Rare blue galaxy may shed new light on Big Bang

Astronomers have discovered a faint blue galaxy about 30 million light-years from Earth that could shed new light on conditions at the birth of the universe.

The galaxy nicknamed Leoncino, or "little lion," located in the constellation Leo Minor, contains the lowest level of heavy chemical elements, or "metals" ever observed in a gravitationally bound system of stars. "Finding the most metal-poor galaxy ever is exciting since it could help contribute to a quantitative test of the Big Bang," said John J Salzer, a professor at Indiana University in the US.  "There are relatively few ways to explore conditions at the birth of the universe, but low-metal galaxies are among the most promising," Salzer said.  This is because the current accepted model of the start of the universe makes clear predictions about the amount of helium and hydrogen present during the Big Bang, and the ratio of these atoms in metal-poor galaxies provides a direct test of the model.  In astronomy, any element other than hydrogen or helium is referred to as a metal.  The elemental make-up of metal-poor galaxies is very close to that of the early universe.  "Low metal abundance is essentially a sign that very little stellar activity has taken place compared to most galaxies," said lead author Alec S Hirschauer, a graduate student at Indiana University.  Leoncino is considered a member of the "local universe," a region of space within about 1 billion light years from Earth and estimated to contain several million galaxies, of which only a small portion have been catalogued.  A galaxy previously recognised to possess the lowest metal abundance was identified in 2005; however, Leoncino has an estimated 29 per cent lower metal abundance. The abundance of elements in a galaxy is estimated based upon spectroscopic observations, which capture the light waves emitted by these systems.  Regions of space that form stars, for example, emit light that contains specific types of bright lines, each indicating the atoms from various gases: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, nitrogen and more.  In the light of the star-forming region in Leoncino, scientists detected lines from these elements, after which they used the laws of atomic physics to calculate the abundance of specific elements.  Aside from low levels of heavier elements, Leoncino is unique in several other ways.  A so-called "dwarf galaxy," it is only about 1,000 light years in diameter and composed of several million stars.  The Milky Way, by comparison, contains an estimated 200 billion to 400 billion stars. Leoncino is also blue in colour, due to the presence of recently formed hot stars, but surprisingly dim, with the lowest luminosity level ever observed in a system of its type.

India successfully test fires indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile

India has successfully test fired indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by army from test range at Chandipur in Odisha.

Inducted into India's armed forces in 2003, Prithvi II, is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under the prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. Notably, Prithvi is India's first indigenously-built ballistic missile. Prithvi-II has been designed to operate with both liquid and solid fuels and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear payloads. The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on February 16, 2016, preceded by a trial on 14th of November 2014.

Parliament House (India)

History

Originally called the House of Parliament, it was designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-1913 and construction began in 1921. The opening ceremony of the Parliament House, then called the Central Legislative Assembly, was performed on 18 January 1927 by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. The third session of Central Legislative Assembly was held in this house on 19 January 1927.

The Parliament Museum, opened in 2006, stands next to the Parliament House.

Rear Admiral Lord Mountbattenaddressing the Chamber of Princes asViceroy in 1947

The shape is circular, which is based on the Ashoka Chakra. Separate halls were constructed for the sessions of the Chamber of Princes, the State Council, and the Central Legislative Assembly.

The building is surrounded by large gardens and the perimeter is fenced off by sandstone railings (jali) modeled after the Great Stupa of Sanchi.
Central Hall

U.S. President Barack Obamagiving a speech to both houses in a Joint Session of the Parliament in the central hall (November 2010)

The Central Hall of the Parliament is designed to be circular in shape. The dome is 98 ft. (29.87 metres) in diameter and is believed that it is one of the most magnificent domes in the world. The Central Hall is a place of historical importance in India for two reasons: The transfer of colonial power to the Provisional Government under Nehru in 1947 and the framing of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly took place in this very hall. At present, the Central Hall is used for holding Joint Sittings of the two Houses. At the commencement of the first session after each General Election to Lok Sabha and at the commencement of the first session of each year, the President addresses both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Central Hall. When the Houses are in session, the Central Hall is used by Members for informal discussions among themselves. Central Hall is also used for special occasions when the Members of Parliament are addressed by distinguished Heads of States of other countries. The Hall is also equipped with Simultaneous Interpretation System.
Proposal for a new building.

A new Parliament building may replace the existing complex. The new building is being considered on account of the stability concerns regarding the current complex. A committee to suggest alternatives to the current building has been set up by the ex-Speaker, Meira Kumar. The present building, an 85-year-old structure suffers from inadequacy of space to house members and their staff and is thought to suffer from structural issues. The building also needs to be protected because of its heritage tag.

The Untold Stories Of Mahatma Gandhi

I feel like a kid who is receiving a lot of awards and gifts today.

Today is a day of gifts.

It is often said, ‘Life itself is a gift from God, to all of us.’ Let us honor this gift.

Today I thank the Morehouse College, the Dean, the President and all the dignitaries here who have found me worthy of getting this award and bestowing this award to me.

I rededicate this award to all those who work ceaselessly in their silent manner, in their little corners, in their community for peace and non-violence.

This recognition of peace and non-violence as a driving force for social change, social justice is noteworthy.

There are medals for war, people who fight in wars do get medals. But getting a medal for peace and non-violence, in itself, changes the paradigm of society.

Unfortunately, in the last several decades, aggression has got itself attached to pride. It is time now, that we reverse this tendency. Pride should be in non-violence and in peace.

When we were growing up as children, we grew up with stories of Mahatma Gandhi. I want to tell you about my teacher who is still alive, and who has completed 118 years of his life today. This gentleman taught Mahatma Gandhi the scripture, Bhagavad Gita, when he came back from South Africa. And he was with him for 40 years as his tutor, and also as his writer.

He used to be the translator and script writer for the southern languages. His name is Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi.

So he used to tell us the stories or the incidents he had with Mahatma Gandhi. Some of them are not recorded, so you don’t find them in any books. I would like to narrate a few such stories which might inspire you.

One incident was when Mahatma Gandhi was travelling in a small train uphill to Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a hill station in India, and you have a small train that goes there. It is a narrow gauge train. Now what happened is that, when the train was moving up the hill, somewhere, the engine got itself disconnected from the coaches. So the engine went ahead and the coaches started sliding backward.

Just imagine on a big hilly terrain, coaches are sliding backward, what would happen? There was huge panic, as people were between life and death. Any moment the coaches could fall off the hill, and one would not even find a trace of a bone. It was the Himalayas.

So while there was panic all around, Mahatma Gandhi was dictating letters, and he said to my teacher; he used to call him Bangalori, because he was from Bangalore; ‘Bangalori, take dictation.’

My teacher said, ‘Bapu (father, referring to Mahatma Gandhi), do you know what is happening? We may not be alive. We are in-between life and death. The coaches are moving backward with nothing to stop it, and its gaining speed.’

Do you know what Mahatma Gandhi said then? He said, ‘Suppose we get saved, we would have wasted all this time. If we die, we die. But if we are saved, we wasted so much time? So, come on, take dictation.’

With trembling hands my teacher was taking dictation.

He used to tell me, ‘Look at this old man, he would not waste a moment of his life.’

There is another story I would like to share with you.

Once Gandhi’s dhoti, i.e., his garment was torn, and someone said, ‘Bapu, your dhoti is torn.’ So Gandhi goes into the bathroom and adjusts his garments a little bit, and then says, ‘See now, and tell me where it is torn? There is a lot of it left to get torn.’

So his idea was not to waste resources; not to be a consumerist by nature.

There is enough for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed - this was the message he used to give.

Gandhi had such a soft heart like that of a child; innocence of a child.

What is needed today is the innocence of Gandhi, and the valor, vigor, commitment and vision of Martin Luther King Jr. These two things combined together, is the answer for the situation we are in today.

I won’t say that Gandhi’s principles alone will work in today’s scenario. If you are fasting, people will say, ‘You keep fasting, never mind. You can do that much good for the world.’ You need along with that, the heart and the commitment that Martin Luther King had shown to the world. Then it makes it complete, and then social justice, and the much needed revolution in today’s world would come forth. And it has to come forth from the youth of today. All of you who are sitting here, you have to stand up for non-violence.

In the United States of America, last year alone, there has been ten million recorded incidents of violence. Violence against children, violence against women, violence against races, violence against religious groups, etc. Intolerance is growing in society. But we don’t need to panic, because truth and non-violence will always win.

What we need to do is to create a billion acts of non-violence. For every act of violence, we have to create hundred acts of non-violence. The voice of non-violence has to be heard loud and clear. This is what we need.

We all sang today, ‘We will be the change that we want to see in the world.’ So the change starts from right here, where we are; from each one of us.

Another incident of Mahatma Gandhi that my teacher used to share.

My teacher was in Yerwada jail, along with Mahatma Gandhi. There were only three of them, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s wife Kasturba Gandhi, and my teacher.

This incident is of the last day of Kasturba Gandhi. She was on her death bed, and Mahatma Gandhi comes out of the room, and he says, ‘Bangalori, today is the day of my trial. Today is the day to see how I can maintain my equanimity. How I can see everybody in the same way. Today is the day of my test.’

As he was saying these words, drops of tears were flowing down his eyes.

My teacher said, ‘I have never seen him in that state ever before. But those drops of tears said it all.’

Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘Today, I have to say good-bye to my companion of 40 years. She was my strength, she was my inspiration, and she was the one who took all my garbage, all my weaknesses and who swallowed it and stood by my side. Now, today, I have to keep myself in equanimity. Today is the test of my spirituality.’

So, these moments in life, where you personally observe, watch, understand yourself, and see what is happening within you, makes a big difference in your life.

Who are you? What do you want, and what do you want to convey? Observing this, makes a difference.

Do you know, neither at school, nor at home, does anyone learn how to get rid of negative emotions, or how do be centered, or how to feel belongingness with everyone. This is exactly what we need today. We need to reach out to communities.

Communities can no longer remain as isolated groups. Each community should come and shake hand with the other communities.

I am so happy that the Ikeda Foundation is also involved here and they are doing such good work in so many countries, bringing different communities together.

The teachings of Buddha, the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Krishna, they all point towards one thing, that we are all made up of love, and we are love. Let us live this. Let us find an expression to this. Let us recognize this spirit in each one of us.

The message of Jesus is, ‘You are love and God is love.’ The interfaith community has a bigger role to play today, of uniting the fragmented communities, and reaching out to all those people who are engaging in violence. This is inclusive of domestic violence and societal violence. Also, being violent towards oneself, is a thing to be considered.

Many people eventually commit suicide because they are too hard on themselves. Thousands of people are committing suicide in the world today. Depression is taking such a big toll. In these circumstances, we all have to raise our voice and work towards non-violence.

A while back, I was in South America, in Mexico, at the traffic light signal, there was an argument between two taxi drivers. They both got out of the car and shot each other. There were passengers sitting in the taxis and they didn’t know what to do. The drivers were gone. Intolerance and stress have to be attended to.

Let us all join together and in this year create one billion acts of non-violence, acts of friendship, and acts of compassion. Our children should get a better world than what we have inherited.

No, Mercury Retrograde Will Not Mess Up Your Life

For people of the astrological persuasion, few planetary trends are as noteworthy as Mercury in retrograde. As the solar system's smallest planet appears to reverse through the sky, you'll hear it blamed for a wealth of frustrating situations, including overspending on new purchases, poorly planned work pitches and unimpressive first dates.

The common astrological advice for people during Mercury retrograde is to avoid starting anything new and to focus instead on reassessment, mimicking the way the planet appears to be retracing its own movements. In 2016, Mercury retrograde will occur four times, totaling about 80 days. That is a lot of time for reassessment.

Astronomers tend to disagree with these associations. "The idea that the gravity from these very distant bodies affects our lives in some way just doesn't work in the framework of physics," said Jean-Luc Margot, a planetary astronomer and professor at UCLA.

Finding the facts about Mercury's retrograde motion is complicated because it's both a real and imagined phenomenon. "All the planets rotate around the sun in the same direction, and that never changes," Margot said. However, if a person were able to trace Mercury's position during retrograde — which is a challenge, because the sun blocks our view — they'd end up with a line that changes direction. This is because Mercury retrograde is an optical illusion resulting from our position (on Earth) relative to Mercury.

The term "retrograde" in this instance refers to a perceived reversal in the standard west-to-east movement of Mercury through the stars. While some objects in space do experience true retrograde motion — Venus spins about its axis in the opposite direction than the other planets, a situation called retrograde spin — Mercury's backtracking is an issue of perspective. Its orbit is smaller and faster than Earth's. When its orbit catches up to and passes Earth, it creates the illusion that Mercury is backtracking, astronomers say.

Put more plainly, pretend you're Earth, watching Mercury run around a track. As it runs its loop, it will start out moving from the left side of your field of vision to your right. Then, it rounds the corner and, although not moving backward, is now running from right to left. This analogy is oversimplified because it doesn't take into account the fact that Earth is also moving, but it gives a good idea of how this optical illusion plays out.

All of the planets exhibit apparent retrograde motion, although it plays out slightly differently for planets farther from the sun than Earth versus those, like Mercury, that are closer to the sun than Earth.
Pseudo planetary effects

As for the potential influence of this seemingly odd movement on our daily lives, science doesn't back it up. In his 1974 book "The Jupiter Effect" (Walker Books), writer John R. Gribbinpredicted that the alignment of all of the planets and the sun on the same side of the Earth would have catastrophic effects.

James Zimbelman, a geologist at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, said this prediction actually prompted some scientists to look into the magnitude of the gravitational effects of planetary objects on Earth. "The net result of all of that was, the force is so small compared to either the sun or the moon, that any kind of planetary effect would just be swamped by the things the Earth is always feeling by either the sun or the moon," Zimbelman told Live Science.

(For reference, Margot said the gravitational effects a person experiences when standing next to another person are thousands to tens of thousands of times greater than the gravitational forces exerted on them by the moon.)

The vast number of internet sources mentioning Mercury's retrograde are astrological sites, which then go on to offer advice on how to combat its influence. Mars' apparent retrograde motion is the most obvious of the retrogrades because people can easily view Mars in the night sky as it is the closest planet and, unlike Mercury and Venus, doesn't require a person to look at the sun in order to observe it. This apparent retrograde motion garners much more notice from educational sources. Of the three experts contacted by Live Science, all three considered Mercury retrograde fairly unworthy of discussion.

"All planets appear to go through a period of retrograde (east-to-west) motion against the stars as seen from the Earth," Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the U.S. Naval Observatory, wrote in an email to Live Science. "There is nothing unusual in this. Mercury is no exception. There is no story here."
The Mercury transit

Even if retrograde isn't worthy of much scientific thought, it does overlap with a more exciting astronomical event. About once every 10 years, while Mercury is passing Earth, everything lines up just right, and Mercury crosses in front of the sun from our point of view on Earth. This is called the transit of Mercury and will occur on May 9

Enjoying the transit may be perhaps the greatest, clearest effect Mercury retrograde can have on your life.

New Print-Out Lasers Are So Cheap They're Disposable

Everyone's heard of disposable razors, but what about disposable lasers? Using inkjet printers, scientists have made laser devices cheap enough to be thrown out after a single use.

Lasers create their high-energy beams using a so-called gain medium, which takes advantage of the interactions between the electrons of its atoms and incoming photons to amplify light to high intensities. Typically, the gain medium is made from inorganic materials such as glasses, crystals or gallium-based semiconductors, but in recent years, researchers have investigated using organic carbon-based dyes instead.

Organic lasers hold great promise because they are low-cost and can emit light in a wide range of wavelengths, but they are limited because the dyes degrade rapidly.

Now, researchers from France and Hungary have used inkjet printers to produce the organic laser chips at the heart of these devices for mere cents, making it cost-effective to regularly replace the degraded parts.

"I think that this is an exciting piece of work with great potential for applications," said organic laser expert Graham Turnbull, a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. "The lasers could have future applications as disposable light sources for chemical analysis such as medical screening or pollution monitoring," Turnbull, who was not involved in the new study, told Live Science.

In a paper published today (May 3) in the Journal of Applied Physics, the researchers said the key to their approach's low cost is its efficiency. The most popular method for creating organic laser chips in the past has been spin coating. In this process, the surface on which the dye solution is to be deposited is spun rapidly so that centrifugal force spreads the liquid evenly to form a uniform thin film.

Inkjet printed "lasing capsules" serve as the core of an organic laser. Figure (a) shows a schematic of the laser setup, while figure (b) shows actual lasing capsules, which would cost only a few cents to produce. OC stands for "Output Coupler" and FP stands for Febry-Perot etalon.Credit: Sanaur, et al/JAP

But with typical spin-coating techniques, the vast majority of the dye solution spins off the surface and thus is wasted; as little as 2 percent is actually deposited usefully, the researchers said. In contrast, inkjet printers can accurately squirt small jets of fluid onto the underlying material, they added.

"You print 'where you want, when you want,' without wasting raw materials," study lead researcher Sébastien Sanaur, an associate professor of microelectronics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne in France, said in a statement.

For the laser dyes to be printed, they first needed to be mixed with an ink. Although the researchers experimented with inks specifically designed for optical applications, they eventually settled on a commercial variety called EMD6415 that exhibited excellent printing and optical properties.

Then, the solution was printed onto a slide made of quartz in 0.08-square-inch (50 square millimeter) pixels to make the laser chip. The chip was placed between two mirrors that reflected light back and forth through the gain medium during amplification. Another laser, known as the pump, was used to provide the light energy input, the researchers said.

Importantly, the scientists said the laser chip can be switched out easily when it deteriorates. They also demonstrated that they could use two different dyes to produce laser emissions ranging in color from yellow to deep red.

"The major advance here is the perfection of the inkjet printing process for the fabrication of organic 'gain' chips," said Stéphane Kéna-Cohen, an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montréal in Canada. "When used in a laser cavity, these can be used to fabricate broadly tunable lasers, and several dyes exist that together can span the entire visible spectrum," Kéna-Cohen, who was not involved with the new study, told Live Science.

Both Kéna-Cohen and Turnbull said one of the most promising aspects of the research is the possibility of printing several dyes onto the same chip to generate a spectrum of colors with the same device.

"The major obstacle, however, is that these organic lasers still need to be pumped by an external, relatively high-energy laser," Kéna-Cohen said. "Finding a way to pump these electrically or with a low-cost LED would be a major breakthrough for many practical purposes."- See more at: http://www.livescience.com/54632-disposable-lasers-made-from-inkjet-printers.html#sthash.wpz9uo7h.dpuf

Mercury's rare 'transit' across the sun today: Here's how you can see it

The celestial event will be visible from all parts of India for varying durations depending on the location, starting around 4:40 pm.

Stargazers will have a rare opportunity on Monday to witness Mercury fly directly across the face of the sun, a sight that unfolds once every 10 years or so, as Earth and its smaller neighboring planet come into perfect alignment.

In Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the event will begin at 4:41 pm.

In Delhi, the event can be seen for a duration of about 2 hours 20 minutes, in Kolkata about 1 hour 26 minutes, in Mumbai about 2 hours 24 minutes, and in Chennai about 1 hour 45 minutes.

Dwarka in Gujarat will experience the longest transit (2 hour 43 minutes).

Port Blair in the east will see it for only 54 minutes.

In Shimla and Chandigarh the event can be seen for over 2 hours.

It will be difficult to see the Mercury at transit over the face of the Sun without some form of aid such as binoculars or telescopes.

The Earth Sciences ministry suggested that a proper solar filter will be required to avoid viewing the sun with the naked eye such as aluminized mylar, black polymer or welding glass of shade number 14

Mercury is too small to see without high-powered binoculars or a telescope, and looking directly at the sun, even with sunglasses, could cause permanent eye damage.

Fortunately NASA and astronomy organizations are providing virtual ringside seats for the show by live-streaming images of the transit in its entirety and providing expert commentary.

The tiny planet, slightly larger than Earth's moon, will start off as a small black dot on the edge of the sun at 7:12 a.m. Eastern (1112 GMT). Traveling 30 miles (48 km) a second, Mercury will take 7.5 hours to cross the face of the sun, which is about 864,300 miles (1.39 million km) in diameter, or about 109 times larger than Earth.

"Unlike sunspots, which have irregular shapes and grayish borders, Mercury's silhouette will be black and precisely round," Sky and Telescope said in a press release.

The event will come into view in the western United States after dawn, with the transit already in progress. The show will end at sunset in parts of Europe, Africa and most of Asia.