 82,953 times.	23
Date: 12/15/2000 at 14:14:40 From: Joel Dick Subject: Prime Numbers How can I prove that if A = (P1P2+1)^2-1 where P1 and P2 are two distinct primes, then A is a multiple of four distinct primes? Date: 12/15/2000 at 17:51:06 From: Doctor Roy Subject: Re: Prime Numbers Hello, I am not sure that you can prove this. Consider the case when P1 = 2 and P2 = 3, and we obtain that: A = (P1P2 + 1)^2 - 1 = (23 + 1)^2 - 1 = 7^2 - 1 = 49 - 1 = 48 On the other hand, we know that 48 equals 16 * 3, which is 2^4 * 3. So, we have a case where A satisfies the equation, yet is only the multiple of two distinct primes, so we have a case in which the statement is not true, and therefore it cannot be true in general. Perhaps there is a slightly different statement of this problem that can be proved. I hope this helps, and please feel free to write back with any further questions you may have. - Doctor Roy, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ Date: 12/17/2000 at 00:17:57 From: Joel Dick Subject: Re: Prime Numbers You're right! I got it wrong. I think it was: A = (P1P2 + 1)^4 - 1 and A is a multiple of three distinct primes. I already factored A down to: P1P2(P1P2-2)((P1P2-1)^2 + 1) So that takes care of two primes (P1 and P2) so now we have to prove that: (P1P2-2)((P1P2-1)^2 + 1) is either, (1) prime and distinct from both P1 and P2 or, (2) a multiple of P1 and/or P2 and a third distinct prime. I've plugged in a few numbers for P1 and P2 and I've never found (1) to be true. So basically, it's narrowed down to proving that (1) is false and (2) is true, but I cannot factor P1 or P2 out of the above expression, so that's where I need your help. Thanks. Date: 12/18/2000 at 11:56:15 From: Doctor Rob Subject: Re: Prime Numbers Dr. Roy asked for help in answering your question. A = (P1P2-1)^4 - 1 = ((P1P2-1)^2 - 1)((P1P2-1)^2 + 1) = P1P2(P1P2-2)(P1^2P2^2-2P1P2+2) There are two cases to be considered: when one of the primes is 2, and when neither is. Case 1: P1 = 2, P2 >= 3. Then: A = 2^3P2(P2-1)(2P2^2-2P2+1) Call the last factor Q. Now it is possible for P2-1 to be a power of 2. In any case, Q = 1 (mod P2-1), so Q is relatively prime to 2, P2, and P2-1; so it must be divisible by at least one prime factor other than 2, P2, or any prime factor of P2-1. In this case, you may have exactly three distinct prime factors of A, such as when P2 = 3, and so A = 2^4313. Case 2: 3 <= P1 < P2. Then all four factors of A odd. Furthermore, P1P2-2 is relatively prime to P1 and P2, and is >= 13, so it must be divisible by a prime number other than P1 and P2. Furthermore, the last factor is also relatively prime to P1 and P2 and P1P2-2, and is >= 197. This implies that A has at least four different prime factors. It may have just four, as when P1 = 3, P2 = 5, and A = 3513197; or it may have more, as when P1 = 3, P2 = 11, and A = 35^2113141; or P1 = 5, P2 = 7, and A = 3571113*89. - Doctor Rob, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ Search the Dr. Math Library: Ask Dr. MathTM © 1994-2015 The Math Forum	23
Problem 270Published on Saturday, 26th December 2009, 01:00 am; Solved by 435 A square piece of paper with integer dimensions N×N is placed with a corner at the origin and two of its sides along the x- and y-axes. Then, we cut it up respecting the following rules: - We only make straight cuts between two points lying on different sides of the square, and having integer coordinates. - Two cuts cannot cross, but several cuts can meet at the same border point. - Proceed until no more legal cuts can be made. Counting any reflections or rotations as distinct, we call C(N) the number of ways to cut an N×N square. For example, C(1) = 2 and C(2) = 30 (shown below). What is C(30) mod 108 ?	23
Cut four triangles from a square as shown in the picture. How many different shapes can you make by fitting the four triangles back Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board). What is the smallest number of moves possible? You have 4 red and 5 blue counters. How many ways can they be placed on a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows columns and diagonals have an even number of red counters? How many different triangles can you make on a circular pegboard that has nine pegs? Hover your mouse over the counters to see which ones will be removed. Click to remover them. The winner is the last one to remove a counter. How you can make sure you win? A tetromino is made up of four squares joined edge to edge. Can this tetromino, together with 15 copies of itself, be used to cover an eight by eight chessboard? 10 space travellers are waiting to board their spaceships. There are two rows of seats in the waiting room. Using the rules, where are they all sitting? Can you find all the possible ways? What is the smallest cuboid that you can put in this box so that you cannot fit another that's the same into it? Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper. In how many ways can you fit two of these yellow triangles together? Can you predict the number of ways two blue triangles can be fitted together? Can you shunt the trucks so that the Cattle truck and the Sheep truck change places and the Engine is back on the main line? A magician took a suit of thirteen cards and held them in his hand face down. Every card he revealed had the same value as the one he had just finished spelling. How did this work? How many different ways can you find of fitting five hexagons together? How will you know you have found all the ways? This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up? How many DIFFERENT quadrilaterals can be made by joining the dots on the 8-point circle? Take a rectangle of paper and fold it in half, and half again, to make four smaller rectangles. How many different ways can you fold Here you see the front and back views of a dodecahedron. Each vertex has been numbered so that the numbers around each pentagonal face add up to 65. Can you find all the missing numbers? How can you arrange the 5 cubes so that you need the smallest number of Brush Loads of paint to cover them? Try with other numbers of cubes as well. How many different cuboids can you make when you use four CDs or DVDs? How about using five, then six? A dog is looking for a good place to bury his bone. Can you work out where he started and ended in each case? What possible routes could he have taken? Is it possible to rearrange the numbers 1,2......12 around a clock face in such a way that every two numbers in adjacent positions differ by any of 3, 4 or 5 hours? What is the best way to shunt these carriages so that each train can continue its journey? What is the greatest number of counters you can place on the grid below without four of them lying at the corners of a square? Design an arrangement of display boards in the school hall which fits the requirements of different people. How can the same pieces of the tangram make this bowl before and after it was chipped? Use the interactivity to try and work out what is going on! Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the candle and sundial? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of Mai Ling and Chi Wing? Can you find ways of joining cubes together so that 28 faces are Paint a stripe on a cardboard roll. Can you predict what will happen when it is rolled across a sheet of paper? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Granma T? How could Penny, Tom and Matthew work out how many chocolates there are in different sized boxes? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this goat and giraffe? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the watering can and man in a boat? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Little Ming and Little Fung dancing? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this sports car? Investigate the number of paths you can take from one vertex to another in these 3D shapes. Is it possible to take an odd number and an even number of paths to the same vertex? Can you cut up a square in the way shown and make the pieces into a A game for 2 players. Given a board of dots in a grid pattern, players take turns drawing a line by connecting 2 adjacent dots. Your goal is to complete more squares than your opponent. Have a look at what happens when you pull a reef knot and a granny knot tight. Which do you think is best for securing things Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of these clocks? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this telephone? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Little Ming playing the board game? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this brazier for roasting chestnuts? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Little Fung at the table? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of the child walking home from school? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the lobster, yacht and cyclist? Exchange the positions of the two sets of counters in the least possible number of moves Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this shape. How would you describe it? Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of these convex shapes?	23
Could not include topos theory - contents There are various different perspectives on the notion of topos. One is that a topos is a category that looks like a category of spaces that sit by local homeomorphisms over a given base space: all spaces that are locally modeled on a given base space. What makes the notion of topos powerful is the following fact: even though the general topos contains objects that are considerably different from and possibly considerably richer than plain sets and even richer than étale spaces over a topological space, the general abstract category theoretic properties of every topos are essentially the same as those of Set. For instance in every topos all small limits and colimits exist and it is cartesian closed (even locally). This means that a large number of constructions in Set have immediate analogs internal to every topos, and the analogs of the statements about these constructions that are true in are true in every topos. On the one hand this may be thought of as saying that toposes are very nice categories of spaces in that whatever construction on spaces one thinks of – for instance formation of quotients or of fiber products or of mapping spaces – the resulting space with the expected general abstract properties will exist in the topos. In this sense toposes are convenient categories for geometry – as in: convenient category of topological spaces, but even more convenient than that. On the other hand, by de-emphasizing the geometric interpretation of their objects and just using their good abstract properties, this means that toposes are contexts with a powerful internal logic. The internal logic of toposes is intuitionistic higher order logic. This means that, while the law of excluded middle and the axiom of choice may fail, apart from that, every logical statement not depending on these does hold internal to every topos. For this reason toposes are often studied as abstract contexts “in which one can do mathematics”, independently of their interpretation as categories of spaces. These two points of views on toposes, as being about geometry and about logic at the same time, is part of the richness of topos theory. On a third hand, however, we can de-emphasize the role of the objects of the topos and instead treat the topos itself as a “generalized space” (and in particular, a categorified space). We then consider the topos as a representative of itself, while toposes not of this form are “honestly generalized” spaces. This point of view is supported by the fact that the assignment is a full embedding of (sufficiently nice) topological spaces into toposes, and that many topological properties of a space can be detected at the level of . (This is even more true once we pass to (∞,1)-toposes.) From this point of view, the objects of a topos (regarded as a category) should be thought of instead as sheaves on that topos (regarded as a generalized space). And just as sheaves on a topological space can be identified with local homeomorphisms over it, such “sheaves on a topos” (i.e. objects of the topos qua category) can be identified with other toposes that sit over the given topos via a local homeomorphism of toposes. Finally, mixing this point of view with the second one, we can regard toposes over a given topos instead as “toposes in the -world of mathematics.” For this reason, the theory of toposes over a given base is formally quite similar to that of arbitrary toposes. And coming full circle, this fact allows the use of “base change arguments” as a very useful technical tool, even if our interest is only in one or two particular toposes qua categories. The general notion of topos is that of A specialization of this which is important enough that much of the literature implicitly takes it to be the general definition is the notion of For standard notions of mathematics to be available inside a given topos one typically at least needs a natural numbers object. Its existence is guaranteed by the axioms of a sheaf topos, but not by the more general axioms of an elementary topos. Adding the existence of a natural numbers object to the axioms of an elementary topos yields the notion of a A quick formal definition is that an elementary topos is a category which There are alternative ways to state the definition; for instance, In a way, however, these concise definitions can be misleading, because a topos has a great deal of other structure, which plays a very important role but just happens to follow automatically from these basic axioms. Most importantly, an elementary topos is all of the following: The above is the definition of an elementary topos. We also have the (historically earlier) notion of Grothendieck topos: a Grothendieck topos is a topos that is neither too small nor too large, in that it is: There is a further elementary property of Set that might have gone into the definition of elementary topos but historically did not: the existence of a natural numbers object. Any topos with this property is called a topos with NNO or a -topos. The latter term comes from the result that any such topos must have (not only an NNO but also) all W-types. There are two kinds of homomorphisms between toposes that one considers: objects are toposes; Any result in ordinary mathematics whose proof is finitist and constructive automatically holds in any topos. If you remove the restriction that the proof be finitist, then the result holds in any topos with a natural numbers object; if you remove the restrictions that the proof be constructive, then the result holds in any boolean topos. On the other hand, if you add the restriction that the proof be predicative in the weaker sense used by constructivists, then the result may fail in some toposes but holds in any -pretopos; if you add the restriction that the proof be predicative in a stronger sense, then the result holds in any Heyting pretopos. Therefore, one can prove results in toposes and similar categories by reasoning, not about the objects and morphisms in the topos themselves, but instead about sets and functions in the normal language of structural set theory, which is more familiar to most mathematicians. One merely has to be careful about what axioms one uses to get results of sufficient generality. If is a topos and is a lex idempotent monad, the category of -algebras is a topos. Each such corresponds to a Lawvere-Tierney topology in , and the category of -algebras is equivalent to the category of sheaves for this topology. An example is the double-negation topology. If is a topological group, then the category of sets with a continuous action of (that is, the action map is continuous, where has the discrete topology) is a topos, and in fact a Grothendieck topos (though this may not be obvious). More generally, may be a topological groupoid, or even a localic groupoid. In fact, it is a theorem that every Grothendieck topos can be presented as the topos of “continuous sheaves” on a localic groupoid. Again if is a topological group, the category of uniformly continuous -sets is also a topos, but not (in general) one of Grothendieck’s. For example, if is the profinite completion of , then a continuous -set is a -set all of whose orbits are finite, while a uniformly continuous one is a -set with a finite upper bound on the size of all its orbits. An obvious example of an elementary topos that is not a Grothendieck topos is the category FinSet of finite sets. More generally, for any strong limit cardinal? , the category of sets of cardinality is an elementary topos, and as long as it has a NNO. doesn’t even admit a geometric morphism to . Since the definition of elementary topos is “algebraic,” there exist free topos?es generated by various kinds of data. In particular, the category of toposes (and logical functors) has an initial object which is sometimes called the free topos. More generally, any higher-order type theory (of the sort which can be interpreted in the internal logic of a topos) generates a free topos containing a model of that theory. Such toposes (for a consistent theory) are never Grothendieck’s. If is a large groupoid with a small set of objects, then the category (which makes sense if we define “large” and “small” relative to a Grothendieck universe) is a topos, but not in general a Grothendieck topos. Note that this topos is in fact complete and cocomplete, but it does not have a small generating set, and so is an unbounded topos. If and are toposes and is a lex functor, then there is a topos called the Artin gluing of and along , and defined to be the comma category . If and are Grothendieck toposes then is a -topos. If is accessible, then is again Grothendieck (hence bounded), but in general it may not be. (Note, though, that it is not clear whether it can be proven in ZFC that there exist any inaccessible lex functors between Grothendieck toposes, although from a proper class of measurable cardinals one can construct an inaccessible lex endofunctor of .) The category of coalgebras for any lex comonad on a topos is again a topos: a topos of coalgebras, and if the comonad is accessible, this construction preserves Grothendieck-ness. If the comonad is not accessible, then this topos is unbounded. For instance the Artin gluing is equivalent to the category of coalgebras for the comonad on the topos defined by . More generally, the category of coalgebras for any pullback-preserving comonad on a topos is again a topos. This covers both the preceding result and also the overcategory (slice category) result above, since is the category of coalgebras for the pullback-preserving comonad given by . It also covers Artin gluing along a pullback-preserving functor. More generally still, Todd Trimble has a notion called a “modal operator” on a topos, from which one can construct a new topos of “-structures”: see Three topos theorems in one. Special cases include the pullback-preserving comonad result just mentioned, and the result that the category of algebras for a lex idempotent monad is a topos. A related idea is Toby Kenney’s notion of lex distributive diad?, from which one can also construct a topos. From any partial combinatory algebra one can construct a realizability topos, whose internal logic is “computable” or “effective” mathematics relative to that PCA. In particular, for Kleene's first algebra, one obtains the effective topos, the most-studied of realizability toposes. Realizability toposes are generally not Grothendieck toposes. A topos can also be constructed from any tripos. This includes realizability toposes as well as toposes of sheaves on locales. For various applications one uses toposes that have extra structure or properties. \|(n,r)-categories…\|\|satisfying Giraud's axioms\|\|inclusion of left exact localizations\|\|generated under colimits from small objects\|\|localization of free cocompletion\|\|generated under filtered colimits from small objects\| \|(0,1)-category theory\|\|(0,1)-toposes\|\|algebraic lattices\|\|Porst’s theorem\|\|subobject lattices in accessible reflective subcategories of presheaf categories\| \|category theory\|\|toposes\|\|locally presentable categories\|\|Adámek-Rosický’s theorem\|\|accessible reflective subcategories of presheaf categories\|\|accessible categories\| \|model category theory\|\|model toposes\|\|combinatorial model categories\|\|Dugger’s theorem\|\|left Bousfield localization of global model structures on simplicial presheaves\| \|(∞,1)-topos theory\|\|(∞,1)-toposes\|\|locally presentable (∞,1)-categories\|\| \| \|accessible reflective sub-(∞,1)-categories of (∞,1)-presheaf (∞,1)-categories\|\|accessible (∞,1)-categories\| Introductions to topos theory include An introduction amplifying the simple but important case of presheaf toposes is A standard textbook is This later grew into the more detailed A quick introduction of the basic facts of Grothendieck topos theory is chapter I, “Background in topos theory” in A standard textbook on this case is There are also R. Goldblatt, Topoi. The categorial analysis of logic, Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Math. 98, North-Holland Publ. Co., Amsterdam, 1979, 1984; (Rus. transl. Mir Publ., Moscow 1983). A gentle basic introduction is A quick introduction of the basic facts of Grothendieck topos theory is chapter I, “Background in topos theory” in A survey is in That every topos is an adhesive category is discussed in According to appendix C.1 in “Topos” is a Greek term intended to describe the objects studied by “analysis situs),” the Latin term previously established by Poincaré to signify the science of place [or situation]; in keeping with those ideas, a -topos was shown to have presentations in various “sites”.	23
Also on these boards Persevere in solving problems? Want to see if your kids really know what they are doing when they are problem solving? Want to focus your kids into the process of problem solving? This simple one page problem solver includes a place for students to choose their strategy, to choose their math concept, to show their work, and to justify their answer. It also includes a Here's an editable problem-solving template that focuses on the strategies Draw a Picture, Find a Pattern, Choose an Operation, and Make a Table. There is room for students to show their work as well as write out the steps they followed to solve the problem. This works!! This was my approach with my daughter this year for Kindergarten! We soared into 1st grade math quickly...How to solve math problems To make this game, you'll need to print out two game boards and then write the 12 different times two times each on the foam shapes or your own cards (so you'll have 2 sets of 12 times for a total of 24 digital times) AND you need to write "Time is Up!" on 5 shapes/cards. Students work in pairs to play and one partner pulls out a digital time and places it on the matching clock on their board. The steps in these math story problems were created for the purpose of making sense of a problem, instead of using tricks and key words to solve a problem. Students must understand what the problem is asking them to do before solving it.	23
Pyrochoron (EntityTopic, 17) From Hi.gher. Space The pyrochoron, also known as the pentachoron and the 5-cell, is the four-dimensional simplex, and has the lowest possible element count of any flat, non-degenerate four-dimensional shape. It consists of 5 regular tetrahedra joined at their faces, folded into 4D to form a 4D volume. It is a special case of the pyramid where the base is a tetrahedron. There are 3 tetrahedra surrounding every edge. - The hypervolumes of a pentachoron with side length l are given by: total edge length = 10l total surface area = 5√3∕2 · l2 surcell volume = √2∕3 · l3 bulk = √5∕96 · l4 The net of a pentachoron is a tetrahedron surrounded by 4 more tetrahedra. Cell-first / vertex-first projection The following diagram shows a perspective projection of the pentachoron. The dotted line shows the far edge of the outer tetrahedron. The blue lines are inside the outer tetrahedron in this projection. The center of the projection where these blue lines meet is actually the apex of the pentachoron pointing away from us in the 4th direction. All 5 tetrahedral cells of the pentachoron are present in this diagram: the outer tetrahedron, and the 4 “inner” tetrahedra outlined by one triangular face of the outer tetrahedron and 3 of the blue lines each. Although they appear as slightly flattened tetrahedra, this is only because they are being viewed at from an angle. In actuality, they are perfectly regular tetrahedra. The following diagrams illustrate 3 of these cells. Note that if a 4D being were to look at an actual pentachoron, it would not be able to see all 5 cells at once. Rather, it would either see only the outer tetrahedron (if it looks at the “base” of the pentachoron), or the 4 inner cells (if it looks at the apex of the pentachoron). Edge-first / face-first projection The next diagram shows the pentachoron viewed at from another angle. In this diagram, three of the pentachoron's cells are arranged around the central axis indicated by the blue line. The other two cells are the upper and lower halves of the outer shape, which is called a trigonal bipyramid. All the cells appear somewhat deformed from a regular tetrahedron, because they are all being viewed at from an angle. Some of these cells are shown below: Again, this projection represents two possible views of the pentachoron. From one view, the 4D being would see only the upper and lower tetrahedra. From the opposite view, it would see the 3 inner tetrahedra. It cannot see all 5 cells at once unless the pentachoron is transparent. \|3\|\|C1a\|\|4\|\|6\|\|4\|\|= base of pyramid: tetrahedron\|\|;\| \|triangle • tetrahedron • pyrochoron • pyroteron • pyropeton\| \|Regular:\|\|pyrochoron • aerochoron • geochoron • xylochoron • hydrochoron • cosmochoron\| \|Powertopes:\|\|triangular octagoltriate • square octagoltriate • hexagonal octagoltriate • octagonal octagoltriate\| \|Circular:\|\|glome • cubinder • duocylinder • spherinder • sphone • dicone • coninder\| \|Torii:\|\|tiger • torisphere • spheritorus • torinder • ditorus\| Triangular prismic pyramid \|List of tapertopes\|	23
Mark and Fred had some money in the ratio 6:1. Mark gave half of his money to Fred. Find the ratio of the amount of money Mark had left to the amount of money Fred had in the end. The ratio of the amount of money Mark had left to the amount of money Fred had in the end is 3:4. Carol puts some green and red unit cubes in a box. The ratio of the number of green cubes to the number of red cubes is 2:1. She adds 12 more red cubes in the box and the ratio becomes 4:5. a) How many green cubes are there in the box? b) How many red cubes does Carol have in the end? From the model, we see that: a) 3 units = 12 cubes 1 unit = 12 ÷3 = 4 cubes 4 units = 4 × 4 = 16 cubes There are 16 green cubes in the box. b) 5 units = 5 × 4 = 20 cubes Carol has 20 red cubes in the end. This video gives some examples of solving some basic ratio word problems. 1. A board was cut into two pieces whose lengths are in the ratio 2:5. The longest piece was 85 inches. How long was the shortest piece? 2. At a track meet, 5/8 of the students were boys. There were 48 more boys. How many students were there altogether? 3. Theresa read two and one-fourth times as many pages on Saturday as on Sunday. She read 120 pages more on Saturday. How many pages did she read altogether? 3. One-third of Elmer's age is the same as two-fifths of Sam's age. a) Draw a bar model representing the situation b) Elmer is 5 years older than Sam. How old is Sam? How to use proportions to solve ratio problems. 1. At Al's Catering Service, they often make a large batch of fruit salad. The ratio of cups of apples to cups of oranges in the recipe is 8 : 5. a) If they use 15 cups of oranges, how many cups of apples should they use? b) If they only use 2 cups of apples, how many cups of oranges should they use?	23
Library Home \|\| Full Table of Contents \|\| Suggest a Link \|\| Library Help \|Math tutorial posts by Klassen, who majored in biochemistry and holds a Master of Science degree specializing in medicine. "Explanations of as many math concepts that I can think of" include Finding the Slope of a Line," "Introduction to Functions," "The Definitive Guide to Domain and Range," "Vertical Line Test Definition," "Vertical Translation -- Shifting Graphs Vertically," "Stretching Graphs and Compressing Graphs," and "Inverse Trig Functions."\| \|Levels:\|\|High School (9-12)\| \|Math Topics:\|\|Basic Algebra, Linear Algebra, Pre-Calculus\| © 1994- Drexel University. All rights reserved. The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.	23
Library Home \|\| Full Table of Contents \|\| Suggest a Link \|\| Library Help \|Math Forum, Ask Dr. Math FAQ\| \|Problems from antiquity: trisecting an angle, squaring the circle, duplicating (or doubling) the cube.\| \|Levels:\|\|Elementary, Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)\| \|Resource Types:\|\|Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)\| © 1994- Drexel University. All rights reserved. The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.	23
The percent sign (%) is the symbol used to indicate a percentage, a number or ratio as a fraction of 100. Related signs include the permille (per thousand) sign ‰ and the permyriad (per ten thousand) sign ‱ (also known as a basis point), which indicate that a number is divided by one thousand or ten thousand respectively. Higher proportions use parts-per notation. English style guides prescribe writing the number and percent sign without any space between. However, the International System of Units and ISO 31-0 standard prescribe a space between the number and percent sign, in line with the general practice of using a non-breaking space between a numerical value and its corresponding unit of measurement. Other languages have other rules for spacing in front of the percent sign: - In Czech, the percent sign is spaced with a non-breaking space if the number is used as a noun, whereas no space is inserted if the number is used as an adjective (e.g. “a 50% increase”). - In Finnish, the percent sign is always spaced, and a case suffix can be attached to it using the colon (e.g. 50 %:n kasvu 'an increase of 50%'). - In French, the percent sign must be spaced with a non-breaking space. - In Italian, the percent sign is never spaced. - In Spanish, the percent sign is never spaced. - In traditional Russian typography, the percent sign is never spaced. But it is not that common in Russia today. - In Chinese the percent sign is almost never spaced, probably because Chinese does not use spaces to separate characters or words at all. - According to the Swedish Language Council, the percent sign should be preceded by a space in Swedish. - In German the space is prescribed by the regulatory body in the national standard DIN 5008. - In Persian, the percent sign precedes rather than follows the number. In this language, the slash sign (/) is the equivalent for the decimal point in English and other Latin-based languages. For example, 1 hundredth is written as 0/01. It is thought that the percent sign has evolved in this language from condensation of 0/0 to %. Hence 0/01 (0.01) has evolved to %1 or one percent. Usage in text It is often recommended that the percent sign only be used in tables and other places with space restrictions. In running text, it should be spelled out as percent or per cent (often in newspapers). For example, not "Sales increased by 24% over 2006", but rather "Sales increased by 24 percent over 2006". Prior to 1425 there is no evidence of a special symbol being used for percentage. The Italian term per cento, "for a hundred", was used as well as several different abbreviations (e.g. "per 100", "p 100", "p cento", etc.). Examples of this can be seen in the 1339 arithmetic text (author unknown) depicted below. The letter p with its shaft crossed by a horizontal or diagonal strike conventionally stood for per, por, par, or pur in Mediaeval and Renaissance palaeography. At some point a scribe of some sort used the abbreviation "pc" with a tiny loop or circle (depicting the ending -o used in Italian numeration for primo, secondo, etc.) This appears in some additional pages of a 1425 text which were probably added around 1435. This is shown below (source, Rara Arithmetica pg. 440). The Unicode code points are: - U+0025 % percent sign (HTML - U+2030 ‰ per mille sign (HTML - U+2031 ‱ per ten thousand sign (HTML ‱) a.k.a. basis point, and - U+FF05 ％ full-width percent sign (HTML ％· see fullwidth forms) - U+FE6A ﹪ small percent sign (HTML ﹪· see Small Form Variants) There is also U+066A ٪ arabic percent sign (HTML ٪), which has the circles replaced by square dots set on edge. In computing, the percent character is also used for the modulo operation in programming languages that derive their syntax from the C programming language, which in turn acquired this usage from the earlier B. In the textual representation of URIs, a % immediately followed by a 2-digit hexadecimal number denotes an octet specifying (part of) a character that might otherwise not be allowed in URIs (see percent-encoding). In many programming languages' string formatting operations (performed by functions such as printf), the percent sign denotes parts of the template string that will be replaced with arguments. (See printf format string.) In Python and Ruby the percent sign is also used as the string formatting operator. In the command processors COMMAND.COM (DOS) and CMD.EXE (OS/2 and Windows), %1, %2,... stand for the first, second,... parameters of a batch file. %0 stands for the specification of the batch file itself as typed on the command line. The % sign is also used similarly in the FOR command. %VAR1% represents the value of an environment variable named VAR1. Thus: sets a new value for PATH, that being the old value preceded by "c:\;". Because these uses give the percent sign special meaning, the sequence %% (two percent signs) is used to represent a literal percent sign, so that: would set PATH to the literal value "c:\;%PATH%". In linguistics, the percent sign is prepended to an example string to show that it is judged well-formed by some speakers and ill-formed by others. This may be due to differences in dialect or even individual idiolects. This is similar to the asterisk to mark ill-formed strings, the question mark to mark strings where well-formedness is unclear, and the number sign to mark strings that are syntactically well-formed but semantically nonsensical. - Guardian and Observer style guide. - "The Chicago Manual of Style". University of Chicago Press. 2003. Retrieved 2007-01-05. - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 1994. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, p. 114. - Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors. 1998. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, p. 128. - Jenkins, Jana et al. 2011. The IBM Style Guide: Conventions for Writers and Editors. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, p. 162. - Covey, Stephen R. FranklinCovey Style Guide: For Business and Technical Communication. Salt Lake City, UT: FranklinCovey, p. 287. - Dodd, Janet S. 1997. The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, p. 264. - "SI brochure". International Bureau of Weights and Measures. 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-07. - "The International System of Units". International Bureau of Weights and Measures. 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-06. - "Quantities and units – Part 0: General principles". International Organization for Standardization. 1999-12-22. Retrieved 2007-01-05. - "Internetová jazyková příručka". Ústav pro jazyk český Akademie věd ČR. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-24. - "Jazyková poradna ÚJČ AV ČR: FAQ". Ústav pro jazyk český Akademie věd ČR. 2002. Retrieved 2009-03-16. - "Dire Fare Scrivere - Mensile di cultura e scrittura" (in Italian). Botteg Editoriale. November 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2015. - "Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (RAE)" (in Spanish). RAE. December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014. - American Economic Review: Style Guide - UNC Pharmacy style guide - University of Colorado style guide - Smith 1898, pg. 437 - - See the letter p. - Smith 1898, pp. 439-440 - Smith 1898, pg. 441 - Smith 1898, pg. 440 - Smith 1925, Vol. 2, pg.250 in Dover reprint of 1958, ISBN 0-486-20430-8 - Thompson, Ken (1996). "Users' Reference to B". - "Python 2 – String Formatting Operations". - "Python 3 – printf-style String Formatting". - "Ruby – String#%". - Smith, D.E. (1898), Rara Arithmetica: a catalogue of the arithmetics written before MDCI, with description of those in the library of George Arthur Plimpton of New York, Boston: Ginn - Smith, D.E. (1925), History of Mathematics, Boston: Ginn	23
Become a Motion Math Educator and help your students master K-6 Common Core math concepts through play 400+ levels in 7 games for the toughest Common Core Standards \|2.OA.1, 2.OA.2, 2.NBT.5, 2.NBT.6, 3.OA.7, 3.NBT.2, 3.NBT.3, 4.OA.3, 4.NBT.4, 4.NBT.5, 4.MD.2, 5.NBT.5, 6.NS.5, 7.SP.1\| \|1.OA.3, 1.OA.6, 2.OA.2, 2.NBT.5, 3.OA.5, 3.OA.7, 4.NBT.4\| percents, pie charts \|3.NF.2, 3.NF.3, 4.NF.2, 4.NF.3a, 4.NF.3b, 4.NF.6\| \|Zoom\|\|Number line\|\|K.CC.7, 1.NBT.2, 1.NBT.3, 1.NBT.5, 2.NBT.1, 2.NBT.4, 3.NBT.1, 4.NBT.3, 4.NF.6, 4.NF.7, 5.NBT.3, 6.NS.7a\| real world math \|2.MD.3, 2.MD.8, 3.MD.2, 3.MD.6, 4.MD.2, 5.MD.4, 6.RP.3c, 6.RP.3d\| \|Wings\|\|Multiplication\|\|2.OA.4, 3.OA.1, 3.OA.7, 3.NBT.3, 4.OA.4\| \|Hungry Fish\|\|Addition, subtraction, \|K.OA.3-5, 1.OA.3-4, 1.OA.6, 1.OA.8, 1.NBT.4-5, 2.OA.2, 2.NBT.5-8, 3.NBT.2, 4.NBT.4\| "Helps develop understanding of important mathematics, visually." — Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford Graduate School of Ed "15% improvement in fractions estimation; 10% improvement in math attitudes" — published study "Great gameplay and great learning. — Dan Meyer, math teacher, writer "I've seen kids who've struggled for years suddenly understand how the whole number system works." — Michelle Martin, 4th/5th grade teacher 2014 ON for Learning Award — Common Sense Media "To hear 'Yes! I got it!' is so rewarding. You don't hear that when they take a test." — Helen Bruno-Raccuia, 4th grade teacher, P.S. 30 Westerleigh — Andrew Stadel, teacher, blogger, Digital Learning Coach "My students LOVE Motion Math. They love that they have many games to choose from, and that the games get harder as they play." — Ashley Rollins, 4th grade teacher, Bridge Point Elementary appropriate, highly recommended." — Karen Lirenman, 1st grade teacher, ISTE award winner "My students enthusiastically choose Motion Math." — Christopher Warner, 4th grade teacher, Marin Country Day School "Highly engaging...the data is reliable because students are invested." — Sarah Fritzke, Response to Intervention math teacher, Jordan Elementary "One of my students had so much fun playing, he forgot to leave for his next class!" — Hillaray Carroll, 1st grade teacher, Harker School "My students' addition fluency is getting way better!" — Aaron Sime, Kindergarten teacher, Prairie View Elementary	23
Can you find different ways of showing the same number? Try this matching game and see! Read this riddle and see if you can work out how the trees must be planted. This article looks at how models support mathematical thinking about numbers and the number system Dotty Six is a simple dice game that you can adapt in many ways. Dotty Six game for an adult and child. Will you be the first to have three sixes in a straight line? This article for the young and old talks about the origins of our number system and the important role zero has to play in it. This activity is best done with a whole class or in a large group. Can you match the cards? What happens when you add pairs of the numbers together? This article for teachers describes how modelling number properties involving multiplication using an array of objects not only allows children to represent their thinking with concrete materials,. . . . This article for teachers describes how number arrays can be a useful reprentation for many number concepts. First or two articles about Fibonacci, written for students.	23
Like what you saw? Create FREE Account and: - Watch all FREE content in 21 subjects(388 videos for 23 hours) - FREE advice on how to get better grades at school from an expert - Attend and watch FREE live webinar on useful topics Direct Variation - Problem 1 MA, Stanford University Teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area Alissa is currently a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and Brightstorm users love her clear, concise explanations of tough concepts Direct variation goes through the point (0, 0) and can be written in the form y=kx. In other words, the line passes through the origin (has a y-intercept of 0). Calculate k the same way you would calculate slope (m) -- (y2-y1)/(x2-x1). Use (0,0) and the given x and y values as x1, y1 and x2, y2. Once you have the slope, substitute it in for k. This is a problem that where I'm already told that x and y vary directly. Before I read any further I'm going to right down what I know about direct variation. Direct variation mean it goes through the point (0,0) and the equation is going to look like y equals kx so that's kind of why I'm going to keep in mind as I'm continuing to read the problem. The value of y is 22 when the value of x is 2, find y when x equals 5.Okay well I'm going to write this as a point my y value is 22 my x number is 2 and I'm going to see if I have any ideas that come to me about what's in move about how to move on. Well I have two points and I need to find the equation that's something I know how to do. You can either use the Point-Slope formula like this by calculating the slope first and then plugging in one of your point values. Or you could use the Slope-Intercepts form because we know this intercept number is going to be 0. That's why I'm going to choose to use y equals mx plus b strategies because I know half the problem already. I know half the answer already. Let me erase this. Okay if I want to have an equation that looks like y equals kx I'm going to think in back of my head that y equals mx because I know more about m. The way you find m is by doing y2 take away y1 on top of x2 take away x1. So let's do that with these values 22 take way 0 over 2 take away 0 is equal to 22 over 2 or 11 that's my slope number or in direct variations slope is the same thing as k which we call the constant variation. This is really tricky because there is so much vocabulary and you are moving back and fourth between what you already know in this new business. Just keep in mind that m or slope is the same thing as the constant variation.So the equation that describes this will look like y equals 11 x, that's not my answer because they asked me to find the y value but this is the equation I'm going to be working with. Let me erase it and we'll move on. The second half of this problem that I need to do if find y when x is equal to 5. This will be very easy now that I know my equation. Instead of x right there I'm going to write 5 using substitution y will be 11 times 5 or y equals 55. That's my final answer I found the y value when x is 5. And again I just thought of this as a line where I already knew the y intercept and then I found the slope plugged it in there for k which is the constant of variation. So when you see problems like this and you are looking at the letter k wondering what to do think of k in the same way you treat m, a slope, try using that y2 minus y1 over x2 minus x1 formula. Stuck on a Math Problem? Ask Genie for a step-by-step solution Please enter your name. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? Sample Problems (5) Need help with a problem? Watch expert teachers solve similar problems. Problem 1 7,849 views If y varies directly with x and the value of y is 22 when the value of x is 2, find y when x = 5. Problem 2 4,701 views A biker's distance traveled on flat terrain varies directly with its traveling time. If the biker has gone 90 miles after 2½ hours, how long will it take him to go 306 miles? Problem 3 205 views Problem 4 208 views Problem 5 189 views	23
How many degree in 1 radian? The answer is 57.2957795131. We assume you are converting between degree and radian. You can view more details on each measurement unit: degree or radian The SI derived unit for angle is the radian. 1 degree is equal to 0.0174532925199 radian. Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results. Use this page to learn how to convert between degrees and radians. Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units! You can do the reverse unit conversion from radian to degree, or enter any two units below: I'm feeling lucky, show me some random units. A degree (or in full degree of arc), usually symbolized by the symbol °, is a measurement of plane angles, or of a location along a great circle of a sphere (such as the Earth or the celestial sphere), representing 1/360 of a full rotation. In mathematics and physics, the radian is a unit of angle measure. It is the SI derived unit of angle. It is defined as the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an arc of circumference equal in length to the radius of the circle. Angle measures in radians are often given without any explicit unit. When a unit is given, sometimes the abbreviation rad is used, sometimes the symbol c (for "circular"). ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 100 kg, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more!	23
Our telescopes show the Milky Way galaxy only as it appears from one vantage point: our solar system. B using a simple but powerful technique, astronomers have seen an exploding star or supernova from new several angles. The supernova left behind the gaseous remnant Cassiopeia A. The supernova's light washed over the Earth about 330 years ago. But light that took a longer path, reflecting off clouds of interstellar dust, is just now reaching us. This faint, reflected light is what the astronomers have detected. The technique is based on the familiar concept of an echo, but applied to light instead of sound. If you yell, "Echo!" in a cave, sound waves bounce off the walls and reflect back to your ears, creating echoes. Similarly, light from the supernova reflects off interstellar dust to the Earth. The dust cloud acts like a mirror, creating light echoes that come from different directions depending on where the clouds are located. Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A). The red, green, and blue regions in this X-ray image of Cas A show where the intensity of low, medium, and high-energy X-rays, respectively, is greatest. While this photo shows the remains of the exploded star, light echoes show us reflected light from the explosion itself. (Photo Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/UMass Amherst/M.D.Stage et al.) "Just like mirrors in a changing room show you a clothing outfit from all sides, interstellar dust clouds act like mirrors to show us different sides of the supernova," explained Rest. Moreover, an audible echo is delayed since it takes time for the sound waves to bounce around the cave and back. Light echoes also are delayed by the time it takes for light to travel to the dust and reflect back. As a result, light echoing from the supernova can reach us hundreds of years after the supernova itself has faded away. Not only do light echoes give astronomers a chance to directly study historical supernovae, they also provide a 3-D perspective since each echo comes from a spot with a different view of the explosion. Most people think a supernova is like a powerful fireworks blast, expanding outward in a round shell that looks the same from every angle. But by studying the light echoes, the team discovered that one direction in particular looked significantly different than the others. They found signs of gas from the stellar explosion streaming toward one point at a speed almost 9 million miles per hour (2,500 miles per second) faster than any other observed direction. "This supernova was two-faced!" said Smithsonian co-author and Clay Fellow Ryan Foley. "In one direction the exploding star was blasted to a much higher speed." Previous studies support the team's finding. For example, the neutron star created when the star's core collapsed is zooming through space at nearly 800,000 miles per hour in a direction opposite the unique light echo. The explosion may have kicked gas one way and the neutron star out the other side (a consequence of Newton's third law of motion, which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction). By combining the new light-echo measurements and the movement of the neutron star with X-ray data on the supernova remnant, astronomers have assembled a 3-D perspective, giving them new insight into the Cas A supernova. "Now we can connect the dots from the explosion itself, to the supernova's light, to the supernova remnant," said Foley. Cassiopeia A is located about 16,000 light-years from Earth and contains matter at temperatures of around 50 million degrees F, causing it to glow in X-rays. The Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory was used to locate the light echoes. 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Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation \|Part of a series on\| The accidental discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation is a major development in modern physical cosmology. Although predicted by earlier theories, it was first found accidentally by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson as they experimented with the Holmdel Horn Antenna. The discovery was evidence for an expanding universe, (big bang theory) and was evidence against the steady state model. In 1978, Penzias and Wilson were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint discovery. By the middle of the 20th century, cosmologists had developed two different theories to explain the creation of the universe. Some supported the steady-state theory, which states that the universe has always existed and will continue to survive without noticeable change. Others believed in the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe was created in a massive explosion-like event billions of years ago (later to be determined as 13.72 billion)(13 720 million). The first published recognition of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation as a detectable phenomenon appeared in a brief paper by Soviet astrophysicists A. G. Doroshkevich and Igor Novikov, entitled "Mean Density of Radiation in the Metagalaxy and Certain Problems in Relativistic Cosmology", in the spring of 1964. Working at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, in 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were experimenting with a supersensitive, 6 meter (20 ft) horn antenna originally built to detect radio waves bounced off Echo balloon satellites. To measure these faint radio waves, they had to eliminate all recognizable interference from their receiver. They removed the effects of radar and radio broadcasting, and suppressed interference from the heat in the receiver itself by cooling it with liquid helium to −269 °C, only 4 K above absolute zero. \|Timeline of the discovery of the CMB\| \|Important dates and persons\| \|1946\|\|George Gamow estimates a temperature of 50K\| \|1946\|\|Robert Dicke predicts a microwave background radiation temperature of "less than 20K" (ref: Helge Kragh), but later revised to 45K (ref: Stephen G. Brush)\| \|1948\|\|Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman re-estimate Gamow's estimate at 5K.\| \|1949\|\|Alpher and Herman re-re-estimate Gamow's estimate at 28K.\| \|1960s\|\|Robert Dicke re-estimates an MBR (microwave background radiation) temperature of 40K (ref: Helge Kragh)\| \|1964\|\|A. G. Doroshkevich and Igor Novikov publish a brief paper, where they name the MBR phenomenon as detectable.\| \|1960s\|\|Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson measure the temperature to be approximately 3 K.\| When Penzias and Wilson reduced their data they found a low, steady, mysterious noise that persisted in their receiver. This residual noise was 100 times more intense than they had expected, was evenly spread over the sky, and was present day and night. They were certain that the radiation they detected on a wavelength of 7.35 centimeters did not come from the Earth, the Sun, or our galaxy. After thoroughly checking their equipment, removing some pigeons nesting in the antenna and cleaning out the accumulated droppings, the noise remained. Both concluded that this noise was coming from outside our own galaxy—although they were not aware of any radio source that would account for it. At that same time, Robert H. Dicke, Jim Peebles, and David Wilkinson, astrophysicists at Princeton University just 60 km (37 mi) away, were preparing to search for microwave radiation in this region of the spectrum. Dicke and his colleagues reasoned that the Big Bang must have scattered not only the matter that condensed into galaxies but also must have released a tremendous blast of radiation. With the proper instrumentation, this radiation should be detectable, albeit as microwaves, due to a massive redshift. When a friend (Bernard F. Burke, Prof. of Physics at MIT) told Penzias about a preprint paper he had seen by Jim Peebles on the possibility of finding radiation left over from an explosion that filled the universe at the beginning of its existence, Penzias and Wilson began to realize the significance of their discovery. The characteristics of the radiation detected by Penzias and Wilson fit exactly the radiation predicted by Robert H. Dicke and his colleagues at Princeton University. Penzias called Dicke at Princeton, who immediately sent him a copy of the still-unpublished Peebles paper. Penzias read the paper and called Dicke again and invited him to Bell Labs to look at the Horn Antenna and listen to the background noise. Robert Dicke, P. J. E. Peebles, P. G. Roll and D. T. Wilkinson interpreted this radiation as a signature of the Big Bang. To avoid potential conflict, they decided to publish their results jointly. Two notes were rushed to the Astrophysical Journal Letters. In the first, Dicke and his associates outlined the importance of cosmic background radiation as substantiation of the Big Bang Theory. In a second note, jointly signed by Penzias and Wilson titled, "A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Megacycles per Second," they noted the existence of the residual background noise and attributed a possible explanation to that given by Dicke in his companion letter. - Aaronson, Steve (January 1979). "The Light of Creation: An Interview with Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson". Bell Laboratories Record: 12–18. - Abell, George O. (1982). Exploration of the Universe. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. - Asimov, Isaac (1982). Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2nd ed. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. - Bernstein, Jeremy (1984). Three Degrees Above Zero: Bell Labs in the Information Age. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-18170-3. - Brush, Stephen G. (August 1992). "How Cosmology Became a Science". Scientific American 267 (2): 62–60. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0892-62. - Chown, Marcus (September 29, 1988). "A cosmic relic in three degrees". New Scientist: 51–55. - Crawford, A.B.; Hogg, D. C.; Hunt, L. E. (July 1961). "Project Echo: A Horn-Reflector Antenna for Space Communication". The Bell System Technical Journal: 1095–1099. - Dicke, R. H.; Peebles, P. J. E.; Roll, P. J.; Wilkinson, D. T. (July 1965). "Cosmic Black-Body Radiation". Astrophysical Journal Letters 142: 414–419. Bibcode:1965ApJ...142..414D. doi:10.1086/148306. - Disney, Michael (1984). The Hidden Universe. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 0-02-531670-2. - Ferris, Timothy (1978). The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe. 2nd ed. New York: Quill Press. - Friedman, Herbert (1975). The Amazing Universe. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-87044-179-5. - Hey, J.S. (1973). The Evolution of Radio Astronomy. New York: Neale Watson Academic Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-88202-027-7. - Jastrow, Robert (1978). God and the Astronomers. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-393-01187-9. - Kirby-Smith, H.T. (1976). U.S. Observatories: A Directory and Travel Guide. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. ISBN 0-442-24451-7. - Learner, Richard (1981). Astronomy Through the Telescope. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. ISBN 0-442-25839-9. - Penzias, A.A.; R. W. Wilson (July 1965). "A Measurement Of Excess Antenna Temperature At 4080 Mc/s". Astrophysical Journal Letters 142: 419–421. Bibcode:1965ApJ...142..419P. doi:10.1086/148307. - Penzias, A.A.; R. W. Wilson (October 1965). "A Measurement of the Flux Density of CAS A At 4080 Mc/s". Astrophysical Journal Letters 142: 1149–1154. Bibcode:1965ApJ...142.1149P. doi:10.1086/148384. - "Astronomy and Astrophysics Horn Antenna.". National Park Service, Department of the Interior.	24
use the following search parameters to narrow your results: e.g. subreddit:aww site:imgur.com dog subreddit:aww site:imgur.com dog see the search faq for details. advanced search: by author, subreddit... ~2 users here now Amateur question; Are the planets in our solar system moving along the same plane? if so, why? (self.astrophys) submitted 2 years ago by ManieO [–]Maverick_Martinski 16 points17 points18 points 2 years ago (8 children) Yes, the planets in our solar system tend to orbit on about the same plane as one another. Our current understanding of this has to do with how we believe the solar system was formed - the Condensation theory - explains the planets nearly circular orbits in the same plane, and in the same direction as the suns rotation on its axis. These properties are a result of the shape and rotation of the interstellar cloud from which the solar system was formed. As the cloud contracted under its own gravity, the laws of conservation of angular momentum apply and the cloud begins to rotate faster; eventually under these forces the cloud flattens into a disk. This disk is the plane in which the planets formed. [–]micahgtb 6 points7 points8 points 2 years ago (3 children) Yep except Pluto.........depending on how you feel about Plutos planet status. Either way, it has a very eccentric orbit that rises above and below the plane of the system. [–]Maverick_Martinski 6 points7 points8 points 2 years ago (1 child) Yes absolutely Pluto doesn't exhibit the properties of a full planet. Pluto, like many other Kuiper belt objects is in 3:2 resonance with Neptune's Orbit. The eccentricities of some of these objects orbits are thought to be a result of gravitational interactions with the Jovian planets, especially Uranus and Neptune, which flung many planetesimals into the Oort cloud. the objects which did not get sent into the Oort cloud formed the Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune, and as many as 15% of these objects are in 3:2 resonance with Neptune. [–]whiteraven4 1 point2 points3 points 2 years ago (0 children) Sedna, which I think is the most eccentric minor planet that we know of. [–]NegativeLatency 1 point2 points3 points 2 years ago (0 children) There are some cool gifs on the wikipedia page about pluto that show this too. [–]NegativeLatency 3 points4 points5 points 2 years ago (0 children) Wouldn't planets that didn't rotate along with everything else in the solar system be more likely to be ejected? [–]deercr0ssing 1 point2 points3 points 2 years ago (0 children) Does the electromagnetic field of the sun have anything to do with it? [–]joshualarry 1 point2 points3 points 2 years ago (0 children) Can the Condensation theory be applied to galaxies as well? It seems most spiral galaxy's also have a sort of "level" plane, so as the disc of the galaxy comes to form, do stars then begin to form their own discs and then planetary formation begins? Do we have a way of knowing if all star systems are level with this galactic plane? [–]ManieO[S] 1 point2 points3 points 2 years ago (0 children) REDDIT and the ALIEN Logo are registered trademarks of reddit inc. π Rendered by PID 14880 on app-194 at 2015-03-29 13:51:28.166267+00:00 running 55d996a country code: US.	24
Saturn's moon Titan had swamps, say astroboffins Splashdown patterns suggest space rocks landed in something squishy Titan, the moon of Saturn often present at the top of candidate lists for life-bearing bodies in our near neighbourhood, may once have housed extensive swamps. So say boffins from the Florida Institute of Technology and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who have popped out a paper titled ”Elevation distribution of Titan’s craters suggests extensive wetlands in which they suggest that the moon's craters are at unusually high elevations. Titan is also famously smooth. It is peppered with craters like other celestial bodies, but those craters look rather more rounded and/or weathered than those on other planets and moons. Large swathes of the moon are also largely free of craters. The paper suggests the moon's unusual crater patterns could be a result of having once housed extensive swamps that, when struck by incoming space rocks, would have produced differently-shaped craters than those on other planets and moons. “Impacts into a shallow marine environment or a saturated layer of sediments more than several hundred meters thick would produce crater morphologies similar to terrestrial submarine impacts,” the paper suggests. “These are known to lack significant topographic expression”. Another possibility is that the moon had swamps and enough liquid flowing about to move sediments into craters, rounding them out over time. Whatever the reason for Titan's gentle craters, they would have been nasty: the boffins say they would have been filled with liquid hydrocarbons, possibly the polypropylene spotted there a couple of months back. ® Sponsored: Network DDoS protection	24
Tagged: Dark Matter, LHC, Technology Source: Daily Tech - Read the full article Posted: 4 years 8 weeks ago "Discovery of dark matter's behavior would solve many outstanding mysteries in physics...Dark matter makes up five times more of the universe's mass than visible matter (~25% vs ~5%), yet scientists have yet to directly observe this ultra-abundant substance. Scientists also have yet to observe dark energy, which may well beat out normal energy in universal abundance. This lack of direct observations means that scientists know precious little about two of the most important physical components of our universe."	24
[For trouble viewing the images/movies on this page, go here] Saturn sits nested in its rings of ice as Cassini once again plunges toward the graceful giant. This natural color mosaic was acquired by the Cassini spacecraft as it soared 39 degrees above the unilluminated side of the rings. Little light makes its way through the rings to be scattered in Cassini's direction in this viewing geometry, making the rings appear somewhat dark compared to the reflective planet. The view can be contrasted with earlier mosaics designed to showcase the rings rather than the planet, which were therefore given longer exposure times (see PIA08362 and PIA08361). Bright clouds play in the blue-gray skies of the north. The ring shadows continue to caress the planet as they slide farther south toward their momentary disappearance during equinox in 2009. The rings' reflected light illuminates the southern hemisphere on Saturn's night side. The scene is reminiscent of the parting glance of Voyager 1 as it said goodbye to Saturn in 1981 (see PIA00335). Cassini, however, will continue to orbit Saturn for many years to come. Three of Saturn's moons are visible in this image: Mimas (396 kilometers, 246 miles across) at the 2 o'clock position, Janus (179 kilometers, 111 miles across) at the 4 o'clock position and Pandora (81 kilometers, 50 miles across) at the 8 o'clock position. Pandora is a faint speck just outside the narrow F ring. This mosaic was constructed from wide-angle camera images taken just before the narrow-angle camera mosaic PIA08389. The view combines 45 images -- 15 separate sets of red, green and blue images--taken over the course of about two hours, as Cassini scanned across the entire main ring system. The images in this view were obtained on May 9, 2007 at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is about 62 kilometers (39 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.	24
Is this not a Nebula forming into a solar system in a few billion years or less. Bearing slight resemblance to a diamond ring, this image shows the planetary nebula Fleming 1 in the constellation Centaurus, (The Centaur). Observations suggest that a very rare pair of white dwarf stars lies at the heart of this object, with their orbital motions explaining the nebula's remarkably symmetric jet structures. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/2lv4 Add a comment...	24
Skip to Content Research by Professor of Physics and Astronomy Keivan Stassun and postdoctoral scholar Saurav Dhital has contributed to a new theory about the formation of wide binary star systems. Stassun explores the research in a “News and Views” column in the current issue of Nature. Most binary stars—two stars that orbit one another—share an orbit relatively close together. But wide binary stars have huge orbits—and it’s not known why. Stassun explains: “Stars are formed out of giant clouds of gas and dust that collapse gravitationally to eventually become a star, or, in some cases, two stars that orbit one another,” he said. “And we know how big these clouds of gas and dust—or stellar wombs, if you will—are. The biggest of them are basically about a quarter of a light year in size.” In the case of wide binary stars, however, the orbits are much greater—as much as three light years apart in the widest instances, or roughly 10 times bigger than the typical star womb. “It’s very strange to have pairs of stars that presumably formed together be farther apart than the womb in which they were born,” Stassun said. Stassun and Dhital have discovered thousands of these mysterious wide binaries in their research—many more than were previously thought to exist. A leading theory to explain the wide binary phenomenon is that the two stars in these very wide binary systems were not born together, but “married” later in their lives. ”In other words, they’re not twins at all. They’re just two individual stars that were very gently gravitationally attracted to one another as they left the large cluster of stars in which they were born,” Stassun said. “I consider this a very attractive theory.” Bo Reipurth of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Institute for Astronomy and Seppo Mikkola of Tuorla Observatory at the University of Turku, Finland, propose a whole new theory, which is the subject of their article published Dec. 5 in Nature. These astronomers describe computer simulations they conducted that show ultra-wide binary systems may be explained if they are born not as twins, but rather triplets that undergo an intricate “dance.” The new theory proposes that three stars were formed together in very close proximity, all within a single stellar womb. ”But then over time, because there’s three stars instead of two, there’s this sort of intricate dance that the three stars undergo that brings two of the three really close together and sends the third star very far away,” Stassun said. “It just looks like two stars because two of the three are so close together that the limited imaging resolution of our telescopes makes the two close together appear as a single star.” Stassun said further study may help support one theory on the birth of wide binaries in favor of others. ”We can study each of the wide binaries more intensively by specifically measuring the motions of what we think are two stars widely separated,” Stassun said. “If it turns out that one of the pair is actually, itself, two stars, then the star that is actually two stars will have a very erratic motion compared to the other single star.” Read Stassun’s full column on the Nature website. Learn more about Dhital and Stassun’s wide binaries discoveries on Dhital’s website. Kara Furlong, (615) 322-NEWS There are lots of ways to keep up with Vanderbilt research news. Choose your preferred method: Sign up for the weekly Research News @Vanderbilt e-newsletter.	24
A runner makes his way along a trail in front of the "super Moon" in Phoenix, Arizona. Astronomers have discovered what they believe to be an alien planet that just might be capable of supporting human life. Sounds like a sci-fi movie right? The new found "Super-Earth" planet has been called 40307g and is located just 42 light-years away from our planet Earth. A team led by Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire is also claiming that the planet is in the proper location where water may actually already exist according to The International Business Times. Like Us on Facebook "The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life," said Hugh Jones, the author of the study from the University of Hertfordshire in England in a press statement. "Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that it has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable." The fact that it is only 42-light years away means that telescopes will eventually be able to locate the planet where scientists of the future will be able to fully examine the planet. NASA has yet to reveal when a telescope will be developed with capabilities of seeing that far into space. "Super-Earth" is one of three planets that astronomers discovered recently and was first found by the European Southern Observatory using an 11.8 telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile according to Space.com. The telescope was able to pick up the tiny orbiting planet, but they currently can't maximize the view of the telescope any larger. They're hoping that sometime in the future scientists will have the capability to examine the planet in more depth. The 40307g planet may be a rocky planet like earth according to Tuomi. He's stated to Space.com according to Yahoo that knowing the limited amount that we know right now, it's about a "50-50" chance that the planet is rocky and contains water. The current generation may never know if the planet is safe for human's to live on, as most experts predict it could take decades before they're able to determine anything. That is unless more of an urgency is placed on space study by the government. "Discoveries like this are really exciting, and such systems will be natural targets for the next generation of large telescopes, both on the ground and in space," David Pinfield of the University of Hertfordshire, who was not involved in the new study, said in a statement.	24
Equatorial Ridge of Iapetus The distinctive ridge around Saturn’s moon Iapetus bears an eerie similarity to equatorial ridges around concretions on Earth. In electrical terms, the similarity could be more than coincidence. Traditional thinking in the sciences would not recognize a significant pattern above, though the three objects reveal an odd similarity. Each sphere possesses an equatorial ridge. But surely the two objects on the right could tell us nothing about the origins of the object on the left! Astronomers assure us that Saturn’s moon Iapetus arose from the “circumstellar cloud” that gave birth to the Sun, planets, moons, and all of the lesser objects of the solar system. The critical event was the “gravitational collapse” of the primordial cloud billions of years ago. Since that event, little has changed in the make-up or in the celestial mechanics of the solar system. Iapetus is a puzzle, however. The pronounced ridge around its equator has no place in the theory of gravitationally collapsing clouds. Both objects on the right are called “concretions”, and their origins are also puzzling. The sandstone concretion (upper image) was found on a farm near the Red River in Texas, and the hematite Moqui marble was found in Utah (lower image). Concretions occur in abundance on our planet and have produced many speculations about their origins. Certainly, in a gravity-only universe, there is no way to relate Iapetus to the formative processes of concretions. In size, the two are separated by up to eight orders of magnitude. Gravity is strong enough to form a sphere from a collection of matter the size of Iapetus, but there’s a lower limit to gravity’s ability to produce spherical shapes. (Asteroids and comet nuclei are below that limit and therefore seldom spherical.) And while geologists have hypothesized, but never demonstrated, the processes that form concretions, they have never suggested that such processes could give birth to Iapetus! In the Electric Universe similarities across vastly different scales are to be expected. Plasma discharge structures do not change with increased size. A microscopic discharge in a lab plasma will have analogs on a galactic scale. Plasma discharges create spheres. As noted in previous Pictures of the Day, Physicist C.J. Ransom has been making spheres in his laboratory (VEMASAT) by zapping various types of powdered rock with electrical sparks. When he zaps red hematite, he produces tiny grey hematite spheres, an order of magnitude smaller than Moqui marbles, but remarkably similar to the "blueberries" appearing in hematite layers on Mars. When he zaps powdered basalt, he produces obsidian spheres. The electrical theorists expect analogs on a larger scale because they believe that electric discharge gave birth to stars and planets. Within this framework, equatorial ridges become an important clue, posing a question for experimental research. Can plasma discharge, acting on loose debris, form ridges around the created spheres? In high-energy electric discharge experiments, an equatorial, donut-like torus typically appears at the focal point of the magnetic “pinch”. Similarly, in the hour-glass configurations of various planetary nebulas, a tightly-bound torus appears around the pinch point. Could equatorial ridges on both Iapetus and the concretions above be the signature left by a torus at the higher energy levels of Peratt’s experiments, in contrast to the relatively low energy levels of Ransom’s experiments? From an electric point of view, spheres with equatorial ridges underscore the importance of experimental research into the nature of concretions. There are questions to ask, experiments to design, and patterns to look for. Significant patterns already observed include concentric layering of different materials, radial structures, and polar markings. Similarities with tektites, glassy spherules whose origin is currently unknown, raise intriguing questions and suggest a family of experimental investigations. (Read more in a following TPOD.) One conclusion we can safely draw is this: The mechanical and gravitational theories offered to explain round rocks of various sizes do not warrant the exclusive acceptance they have received from the scientific mainstream. Other possibilities, arising from the plasma universe, must now be considered. Ransom is planning future experiments with other substrates. The abstract for a paper, showing that electric discharge can produce some of the mysterious spheres found on Earth without water (the usual explanation), can be seen here. Article from: http://thunderbolts.info/tpod/2007/arch07/070327iapetus.htm A Moon with a View Death Star Saturn Moon Base - Giant Spaceship Latest News from our Front Page Facebook completes first drone flight above UK, Mark Zuckerberg confirms Solar powered drones which provide internet access to rural and remote areas have been trialled in UK for first time by Facebook. They â€śhave a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a carâ€ť, according to the social network's chief Mark Zuckerberg. The drones, developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta which Facebook bought last March, will beam down laser-guided ... 300 Young English Girls (and a few Boys) Groomed and Assaulted by Oxfordshire "Gangs," Report Finds Editor's note: This story is a few days old now but the echoes of Rotherham just keeps coming. A few weeks ago there was Halifax, now Britain proudly can add Oxfordshire to their line up of diversity success stories. Below is the story from the telegraph: Serious case review finds failings by police and social services as it identifies hundreds of victims British POW describes the horror of the bombing of Dresden Partial Transcript of Interview with Victor Gregg, WW2 British solder and POW: Interviewer: "Tell us how it was that you were in Dresden at that time." Victor Gregg: "It was evil....thousands of firebombs dropping all over the place, heat, fire, people screaming, people burning, people alight. After about half an hour it started developing into something that was really bad....It was ... Rape of 285,000 German Women at the End of WWII Trigger Damage Control by Mainstream Media Is Exposing Allied War Crimes an honorable act? No, itâ€™s slandering heroes according to Daily Mail A recent article from the Daily Mail that pretends to look at the post WWII crimes and rapes of the Allies against the German people is actually damage control. Itâ€™s really an attempt to divert away from the true horrors that was visited upon Germany ... Minister of Migration attacked by asylum seeker with fire extinguisher Swedenâ€™s Minister of Justice & Migration also known as Morgan â€śonly 1%â€ť Johansson, has been attacked with a fire extinguisher when he visited an asylum home for future Swedes. Regional newspaper, Kristiandstadsbladet reported that a man who had been living at the home for a couple of weeks grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed foam all over the minister who didnâ€™t ... \|More News » \|	24
Printer friendly version Survivor of stellar collision is new type of pulsating star 26 June 2013 A team of astronomers from the UK, Germany and Spain have observed the remnant of a stellar collision and discovered that its brightness varies in a way not seen before on this rare type of star. By analysing the patterns in these brightness variations, astronomers will learn what really happens when stars collide. This discovery will be published in the 27 June 2013 issue of the journal Nature. Stars like our Sun expand and cool to become red giant stars when the hydrogen that fuels the nuclear fusion in their cores starts to run out. Many stars are born in binary systems so an expanding red giant star will sometimes collide with an orbiting companion star. As much as 90% of the red giant star’s mass can be stripped off in a stellar collision, but the details of this process are not well understood. Only a few stars that have recently emerged from a stellar collision are known, so it has been difficult to study the connection between stellar collisions and the various exotic stellar systems they produce. When an eclipsing binary system containing one such star turned up as a by-product of a search for extrasolar planets, Dr Pierre Maxted and his colleagues decided to use the high-speed camera ULTRACAM to study the eclipses of the star in detail. These new high-speed brightness measurements show that the remnant of the stripped red giant is a new type of pulsating star. Many stars, including our own Sun, vary in brightness because of pulsations caused by sound waves bouncing around inside the star. For both the Sun and the new variable star, each pulsation cycle takes about 5 minutes. These pulsations can be used to study the properties of a star below its visible surface. Computer models produced by the discovery team show that the sound waves probe all the way to the centre of the new pulsating star. Further observations of this star are now planned to work out how long it will be before the star starts to cool and fade to produce a stellar corpse (“white dwarf’”) of abnormally low mass. Dr Pierre Maxted from Keele University, who led the study, said “We have been able to find out a lot about these stars, such as how much they weigh, because they are in a binary system. This will really help us to interpret the pulsation signal and so figure out how these stars survived the collision and what will become of them over the next few billion years.”	24
A huge arrow-shaped storm blows across the equatorial region of Titan in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, chronicling the seasonal weather changes on Saturn's largest moon. This storm created large effects in the form of dark -- likely wet -- areas on the surface of the moon, visible in later images. After this storm dissipated, Cassini observed significant changes on Titan's surface at the southern boundary of the dune field named Belet. Those changes covered an area of 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles), or roughly the combined area of Arizona and Utah in the United States. See PIA12818 to learn more. The part of the storm that is visible here measures 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) in length east-to-west. The wings of the storm that trail off to the northwest and southwest from the easternmost point of the storm are each 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) long. Titan's weather has been changing since the August 2009 equinox, when the sun lay directly over the equators of Saturn and its moons, and storms at low latitudes are now more common. See PIA11667 to learn how the sun's illumination of the Saturnian system changed during the equinox transition to spring in the northern hemispheres and to fall in the southern hemispheres of the planet and its moons. See PIA12813 to learn more about Titan's changing weather. This image is a mosaic of two Cassini images. Most of this view is from an image of the storm captured on Sept. 27, 2010. However, because that image's framing cut off the south polar region of the moon, a second image taken on July 9, 2010, was used to fill in that portion of the moon. This second image was re-projected to the same viewing geometry as the first. Lit terrain seen here is in the area between the trailing hemisphere, which is the side of Titan that faces backward in its orbit around Saturn, and the side of Titan that always faces away from Saturn. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers or 3,200 miles across) is up. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera using a spectral filter of near-infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (808,000 miles) from Titan and at a sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 44 degrees. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.	24
This name need not be explained. Albert Einstein is considered to be one of the best physicists in the human history. The twentieth century has undoubtedly been the most significant for the advance of science, in general, and Physics, in particular. And Einstein is the most luminated star of the 20th century. He literally created cm upheaval by the publication, in quick succession, in the year 1905, two epoch-making papers, on the concept of the photon and on the Electrodynamics of moving bodies respectively, with yet another on the Mathematical analysis of Brownian Motion thrown in, in between. The Electrodynamics of moving bodies was the biggest sensation and it demolished at one stroke some of the most cherished and supposedly infallible laws and concepts and gave the breathtaking new idea of the relativity of space and time. Truly it may be said that just as the enunciation of Newton’s laws of motion heralded emancipation from the age-old Aristotelian ideas of motion, so also did Einstein’s Theory of relativity make a proclamation, loud and clear, of emancipation from the crippling bondage to luminiferous ether and the confused notions of absolute space and time. Einstein’s Introduction to His Concept of Relativity As to an Introduction to the Theory of Relativity – one must read this statement what Einstein self-made to introduce the world:- I am anxious to draw attention to the fact that this theory is not speculative in origin; it owes its intention entirely to the desire to make physical theory fit observed fact as well as possible. We have here no revolutionary act but the natural continuation of a line that can be traced through centuries. The abandonment of a certain concept combed with space-time and motion hitherto treated as fundamental must not be regarded as arbitrary but only conditioned by observed facts. The law of constant velocity of light in empty space which has been confirmed by the development of the electrodynamics and optics and the equal legitimacy of all inertial systems (special theory of relativity) which was proved in a particularly incisive manner by Michelson’s famous experiment, between them made it necessary, to begin with, that the concept of time should be made relative, each inertial system being given its my special time. . . . . . . . It is , to work out the relations between general concepts and empirical facts more precisely. The fundamental principle here is that the justification for a physical concept lies exclusively in its clear and unambiguous relation to facts that can be experienced.	24
The Dark Energy Camera, a 570-megapixel camera mounted on a telescope in Chile, achieved first light on Sept. 12. Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. That ancient starlight has now found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly constructed Dark Energy Camera, the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created, has captured and recorded it for the first time. That light may hold within it the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in physics—why the expansion of the universe is speeding up. Scientists in the international Dark Energy Survey collaboration announced this week that the Dark Energy Camera, the product of eight years of planning and construction by scientists, engineers, and technicians on three continents, has achieved first light. The first pictures of the southern sky were taken by the 570-megapixel camera on Sept. 12. “The achievement of first light through the Dark Energy Camera begins a significant new era in our exploration of the cosmic frontier,” said James Siegrist, associate director of science for high energy physics with the U.S. Department of Energy. “The results of this survey will bring us closer to understanding the mystery of dark energy, and what it means for the universe.” The Dark Energy Camera was constructed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, and mounted on the Victor M. Blanco telescope at the National Science Foundation’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, which is the southern branch of the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). With this device, roughly the size of a phone booth, astronomers and physicists will probe the mystery of dark energy, the force they believe is causing the universe to expand faster and faster. “The Dark Energy Survey will help us understand why the expansion of the universe is accelerating, rather than slowing due to gravity,” said Brenna Flaugher, project manager and scientist at Fermilab. “It is extremely satisfying to see the efforts of all the people involved in this project finally come together.” The Dark Energy Camera is the most powerful survey instrument of its kind, able to see light from over 100,000 galaxies up to 8 billion light years away in each snapshot. The camera’s array of 62 charged-coupled devices has an unprecedented sensitivity to very red light, and along with the Blanco telescope’s large light-gathering mirror (which spans 13 feet across), will allow scientists from around the world to pursue investigations ranging from studies of asteroids in our own Solar System to the understanding of the origins and the fate of the universe. “We’re very excited to bring the Dark Energy Camera online and make it available for the astronomical community through NOAO's open access telescope allocation,” said Chris Smith, director of the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory. “With it, we provide astronomers from all over the world a powerful new tool to explore the outstanding questions of our time, perhaps the most pressing of which is the nature of dark energy.” Scientists in the Dark Energy Survey collaboration will use the new camera to carry out the largest galaxy survey ever undertaken, and will use that data to carry out four probes of dark energy, studying galaxy clusters, supernovae, the large-scale clumping of galaxies and weak gravitational lensing. This will be the first time all four of these methods will be possible in a single experiment. The Dark Energy Survey is expected to begin in December, after the camera is fully tested, and will take advantage of the excellent atmospheric conditions in the Chilean Andes to deliver pictures with the sharpest resolution seen in such a wide-field astronomy survey. In just its first few nights of testing, the camera has already delivered images with excellent and nearly uniform spatial resolution. Over five years, the survey will create detailed color images of one-eighth of the sky, or 5,000 square degrees, to discover and measure 300 million galaxies, 100,000 galaxy clusters and 4,000 supernovae. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory/U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory issued this press release on Monday, Sept. 17.	24
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team, including Oxford University scientists, has discovered six diverse new planets, from 'shrunken-Saturns' to 'bloated hot Jupiters', as well a rare brown dwarf with 60 times the mass of Jupiter. The CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and Transits) space telescope is operated by the French space agency CNES. It discovers planets outside our solar system - exoplanets - when they ‘transit’, that is pass in front of their stars. Once CoRoT detects a transit, additional observations are made from the ground, using a number of telescopes all over the world. Although astronomers cannot see the planets directly, they use the space- and ground-based data to measure the sizes, masses, and orbits of these new planets precisely. This is why, among all known exoplanets, those with transits yield the most complete information about planet formation and evolution. ‘Each of these planets is interesting in its own right, but what is really fascinating is how diverse they are.’ said co-investigator Dr Suzanne Aigrain from Oxford University’s Department of Physics. ‘Planets are intrinsically complex objects, and we have much to learn about them yet.’ ‘Every discovery of an extrasolar planetary system is a new piece in the puzzle of how these systems do form and evolve. The more systems we uncover, the better we can hope to understand the processes at play,’ said Magali Deleuil, researcher at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) and head of the CoRoT exoplanet program. The six new planets are: CoRoT-8b: the smallest in this batch: At about 70% of the size and mass of Saturn, CoRoT-8b is moderately small among the previously known transiting exoplanets. Its internal structure should be similar to that of ice giants, like Uranus and Neptune, in the Solar System. It is the smallest planet discovered by the CoRoT team so far after CoRoT-7b, the first transiting Super-Earth. CoRoT-10b: the eccentric giant: The orbit of CoRoT-10b is so elongated that the planet passes both very close to and very far away from its star. The amount of radiation it receives from the star varies tenfold in intensity, and scientists estimate that its surface temperature may increase from 250 to 600°C, all in the space of 13 Earth-days (the length of the year on CoRoT-10b). CoRoT-11b: the planet whose star does the twist: CoRoT-11, the host star of CoRoT-11b, rotates around its axis in 40 hours. For comparison, the Sun’s rotation period is 26 days. It is particularly difficult to confirm planets around rapidly rotating stars, so this detection is a significant achievement for the CoRoT team. CoRoT-12b, 13b and 14b: a trio of giants: These three planets all orbit close to their host star but have very different properties. Although CoRoT-13b is smaller than Jupiter, it is twice as dense. This suggests the presence of a massive rocky core inside the planet. With a radius 50% large than Jupiter’s (or 16 times larger than the Earth’s), CoRoT-12b belongs to the family of `bloated hot Jupiters’, whose anomalously large sizes are due to the intense stellar radiation they receive. On the other hand, CoRoT-14b, which is even closer to its parent star, has a size similar to Jupiter’s. It is also massive, 7.5 times the mass of Jupiter, which may explain why it is less puffed up. Such very massive and very hot planets are rare, CoRoT-14b is only the second one discovered so far. CoRoT-15b: the brown dwarf: CoRoT-15b’s mass is about 60 times that of Jupiter. This makes it incredibly dense, about 40 times more so than Jupiter. For that reason, it is classified as a brown dwarf, intermediate in nature between planets and stars. Brown dwarfs are much rarer than planets, which makes this discovery all the more exciting. Dr Suzanne Aigrain leads a team of UK researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Exeter and St Andrews who participate in the CoRoT exoplanet program. Hunting brown dwarfs OxSciBlog's Pete Wilton asked CoRoT team member Suzanne Aigrain of Oxford University's Department of Physics about 'brown dwarf deserts', the gap between giant planets and stars, and what would happen if our solar system had its very own brown dwarf... OxSciBlog: What is a brown dwarf? Suzanne Aigrain: A brown dwarf [BD] is a celestial object intermediate in mass between a planet and a star. It's helpful to recall the definition of a star: a star is a ball of gas held together by its own gravity and which radiates light produced by thermonuclear reactions in its core, mainly burning Hydrogen to produce Helium. A brown dwarf is an object very much like a star, but which is not massive enough to burn Hydrogen in its core. As such, brown dwarfs are faint and radiate mainly in the infrared, slowly releasing the heat they accrued during their formation. On the other hand, according to the International Astronomical Union's definition, a planet is also held by its own gravity but it is a) in orbit around a star or brown dwarf and b) not massive enough to burn Deuterium (Deuterium is an element which burns even more easily than Hydrogen). Any object which has a mass below the Hydrogen limit but above the Deuterium limit is thus a brown dwarf. This is the case for CoRoT-15b. The definitions I have given above leave a rather fuzzy area for the case of object which are below the Deuterium burning mass limit but are not in orbit around a star or brown dwarfs - these are sometimes called sub-brown dwarfs or free-floating planets. OSB: What is the significance of CoRoT finding a BD? Are they rare? SA: Brown dwarfs are not rare in themselves, on the contrary. It is difficult to detect and study them, because they are faint compared to stars, so we don't know as many of them as we know stars, but over the past 20 years, with the advent of better and better infrared detectors, we have been discovering many of them. What is extremely rare, however, is to find one in a tight orbit around a star, as in the CoRoT-15 system. Until a few years ago, we knew of none at all, and this absence was called the 'brown dwarf desert'. Now we know of a handful, but CoRoT-15b has the shortest orbital period of any known brown dwarf. The very existence of CoRoT-15b in its tight orbit is interesting (see below), but the fact that it transits across the disk of its parent star makes it even more useful, because it enables us to measure its radius. OSB: What can they tell us about how planets & stars evolve? SA: Systems like CoRoT-15 are very important to understand star and planet formation as well as evolution. The majority of brown dwarfs are thought to be the result of the same process which forms stars. Stars form from giant clouds of gas and dust. Regions in these clouds which are marginally more dense than their surroundings attract more material onto themselves, and these over-densities grow and grow until thermonuclear fusion ignites in the core, and a star is born. If a clump never grows large enough for that to happen - because the material within its gravitational influence runs out - you get a BD. So, from the formation point of view, there is nothing fundamentally different between a star and a brown dwarf, but whilst tight binary stars are quite common, tight binary systems involving a star and a brown dwarf are rare. Why is CoRoT-15b different? Did it get kicked into its current orbit by a close encounter with another star? Could it have formed like a planet, which forms in the disk of material accreting onto a star, instead? There are very few BDs in close binaries, and even fewer which transit their parent star. These are the only BDs whose radii we can measure, so they are very valuable. If you make a plot of radius versus mass for stars and planets, stars all more or less fall on a single line, which basically is the line you expect for a self-gravitating ball of Hydrogen. This line flattens out at low masses - from 0.1 solar masses to a Jupiter mass, the expected radius is about 1 Jupiter radius. However, the measurements for exoplanets are scattered, with a range of radii observed for a given mass. This is because the radius of a planet is affected not just by its mass, but also by its composition (how much solid versus gaseous material it contains) and by the amount of light it receives from its parent star. CoRoT-15b fills an important gap in this diagram, between low-mass stars and planets. It's also extremely close to its star, so extremely hot, and hence a particularly strong test of just how much intense irradiation can affect the radius of an object of that mass. OSB: How might our solar system be different if it contained a BD? SA: We know that having a binary companion does not prevent planet formation, since we know of stars which have both one or more planets and a binary companion. If the Sun had a wide BD companion, the solar system would not necessarily be very different. We would definitely know about it, however: BDs are faint compared to stars, but a BD that close to us would not be missed. On the other hand, if the BD was very close-in like CoRoT-15b, things would be very different. I'll consider two possibilities: If the BD formed in-situ, there would be no disk, or very little of it, around the Sun, for the planets of the solar system to form out of. There might have been a disk around the binary (we have seen such disks around other binaries) and it's conceivable that this disk might form planets. We currently know of no such circum-binary planets, but this is at least in part because it is harder to detect them. But if the BD was captured (or kicked into a close orbit from a wider one) after the Sun had formed its planets, then that would most probably have a very dramatic impact, as the gravitational influence of the inbound BD would wreak havoc on the planets and most likely eject them from the solar system! OSB: What do we hope further CoRoT finds could reveal about BDs? SA: CoRoT already found another transiting BD, CoRoT-3b. It is less massive and less close in than CoRoT-15b, but the fact that CoRoT found two of these very rare systems shows that it is well-suited to detecting them. Along with the NASA mission Kepler, which is also searching for transiting planets, CoRoT can hope to discover several more systems like these in the next few years. They will tell us more about how these rare systems form, about what forms the difference between a massive planet and a BD, and about how BDs evolve when very close to their host star. Explore further: Supermassive black hole clears star-making gas from galaxy's core More information: Oxford Science Blog: www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/index.html	24
Saturn's Phoebe 'most like Pluto' Origins of rocky moon revealed The latest data sent back from the Cassini spacecraft, along with previously-gathered results, have confirmed that the mysterious moon, Phoebe, is a remnant from the early days of our solar system. Astronomers suspected Phoebe was a captured moon, and now they have the proof: composition data sent back by Cassini shows that of all the objects we have studied in the solar system, Phoebe is most similar to Pluto. She matches the composition expected of the objects in the Kuiper Belt, an icy region beyond Neptune, and thought to be the place most comets come from. Indeed, some speculate that Pluto itself is a Kuiper Belt object, not a planet at all. Torrence Johnson, on the Cassini science team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "This is pretty good evidence that Phoebe was put together in the outer parts of the solar system." So, at more than four billion years old, Phoebe is a battered, but otherwise perfectly-preserved example of the protoplanetary building blocks that eventually combined to form the planets. Speaking to Nature, Johnson explains that the outer solar system would have been chock-full of icy planetesimals like Phoebe. Many of these bodies collected together to form the cores of the gas giants. Most of the others were swept into the outer solar system by the gravitational effects of these new, huge, planets. Phoebe remained behind, dragged into her orbit of Saturn as the planet was swallowing the streams of gas that make up its atmosphere. Despite having taken a heavy battering over the last four billion years, Phoebe is still mostly round with an average diameter of 214 kilometres. The spherical shape is broken up by one especially large crater whose walls are 16 kilometres high. The details of Phoebe's radius, combined with its orbit, reveal the body's composition. It is approximately 50 per cent rock - very like Pluto - and strikingly different from Saturn's other moons, which are around 35 per cent rock. As for the rest of the moon, the data shows frozen carbon dioxide, water ice, hydrocarbons and iron minerals all present on the surface. As well as proving that Phoebe is no asteroid, this shows that chemically at least, Phoebe is very similar to the comets, also Kuiper belt objects. ® Sponsored: Today’s most dangerous security threats	24
Hubble Space Telescope Media Kit Pillars of Creation, 2014. NASA, ESA, STScI, Hester/Scowen (ASU) Hubble @ 25 The Hubble Space Telescope, operating with five instruments built by Ball Aerospace, continues to reveal hidden secrets of the universe and deliver astounding images of distant stars and galaxies. During the final Hubble servicing mission in 2009, astronauts installed the Ball Aerospace-built Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3); and upgraded two critical Ball instruments: the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), installed in 1997; and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), installed during the 2002 servicing mission. The mission extended the operating life of the telescope and greatly enhanced its scientific capability. Out of this whirl. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI/AURA Hubble Mission: The Ball Aerospace "WOW" Factor Ball Aerospace has been involved in building Hubble instruments since June 1978, meaning Hubble has been an integral part of Ball’s identity for 30 years. - Ball has built seven instruments for Hubble. - Following SM4, all the instruments aboard Hubble will be Ball-built. - Ball has used its expertise to expertly align Hubble’s optics to provide the best imaging performance possible. - Hundreds of Ball engineers and scientists have devoted their careers to understanding Hubble and how to provide the best possible instruments for the maximum science. - Ball’s WFC3’s near-infrared will allow the telescope to “see” several hundred million years back, rather than the mere 13 million the Hubble can see now; and see objects five times fainter than currently possible. - WFC3’s detectors, integrated by Ball, are the most state-of-the-art detectors ever flown on orbit. - Ball’s COS will explore the “cosmic web” to reveal much more about how and when distant stars and planets were formed. - Ball’s COS is the most sensitive spectrograph to ever fly in orbit. - Ball has played a significant role in working with NASA to build Crew Aids and Tools that will help shorten the time the astronauts need for installation. - Ball’s ACS (2002) increased Hubble’s discovery efficiency tenfold, allowing discovery of more distance objects in a fraction of the time. - Ball’s STIS (1997) expanded the capabilities of GHRS, furthering scientists’ understanding of the origins, properties and dynamics of stars as well as planets and their moons. - Ball’s NICMOS (1997) discovered planets outside our solar system and the farthest and faintest galaxies ever observed. - Ball’s COSTAR (1993 mission) significantly corrected the spherical aberration in the Hubble primary mirror – fixing the Hubble’s blurry vision. (For SM4, COSTAR will be removed – COS goes in). - Ball’s GHRS (aboard 1990 launch) confirmed the existence of black holes in the universe. Hubble in the News: March 12, 2015 USA Today Other links to Hubble:	24
This is the third in a series on Women in Astronomy. Today, we meet Caroline Herschel. Caroline Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany in 1750. Her early life was a conflict between her father, who wanted her to be educated in music and science, and her mother, who thought that household chores were the appropriate life for a woman. In 1772, Caroline moved to England and joined her brother, William, who was already working in astronomy and music. Over time, they gradually left music and became full-time astronomers. Early fall nights can be crisp, but it’s rewarding to go out after dark on these clear, moonless evenings to see some stars and constellations in our Western Slope skies. Rising in the northeast just after dark, you will find a group of stars that looks like a “W” on its side. These stars are part of the constellation Cassiopeia, which commemorates a queen in Greek mythology. The sun rises in the east each day in our western slope skies and appears to shine with constant brightness. However, we shouldn’t take the sun for granted, because the sun’s energy sustains most life on Earth. And, in this age of widespread, complex technology, the sun can impact our daily lives. The sun, in fact, is not constant, and we need to pay attention to our active, local star. Just about any clear night provides an invitation to go outside and see what’s up. Some nights, however, might offer a special attraction: a meteor shower; a conjunction between the Moon and a bright star or planet; or even a lunar eclipse. If you are a beginner stargazer you can maximize your sky watching efforts by taking a few simple steps. Start with a star chart, and/or a Planisphere or a star-charting app that runs on a smart phone, tablet, or PC. These are valuable tools in learning the night sky, displaying any number of sky objects for any hour of the night. As August began, all of the bright planets were visible in our western slope skies. Since all of our solar system planets orbit the sun, the visible planets change from night to night. As of today’s program, we have already lost Mercury from view for the rest of this month. It was visible in the early dawn for the first two weeks of the month. However, we still have Venus shining low on the evening horizon. Saturn will end the month just a little higher than Venus. Jupiter rises well after midnight, followed by Mars even later. The Perseid meteor shower sprinkles the night sky with shooting stars in August. The meteors are bits of icy and rocky debris left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862. As Earth flies through the comet’s path, some bits of comet dust slam into the atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour. They quickly vaporize, creating bright but brief streaks of light in the night sky. This is the first in a series of Western Slope Skies episodes about Women in Astronomy. We hope that, in some manner, these inspire our young female listeners to become involved in astronomy. On June 16, 1963, the Russians launched Vostok 6. The lone astronaut on board was Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. She was in space for 48 orbits over three days. In her single mission, she logged more time in space than all the American astronauts who had been in space to that date combined.	24
Latest Huygens Stories WASHINGTON, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal The presence of massive dunes, some over a mile wide and hundreds of yards high, on Saturn’s moon Titan has long puzzled scientists, but the authors of a new study appearing in the current edition of the journal Nature believe they have solved the mystery. NASA's Cassini mission continues its adventures in extraterrestrial oceanography with new findings about the hydrocarbon seas on Saturn's moon Titan. As it soared past Saturn's large moon Titan recently, NASA's Cassini spacecraft caught a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off hydrocarbon seas. A new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission has revealed that, during a 2005 flyby of Saturn's moon Hyperion, the spacecraft was briefly bathed in a beam of electrons coming from the moon's electrostatically charged surface. Analysis of data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission has revealed the presence of a large, cold, toxic cloud swirling above the south pole of Saturn’s moon Titan, according to research published in the October 2 edition of the journal Nature. NASA's Cassini spacecraft is monitoring the evolution of a mysterious feature in a large hydrocarbon sea on Saturn's moon Titan. The feature covers an area of about 100 square miles (260 square kilometers) in Ligeia Mare, one of the largest seas on Titan. Compared to the age of the solar system -- about four-and-a-half billion years -- a couple of decades are next to nothing. Some planetary locales change little over many millions of years, so for scientists who study the planets, any object that evolves on such a short interval makes for a tempting target for study. A recent study led by Olivier Mousis at the Université de Franche-Comté probed the hydrological cycle of Titan by examining how Titan's methane rainfall would interact with icy materials within underground reservoirs. NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's moon Titan. This renewed weather activity, considered overdue by researchers, could finally signal the onset of summer storms that atmospheric models have long predicted. Cassini-Huygens Mission -- The Cassini unmanned space probe is intended to study Saturn and its moons. It was launched on October 15, 1997 and is estimated to enter Saturn's orbit on July 1, 2004. The mission is a joined NASA/ESA project. Cassini's principal objectives are to: -- determine the three-dimensional structure and dynamical behavior of the rings -- determine the composition of the satellite surfaces and the geological history of each object -- determine the nature and... Saturn's moon Titan -- Titan is the planet Saturn's largest moon. It is larger than either of the planets Mercury or Pluto and is the second-largest moon in the solar system after Ganymede (it was originally thought to be slightly larger than Ganymede, but recent observations have shown that its thick atmosphere caused overestimation of its diameter). Titan was discovered on March 25, 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens, making it one of the first non-terrestrial moons to be... - One who brings meat to the table; hence, in some countries, the official title of the grand master or steward of the king's or a nobleman's household.	24
How to Construct a Falsifiable Theory in Which the Universe Came into Being Several Thousand Years Ago David Bourget (Western Ontario) David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) Rafael De Clercq Jack Alan Reynolds Learn more about PhilPapers PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1984:873 - 902 (1984) Both local measurements (e.g., radioactive dating) and astronomical measurements (e.g., the expansion of the universe) are usually interpreted to imply that the Universe has existed for at least five to twenty billion years. However, in this paper, a testable cosmological theory is constructed in which all these observations are consistent with the Universe coming into existence a mere several thousand years ago. If the most natural assumptions about the universal matter distribution are made, this theory claims that the Universe came into existence over a period of about 20 years, with our solar system coming into existence over a period of six days. Furthermore, the model predicts (1) a gamma ray spectrum in the 10 Mev to 120 Mev band which coincides with the observed gamma ray spectrum in that band; (2) that the isotropic gamma ray background should show structure on scales of 10 -3 radians; and (3) that there should be a large number of high energy gamma ray pulses with a certain definite angular distribution and waveform. It is also possible that the theory could provide a natural explanation for the cosmic rays with energy above 10 12 ev. \|Keywords\|\|No keywords specified (fix it)\| No categories specified (categorize this paper) Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server Configure custom proxy (use this if your affiliation does not provide a proxy) \|Through your library\| References found in this work BETA No references found. Citations of this work BETA No citations found. Similar books and articles Wes Morriston (1999). Must the Past Have a Beginning? Philo 2 (1):5-19. E. S. Paul, C. Fox, A. J. Boston, H. J. Chantler, C. J. Chiara, R. M. Clark, M. Cromaz, M. Descovich, P. Fallon, D. B. Fossan, A. A. Hecht, T. Koike, I. Y. Lee, A. O. Macchiavelli, P. J. Nolan, K. Starosta, R. Wadsworth, I. Ragnarsson & Bob Wadsworth, High-Spin Yrast States in the Gamma-Soft Nuclei Pr-135 and Ce-134. Trenton Merricks (2009). Truth and Freedom. Philosophical Review 118 (1):29-57. Quentin Smith (1990). A Natural Explanation of the Existence and Laws of Our Universe. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 68 (1):22 – 43. M. R. Wright (1995). Cosmology in Antiquity. Routledge. John D. Barrow (1986/1988). The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. Oxford University Press. Jan M. Greben (2010). The Role of Energy Conservation and Vacuum Energy in the Evolution of the Universe. Foundations of Science 15 (2):153-176. Quentin Smith (1997). Simplicity and Why the Universe Exists. Philosophy 72 (279):125 - 132. Added to index2011-05-29 Total downloads4 ( #289,040 of 1,410,149 ) Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #177,743 of 1,410,149 ) How can I increase my downloads?	24
November 1, 2013 The black hole above was discovered in the M62 star cluster, which is 23,000 light years away from Earth. These star clusters contain some of the oldest stars in the galaxy. (click to enlarge) A Texas Tech University astrophysicist was part of a team of researchers that discovered the first examples of black holes in globular star clusters in our own galaxy, upsetting 40 years of theories against their possible existence. Tom Maccarone, an associate professor of physics, said the team detected the existence of the black holes by using an array of radio telescopes to pick up a certain type of radio frequency released by these black holes as they eat a star next to them. The results were published in The Astrophysical Journal and featured in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s ENews news bulletin. Globular star clusters are large groupings of stars thought to contain some of the oldest stars in the universe. In the same distance from our sun to the nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, its nearest neighbor, these globular star clusters could have a million to tens of millions of stars, Maccarone said. “The stars can collide with one another in that environment,” Maccarone said. “The old theory believed that the interaction of stars was thought to kick out any black holes that formed. They would interact with each other and slingshot black holes out of the cluster until they were all gone.” He compared it to water vapor coming off a hot cup of coffee. As some water molecules get hot enough to turn to steam, they are let go from their environment to float off into the atmosphere even though the coffee may be below the boiling temperature of water. The old theory stated that the stars would kick the black holes out in the same fashion – occasionally, some black holes would have enough energy to escape the cluster, and gradually, they all would leave. While the theory may still be displaced, Maccarone said it might still be somewhat true. Black holes might still get kicked out of globular star clusters, but at a much slower rate than initially believed. Black Hole Spotted Radio image (left) and x-ray image (right). The yellow circle shows the black hole found in the M62 star cluster in our Galaxy. The red circle denotes a neutron star close by. (click to enlarge) In 2007, Maccarone made the first discovery of a black hole in a globular star cluster in the neighboring NGC4472 galaxy. But rather than finding it by using radio waves, Maccarone found it by seeing an X-ray emission from the gas falling into the black hole and heating up to a few million degrees. “Six years ago I had made the first discoveries in other galaxies,” he said. “It’s surprisingly easier to find them in other galaxies than in our own, even though they’re a thousand times as far away as these in our own galaxy are.” This year, he and his team discovered two examples of globular star clusters in our own galaxy which host black holes by finding radio emission by using the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico. “As the black hole eats a star, these jets of material are coming out,” he said. “Most of the material falls into the black hole, but some is thrown outwards in a jet. To see that jet of material, we look for a radio emission. We found a few radio emissions coming from this globular star cluster that we couldn’t explain any other way.” Maccarone said seeing black holes in globular clusters may provide a way for them to get close enough to one another to merge into bigger black holes. “These mergers may produce the ‘ripples in spacetime’ we call gravitational waves,” he said. “Trying to detect gravitational waves is one of the biggest problems in physics right now, because it would be the strongest test of whether Einstein’s theory of relativity is correct.” Other researchers included Laura Chomiuk and Jay Strader at Michigan State University; James Miller-Jones at Perth Curtin University in Perth, Australia; Craig Heinke at University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Eva Noyola at the University of Texas at Austin; Anil Seth at University of Utah; and Scott Ransom at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Department of Physics is active in a broad range of research and teaching activities designed to prepare undergraduates for challenging careers in science and technology. Graduates of the department have gone on to successful careers at universities, national laboratories, and in industry. The department offers the Bachelor of Science degree in physics, and in cooperation with the College of Engineering, also offers courses leading to the Bachelor of Science in engineering physics.[tttboilerplates id=11]	24
Heavenly Sleuths Solve the Mystery: It's a Quasar By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Published: August 31, 1999 Astronomers think they have solved the mystery of the strange object that has confounded them ever since its discovery three years ago. It is not any kind of star or galaxy. Nor is it some entirely new celestial phenomenon. As a few astronomers had suspected, the object is almost certainly an extremely rare type of quasar. Quasars, which have been known since the 1960's, are sources of tremendous energy found in the center of distant galaxies and thought to be powered by matter falling into massive gravitational sinks called black holes. But until 10 nights ago, quasar experts had been unable to find clear identifying clues in the object's spectrum of light. Then new observations were made by one of the world's two most powerful telescopes, at Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Looking at the object's faint light in near-infrared wavelengths, astronomers detected a distinct pattern of hydrogen emissions, a signature of quasars. The hydrogen peak on the graph of the object's light spectrum was at exactly the right place. After double-checking and analyzing the findings, astronomers at Keck and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena concluded last week that the object was a strange variation of a broad-absorption-line quasar, the like of which has probably been seen only three times before. ''So we think the mystery is solved,'' Dr. S. George Djorgovski, the Cal Tech astronomer whose team made the original discovery, said in a telephone interview on Friday. ''The object falls into the category of a curiosity, a puzzling one, rather than something truly new.'' Because of rising scientific and public interest in the mystery, Dr. Frederic Chaffee, director of the Keck Observatory, personally conducted the new infrared observations at the telescope at Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. He used his director's discretionary time on the telescope in joining the investigation. Dr. Chaffee's observations appeared to yield answers to other questions about the object: its distance and age. The new reading of the light spectrum produced an estimate of the object's red shift, indicating its receding velocity in an expanding universe. Astronomers use red shifts to figure out the distance of objects from Earth and thus their age. The mystery object's red shift of 1.2 translates to an age for the object that is about half the present age of the universe, or some five to seven billion years old. Solving the mystery ended a frustrating period for astronomers, who are accustomed to identifying and describing just about anything they see in the same night they see it. The mystery object was detected in 1996 by a Cal Tech team conducting the Digital Palomar Sky Survey. The astronomers were observing the northern sky in three colors -- blue, red and near-infrared. When computers routinely scanned the data for any unusual sightings, the pinpoint of light in the constellation Serpens appeared to have unusual colors, but no clues pointing to any of the usual cosmic suspects. ''When we studied it, we couldn't figure out what it was,'' Dr. Djorgovski's team reported on the Internet. ''So we asked many other astronomers, and they didn't know either.'' Finally, at the June meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Chicago, Dr. Djorgovski challenged fellow astronomers to help explain the mystery. They came up with some good guesses, he said, but no definitive evidence. Others volunteered ideas after seeing an article about the mystery in The New York Times two weeks ago. The Cal Tech team was exasperated by some of the ideas, especially the inevitable U.F.O. explanations, but intrigued by others. One of the ''most arresting explanations'' for the mystery, Dr. Djorgovski said, came from astronomers at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The astronomers produced the light spectrum of a dying red giant star encircled by dust, probably hydrocarbons. Observed in 1980 and dubbed the Red Rectangle, it is still something of an enigma itself. Dr. Thomas J. Wdowiak, the Alabama astronomer, said that several peaks in the Red Rectangle's spectrum seemed to match those for the mystery object. ''There are some differences, but some important features in common,'' he said. ''The two spectra have got the same kind of character.'' Although he agreed that the similarities were striking, Dr. Djorgovski concluded that this was a coincidence. By this time, he had been won over by the Keck results and the analysis of several quasar astronomers. One of the astronomers who proposed the apparently correct explanation several months ago was Dr. Richard L. White of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. He noted that one aspect of the mystery object's spectrum looked something like part of the spectrum of the broad-absorption-line quasars. These particular quasars, representing about 10 percent of all known quasars, have a characteristic spectrum in which their emitted light is blocked by different elements and molecules in the gas surrounding them. The Keck observations identified two such absorption lines, one of magnesium and the other of iron. The absorption line of iron, astronomers said, seemed to be a defining manifestation of an especially rare class of these broad-absorption quasars. Dr. White's group has identified three iron-absorption objects out of a recent survey of 600 quasars. As satisfying as it may be to have his explanation supported by observations, Dr. White said, the discovery still left unanswered questions. Foremost of these is the absence of strong radio emissions from the mystery object. Such emissions are common for most quasars and are detected in the three other objects resembling this one. ''At a fundamental level,'' Dr. White said, ''We don't understand the difference in quasars that are radio sources and those that are not.'' While relieved to have the mystery solved, Dr. Djorgovski predicted that astronomers would be faced with more and more puzzling phenomena as current sky surveys peer deeper into the universe with new telescopes and more efficient light-gathering instruments.	24
\|Part of a series on\| - It is sometimes used, incorrectly, to mean sample variance - the difference between different finite samples of the same parent population. Such differences follow a Poissonian distribution, and in this case the term sample variance should be used instead. - It is sometimes used, mainly by cosmologists, to mean the uncertainty due to the fact that that we can only observe one realization of all the possible observable universes. For example, we can only observe one Cosmic Microwave Background, so the measured positions of the peaks in the Cosmic Microwave Background spectrum, integrated over the visible sky, are limited by the fact that only one spectrum is observable from Earth. The observable Universe viewed from another Galaxy will have the peaks in slightly different places, while remaining consistent with the same physical laws, inflation, etc. This second meaning may be regarded as a special case of the third meaning. - The most widespread use, to which the rest of this article refers, reflects the fact that measurements are affected by cosmic large-scale structure, so a measurement of any region of sky (viewed from Earth) may differ from a measurement of a different region of sky (also viewed from Earth) by an amount that may be much greater than the sample variance. This most widespread use of the term is based on the idea that it is only possible to observe part of the Universe at one particular time, so it is difficult to make statistical statements about cosmology on the scale of the entire universe, as the number of observations (sample size) must be too small. The standard big bang model is usually supplemented with cosmic inflation. In inflationary models, the observer only sees a tiny fraction of the whole universe, much less than a billionth (1/109) of the volume of the universe postulated in inflation. So the observable universe (the so-called particle horizon of the Universe) is the result of processes that follow some general physical laws, including quantum mechanics and general relativity. Some of these processes are random: for example, the distribution of galaxies throughout the Universe can only be described statistically and cannot be derived from first principles. This raises philosophical problems: suppose that random physical processes happen on length scales both smaller than and bigger than the horizon. A physical process (such as an amplitude of a primordial perturbation in density) that happens on the horizon scale only gives us one observable realization. A physical process on a larger scale gives us zero observable realizations. A physical process on a slightly smaller scale gives us a small number of realizations. In the case of only one realization it is difficult to draw statistical conclusions about its significance. For example, if the underlying model of a physical process implies that the observed property should occur only 1% of the time, does that really mean that the model is excluded? Consider the physical model of the citizenship of human beings in the early 21st century, where about 30% are Indian and Chinese citizens, about 5% are American citizens, about 1% are French citizens, and so on. For an observer who has only one observation (of his/her own citizenship) and who happens to be French and cannot make any external observations, the model can be rejected at the 99% significance level. Yet the external observers with more information unavailable to the first observer, know that the model is correct. In other words, even if the bit of the Universe observed is the result of a statistical process, the observer can only view one realization of that process, so our observation is statistically insignificant for saying much about the model, unless the observer is careful to include the variance. This variance is called the cosmic variance and is separate from other sources of experimental error: a very accurate measurement of only one value drawn from a distribution still leaves considerable uncertainty about the underlying model. Variance is normally plotted separately from other sources of uncertainty. Because it is necessarily a large fraction of the signal, workers must be very careful in interpreting the statistical significance of measurements on scales close to the horizon. In physical cosmology, the common way of dealing with this on the horizon scale and on slightly sub-horizon scales (where the number of occurrences is greater than one but still quite small), is to explicitly include the variance of very small statistical samples (Poisson distribution) when calculating uncertainties. This is important in describing the low multipoles of the cosmic microwave background and has been the source of much controversy in the cosmology community since the COBE and WMAP measurements. A similar problem is faced by evolutionary biologists. Just as cosmologists have a sample size of one universe, biologists have a sample size of one fossil record. The problem is closely related to the anthropic principle. Another problem of limited sample sizes in astronomy, here practical rather than essential, is in the Titius–Bode law on spacing of satellites in an orbital system. Originally observed for the Solar System, the difficulty in observing other solar systems has limited data to test this. - Somerville; Lee, Kyoungsoo; Ferguson, Henry C.; Gardner, Jonathan P.; Moustakas, Leonidas A.; Giavalisco, Mauro et al. (2004). "Cosmic Variance in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 600 (2): L171–L174. arXiv:astro-ph/0309071. Bibcode:2004ApJ...600L.171S. doi:10.1086/378628. - M.S. Keremedjiev (Cornell University) (2006). "Quantifying the Effects of Cosmic Variance Using the NOAO Deep-Wide Field Survey". 37 #4. American Astronomical Society. Retrieved September 18, 2007. - Portsmouth, Jamie (2004). "Analysis of the Kamionkowski-Loeb method of reducing cosmic variance with CMB polarization". Department of Astrophysics, Oxford / Smithsonian/NASA Astronomy Abstract Service. arXiv:astro-ph/0402173. Bibcode:2004PhRvD..70f3504P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.70.063504. - Stephen Hawking (2003). Cosmology from the Top Down. Proceedings of the Davis Meeting on Cosmic Inflation.	24
(PhysOrg.com) -- An Australian-based astronomy team, co-led by Professor Michael Drinkwater from the School of Mathematics and Physics (SMP) at The University of Queensland (UQ), has shown that the mysterious 'dark energy' is indeed real and not a mistake in Einstein's theory of gravity. Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope, 26 astronomers (from 14 different institutions) contributed to the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey', which mapped the distribution of galaxies over an unprecedented volume of the Universe. Because light takes so long to reach Earth, it was the equivalent of looking seven billion years back in time more than half way back to the Big Bang. This is the first individual galaxy survey to span such a long stretch of cosmic time, said Professor Drinkwater said. It was only possible thanks to new Australian technology. The survey, which covered more than 200,000 galaxies, took four years to complete and aimed to measure the properties of dark energy' - a concept first cast by Einstein in his Theory of General Relativity. The scientist adapted his original equations to include the idea and later ruefully admitted that it was "his greatest blunder". Dark energy is the name astronomers gave in the late 1990s to an unknown cause of the Universe's accelerating expansion. This mysterious energy, that defies gravity, makes up about 72 percent of the Universe, with the remaining 24 percent constituting dark matter, and 4 percent making up the planets, stars and galaxies that we normally hear about. The discovery of acceleration was an enormous shock, because it went against everything we thought we knew about gravity, co-researcher Dr Tamara Davis from the University of Queensland said. The problem was, that supernova data couldn't tell us whether dark energy was genuinely there, or whether Einstein's theory of gravity itself was failing." WiggleZ used two other kinds of observations to provide an independent check on the supernova results. One measured the pattern of how galaxies are distributed in space and the other measured how quickly clusters of galaxies formed over time. WiggleZ says dark energy is real. Einstein remains untoppled, said Dr Chris Blake, of Swinburne University, lead author of the recent findings, which will be published in two papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. According to Professor Warrick Couch, Director of the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, confirming the existence of the anti-gravity agent is a significant step forward in understanding the Universe. Although the exact physics required to explain dark energy still remains a mystery, knowing that dark energy exists has advanced astronomers' understanding of the origin, evolution and fate of the Universe, he said. The WiggleZ observations were possible due to a powerful spectrograph located at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The spectrograph was able to image 392 galaxies an hour, despite the galaxies being located halfway to the edge of the observable Universe. WiggleZ has been a success because we have an instrument attached to the telescope, a spectrograph, that is one of the best in the world for large galaxy surveys of this kind, said Professor Matthew Colless, director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory. The Wigglez survey involved 18 Australian astronomers, including 10 from Swinburne University of Technology. It was led by Dr Chris Blake, Professor Warrick Couch and Professor Karl Glazebrook from Swinburne and Professor Michael Drinkwater from the University of Queensland. Explore further: Astronomers discover likely precursors of galaxy clusters we see today More information: References "The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: testing the cosmological model with baryon acoustic oscillations at z = 0.6." Chris Blake, Tamara Davis, Gregory B. Poole et al. [26 authors]. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. Online at "The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: the growth rate of cosmic structure since redshift z = 0.9." Chris Blake, Sarah Brough, Matthew Colless et al. [25 authors]. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. Online at arxiv.org/abs/1104.2948	24
Latest Exploration of Saturn Stories NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's moon Titan. This renewed weather activity, considered overdue by researchers, could finally signal the onset of summer storms that atmospheric models have long predicted. With input from more than 2,000 members of the public, team members on NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn have chosen a name for the final phase of the mission: the Cassini Grand Finale. As NASA's Cassini mission approaches its 10th anniversary at Saturn, its team members back here on Earth are already looking ahead to an upcoming phase. GREENBELT, Md., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., will host a free public event celebrating the science and exploration To help mark 10 years in orbit, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has created a special gallery on the Saturn website where members of the public can experience "15 minutes of frame" by submitting their own amateur images made up from image data brought back by Cassini. Just in time for the holiday season, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured new images of Saturn and two of its moons – including Enceladus, a “white, glittering snowball of a moon.” NASA released a collage assembled from images taken on July 19, 2013 as part of the "Wave at Saturn" event organized by the space agency's Cassini mission. Eight years ago today, Huygens became the first probe to touch down on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Another glorious, backlit image of the planet Saturn has arrived from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which has been in orbit around the planet for more than eight years. NASA's Cassini spacecraft is flying high amongst the rings of Saturn for the first time in nearly two years.	24
Compare the Planets Comparing the physical characteristics of the worlds in our solar system (and beyond) The worlds of our solar system come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Red-eyed Jupiter, ringed Saturn, and frigid Uranus and Neptune are giant gassy globes containing nearly all of the matter in the solar system. These Jovian planets, or gas giants, are huge worlds of air, clouds, and fluid that may have no solid surfaces no matter how deep you go. Everything else in the solar system is just rock, ice, and dust. The largest rockballs are known as the terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, with our Moon usually considered part of the club, and now Vesta is applying for membership. Earth is the biggest of all the rocky worlds. But the planets are not the only worlds of the solar system. All but two of the planets are orbited by moons, each of them a world unto itself. The largest moons are bigger than the smallest planets, and 16 or 17 would qualify as dwarf planets if they orbited the Sun. There are more than 100 Kuiper belt dwarf planets, but only one among the asteroids, Ceres. Six solid worlds -- Venus, Earth, Mars, Titan, Triton, and Pluto -- have atmospheres dense enough to produce weather. Eris likely does, when it is near its perihelion. We have witnessed active geology on four worlds -- Earth, Io, Enceladus, and Triton -- and we suspect it on Venus, Europa, and Titan. Comparing the same processes across many worlds helps us to understand how each planet's unique composition and history influence its present state, and will help us predict what to expect on Earth in the future. Pretty Pictures with Many Worlds Curiosity watched on sol 713 as lumpy Phobos passed across the face of the Sun. There are 84 images in this animation, which runs faster than natural speed. A couple of sunspots are faintly visible. The animation is composed of raw JPEG images, so contains artifacts, particularly at the high-contrast areas at the edges of the Sun and Phobos. As of 2014, six comets have been visited by spacecraft; the most recent addition is Rosetta's 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Filed under Rosetta and Philae, pretty pictures, scale comparisons, comets, comet Wild 2, Deep Impact, Stardust, amateur image processing, comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, comet Halley, comet Hartley 2, comet Tempel 1, comet Halley armada, Deep Space 1, comet Borrelly Prometheus (left) and Pandora (right) are small, elongated moons that orbit inside and outside the F ring, respectively. Cassini was slightly less than half a million kilometers from Pandora when it took this photo of the pair on October 29, 2005. Prometheus is 148 by 68 kilometers in size, and Pandora is 110 by 62 kilometers. Note the small streamer of material that Prometheus has drawn out of the inner edge of the F ring during a recent collision. Our Curiosity Knows No Bounds! Become a member of The Planetary Society and together we will create the future of space exploration.	24
The Cat's Eye Nebula, NGC 6543, located in the constellation of Draco, is seen in this undated image. X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y.Chu et al., Optical: NASA/HST Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Expedition 10 commander and NASA ISS science officer, watches a water bubble float between him and the camera, showing his image refracted, on the International Space Station in January 2005. NASA This picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole-planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the Voyager 2 narrow angle camera. The images were taken at a range of 4.4 million miles from the planet, 4 days and 20 hours before closest approach in 1990. NASA/JPL Io is a colorful place. The closest large moon of Jupiter, Io is the most volcanic moon in the Solar System with its surface being completely buried in volcanic lava every few thousand years. The black and red material corresponds to the most recent volcanic eruptions and is probably no more than a few years old. This image by the automated spacecraft Galileo highlights the side of Io that always faces away from Jupiter. Galileo Mission, JPL, NASA The Orion Nebula is a 'happening' place where stars are born and this colony of hot, young stars is stirring up the cosmic scene in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The young stars dip and peak in brightness; shifting cold and hot spots on the stars' surfaces cause brightness levels to change. In addition, surrounding disks of lumpy planet-forming material can obstruct starlight. NASA/JPL-Caltech While perhaps not quite as well known as its star formation cousin of Orion, the Corona Australis region (containing, at its heart, the Coronet cluster) is one of the nearest and most active regions of ongoing star formation. The Spitzer image shows young stars plus diffuse emission from dust. NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA This picture of unidentified possible small debris was recorded with a digital still camera by astronaut Daniel Burbank onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter (r.), STS-116 mission specialist, plays a guitar in the Unity node of the International Space Station. Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition 14 flight engineer representing Russia's Federal Space Agency is seen with him. NASA Space Shuttle Discovery's underside is featured in this image photographed by astronaut Stephen K. Robinson, STS-114 mission specialist, during extravehicular activities in 2005. Robinson's shadow is visible on the thermal protection tiles. NASA The eye of Hurricane Ivan, swirling with sustained winds of 160 mph at the time, was photographed as the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 13, 2004 by astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke, 230 miles above the Earth aboard the International Space Station. NASA Experts remain skeptical of whether the country is prepared for potential post-election violence. Meanwhile, Nigerian officials have confirmed that hundreds of civilians have been kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists. ByVincent Nwanma, Correspondent With Saturday's presidential election in Nigeria looming, armored vehicles and rifle-toting police have surrounded the offices of the electoral commission in a Lagos suburb, while police checkpoints are multiplying along Ikorodu Road, the bustling city’s main thoroughfare.	24
Astronomers suggest more accurate star formation ratesApril 10th, 2014 in Astronomy & Space / Astronomy Cosmic nurseries: Jouni Kainulainen and his colleagues studied The Pipe Nebula (left) and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud (right) in the Milky Way. In the background, an ordinary image of the Milky Way; each inset map shows to what extent the light of background stars is dimmed as it passes through the cloud in question. These maps form the basis of the three-dimensional reconstruction of cloud structure from which the astronomers derived their "recipe for star formation". Credit: Background: ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard); Column-density maps: J. Kainulainen, MPIA (Phys.org) —Astronomers have found a new way of predicting the rate at which a molecular cloud—a stellar nursery—will form new stars. Using a novel technique to reconstruct a cloud's 3-D structure, astronomers can estimate how many new stars it is likely to form. The newfound "recipe" allows for direct tests of current theories of star formation. It will also enable telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to estimate the star formation activity in more distant molecular clouds, and thus create a map of star births within our home galaxy. Star formation is one of the fundamental processes in the universe—how stars form, and under what conditions, shapes the structure of entire galaxies. Stars form within giant clouds of interstellar gas and dust. As a sufficiently dense region within such a molecular cloud collapses under its own gravity, it contracts until the pressure and the temperature inside are high enough for nuclear fusion to set in, signaling the birth of a star. Measuring star formation rates is extremely challenging, even throughout our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Only for nearby clouds, up to distances of about 1,500 light-years, are such measurements fairly straightforward—you simply count the young stars within that cloud. For more distant clouds, where it is impossible to discern individual stars, this technique fails, and star formation rates have remained uncertain. Now three astronomers, Jouni Kainulainen and Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and Christoph Federrath from Monash University in Australia, have found an alternative way of determining star formation rates—a "recipe for star formation"—that links direct astronomical observations of the structure of a giant gas cloud to its star formation activity. The astronomers arrived at their result by modeling the 3-D structure of individual clouds in a simplified way. The data they use comes from an astronomical version of a medical X-raying procedure—as the light of distant stars shines through a cloud, it is dimmed by the cloud's dust. The dimming of tens of thousands of different stars forms the basis of the 3-D reconstruction, which in turn shows the matter density for various regions within the cloud. For nearby clouds, Kainulainen and his colleagues compared their reconstruction and direct observations of how many new stars had recently formed in these clouds. In this way, they were able to identify a "critical density" of 5,000 hydrogen molecules per cubic centimeter and showed that only regions exceeding this critical density can collapse to form stars. "This is the first time anyone has determined a critical density for forming stars from observations of cloud structure," said Kainulainen. "Theories of star formation have long predicted the importance of such a critical density. But our reconstruction technique is the first to allow astronomers to deduce the density structure of these clouds and to confront star formation theories with observational data." "With these results and the tools we developed to test theories of star formation, we can even hope to tackle one of the greatest unanswered questions of astrophysics: If stars form within a cloud of a given mass, how many stars with what kind of mass can you expect?" asked Federrath. "There are many observations of molecular clouds, and with the advent of ALMA, much more precise data for more distant clouds will become available," said Henning. "With our technique, we're able to say: Show us your data, and we will tell you how many stars your cloud is forming right now." ALMA is an array of 66 high-precision microwave antennas spread over distances of up to 10 miles (16 kilometers) in the Chilean desert and able to act as a single high-resolution telescope. ALMA has just commenced operations and can detect clouds of gas and dust with unprecedented sensitivity and in more detail than ever before. "We've handed astronomers a potent new tool. Star formation is one of the most fundamental processes in astronomy, and our results allow astronomers to determine star formation rates for more clouds than ever before, both within our own galaxy and in distant other galaxies," said Kainulainen. More information: Unfolding the Laws of Star Formation: The Density Distribution of Molecular Clouds, Science 11 April 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6180 pp. 183-185 DOI: 10.1126/science.1248724 Provided by Max Planck Society "Astronomers suggest more accurate star formation rates." April 10th, 2014. http://phys.org/news/2014-04-astronomers-accurate-star-formation.html	24
Australia has hailed a surprise decision giving it a role in a radio telescope project aimed at revolutionising astronomy, vowing to draw on its decades of experience in space science. Australia and South Africa were named joint winners of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project following a meeting of the organisation's members in the Netherlands on Friday. South Africa had been widely expected to win the bid outright and the dual site decision came as a surprise. Australia was elated at winning a role in the ambitious SKA, which will use a forest of antennae, spread across remote terrain, to pick up radio signals from cosmic phenomena that cannot be detected by optical telescopes. The SKA will be 50 times more powerful than current radio telescopes and will explore exploding stars, black holes, dark energy and traces of the Universe's origins some 14 billion years ago. "It is exciting that Australia will play such a prominent role in what is one of the largest international collaborations in science," said the Australian government's chief scientist Ian Chubb. The government science agency CSIRO said Australia was well qualified to take part in the SKA, with more than 60 years experience in radio astronomy including support of NASA's manned missions to the moon. "This is a fantastic outcome for Australia, and for international science," said CSIRO chief Megan Clark. Brian Boyle, director of the Australian bid, which was jointly prepared with and will include telescopes in New Zealand, said the project "will ensure that the expertise brought to the project is truly capitalised on". Australia's core site is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Meekathara in the deep radio silence of its remote red-sand desert, with antennae distributed as far as New Zealand. CSIRO said construction of the SKA would start in 2016, with 60 mid-frequency dishes and an array of low-frequency antennae. Preliminary operations were expected to be under way by 2020. Explore further: Galaxy clusters collide—dark matter still a mystery	24
Space telescopes reveal previously unknown brilliant X-ray explosion in our Milky Way galaxyOctober 22nd, 2010 in Astronomy & Space / Astronomy This is an artist's rendering of the Swift spacecraft with a gamma-ray burst going off in the background. Credit: Spectrum Astro Astronomers in Japan, using an X-ray detector on the International Space Station, and at Penn State University, using NASA's Swift space observatory, are announcing the discovery of an object newly emitting X-rays, which previously had been hidden inside our Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. The object -- a binary system -- was revealed recently when an instrument on the International Space Station named MAXI (Monitor of All-Sky X-ray Image) on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" caught it in the act of erupting with a massive blast of X-rays known as an X-ray nova. The MAXI mission team quickly alerted astronomers worldwide to the discovery of the new X-ray source at 2:00 a.m. EDT on 20 October, and NASA's Swift Observatory quickly conducted an urgent "target-of-opportunity" observation nine hours later, which allowed for the location of the X-ray nova to be measured accurately. "The collaboration between the MAXI and Swift teams allowed us to quickly and accurately identify this new object," said Jamie Kennea, the Swift X-ray Telescope instrument scientist at Penn State University who is leading the Swift analysis. "MAXI and Swift's abilities are uniquely complementary, and in this case have provided a discovery that would not have been possible without combining the knowledge obtained from both." The Swift detection confirmed the presence of the previously unknown bright X-ray source, which was named MAXI J1409-619. "The Swift observation suggests that this source is probably a neutron star or a black hole with a massive companion star located at a distance of a few tens of thousands of light years from Earth in the Milky Way," said David Burrows, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and the lead scientist for Swift's X-ray Telescope. "The contribution of Swift's X-ray Telescope to this discovery is that it can swing into position rapidly to focus on a particular point in the sky and it can image the sky with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution." "MAXI has demonstrated its capability to discover X-ray novae at great distances," said Kazutaka Yamaoka, assistant professor at Aoyama Gakuin University and a member of the MAXI team. "The MAXI team is planning further coordinated observations with NASA satellites to reveal the identity of this source." Provided by Pennsylvania State University "Space telescopes reveal previously unknown brilliant X-ray explosion in our Milky Way galaxy." October 22nd, 2010. http://phys.org/news/2010-10-space-telescopes-reveal-previously-unknown.html	24
The European union has selected the Finnish Meteorological Institute to lead an international space effort whose goal is to build the largest and fastest man-made device. The electric sail is a Finnish invention which uses the solar wind as its thrust source and therefore needs no fuel or propellant. The solar wind is a continuous plasma stream emanating from the Sun. The working principle of the so-called electric solar wind sail was invented in 2006 by Finnish Meteorological Institute researcher Pekka Janhunen. In December 8-9, 2010, the kickoff meeting of the electric sail EU project was held at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The meeting gathered space scientists and engineers from Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Germany and Italy. The ESAIL project will last for three years, its EU funding contribution is 1.7 million euros and its goal is to build the laboratory prototypes of the key components of the electric sail. In the EU evaluation, the ESAIL project got the highest marks in its category. The electric solar wind sail may enable faster and cheaper access to the solar system. In the longer run it may enable an economic utilisation of asteroid resources. A related but simpler device (the so-called plasma brake) can be used for deorbiting satellites to address the space debris issue. The working principles of the electric sail and the plasma brake will be tested in the coming years by the Estonian ESTCube-1 and the Finnish Aalto-1 nanosatellites. According to estimates, a full scale electric sail will produce one newton continuous thrust and weigh only 100 kg. In certain missions the performance level of the electric sail is 100-1000 times larger than that of present chemical rockets and ion engines. The electric sail consists of long and thin metallic tethers which are kept in a high positive potential by an onboard solar-powered electron gun. The charged tethers repel solar wind protons so that the solar wind flow exerts a force on them and pushes the spacecraft in the desired direction. Explore further: Modeling platform shows environmental impact of retrofitted buildings	25
New observations of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) have allowed NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. to further refine the comet's orbit. Based on data through April 7, 2013, the latest orbital plot places the comet's closest approach to Mars slightly closer than previous estimates, at about 68,000 miles (110,000 kilometers). At the same time, the new data set now significantly reduces the probability the comet will impact the Red Planet, from about 1 in 8,000 to about 1 in 120,000. The latest estimated time for close approach to Mars is about 11:51 a.m. PDT (18:51 UTC) on Oct. 19, 2014. At the time of closest approach, the comet will be on the sunward side of the planet. Explore further: Cassini: Return to Rhea More information: Future observations of the comet are expected to refine the orbit further. The most up-to-date close-approach data can be found at: ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr… og=0;cad=1;rad=0#cad .	25
New research describes a fast-moving sand dune in Tunisia that is spilling onto the streets of the Star Wars set used to portray Anakin Skywalker's childhood home. BYU professor Jani Radebaugh visited Mos Espa in 2009 and observed a nearby dune measuring 20 feet tall and 300 feet wide. Mos Espa is notable in the film for its annual pod races, and Radebaugh and other scientists utilized Google Earth to calculate how fast the dune raced toward the town. With images dating back to 2002, they clocked the dune at speeds of 50 feet per year. "In terms of geologic time scales, it's one of the fastest things we see happen, aside from lava flows and landslides." said Radebaugh. "You can compare it to some glaciers, but even most glaciers tend to move slower." Coincidentally, Radebaugh credits the Star Wars films for sparking her interest in planetary science. Ordinarily she teams up with NASA to study moons of Saturn and Jupiter. But a visit to Tunisia with other planetary scientists prompted the dune research that the journal Geomorphology recently published. "It's so fun to see geology in action," Radebaugh said. "We live on a dynamic planet." The set of Mos Espa began attracting tourists in 1999 following the release of "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace." Prior to that, people had visited some of the 1970's-era Episode 4, 5 and 6 sets, which have since been overrun by dunes. Bulldozing the dune to save the set isn't an option, as a larger dune follows on the heels of the first dune. The most feasible plan to rescue the site would require moving everything about 200 meters to the south. However, it may be too late for a rescue operation – recent photos from Radebaugh's local collaborator show one dwelling and a pair of "moisture evaporators" partially buried. "Sometimes we just have to move out of the way," Radebaugh said. "The sand people in Star Wars are nomads, right? Maybe they are nomads because the sand moves." Explore further: Image: The colors of sunset over the ISS More information: www.sciencedirect.com/science/… ii/S0169555X13003486	25
To protect the Earth from a devastating collision with a large asteroid, one scientist says the best solution would be to nuke it. Bong Wie, director of the Asteroid Deflection Research Center at Iowa State University, said his team is developing a plan in which a spacecraft would take a nuclear warhead to an asteroid headed toward the Earth, according to a report in Space.com. Wie, a professor of aerospace engineering, spoke about his plan at the International Space Development Conference in La Jolla, Calif. He could not be reached for comment. Wie reportedly described a two-section spacecraft that would deliver the nuclear warhead. The craft would separate as it neared the asteroid with the first part using the force of its impact to blast a hole into the asteroid. The second section, carrying the warhead, would fly into the hole and detonate the bomb. By blowing up the asteroid into pieces, Wie said that 99% of the debris would never hit the Earth. Most of the remaining 1% would burn up in the atmosphere. Saying that he could have the system ready in about a year, Wie said he would want to have two spacecraft on constant standby. If one spacecraft failed to launch successfully or if it failed to destroy the asteroid, the second spacecraft could try to finish the job. Like in the movie Armageddon, the plan may not be so far fetched. In 2007, NASA released a report to Congress saying that the best way to deal with an asteroid on a collision course with Earth would be to blow it up with a nuclear bomb. In the report, Near-Earth Object Survey and Deflection Analysis of Alternatives, the space agency said nuking an asteroid is calculated to be 10 to 100 times more effective than any non-nuclear alternatives. Nuclear alternatives include conventional explosives, as well as a "space tug" that would tow the asteroid away from Earth's orbit. Asteroids have been the focus of attention at NASA several times in recent months. This spring, NASA's proposed $17.7 billion budget included plans to capture and redirect an asteroid into orbit around Earth so astronauts can study it. The project would help scientists learn more about the makeup of asteroids in an attempt to protect the Earth from devastating collisions. In January, Deep Space Industries Inc. announced that it's working to launch spacecraft to mine asteroids and set up outer space gas stations to serve space colonies. The company is scheduled to launch a fleet of spacecraft in 2015 to begin taking images of nearby asteroids. In 2016, the company plans to launch spacecraft that would grab asteroid samples and return them to Earth. This article, Best plan to save Earth from a killer asteroid? Nukes!, was originally published at Computerworld.com. Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, on Google+ or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her email address is [email protected].	25
FAIRBANKS (AP) -- When Barbara Parker's high school students first heard about lichens, they weren't impressed. Soon, however, they became experts and created a science experiment so good it was chosen to go into space aboard a NASA shuttle. Parker, a science teacher at the Delta Cyber Charter School, found the national competition on the Internet hosted by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration program. She told the students in her NASA science class--about the competition. The incentive was clear: The competition's four winning teams would see their project soar into orbit aboard a space shuttle, and teams would journey to a NASA flight facility to work with NASA scientists. Parker offered the project to her class as an optional assignment. One group consisted of Delta High School students Heidi Eckman, Crystal Keaster, and Crystal Gefroh, who in turn recruited botany student Rachel Naegele and graphic art student Zach Oliver, also from Delta. The cyber school was launched as a charter school to teach students across the state over the Internet. For months, the students devoted after-school time to the project. The experiment had to fit into a D-shaped, five-liter Space Experiment Module and withstand space shuttle flight temperatures as low as 4 degrees below zero and as high as 140 degrees. A botany teacher told the group about lichens, durable plant-like organisms that could be stored for long periods of time. The students found lichens growing in their area, and tested them by heating them in an oven, storing them in NASA vials for three months and otherwise pushing their stamina. The students developed their proposal. They'd send two groups of lichens into space. They would be treated identically, but one control group would be protected from cosmic radiation by a lead shield, while the other would be exposed to high levels of radiation found outside Earth's atmosphere. ''The whole purpose is to see the effect of cosmic radiation,'' Parker said. When the team found out in March that their project was one of the four selected, they couldn't believe it. ''When we got the letter, we were all screaming and jumping around the table,'' said Gefroh. ''Truthfully, we didn't think we'd win.'' When the shuttle returns to Earth with its cargo, the students will begin rigorous testing of the organisms to see if the cosmic radiation affected their growth or reproductive abilities. They'll take the specimens to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for initial tests, then bring them to Delta Cyber School to study. Parker won a $2,500 grant from the Alaska Space Grant Program to buy equipment to use when the project comes home. In mid-May, the group will prepare the lichens for storage until a flight is scheduled. A month later, four students and Parker will take a trip to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to meet with scientists. ''The hardest part will be getting my voice to work when I meet them, instead of stuttering out my name,'' Gefroh said. Peninsula Clarion © 2015. All Rights Reserved. \| Contact Us	25
Washington: ESA is building a prototype tester for crews on the International Space Station to provide diagnoses within a few minutes from a pinprick of blood. The ultimate device will offer rapid health checks and results for scientific research. The droplet is placed on a portable device built around a disc like a mini-DVD. The disc is set spinning to separate the sample into plasma and serum for a whole range of simultaneous tests. On the ground, there are already numerous applications - the automated laboratory unit covers illnesses such as heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes and liver disease. The space device is being developed by Irish company Radisens Diagnostic, which began working with ESA in 2011. The first phase of the partnership with ESA assessed its suitability for space, with this new phase intending to design practical prototypes for use on the Station and other future manned space missions. Weightless living aboard the confined quarters of the orbital outpost can lead to various negative consequences, but the day-by-day oversight by medical experts on the ground is limited. What Radisens will develop is of the utmost interest," comments ESA`s Francois Gaubert . "Being able to perform rapid analysis of astronauts` blood samples and monitor their physiological parameters aboard the Station, without having to transport the samples down to labs on the ground, would prove extremely useful."	25
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An asteroid with an estimated girth as large as a garbage truck soared within 7,500 miles of the Earth on Monday as it passed harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The space rock, measuring 5 to 20 meters in diameter, followed the same near-Earth path that scientists had earlier predicted, looping around the planet in a boomerang-shaped trajectory, JPL spokesman D.C. Agle said. Its nearest approach to Earth, about 7,500 miles, was 30 times farther away than the International Space Station, which orbits the planet at a distance of 250 miles. On a more celestial scale, the asteroid's closest distance to Earth was just 3 percent of the 250,000 miles separating the Earth from the moon. An object about the same size as Monday's near-Earth asteroid, designated by scientists as 2011 MD, zips past the planet at about the same distance every six years, according to JPL. Even if an asteroid the size of 2011 MD ever entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would likely burn up and cause no damage to the planet, JPL said. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)	25
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team said Friday it has completed its preliminary design review as part of the mission confirmation process. The first in a series of robotic missions to the moon, the LRO is scheduled for launch in October 2008. It will carry six science instruments and a technology demonstration. The mission goal is to develop new approaches and technologies to support the effort to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars as part of the Bush administration's Space Exploration Vision. The team completed the review on Feb. 9, and it will release the results, along with ongoing assessments of project cost and schedule, as part of a confirmation review, sometime this spring. At that point, NASA' officials must decide whether to authorize additional work and must set the project's cost estimate. The mission's critical design review is scheduled for fall, and will represent the completion of detailed system design, the transition to assembly and integration of the mission elements. Copyright 2006 by Space Daily, Distributed United Press International Explore further: Scars on Mars from 2012 rover landing fade—usually	25
NASA's plan for the private sector to build spacecraft to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is a high-risk undertaking that won't show results for years, experts said. The abrupt shift "harnesses our nation's entrepreneurial energies, and will create thousands of new jobs," the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said in a statement issued as the budget for the fiscal year that begins October 1 was unveiled Monday. It also reflects a key recommendation made by the high-level Augustine Commission, which President Barack Obama set up last year to review US human space flight plans and come up with a successor to the space shuttle, which winds down in late 2010 after nearly 30 years of service. The US space agency's plan to turn manned space flight over to private enterprise was met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception in some quarters. Obama has "accepted the move to put our human access to space on a commercial footing, with great uncertainty as to safety, schedule and cost," wrote four-time space shuttle astronaut Tom Jones in the magazine Popular Mechanics. John Logsdon, former head of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said critics of the new policy were "mainly concerned about safety." Similar concerns about commercially built space vehicles figured high up in a report issued last month by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). "No manufacturer of commercial orbital transportation services is currently qualified for human-rating requirements, despite some claims and beliefs to the contrary," ASAP's panel of independent experts said. The annual report also warned it would be "unwise" to drop NASA's Ares 1 rocket, part of the costly Constellation project that was effectively killed by the budget plans, and hand over the ferrying of astronauts to the ISS to private industry. ASAP was set up by Congress in 1967 after a flash fire ripped through a command module during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle, killing three astronauts on board. Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, one of the new generation of privately-owned companies with an eye on space, ripped into the ASAP report as "random speculation." "If they are to say such things, then they ought to say it on the basis of data, not on random speculation," Musk, whose eight-year-old company has built and tested a launcher, said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. Charles Precourt, former chief of NASA's astronaut corps and now an executive at aerospace and defense firm Alliant Techsystems, said in The Wall Street Journal that farming out large portions of the manned space program to private firms would be an "extremely high risk" path. Putting all of NASA's spacecraft-building eggs in the basket of private industry was foolhardy, former astronaut Tom Jones said. "Betting our nation's sole access to space on industry's ability to replicate 50 years of NASA experience on the fly is unwise. NASA should fly a new crewed spacecraft as quickly as possible, then move to commercial firms once they have a proven record of reliable cargo services," he wrote. SpaceX already has a launcher, a capsule and a demonstration cargo contract with NASA. Musk said SpaceX could be ready to ferry astronauts into space within three years of landing a human transport contract with NASA -- at a rate of about 20 million dollars per seat, less than half the 50 million that Russia currently charges NASA for seats on its Soyuz spacecraft. SpaceX and other upstarts would be up against industry giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which together operate United Launch Alliance (ULA), whose stable includes Atlas V and Delta 4 rockets that have logged considerable flight hours. ULA was awarded 6.7 million dollars on Monday to develop an Emergency Detection System, an element necessary for "a safe and highly reliable human-rated launch vehicle." Logsdon said it was "very likely" that either ULA or one of its parent companies would earn a transport contract, and that the winning proposal would envision a flight-ready craft before 2016, the readiness date for the private sector put forward by the Augustine committee. But he cautioned the date was too ambitious, and that the craft would have to be brought up to human-rated safety standards before they can carry astronauts into space. Explore further: Europe hoists first navigation satellites post mislaunch	25
Satellites Sent by India Sakthi Vel Shankar India have sent totally 16 satellites to the space successfully till now. Satellites are playing a vital role in the technical side of the world. One country can use the satellite launching for the development of the country to the peak level or to demolish the other country too. But these satellites were unpluckable fruit for India till the 1980's. But after the invention of the satellites and the launched satellites India,s development is making the other country people to exclaim. The part of Dr. Abdul kalam is an essential one in this developed department. We shall look about the satellites that are launched by India till now in this article. This satellite launching vehicle was attempted to send to the space from Sriharikota, India a 10th august 1979. ISRO (Indian space research organisation) has been in the project of SLV(Satellite launching vehicle) with the leadership of Dr. APJ Abdul kalam. It finally got ready to send the first Satellite launch vehicle to the space at the year 1979. But unfortunately the result of that attempt gone failure because of the wrong assessment of the pay load and caused mis balance resulted in the failure of the attempt and the vehicle crashed into the bay of Bengal which is not a far distance from sriharikota. This event has happened within the 320 seconds from its take off time. SLV 3 E2 This satellite was sent at 17th July 1980 from Sriharikota, India. This project was carried out as an experiment. It was designed to be spinning around the earth at an particular orbit for the period of 1.2 years and to be communicating with the earth using the VHF band. This is the first satellite sent by India to the space successfully. SLV 3 D 1 This is another experimental satellite launched in the space successfully at 31st may 1981. This satellite was experimented as a trial for launching the earth observing satellites in the future. This satellite was launched in a particular orbit in the space and given a life time of 9 days. The pay load which will be sent with the satellite was designed as the land mark tracker having the remote sensing one. SLV 3 D 2 This is another successfully launched satellite in the space by India at 17th April 1983. The orbital life of this satellite was seven years and the same satellite was re launched at 19th April 1990. This satellite has sent totally 5000 images of the earth till now. The role of this satellite was smart sensor that is sensing and taking photographs of the earth and sending to the earth. ASLV D1 (Augmented satellite launch vehicle) This was the first satellite attempted to get launched in the space for conducting a mission at 24th march 1987. It was sent with some instruments like Launch vehicle monitoring platform, Gamma ray burst etc., But unfortunately this attempt got failed to reach the allocated orbit. This satellite was sent from the earth at 17th march 1988. The role of this satellite was to observe the earth and to send some images of earth. But unfortunately this attempt too failed and the satellite didn't get the orbit. This satellite was sent from the earth at 20th may 1992. The successful launch of this satellite did the experimented 2 months mission in the space. The weight of this satellite was 106kg. This satellite was sent to the space at 20th September 1993. But unfortunately it didn't reach its orbit. This satellite was sent at 4th may 1994. The role of this satellite was doing a mission. The total period of this satellite orbit was 2 years and this mission was completed successfully. The weight of this satellite's pay load that carried the required instruments for the mission was 116 kg. This is one of the milestones of the ISRO that launched the long living earth observing satellite in the space. This event happened at the Sriharikota at 15th October 1994. The communication between this satellite and the research centre has been in the Sand X band rays. The weight of the pay load of this satellite was 804 kg. This satellite was launched in the space at 21st march 1996. It was a mission doing satellite and the mission was to sense the natural resources of the earth and also to scan and do research about the resources too. A 920 kg pay load with the modern scanners were sent with this satellite. The period of this successful mission was one year. By following the mission done by the BSLV D3, the long living BSLV C1 was sent to research about the natural resources of the earth at 27th September 1997. It has the long orbital life. The weight of the pay load of this satellite containing the instruments like the previous one, was 1250 kg. This satellite was sent at 26th may 1999. The purpose of this satellite was to research about the ocean of earth. As per the purpose, this satellite carried the instruments like ocean monitor and some radiometers. The pay load of this satellite was 1050kg. The orbit life was 5 years. This satellite was launched at 18th April 2001. The role of this satellite was communicating the latest systems such as audio broadcasting, Internet services and the compressed TV transmission. The pay load of this satellite was 1580kg. This satellite was launched to do some researches about the orbit placement etc at 22nd October 2001. The pay load was 1150kg. This satellite was renamed as Kalpana 1 after the death of America born Indian Kalpana chawla in the US space Columbia disaster. It was launched successfully at 12th September 2002 with the pay load of 1060 kg of weight. This satellite was launched at 8th may 2003 with the pay load of 1800kg of weight. This was an experimental satellite for the communication purpose. This satellite was launched successfully at 17th October 2003. This is the most powerful remote sensing satellite of ISRO. The orbital life of this satellite was 5 years. This satellite was launched at 20th September 2004. This is the first educational satellite of India. I has been providing the two way online class rooms for the students. The pay load is 1950kg of weight carrying lot of communicating instruments in it. This satellite was launched at 5th may 2005. It was launched as one of the earth observing satellites. This satellite was launched at 22nd October 2008. This is the first Indian satellite launched to get images from moon. This satellite was launched in the orbit which is 100km away from moon. After completion of getting images from this distance, the chandrayaan has been moved to the 200km distance from the moon. The payload containing the latest image taking devices and the audio observing devices in it with the weight of 1380kg. The orbit life was 2 years. Ocean sat 2 This is the final satellite has been launched by India. This is for researching about the ocean of the earth. It was launched at 23rd September 2009. The orbit life is 3 years. Now after reading this article we can understand the reason for the rate of communication got reduced in the 21st century that the Indian communication oriented satellites are launched during that period. As the satellites are not only for discovering some thing new, they are playing the part in our life and making our life easy by compacting the communication distance and some other factors. Did you like this resource? Share it with your friends and show your love! Responses to "Satellites Sent by India" Guest Author: ragul 16 Oct 2014 Notify me by email when others post comments to this article. Do not include your name, "with regards" etc in the comment. Write detailed comment, relevant to the topic. No HTML formatting and links to other web sites are allowed. This is a strictly moderated site. Absolutely no spam allowed. to fill automatically. (Will not be published, but to validate comment) Type the numbers and letters shown on the left. Subscribe to Email Get Jobs by Email Forum posts by Email Articles by Email Awards & Gifts Last 7 Days Vijay Kumar Vishwakarma N K Ravishankara sandeep kumar meher ISC Technologies, Kochi - India. © All Rights Reserved.	25
NASA says that a regional Martian dust storm could impact the space agency’s Mars rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity. While NASA is interested in tracking this storm for scientific purposes, the space agency is also worried about the storm’s potential impacts on the daily operations of its rovers. However, NASA says that if the regional dust storm grows into a global storm, the Opportunity rover is more likely to be impacted. The Opportunity rover team is worried that dust from the storm could wreak havoc on the rover’s solar panels, lowering its energy supply for daily operations. The Curiosity rover, NASA notes, is powered byÂ radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Although the stunning images being sent back to Earth by Curiosity would likely contain some haze if the regional dust storm grows bigger, the Curiosity rover team doesn’t expect the dust to impact the rover’s energy supply. For the time being, the Martian dust storm is still a regional one. “This is now a regional dust storm. It has covered a fairly extensive region with its dust haze, and it is in a part of the planet where some regional storms in the past have grown into global dust hazes,” says Rich Zurek, chief Mars scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “For the first time since the Viking missions of the 1970s, we are studying a regional dust storm both from orbit and with a weather station on the surface. The Martian dust storm was first tracked by Bruce Cantor of Malin Space Science Systems. The space agency says that the dust storm came within 837 miles of Opportunity and that atmospheric changes, created by the storm, have been detected by Curiosity. Curiosity, NASA notes, is more useful when it comes to tracking the storm because the rover has a weather station. Sensors on Curiosity’s Rover Environment Monitoring Stations (REMS) noticed decreased air pressure and a minute increase in overnight low temperature. It’s not every year that NASA sees a dust storm on Mars. Regional dust storms impacted larges areas of Mars in 2001 and 2007, but not between those years or since. “One thing we want to learn is why do some Martian dust storms get to this size and stop growing, while others this size keep growing and go global,” Mr. Zurek says. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Mars Climate Sounder detected a warming of the atmosphere at about 16 miles above the dust storm beginning on November 16. Scientists believe that the atmosphere above the dust storm is warming because the dust is absorbing warm sunlight. NASA will continue to track this regional dust storm and monitor its impacts on the space agency’s Mars rovers.	25
The European Space Agency announced Tuesday its support of a program that will include development of an instrument for testing deep soil samples on Mars. The testing, to be conducted during a European mission called ExoMars, will be directed by University of California-Santa Barbara research scientist Luann Becker. "We are very excited about this," said Becker. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Testing by the two NASA rovers are currently operating on Mars has spurred ESA interest in developing different, new and highly-sensitive instruments to search for present or past life on Mars. The ExoMars rover will contain a drill that can reach soil samples up to 6 1/2 feet (two meters) under the Martian surface. Becker said she anticipates the American contribution to the ESA's Molecular Organic Molecule Analyzer development will be funded by NASA. MOMA will be included as part of the ExoMars mission to Mars in 2011. Copyright 2005 by United Press International Explore further: Comet dust—planet Mercury's 'invisible paint'	25
Mars probably never wet enough for life, nuclear bomb crater indicates Spoilsport boffins: Theorised aliens have feet of clay Spoilsport French scientists probing unusual clay deposits discovered in an old nuclear bomb crater say they have found that the planet Mars has never been - as previous researchers have hoped/suggested - wet enough to support Earth-style life. Clays found on the red planet dating from its Noachian period (around four billion years ago) have a similar appearance to Earth clays created in the presence of flowing water, which has led previous scientists to believe that back then Mars was much warmer and wetter than it now is - warm and wet enough, perhaps, to support life. This naturally makes Mars a lot more interesting than it would otherwise be (though even if it has always been perishing cold and arid, it remains the most Earthlike planet that we know of for sure as yet, and has the added bonus that we can actually reach it with available technology). Unfortunately for the possible habitability of ancient Mars, French boffins have now discovered clays not unlike Noachian ones here on Earth which were not formed by any flowing water. Rather they were created as molten lava cooled. In this case - these clays having been found at the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia - the lava was created during an early French atomic-weapons test. The scientists write, in hefty boffinry journal Nature Geoscience: The iron- and magnesium-rich clays described in thick, extensive outcrops of Noachian crust have been proposed to originate from aqueous weathering. This would imply that liquid water was stable at the surface of early Mars, presumably when the climate was warmer and wetter. Here we show that iron- and magnesium-rich clays can alternatively form by direct precipitation from residual, water-rich magma-derived fluids. Infrared reflectance spectra from terrestrial lavas from the Mururoa Atoll (French Polynesia) that underwent this precipitation process are similar to those measured for the Noachian crust. "Mars was not as warm and wet in its earliest time as some have suggested. I do not believe in an early ocean on Mars," Professor Alain Meunier - lead author of the study - tells the Beeb. That said, Meunier doesn't rule out possible surface Martian water at other points in its history, and other scientists still believe that such oceans, lakes or rivers may have existed at some point. Nobody is arguing that the red world is totally free of water even now: snow has been seen falling in its polar regions by robot landers, and various other previous studies have indicated water and warmth perhaps beneath the surface rather than on it, which might have offered limited habitats for life along the lines of Earth cave- or deep-ocean-dwelling lines. We're liable to find out more on this subject in coming years following the recent arrival of NASA's robot rover Curiosity at the Gale Crater on Mars, a location specifically picked because it's a good spot (among other things) for a bit of red-clay sniffing. ® Sponsored: Network DDoS protection	25
South Africa unveiled its national space agency on Thursday, aiming to become a leader in earth observation technology across the continent in 10 years, the minister of science and technology said. "Our combined efforts at enhancing South Africas space capabilities will be of immense value to the scientific community in the Southern African region," Naledi Pandor said. "We believe (the launch of SANSA) will stimulate investment and the local scientific research sector," she added. The agency, which already has two micro-satellites, will produce timely data imagery to help detect natural disasters and monitor water resources around South Africa and the continent, Pandor said at the launch. The new agency, which aims to bring together previously un-allied experts in the field, will also seek to revive several space facilities that were mothballed in the 1990's during apartheid rule, said a government official. However, the establishment of the agency's new structures will mean full operations will only resume in April 2012. The agency's interim chief executive Sandile Malinga estimated that it would cost South Africa approximately 600 million rands (86.7 million dollars) a year to run the agency. "These are conservative figures. Our satellites will be built here at home using local expertise. We are hoping that will help reduce cost," said Malinga. South Africa joins Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt among African countries which already have active space agencies. According to the ministry, South Africa had primarily been a consumer and a net importer of space technologies. "There is a need to develop systems and sub-systems to support our requirements and to grow the local industry," the ministry said in a statement. Explore further: Europe resumes Galileo satnav deployment (Update)	25
Space Shuttle abort modes Space Shuttle abort modes were procedures by which the nominal launch of the NASA Space Shuttle could be terminated. A pad abort occurred after ignition of the shuttle's main engines but prior liftoff. An abort during ascent that would result in the orbiter returning to a runway or to a lower than planned orbit was called an intact abort, while an abort in which the orbiter would be unable to reach a runway, or any abort involving the failure of more than one main engine, was called a contingency abort. Crew bailout was still possible in some situations where the orbiter could not land on a runway. - 1 Redundant Set Launch Sequencer (RSLS) abort - 2 Ascent abort modes - 3 Post-Challenger abort enhancements - 4 Ejection escape systems - 5 Space Shuttle abort history - 6 Emergency landing sites - 7 See also - 8 References - 9 External links Redundant Set Launch Sequencer (RSLS) abort The three Space Shuttle Main Engines were ignited roughly 6.6 seconds before liftoff, and computers monitored their performance as they built up thrust. If an anomaly was detected, the engines would be shut down automatically and the countdown terminated before ignition of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) at T - 0 seconds. This was called a Redundant Set Launch Sequencer (RSLS) abort, and happened five times: STS-41-D, STS-51-F, STS-51, STS-55, and STS-68. Ascent abort modes Once the shuttle's SRBs were ignited, the vehicle was committed to liftoff. If an event requiring an abort happened after SRB ignition, it was not possible to begin the abort until after SRB burnout and separation about two minutes after launch. There were five abort modes available during ascent, divided into the categories of intact aborts and contingency aborts. The choice of abort mode depended on how urgent the situation was, and what emergency landing site could be reached. The abort modes covered a wide range of potential problems, but the most commonly expected problem was a SSME failure, causing the vehicle to have insufficient thrust to achieve its planned orbit. Other possible non-engine failures necessitating an abort included multiple auxiliary power unit (APU) failure, cabin leak, and external tank leak (ullage leak). Intact abort modes There were four intact abort modes for the Space Shuttle. Intact aborts were designed to provide a safe return of the orbiter to a planned landing site or to a lower orbit than planned for the mission. Return To Launch Site (RTLS) Return To Launch Site (RTLS) was the first abort mode available, and could be selected just after SRB jettison. The shuttle would have continued downrange to burn excess propellant, as well as pitch up to maintain vertical speed in aborts with an SSME failure. After burning sufficient propellant, the vehicle would have pitched all the way around and begun thrusting back towards the launch site. This maneuver was called the Powered Pitcharound (PPA), and was timed to ensure less than 2% propellant remained in the external tank by the time the shuttle's trajectory would bring it back to the Kennedy Space Center. Additionally, the shuttle's OMS and reaction control system (RCS) motors would continuously thrust to burn off excess OMS propellant to reduce landing weight and adjust the orbiter's center of gravity. Just before main engine cutoff, the orbiter would be commanded to pitch nose-down to ensure proper orientation for external tank jettison, since aerodynamic forces would otherwise cause the tank to recontact the orbiter. The SSMEs would cutoff, and the tank would be jettisoned as the orbiter used its RCS to increase separation. Once the orbiter cleared the tank, it would make a normal gliding landing about 25 minutes after lift-off. Should a second SSME have failed at any point but during PPA, the shuttle would not have been able to make it back to the runway at KSC, but the crew would be able to bail out. A failure of a second engine during the PPA maneuver would have led to loss of control and subsequent loss of crew and vehicle (LOCV). Failure of all three engines as horizontal velocity approached 0 or just before external tank jettison would have also resulted in LOCV. The CAPCOM would call out the point in the ascent at which an RTLS was no longer possible as "negative return", approximately four minutes after lift-off, when the vehicle had too much velocity to make it back to the launch site. This abort mode was never needed in the history of the Shuttle program. Astronaut Mike Mullane referred to the RTLS abort as an "unnatural act of physics," and many pilot astronauts hoped that they would not have to perform such an abort due to its difficulty. Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) A Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) involved landing at a predetermined location in Africa or western Europe about 25 to 30 minutes after lift-off. It was to be used when velocity, altitude, and distance downrange did not allow return to the launch point via RTLS. It was also to be used when a less time-critical failure did not require the faster but possibly more stressful RTLS abort. A TAL abort would have been declared between roughly T+2:30 minutes (2 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff) and Main Engine Cutoff (MECO), about T+8:30 minutes. The Shuttle would then have landed at a predesignated airstrip across the Atlantic. The last four TAL sites until the Shuttle's retirement were Istres Air Base in France, Zaragoza and Morón air bases in Spain, and RAF Fairford in England. Prior to a Shuttle launch, two sites would be selected based on the flight plan, and were staffed with standby personnel in case they were used. The list of TAL sites changed over time and depended on orbital inclination. Preparations of TAL sites took four to five days and began one week before launch, with the majority of personnel from NASA, the Department of Defense and contractors arriving 48 hours before launch. Additionally, two C-130 aircraft from the Manned Space Flight support office from the adjacent Patrick Air Force Base, including eight crew members, nine pararescuemen, two flight surgeons, a nurse and medical technician, along with 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) of medical equipment were deployed to either Zaragoza, Istres, or both. One or more C-21 or a C-12 aircraft would also be deployed to provide weather reconnaissance in the event of an abort with a TALCOM, or astronaut flight controller aboard for communications with the shuttle pilot and commander. This abort mode was never needed during the entire history of the space shuttle program. Abort Once Around (AOA) An Abort Once Around (AOA) was available were the shuttle unable to reach a stable orbit but had sufficient velocity to circle the earth once and land, about 90 minutes after lift-off. The time window for using the AOA abort was very short: just a few seconds between the TAL and ATO abort opportunities. Therefore, taking this option was very unlikely. This abort mode was never needed during the entire history of the space shuttle program. Abort to Orbit (ATO) An Abort to Orbit (ATO) was available when the intended orbit could not be reached but a lower stable orbit was possible. This occurred on mission STS-51-F, which continued despite the abort to a lower orbit. The Mission Control Center in Houston (located at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) observed an SSME failure and called "Challenger--Houston, Abort ATO. Abort ATO". The moment at which an ATO became possible was referred to as the "press to ATO" moment. In an ATO situation, the spacecraft commander rotated the cockpit abort mode switch to the ATO position and depressed the abort push button. This initiated the flight control software routines which handled the abort. In the event of lost communications, the spacecraft commander could have made the abort decision and taken action independently. A hydrogen fuel leak in one of the SSMEs on STS-93 resulted in a slight underspeed at MECO, but was not an ATO and the shuttle achieved its planned orbit; if the leak had been more severe, it might have necessitated an ATO, RTLS, or TAL abort. There was an order of preference for abort modes: - ATO was the preferred abort option whenever possible. - TAL was the preferred abort option if the vehicle had not yet reached a speed permitting the ATO option. - AOA would have been only used in the brief window between TAL and ATO options. - RTLS resulted in the quickest landing of all abort options, but was considered the riskiest abort. Therefore it would have been selected only in cases where the developing emergency was so time-critical the other aborts were not feasible, or in cases where the vehicle had insufficient energy to reach the other aborts. Unlike all previous U.S. crew vehicles, the shuttle was never flown without astronauts aboard. To provide an incremental non-orbital test, NASA considered making the first mission an RTLS abort. However, STS-1 commander John Young declined, saying, "let's not practice Russian roulette." Contingency aborts involved failure of more than one SSME and would generally have left the orbiter unable to reach a runway. These aborts were intended to ensure the survival of the orbiter long enough for the crew to bailout. Loss of two engines would have generally been survivable by using the remaining engine to optimize the orbiter's trajectory so as to not exceed structural limits during reentry. Loss of three engines could have been survivable outside of certain "black zones" where the orbiter would have failed before bailout was possible. These contingency aborts were added after the destruction of Challenger. Post-Challenger abort enhancements Before the Challenger disaster during STS-51-L, ascent abort options involving failure of more than one SSME were very limited. While failure of a single SSME was survivable throughout ascent, failure of a second SSME prior to about 350 seconds would mean loss of crew and vehicle (LOCV), since no bailout option existed. Studies showed an ocean ditching was not survivable. Furthermore, the loss of a second or third SSME at almost any time during an RTLS abort would have caused a LOCV. After the loss of Challenger in STS-51-L, numerous abort enhancements were added. With those enhancements, the loss of two SSMEs was now survivable for the crew throughout the entire ascent, and the vehicle could survive and land for large portions of the ascent. The struts attaching the orbiter to the external tank were strengthened to better endure a multiple SSME failure during SRB flight. Loss of three SSMEs was survivable for the crew for most of the ascent, although survival in the event of three failed SSMEs before T+90 seconds was unlikely due to design loads being exceeded on the forward orbiter/ET and SRB/ET attach points and still problematic at any time during SRB flight due to controlability during staging. A particular significant enhancement was bailout capability. This is not ejection as with a fighter plane, but an Inflight Crew Escape System (ICES). The vehicle was put in a stable glide on autopilot, the hatch was blown, and the crew slid out a pole to clear the orbiter's left wing. They would then parachute to earth or the sea. While this may at first appear only usable under rare conditions, there were many failure modes where reaching an emergency landing site was not possible yet the vehicle was still intact and under control. Before the Challenger disaster, this almost happened on STS-51-F, when a single SSME failed at about T+345 seconds. The orbiter in that case was also Challenger. A second SSME almost failed due to a spurious temperature reading; fortunately the engine shutdown was inhibited by a quick-thinking flight controller. If the second SSME failed within about 69 seconds of the first, there would have been insufficient energy to cross the Atlantic. Without bailout capability the entire crew would be lost. After the loss of Challenger, those types of failures were made survivable. To facilitate high altitude bailouts, the crew began wearing the Launch Entry Suit and later the Advanced Crew Escape Suit during ascent and descent. Before the Challenger disaster, crews for operational missions wore only fabric flight suits. Another post-Challenger enhancement was the addition of East Coast Abort Landings (ECAL). High-inclination launches (including all ISS missions) were now able to reach an emergency runway on the East Coast of the United States under certain conditions. An ECAL abort was similar to RTLS, but instead of landing at the Kennedy Space Center, the orbiter would attempt to land at another site along the east coast of North America. Various emergency landing sites extended from South Carolina and Bermuda up into Newfoundland, Canada. ECAL was a contingency abort that was less desirable than an intact abort, primarily because there was so little time to choose the landing site and prepare for the orbiter's arrival. The ECAL emergency sites were not as well equipped to accommodate an orbiter landing as those prepared for an RTLS abort. Numerous other abort refinements were added, mainly involving improved software for managing vehicle energy in various abort scenarios. These enabled a greater chance of reaching an emergency runway for various SSME failure scenarios. Ejection escape systems An ejection escape system, sometimes called a launch escape system, had been discussed many times for the shuttle. After the Challenger and Columbia losses, great interest was expressed in this. All previous US manned space vehicles had launch escape systems, although none was ever used. Modified Lockheed SR-71 ejection seats were installed on the first four shuttle flights (all two-man missions aboard Columbia) and removed afterwards. Ejection seats were not further developed for the shuttle for several reasons: - Very difficult to eject seven crew members when three or four were on the middeck (roughly the center of the forward fuselage), surrounded by substantial vehicle structure. - Limited ejection envelope. Ejection seats only work up to about 3,400 miles per hour (3,000 kn; 5,500 km/h) and 130,000 feet (39,624 m). That constituted a very limited portion of the shuttle's operating envelope, about the first 100 seconds of the 510 seconds powered ascent. - No help during Columbia-type reentry accident. Ejecting during an atmospheric reentry accident would have been fatal due to the high temperatures and wind blast at high Mach speeds. - Astronauts were skeptical of the ejector seats' usefulness. STS-1 pilot Robert Crippen stated: [I]n truth, if you had to use them while the solids were there, I don’t believe you’d—if you popped out and then went down through the fire trail that’s behind the solids, that you would have ever survived, or if you did, you wouldn't have a parachute, because it would have been burned up in the process. But by the time the solids had burned out, you were up to too high an altitude to use it. ... So I personally didn't feel that the ejection seats were really going to help us out if we really ran into a contingency. The Soviet shuttle Buran was planned to be fitted with the crew emergency escape system, which would have included K-36RB (K-36M-11F35) seats and the Strizh full-pressure suit, qualified for altitudes up to 30,000 m and speeds up to Mach 3. Buran flew only once in fully automated mode without a crew, thus the seats were never installed and were never tested in real human space flight. An alternative to ejection seats was an escape crew capsule or cabin escape system where the crew ejected in protective capsules, or the entire cabin is ejected. Such systems have been used on several military aircraft. The B-58 Hustler, XB-70 Valkyrie, General Dynamics F-111 and early prototypes of the Rockwell B-1 Lancer used cabin ejection. Like ejection seats, capsule ejection for the shuttle would have been difficult because no easy way existed to exit the vehicle. Several crewmembers sat in the middeck, surrounded by substantial vehicle structure. Cabin ejection would work for a much larger portion of the flight envelope than ejection seats, as the crew would be protected from temperature, wind blast, and lack of oxygen or vacuum. In theory an ejection cabin could have been designed to withstand reentry, although that would entail additional cost, weight and complexity. Cabin ejection was not pursued for several reasons: - Major modifications required to shuttle, likely taking several years. During much of the period the vehicle would be unavailable. - Cabin ejection systems are heavy, thus incurring a significant payload penalty. - Cabin ejection systems are much more complex than ejection seats. They require devices to cut cables and conduits connecting the cabin and fuselage. The cabin must have aerodynamic stabilization devices to avoid tumbling after ejection. The large cabin weight mandates a very large parachute, with a more complex extraction sequence. Air bags must deploy beneath the cabin to cushion impact or provide flotation. To make on-the-pad ejections feasible, the separation rockets would have to be quite large. In short, many complex things must happen in a specific timed sequence for cabin ejection to be successful, and in a situation where the vehicle might be disintegrating. If the airframe twisted or warped, thus preventing cabin separation, or debris damaged the landing airbags, stabilization, or any other cabin system, the occupants would likely not survive. - Added risk due to many large pyrotechnic devices. Even if not needed, the many explosive devices needed to separate the cabin entail some risk of premature or uncommanded detonation. - Cabin ejection is much more difficult, expensive and risky to retrofit on a vehicle not initially designed for it. If the shuttle was initially designed with a cabin escape system, that might have been more feasible. - Cabin/capsule ejection systems have a patchy success record, likely because of the complexity. Space Shuttle abort history \|Date\|\|Orbiter\|\|Mission\|\|Type of Abort\|\|Time of Abort\|\|Description\| \|1984-06-26\|\|Discovery\|\|STS-41-D\|\|RSLS\|\|T-4 seconds\|\|Sluggish valve detected in Space shuttle main engine (SSME) #3. Discovery rolled back to VAB for engine replacement.\| \|1985-07-12\|\|Challenger\|\|STS-51-F\|\|RSLS\|\|T-3 seconds\|\|Coolant valve problem with SSME #2. Valve was replaced on launch pad.\| \|1985-07-29\|\|Challenger\|\|STS-51-F\|\|ATO\|\|T+5 minutes, 45 seconds\|\|Sensor problem shutdown SSME #1. Mission continued in lower than planned orbit.\| \|1993-03-22\|\|Columbia\|\|STS-55\|\|RSLS\|\|T-3 seconds\|\|Problem with purge pressure readings in the oxidizer preburner on SSME #2. All engines replaced on pad.\| \|1993-08-12\|\|Discovery\|\|STS-51\|\|RSLS\|\|T-3 seconds\|\|Sensor that monitors flow of hydrogen fuel in SSME #2 failed. All engines replaced on launch pad.\| \|1994-08-18\|\|Endeavour\|\|STS-68\|\|RSLS\|\|T-1 second\|\|Sensor detected higher than acceptable readings of the discharge temperature of the high pressure oxidizer turbopump in SSME #3. Endeavour rolled back to VAB to replace all 3 engines. A test firing at Stennis Space Center confirmed a drift in the fuel flow meter which resulted in a slower start in the engine which caused the higher temperatures.\| Emergency landing sites Pre-determined emergency landing sites for the Orbiter were determined on a mission-by-mission basis according to the mission profile, weather and regional political situations. Emergency landing sites during the shuttle program included: Sites in which an Orbiter has landed are listed in bold, but none is an emergency landing. - Kingsford-Smith International Airport, Sydney, New South Wales (until 1986) - RAAF Base Amberley, Ipswich, Queensland - RAAF Base Darwin, Darwin, Northern Territory - RAAF Base Pearce, Perth, Western Australia - CFB Goose Bay, Goose Bay, Labrador - CFB Namao, Edmonton, Alberta (until 1994) - Gander International Airport, Gander, Newfoundland - Stephenville International Airport, Stephenville, Newfoundland - St. John's International Airport, St. John's, Newfoundland - Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Halifax, Nova Scotia - RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, England (from 1981) - RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, England - RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, England - RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire, England (until 1996) - RAF Machrihanish, Campbeltown, Scotland - RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, England - RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England (until 1993) British Overseas Territories - Andersen Air Force Base, Guam - Atlantic City International Airport, Pomona, New Jersey - Bangor International Airport, Bangor, Maine - MCAS Cherry Point, Havelock, North Carolina - Columbus Air Force Base, Columbus, Mississippi - Dover Air Force Base, Dover, Delaware - Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene, Texas - East Texas Regional Airport, Longview, Texas - Edwards Air Force Base, California - Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, South Dakota - Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska - Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Sierra Vista, Arizona - Francis S. Gabreski Airport, Long Island, New York - Grant County International Airport, Moses Lake, Washington - Grand Forks Air Force Base, Grand Forks, North Dakota - Griffiss International Airport, Rome, New York - Grissom Air Force Base, Kokomo, Indiana - Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii - John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, New York - Lehigh Valley International Airport, Allentown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Airport, Lincoln, Nebraska - Mountain Home Air Force Base, Mountain Home, Idaho - Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida - Otis Air National Guard Base, Falmouth, Massachusetts - Pease Air Force Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire - Plattsburgh Air Force Base, Plattsburgh, New York - Portsmouth International Airport, Portsmouth, New Hampshire - Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh, New York - Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee, Massachusetts - White Sands Space Harbor, White Sands, New Mexico - Wilmington International Airport, Wilmington, North Carolina - Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio Democratic Republic of the Congo Other locations In the event of an emergency deorbit that would bring the Orbiter down in an area not within range of a designated emergency landing site, the Orbiter was theoretically capable of landing on any paved runway that was at least 3 km (9,800 ft) long, which included the majority of large commercial airports. In practice, a US or allied military airfield would have been preferred for reasons of security arrangements and minimizing the disruption of commercial air traffic. - Apollo abort modes - Launch escape system - NASA Space Shuttle decision - Orion abort modes - Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Space Shuttle Columbia disaster - Space Shuttle program - NASA - Mission Profile - "Shuttle Abort Modes". Shuttle Reference and Data. NASA. Retrieved 2006-12-09. - "Return to Launch Site". NASA.gov. Retrieved February 2015. - "Contingency Aborts". NASA.gov. Retrieved February 2015. - Mullane, Mike (2006). Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut. New York: Scribner. p. 588. - "Space Shuttle Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) Sites". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. December 2006. Retrieved 2009-07-01. - "Astronauts in Danger". Popular Mechanics. December 2000. Retrieved 2006-12-09. - "Space Shuttle Abort Evolution". ntrs.nasa.gov. Retrieved February 2015. - "Robert L. Crippen", NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, 26 May 2006. - "Emergency escape systems of RD&PE Zvezda". - Dennis R. Jenkins (2001). Space shuttle: the history of the National Space Transportation System : the first 100 missions. - Worldwide Shuttle Landing Site information - Kerrie Dougherty and Matthew L. James (1993). Space Australia: the story of Australia's involvement in space. Powerhouse. - "NASA SPACE SHUTTLE EMERGENCY LANDING SITE CONTINGENCY PLAN". Transport Canada. - CFB Namao Alberta Online Encyclopedia - Alberta's Aviation Heritage. Retrieved: 2011-03-01 - "France to assist NASA with the future launches of the Space Shuttle". Retrieved 2009-08-27. - "Somaliland's missing identity". BBC. 5 May 2005. - "NASA Names North Carolina Airport Emergency Landing Site for Shuttle". Retrieved 2009-01-17.	25
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides, also known by the acronym Rambam, lived over eight hundred years ago (1138-1204 CE). He never saw the planet Earth as Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders did on December 24, 1968, when Anders took the now iconic Earthrise photograph while flying... Just released ADL audit shows significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents Chris Martin, Rihanna back new Jay Z streaming music service Boston bombing jury hears of grisly deaths, defense calls first witness Producer Harvey Weinstein investigated for alleged sexual assault One dead, one hurt as two try to ram U.S. spy agency gates The Republican road to the White House runs through Israel Germanwings crash pilot previously had suicidal tendencies ‘The Daily Show’ chooses Jon Stewart’s successor January 4, 2013 \| 11:26 am June 18, 1998 \| 8:00 pm Students of drama are well acquainted withAristotle's view about the "fatal flaw." Protagonists of tragedy, nomatter how exalted, are brought down by a tragic flaw from within:bad judgment or bad character. Centuries before Aristotle developed his theory,the Torah illustrated it,...	25
Ancient Walls Discovered On Mars In NASA Photo, June 2014, UFO Sighting News. - Uploaded by Exopoliticstv on Jun 28, 2014 - Hits: 610 Date of discovery: June 2014Location of discovery: was looking over Mars photos when I came across this unique photo with massive walls throughout. The walls look like they were there to protect a city long ago. There are also some rectangle structures lined up one by one at the end section of one wall. If we saw these same structures on Earth, we would naturally assume that they were stone walls built by an ancient people. I believe in this matter that archeologists view would be more useful than that of NASA. We all know NASA doesn't like commenting about the possibility of life existing on Mars, so they will be no help in this matter.	25
Latest Asteroid Stories An asteroid about the size of a football stadium may slightly have a chance of impacting Earth in 2040, but new estimates show it's hardly a threat. After successfully completing nearly five months scrutinizing the giant asteroid Vesta at its lowest orbit altitude, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin its final major science data-gathering phase at Vesta on June 15. A huge asteroid the size of a city block will be skimming by Earth on Thursday night at 8:00 eastern time. The giant space rock is about 1,650-feet wide and is big enough to qualify as a potentially hazardous asteroid. A new video from NASA's Dawn mission reveals the dappled, variegated surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The animation drapes high-resolution false color images over a 3-D model of the Vesta terrain constructed from Dawn's observations. The work of a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, professor has helped reveal a rare orbital shift and the density of an asteroid that will pass close to Earth. The long and tumultuous history of asteroid (21) Lutetia is revealed by a comprehensive analysis of the data gathered by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft when it flew past this large main-belt asteroid on 10 July 2010. A NASA scientist would be a shoe-in at any state or county fair if hosting the "guess your weight" game. Steve Chesley of JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office has accurately determine the mass of an asteroid from millions of miles away. NASA has just received observations from its WISE mission, giving them the best assessment thus far of how many potentially hazardous asteroids are floating around in our solar system. Johann Daniel Titius was born on January 2, 1729 in Konitz, Royal Prussia. He was a professor at Wittenberg. He is most famous for the Titius-Bode law, which helped him find the existence of a minor planet at 2.8 AU from the sun in 1766. The planet was later named Ceres. Titius died in Wittenberg on December 11, 1796. To his honor, the Titius asteroid in 1998 and the Titius lunar crater are named after him. Lagrangian Point -- In Lagrangian mechanics, a Lagrangian point (or L-point) is one of five positions in space where the gravitational fields of two bodies of substantial but differing mass combine to form a point at which a third body of negligible mass would be stationary relative to the two bodies. Bodies at the L-point will not move relative to the parent bodies if they are not perturbed by other gravitational forces. They are sometimes also referred to as libration points. The... Planet -- A planet is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that doesn't produce energy through nuclear fusion. Until recently, only nine were known (all of them in our own Solar system). As of the end of 2002 over 100 are known, with all of the new discoveries being extrasolar planets. Astronomers often call asteroids minor planets, and call the larger planetary bodies (those which are commonly called planets) major planets. Planets within the solar system can be... Asteroid -- An asteroid, also called a minor planet or planetoid, is a member of a group of small, planet-like bodies that are part of our solar system. They are believed to be remnants of the interstellar clouds, nebula, that were not incorporated into planets during the formation of the solar system. The largest asteroid in the inner solar system is Ceres with a diameter of 1003 km. It also was the first to be discovered, by Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1, 1801. Nowadays, over 9000... The Solar System refers to the area in space that is dominated by our own Sun. It is comprised of the Sun and its associated astronomical objects that are held in its gravitational orbit. The Solar System was formed as a result of the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The mass of this system is located almost entirely in the Sun. Apart from the Sun, a high percentage of the remainder of the system’s mass is located in the eight solitary planets that... - To play, gamble. - To impose upon; delude; trick; humbug; also, to joke; chaff. - A deceitful game or trick; trickery; humbug; nonsense.	25
\|Colongitude\|\|12° at sunrise\| Eratosthenes is a relatively deep lunar impact crater that lies on the boundary between the Mare Imbrium and Sinus Aestuum mare regions. It forms the western terminus of the Montes Apenninus mountain range. The crater has a well-defined circular rim, terraced inner wall, central mountain peaks, an irregular floor, and an outer rampart of ejecta. It lacks a ray system of its own, but is overlain by rays from the prominent crater Copernicus to the south-west. The Eratosthenian period in the lunar geological timescale is named after this crater, though it does not define the start of this time period. The crater is believed to have been formed about 3.2 billion years ago. At low Sun-angles, this crater is prominent due to the shadow cast by the rim. When the Sun is directly overhead, however, Eratosthenes visually blends into the surroundings, and it becomes more difficult for an observer to locate it. The rays from Copernicus lie across this area, and their higher albedo serves as a form of camouflage. In 1851 Shropshire Astronomer Henry Blunt constructed a model of the moon's surface showing Eratosthenes. The model is based on observations made by Blunt with a reflecting telescope from his home in Shrewsbury and was displayed in the same year at the Great Exhibition, London. In 1910–1920th, William H. Pickering noted dark patches in the crater that varied in a regular manner over each lunar day. He put forward the speculative idea that these patches appeared to migrate across the surface, suggestive of herds of small life forms. The idea received a degree of attention primarily due to Pickering's reputation. By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Eratosthenes. - Wilhelms D. (1987). "Chapter 12. Eratosthenian System". Geologic History of the Moon. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1348. pp. 249–250. Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. - Pickering, W. H. (1919). "Eratosthenes I, a study for the amateur". Popular Astronomy 27: 579–583. Bibcode:1919PA.....27..579P. - Pickering, W. H. (1924). "Eratosthenes, No. 6". Popular Astronomy 32: 392–404. Bibcode:1924PA.....32..393P. - Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097. - Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2015-03-14. - Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4. - Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 978-0-936389-27-1. - McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24. - Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763. - Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6. - Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3. - Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4. - Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3. - Whitaker, Ewen A. (2003). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54414-6. - Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-852-33193-1.	25
One therapeutic dose of radiation causes 30 percent spongy bone loss in mice Bethesda, MD. (July 12, 2006) – Mice receiving just one therapeutic dose of radiation lost up to 39% of the spongy portion of their inner bone, reducing the inner bone's weight bearing connections by up to 64%, researchers reported. The study, which appears in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, has implications for patients receiving radiation therapy and astronauts traveling on long space flights. "We were really surprised at the extent of bone loss," said lead researcher Ted A. Bateman of Clemson University. "We're seeing bone loss at much lower doses of radiation than we expected." The mice suffered the loss of trabecular bone, the spongy area of bone inside the dense outer area known as the cortical bone. "It's interesting that the trabecular bone, not the cortical bone, suffered the damage," said Bateman, a bioengineer who studies bone biomechanics. The remaining spongy bone must redistribute the load to bear the weight, but this makes the bone support structure less efficient and leaves the bone more vulnerable to fracture. "A murine model for bone loss from therapeutic and space-relevant sources of radiation," by Sarah A. Hamilton, Neil D. Travis, Jeffrey S. Willey, Eric R. Bandstra and Ted A. Bateman, Clemson University; and Michael J. Pecaut, Daila S. Gridley and Gregory A. Nelson, Loma Linda University and Medical Center, appears in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, published by The American Physiological Society. Mouse model applies to humans The results of a mouse study cannot be directly applied to humans. However, both mice and humans lose bone after radiation exposure, so the results raise a red flag. Bateman noted that a recent clinical study of 6,000 cancer patients reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that post-menopausal women who received pelvic radiation for cervical and colorectal cancer increased their bone fracture risk by 60%. Radiation following anal cancer increased the risk of fracture by 200%, he said. Astronauts lose 2% of bone mass for each month they are exposed to the effects of microgravity. So far, astronauts have not been exposed to the increased radiation of outer space, but that will change when they undertake a proposed 30-month trip to Mars, Bateman said. NASA has focused on radiation's cancer-causing properties and its ability to compromise the central nervous and immune systems. But the effect on bone health is an unexamined concern. The murine (mouse) model such as the one in this study provides a way to study the physiological effects of radiation using controlled experiments. Clinical studies of people who undergo radiation to treat cancer are limited because of the complicating factors of the illness itself and the chemotherapy which often accompanies it. "You can't study this in people, so having a well-defined animal model is important," Bateman said. Study focuses on four types of radiation In the current study, the mice received a single 2 Gray (Gy) dose, which is comparable to the single dose of 1-2 Gy that human cancer patients receive. However, cancer patients receive a series of doses over the course of therapy, totaling 10-70 Gy. (The amount of radiation in a Gy varies, because it is calculated based on the recipient's weight.) The mice were divided into five groups. The control group received no radiation. Each of the remaining four groups received a different type of radiation: gamma, proton, ion or carbon. Those exposed to the carbon radiation suffered 39% spongy bone loss; proton, 35%; ion, 34%; and gamma, 29%. The loss of spongy connections in the four groups ranged from 46-64%, he said. Cancer patients typically receive either gamma or, less commonly, proton radiation. Astronauts on a Mars mission are expected to receive extended periods of low-dose radiation of multiple types, including protons and heavy ions, Bateman said. "A murine model for bone loss from therapeutic and space-relevant sources of radiation," by S.A. Hamilton, N.D. Travis, J.S. Willey and T.A. Bateman, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina; M.J. Pecaut, D.S. Gridley and G.A. Nelson, department of Radiation Medicine, Loma Linda University and Medical Center, Loma Linda, California, appears in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology published by The American Physiological Society. Bateman's team received the mouse bones from the Loma Linda group, which had used the mice to examine the effects of radiation on the immune system. Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and NASA provided grants to fund this research. Bateman will be at the Kennedy Space Center and available for interviews July 13-17 to give a presentation to university undergraduate students spending the summer at the Spaceflight and Lunar Sciences Technology Program. The media may obtain a copy of Hamilton et al. by contacting Christine Guilfoy, American Physiological Society, (301) 634-7253 or [email protected]. The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied bioscience. The Bethesda, Maryland-based society has 10,500 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals containing almost 4,000 articles annually. APS provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding the mechanisms of diseased and healthy states. In 2004, APS received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.	25
SCOTT SIMON, host: Fifty years ago, the skies above has got a little more crowded. The Soviet Union launched a shiny sphere about the size of a basketball into outer space. Radio Moscow made an announcement that stunned the world. (Soundbite of archived Radio Moscow reporting) Unidentified Man #1: The first artificial Earth satellite in the world has now been created. This first satellite was today successfully launched in the U.S.S.R. SIMON: It was Sputnik - the world's first man-made satellite and the birth of the space age. Sputnik spun around the Earth every 96 minutes. Two tiny radio transmitters inside emitted little chirps that could be picked up by ham radio operators around the world. (Soundbite of Sputnik voice through radio transmission) DANIEL SCHORR: The voice of the Sputnik. SIMON: And the voice of the Daniel Schorr, who was Moscow bureau chief for CBS News in 1957. Nikita Khrushchev was the Soviet premier. It was the height of the Cold War. We've invited Dan Schorr to recall those days along with Nikita Khrushchev's son, Sergei, who was with his father the night that Sputnik was launched. Sergei Khrushchev is now a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, and he joins us from Providence, Rhode Island. Mr. Khrushchev, where were you when you found out about Sputnik? Dr. SERGEI KHRUSHCHEV (Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University): I was with my father in the Kiev - it is the capital for Ukraine - talking with the Ukrainian officials. And my father and I knew that this day they planned to launch the satellite. And that Sergei Korolev will call. SIMON: Sergei Korolev, we should explain, was the chief designer. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: Yes. And he usually called Khrushchev the same as other designers after any launch, not only Sputnik. And it was close to the midnight. And then door was half-opened and his aide put his head in and told, Comrade Khrushchev, you have a call. And then in 15 minutes, he came back, smiling on his face and told loudly, gentlemen, I will tell you the news, it is a very good news, we launched the satellite. And then the same aide came and told now Sputnik will be in our area. We can listen beep, beep. And he turned on a receiver that was then the (unintelligible) found this frequency and we just listened to the beep, beep, beep, beep. (Soundbite of beep) SIMON: Dan Schorr, where were you? SCHORR: Oh, I was in Moscow. And so I was among the handful of American correspondents in Moscow, shaking out of their beds, to be told that the Soviets have launched satellite around the Earth. I haven't even knew what the concept meant because we, in the United States, had not gotten that far yet. And I obviously did an awful lot of broadcasting because of a great deal of interest. (Soundbite of archived news report) SCHORR: The men in charge of Russia's Earth satellite program says today that Soviet scientists are now working on the problem of launching a satellite that will return to this Earth undamaged. And (unintelligible), though the main Soviet papers today devote more than half their space to the satellite with front page, banner headlines such as, rarely seen in this country, there are precious few scientific details being divulged. The headlines are about glorious victory of Soviet science, or as the communist newspaper says in a banner, the first in the world is ours. SCHORR: In the early morning queues at newsstands, you could see that something exciting had happened and Russians then were beginning to find out about Sputnik, about which had been no word given in advance that it was going to happen. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: Really, it isn't true there was no words. It was the publication and the newspapers based in Prague that under the plan of the research of the International Geophysical Year, the Soviet Union planning to launch satellite. SCHORR: But, Mr. Khrushchev, you will understand if I say that when you say these things about someday there will be a satellite, we did not take it terrible someday going to the moon, and we did not take it terribly seriously. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: No. They didn't tell some day. They told in the time of the International Geophysical Year. That mean in the 1957 and first part 1958. It was just - but it was no date, of course, because nobody knew when it will be possible to launch. SIMON: You know, I haven't heard a good Soviet-American argument for years so this really takes me back. (Soundbite of laughter) Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: No. I will not argue with Daniel. SIMON: Let me - I want Dan Schorr to read a section from his script on October 7 of 1957, if we can. And I think this will give some idea of what Dan and other Americans noticed. SCHORR: So this is what I said in a report on October 7th to CBS network. (Reading) The Soviet satellite spinning its elliptical course around the Earth has been reported seen with a naked eye in Alma-Ata in far off Kazakhstan, looking like a little red star. And this may be symbolic for today the uses of this purely scientific fact as an instrument of Soviet policy are becoming clearer, probably saying that the Earth's satellite crossing America seven times a day, twice close to Washington, should teach American ruling circles the necessity of peaceful coexistence. (Soundbite of archived news report) SCHORR: The United States is depicted as being in a state of admiration, confusion and surprise. And Russians are told that the American myth of a Soviet lag in science has been exploded. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: That is true because when we talk about the satellite, we have to remember that the main goal of all these research just to prevent possible American attack against Soviet Union. If we look in the history, you will see a discussion in the Congress, one after another they planned how many Russian cities have to be destroyed by the nuclear attack. And we're living under this fear that they will decide when they will kill you. The general only may wrote in a note to the President Eisenhower that he thinks that will be a good time to sacrifice 100 million of the Russian lives to defend American democracy. It's very similar in Iraq and I can nderstand the Iranians now; they're living in the same conditions. So our feeling was not about the satellite that we have to have retaliation ability that prevent American to kill us because we want to stay alive. SCHORR: So you are saying that although it was advertised as being a scientific achievement, the government of your father still wanted to be known especially in Washington, that if you would do this you could also send intercontinental missiles? Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: Yeah. The first it was intercontinental missiles and then my father took me with him to the Korolev design bureau in February 1956. First, Korolev showed his air seven missile and they told that it can reach territory over the continental United States in 40 minutes. And then in the corner, he showed him the stand that he told we can launch satellite too. SCHORR: Were you aware that there was always the United States who tried to diminish the importance of Sputnik 1? I remembered Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, President Eisenhower's secretary of state, saying something like so what's so big about this? Anybody can throw a piece of iron into orbit. SIMON: President Eisenhower congratulated the Soviets but he minimized the military significance of Sputnik. (Soundbite of archived recording) President DWIGHT EISENHOWER: As far as the satellite itself is concerned, that doesn't raise my apprehensions, not one iota. I see nothing at this moment - at this stage of development that is significant as far as security is concern. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: But, of course, it was the Cold War and especially for the United States is - well, they're shocked because for the first time, Soviet Union really challenged the United States, we can do it and you cannot. SCHORR: True. We, in the United States, tended to think that Russia was a somewhat backward country. SCHORR: And the idea that this great, enormous achievement could be done by these people - woke up Americans. For example, we began to examine what was wrong with our education system. And then we had the National Defense Education Act that was signed by President Eisenhower that was directly under the influence of the fear that the United States was being outstripped in a whole range of scientific matters by the Russians. SIMON: To remark on the obvious as we conclude, something extraordinary in the fact that 50 years after this event, we are all together, electronically sitting at the same table with the American reporter who covered it for CBS News and the son of the man who was then the party chairman and head of the Soviet Union who's now an American. What does that mean? Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: That means that we are living in the 21st century. The 21st century is very different from the 20th century. And I'm now very proud that I'm American, at the same time I'm a Russian citizen. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: And that I tried to bring better knowledge to my students about the Russia and the former Soviet Union. SCHORR: May I mention, in passing, Mr. Khrushchev, if I haven't told you this before, that I spent a lot of time with your father traveling where he traveled - to the United States, to Austria, to France and many, many times at receptions in Moscow. And so when he would see me come up to him somewhere and once he said that, oh there's Mr. Schorr, my sputnik. (Soundbite of laughter) SIMON: So thanks very much, Dan Schorr and Sergei Khrushchev. Thanks very much for being with us. Dr. KHRUSHCHEV: Thank you for the invitation. SIMON: NPR's coverage of the Sputnik anniversary continues tomorrow morning on WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.	25
NASA’s Stardust-Next spacecraft flew past Comet Tempel 1 at 8:38 Pacific time Monday night, snapping photos as it sped by. In 2005, the Deep Impact probe blew a crater into Tempel 1 with an 800-pound metal slug. Since then, Tempel 1 has completed an orbit around the sun, losing ice and other material to the sun’s hot glare along the way. The new images will give astronomers new insight into how a comet is slowly destroyed by the sun. “This is something we’ve never been able to see before,” said principal investigator Joe Veverka of Cornell University in an interview on NASA TV during the flyby. “We know every time a comet comes close to the sun, it loses material. But we don’t know where those changes occur.” Stardust-Next, which originally launched as “Stardust” in 1999, swooped within 124 miles of Tempel 1’s icy, dirty core at about 24,300 miles per hour. The spacecraft took a total of 72 science images, 46 as it approached and 26 as it receded from the comet. As it approached, it snapped pictures once every 6 seconds. The new images started arriving at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, about three hours after the spacecraft made its closest approach. Each image took 15 minutes to download. The Stardust crew wanted to download the five closest images first, but an unknown error sent the photos in the order in which they were taken. The astronomers had to wait until 6 a.m. Tuesday Pacific time to get the good stuff. Luckily, the images were everything the science team hoped for. “If you ask me, was this mission 100 percent successful, in terms of the science? I would have to say no,” Veverka said in a press conference Feb. 15. “It was 1,000 percent successful!” Stardust-Next shot photos of new terrain that had never been seen before, as well as areas on Tempel 1 that had been covered by Deep Impact. The images showed that several regions changed significantly over the past five years. One of the most interesting areas looks like a blanket of material that erupted from beneath the comet’s surface and flowed downhill. That flow is now receding due to erosion, Veverka said. “It goes much against the idea that [comets are] just icy dirtballs where nothing has happened since their formation,” Veverka said. “Apparently a lot of things have happened.” The spacecraft also found the crater Deep Impact blew in the comet’s surface. Deep Impact never saw its handiwork, because the crater was obscured by all the dust and ice kicked up in the impact. “That created a lot of mystery, and it also helped create this mission,” said Stardust-Next co-investigator Pete Schultz of Brown University. The crater is about 150 meters (492 feet) across, and has a small central mound. It looks as if the cloud of material Deep Impact excavated fell back to the surface. “The surface of the comet where we hit is very weak. It’s fragile,” Schutlz said. “The crater partly healed itself.” Flying close to a comet is a risky business. Comets spew jets of gas and dust from beneath their surfaces, which act as little rocket thrusters, making the comet’s position hard to predict. In the final 16 hours, the spacecraft has to navigate on its own — signals from Earth would be too slow to direct last-second turns. And for five minutes before and after closest approach, Stardust-Next had to roll on its side to make sure the cameras were pointing straight at the comet’s heart, a maneuver that could have temporarily cut off communication with Earth. The spacecraft also has to fly through the hailstorm of the comet’s coma, where clumps of dirt and ice collide and come apart. Co-investigator Don Brownlee of the University of Washington compared the spacecraft’s flight to a B-17 in World War II flying through flak. Stardust-Next’s instruments recorded about 5,000 dust strikes during the flyby, about 12 of which were large enough — a millimeter across — to pierce the spacecraft’s main shield. But Stardust-Next is a flyby veteran. The spacecraft has traveled a total of 3,525,327,446 miles since its 1999 launch, It visited asteroid Annefrank in 2002 and comet Wild 2 (pronounced “willed two”) in 2004. Stardust caught particles from Wild 2’s cloudy coma in an instrument that resembled a catcher’s mitt, and in 2006 sent them back to Earth, where they are still being analyzed. The flyby went without a hitch, the Stardust team said. The spacecraft was in almost the perfect position to photograph the comet when it arrived, and only had to roll half-a-degree to adjust its cameras. The spacecraft’s near-perfect performance is particularly impressive considering its age. The 12-year-old probe was put together from recycled parts cribbed from the Voyager mission of the 1970s, the Galileo spacecraft in 1989 and the Cassini probe in 1997. Reusing an already recycled spacecraft makes this mission space science on a shoestring, said Ed Weiler, NASA associate director for the science mission directorate. The extended mission, from after the Wild 2 samples returned to Earth until today, cost about $29 million. It would have cost about $500 million to start from scratch. But Tempel 1 will be Stardust’s last stop. The spacecraft is running on fumes. It will continue to take photos of the comet over it shoulder for another week or two, until its fuel runs out. Then it will at last retire into the blackness of space. Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell. Animation: Dave Mosher/Wired.com.	25
A few years ago, NASA contemplated a daunting dilemma. If an astronaut went on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station to fix some equipment and was somehow injured in the process, how would he or she be checked out for possible broken bones? It was impractical to put a big, bulky X-ray machine or an MRI or CAT device on the station, where space is at a premium. The orbiting facility does have access to ultrasound equipment, which uses high-frequency sound waves to make a picture of the inside body, and is light and compact enough to fit into the equivalent of two large suitcases. But that presented another problem, because performing and analyzing an ultrasound exam would require that astronauts devote 18 months to special training, on top of all their other preparations for space. Fortunately, Scott Dulchavsky, a surgeon who is an investigator with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, had an ingenious brainstorm. What if NASA set up a communications link that allowed experts back on Earth to guide the astronauts in performing ultrasounds, and then see the results on a screen so that they could make a diagnosis? It was an innovation that turned to be lifesaver—not just in space, but on Earth, where telemedicine systems similar to the one on the ISS now allow traveling nurses in remote parts of Africa, South America and the Arctic to use portable ultrasound devices to perform scans on pregnant women and relay the data via cellphone to doctors hundreds or thousands of miles away. “Somebody could have done this on Earth, possibly, but they didn’t,” explains Julie Robinson, NASA’s chief scientist for the program. “Necessity in space is what drove it.” The remote ultrasound process is just one of a vast number of technological innovations developed as a result of the space station. Some are the sort of inventions that you’d expect from research on an orbital spacecraft, such as a magnetic docking system that makes it easier to retrieve small satellites, and a new high-tech coating for insulation that allows it to better withstand the rigors of space. But the station, surprisingly, also has generated scores of health-related breakthroughs--ranging from a method for delivering cancer-fighting medication directly to tumors and a device that can help asthmatics breathe easier, to a robotic arm that can perform delicate surgery inside an MRI machine. In 2005, Congress officially designated NASA’s portion of the station as an official national laboratory, Today, with the help of private sector funding, scientists in diverse disciplines ranging from physics to physiology benefit from doing experiments in a microgravity environment, where chemicals, materials and the human body itself tends to behave differently than on Earth. “If you don’t control every variable, you really don’t understand your system,” Robinson explains. “And all of science has been done with gravity, not controlled, as a variable.” As a result, “we keep on having these huge surprises” when experiments are replicated in orbit. They also can create better vacuums, and observe the effects of radiation levels that are higher than on our planet’s surface, though not as dangerously intense as deep space. Congress’s mandate requires half of the station’s research to provide benefits to people on Earth. But as Robinson explains, even experiments designed purely for increasing scientific knowledge or furthering NASA’s mission of space exploration also eventually have an application on the ground as well. One prime example, she says, is research to study the effects of the space environment upon salmonella, a bacterium that causes food poisoning. NASA was worried that the microbe might possibly pose a greater danger to astronauts’ immune systems, which are weakened in orbit. But the scientists made a discovery with more far-reaching implications, when they were able to identify a set of genes that controlled salmonella’s degree of virulence, and figured out how to turn it on or off. The space station also provided pharmaceutical manufacturer Amgen with the opportunity to test several medications for their ability to curb wasting loss of bone and muscle, processes that occur far more rapidly in microgravity than they do on Earth. (“An elderly woman with osteoporosis loses about 1.5 percent of her bones per year on Earth,” Robinson explains. “An astronaut, without any intervention, would lose about 1.5 percent each month.”) NASA flew laboratory mice to the station to further the drug maker’s studies. As a result, one of the drugs, Prolia, is now on the market, while others are making their way through the federal regulatory pipeline. Another recent line of space station research is aimed at finding a way to protect astronauts’ vision, which sometimes worsens on space missions, apparently because microgravity causes increased intercranial pressure that squishes their optic nerves. “It’s related to the fluid shift to the head, from not having gravity pulling your body fluid down to your feet,” Robinson says. (For reasons that remain mysterious, the condition only affects male astronauts, and bothers some but not others.) Eventually, space station researchers hope to find a noninvasive way to measure intercranial pressure, a breakthrough that could benefit patients on Earth as well. NASA also has developed numerous technologies in the space station program which are now available for commercial licensing. In order to purify water on the station, for example, researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center developed an innovative filtration device that utilizes acoustics rather than gravitational pressure to push water through small-diameter carbon nanotubes, which act as a filter. “The innovation is applicable to numerous situations on Earth where there is a need to collect potable, medical-grade water from a contaminated water supply,” NASA’s website explains. The space agency is also offering the rights to a special exercise machine, whose springs and cams are designed to provide astronauts’ muscles with the same degree of resistance in a microgravity environment that they would experience while lifting weights or running on a treadmill on Earth. On Earth, that gadget might someday enable fitness club exercisers or physical therapy patients to get a more productive workout.	25
RICHMOND, Ky. -- Eastern Kentucky University has acquired a 33-pound meteorite from an eastern Tennessee family that used the space rock as a doorstop and flower bed ornament over the years. The meteorite was initially found in a cow pasture near Tazewell, Tenn., in the 1930s by Tilmon Brooks, the late grandfather of Donna Lewis, a school secretary in Pineville, Ky. Tests at the University of Tennessee concluded that the meteorite likely came from a known meteorite strike that had first turned up evidence in Tazewell in 1853. EKU's Department of Physics and Astronomy Chairman, Jerry Cook, says the meteorite will be at the Kentucky Academy of Science annual conference on campus Friday and Saturday. Cook said the meteorite, which the university purchased from the Lewises, will be used for educational and outreach purposes, a fact that pleases the former owners most of all. "I saw how excited kids at our school got when they saw it," said Donna Lewis, who works for Pineville Independent Schools. "It's good to know that Eastern will keep it in one piece and students will be able to study it." Cook does not believe the Tazewell meteorite is related to the large meteor strike that carved a four-mile-wide crater where nearby Middlesboro, Ky., now sits. Cook believes the meteorite to be the second largest (known) meteorite from the Tazewell strike. The first, he said, weighed approximately 100 pounds. "We don't want to lock it up somewhere," Cook said. "We want kids to be able to touch it, lift it, and understand what it is. Part of our job is to get kids interested in science, and this . will stir their curiosity." View subscription options	25
A Higher Education: Satellite Startup Aims to Inspire Students Through Experiments in Space A Salt Lake City startup is allowing K-12 students to conduct their own experiments in space by offering remote control access to satellites in orbit. Ardusat says that several dozen schools have already signed up to take advantage of its technology and curriculum, including Goletta Valley Jr. High School, Huntington Beach High and Woodlands High School, all in California. They have additional paying customers in New York, Brazil, China, Guatemala and India. The hope is that providing hands-on experience with devices zipping through low-Earth orbit will inspire more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM subjects on which so much of the modern economy depends. “The broad commercialization of space is opening up unprecedented opportunities to engage in space education and explore career options in STEM fields,” Ardusat President Sunny Washington, who previously worked in online education at Certiport and Instructure, said in a statement. “In previous generations, kids grew up idolizing astronauts who were the select few to exceed Earth’s boundaries. We want to give future generations direct access to the cosmos so they can see science-based education from a whole new perspective.” Ardusat is essentially a spinoff of Spire, a San Francisco company developing the tiny satellites in question. The main commercial use for the company’s “cubesats,” which are four inches by four inches by 12 inches and packed with cameras and sensors, is tracking assets like planes and ships over water. “Our technology lends itself in a unique and powerful way to listen to data from the other three quarters of the planet,” said Peter Platzer, chief executive officer of Spire, in an interview. Additional applications include monitoring trade, spotting illegal fishing and piracy, and aiding search and rescue operations. Platzer said Spire has signed letters of intent with a number of potential customers. Spire raised $25 million in late July through a Series A round led by RRE Ventures and, in turn, has provided seed funding to Ardusat. Spire has deployed four of its relatively inexpensive satellites to date, hitching aboard various third-party rocket operations. The company plans to launch 20 to 25 more over roughly the next year and hopes to reach 50 orbiting satellites soon after. They can each move independently, but operate together as a network, collecting and sharing data at more than 300 miles above the planet. The primary and secondary school experiments can include things like measuring the Earth’s magnetic fields or monitoring air pollution levels, Platzer said. Any school will be able to take advantage of the basic curriculum and tools for free, but paying customers will be allowed to send customized experiments into space aboard satellites set for future launches.	25
Latest New Millennium Program Stories A stunning array of images of our home planet, taken by Earth-observing science satellites, are featured in a new NASA publication. The book, "Earth as Art," is available in hardcover, electronically, and as a free iPad application. NASA's Space Technology Program is seeking proposals to develop solar array systems to enable space electric propulsion systems of the future. Scheduled to fly for a year, designed to last a year and a half, EO-1 celebrated its tenth anniversary on November 21, 2010. MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) and NASA are marking the 10-year anniversary of NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. NASA's Space Technology 5 successfully launched today at 9:04 a.m. EST, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a Pegasus XL rocket. Have you ever noticed how some things just keep getting smaller and smaller? Take our cell phones or personal computers for example. Just a few years ago it would have been impossible to conveniently tuck a cell phone away in a pocket. Now NASA's Space Technology 5 (ST5) Project is building and testing three smaller satellites called micro-satellites. Goddardâ€™s Space Technology 5 (ST5) Project/Code 495 is building and testing that miniaturization concept with three small satellites. Spring thaw in the Northern Hemisphere was monitored by a new set of eyes this year -- an Earth-orbiting NASA spacecraft carrying a new version of software trained to recognize and distinguish snow, ice, and water from space.	25
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity flexed its long robotic arm for the first time on the Red Planet Monday, passing a critical health check with flying colors, mission managers say. The rover unfolded the robotic arm and performed an intricate series of test maneuvers to make sure the 7-foot-long appendage is in good working order. Curiosity's robotic arm has five joints and is tipped with sophisticated instruments to get up close and personal with Mars. Monday's Martian workout flexed all five joints on the robotic arm to extend it out in front of Curiosity, and then fold it back into its travel position ahead of the rover's first drive, which is also expected to occur in the next few days. "It worked just as we planned," Louse Jandura, Curiosity's sample system chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "From telemetry and from the images received this morning, we can confirm that the arm went to the positions we commanded it to go to." Curiosity's robotic arm is one of the rover's most powerful toolkits. At the end of the arm is a bulky 66-pound turret that is nearly 2 feet wide. The arm's turret contains a drill that can dig 1 inch into Martian rocks, a scoop and other gear for collecting samples, a camera for microscopic analyses, and a spectrometer to determine the composition of rocket and surface targets. "We'll start using our sampling system in the weeks ahead, and we're getting ready to try our first drive later this week," said Richard Cook, NASA's deputy project manager for the Curiosity mission. But more robotic arm tests are needed before Curiosity can begin using the appendage to study Mars. The arm, mission managers said, must past several calibration checks to make sure it is working properly. "We have had to sit tight for the first two weeks since landing, while other parts of the rover were checked out, so to see the arm extended in these images is a huge moment for us," said Matt Robinson NASA's lead engineer for the robotic arm testing. "The arm is how we are going to get samples into the laboratory instruments and how we place other instruments onto surface targets." Curiosity's robotic arm is one of 10 high-tech instrument suites built into the car-size rover to study Mars like never before. Monday's arm checkout came one day after Curiosity shot a nearby rock with a laser built into its mast to make sure the tool worked. That tool is part of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (or ChemCam) instrument that determines the composition of targets by zapping them with laser beam and then analyzing the light from the resulting sparks. The laser system, like the robotic arm, worked as expected. The $2.5 billion Mars rover Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet on Aug. 5 and is expected to spend at least two years exploring its Gale Crater landing site. The rover is designed to determine if the region could have ever supported microbial life. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech - Did 'Iron Rain' Bypass the Moon to Fall Mostly on Earth? - Blast-Off! Astronaut and Cosmonaut Leave Earth For A Year \| Video - Liftoff! US, Russia Launch Historic One-Year Space Mission - Kelly Astronaut Twins Meet on Eve of 1-Year Mission Launch (Photo) This article originally published at Space.com here	25
Today's Featured Review Contributed by Robert A. Morstadt After reading this book I can understand why there should be a strong emphasis for the manned exploration of Mars and why Mars should be the focus of our attention. By comparison manned exploration of the moon is really not that important. The moon does not have resources that can easily be exploited. It does not have an atmosphere, oxygen is not easily extractable from the lunar rocks, and there is no carbon in the environment. Even the lunar night/day cycle is not conducive to growing plants. The book is long at about 350 pages. But, it starts out in an exciting way in the first chapter, which is only 18 pages long, with a manned Mars Direct program starting in the year 2020 and costing only 30 billion dollars to develop. Using current technology and a heavy-lift vehicle about the size of the Saturn V, a sequence of launches is started. The first launch is unmanned and carries a nuclear reactor as a power source and 6 tons of liquid hydrogen. After landing on Mars this hydrogen is converted into 108 tons of methane and oxygen from the Martian atmosphere (95 percent carbon dioxide) using gaslight technology and the nuclear power source. This is enough fuel and oxidizer to provide land propulsion on the Martian surface and a trip home for the four astronauts that arrive about three years later using a similar size launch vehicle. Herein lies the key for the proposed Mars Direct program - to utilize as much as possible the Martian resources that are available. Like early explorers that came to America, who didn't carry their air, food, water, and fuel with them to live permanently in the New World, so Martian explorers will use the resources of Mars. Even the thin Martian atmosphere, which is equivalent to the earth's atmosphere at about 100,000 feet, can be used for aero-braking. In fact, taking into account the Martian aero-braking and surface refueling, it is more efficient in terms of mission delta velocity requirements to go to Mars first and then go to the Moon rather than go to the Moon directly. Naturally, this route takes more time, but it is more efficient in terms of delta velocity. For a cost of about $3 billion per year a four-man crew and a Martian habitat can be sent annually, building up a Martian base. Problems like radiation and zero gravity en route can be overcome and are not show-stoppers. Eventually, air-bubble shelters could be built to provide a shirt-sleeve environment using nuclear power and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to make oxygen. The carbon dioxide can also be used to reduce iron oxide to make iron. Using different processes other raw materials can be made. In the long-range view, Martian terraforming may be a real possibility provided there is enough carbon dioxide in the Martian regolith (soil, rock, etc.). It may be possible that by raising the Martian atmospheric temperature by a relatively small amount, enough out-gassing from the regolith may be available to raise the Martian atmospheric pressure to some appreciable fraction of one Earth atmosphere in 1,000 to 2,000 years. This could be accomplished by putting solar mirrors in orbit aimed at the Martian poles. Such an atmosphere would allow humans to walk on the Martian surface without a pressure suit, although a breathing apparatus would still be required. However, since the Martian day is only 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, plants would do just fine in the carbon dioxide atmosphere. This is an exciting book to read and a "must-read" book for any space enthusiast. Real manned exploration in our solar system takes on a new meaning in this book. Browse our database of about 4,200 reviews of rocketry kits and other products.	25
Latest Unmanned spacecraft Stories They are the darkest and coldest places on the surface of the moon, but deep in the craters of the polar regions, electrical activity may be creating a kind of “sparking” that has driven changes in lunar soil evolution. Evaluation of a pale, flat Martian rock as the potential next drilling target for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover determined that the rock was not stable enough for safe drilling. DENVER, Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The launch date for the U.S. government's CLIO satellite, built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], has been set for Sept. 16, 2014. The team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has chosen a rock that looks like a pale paving stone as the mission's fourth drilling target, if it passes engineers' evaluation. They call it "Bonanza King." NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted the timing of its orbit around Mars as a defensive precaution for a comet's close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. A new-and-improved version of NASA's Spacecraft 3D app for mobile devices is launching to coincide with the second anniversary of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover's landing on Mars. As it approaches the second anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover is also approaching its first close look at bedrock that is part of Mount Sharp, the layered mountain in the middle of Mars' Gale Crater. WASHINGTON, July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a teleconference at 3 p.m. WASHINGTON, July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology NASA is taking steps to protect its Mars orbiters, while preserving opportunities to gather valuable scientific data, as Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring heads toward a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19. Cassini-Huygens Mission -- The Cassini unmanned space probe is intended to study Saturn and its moons. It was launched on October 15, 1997 and is estimated to enter Saturn's orbit on July 1, 2004. The mission is a joined NASA/ESA project. Cassini's principal objectives are to: -- determine the three-dimensional structure and dynamical behavior of the rings -- determine the composition of the satellite surfaces and the geological history of each object -- determine the nature and... - The governor of a province or people.	25
SOVIETS TO LAUNCH SHUTTLE SATURDAY Published: October 27, 1988 MOSCOW, Oct. 26— The Soviet Union said today that it would launch its first space shuttle on an unmanned mission Saturday, after months of delays similar to those that plagued the maiden voyage of the United States' re-usable spacecraft. A government commission scheduled the launching for 6:23 A.M., Tass, the official press agency, reported. It said the decision came after reports from specialists on several thousand tests of the shuttle Buran and its Energia booster rocket. But a television report indicated that the launching time could be pushed back because tests of systems might take longer than anticipated. State-run television showed the white delta-shaped Buran, with its name, Russian for snowstorm, emblazoned in red, attached to the Energia on a launching pad at the Baikonur astrodrome in Kazakhstan in central Asia. #2,000 Tons of Fuel Preparations for pouring nearly 2,000 tons of liquid hydrogen, oxygen and hydrocarbon fuel into the Energia, a new type of booster that the Soviets say is the world's most powerful, are to begin Thursday, Tass said. The rocket is capable of carrying more than 100 tons of cargo into orbit of the Earth and up to 20 tons to the planets Mars and Venus. An Energia is known to have launched a dummy payload in May 1987. The shuttle launching was originally planned for the first half of this year but was postponed as technical problems arose, officials said. Soviet officials have said the first flight, whose scheduled length was not reported, would be pilotless. If the test flight is successful, a mission with two astronauts is to follow, but Soviet officials have not said when. Little has been reported of the Soviet shuttle program since it began in 1982, and Soviet Foreign Ministry officials said today that foreign reporters would not be allowed to travel to Baikonur for the launching. Tass transmitted the first pictures of the Soviet shuttle on Sept. 29, the same day the United States launched the shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral, Fla. That mission was the first American manned space flight since the shuttle Challenger exploded in flight in January 1986, killing all seven astonauts aboard. The photographs showed a craft very similar in appearance to the United States shuttles.	25
Today, the world has become very competitive and diverse, thanks to many cutting edge technological inventions, which keep on happening now and then. It has helped to advance each and every sector and industry including the educational arena. It helps the students to exchange ideas and information across and get an edge to their learning process. Classrooms today have become more advance with the explosion of smartphones, tablets and other technological tools. The technologies, which were considered as a major deterrent in the past in educational institutes, are now seen fostering measurable and real learning. Let’s find out some of the top technologies must have for the students. The Tablet Textbooks could be called as a drag since it has reduced the weight of students’ backpacks to a great extent. You could also see Tablet Textbooks with dual screen from some e-textbook companies. The other tablets, which can fall into this category making your learning easy, include iPad and the Android devices. With these devices, students have got new wings at their back. An e-texbook manufacturing company called Chegg now gives such textbooks or tablets on rent, which helps students in their learning. With this technological tool, like the Livescribe Echo Smartpen, students arm themselves with a cutting edge. It is basically an electronic pen, which helps your notes to speak for themselves. It holds a good amount of hours of audio and come along with a micro USB connector, which works perfectly with the dotted paper from Livescribe’s proprietary that helps you in recording the handwritten notes. It comes in two model- Pulse and Echo, which map the handwriting for transferring to your PC or your smartphone devices along with other web platforms like Facebook, Google Docs, Evernote or also over your email inbox. This smartpen also records the audio and play it back for you. The Flashier Drives This tool has become a must for students, which helps them to carry a huge amounts of data across anywhere in your pocket. Among the list of many, the flash drive called as LOK-IT Secure helps you in encrypting your data from malicious elements. The locking system in this particular USB carries a PIN, which you need to enter to access the data inside the drive. The keypad inside this storing device helps in entering the PIN to unlock your content. For students you miss the Transformer based folder holder, they now have a Ravage USB drive. Another vital technological tool, which could be called as a must is the Easier Ebooks. In fact, it could be called as the secret weapon for countless high school students, which has been replacing other devices or applications. It helps the students to caches various academic content for their offline reviews. Using this device, you could access a wide range of subjects, right from finding the research papers to other academic content over subjects like Biology, computer science, medical sciences and Economics. You could also get a complete support for things like study questions and quiz. The various smartphones available in the market could be another important technological tool must for the students. It not only helps in communicating with their friends and teachers but also have a wide range of academic tools and applications inside, which helps them in their learning process. Right from the iPhones to the Android based phones; smartphone also has become an integral part of student’s life. Now, you could see the backpacks transforming as per the technological age. The student learning has become easy and modern with the help of a number of technologies. To get an extra edge in this competitive world, the students need to adapt the above technologies and make their learning fun and simple. Author Info: Margaret is a writer/blogger. She loves writing travelling and reading books. She contributes for Internet Solution Source..	26
English, PDF, 495kb Over the period 2008-2011, at the primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels of education, expenditure per student in Norway – combining private and public spending – increased slightly while the number of students remained stable. This report draws upon valuable insights provided by both governmental and non-governmental actors in Norway’s skills system to identify five key actions to maximise the skills of Norway's citizens. This diagnostic report identifies 12 skills challenges for Norway which were distilled from a series of interactive diagnostic workshops held with a range of stakeholders. It marshals a wide array of relevant OECD evidence to shed further light on these challenges. It also offers some concrete examples of how other countries are tackling similar skills challenges. This meeting will focus attention on the importance of high-quality early childhood education and care, highlight policies and practices that can enhance investment in it, and share perspectives and foster dialogue to promote understanding of the challenges. This book provides, for Norway, an independent analysis from an international perspective of major issues facing the evaluation and assessment framework in education along with current policy initiatives and possible future approaches. English, , 2,812kb Norway has a well-established tradition of decentralisation and school autonomy. In this decentralised context, evaluation and assessment are essential to monitor the quality of education nationally and provide feedback for improvement to school owners and schools. This report aims to help education authorities in Norway and other OECD countries to understand the importance of lower secondary education and to find approaches to strengthen this key education level. La Corée occupe la première place du classement de la nouvelle enquête PISA de l’OCDE qui évalue la façon dont les jeunes de 15 ans utilisent les ordinateurs et Internet pour apprendre. Viennent ensuite la Nouvelle-Zélande, l’Australie, le Japon, Hong-Kong – Chine et l’Islande. English, , 1,906kb Norway follows the social model of disability, where “disability” is defined as a product of socially constructed barriers restricting individuals with impairments from participating equally in society. Drei von vier Lehrerinnen und Lehrern vermissen Anreize, die einen besseren Unterricht belohnen. Gleichzeitig wird aus Sicht der Lehrkräfte in drei von fünf Schulen der Unterricht durch unangebrachtes Verhalten der Schüler gestört.	26
Wal-Mart has been criticized by labor advocates for it’s low compensation rates. But, starting in April, hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees will receive a pay raise – $1.25 higher than the federal minimum wage. Wal-Mart announced that its employees will earn $9 an hour rather than the lower $7.25, and will go up to […] Are you a Bay Area middle- or high-school social studies, science or arts teacher interested in deepening your work with media and technology? Would you like to impact the resources developed by KQED for educators? Join KQED’s Educator Working Groups! You will have the opportunity to: Join the KQED Education think tank. Influence media and […] Student Engagement with Issues that Matter Using Social Media (#TeachDoNow) is a collaborative learning experience open to anyone interested in learning how to use Twitter and other media sharing applications to promote social and civic discourse with students around science, news and the arts. As science educators, we know how important critical thinking and new technology skills are in the scientific community. The ability to question and make sense of the world around us is a skill we value highly in the scientific world. We recognize that if our students are going to become the next scientific innovators and responsible citizens, they need, skills to gather and evaluate data, make informed decisions, and communicate their ideas to others. Science media projects that enhance student learning and engagement offer limitless possibilities for creativity in learning subject matter. Below are just a few reasons to incorporate media making projects into the science curriculum: Technology is engaging! Media projects give students the opportunity to connect to real life to concepts learned in class. Students develop relevant […] Today, science demands sophisticated skills not generally taught as part of standard science curricula. Ideally, science instructional strategies teach a body of knowledge and cultivate other abilities required for the practice of science. For example the scientific community values collaboration and teamwork, critical and focused observation, the use of technology for data collection, evaluation of […]	26
By: Olena Panova and Dr. Rod Erakovich Research in online education has rarely addressed the issue of quality. It often seems that economic interests are prioritized over educational interests, and so educational products are developed with little regard to quality. A literature review and discussions with instructors of higher education from the United States and Ukraine reveal that the development of quality in online education requires a definition of quality which fuses the interests of all stakeholders in online education: the student, the instructor, the educational institution, and the employer. Factors that contribute to quality from the perspective of each stakeholder are examined. Those factors are then combined to create an understanding of quality in online education. Recommendations for implementation and further research are included. Key Words: Quality in Education, Online Education, Andragogy, Teaching Online Online education, part of a new wave of educational change, has distinctive characteristics (White & Weight, 2000) including the facilitation of student's educational pursuits by removing distance and time constraints. Students and instructors involved with online courses are finding new methods of learning and teaching, including the use of asynchronous communication, ongoing and multiple threaded discussions, and web designed lecturettes. Since the term quality in online higher education appears extensively in reports and empirical papers, the important question is how quality in online education is defined and how it may differ from quality in traditional, lecture-based classrooms. A new definition of quality in online education requires agreement between the various perspectives of multiple stakeholders including the student, the instructor, the educational institution, and the employer. This paper also examines key factors that contribute to quality of online education. These key factors are ascertained from a literature review and discussions with American and Ukrainian university instructors. The word quality originated in 1290 and is derived from Old French qualite and Latin qualitas . The root of these words, qualis, refers to the degree of excellence of an item. In the case of online education, as with any educational delivery system, the degree of excellence is determined by its ability to satisfy the needs of various stakeholders. Education is a derivative word of the English verb educate that originated from Latin educatus, of educere, meaning to bring up, and is related to educere meaning to bring out and to lead (Collins English Dictionary, 1994). Thus education is defined as the action or process of educating or of being educated. Online education can be generally defined as the act or process of education using internet technology to deliver the course or prescribed series of courses in a curriculum. In an effort to assess quality, The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) required business schools to measure online course outcomes (Edwards & Brannen, 1990; AACSB, 1980). The focus of these evaluations has changed to measure what the student has actually learned . Most of the research in online education has focused on technology, behavioral characteristics of students and instructors, and satisfaction of the course participants (Arbaugh 2005). The Sloan Consortium (Bourne & Moore, 2004) discusses student satisfaction, but more specifically, the learning effectiveness of various delivery systems as factors that affect quality. Conceptualizations of quality in online education focus on specific stakeholders in the educational process. For example, Scanlan (2003) concludes that assessing students who have participated in online courses can be a means to assess quality, while Brooks (2003) argues that attitudes of instructors toward online learning impact quality. Yueng (2001) lists instructor and student support, course development, course structure, and how the institution evaluates online learning as factors affecting quality, but does not integrate these perceptions or even mention marketplace forces or employers. Prestera and Moller (2001) insist that educational institutions need to actively support quality in online education through processes, structures and feedback systems that are aligned with organizational goals. These researchers all identify pieces of the puzzle and illustrate that each stakeholder of online education has a unique perspective of quality based on their own individual needs. Yet, as these critical groups collaborate, quality is outside the interactive process. Figure 1 shows the current use of quality from the perspective of these stakeholders. Current Conceptualization of Quality in Online Education What is needed is a focus on the linkage between these stakeholders to create a system supporting quality. A better approach places quality as the primary guiding value of all interactions. Figure 2 illustrates how such collaboration might exist. A synthesized definition of quality in online education provides the focal point for collaboration and creates quality from all stakeholders' perspectives. Hypothesized Conceptualization of Quality in Online Education This paper used a modified Delphi Group technique to gather input from professors in the United States and Ukraine to develop a definition of quality of online education. Professors in the United States indicate that quality online education must include the success of students achieving the goals that led them to seek the education. The ability of students to reason critically and creatively and to apply the teachings in the workplace was emphasized. Reputation of the institution in the community also affects the perception of quality in courses offered by the institution. Some professors noted that institutions must establish rigorous acceptance standards for instructors and students alike, with defined standards that fit researched profiles for success before students are admitted to online programs. Online education offers global availability to all that desire to participate and this allows students to cross social, political, and cultural boundaries and seek admission to a global inventory of educational institutions. American professors also identified the needs of students as defined by employers, delivery of systems, usability of the educational outcomes, and methodology of development as factors to consider when defining quality in education. The accreditation process, particularly as established by AACSB, is considered very important in assessing quality of the total education process, including online curriculums. Online education should also serve the purpose of inspiring the growth and intelligence of students. Ukrainian professors believe that q uality of online education is affected by the instructor's knowledge and ability to motivate students to continually seek new knowledge. To achieve quality, the institution must support instructors' efforts to learn and apply instructional techniques that sustain reflection and knowledge construction within the course. One Ukrainian professor stated, “…education should satisfy the needs of the student-user to become a specialist in the labor market, and the needs of the employer who would apply the students' knowledge in the professional arena.” Professors from the United States and Ukraine agree that the four differentiated stakeholders in defining quality online education include the student, the instructor, the employer, and the educational institution. Accordingly, a definition of online quality education can be conceptualized as: Quality online education is acquired knowledge and skills brought about by computer-mediated technology and constructivist educational collaborative practices. Quality online education facilitates an environment of reflection and knowledge construction and requires a global perspective. Quality is determined interdependently by participating stakeholders that include students, instructors, employers, and educational institutions. As research indicates, unique factors affecting the quality of online education include use of technology, reflection and knowledge construction, institutional support for other stakeholders, and a global perspective that affects each stakeholder in the educational process. This is not necessarily different from factors that affect quality education regardless of format, but the emphasis is considerably different. The convergence of technology and education is more than integrating technology into a curriculum to deliver a course. It entails consideration and evaluation of the effectiveness of one type of technology against another (Landsberger, 2004). Gilbert (2002) proposes using a low threshold application that is reliable, accessible, easy to learn, non-intimidating, and incrementally inexpensive. The pause before response allowed by the technology enables students to synthesize theory and discern discourse and dialogue, improving explanatory and cognitive learning, and allows social interaction. Technology enables asynchronous student dialogue, ease of open and private communication among students and with the instructor, and fosters reflection and knowledge construction. Technology should reduce the social distance between instructors and students (Brooks, 2003) and enable peer-to-peer collaborative learning and instructor-to-student learning. An online education environment that requires interaction and reflection by all students in the course supports knowledge construction. Knowledge that is meaningful to all stakeholders is created in a student centered environment through this integrating process (Edwards & Brannen, 1990). Educational programs need to provide students with knowledge that will later be used to support professional and specialty workplace needs. The student reads discussion comments from the professor or peer-cohort, discerns the personal relevance of information presented, reflects on the theory and constructs , and creates a personal response. Time constraints found in the lecture-based classroom are not found in the 24/7 online course, thereby allowing time for discernment and reflection of educational material (Berry, 2004). Reflection and knowledge construction produce quality among students in online courses because learning is personally relevant and internalized. Institutions can support quality in online education by supporting instructors, employees, and students. Administrators of educational institutions must give attention to what is valued and rewarded within an academic environment if they want to engage and influence instructors in the importance of distance education. Issues of concern by instructors include increased workloads, criteria used for tenure and promotion, intellectual property rights, and scholarship criteria in online course development and teaching models (Scanlan, 2003). Activities related to the development of scholarship for online are expected to enhance the learning of faculty, and administrators must attend to the needs of instructors by establishing clear guidelines for development of online education (Brooks, 2003; Prestera & Moller, 2001). Previously, the employer has not considered a stakeholder in an integrated perspective in creating quality online education. Employer mentors and the importance of professional perspective are generally ignored in the transition from classroom to profession, yet can bring a critical perspective to the learning community: They provide the learning community with important input on curriculum. They are able to provide information to faculty and others in the community about what knowledge is lacking in their field and what knowledge students can bring in order to advance the profession. As the secondary consumer of student education, it is essential they be involved in the learning community. This may have the supplementary effect of dispelling the myth that distance education is second-rate education. By involving professionals in our learning communities we expose them to the quality of education we are providing ( Lancaster and Nickel, 2001: 6-7). Employers, in a 300 manager survey, responded that student interaction with faculty and practitioners, interaction with each other and the opportunity to conduct projects with practitioners is extremely important for online graduate programs (Nickel, et al., 2002). Students use their membership in educational institutions to promote self identity and develop skills and center behaviors (Tsui, 1992). An important role for educational institutions is in creating conditions for inclusion of students into the learning culture to support and promote this self identity. Cultural inclusion of students promotes retention, aids in learning, and builds quality in educational programs (Tsui, 1992). Educational institutions can incorporate students into educational cultures through market and brand identification, seminars, presentations, internships, and links with the practitioner community within their disciplines, and these are all fully possible in the online environment. The rapid growth of online education compels a new focus in developing quality programs. The definition of quality must be reframed to include all stakeholders. Education is no longer contained within the walls of a brick and mortar institution of higher learning. Measuring quality in online education includes examining the use of technology and education, teaching models that create knowledge construction, institutions that rethink instructor support, and efforts to include all students and faculty into organizational culture. Further research might consider the following: Interestingly, these questions are valid for lecture-based classrooms as well, yet take on added importance in the online computer-mediated environment. Olena Panova is a professor of English in Ukraine at the Kharkiv State Academy of Municipal Economy. She has graduate degrees in philology and in economics. Working with Kharkiv Online, she developed and taught an online course for professors from various institutions of higher education as facilitators of online courses. *Rod Erakovich has a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Texas in Arlington . His focus of study is organizational theory and ethics in public organizations. Dr. Erakovich has taught over 50 online courses for several universities. AACSB. (1980). AACSB Accreditation Research Project: Report of Phase I (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business No. 15). . Arbaugh, J. B. (2005, March). How Much Does "Subject Matt er" Matt er? A study of Disciplinary Effects in On-Line MBA Courses. Academy of ManagementLearning and Education, 4 (1), 57-73. Berry , G. (2004). Lessons from the On-Line Experience: Suggestions for Enhancing the Face-to-Face MBA Classroom. Journal of the Academy of Business Education , Spring, 2004: 88-97. Bourne, J., & Moore, J. (Editors). (2004). Elements of Online Quality Education. In Sloan-C Series (The Sloan Consortium No. 5, p. 26). Needham , MA : The Sloan Consortium. Brooks, L. (2003, Winter). How the Attitudes of Instructors, Students, Course Administrators and Course Designers Affect the Quality of an Online Learning Environment. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, VI (IV). Retrieved 26 September 2002, from www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter64/brooks64.htm . Collins English Dictionary. (1994). 3 rd ed. NY: Harper Collins Publishing. Davies, S. &. G., Neil. (1997). Globalization and Educational Reforms in Anglo American Democracies. Comparative Education Review, 41 (4), 435-459. Edwards, D. E., & Brannen, D. (1990). Current Status of Outcome Assessment at the MBA Level. Journal of Education for Business, 65, 206-212. Frederickson, E., Pickett, A., Swan, K., & Pelz, W. (1999, August). Factors Influencing Faculty Satisfaction with Asynchronous Teaching and Learning in the SUNY Learning Network. In SUNY Learning Network (SUNY, Ed.). Retrieved 25 October 2004, from http://SLN.suny.edu/SLN. Gilbert, S. W. (2002, 2 February). The Beauty of Low Threshold Applications. Syllabus Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2005, from http://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/Columns/BeautyLTAs2-2-2002.htm. Harper, D. (2001, November). Online Etymology Dictionary . Retrieved 24 March 2005, from http://www.etymonline.com/ Kretovics, M., & McCambridge, J. (2002, October). Measuring MBA Student Learning: Does Distance Make a Difference? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved 26 September 2003, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.2/kretovics.html. Lancaster , A., & Nickel, P. (2001, August 8-10). UTA Student Enrichment Program: Building Learning Communities in Distance Education. Presented at the 17th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Madison , WI . Landsberger, J. (2004). Thoughts on convergence in Instructional Settings. Tech Trends , 48(3), 6-9. Nickel, P., Duke, J., Wyman, S., & Cole, R. (2002, October). Public Managers Perceptions of On-Line Master of Public Administration Degrees. Prestera, G., & Moller, L. (2001, Winter). Organizational Alignment Supporting Distance Education in Post-secondary Institutions. Online Journal of Distance Education, IV (IV). Retrieved 26 September 2003, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter44/prestera44.html. Scanlan, C. L. (2003, Fall). Reliability and Validity of a Student Scale for Assessing the Quality of Internet-Based Distance Learning. Online Journal of Distance Education, VI (III). Retrieved 26 September 2003, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall63/scanlan63.html. Tsui, A. S., Terri D Egan, & Charles A O'Reilly III. (1992). Being Different: Relational Demography and Organizational Attachment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 549-579. Yueng, D. (2001, Winter). Toward An Effective Quality Assurance Model of Web-Based Learning: The Perspective of Academic Staff. Online Journal of Distance Education, IV (IV). Retrieved 20 September 2003, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter44/yeung44.html.	26
Steven Frame, Shutterstock Anna Chan of Dallas was a single mom, worked full time and struggling to put herself though college. The cost of higher education put a strain on her already tight budget. To make things work financially, she decided to rent an apartment in a low-income area. It meant Chan's 5-year-old son, Justice, would begin school at one of the lowest performing public elementary schools in the state. Because Justice was young, and knew how to read going into kindergarten, Chan thought a few years at a low-performing school wouldn't be too detrimental. By the end of the school year, she saw firsthand the impact of attending a low-income, low-performing school. Justice was disengaged, struggled with writing and mathematics and had a negative attitude about learning. Concerned about the long-term consequences of attending this school, Chan moved mountains to enroll her son in a better-performing public school. Though it meant driving her son almost 60 miles every day to and from school, Chan says it has been worth it. Her son is doing well in school, has joined school clubs and has made friends who expose him to a range of possibilities that would never be on his radar had he stayed at his old school. Unlike the Chans, most low-income families don't have many options when it comes to choosing schools for their children. School boundaries are determined by school districts, according to Greg Duncan, professor of education at UC Irvine. In many cases, the lines are drawn in such a way that all the low-income children in the district are put in one school and the middle- and high-income children in others. This economic segregation has been linked to huge gaps in school performance on academic achievement tests. A recent Brookings Institute study shows that the average low-income student, one who qualifies for free or reduced-price school lunches, attends a school that scores in the 42nd percentile on state tests. The average middle- or high-income student, on the other hand, attends a school whose average state test scores are in the 61st percentile. Although policymakers and educators are trying to reduce income-based achievement gaps, new evidence suggests the spread between the rich and the poor is growing. Since the 1960s, the achievement gap between high-income and low-income students has grown by 40 percent, according to a 2011 study by Sean Reardon of Stanford University. Discussions about closing this gap typically include reducing class sizes, improving teacher quality and setting higher expectations for students. But one of the most effective solutions to this problem — finding ways to bring economically diverse groups of students together in the same classrooms — gets little play in education policy circles, according to a new study by Heather Scwartz of the RAND Corporation. Montgomery County, Maryland, ranks among the top 20 wealthiest counties in the United States and has the 16th largest school district in the nation. The zoning regulations there require real estate developers to set aside a portion of the homes they build for public housing. As a result, families with incomes below the poverty line have been able to live in Montgomery County's affluent neighborhoods and send their children to schools where the vast majority of students come from middle- or upper-class families. Given these unique circumstances, Montgomery County is an ideal place to study economic integration. Schwartz followed 850 low-income students who lived in public housing in affluent neighborhoods in Montgomery County. Schwartz tracked their performances and compared them to low-income children who did not attend integrated schools. - Utah taxpayers will pay millions more in wake... - Test anxiety: How cold feet are ruining your... - BYU student claims he was evicted after... - School for kids with autism helps inside and... - Young entrepreneurs strut their stuff in bid... - Photos: Students 'duck' tape principal to... - Colleges getting out of health insurance... - NUAMES wins first Rube Goldberg Competition... - Student loan recipients on 'strike'... 89 - Utah taxpayers will pay millions more... 42 - School leaders look for solutions to... 26 - Utah educators skeptical of civics test... 12 - Colleges getting out of health... 3 - Test anxiety: How cold feet are ruining... 2 - Chemistry Festival helps kids learn... 2 - Poor American kids grow up without... 2	26
Rules Mandate Uniform Graduation Rates Spellings issues NCLB regulations with pieces from legislative agenda. The Bush administration put its final stamp on the No Child Left Behind Act last week, leaving the next president’s team the task of enforcing a wide-ranging set of new regulations governing the law. The rules will require states to adopt the same method of calculating high school graduation rates; mandate that school districts take additional steps to ensure students in low-performing schools know they’re eligible to transfer to other public schools or enroll in free tutoring; and direct states to make public information comparing student achievement on their own tests against national-assessment scores. The regulations “will help us build on the progress of No Child Left Behind and set the table until Congress can act on this legislation,” Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in announcing the rules Oct. 28 at Columbia High School in Columbia, S.C. Her speech was broadcast on the Web by South Carolina Educational Television. Federal lawmakers had been scheduled to reauthorize the nearly 7-year-old law in the two years of the 110th Congress soon coming to a close, but they could not reach agreement on revisions. The reauthorization is expected to be taken up in the new Congress that convenes in January. The final regulations, published Oct. 29 in the Federal Register, include minor changes to the proposal the Department of Education unveiled in April. ("NCLB Plan Would Add New Rules," April 30, 2008.) The regulations, which cover the NCLB law’s Title I program designed to address the academic needs of disadvantaged students, go into effect Nov. 28. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the most important advocates of the NCLB law, supports the department’s rules package. The rules are a “significant step forward in helping schools, parents, and teachers bring new solutions to the challenges of helping every child get ahead in school,” Sen. Kennedy, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement. “The new regulations will allow schools to innovate while Congress works on new legislation to improve and strengthen the No Child Left Behind law,” he said. U.S. Department of Education regulations, issued last week for the No Child Left Behind Act will add new requirements on states, districts, and schools in several areas: States must re-evaluate their minimum number of students for specified demographic “subgroups” that a district or school must have to be held accountable for that subgroup. The number, referred to as an “n” size, now must be “no larger than necessary to ensure the protection of privacy for individuals” and to ensure statistical accuracy. States need to publish their reading and mathematics scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress alongside the scores from their own tests. Districts also will be required to list their states’ NAEP scores when publishing their own scores on state tests. All states will be eligible to participate in the Education Department’s experimental program to make accountability decisions based on the growth of student achievement. The method in the law compares the achievement of student cohorts with that of cohorts from the previous year. Testing Higher-Order Skills The rules clarify that states’ tests should include questions “that measure both higher-order thinking skills ... as well as knowledge and recall items to assess the depth and breadth of mastery of a particular content domain.” The senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee also praised the regulations, particularly the sections that require districts to increase their outreach to parents for students who qualify to transfer to another school or for free tutoring. “While hundreds of thousands of students have already been able to take advantage of these new choices, many more stand to benefit from the reforms outlined today,” Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., said in a statement. But one education lobbyist said the rules are an attempt by the Bush administration to use its administrative power to enact policies it had proposed to include in a reauthorized NCLB law. “They’re moving down the regulatory path to legislate,” said David Shreve, the federal-affairs counsel for education for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “That’s just a bad move.” For example, the administration had proposed requiring districts to improve access to public school choice and free tutoring for students whose schools failed to make their achievement goals under the law. Under the regulations, districts now are going to be required to abide by those proposals, even though Congress never formally endorsed them, Mr. Shreve said. Joel Packer, a lobbyist for the National Education Association, questioned whether the new regulations—coming less than three months before the start of a new administration—are the best way to help states comply with the law. The rules will require states to update their formal plans, called workbooks, that explain how they will implement key elements of the NCLB law. Those workbooks, changes to which the federal Education Department must approve, explain how states will develop academic-content standards, assess students in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once in high school, and hold schools accountable for student performance based on the goal that all students will be proficient in those subjects by the end of the 2013-14 school year. Any such changes are usually submitted to the department in February of a given year, said Mr. Packer, the director of education policy and practice for the 3.2 million-member nea. The next president will take office Jan. 20. “It’s just going to create confusion and uncertainty,” Mr. Packer said. The No Child Left Behind Act is the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the main federal law in K-12 education. President Bush championed NCLB as a way to make schools more accountable for raising achievement. Congress passed the measure overwhelmingly in late 2001, and Mr. Bush signed it into law in January 2002. In an Oct. 29 conference call with reporters, Secretary Spellings said she published the new rules because they address problems in the NCLB law. The new administration will take “a while to get organized” and is unlikely to reach a quick agreement with Congress on reauthorizing the law, she said. “In the meantime,” she said, “we need ... to make the law work as best as we can.” Ms. Spellings said that she and her staff worked to ensure that the rules reflected the desires of federal lawmakers and state officials. “There’s a responsibility and an expectation ... that some appropriate and necessary flexibility and changes be put in place,” she said. Common Graduation Rate But critics say the regulations include restrictive provisions and reflect the Bush administration’s objectives more than what policymakers and educators want. “It’s a pretty open attempt to reauthorize and do things that the administration wants,” said Bruce Hunter, the associate executive director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators, based in Arlington, Va. In his statement, Sen. Kennedy specifically applauded the regulations’ requirement that states adopt the same method of calculating high school graduation rates. Under the rules, states must track the percentage of students graduating within four years of entering high school. The rules say that the Education Department will consider states’ proposals to count students who graduate within six years as completing on time. States must report data based on the new method in the 2009-10 school year. In addition to publishing the overall rate, schools must publish the rates for students in specified racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic subgroups, as well as for students with disabilities and for English-language learners. By the 2011-12 school year, states must use the new method of calculating graduation rates as one of the measures to determine whether high schools make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, the method of determining whether a school is meeting its goals under the law. That’s one year later than the Education Department had proposed in the draft regulations. The requirements on graduation rates reflect what governors voluntarily committed to do in a 50-state agreement organized by the National Governors Association in 2005. ("Efforts Seek Better Data on Graduates," July 27, 2005.) Just about every state will be ready to comply with the rules starting in the 2011-12 school year, said Dane Linn, the director of the NGA’s education policy division. Under the rules, schools also will be held accountable for improving graduation rates for every subgroup of students. “We need to know who’s graduating and who’s not ... so we can catch the kids who are at risk of dropping out,” said Daria Hall, the assistant director for K-12 policy at the Education Trust, a Washington-based group that supports the new rules. The rules also make changes intended to expand student participation in public school choice and free tutoring, also known as supplemental education services, or SES. Expanding Student Options The rules will require schools to work with community groups to advertise the supplemental services, which districts underwrite with money available under the NCLB law. The rules also specify information about SES that districts must post on their Web sites. Students are eligible for services if their school misses AYP for three years. Under the school choice portion of the regulations, schools must inform parents two weeks before the start of the academic year that their child at a school that misses AYP for two years is eligible to transfer to another school in the district. The purpose of the requirement on notifying parents is “to ensure that parents have sufficient time, in advance of the school year, to make an informed decision about transferring their child to another school,” the Education Department says in the announcement published in the Federal Register. The school choice notification requirement is an example of the Education Department’s exercise of too much authority, said Mr. Shreve of the National Conference of State Legislatures, which is based in Denver. “That conflicts directly with the statutory language that says [the notice] should be no later than the first day of the school year,” he said. Vol. 28, Issue 11, Pages 15-16 Get more stories and free e-newsletters!	26
In the first presidential debate of the general election cycle, the candidates' discussion of the American education system was a welcome departure from the usual haggling over the best way to get the economy moving again. In reality, addressing the rising cost of a college education in America is one of the ways we can pursue economic strength in the long run. If President Obama and Governor Romney are serious about creating lasting economic stability, they should continue talking about how to reform education to make it more profitable for all. According to The New York Times, the cost of a college education has multiplied by a factor of five and a half since 1985, whereas the prices of regular consumer goods have roughly doubled. Therefore, five-figure annual tuition costs today are a result of more than just inflation. US News & World Report finds that among public schools, which educate three-quarters of college students in America today, the number one cause of rising tuition is a reduction in state subsidies. Why do state governments cut education funding? When budgets are squeezed, public universities are often the first programs to get the axe, because they have the ability to raise revenue on their own, through tuition hikes. This is a luxury that other programs such as Medicaid do not possess. Finances have pressured states more and more recently for a variety of reasons, but an important one is public-sector pensions. With the rising number of baby-boomers hitting retirement, pension payouts go up, and funding for state schools goes down. It is up to public universities to make up for the budget shortfall with tuition increases. A heavy tuition burden, especially at public schools, means that many students who would otherwise attend college cannot because of affordability. State governments have adopted the wrong attitude toward budget distribution. In America we spend far more money helping out the old than the young. Forty-one percent of the federal FY 2011 budget went to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while education at all levels netted only 2 percent. It is important to care for our seniors as well as our students, but the distribution of spending should be more equal. Moreover, education is not just another program to spend money on; it is an investment in the future. A better-educated population earns a higher annual income and will be able to save more for retirement, thus reducing dependency on government programs for seniors. Furthermore, an educated population will acquire more jobs that emphasize skilled labor, thus increasing overall job satisfaction and encouraging people to work longer. It's impossible for a government to pay for everything, of course, but the long-term benefits of spending money on education should make it one of our top priorities. For private schools such as Swarthmore, rising tuition stems from different causes. In its examination of education costs, US News & World Report found that private schools must compete with one another for the top prospective students and professors: students by providing superior facilities and services, and professors by providing the best benefit packages and resources to follow academic pursuits. A school which does not play this competition game will fall behind. Some rising education costs among both public and private schools have been attributed to increased spending on other services, such as psychological counseling. In addition, administrative and maintenance costs have gone up as well, for various reasons. These expenses, coupled with the aforementioned competition for students and professors, would be difficult to defray by any action Swarthmore can take as an institution. However, slowing the growth of public and private tuition in the long run is not impossible, but it requires a large-scale solution: increasing state and federal funding for public universities. For obvious reasons, this will help public schools. But it will help private schools as well, because a better-educated workforce includes better-educated professors. If the world has more professors with terminal degrees in their respective fields, the type of professor Swarthmore and other top private schools seek, then competition for these elite educators may not be quite so intense. An investment in education helps everyone, and it is high time political dialogue shifted in that direction. Follow The Swarthmore Phoenix on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@swatphoenix	26
PISA's just-published report, The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence, gives a much-needed update on the status of gender in education today. Francesca Borgonovi (PISA Analyst) and Marilyn Achiron (Education Editor) compiled and wrote the PISA findings. To discuss the report further, I invited them to share perspectives. The notion that we can judge success after one or two years is simple ignorance. Test scores can be valuable to students, but education is far more than a few dozen tests in Math and English. Education is not naturally a part of politics, and when politicians get involved in the details, they inevitably make a mess. Learning is inherently satisfying. All of us have experienced the joy of learning and discovery at some point in time in our life. Learning leads to better understanding, new knowledge, skills and expertise. Whether it is learning how to ride a bike, read a book, write code, or build something -- children are inherently excited about learning.	26
EFA Global Monitoring Report The Education for All Global Monitoring Report is the prime instrument to assess global progress towards achieving the six 'Dakar' EFA goals. It tracks progress, identifies effective policy reforms and best practice in all areas relating to EFA, draws attention to emerging challenges and seeks to promote international cooperation in favour of education. The publication is targeted at decision-makers at the national and international level, and more broadly, at all those engaged in promoting the right to quality education – teachers, civil society groups, NGOs, researchers and the international community. While the Report has an annual agenda for reporting progress on each of the six EFA goals, each edition also adopts a particular theme, chosen because of its central importance to the EFA process. Launching regional event for Latin America & the Caribbean. 2015: Achievements and challenges April 9. Sala del Senado, ex Congreso Nacional. Morandé 441, Santiago de Chile, The 2015 Report titled 'Education for All 2000-2015: achievements and challenges' is the 12th and final report of the current series. The Report will provide an authoritative account of country progress and of commitments undertaken by the international community, based on up to date statistical evidence, in-depth policy analysis and informative case studies. Analysing each EFA goal in turn, the Report will highlight policies and practices that have helped or hindered national progress. It will also carefully consider the influence of domestic financing trends and international aid flows. Drawing upon lessons from previous reports the 2015 GMR will provide clear recommendations to help global, regional and national policy leaders better define and monitor the post-2015 education goal and targets. - 2015 - Achievements and challenges - 2013/4 - Teaching and learning - 2012 - Youth, Skills & Work - 2011 - Conflict - 2010 - Marginalization - 2009 - Governance - 2008 - Mid-term Review - 2007 - Early Childhood - 2006 - Literacy - 2005 - Quality - 2003/4 - Gender - 2002 - EFA on Track? To obtain printed copies: Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all. Focus on Latin America and the Caribbean The document is based on the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/2014, “Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all” and is a selection of data that express the current situation in Latin America and the Caribbean.	26
Other Pages in this Section Written Communication VALUE Rubric The VALUE rubrics were developed by teams of faculty experts representing colleges and universities across the United States through a process that examined many existing campus rubrics and related documents for each learning outcome and incorporated additional feedback from faculty. The rubrics articulate fundamental criteria for each learning outcome, with performance descriptors demonstrating progressively more sophisticated levels of attainment. The rubrics are intended for institutional-level use in evaluating and discussing student learning, not for grading. The core expectations articulated in all 16 of the VALUE rubrics can and should be translated into the language of individual campuses, disciplines, and even courses. The utility of the VALUE rubrics is to position learning at all undergraduate levels within a basic framework of expectations such that evidence of learning can by shared nationally through a common dialog and understanding of student success. Download the Written Communication VALUE Rubric at no cost via AAC&U's Shopping Cart (link below): Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. Written communication involves learning to work in many genres and styles. It can involve working with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images. Written communication abilities develop through iterative experiences across the curriculum. This writing rubric is designed for use in a wide variety of educational institutions. The most clear finding to emerge from decades of research on writing assessment is that the best writing assessments are locally determined and sensitive to local context and mission. Users of this rubric should, in the end, consider making adaptations and additions that clearly link the language of the rubric to individual campus contexts. This rubric focuses assessment on how specific written work samples or collections of work respond to specific contexts. The central question guiding the rubric is "How well does writing respond to the needs of audience(s) for the work?" In focusing on this question the rubric does not attend to other aspects of writing that are equally important: issues of writing process, writing strategies, writers' fluency with different modes of textual production or publication, or writer's growing engagement with writing and disciplinarity through the process of writing. Evaluators using this rubric must have information about the assignments or purposes for writing guiding writers' work. Also recommended is including reflective work samples of collections of work that address such questions as: What decisions did the writer make about audience, purpose, and genre as s/he compiled the work in the portfolio? How are those choices evident in the writing -- in the content, organization and structure, reasoning, evidence, mechanical and surface conventions, and citational systems used in the writing? This will enable evaluators to have a clear sense of how writers understand the assignments and take it into consideration as they evaluate. The first section of this rubric addresses the context and purpose for writing. A work sample or collections of work can convey the context and purpose for the writing tasks it showcases by including the writing assignments associated with work samples. But writers may also convey the context and purpose for their writing within the texts. It is important for faculty and institutions to include directions for students about how they should represent their writing contexts and purposes. Faculty interested in the research on writing assessment that has guided our work here can consult the National Council of Teachers of English/Council of Writing Program Administrators' White Paper on Writing Assessment (2008) and the Conference on College Composition and Communication's Writing Assessment: A Position Statement (2008) The definitions that follow were developed to clarify terms and concepts used in this rubric only. - Content Development: The ways in which the text explores and represents its topic in relation to its audience and purpose. - Context of and purpose for writing: The context of writing is the situation surrounding a text: who is reading it? who is writing it? Under what circumstances will the text be shared or circulated? What social or political factors might affect how the text is composed or interpreted? The purpose for writing is the writer's intended effect on an audience. Writers might want to persuade or inform; they might want to report or summarize information; they might want to work through complexity or confusion; they might want to argue with other writers, or connect with other writers; they might want to convey urgency or amuse; they might write for themselves or for an assignment or to remember. - Disciplinary conventions: Formal and informal rules that constitute what is seen generally as appropriate within different academic fields, e.g. introductory strategies, use of passive voice or first person point of view, expectations for thesis or hypothesis, expectations for kinds of evidence and support that are appropriate to the task at hand, use of primary and secondary sources to provide evidence and support arguments and to document critical perspectives on the topic. Writers will incorporate sources according to disciplinary and genre conventions, according to the writer's purpose for the text. Through increasingly sophisticated use of sources, writers develop an ability to differentiate between their own ideas and the ideas of others, credit and build upon work already accomplished in the field or issue they are addressing, and provide meaningful examples to readers. - Evidence: Source material that is used to extend, in purposeful ways, writers' ideas in a text. - Genre conventions: Formal and informal rules for particular kinds of texts and/or media that guide formatting, organization, and stylistic choices, e.g. lab reports, academic papers, poetry, webpages, or personal essays. - Sources: Texts (written, oral, behavioral, visual, or other) that writers draw on as they work for a variety of purposes -- to extend, argue with, develop, define, or shape their ideas, for example. Acceptable Use and Reprint Permissions Individuals are welcome to reproduce the VALUE rubrics for use in the classroom, on educational web sites, and in campus intra-institutional publications. Please be sure to credit AAC&U using the following permission statement: "Reprinted [or Excerpted] with permission from Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and tools for Using Rubrics, edited by Terrel L. Rhodes. Copyright 2010 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.” A permission fee will be assessed for requests to reprint the rubrics in course packets or in other copyrighted print or electronic publications intended for sale. Please see AAC&U's permission policies for more details and information about how to request permission. VALUE rubrics can also be used in commercial databases, software, or assessment products, but prior permission from AAC&U is required. For all uses of rubrics for commercial purposes, each rubric must be maintained in its entirety and without changes. The following permission statement must also be used for all approved commercial uses: "Reprinted [or Excerpted] with permission from Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and tools for Using Rubrics, edited by Terrel L. Rhodes. Copyright 2010 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.” To request permission to incorporate AAC&U VALUE rubrics into a commercial product, contact Alexis Krivian at: [email protected].	26
Proceed with Caution: Using Standardized Test Scores in High-Stakes Decisions New York state education officials recently learned that their standardized assessments were not properly measuring student proficiency. They recalibrated the way the tests were graded and, not surprisingly, the new (theoretically more accurate) scores are significantly lower than those previously reported. In Florida, concern with the accuracy of test scores caused the state department of education to hire independent contractors to examine the results. Several districts believe that individual student gains fell in an unusual manner. The results are not yet in. Two unrelated instances. But both illustrate the danger of relying heavily on standardized test scores in making high-stakes decisions for students and schools. In New York, students appeared to have made more progress than they actually had. The schools looked good. But in New York, test scores are used to determine whether students must attend summer school and are promoted to the next grade level. Because of the grading problem, some students were denied services that could have helped them truly master the skills they need to succeed in life. In Florida, individual student learning gains at certain grade levels fell. That makes schools look bad, which is not good from a PR standpoint. In addition, in Florida test scores are used to determine if a school gets money from the government and if students should be allowed to transfer out of their home school at cost to the district. There have been efforts to strongly tie student performance on these tests to teacher pay and retention decisions (though a recent gubernatorial veto on such legislation has stalled them). If the test scores were inaccurate—and the mistake had not been caught—there could have been disastrous consequences for a number of schools and districts. It is clearly important to measure if students are learning. And districts, schools and teachers should be held accountable to ensure they make gains. But right now, as we found out in New York and Florida, we cannot be confident that our standardized assessments actually measure student learning or give us the kinds of information we need to develop good policy. So when we talk about policies like merit pay and school performance scores, we have to talk about the tests on which decisions would be based. The quality of those assessments cannot be ignored. We cannot turn a blind eye when budget cuts mean that testing contracts automatically go to the lowest bidder, open response questions hit the cutting room floor and test scoring takes place on a wing and a prayer. The question of our tests’ quality has to be front and center to ensure that we know what is really happening in our public schools. Click here to browse dozens of Public School Insights interviews with extraordinary education advocates, including: - National PTA President Otha Thornton on the Common Core - 2013 School Counselor of the Year Mindy Willard on the state of her profession - Supervisor of Administration John Swang on saving money in energy costs The views expressed in this website's interviews do not necessarily represent those of the Learning First Alliance or its members. Every Student an Individual Strong teacher commitment to rigorous, personalized instruction has lead to a higher graduation rate and greater participation in postsecondary learning opportunities for a racially and economically diverse New York high school. Learn more... - ASCD Inservice - AACTE's Ed Prep Matters - ISTE Connects - PTA's One Voice - PDK Blog - The EDifier - School Board News Today - Legal Clips - Learning Forward’s PD Watch - NAESP's Principals' Office - NASSP's Principal's Policy Blog - The Principal Difference - ASCA Scene - Always Something - NSPRA: Social School Public Relations - Transforming Learning - AASA's The Leading Edge - AASA Connects (formerly AASA's School Street) - NEA Today - Lily's Blackboard What Else We're Reading - DQC's The Flashlight - Center for Teaching Quality - The Answer Sheet - Politics K-12 - U.S. Department of Education Blog - John Wilson Unleashed - The Core Knowledge Blog - This Week in Education - Inside School Research - Teacher Leadership Today - On the Shoulders of Giants - Teacher in a Strange Land - Teach Moore - The Tempered Radical - The Educated Reporter - Taking Note - Character Education Partnership Blog - Why I Teach	26
School choice in Alabama Energy • Environment • Fracking • Public education • Higher education • School choice • Public pensions • State budget and finances • Taxes • Voting • Ballot access • Redistricting \| Education policy in the U.S. \| \| Education statistics \| \| Higher education by state \| \|School choice state information\| - 1 Educational choice options - 2 Legislation - 3 Studies and reports - 4 School choice ballot measures - 5 Recent news - 6 See also - 7 References School choice refers to the educational alternatives available to parents who do not wish to send their children to the local district public schools to which they are assigned. Public school choice options include open enrollment policies, magnet schools and charter schools. Other options include traditional school vouchers, scholarship tax credits, personal tax credits and deductions and Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which allow parents to receive public funds directly for educational expenses. School choice options in Alabama include tax credits and online learning opportunities. The state is one of only eight that has not enacted charter school legislation. In addition, about 9.87 percent of school age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-12 academic year, and 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-13. Educational choice options On March 19, 2015, Alabama became the 43rd state to enact charter school legislation. The law allows for the creation of 10 start-up charter schools per year, as well as an unlimited number of conversion schools, within the first five years of the bill's passage. According to lawmakers, the first charter schools could open for the 2016-2017 school year. The bill was sponsored by Representative Terri Collins (R) and passed in the Alabama House of Representatives 58-41 on March 18, 2015, with the Alabama State Senate concurring. Governor Robert Bentley signed the legislation on March 19, 2015. - See also: Magnet school participation statistics Magnet schools, sometimes called theme-based schools, are public schools of choice that use a specialized subject area or innovative learning approach to attract students from more diverse backgrounds. In fact, magnet schools began as a way to desegregate public schools through choice rather than force. Magnet schools can reach beyond the barriers of school districts, but they are still managed and funded publicly by local districts, even though they are centered around specialized themes and subjects. In the 2011-2012 school year, there were 2,949 magnet schools in the United States. In that year, Alabama had 32 magnet schools that served 15,555 students. Approximately 64 percent of students enrolled in Alabama magnet schools were classified as a minority. That percentage of students was predominately African American. This was higher than Alabama's average of 42 percent minority enrollment. The state also reported an average student:teacher ratio of 15:1 in magnet schools, which is the same as the state average in traditional public schools. The table below lists this information again and compares it to Alabama's neighboring states. \|Magnet school participation, 2011-2012\| \|State\|\|Magnet schools in the state\|\|Students in magnet schools\|\|Minority enrollment percentage\|\|Student:teacher ratio\| \|Source: Public School Review, "Public School Review state magnet school pages," accessed December 12, 2014\| Alabama has two tax credit programs, instituted by the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013, which allow students to attend another public or private school if their schools are failing: the Parent-Taxpayer Refundable Credit, and Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations. The first program allows parents to take a tax credit worth the lesser of either 80 percent of the average annual state cost of attendance for a K-12 public school student during the applicable tax year or their children’s actual cost of attending school. If the taxes owed are less than the total credit allowed, parents may receive a rebate equal to the balance of the unused credit. The second program allows individuals and corporations to claim a 100 percent tax credit for contributions to approved Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs), in an amount up to 50 percent of their tax liability. Individual tax credits cannot exceed $7,500 per taxpayer or married couple filing jointly and taxpayers may carry forward a tax credit under this program for three years. The total amount of tax credits awarded statewide is limited to $25 million. Alabama does not have a state-led, full-time online learning program. The state does provide supplemental online learning opportunities through the ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educations, and Students Statewide) Distance Learning program. The program served 51,910 course enrollments in the 2012-13 academic year, which represents a 17 percent increase over the 2012-13 academic year. In the 2011-12 school year, 72,233 students, or 9.87 percent of school age children, were enrolled in 362 private schools. Alabama ranks 21st highest in the nation in private school attendance. Public school open enrollment According to the Education Commission of the States, Alabama has not enacted an open enrollment policy. Most parents teaching their children at home in Alabama do so through enrollment in a church school. This method is now included in the statutes describing the options available to parents. There were an estimated 21,851 students, about 2.67 percent of the school age population, being homeschooled in Alabama as of the 2012-13 academic year. On March 14, 2013, Governor Robert Bentley signed into law the Alabama Accountability Act. The bill gives tax credits to parents who wish to transfer their children from a failing public school district to another public or private school. The state legislature, which was controlled by Republicans, passed the bill on February 28, 2014. After signing the bill, Bentley said, "For the first time ever, we're giving all public schools the flexibility they need to better serve their students." Democrats and teacher advocacy groups contended that bill as passed had undergone significant alterations when it went to a conference committee, "transforming it from a measure allowing flexibility to school districts into a school choice bill." Political reporter Kyle Whitmire, from The Birmingham News, said that some were concerned the legislation could result in a "brain drain, that sort of concentrates your most challenged students in school systems that are already having problems. This could really create problems on both sides, for successful school systems that suddenly might be flooded with students and with failing school systems that already have problems." On April 2, 2014, Alabama enacted Senate Bill 38, which expressly recognizes home instruction by someone other than a state-certified private tutor as an option for complying with the compulsory attendance requirements and redefines a church school to include either on-site or home programs. The legislation also forbids state higher education institutions from discriminating against home-schooled applicants, and states that nonpublic schools are not subject to licensure or regulation by the state or any of its political subdivisions, including the Alabama Department of Education. Studies and reports Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice In 2014 the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice published a description of and commentary on school choice options in the United States. Regarding the state's individual tax credit program, the foundation said, "The most glaring weakness of Alabama’s individual tax-credit program is its eligibility restrictions. Only 4 percent of families in the state can take advantage of the refundable credit. Alabama also should consider amending this program to allow more money to follow participating students. The amount of money parents receive through Alabama’s refundable credit is less than the average funding parents receive through private school choice programs in other states. The refundable credit is worth up to 80 percent of what the state spends per student. The sending public school keeps the remaining 20 percent of state funding, in addition to any local or federal money associated with the cost of educating the transferring student. Only a portion of the state money is given to parents in the form of a refundable credit. A good next step would be to allow all of the state money to follow the child to his or her school of choice. The full report can be accessed here. School choice ballot measures Ballotpedia has tracked no statewide ballot measures relating to school choice in Alabama. This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term "Alabama + Education + Choice" - All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine. - Alabama state budget and finances - Alabama Department of Education - Alabama school districts - Education policy in the U.S. - National Conference of State Legislatures, "School Choice and Charters," accessed June 18, 2014 - Friedman Foundation for School Choice, "What is School Choice?" accessed June 18, 2014 - Education Week, "Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signs charter school bill," March 20, 2015 - Times Daily, "Bill would allow Alabama charter schools in 2016-17," February 20, 2015 - The Anniston Star, "Alabama governor signs charter schools bill," March 19, 2015 - WSFA 12, "Alabama House and Senate pass Charter School bill," March 18, 2015 - Public School Review, "What is a magnet school?" accessed December 9, 2014 - Magnet Schools of America, "What are magnet schools?" accessed December 9, 2014 - National Center for Education Statistics, "Selected statistics from the common core of data: School year 2011-2012," accessed December 12, 2014 - Public School Review, "Alabama magnet schools," accessed December 12, 2014 - Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, "School Choice in Alabama," accessed May 13, 2014 - Keeping Pace with K-12 Online and Blended Learning, "Alabama," accessed June 19, 2014 - U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Private School Universe Survey (PSS)", 2011-12 ; "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey, v.1a.," accessed May 12, 2014 - Education Commission of the States, "Open Enrollment: 50-State Report," accessed June 19, 2014 - A2Z Home's Cool, "Number of Homeschoolers in the USA," updated February 2, 2014, accessed Mar 22, 2014 - NPR.org, "Alabama's Governor Signs Education Bill Allowing School Choice," March 14, 2013 - Home School Legal Defense Association, "New Law Recognizes Home Instruction," accessed May 22, 2104 - The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, "The ABCs of School Choice - 2014 Edition," accessed June 18, 2014 State of Alabama \|State executive officers\|\| Governor \| Attorney General \| Secretary of State \| Treasurer\| Auditor\| Superintendent of Education\| Commissioner of Insurance\| Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries\| Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries\| Commissioner of Labor\| Public Service Commission\|	26
Regional accreditation is educational accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities in the United States by one of the six regional accreditors. Each regional accreditor encompasses the vast majority of public, and not-for-profit and for-profit private educational institutions in its region. They accredit and include among their members, elementary schools, junior high schools, middle schools, high schools, public and private universities, colleges, and institutions of higher education that are academic in nature. List of regional accreditors - Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as well as schools for American children in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. - New England Association of Schools and Colleges - Educational institutions in the six New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont). - North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming. - Northwest Accreditation Commission for primary and secondary schools and Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) for postsecondary institutions in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. - Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. - Western Association of Schools and Colleges - Educational institutions in California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Micronesia, Palau, and Northern Marianas Islands, as well as schools for American children in Asia. Each regional agency has full accrediting authority for both grade schools (primary and secondary) and colleges (postsecondary), with the exception of the northwestern region, for which responsibility is divided between two separate accreditation agencies (Northwest Accreditation Commission for primary and secondary schools and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities for colleges and universities). The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation list a total of eight regional accreditation entities as recognized for higher education accreditation. Except for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, these are subdivisions within the regional agencies: - The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a component of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools - Two subdivisions of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges: the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education and the Commission on Technical and Career Institutions - The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges - Two subdivisions of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges: the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities The regional accrediting agencies were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in response to a perceived need for better articulation[clarification needed] between secondary schools and higher education institutions, particularly to help colleges and universities evaluate prospective students. The New England Association was formed in 1885 by a group of schoolmasters of secondary schools. The Middle States Association formed in 1887. The faculty of Vanderbilt University led the establishment of the Southern Association in 1895, and the North Central Association was organized the same year at a meeting of 36 administrators of midwestern schools, colleges, and universities. The Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools (predecessor of the two organizations that now serve that region) was formed in 1917 and the Western Association was founded in 1923. Initially the main focus of the organizations was on accreditation of secondary schools and establishment of uniform college entrance requirements. Regional accreditation vs. national accreditation Regionally accredited higher education institutions are predominantly academically oriented, non-profit, or state-owned institutions. Nationally accredited schools are predominantly for-profit and offer vocational, career or technical programs. Every college has the right to set standards and refuse to accept transfer credits. However, if a student has gone to a school that is only nationally accredited and not regionally accredited, it may be particularly difficult to transfer credits (or even credit for a degree earned) if he or she then applies to a regionally accredited college. A 2005 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that, in making decisions on credit transfer, about 84 percent of U.S. higher education institutions considered whether the sending institution is accredited, and many had policies stating that they would accept credits only from regionally accredited institutions. About 63 percent of institutions told the GAO that they would accept credit from any regionally accredited institution, but only 14 percent similarly accepted credits from nationally accredited schools. Regional institutions are reluctant to accept credits from nationally accredited institutions due, in part, to national accreditors' less stringent standards for criteria such as faculty qualifications and library resources. Students who are planning to transfer credits from a nationally accredited school to a regionally accredited school are advised to ensure that the regionally accredited school will accept the credits before they enroll. In general, the names of U.S. post-secondary institutions and their degree titles do not indicate whether the institution is accredited or the type of accreditation it holds. Rules on this topic vary from state to state. Regulations of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission require that post-secondary institutions in the state of Tennessee must be regionally accredited to use the word "university" in their names, and that a school lacking regional accreditation may not use the word "college" in its name without adding a qualifier such as "career", "vocational", "business", "technical", "art", "Bible", or "Christian". Tennessee rules also specify that only regionally accredited schools can issue "liberal arts" degrees or degree titles such as Associate of Arts or Science and Bachelor of Arts or Science. - Council for Higher Education Accreditation - List of recognized higher education accreditation organizations - List of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations - Pre-tertiary education accreditation - Statement of Commitment by the Regional Accrediting Commissions for the Evaluation of Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs, retrieved from University of Hawaii website, June 19, 2011. "The eight regional accrediting commissions ... assure the quality of the great majority of degree-granting institutions of higher learning in the United States." (Page i) - Catherine Finnegan, Aligning Information Technology with Academic Standards, Educause Center for Applied Research Research Bulletin, volume 2006, Issue 10, May 9, 2006. "Regional acceditors include among their membership nearly all community colleges and public and private colleges universities in the region that they serve." (Page 2) - Janice M. Karlen, Accreditation and Assessment in Distance Learning, Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, Volume 1, Issue 4, Fall 2003 (November 2003). "Most institutions rely upon one of the eight regional accreditation organizations for their accreditation status." - Regional Accrediting Organizations 2010-2011, Council for Higher Education Accreditation, accessed June 19, 2011 - Regionally Accredited Colleges/Universities, State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, accessed June 19, 2011 - Recognized Accrediting Organizations, Council for Higher Education Accreditation website, dated May 2011, accessed June 19, 2011. - Fred F. Harcleroad and Judith S. Eaton (2005), "The Hidden Hand: External Constituencies and their Impact," Chapter 9 in Philip G. Altbach, Robert Oliver Berdahl, and Patricia J. Gumport, editors, American higher education in the twenty-first century: social, political, and economic challenges. Page 263. JHU Press. ISBN 0-8018-8035-1, ISBN 978-0-8018-8035-3. - History of the North Central Association - What is the Difference Between Regional and National Accreditation, Yahoo! Education website[unreliable source?] - Tussling Over Transfer of Credit, Inside Higher Ed, February 26, 2007 by Doug Lederman - Judith S. Eaton, Accreditation and Recognition in the United States, CHEA, 2008. - Demanding Credit, Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 19, 2005 by Scott Jaschik - Government Accountability Office, Transfer Students: Postsecondary Institutions Could Promote More Consistent Consideration of Coursework by Not Basing Determinations on Accreditation, GAO-06-22, October 2005. - Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Protecting Tennesseans from Education Fraud, March 2007. Page 7. - U.S. Department of Education, Accreditation in the United States	26
Where do I go and what should I do? Routes through further education This paper investigates the educational attainment of young people between the ages of sixteen and eighteen after having entered full-time post-compulsory education. In particular we focus on the educational attainment and labour market trajectory of `underachievers´: young people who have chosen to remain in full-time education at age sixteen, despite not gaining the widely recognised U.K. academic benchmark of five GCSE grades A*-C. Our results suggest that the best route to educational success for young people considered as of lower ability at age 16 is through the FE college where they catch-up with their `more able´ counterparts by age 18. \|Date of creation:\|\|Dec 2006\| \|Date of revision:\|\|Dec 2006\| \|Contact details of provider:\|\| Postal: \| Phone: +44 114 222 3399 Fax: + 44 (0)114 222 3458 Web page: http://www.shef.ac.uk/economics More information through EDIRC Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: - Akerhielm, Karen, 1995. "Does class size matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 229-241, September. - Pamela Lenton, 2005. "The school-to-work transition in England and Wales," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 32(2), pages 88-113, May. - repec:lan:wpaper:4343 is not listed on IDEAS - repec:lan:wpaper:4770 is not listed on IDEAS - Janet Currie & Duncan Thomas, 1999. "Early Test Scores, Socioeconomic Status and Future Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 6943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. - Andrews, Martyn & Bradley, Steve, 1997. "Modelling the Transition from School and the Demand for Training in the United Kingdom," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 64(255), pages 387-413, August. - repec:lan:wpaper:4468 is not listed on IDEAS - Ermisch, John & Francesconi, Marco, 2001. "Family Matters: Impacts of Family Background on Educational Attainments," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 137-56, May. - Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe, 1995. "The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1829-1878, December. - Damon Clark, 2002. "Participation in Post Compulsory Education in England: What explains the Boom and Bust," CEE Discussion Papers 0024, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. - Steven McIntosh, 1998. "The Demand for Post-Compulsory Education in Four European Countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp0393, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. - Steven McIntosh, 2001. "The Demand for Post-Compulsory Education in Four European Countries," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 69-90. - Eric A. Hanushek, 2003. "The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies," Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F64-F98, February. - Robertson, D. & Symons, J., 1988. "The Occupational Choice Of British Children," 325, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics. - Feinstein, Leon & Symons, James, 1999. "Attainment in Secondary School," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 300-321, April. - Andrews, Martyn & Bradley, Steve & Upward, Richard, 1999. "Estimating Youth Training Wage Differentials during and after Training," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 517-44, July. - Hanushek, Eric A, 1992. "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 84-117, February. - Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2002. "Does Increasing Women's Schooling Raise the Schooling of the Next Generation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 323-334, March. - David M. Blau, 1999. "The Effect Of Income On Child Development," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 261-276, May. - Evans, William N & Schwab, Robert M, 1995. "Finishing High School and Starting College: Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 941-74, November. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2006014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc. For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Jacob Holmes) If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.	26
Northwestern professors publish research on using cell phones in the classroom Kate Martin \| December 10, 2013 Professors find student-captured videos are valuable learning tools. Cell phone use in the classroom is generally considered a no-no. However, two Northwestern Health Sciences University professors studied how students in the chiropractic methods class are using their mobile devices to learn to be exceptional practitioners. Drs. Glori Hinck and Tom Bergmann conducted a study evaluating the feasibility of using mobile device technology to allow students to record their own supervised chiropractic adjustments and use the recordings for self evaluation. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Chiropractic Education. The article appeared in the Educational Research in Action section of the Fall 2013 issue. “Today’s students expect tech-savvy, active-learning education,” said Dr. Hinck. “Students in healthcare professions have a large number of skills to master. Chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy students must learn complex psychomotor skills to become proficient practitioners. The use of mobile devices for learning allows the exploration of innovative teaching and learning practices, and facilitates anywhere, anytime, student-centered learning.”	26
Photo caption: Tweeting resources for a writing class. After the initial thrill of creating an account, or the rush of seeing your follower count tick upward, social media can lose its excitement. As a result, in many libraries, especially when seemingly more pressing demands or staffing shortages arise, social media becomes an afterthought. It then loses its social qualities and, instead of cultivating interaction, it becomes just another media channel to infrequently promote services and events.1 Successful social media accounts curate relevant content and engage their audiences.2 But before any of that can happen, we’ve found it’s important to take a step back and think carefully about your purpose for using social media. Our experience comes from a small academic library with a culture that encourages experimenting with new technologies. The library includes 22 enthusiastic staff members, many of whom are interested in social media personally and professionally. As a result, we created a number of social media accounts, ten at present count, without thoughtfully considering how we planned to use and maintain them in the future. This was problematic because we weren’t making meaningful connections or engaging our audience. At the time, we lacked consistency in activity and content, had no policy to help define our intentions, and no strategy. As we took stock of our social media accounts, we began to question our purpose on social media. The following outlines characteristics of successful social media programs based on our own research and experience. Common Core 101 for Academic Librarians \| From the Bell Tower Library Journal steven bell newswire Common Core 101 for Academic Librarians \| From the Bell Tower The Common Core is said to be the most radical innovation to public education in a... To outpace fellow institutions in the game of college rankings, schools have improved classrooms, updated technology, sponsored faculty research, increased administrative overhead, and decked out residence halls and dining facilities. Costs have spiralled out of control. Through policy governments have only enabled people to afford the costs rather than incentivizing institutions to make the cost of education more affordable to people. Fortunately, the mania around MOOCs has jump-started several meaningful conversations in the opposite direction. Via Ralph Springett Versal brings knowledge to life. For the first time, create and publish amazingly engaging online learning experiences - no coding required. From homework and classroom exercises, to product tutorials and corporate training, to yoga and computer programming, Versal is flexible, powerful, and open to everyone. Via Nik Peachey Mobile use is rising, and to continue meeting the needs of their users, libraries must optimize their websites and content for mobile access. Find out why in this introductory guide. (Mobile Technology for Academic Libraries - why optimize? If you haven’t tried a free MOOC, I’d do it sooner than later. In recent weeks, the whole MOOC project took a hit when a University of Pennsylvania study found what was becoming empirically obvious — that MOOCs generally have very low participation and completion rates, and what’s more, most of the students taking the courses are “disproportionately educated, male, [and] wealthy,” and from the United States.. Via Ralph Springett Biblioboard is an ebook lending platform for libraries. Compared to Netflix by USA Today, the platform gives users instant access to library ebooks via web and mobile channels, enabling libraries to compete in an increasingly digital world. Library Journal Academic Movers 2014: In-Depth with Emily Drabinski Library Journal In the latest of our In-Depth Interviews with Library Journal Movers & Shakers from academic libraries, we caught up with Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn... Our innovative academic research platform allows students and researchers to save, organize, and automatically cite online or offline information throughout the duration of the writing process, and store content privately or aggregate it by topic to be shared with the community Via Nik Peachey “ Universities house an enormous amount of information and their libraries are often the center of it all. You don't have to be affiliated with any university to take advantage of some of what they h...” "From digital archives, to religious studies, to national libraries, these university libraries from around the world have plenty of information for you. There are many resources for designers as well. Although this is mainly a blog that caters to designers and artists I have decided to include many other libraries for all to enjoy. - Digital libraries - International Digital libraries - Books & texts - Medical libraries - Legal libraries - National Libraries of Europe - World Religion libraries - Specialized Collections - Academic Research - American Universities - International Universities Via Karen du Toit, Tammy Morley, Ingrid Thomson, Ayla Stein Universities house an enormous amount of information and their libraries are often the center of it all. You don't have to be affiliated with any university to take advantage of some of what they h... "From digital archives, to religious studies, to national libraries, these university libraries from around the world have plenty of information for you. There are many resources for designers as well. Although this is mainly a blog that caters to designers and artists I have decided to include many other libraries for all to enjoy. empower - give (someone) the authority or power to do something – Oxford Dictionary of American English Someone whom I greatly admire recently set me thinking about the mission of librarians. David Lankes has that effect on many of us. Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers. How to integrate my topics' content to my website? Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work. Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility. Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.	26
5 Effective Ways Teachers Can Use Twitter for Professional Development. June 10, 2014 What has started as a simple answer to the question "what are you doing? " has now developed into one of the most popular online social networking platforms with 255 million Average Monthly Active Users (MAUs) as of March 31, 2014 . The potential of Twitter in education is uncontested and the research literature in this regard abounds with accounts of teachers leveraging it in their instruction. The Comprehensive Dictionary of Educational Hashtags for Teachers. 15inShare Most of my Twitter interaction includes hashtags. I use a wide variety of hashtags to follow and participate in discussions around a particular topic. I do have some specific hashtags that I use on every day basis such as #edtech, #education, #phdchat, #ipadded and a couple more but sometimes my selection goes way beyond that to include other hashtags depending on the type of search I am doing. Internet Catalogue. The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education. What is a hashtag? A word or phrase preceded by a “#.” How do hashtags work? Twitter can be a busy place with lots of tweets–and thus lots of “noise.” A #hashtag is a way to aggregate tweets that are appended with a hashtag. Picture it like a magnet that attracts all messages categorized by that topical word or phrase. Who can use hashtags? Anyone. A Beginner’s Guide to Twitter Chat Participation. By Melissa A. Venable [Note: ETCJ's Twitter/Facebook editor, Jessica Knott, has been working with Melissa to develop this article. Also see Melissa's four-part series on Twitter for Professional Use. -Editor] A Twitter chat is a live, real-time discussion that takes place via Twitter messages, also known as tweets. As moderator of the Inside Online Learning chat (#IOLchat) since June 2011, I’ve experienced many of these benefits. 5 Reasons Every Teacher Needs To Be On Twitter - NextStop Magazine. If I told you your child's teacher was constantly on Twitter, you might, without thinking, react negatively. What a waste of precious time. Aren't there better things you could be doing? How dare you troll around on social media instead of planning my child's next thrilling Common Core lesson. The truth is much the opposite. There is an amazing world out there on Twitter, and for educators, there is much to find and benefit from. 1. Teachers should be actively growing their Personal Learning Network (PLN). 2. Twitter Support for Educators and Parents. Still don't have a Twitter teacher in your school or district? If not, don't worry. Educators have two new supports when it comes to learning the ropes of Twitter: A new online support community called #Nt2T for new teacher TwitterersA five-part Twitter 101 eCourse aimed at getting the novice social media user up and connected And no purchase orders are necessary. Both of these new offerings are absolutely free. Twitter Is My Teacher Superpower: 5 Steps to Make it Yours. While I can come up with new and innovative ideas inside my classroom, I can gain so much more from sharing and collecting ideas on Twitter (known jokingly as #ideabandits). This movement of becoming a connected educator is known as creating a Professional (or Personal) Learning Network, known as a PLN. I wholeheartedly believe that joining fellow educators on Twitter will impact you and your classroom more than you think. Here are 6 steps to try it yourself: Step 1: Create Get yourself logged onto Twitter and sign up for an account using your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Then add an image and a bio. This Is Why No One Follows You on Twitter. Twitter users often make the decision of whether or not to follow someone in seconds, meaning that you have very little time to impress. We looked into why people chose not to follow profiles on Twitter, and crowdsourced a variety of reasons that users give for not hitting that "Follow" button. But first, it's a good idea to take a look at how most people will see your Twitter profile. If someone finds you in his or her Home stream, or clicks on a "Who to follow" suggestion, the Profile Summary pop-up below shows what your potential audience sees of your Twitter presence. This summary gives an brief overview — the top half of the display shows your avatar, header photo, bio and a tally of tweets, followers and users you follow. Below that, there's a "followed by" info box that appears if anyone the viewer follows also follows you. Below, find 10 important things you need to change in order to gain more Twitter followers. 1. 2. HTAV Agora Article: A little birdy told me…. Primary (Ages 3 - 8 yrs) Classrooms That Tweet. 13 Great Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Check Out. Education Twitter chats take place when a group of educators "meet" on Twitter at an agreed upon time, using an agreed upon hashtag, to discuss topics of interest in education. Twitter chats range from small discussions with only a few participants to huge conversations with dozens or even hundreds of educators taking part! They provide a unique opportunity for educators to discuss specific topics of interest and connect with colleagues around the world. The word from educators in the trenches is that these chats are making a profound difference in how educators are improving their professional practice, providing ideas, resources and inspiration in ways never thought possible. A small (yet huge) example of the power of Twitter for student learning – Redefining my role: Teacher as student. I have been using Twitter for personalized professional learning for about three years now. That’s all I use it for, and it has had a profound impact on my teaching. The benefits of my PLN (personal learning network) for my professional growth has been enormous, yet lately I have been wondering how to provide my students with a comparable network for their own learning. This question is an ongoing exploration, but in the meantime I have been finding ways to leverage my network to help them in their learning. This post discusses one such example. My 5th grade students are in the midst of working on self-selected social studies projects centered around “the 5 themes of geography.” One of my students, Mary, is exploring the history of Australia, specifically how the provinces came to be formed and named. Weekly Twitter Chat Times. 50 Education Twitter Hashtags Perfect For Parents. Twitter – a Search Engine and PLN Tool: Tech Talk Tuesday in review « The #australiaseries Blog. Twitter was the topic of conversation for this week’s Tech Talk Tuesday session. With a mix of prepared slides and application sharing, twitter was introduced to those who may be new to its use. It was great to welcome a global audience with participants from Austria, Honduras (Central America), Moscow, Russia and Australia. Internet Catalogue. Business@tamurray Foreign Languages#langchat@MmeVeilleux @mmebrady @fiteach @bselden @mme_henderson@usamimi74 @CalicoTeach @DiegoOjeda66 @espanolsrs @SECottrell @melindamlarson @lbpereira @NinaTanti1 @mrcbarbie @JCPSWorldLang @sylviaduckworth. Twitter for Educators.pdf. Best individual tweeter2011. Scroll down this page to view the shortlisted nominations in this category in alphabetical order. To vote for your favorite just choose the category from the drop down menu below you want to vote in, who you want to vote for and then click Vote. You can vote in as many categories as you want per day! Please note only one vote per category per day will be counted per IP address.This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count Vote here! 13 Great Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Check Out. Learning from my PLN Educators! When I joined Twitter this past April, I was fresh out of teacher's college and eager to connect with experienced teachers -- I was not ready for my learning journey to come to an end, simply because I had graduated from my education program. Little did I know what was in store! Express 7.04 - Tech for Teachers: Using Twitter to Start Your Personal Learning Network. Tech for Teachers: Using Twitter to Start Your Personal Learning Network Jason T. Bedell ASCD Express's new Tech for Teachers column, by guest columnist Jason Bedell, uses both text and a tutorial video to encourage teachers to bring web technology into their practice in simple but meaningful ways that can contribute to student engagement and learning. There is a strong correlation between high-performing schools and the amount and quality of time that teachers spend collaborating with one another. The Six Sides of Steve. » #Top12 Teacher Hashtags# July 4th, 2011 by Mr.Williams. This article is looking at the most used education hashtags as of July 4th, 2011. Twitter 102 for educators. Educational Hash Tags.	26
It’s back-to-school time once again. Whether it is smartphones, tablets or laptops –devices and the classroom are more intertwined than ever before. Thanks to the growing connections in the Internet of Everything (IoE), it is now easier than ever to integrate the device into the classroom. With college costs on the rise, there is no question why many students, professors, and colleges, are turning to technology to increase access to resources. The days of ‘my roommate ate my homework’ are coming to an end. Read More » Tags: byod, connected classroom, edtech, education, Flipped Learning, Internet of Everything, IoE, MOOCs, online classes To say the way students learn today has dramatically changed since I was in school would be an understatement. Not too long ago, technology played a limited role in education. Computers were not an active part of any discussion; it was a lab we went to for an hour a day. Now students are fortunate to have access to a variety of technologies that enrich teaching methods such as interactive smart boards, laptops and tablets, video technology and more. This has transformed the way educators engage with their classes and how students learn. I think video collaboration technology specifically has had a profound impact on education. Today, teachers and school officials alike are utilizing video collaboration for many diverse uses such as advanced instruction, distance learning, virtual field trips and global student collaboration. Most recently, flipped learning has been receiving a considerable amount of attention and buzz for the powerful benefits it offers students and educators. Read More » Tags: Cisco, collaboration, DentonISD, edtech, education, Flipped Learning, TelePresence, video Earlier this year, Los Angeles Unified School District announced a $30 Million deal with Apple to distribute iPads to every single one of their estimated 650,000 students. This marks a milestone in public education as the first ever school district to deploy this kind of device to each and every student. Over the past several years there have been many pilots and test classes involving the oft-named ‘one to one’ approach to technology in the classroom; one device for each learner, however there has not been a rollout of this scale, anywhere. How does this shape the future of education for LAUSD students, and more importantly, how does this reflect on the evolution of the classroom for the 21st century student? Read More » Tags: #ciscochampion, connected classroom, education, guest blogger, Internet of Everything, IoE, iPad, lausd Chalkboards. Textbooks. Stacks of papers and folders. All of these items can make anyone a little nostalgic and remind us of our time in primary and secondary school. While basic fundamentals remain the same, classrooms are evolving. The reason? The Internet. This year’s back-to-school season has sparked many conversations around the future of the classroom. Most parents have seen the workforce and everyday life evolve as the Internet of Everything (IoE) begins to connect more people, places, data, and things. Yet questions about IoE in the classroom persist. That’s why in today’s “Ask the Futurist” post, I take a deeper look at how the IoE will impact the classroom of the future. Today’s question comes from Rob Coote, a systems analyst for a public K-12 school district in Northern Alberta, Canada. Here’s his two-part question: Question: “How do you envision the future of the ‘connected classroom’ and one-to-one learning in K-12 education? How do you see this impacting or changing the teacher’s role?” Read More » Tags: Cisco, education, forecast, innovation, Internet of Everything, internet of things, IoE, IoT, mobility, network, Tomorrow Starts Here Have you ever felt like measuring social media was like a trying to crack a secret code? Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what data is important to measure out of all the information we are receiving. September 26th Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Twitter Chat And as social media continues to become more of the way business is conducted, I’ve seen a shift in what experts are focusing on and recommending. Join me and our special guest, Charlie Treadwell, Manager, Digital and Social Media Marketing at Cisco, for a #Ciscosmt Twitter chat on Thursday, September 26th from 9-10am PT. As part of our monthly “Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series” chats, Charlie will share his listening, measurement, and monitoring expertise and we will: - Discuss ways to make sense of all the social media metrics - Share measurement, listening, and monitoring best practices - Identify metrics to focus on - Explore examples showing social media measurement’s impact on business - Determine how to make sense of all of the data - Review ways to up-level measurement practices in a company Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series Let’s make this a really interactive session. Bring your questions for Charlie and share your own insights and examples throughout the chat or even prior to the session. We’re looking forward to your interactions! For those that might be new participating in a Twitter chat, here are some quick details: What is a Twitter Chat? Twitter chats are scheduled gatherings of Twitter users to discuss a given topic, using a hashtag to keep track of conversation. How do I participate? - There are many ways to participate in a Twitter chat. You can use a dedicated chat platform, (i.e. Twubs, TweetChat, Tchat.io, etc.), your favorite Twitter client (TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc.) or you can even just user Twitter search to follow the chat hashtag. - We want it to be an interactive chat, learning from each other. Join in the conversation with your insights and experiences using #Ciscosmt. And also interact with others, re-tweeting, exchanging ideas, and commenting on other points of view. - Questions will be labeled Q1, Q2, Q3. If you are responding to a question, please start your tweet with the corresponding answer number “A1”. Cisco Social Media Training Program Opportunity: If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the #ciscosmt hashtag. To request customized one-on-one team training sessions, email [email protected]. We look forward to your insights here and during the #Ciscosmt Twitter chat! Tags: B2B, B2C, Cisco, ciscosmt, education, Executive, information-sharing, learning, Listening, measurement, mentoring, metrics, monitoring, social, social learning, social media, social media strategies, social networking, training	26
By Katrina Schwartz As more schools start to integrate their own mobile learning strategies and Bring Your Own Device policies, one school district in a suburb of Houston has managed to come up with what appears to be a successful BYOD program. Katy Independent School District (ISD) has a student population of 63,000 students and 56 schools – elementary, middle and high schools. There are 83 languages spoken by students in the district and 31 percent of the student population is on free or reduced lunch programs. In 2009, Katy began a three-year plan to change instruction in the school district by promoting a standardized toolbox of web-based tools dubbed “Web 2.0.” They also set out guidelines for behavior in the digital space called “Digital Citizenship,” in the hopes that the school would not just teach kids math and reading, but also how to behave in a public digital world. But first, the school district needed to understand the ins and outs of mobile learning. Lenny Schad, the Chief Information Officer for the district led the effort who has become the go-to guy for educators looking to implement their own mobile learning strategy has one primary piece of advice: Mobile learning is a holistic educational plan, not just introducing technology into existing structures. “Mobile learning is all about changing instruction. Because if the instruction doesn’t change, allowing the kids to bring their own device will do nothing,” he explained in a recent EdWeb webinar. Schad stressed that the teacher’s role in a mobile learning classroom changes significantly. Rather than standing up front or sitting behind a desk and transmitting information, kids are doing a lot of the learning on their own. The teacher’s job is to get up, walk around, monitor the kids’ progress and make sure they’re staying on task. “It completely changed the dynamic of the classroom,” Schad said. The students became excited to demonstrate what they had learned or how they worked out a problem. And they didn’t seem to mind school work anymore — Schad said kids played educational games for hours without realizing they were learning. STEP BY STEP The district rolled out its mobile learning strategy slowly, at first only focusing on the early adopters from the teaching staff, and a limited group of students. The district gave out 130 mobile learning devices to fifth-graders. The devices were web-enabled, but could only access sites approved on the main network. Phone and text functions were turned off. Students loved it. Schad said they were immediately more engaged in the classroom and student achievement scores went up. So, in 2010 the district expanded the program to 11 campuses and handed out 1,700 devices. Katy put together an approved package of mobile learning tools for teachers, part of the Web 2.0 kits. They use Edmodo, a social networking site for teachers and students to share information about school work. Shad is also excited about Discovery Education, a tool that allows students to bring the world into the classroom. For example, a student could build a virtual circuit on a tablet, and understand the process by actually doing it. But mobile devices are just one set of tools in the district’s toolbox. Schad says there are times when mobile learning works best, often in math and science, but at other times laptops or pen-and-pencil instruction are more appropriate. “Part of this education we’ve going through for the past three years is helping our teachers to understand when it’s appropriate to use this and when it’s not,” he said. After all the groundwork Katy had been laid to test mobile learning with students, teachers, and parents, the BOYD program seemed inevitable — a natural progression. Teachers wanted more devices and that was an easy way to get them. At the end of the three-year implementation, the district surveyed students and found that 77 percent were bringing their own devices to school, 54 percent of which were smartphones. They also surveyed their 4,000 teachers, got 1,609 responses and found that 33 percent of those respondents were already regularly incorporating BYOD into instruction. Another 46 percent said they would use BYOD more if they had more devices. Schad attributed the hesitancy of half the teachers to concerns over equity – teachers didn’t want to use BYOD if not everyone had a device. Schad said that could be easily solved by having students work in teams – a student without a device collaborates with a student who does have one. Schad explained that at the beginning of the program, middle school students were only allowed to bring out their devices when directed to by a teacher. They were not allowed to use them at lunch or when passing in the halls. However, the high school students were allowed to have theirs all day. Schad said when establishing these rules restricting use, students behaved more responsibly. “It changed the tone and helped with the kids understanding of digital citizenship, when it’s appropriate and when it’s not,” he said. There were so few problems with abuse that this school year the district loosened the middle school rules to mirror the high school. As for funding, Katy received a number of grants that helped the district upgrade its Wi-Fi, which helped kick-start this initiative. Schad estimates that each device costs about $100 and the data plan costs $34. That doesn’t include any of the costs of maintaining the system like training, outreach and the other support roles that made the Katy three-year plan a success.	26
Education Featured Article September 20, 2012 Imagine K12 Imagines Better Education through Technology By Rich Steeves, TMCnet Web Editor In a classic Isaac Asimov story, “The Fun They Had,” children of the future are educated in their homes by computerized instructors. But many educators in the present are divided over whether or not technology improves education, with some firmly believing that modern tech can help students learn with others taking the position that traditional methods are best and that fancy gadgets and software are a waste of resources. Well, for educators and school districts that embrace the former philosophy over the latter, there is good news. Imagine K12 is a Silicon Valley-based company that hopes to help educational startups nurture and grow, and it has brought millions of dollars to educational tech companies in the past 18 months. The Imagine K12 paradigm works in several phases. Companies can apply to take part in two annual sessions. These sessions last for approximately three months and bring companies together in California for an intensive session about jumpstarting businesses. In addition, these companies are granted up to $20,000 in seed funding to get them started (in exchange for a small percentage of the business). During these sessions, companies get to take advantage of the Imagine K12 founders’ business knowledge, meeting with these startup experts on a weekly basis. Participating companies also attend seminars on various startup topics and networking events. They also get to practice their pitches and demonstrations to prepare for investor meetings – and meetings with school boards and superintendents! The real test for many of these startups comes when they meet with experienced educators. On these “educator days,” the entrepreneurs are faced with an extremely intelligent and critical audience. Educators know that there is no magic wand that will cure all of their students’ woes, but they are looking for any advantage that technology can give them. Recent startups working with Imagine K12 have involved a LinkedIn (News - Alert)-like professional network for educators, an educational technology app store, an education-focused search engine and more. Ideally, Imagine K12 will prove beneficial for everyone. Educational tech companies that have great ideas and great products will learn how to generate money, hone their pitches and find the right audience. Likewise, educators around the country will then have access to cutting edge technology that, if implemented properly, can make their lives easier and their classrooms better. And, in the end, if this benefits the students, then it is all worthwhile. After all, not many teachers are in it for the money, and, until Asimov’s dream is realized, these flesh and blood people need to find ways to engage and reach their students, for, as the saying goes, they are our future. Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter. Edited by Rachel Ramsey LATEST EDUCATION NEWS ProSight Specialty® Insurance Partners with NABCEP to Promote Professional Certification with Exclusive Insurance Offering Health Net Federal Services Receives Contract Extension of up to Three Additional One-Year Option Periods to Continue Providing TRICARE Services	26

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