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September 7th, 2007
Feast your eyes on this Cat’s Eye: Look at the clarity of the image.
Images from ground-based telescopes are generally blurred. There are techniques to reduce the blur (adaptive optics is one of them); now add another smart processing to the list.
The technique works by recording partially corrected adaptive optics images at high speed (20 frames per second or more). Software then checks each image to sort out which are the sharpest. Many are still significantly smeared by the atmosphere, but a small percentage of them are unaffected (sometimes a portion of the image might be unaffected).
These are combined to produce the final high-resolution image that astronomers want. The technique is called “Lucky Imaging” because it depends on the chance fluctuations in the atmosphere sorting themselves out and providing a set of images that is easier for the adaptive optics system to correct.
This work was carried out on the 200-inch (5.1 meter) Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain. Like all other ground-based telescopes, the images it normally produces are typically 10 times less detailed than those of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Palomar’s adaptive-optics system produces superb images in the infrared, but until now, its images in visible light have remained markedly poorer than Hubble images. With the new Lucky Camera, astronomers were able to obtain images that are twice as sharp as those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope—a remarkable achievement.
The images produced in the study are the sharpest direct images ever taken in visible light either from the ground or from space.
In this image of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, one can resolve filaments that are only a few light-hours across! This is so amazing, we can see 3000 light years away and resolve things that are few light hours apart!
The full adaptive system will be ready in 2010 and I can’t wait to see some spectacular pictures.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
August 20th, 2007
The National Science Foundation, Public Library of Science and the San Diego Supercomputing Center have partnered to set up what can best be described as a “YouTube for scientists”; its called SciVee.
Scientists can upload their research papers, accompanied by a video where they describe the work in the form of a short lecture, accompanied by a presentation.
SciVee’s creators hope that that the appeal of a video or audio explanation of paper will make it easier for others to more quickly grasp the concepts of a paper and make it more digestible both to colleagues and to the general public.”
I think this should be in the same category of LaTex which allowed equations to be printed in electronic format. I wouldn’t even mind if the author of the paper described all the computations in the lecture.
The presentation will allow the author to offer his views on the bigger picture; something that is hard to decipher from the introduction of the paper. This will be such a great resource for the students and the colleges and for scientists working in far flung areas.
I also think that ALL papers should be published as wiki articles and the author could give rights to others in the field to add content to the article. For example, graduate students can add details of the calculations of a particular formulae and others can show corrections or more generalization of the formulae and can even provide additional reasons and guidance and context for the paper.
There is of course Fora.tv and similar attempts, but I would like this to be a collective effort, and be REQUIRED for each paper that is published.
From my academic days, I can tell you that a video describing the paper, wiki style paper with additional info and access to raw data of the papers that I read would have been tremendously welcomed!
This web 2.0 at its finest!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
July 15th, 2007
I love first light celebrations; especially when the first light really means being able to see the results of the observations - not that the telescope has started to take data.
I am not suggesting that when the instrument starts taking the data and if it takes six months to analyze it, then the “First Light” should be the date when the first analysis is complete; I think it it should be the date of first data capture, but when these two dates are the same, it is a special joy!
Click on the above image to see the phenomenal resolution of these two galaxies. There is so much details that you can discern, and every little curve, every little variation in the brightness of the image has something to contribute as to the structure of the Universe and the laws that govern it.
These are pictures from the Canary Island telescope, Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC). It is a 10.4 meters primary mirror reflecting telescope that captures light in visible and infrared spectrum.
The Great Canary Telescope is among the world’s largest telescopes. Others are the Southern African Large Telescope, or Salt, which has an 11-meter mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere’s largest single optical telescope. Another one is the Hobby-Eberly in Texas with similar sized mirror.
Canary islands are offer a perfect place (on earth) to have a telescope because of the clear astronomical quality of their sky.
I am looking forward to seeing more of the images from this telescope!
Stephan at BackReaction has a nice post about it.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
July 8th, 2007
Are we going to find blackholes at LHC? Really? is it really likely? nope; Is it even possible? umm, very remotely!
Starting LHC is like “going west” a couple of centuries ago, or going on a sea voyage four or five centuries ago. One never knows what will one find!
In certain situations, if all the stars line up (pun intended), a couple of the theories floating around suggest that there may be a production of blackholes at the energy range accessible to LHC. Models with TeV-scale gravity scenarios include models where the theory has large extra dimensions, (LED) and ones where the gravity gets stronger at short distances.
So how does one look for Blackholes that MAY form at LHC? The blackholes, when formed, will spin to get rid of the dipole moment (so called shedding the hair) and this spinning process will create electromagnetic and gravitational waves.
Under the right circumstances, LHC can produce one blackhole per second, yes thats a very large number indeed!
This will also imply that there is new physics at the sub millimeter level, there is nothing to suggest if it is indeed the case, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was!
By the way, if you are concerned that the blackholes created at LHC might swallow the earth, don’t be; even if they are created, they will decay instantly. Also, the Earth is bombed by a lot of very high-energy cosmic rays and the collisions is comparable to the LHC energies. So far, these collisions haven’t destroyed the Earth, so it is reasonable that some additional collisions we create won’t be able to do so either. Relax!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
April 30th, 2007
VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is a new ground-based gamma-ray observatory with an array of four 12m optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy in the GeV - TeV energy range . It consists of an array of imaging telescopes deployed such that they permit the maximum versatility and give the highest sensitivity in the 50 GeV - 50 TeV band (with maximum sensitivity from 100 GeV to 10 TeV).
After several years of upgrade/installation VERITAS will see its first light.
Love this picture of dancing and music in front of the detector! I was in that area earlier this month, I should have tried harder to go there.
I think of new detectors as an extension of my contact lenses; VERITAS is like getting a new pair of prescription contact lenses! My vision will be 20/20×10^28.
I am really excited and hopeful about this one. I think Gamma Ray astronomy has a lot to tell us about all the strange things we see (or don’t see) around us, including the black holes and about the center of the Milkyway. This really is a milestone because VERITAS complements the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) which is expected to go in to the orbit on December 2007. Looking forward to observing events that are spotted and measured by GLAST and confirmed, supported and enhanced by VERITAS measurements; no lingering doubts as to “did they really see that?”
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
April 23rd, 2007
The 62M Yr bio-diversity cycle has been talked about for several years now. Using an exhaustive database of fossils created by Sepkoski, Muller and Rohde analyzed the fossil records and noticed the rise and fall in bio diversity every 62M yrs. This is what the graph looks like:
There is a claim that the above extinction is correlated with the trajectory of the solar system around the galaxy. Our solar system travels through the disk-shaped Milky Way with the rotational period to be about 225M yrs. The claim is that at regular intervals, the system’s wanderings take it up and down through the thin central portion of the galactic disk.
Meanwhile, The entire galactic disk, is hurtling through the hot gas that surrounds it at about 200km a second. The cosmic rays are continually generated in a shock wave produced where the galaxy’s “northern” or forward side collides with surrounding gases.
So every 62M yrs, as the solar system rises above the central plane it is closer to the source of the cosmic radiation.
“Cosmic rays themselves are not really that dangerous,” said Medvedev. “They create [charged particles] that propagate down through the atmosphere—especially muons that can go below the sea level.”
There is some evidence that one of the extinction episode, about 450M yrs ago, might have been caused by gamma ray burst, so this is not as far fetched.
But if this happens periodically, there should be some tell-tale signs of it. It would be nice to correlate the muon decay signature prevalence with the decrease in biodiversity finding. Considering that the biodiversity database is prone to sampling errors, and there are several other reasons why life may not have survived, I am not fully convinced, but this is an interesting theory.
According to this calculation, the next cosmic ray event is about 10M yrs. ahead of us.
By the way, this is unrelated to the Dinassaurs extinction, thats a different animal all together.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
April 12th, 2007
The MiniBooNE results are out (sort of). MiniBooNE is designed to probe the Neutrino oscillations. MiniBioonE is a short for Booster Neutrino Experiment; “Booster” refers to a Fermilab booster ring that accelerates protons, and “mini” because a second, larger stage is planned.
It is a fascinating experiment. It attempts to count the number of times muon neutrino turns in to an electron neutrino. The experiment slams a beam of protons into a piece of beryllium, and the cascade of particles from the collision travel about 1,650 feet to a detection chamber, which has a 40 feet in diameter tank that contains 250,000 gallons of mineral oil and is surrounded by the detectors.
Most of the neutrinos just fly through, but occasionally a muon neutrino crashes in to a carbon atom in the oil and creates an electron neutrino which is detected by 1,280 light detectors mounted on the inside of the tank.
The experiment started in 1997 and the results were announced today. For most of the neutrino energy range they looked at, they did not see any more electron neutrinos than would be predicted by the Standard Model. But at the lower energies, the scientists did see more electron neutrinos than predicted: 369, rather than the predicted 273! Also see an excellent blog by Heather Ray.
“I was sort of expecting a clear excess or no excess,” he said. “In a sense, we got both.”
To me, the excess just looks spurious! We have waited 10 years for this experiment to complete. The data was “unblinded” and analyzed just a couple of weeks ago. I can wait for a little longer to figure out what that excess is. This is even worse than the Higgs bump. The Bump, I can understand but when the excess tracks the increase in the background levels at the same energies, extra caution is needed.
Mind you, I am not complaining; these are complex experiments and unravelling complexity takes time!
Filed under: check back in two to five years!
Here are some beautiful pictures of the detectors, if you haven’t seen them.
And my favorite!
Looks like some bugs from outer space invading the detector!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
March 19th, 2007
Because of the its uniqueness and the ability to accommodate highly symmetric structure, E8 has been a favorite among physicist as a candidate for grand - super - unification! I think I wrote a couple of papers about E8 too!
The gargentuan E8 can now be visualized a little better. Below is the picture of the root system - awesome!
Lie symmetry groups come in families. The classical groups A1, A2, A3, … B1, B2, B3, … C1, C2, C3, … and D1, D2, D3, … rise like gentle rolling hills towards the horizon. Jutting out of this mathematical landscape are the jagged peaks of the exceptional groups G2, F4, E6, E7 and, towering above them all, E8. E8 is an extraordinarily complicated group: it is the symmetries of a particular 57-dimensional object, and E8 itself is 248-dimensional!
The above is a picture of the 248-dimensional Lie algebra of E8. This Lie algebra is a complex vector space, of dimension 248. It is equipped with a Lie bracket operator: for X,Y in the Lie algebra, so is [X,Y]. There are 248 nodes in the picture, one for each basis element of the Lie algebra. Label the nodes 1,…,248, and the corresponding elements of the Lie algebra Z1,…,Z248.
Visit http://aimath.org/E8/ for even more intricate pictures and appreciate the scope of the work done!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
March 14th, 2007
In the honor of the Pi day (3/14), I suggest that all Roman numerals on the speed limit signs should be replaced with their equivalent number written as power or multiplier of Pi. It will help improve the math appreciation of the whole population!
It is the most interesting and mysterious and beautiful natural number and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Numbers are not just some digits put together, they have depth and meaning and beauty that we should take time to appreciate!
I compare Pi to a beautiful mogul miniature painting; its small but it looks grand when you see it and then when you look at it closely you start seeing the intricate details, like each strand of hair drawn meticulously and perfectly!
Reminds me of one my physics professors (Okubo of Gellman-okubo mass formula fame!). He was very reluctant to celebrate his 60th birthday because he thought that the number 60 was such an uninteresting number, he wanted to wait and celebrat 66th birthday, which has a little more symmetry!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
March 8th, 2007
I knew string theory will pay off some time!
For many people, the cost of real estate is so high it might as well be in another dimension. But Oscar Villalon and Mary Ladd just found a place they can afford. They’re part of a great speculative land grab going on in San Francisco. Properties are going up for sale in the low single digits, only to be flipped and resold at a profit. But before you get out your checkbook you should know that these are properties in the so called higher dimensions ? dimensions of space, which, according to string theory exist, but are hard to imagine, let alone get into. Nonetheless, an artist is doing brisk business selling higher-dimension real estate in a project called “Speculations.”
In the gallery Jonathon Keats hung these stings from the ceiling. It’s supposed to be a model of the 4 dimensional house he designed - but mostly they just tangled people up. Which is a sly physical pun - Keats hopes to entagle visitors in his ideas - and hopes that as they extract
themselves from his snares they’ll notice all the other assumptions they are tangled up in.
Within the first three hours, 32 buyers ranging from art dealers and curators to business executives and lawyers plunked down a total of $410.51 for 172 extra dimenstion lots. That represents a return of nearly seven times the $63.06 Keats spent to acquire the rights.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
February 13th, 2007
Gorgeous picture of Jupitor’s moon Io. Two sulfurous eruptions are visible on Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io in this color composite image from the robotic Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.
At the image top, over Io’s limb, a bluish plume rises about 140 kilometers above the surface of a volcanic caldera known as Pillan Patera. In the image middle, near the night/day shadow line, the ring shaped Prometheus plume is seen rising about 75 kilometers above Io while casting a shadow below the volcanic vent.
The plume has been continuously active for at least 18 years. The above image was taken from a distance of about 600,000 kilometers.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
February 5th, 2007
I saw this a few months ago and was intrigued by it. Its just a proof of concept but an interesting one. The idea is to look at the cosmic microwave background in detail and see if one can make any educated guesses about the compact dimensions from there.
The WMAP has measured the anisotropy of the microwave background with some accuracy (about .0002 degree Kelvins) There was some quadruple and octopole moment found. Not sure one is ready to allocate these anisotropy to extra dimensions (they can easily be coming from extragalctic foregrounds.)
Kate Land and Joao Maqueijo called the axis of anisotropy as the “Axis of Evil”! Thats really funny.
The microwave results have to be much more accurate and our understanding of the sources of the microwave background much more refined before it can tell us anything more about the compact dimensions, but its a worthwhile pursuit.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
January 30th, 2007
I should rejoice that my book is being sold at AntiQBook. I guess it is better than being sold in the clearance section.
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
January 29th, 2007
Just heard the news and I am so devastated! The ACS camera on the Hubble is not working; its the main camera and it does not seem likley that it will get fixed in 2008 mission either. Just when things were getting interesting! All the intersting pictures, like the deep field view, came from that camera.
Hubble is the extension of my eyes and the distances it sees is the extension of my vision. It could see 12-13 Billion light years away, so it was like my vision was 20/17×10^23!
I won’t be able to see supernovae, and the more detailed dark matter map will have to wait, darn… I am so dejected! Every night after the lights are turned off, I will be thinking about all the things I can’t see because the Hubble camera is not working!
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
January 28th, 2007
This is surreal for sure! I don’t think I ever expected to hear a bunch of students to be chanting ‘We want physics, we want physics”. And then to hear the siren of the police cars and the students being beaten… This is too much to bear! It hurts.
The passion with which the student leader speaks is inspiring and the melee that follows is equally depressing.
If I dig deeper in to this, I am sure I will find that they are not doing this for the love of Physics, per se - pardon my pun here, but that doesn’t take away from the gravity of the situation.
Click on the image to watch the video. (Via Physics Buzz)
Sunny Kalara |
Wonderful Things |
