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On Wednesday evening, sky watchers were treated to a rare celestial event as all eight planets in our solar system became visible at the same time. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were visible to the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune could be seen with binoculars or a telescope. Multiple planets may appear relatively close together in the sky, this event occurs only occurs every few years. On Wednesday, such an event occurred with the planets being close to each other only 1.5 degrees apart! While Uranus and Neptune will soon go back to being far apart from each other, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will remain visible on Thursday (29/12/2022) and will reach conjunction at 21:00 GMT. The last time all eight planets were visible simultaneously was in January, 1894, and it won't happen again until December, 2040. Here is a list of recent very close planetary conjunctions (planets appear closer than 1.5 degrees). On January 9, 2020, a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about only 0.1 degrees apart as viewed from Earth. On June 3, 2020, a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about 1 degree apart as viewed from Earth. On July 27, 2021, a conjunction of Venus and Mars occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about 1.5 degrees apart as viewed from Earth. On December 21, 2021, a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about 0.6 degrees apart as viewed from Earth. On April 14, 2022, a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about 0.5 degrees apart as viewed from Earth. On June 10, 2022, a conjunction of Venus and Mars occurred, with the two planets appearing to be about 0.6 degrees apart as viewed from Earth. The last time all of the planets were visible in the sky simultaneously was in June 2022. All five planets visible to the naked eye were lined up in the sky in the same sequential order that they physically orbit the sun – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - an alignment which had not occurred for 18 years. Planetary conjunctions involving Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will continue to occur on a regular basis. These planets are the brightest objects in the sky after the sun and moon, so their conjunctions are often visible to the naked eye. The distances between the planets during a conjunction can vary significantly, from just a few degrees to over 20 degrees. The closer the planets are to each other, the more impressive the conjunction will appear. Planetary conjunctions are best viewed from a location with a clear view of the sky, away from city lights and other sources of light pollution. A telescope or binoculars can also be used to get a closer look at the planets during a conjunction. It is rare for all eight planets in the solar system to be aligned, with all of them appearing to be only 1.5 degrees apart from each other. This alignment, known as a planetary conjunction, only occurs every few centuries! When a planetary conjunction occurs, the planets will not actually be physically close to each other. They will appear to be close because they are all on the same side of the sun, as viewed from Earth. However, the distances between the planets are vast, with the average distance between Earth and its nearest neighbour, Venus, being about 26 million miles. It is important to note that the planets do not orbit the sun in perfectly circular orbits, but rather in elliptical orbits. This means that at certain times, the planets will be closer to the sun and at other times they will be farther away. When a conjunction occurs, it is because the planets are at a point in their orbits where they are relatively close to each other, as viewed from Earth. While a planetary conjunction is a rare and interesting event, it does not have any significant impact on the solar system or on the Earth. The planets continue to orbit the sun and follow their own paths, regardless of their alignment with respect to each other.

For centuries, humans have dreamed of achieving immortality. They have sought the "holy grail" of eternal life, constantly searching for ways to extend their lifespan and escape the ravages of time. But despite all their efforts, it seemed that this elusive goal was always just out of reach. That is, until a new generation of scientists emerged, determined to unlock the secrets of longevity. Among them was David Sinclair, a brilliant researcher who was convinced that he could find a way to extend human lifespan and even reverse the effects of aging. Sinclair devoted his life to this quest, studying the intricacies of the human body and the mysteries of the aging process. He experimented with a wide range of gene therapies and technologies, and slowly but surely, he began to make progress. One of his most notable achievements was his ability to reverse the aging process in mice. In a groundbreaking study published in 2013, Sinclair and his team showed that by manipulating a specific gene called SIRT1, they were able to significantly extend the lifespan of mice. They also found that the mice who received the treatment experienced improved physical function and a decrease in age-related diseases. But Sinclair didn't stop there. He continued to push the boundaries of what was thought to be possible, and just in case it happens you don't know... for the fact these mice are twins and they have the same chronological age! You can see the differences in the photo. His research eventually led him to another significant discovery: the ability to reverse age-related vision loss in mice. Using a gene therapy to stimulate the production of a protein called NRF2, Sinclair and his team were able to restore the vision of mice to levels that were similar to those of young, healthy mice. In fact right now which is the year 2022, scientists have made significant progress in understanding the aging process and have even gained the ability to control and manipulate the aging process of mice, making them younger or older at will. These findings were groundbreaking, and they gave hope to many people who were interested in living longer, healthier lives. They showed that it was possible to reverse the effects of aging and age-related diseases through the use of gene therapies, and that it was possible to restore vision in mice that had lost their eyesight due to aging. And as Sinclair's research continued to gain attention and recognition, another scientist emerged on the scene: Aubrey de Grey. De Grey was convinced that humanity was on the verge of achieving longevity escape velocity, and he predicted that this milestone would be reached between the years 2035 and 2040 and we could become biologically immortal. De Grey based his predictions on the rapid pace of technological advancement and the increasing power of artificial intelligence. He believed that AI would be able to help us solve many of the problems that have previously hindered longevity research, such as the inability to accurately predict how different interventions will affect the aging process. And so, here we are, at the cusp of a revolutionary new era in which the dream of immortality may finally be within reach. Thanks to the tireless efforts of scientists like Sinclair and de Grey, and the power of advanced technologies like AI, we are closer than ever to achieving the "holy grail" of eternal life. What a time to be alive! We are truly lucky to be living in! When we make strong scientific claims about anything then it makes sense to question the legitimacy of the information. For that reason we will give you legit sources about these miraculous scientific achievements! We understand that it is very hard to accept and believe such heavy claims about the end of death or the end of ageing which is the main reason of why humanity has suffered since we begin to walk on Earth! References: Check these scientific legit sources with evidence about David Sinclair! https://hms.harvard.edu/news/rewinding-clock https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/health/reverse-aging-life-itself-scn-wellness/index.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYjPqq8P70s Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5H3EnGozr0 Also read the scientific sources about curing blindness in mice with gene therapy... https://hms.harvard.edu/news/vision-revision https://www.science.org/content/article/researchers-restore-lost-sight-mice-offering-clues-reversing-aging Here is an updated YouTube video about David Sinclair which shows the news about anti-aging field right now (the year 2022-2023) and we can see we had more progress this time! Imagine you get a pill, not even a vaccine... and that's how you become younger! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPARs7mL_7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QiVt0BxpuA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUalc1r4sKY Please check also the sources about Aubrey De Grey who explains about how longevity escape velocity works! https://longevity.technology/news/longevity-escape-velocity-by-2035-and-it-will-be-free/ https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2022/10/aubrey-de-grey-establishes-the-longevity-escape-velocity-foundation/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_escape_velocity #immortality #longevity_escape_velocity #longevityescapevelocity #biological_immortality #biologicalimmortality #eternal_life #eternallife #immortalist #anti-deathist #progress #science #biology #gerontology #david_sinclair #davidsinclair #aubrey_de_grey #aubreydegrey #anti_aging #antiaging #anti_entropy #antientropy

There many things that we can do to prevent skin cancer, such as following a healthy diet high in cancer fighting foods (such as garlic). Exercise, sleep and avoidance of excessive exposure to sunlight are more or less obvious, but simple and effective preventative strategies against cancer. To these you may also add fasting, which induces autophagy and cleanses the body from cancerous cells. The longer the fasting the higher is its therapeutic power. Next, let us examine what is skin cancer. Skin cancer is a malignant lesion of the skin, which develops from epidermal cells. Unlike cutaneous malignant melanoma, most types of skin cancer rarely spread to other parts of the body (metastasise). Melanoma can grow very quickly and it can become life-threatening in as little as 6 weeks and, if untreated, it can spread to other parts of the body. Melanoma can appear on skin not normally exposed to the sun. Nodular melanoma in particular is a highly dangerous form of melanoma that looks different from common melanomas. Below you can see few pictures of Melanoma skin cancer. There are three main types of skin cancer: 1) Basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer that develops from cells in the basal layer of the epidermis. Basal cell cancer is the most common form of skin cancer, accounting for nearly 80% of all skin cancers. Basal cell cancers arise from abnormal basal cells in the skin. It is rarely fatal, but it can spread locally and cause damage to tissues or even bones . 2) Squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common, arising from the squamous cells of the epidermis. Most (95% to 98%) of squamous cell carcinomas can be cured if they are treated early. Once squamous cell carcinoma has spread beyond the skin, though, less than 50% of people have a five year survival. 3) Melanoma, from the melanocytes of the skin, i.e. the cells that produce melanin, the pigment of the skin. Melanoma is the least common form of skin cancer, but the most dangerous. However, due to the high incidence of skin cancer overall melanoma skin cancer is the 5th most common cancer in the UK , accounting for 4% of all new cancer cases (2016-2018). Getting sunburn, just once every three years, can increase your chance of getting melanoma 3 times! However, note that melanomas don't usually appear immediately appear after the sunburn. You might have to wait 5 years or more to see the long-term damaging results of a sunburn. We must all take immediate action, and require from the public health authorities to provide people with consistent, frequent and above all free screening tests for all types of skin cancer. At a personal level we must perform careful self screening tests, and look for anything that resembles the pictures above. It might even worth paying a specialised doctor to perform an examination on us. Any, suspect finding must be immediately reported to a GP.

Before you buy the right equipment it is good to know a few things about the theory behind telescopes and binoculars . People have long been amazed by the night sky because of its alluring mystery. For generations, observers had relied solely on their eyes to conduct their observations until 1608, when a German-born Dutch eyeglass maker made the first telescope . His gadget was not employed for astronomical purposes, but rather for military purposes. The Galilean invention of his first telescope in 1609 is an event that people credit the most today. The first Galilean optical tube was extremely basic, magnifying objects only three times. The scientist was able to achieve better optical power after multiple changes. He was able to observe many phenomena: the Venusian phases, the surface of the Moon, and 4 major Jovian satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These observations had a significant impact on the cosmological models of the time as they demonstrated arguments against a geocentric system. The following are the primary functions of a telescope: •To increase the angular separation between objects by gathering as much light radiation as possible •To Create a sharp and clear image of a specific object We have now reached a high technological level that allows us to build massive telescopes (and even send many of them outside the protective layers of the atmosphere of the Earth, that blocks many of the key wavelengths of radiation such us UV radiation, Gamma rays and X-rays) that are capable of reaching distant regions of the Universe and making significant discoveries. Examples of successful space telescopes include the HST and the JWST. Components of a telescope : The following are the major components of any telescope: • The primary lens (for refracting telescopes), which is the device's most important component. The larger the lens, the more light a telescope can collect and the fainter the objects that may be seen. • Primary mirror (in reflecting telescopes), which functions similarly to the primary lens in refracting telescopes. • An eyepiece that enlarges the image. • Mounting, which holds the tube in place and allows it to revolve. Refractors and reflectors are the two types of telescopes. The simplest sort of a telescope is a refractor, which consists of two lenses at the tube's ends. The primary lens - the objective – is the major component of this sort of telescope. The objective of a refractor is a concave lens. It specifies how small items can be seen. At the opposite end of the tube is the eyepiece, which is also a concave lens. The magnification of an object observed is defined by this term. A reflector is a telescope that reflects light with a mirror. This is a later type of telescope that was first proposed by Giovanni Francesco Sagredo (1571–1620), who suggested that a curved mirror instead of a lens may be employed. However it was Isaac Newton who invented the first reflector in 1669. These telescopes use a parabolic mirror to collect light from far away space objects, as well as many auxiliary mirrors to route the light path to the viewer. The figure above depicts a reflecting telescope (Newtonian design). The light from a source converges at a focal point of a system's primary lens (or primary mirror). Light enters the eyepiece (refractors) or is reflected outside a main tube towards the ocular lens, depending on the design (reflectors). A longer focal length will produce a larger image and a shorter focal length will produce a smaller image. The length of a telescope is equal to the focal length of the eyepiece plus the focal length of the objective lens. The focal length f of a lens is the place where the light rays converge, as it is illustrated in the images below. D is the power of a lens and D=1/f. This means that stronger lenses have a smaller focal length f, and they will magnify the image more. Refractors have shortcomings like chromatic aberration, glass defects, and distortion by weight and hence reflectors are most used in modern astronomy. Optical imperfections, often known as aberrations, impair the quality of views generated by optical telescopes. Chromatic aberration affects refractors more than reflectors. The wavelength of red light is refracted more than the wavelength of blue light. A star is surrounded by multicoloured concentric rings of light as a result of this phenomenon. To eliminate chromatic aberration, a corrective lens is put on top of the primary objective. Monochromatic aberrations are another form of aberration. Spherical aberration is caused by a unique property of spherical surfaces: they focus on a line rather than a point. The use of parabolic mirrors corrects this. A note for slightly more advanced readers: If the focal length of the objective is F and the focal length of the eyepiece is f, then the magnification of the image is given by M= F/f . Note also that: sinα = 138/D where D is the diameter of the main lens or the mirror of the telescope (measured in mm) and α is the limit resolution of the telescope measured in arcseconds. Finally the formula M= 2.7+ 5logD gives the limiting magnitude M (a dimensionless quantity), that is visible from an aperture of diameter D (measured again in mm). Mountings Mountings are divided into two categories: altitude-azimuth and equatorial. The equatorial mount. The polar axis is aligned with the equatorial mount. The benefit of this setup is that it only requires the tube to spin along one polar axis to follow the movement of the celestial sphere and hence you can track celestial objects easily and you can easily use a camera with your telescope. It is important to buy an equatorial telescope if your goal is astrophotography. The Alt-azimuth mount. The biggest advantage of an alt-azimuth mount is the simplicity of its mechanical design. The primary disadvantage is its inability to follow astronomical objects in the night sky as the Earth spins on its axis. However computerized equatorial mounts and alt-azimuth mounts both track the motion of the stars and celestial objects, but they do so in different ways. Conclusion: Buying a telescope will depend on your personal preferences and your budget. Now that you understand the theory behind telescopes and binoculars you can click this link to buy a telescope from our selection of the best telescopes & binoculars and support our educational articles.

A new groundbreaking work in theoretical physics claims to change our understanding about black holes, and in particular about the information loss paradox. The work consists of 2 recently published papers which can be found at the end of this article. In the first paper, appearing in the journal Physical Review Letters, Professor Xavier Calmet from the University of Sussex School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Professor Roberto Casadio (INFN, University of Bologna), Professor Stephen Hsu (Michigan State University), along with PhD student Folkert Kuipers (University of Sussex), show that black holes have a gravitational field that, at the quantum level, encodes information about how they were formed. This goes against the "ho hair theorem" of Wheeler. In 1967 Werner Israel presented at King's College in London his "Uniqueness Theorem". This is also known as "No Hair Theorem" a phrase popularised by John Archibald Wheeler, and regarded offensive by Richard Feynman. According to which in the absence of angular momentum, gravitational collapse with sufficient mass will lead to a Schwarzschild black hole, irrespective of the shape of the collapsing star. A classical black hole can be described be only three parameters: Mass, Angular Momentum, Charge. The no hair theorem, appears to be wrong according to the recent theoretical work. Calmet and Hsu mention: "Recently it was shown [8] that the quantum state of the graviton field outside the horizon depends on the state of the interior. No-hair theorems in general relativity severely limit the information that can be encoded in the classical gravitational field of a black hole, but the situation is quite different at the quantum level. This result is directly connected to recent demonstrations [9] , [10] , [11] that the interior information is recoverable at the boundary: they originate, roughly speaking, from the Gauss Law constraint in quantization of gravity. It provides a mechanism (“quantum hair”) through which the information inside the hole is encoded in the quantum state of the exterior gravitational field." Calmet and Hsu conclude: "Hawking's information paradox has been the focus of intense interest for almost 50 years. In his 1992 lecture on the subject, John Preskill [5] wrote: I conclude that the information loss paradox may well presage a revolution in fundamental physics. The resolution described here is conservative: the quantum state of the exterior gravity field is determined by the interior black hole state, allowing the latter to influence Hawking radiation produced at the horizon. Two distinct quantum states of the black hole may produce the same semiclassical external geometry, but the graviton states differ at the quantum level. The relationship between interior and exterior quantum states is not governed by classical no-hair theorems. Indeed, it has gradually been appreciated that gravity itself prevents the localization of quantum information [4] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [21] , [22] , [23] , even behind a horizon. We stress that all formulations of the paradox require a degree of factorization between the black hole internal state and the radiation (see, e.g., (6) ), which is clearly not true of our equation (4) . Certain aspects of our expressions (2) - (4) are very clear: the black hole information is spread over many branches of the final radiation state, and macroscopic superpositions of different spacetime geometries play a role in the evaporation. Some of the difficulty in resolving the paradox may originate from a reluctance to accept these aspects of quantum dynamics." Prof. Calmet also added: "Black holes have long been considered the perfect laboratory to study how to merge Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. It was generally assumed within the scientific community that resolving this paradox would require a huge paradigm shift in physics, forcing the potential reformulation of either quantum mechanics or general relativity. What we found, and I think is particularly exciting, is that this isn’t necessary. Our solution doesn’t require any speculative idea, instead our research demonstrates that the two theories can be used to make consistent calculations for black holes and explain how information is stored without the need for radical new physics. It turns out that black holes are in fact good children, holding onto the memory of the stars that gave birth to them.” Roberto Casadio, Professor of Theoretical Physics from the University of Bologna, also adds: “A crucial aspect is that black holes are formed by the collapse of compact objects and then, according to the quantum theory, there is no absolute separation between the interior and the exterior of the black hole. In the classical theory, the horizon acts as a perfect one-way membrane which does not let anything out and the exterior is therefore the same for all black holes of a given mass. This is the classical no-hair theorem. However, in the quantum theory, the state of the matter that collapses and forms the black hole continues to affect the state of the exterior, albeit in a way that is compatible with present experimental bounds. This is what is known as quantum hair.” Stephen Hsu, Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering from Michigan State University, concludes: “The concept of a causal horizon is central to the notion of a Black Hole. What is behind the horizon cannot, in classical physics, influence the exterior. We showed that there are intricate entanglements between the quantum state of the matter behind the horizon (inside the hole) and the state of gravitons outside. This entanglement makes it possible to encode quantum information about the black hole interior in Hawking radiation that escapes to infinity.” References: ‘ Quantum Hair and Black Hole Information’ in Physics Letters B "Quantum hair from gravity’ in Physical Review Letters

The flare was emitted on 30/03/2022, peaking at 18:35 GMT. Images were captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Matter in the solar chromosphere is following strong magnetic field lines. It demonstrates of how important is the local magnetic field in regulating the solar "weather". Flares occur locally, in contrast with (Coronal mass injections) CMEs which are much larger eruptions of the corona. Solar flares are energetic explosions in the low solar atmosphere which can heat the surrounding material to millions of degrees in just a few seconds or minutes. Solar flares typically occur near sunspots where magnetic field is concentrated in the active regions on the photosphere. Flares emit radiation in visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays and are observed by ground based and space based telescopes. In addition to emitting large amounts of radiation, solar flares also accelerate particles which are ejected into space. Solar flares are classified based on their x-ray intensity. The letters used are: A, B, C, M and X, with A being the weakest and X being the strongest. The full classification of an x-ray flare is composed of a letter followed by a number, i.e A5.1 . The number indicates the specific intensity of the flare. X-ray flare intensity is measured in units of power per area, or Watts per meters squared. Each letter (A, B, C, M or X) represents a certain numeric value and the number which follows the letter in the flare classification multiplies that value. The numeric values of the letter classes are listed below: A = 1.0x10^-8 (W m^-2), B = 1.0x10^-7 (W m^-2), C = 1.0x10^-6 (W m^-2), M = 1.0x10^-5 (W m^-2), X = 1.0x10^-4 (W m^-2) For example, an A2.1 flare would have an intensity of 2.1 x 10^-8 W m^-2. Coronal mass injections also inject plasma into space and can cause serious problems for unprotected astronauts or sensitive systems on Earth. Both solar flares and CMEs are energetic events which occur on the Sun. These events are both associated with high energy particles. In the case of a CME, coronal material is ejected into space at high speeds, sometimes in the direction of Earth. Both flares and CMEs depend on magnetic fields on the Sun. The most obvious difference between a solar flare and a CME is the spatial scale on which they occur. Flare x-rays can occur as short impulses, gone in minutes, or brightenings that decay over hours to days. The impulsive events usually produce a stream of high energy particles leaving the flare site. The slower events are often accompanied by a CME. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) occurs when magnetic forces overcome pressure and gravity in the solar corona. This lifts a huge mass of solar plasma from the corona and creates a shock wave that accelerates some of the solar wind’s particles to extremely high energies and speeds. This in turn generates radiation in the form of energetic particles.

The infrared radiation image below was taken by the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The telescope can see at wavelengths of 0.6–28.3 μm (orange to mid-infrared). JWST's primary mirror consists of 18 hexagonal mirrors made of gold-plated beryllium which combined create a 6.5-meter (21 ft) diameter mirror and 25.4 m^2 surface area (6 times larger than Hubble Space Telescope). The image above depicts the star 2MASS J17554042+6551277 and it is considered to be the sharpest infrared image ever taken from space. The image was taken using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This unprecedented achievement confirms the perfect functionality of the JWST, as well as its status as the most powerful human space telescope ever launched into space. 2MASS J17554042+6551277 is at a distance of 2,000 light-years. The background galaxies that are depicted are billions of light-years away and they are much more faint. The image taken is of such a high quality that it is considered to be the best image physics will allow according the diffraction limit.

In 2022 we will witness two total lunar eclipses: On the 16th of May, and on the 8th of November. A total lunar eclipse occurs about once every 2.5 years (on average), however the lovers of the night sky will have the chance to enjoy two of them in 2022! On the second half of June five planets ( Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) will align. These planets will form a line that will be visible to the naked eye in the twilight. Remarkably, they will all be aligned according to their real distance from the Sun. On July 13th, we will see the biggest fool Moon of 2022. Two partial solar eclipses will occur on the 30th of April (only visible from the south part of South America), as well as on October 25th (easily visible from Russia and Kazakhstan). Finally, Comet C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) will approach the Sun, and it will possibly become bright enough to be watched with naked eye during late April - early May. Below we provide our calendar: January 2: New Moon, 3: Quadrantids Meteor Shower 7: Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation February 1: New Moon 16: Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation March 2: New Moon 20: Spring Equinox April 1: New Moon 22: Lyrids Meteor shower 29: Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation 30; Partial Solar Eclipse and New Moon May 6: Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower 16: Total Lunar Eclipse 30: New Moon June 14: Supermoon 16: Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation 21: Summer solstice 29: New Moon July 13: Supermoon 28: New Moon 28: Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower August 12: Supermoon 12: Perseids Meteor Shower 14: Saturn at Opposition 27: New Moon September 16: Neptune at Opposition 23: Autumn Equinox 25: New Moon 26: Jupiter at Opposition October 8: Draconids Meteor Shower 21: Orionids Meteor Shower 25: Partial Solar Eclipse 25: New Moon November 4: Taurids Meteor Shower 8: Total Lunar Eclipse 9: Uranus at Opposition 17: Leonids Meteor Shower 23: New Moon December 8: Mars at Opposition 13: Geminids Meteor Shower 21: Winter solstice 21: Ursids Meteor Shower 23: New Moon

The exoplanet is located in the Whirlpool Galaxy , also known as M51a or NGC 5194. M51a has a close companion M51b or NGC 5195 which is a dwarf galaxy, discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 20, 1781. M51a is a large spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. The two galaxies are connected by a tidal bridge of interstellar material as the Whirlpool galaxy is "eating" M51b. The dwarf galaxy also appears to lie behind the Whirlpool Galaxy. Astronomers believe that the encounter has significantly enhanced the spiral structure of M51. The galaxies will merge in the future. The same will be the fate of our own Galaxy as it interacts gravitationally with the Andromeda galaxy and the two will merge together, in about 10 billion years from now. The image below is from Hubble Space Telescope and depicts M51a and M51b. As tronomers may have just discovered the first planet outside of our galaxy. The Saturn-sized exoplanet was detected by astronomers using Nasa's Chandra X-Ray Telescope orbiting a pair of stars (a neutron star or a black hole) and a massive star. As materials from the massive star are attracted gravitationally from the black hole they create an accretion disk around the black hole which emits X-rays. Over 4,800 planets have previously been discovered orbiting other stars instead of the sun, but they're all located inside the Milky Way galaxy. "We know we are making an exciting and bold claim so we expect that other astronomers will look at it very carefully," said study co-author Julia Berndtsson of Princeton University, New Jersey. For this study, astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope to look at three galaxies beyond the Milky Way. In total, they looked at 55 different systems in M-51, the Whirlpool galaxy, 64 systems in Messier 101 (M-101), or the "Pinwheel galaxy," and 119 systems in Messier 104, or the "Sombrero galaxy." "A way to search for exoplanets is to look for "wobbly" stars. A star that has planets doesn’t orbit perfectly around its center. From far away, this off-center orbit makes the star look like it’s wobbling,” Nasa mentions. The brightness of a star decreases as the exoplanet (in orbit around the star) hides the emitted light from the star. Studying changes in the star’s brightness can give us information also about the size of the orbiting exoplanet, and its distance from the star. In this case the X-ray transit for this particular exoplanet lasted about three hours, during which the X-ray emission decreased to zero. It has been suggested that the dimming of light observed could have been caused by an other object such as a cloud of gas or dust passing in front of the X-rays, although the study’s authors insist that this explanation is not consistent with their data. However, the theory will be verified or rejected in the future as the exoplanet will create an other transit in about 70 years from now.

What was considered a strong password 10 years ago, today is very easy to crack. A 5 character password being composed of just lowercase numbers was considered safe by many websites: universities, businesses or even government agencies were using short lowercase passwords. However in the last few years artificial intelligence and computing power have improved exponentially, and the security standards for passwords have become more demanding. Brute-force attacks Brute-force attacks use powerful computers which can test millions or even billions of passwords/sec. Many users use short passwords, which often consist only of lowercase letters or numbers, which make the task of cracking the password trivial for a supercomputer. Creating a strong password When creating a password, the maximum number of characters that are available are the following: Numbers (10 different: 0-9) Letters (52 different: AZ and az) Special characters (32 different). In total we have 94 different symbols. The number of possible combinations of characters i.e the number of passwords for a given length and a given pool of possible input values for a character is calculated using the following formula: Possible combinations = (possible number of characters)^(Password length) Therefore the number of possible combinations determines the strength of the password. The larger the number of potential passwords for a given password length the harder is for a computer to find the password. For a 5 letter password consisting of just lowercase letters the number of different combos is: Possible combinations = (24)^5= 7962624 This might seem like a large number, but don't forget the power of the modern supercomputers which can test more than 2^9 passwords/sec. This would mean that if the password was lets say of a hard drive owned by hackers, a supercomputer could be used to gain access to the data within: 7962624/2^9 = 0.004 seconds (faster than the blink of an eye!) Next, lets consider that we use symbols from all 4 main categories: (capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, special characters). Lets consider that we use them randomly to create a password of 12 characters in length. The time required for hackers to crack the password would be: (94^12)/(2^9)= 237,960,157,407,127 Seconds= (about) 7.5 million years! Comic-Tragic Stories: 1) We decided to use Kaspersky password checker to test our theory: We used a very simple and frequently used word as password, namely: 1jG5fY"#$%^Y8jO0 Therefore the password checker justifiably suggested us to change our password to something less obvious. 2) A much more serious incident was the following email that has been sent to millions of people from hackers, who had genuinely gained access to their passwords (either from brute force or from leaked data or with other methods such as phishing). Security researchers at Cisco's Talos group reported that scammers have made at least $146,000. "That isn't too bad considering the attackers have only been distributing this particular scam for roughly 60 days, and do not actually possess any compromising material concerning the victim," the researchers said. "Doing web searches for key phrases in suspect emails may help to verify that a scam is taking place or at least increase awareness of the attack" Barracuda Networks said. "Always pay close attention to the details and do not assume that a breached password or spoofed email means that you are currently compromised. Ask your ISP or tech support for help if you have questions." It is believed that the emails were sent from automated computers, however the question remains if the hackers were finally caught by the police officers, or if they managed to cover entirely their anonymity behind firewalls and proxy servers. 3) You might also be interested to read about a very massive leaked data scandal.

The Orionids are caused by the debris of Halley's comet. The debris is composed by small particles that collide with the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere with a speed of 66km/s. This process in turn produces the visible light of the meteors, as atoms and molecules of the Earth's atmosphere become ionized. Halley's comet was noticed from ancient observers, however they didn't know about its 76 year periodic reappearance, and hence they thought of it as more than one comet. In 1705 Halley understood that these appearances were reappearances of the same comet. As a result of this discovery, the comet is now named after Halley. What makes this comet even more special is that during its 1986 appearance, it became the first comet to be observed in detail by a spacecraft, providing the first observational data on the structure of a comet nucleus and the mechanism of coma and tail formation. Halley's comet is also responsible for creating the Eta Aquariids, which occur each May. The meteor shower itself gets its name because, the meteors seem to originate from a point in the constellation of Orion (radiant point). Orionids typically become visible from the 1st of October to the 7th of November, with their peak on the 21th of October. You should look for the constellation of Orion, and expect to watch around 20 meteors per hour. Unfortunately the Moon will be bright enough during the peak tonight, however being away from light pollution (and with ideal weather conditions) will hopefully allow you to enjoy the full glory of this very remarkable meteor shower.

New research by psychologists in Australia, the USA and the University of Sussex in the UK shows how eating ‘junk food’ affects the part of the brain that controls memory and appetite. In a study conducted in Australia, the research team tested the effect of a ‘Western style’ diet rich in sugar and fat on tests of memory and appetite sensitivity that involve the hippocampus. This small area of the brain is key for normal memory function, and previous research suggested that the activity of the hippocampus was altered in people who habitually consume a less healthy diet. The researchers asked lean and fit volunteers, who normally ate a balanced diet, to eat one meal that was high in sugar and saturated fat every day for a week. They could choose between Belgian waffles and a meal from a fast-food restaurant. The fast-food group was compared with other volunteers who continued to eat a healthy balanced diet all week. At the beginning and end of the week, all the volunteers performed simple hippocampal-dependent tests to assess their memory, learning and appetite control. Everyone was tested again three weeks later when they had returned to their normal diet. The scientists observed a rapid decline in the fast-food group’s learning and memory abilities, together with a loss of appetite control. When they were re-tested three weeks later, after returning to their usual healthy diet, the volunteers’ memory and appetite had returned to their normal baseline at the start of the study. “Our new study adds weight to growing evidence that habitual consumption of an unhealthy diet has a knock-on effect on the brain. This change leads to a vicious cycle which might explain why people find it progressively harder to switch to a healthy diet even when they are aware that their diet is leading to weight gain and consequent health problems.” The research paper, Hippocampal dependent appetitive control is impaired by exprimental exposure to a Western-style diet, is published in Royal Society Open Science. Listen to Prof Yeomans talking about the work of the Sussex Ingestive Behaviour Group in this episode of the Impacted podcast: https://soundcloud.com/impacted-podcast/yeomans-episode-final-upload People must start to think critically about their food choices and avoid processed foods, which are commonly sold in a variety of stores such as restaurants, bars, supermarkets and fast food stores. These foods are sold to serve business interests and not for the good of the general public. It is in the interest of the government to educate people about the health hazards of eating junk food, or even ban artificial sugar and preservatives, or even any processed food business. On the personal level people should be educated about the benefits of fasting, since it is a natural way to reprogram and reset our brains into healthy lifestyles.