The Top 10 Astronomy Pictures of 2006

Number One











This image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, is actually a mosaic of several images and it shows something we can't see from Earth: Saturn, back-lit by the Sun. I love this image. It's got it all: beauty, scope, power, artistry, and it also happens to have some good scientific value as well.



The rest can be seen here.

No Reprieve

Unlike Miss USA, Miss Nevada is FIRED.





















I've heard she is planning on suing Donald Trump.






Maybe she should be more careful where she puts her tongue.








Why wasn't I invited?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This picture is for you fj...

You're Fired!

According to the News, Conner is on the verge of losing her tiara after testing positive for cocaine, kissing Miss Teen USA in public and reportedly sneaking men into their Trump Place apartment, sources tell the paper.

All of the above was enough to get her kicked out. According to the News, Conner packed her bags and left Thursday.

"She does not live here anymore," a doorman at the posh property tells the New York Post. "She is not allowed on Trump property. I don't think it was her choice, really."

Various reporting agencies report Donald Trump was extremely jealous and disappointed that he was not included in any of the parties. "I'm really a fun guy" said Donald.



Katie Blair (Miss Teen USA) said "Donald is too old plus his hair looks fugly)

His Lips Are Moving But.....

..

Is Dark Matter a Source of High Energy Gamma Rays?

“We know there is much more matter in the universe than what we see. For instance, the rotation velocity of observed spiral galaxies is much faster than the visible mass could explain,” says Joachim Ripken, a researcher with the HESS Collaboration. “And we know that it is not the normal matter that we know.” Ripken refers to dark matter, a type of matter that physicists know must be present in the universe, but that cannot be seen because it does not interact with light. It is matter, Ripken tells PhysOrg.com, that “we only know what it is not.”

Ripken is part of a multi-national team known as the HESS Collaboration. HESS is named for Nobel Prize winner Victor Hess, and stands for High Energy Stereoscopic System. It is an array of Cherenkov telescopes located near the Gamsberg in Namibia. While the group has many observational interests, not all of them having to do with dark matter, the immediate results of an observation made regarding the Galactic Center region have just been released in a Letter published with Physical Review Letters. Titled, “HESS Observations of the Galactic Center Region and Their Possible Dark Matter Interpretation,” the Letter reports on the interpretation of data received in 2004.

“HESS observed high energy gamma rays coming out of the Galaxy Center region,” Ripken says, “and we wanted to interpret them to see if the gamma rays were produced by dark matter.” Finding a dark matter source, and learning about how dark matter works, is one of the quests for scientists interested in studying particle physics. “Part of what we are doing is to see if we can actually find dark matter. And there are some candidates for dark matter that could produce high energy gamma rays.”

Looking through the data and performing calculations, members of the HESS Collaboration worked to determine if the 2004 gamma ray observation could be attributed to a dark matter source. After interpreting some scenarios, including analysis of spectral shape, the source of gamma rays remains unclear. The observed gamma rays cannot be explained in such a way as to show that dark matter is their only source. However, a part of the observed emission could be dark matter, and the team calculated how large the fraction might be.

“The most exciting thing about this,” Ripken says, “is that it could not only solve one of the fundamental problems of cosmology but also open a window into particle physics not accessible with the energy of present human-made accelerators. The probability that we really find dark matter is not that high, but the scientific breakthrough would be tremendous. So it’s worth looking for in cosmic gamma rays.”

Ripken points out the following: “We are looking at finding or eliminating all possibilities for dark matter that could produce a detectable gamma ray flux. And our Galactic Center is not the only galaxy that could be investigated. One can also observe other galaxies or globular clusters.” He continues: “We’ve investigated some possibilities of what could be dark matter.”


Even though there is no actual technical application for these observations, Ripken believes that there is the possibility for scientific advancement through the HESS Collaboration. And, even though the HESS scientists believe that most of the high energy gamma rays coming from the observed source are not resultant from dark matter, Ripken says that there is the possibility that some of the signal did originate from a dark matter source.

NASA Plans Moon Base

NASA plans permanent moon base

NASA wants new, self-sustaining colony as a stepping stone to Mars
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 06 Dec 2006
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NASA officials have announced plans to build a permanently inhabited base on the moon.

The space agency is appealing to international organisations and commercial space companies to help build the base. The plans call for building to begin by 2020 and the base to be permanently occupied and self sufficient by 2024.

Scott "Doc" Horowitz, NASA's associate administrator for exploration confirmed the plans.

"We're going for a base on the moon,” he said.

Lockheed Martin has already been awarded a $3.5bn contract to develop the next generation of space craft, the Orion class, which will be able to carry four astronauts to the moon, or six to the International Space Station. The capsule, similar in design to the Apollo craft, will be carried on a new booster codenamed Ares.

The base will be at one of the moon’s poles, which enjoy good access to the sunlight needed for solar power. NASA has also detected unusual amounts of hydrogen at the poles, suggesting water may be there which could be converted into hydrogen for power and oxygen for survival.

The moon is rich in Helium 3, a useful fuel for nuclear reactors as it is virtually non-polluting.

NASA added that it hopes the moon could also be used as a staging post for future trips to Mars.

Britney Spears

What Was She Thinking?
Hanging out with Paris seems to have rubbed off on Britney.
I guess it's true that you can take the girl out of the trailer park but you cannot take the trailer park out of the girl.
In general, I hate clichés but this one fits.
Now there are claims that they are lesbian lovers.It seems that Paris Hilton’s relationship with Britney Spears may be more than just a platonic friendship.

The hotel heiress had raised eyebrows when pictures of her in a lesbian clinch with Venezuelan MTV star Eglantina Zing during a modeling shoot started making the rounds.

However, though Hilton herself has insisted that the two "were just larking around", an inside source revealed that she and Zing had definitely got hot and heavy, and that Hilton was now having a bit of a problem keeping her hands of Spears.

"Paris just couldn't keep her hands off Eglantina. And she responded—kissing and running her hands all over Paris's body. But right now Britney's the one — Paris can't get enough of HER!" the News of the World quoted the source, as saying.

And it seems that’s what really has the princess of pop’s family worried, for Britney has been increasingly losing her clothes (read underwear) in Hilton’s company.

I feel sorry for her kids.