ESA Herschel: key to discovery of spectacular gravitational lens

An irregular ring of radiation can be seen around the distant galaxy in the center of this 2.2-micron CCD photograph, made with the 10-meter Keck telescope on Hawaii. 

The lensing galaxy is associated with radio source 3C 220.3. 

The radiation of the ring originates from an extremely distant galaxy-in-formation and is a result of the gravitational-lens effect. 

Just below the lensing galaxy a neighboring galaxy can be seen, which also contributes to the lensing effects. 

Credit: ESA and the W. M. Keck Observatory.

An international team of astronomers including Dutch astronomers Peter Barthel and Léon Koopmans (University of Groningen) reports the discovery of a unique case of a cosmic gravitational lens.

Using several telescopes on the ground and in space, the scientists show that a distant radio galaxy, acting as a cosmic lens, distorts and magnifies the radiation of an even more distant mysterious dark object, thereby making that object visible.

Owing to the lens magnification, the faint background object becomes visible as a ring-like structure around the lensing foreground radio galaxy, seen well on an image made with one of the two 10-meter Keck telescopes on Hawaii.

Led by Martin Haas of Bochum University, Germany, the research started as rather simple observations with the Herschel Space Telescope of a sample of distant radio galaxies.

It rapidly grew into a project where crucial supplementary observations demonstrated the unique character of this cosmic lens.

While formally the Herschel Space Observatory did not discover this gravitational lens, it was the breakthrough Herschel performance that allowed the astronomers to measure the far-infrared emission of 3C 220.3, which in turn made them suspicious about its origin.

The original target, the very massive radio galaxy, emitted simply too much far-infrared radiation. Additional observations, with optical and radio telescopes, subsequently demonstrated unambiguously the cosmic lens effect of the radio galaxy making the dark background object visible in the far-infrared.

Astronomers have known of the cosmic gravitational lens phenomenon since 1979, although the light bending of distant stars by the Sun was already observed in 1919.

Calculations by Einstein in 1912 already predicted the existence of such cosmic lenses.

Gravitational lenses allow astronomers to investigate the properties of both the very distant lens and the even more distant object, a galaxy in the process of formation.

Modeling of the geometry of the lensing situation for instance demonstrated that the lensing galaxy which hosts the radio source contains an unexpectedly low fraction of mysterious dark matter compared with that predicted for large radio galaxies.

More information: 3C 220.3: A Radiogalaxy Lensing a Submillimeter Galaxy" by an international group of 20* astronomers led by Martin Haas (Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany) is accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/1406.2872

Energetic Space Tornadoes hold the key to Solar Mystery

A team of European scientists has discovered super-hot and super-fast tornados on the Sun, which may help answer a number of outstanding questions in the realm of physics.

Writing in the journal Nature, they report that these `magnetic tornadoes reach speeds of up to 10,000 kilometres per hour, completely dwarfing anything found on Earth.

For images and videos visit www.solartornado.info 

In fact the fastest recorded tornado on Earth only reached speeds of approximately 486 km per hour, and was by no means an example of a common occurrence.

These magnetic tornadoes on the Sun, created by rotating magnetic field structures which force plasma to move in spirals, are not only common but may hold the answer to a long-standing physics conundrum: why the surface of the Sun is cooler than its outermost atmospheric layer.

Think of any fire and it is common knowledge (and sense) that the closer one gets to the fire, the hotter it gets.

The Sun however doesn't quite follow this logic. Its central core is an amazing 15,000,000 degrees Celsius and its surface cools to 5,500 degrees Celsius - following the logic that the further away, the cooler it gets.

The Sun cools to a mere 4,300 degrees Celsius to where a layer of the Sun's atmosphere, the photosphere, meets the chromosphere. In the chromosphere, however, things become topsy-turvy.

When the chromosphere begins to merge with the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the corona, the temperature rises to 100,000 degrees Celsius and continues to increase to a scorching 2,000,000 degrees Celsius in the part of the corona that is farthest from the Sun.

This, almost accordion-like sequence of heat, has puzzled many scientists. A puzzle which this recent discovery of magnetic tornadoes may have solved.

Professor Robertus Erdélyi, head of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC) of the University of Sheffield's School of Mathematics and Statistics explains: 'One of the major problems in modern astrophysics is why the atmosphere of a star, like our own Sun, is considerably hotter than its surface?

Imagine, that you climb a mountain, e.g. a munro in the Scottish highlands, and it becomes hotter as you go higher and higher.

'It is understood that the energy originates from below the Sun's surface, but how this massive amount of energy travels up to the solar atmosphere surrounding it is a mystery.'

'We believe we have found evidence in the form of rotating magnetic structures - solar tornadoes - that channel the necessary energy in the form of magnetic waves to heat the magnetised solar plasma.'

'We report here the discovery of ubiquitous magnetic solar tornadoes and their signature in the hottest areas of the Sun's atmosphere where the temperature is a few millions of degree kelvin, about thousands of kilometres from the Sun's surface. This is a major step in the field.'

It is estimated that there are as many as 11,000 of these magnetic tornadoes above the Sun's surface at any time, and each one more than 1,600 km wide. Despite their number and size, they have never been seen until now.

Read the full article at EU CORDIS

Read more info on Space Tornadoes here at Institute of Theoretical Physics, University Oslo

Bug-Free! A keyboard that cleans itself

It’s not uncommon for keyboards to become the breeding grounds for bacteria and germs. And in a hospital, where doctors and nurses alternate between tending to patients and typing up medical records, the germy computer can be particularly troublesome.

Now, however, health care professionals won’t need to worry about going home sick. In a recent press release, medical technology company Vioguard announced that it has received FDA approval for its first product—a self-sanitizing keyboard.

The keyboard, which is to be used in hospitals, automatically cleans itself by employing the germ-killing properties of ultraviolet light (UV-C). It is able to target microbes (a.k.a. germs) due to their ability to be broken down with just the right amount of ultraviolet light.


Taking on the appearance of any other keyboard, the self-sanitizing version works by automatically retracting into its own light-tight enclosure after use.

Then the UV-C light gets to work—flooding the case and killing any germs that may have been left behind. A quick hand-wave in front of the motion sensor and the keyboard drawer opens, ready for use once again.

Initial testing has shown that the germicidal light was successful in eradicating 99.99 percent of the germs and bacteria that had been lurking on the keyboard.

The system may come as a relief to health care workers who sometimes worry about their own physical conditions—health care associated infections (HAIs) are a real concern in the medical world.

“Conventional computer keyboards have been identified as a key point of transmission of viruses and bacteria, especially within the medical setting,” says Larry Ranta, president and CEO of Vioguard, in the press release. “The Vioguard keyboard takes the guesswork out of sanitization efforts, reduces labour costs, and helps fight the spread of harmful and often deadly superbugs.”

NASA Reveals Key To Unlock Mysterious Red Glow In Space

NASA scientists created a unique collection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) spectra to interpret mysterious emission from space.

Because PAHs are a major product of combustion, remain in the environment, and are carcinogenic, the value of this PAH spectral collection extends far beyond NASA and astronomical applications.

For years, scientists have been studying a mysterious infrared glow from the Milky Way and other galaxies, radiating from dusty regions in deep space. By duplicating the harsh conditions of space in their laboratories and computers, scientists have identified the mystifying infrared emitters as PAHs. PAHs are flat, chicken-wire shaped, nano-sized molecules that are very common on Earth.

"PAHs in space are probably produced by carbon-rich, giant stars. A similar process produces soots here on Earth," said Louis Allamandola, an astrochemistry researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

"Besides astronomical applications, this PAH database and software can be useful as a new research tool for scientists, educators, policy makers, and consultants working in the fields of medicine, health, chemistry, fuel composition, engine design, environmental assessment, environmental monitoring, and environmental protection."

To manage the research data, NASA built a database that now can be shared over the internet. It's the world's largest collection of PAH infrared data, and the website contains nearly 700 spectra of PAHs in their neutral and electrically charged states.