Sunday, 21 October, 2018

Solar Storms Could Shut Down Earth

Posted on Thursday, 5 December, 2013Sunday, 20 August, 2017 by Zheluo Cai

A solar storm could cause an electromagnetic mess that could take a decade to clean up. The Sun’s complex magnetic field contains regions that disconnect and then reconnect, unleashing the energy of thousands of hydrogen bombs, hurling atomic fragments into space in what is called a coronal mass ejection (CME). CMEs can contain 10 billion tons of material and travel nearly 2,000 miles per hour. This high-energy electromagnetic waves include deadly ultraviolet and X-rays. When their detritus swamps our atmosphere near the poles, they create spectacular aurorae.

The effects on our planet: broadcasts are jammed, electronic doors open and shut on their own, elevators stopped with a jolt, streetlights go out, mass blackouts, the ground sizzles, surge of currents go through power lines, power grids trip, radars fail, satellites and GPS malfunction, and airborne jetliners are exposed to deadly radiation. The last time this happened was in 2003. Numerous satellites have been launched to study these solar storms.

The Sun remains violent and fascinating, and it affects us far more than any other celestial object in the universe. And for all the billions of dollars we spend, it still can disable our fancy technologies at a whim, at any time, and in a way that will take the unaware public and mass media by surprise.

The Guna, known as Kuna prior to an orthographic reform in 2010, and historically as Cuna, are an indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. In the Kuna language, they call themselves Dule or Tule, meaning "people," and the name of the language in Kuna is Dulegaya, literally "people-mouth." Most Gunas live on small islands off the coast of the comarca of Kuna Yala known as the San Blas Islands. Each community has its own political organization, led by a saila, who is traditionally both the political and religious leader of the community; he memorizes songs which relate the sacred history of the people and transmits them to the people. Traditionally, Guna families are matrilinear, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family and taking the last name of the bride as well.

Recent events foster hope for stability in Mali despite spread of insecurity and extremism across the Sahel Friday, 19 October, 2018
Source: UN Security Council Country: Mali Successful presidential elections, the signing of the new Pact for Peace and a drop in peacekeeper deaths could lend a new momentum to Mali's overall peace process.SC/13546 . 19 OCTOBER 2018 . SECURITY COUNCIL . 8376TH MEETING (AM) Permanent Representative Highlights New Unity Mechanism, Priority on Response to Security, […]

Messier 101.
Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing and additional imaging - Robert Gendler. The beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalogue. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our Milky Way galaxy. It is also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th-century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. This mosaic of M101 was assembled from Hubble Legacy Archive data. Additional ground-based data was included to further define the telltale reddish emission from atomic hydrogen gas in this gorgeous galaxy's star-forming regions. The image shows stunning features in the galaxy's face-on disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies, some visible right through M101 itself. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

The current flag of Myanmar was adopted on 21 October 2010. The new flag was introduced along with implementing changes to the country's name, which were laid out in the 2008 Constitution. The design of the flag has three horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red with a five-pointed white star in the middle. The three colours of the stripes are meant to symbolise solidarity, peace and tranquility, and courage and decisiveness. The white star that symbolised the Union of Burma.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of Phidias and his assistants in c. 447 to 438 BC; originally part of the temple of the Parthenon. From 1801 to 1812, agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed about half of the surviving sculptures and transported them to Britain. The half not removed is now displayed in the Acropolis Museum. In Britain, the acquisition of the collection was not supported by some, and the Earl's actions was likened to vandalism. Following a public debate in Parliament and its subsequent exoneration of Elgin, he sold the Marbles to the British government in 1816. They were then passed to the British Museum, where they are now on display in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery.

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