9 Things To Seriously Make You Re-consider The Entire Existence Of Mankind

Cosmic Web

The concept of the cosmic web—viewing the universe as a set of discrete galaxies held together by gravity—is deeply ingrained in cosmology. Yet, little is known about architecture of this network or its characteristics. Our research used data from 24,000 galaxies to construct multiple models of the cosmic web, offering complex blueprints for how galaxies fit together. These three interactive visualizations help us imagine the cosmic web, show us differences between the models, and give us insight into the fundamental structure of the universe.

An awesome work of the Center for Complex Network Research

Some galaxies have extremely bright cores, suggesting that they contain a supermassive black hole that is pulling in matter at a prodigious rate. Astronomers call these “active galaxies,” and Hercules A is one of them. In visible light, Hercules A looks like a typical elliptical galaxy. In X-ray light, however, Chandra detects a giant cloud of multimillion-degree gas (purple). This gas has been heated by energy generated by the infall of matter into a black hole at the center of Hercules A that is over 1,000 times as massive as the one in the middle of the Milky Way. Radio data (blue) show jets of particles streaming away from the black hole. The jets span a length of almost one million light years.  

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, Optical: NASA/STScI, Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

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

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

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

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

do not fear! copy the link to the article

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

slap the article link in there

bam! free access! 

Stellar Outburst Brings Water Snow Line Into View

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo. 13 July 2016

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

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

ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

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

The star V883 Orionis in the constellation of Orion

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

Shifting water snowline in V883 Orionis

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

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

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

ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

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

Zooming on the protoplanetary disc around V883 Orionis

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

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

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

The Lagoon Nebula - M8 in Infrared

The Lagoon Nebula (also known as Messier 8/M8 or NGC 6523) is a giant interstellar cloud and emission nebula located in the constellation Sagittarius approximately 5,000 light-year from earth. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules, which can be seen as dark, collapsing clouds of gaseous material. This Particular image shows a star forming central region in infrared and was captured by the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. 

Credit: ESO/VISTA

ELISA

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is a plate-based assay technique used to detect substances such as proteins, peptides and hormones. 

An antigen is immobilized on a solid surface 

It is complexed with an antibody that is linked to an enzyme.

The conjugated enzyme activity is assessed via incubation with a substrate.

Which produces a product that can be measured. 

Direct ELISA

Antigen is coated directly to wells of microtitre plate 

an enzyme-labelled primary antibody that detects the antigen is added.

Advantages  

Fast and minimal steps needed.

Minimum precursor requirement makes it less error prone.

Disadvantages

The immobilization of the antigen is not specific - background interference.

Less flexibility of primary antibody.

No signal amplification –> less sensitivity.

Indirect ELISA

An enzyme labelled secondary antibody interacts with a primary antibody to increase sensitivity. 

Advantages

Offers high sensitivity and flexibility as a secondary antibody can label different primary antibodies

It is cheap (fewer labelled antibodies needed)

Disadvantages

Increased background noise from the secondary antibody.

Extra labour.

Sandwich ELISA

Capture antibody bound to surface.

Antigen-containing sample is applied and captured.

A specific antibody is added, and binds to antigen (sandwiching the antigen between 2 antibodies). 

Enzyme-linked secondary antibodies are used as detection antibodies.

Advantages  

Offers high sensitivity and a highly specific reaction due to 2 antibodies (both have to bind to the antigen).

Disadvantages

For recognition of a specific epitope, only monoclonal antibodies can be applied as matched pairs.

Procuring monoclonal antibodies is difficult and expensive.

If someone is attractive and charming, you’re more likely to assume they’re intelligent and hard working- even if they’re not. 

Known as the ‘Halo Effect’, it’s a theory that our generalized judgements of people can bleed over into the more specific judgements we make about them. Studies show that even though we understand the Halo Effect intellectually, it’s almost impossible for us to recognize when it’s actually happening. 

(Source, Source 2)

Planetary nebula IC 4406 in the constellation Lupus

Photographing the Milky Way Over Greece

Alexandros Maragos is an Athens based filmmaker and photographer best known for his landscape photography, astrophotography and timelapse imagery. In his own words:

The Milky Way is the name of the spiral galaxy in which our solar system is located. It is our home in space. The Earth orbits the Sun in the Solar System, and the Solar System is embedded within this vast galaxy of stars. In the northern hemisphere, the Milky Way is visible in the southern half of the sky. This makes Greece one of the best places in the world to see and photograph the galaxy because of the country’s geographic location in Southern Europe at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

As a filmmaker and photographer I feel very fortunate to live here. Every time I want to shoot the night sky, all I do is to pick a new spot on the map and just go there and take the shot. Greece is a heaven for astrophotography. Whether you choose a mountain, a beach, a peninsula or any of the 6,000 islands, the Milky Way is always visible in the southern sky.

To see more of his work visit his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Images and text via

An asteroid the size of a skyscraper should pass near the Earth on August 10th

Asteroid Watch logo. August 5, 2019

Near Earth Asteroid

An asteroid 570 meters in diameter is expected to approach 8 million kilometers from our planet on August 10. The situation is of no concern to NASA specialists, who stress the large number of similar celestial objects that are spotted each year near the Earth. The space agency says it fears more those who are not listed.

Artist’s impression of 2006 QQ23 asteroid

According to NASA, an asteroid the size of a skyscraper will pass near the Earth on Saturday, August 10. Called “2006 QQ23”, the celestial object is approximately 570 meters in diameter and its trajectory will place it at a distance of 8 million kilometers from our planet, closer to home, says CNN. A “more or less benign” situation for experts from the American Space Agency. This asteroid is of a “moderate size” Lindley Johnson of NASA’s Global Coordinating Office for Defense says the asteroid is “of moderate size” and explains that half a dozen similar-sized aerolites are approaching each year. Not to mention that the solar system includes nearly 900 of a volume greater than that which advances towards the Earth. The specialists are therefore reassuring.

2006 QQ23 orbit

They explain having already studied the movements of “2006 QQ23” since the year 1901 and until 2200. Because a possible impact between the Earth and a foreign body of this size would cause significant damage over a large area . Even if this scenario occurred, NASA would then be able to launch a space mission to deflect the celestial object. When it comes to asteroids, “it’s the ones we do not know about that worry us,” says Kelly Fast, also a member of the Coordination Office. Related article: Asteroid’s surprise close approach illustrates need for more eyes on the sky https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/08/asteroids-surprise-close-approach.html Additional information: Asteroid Watch: For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and http://www.nasa.gov/asteroid . Updates about near-Earth objects are also available by following AsteroidWatch on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch . Near-Earth Object Program Office: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ Images, Text, Credits: AFP/NASA/ESA/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article