Celtic and Rangers title race outcome predicted by betting supercomputer – Glasgow Times

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CELTIC will make history with ten in a row as the Scottish Premiership season gets underway, according to betting firm unikrn's supercomputer calculations.

Brainboxes at the bookmaker have used a number of different markets and a prediction algorithm to determine the final table and it's good news for the Hoops' quest to make history.

Rangers find themselves in a familiar spot in second place with Aberdeen booked for another bronze medal to complete the top three.

At the bottom of the table, the number crunching doesn't bode well for Hamilton, who are predicted to finish at the bottom of the table, while St Mirrens fate will be decided in the play-offs.

The system is based on factoring a range of the most informative betting markets in terms of influencing the final outcome of the season including title winner, 'without the Old Firm', bottom 6 and bottom place.

A unikrn spokesperson said: "It might not come as much of a surprise that Celtic are booked for ten in a row and our calculations read well for Hoops fans ahead of the restart. Steven Gerrard's Rangers will be hoping to run them close, but the numbers suggest they're booked for second place again.

"Things are looking bleak for Hamilton, who will fight with St Mirren to avoid finishing last and earn a last-chance place in the play-offs."

Scottish Premiership Supercomputer from unikrn

1. Celtic (1/2) (title odds)

2. Rangers (7/4)

---

3. Aberdeen (2/1) (winner without Celtic and Rangers)

4. Hibernian (7/2)

5. Motherwell (5/1)

6. Kilmarnock (14/1)

---

7. Livingston (2/5) (to finish bottom 6)

8. St. Johnstone (1/2)

9. Dundee United (3/5)

10. Ross County (1/10)

---

11. St Mirren (7/4) (to finish bottom)

12. Hamilton (6/4)

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Celtic and Rangers title race outcome predicted by betting supercomputer - Glasgow Times

PEARC20 Plenary Introduces Five Upcoming NSF-Funded HPC Systems – HPCwire

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Five new HPC systemsthree National Science Foundation-funded Capacity systems and two Innovative Prototype/Testbed systemswill be coming online through the end of 2021. John Towns, principal investigator (PI) for XSEDE, introduced panelists who described their upcoming systems at the PEARC20 virtual conference on July 29, 2020.

The systems are part of NSFs Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research solicitation. The Capacity systems, which will support a range of computation and data analytics in science and engineering, are expected to be available for allocation via XSEDEs process for projects starting Oct 1, 2021. The Innovative platforms, which will deploy specialized hardware tailored for artificial intelligence, will be available for early user access in late 2021 followed by a production period as the platforms mature.

The Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC) Conference Series is a community-driven effort built on the successes of the past, with the aim to grow and be more inclusive by involving additional local, regional, national, and international cyberinfrastructure and research computing partners spanning academia, government and industry. Sponsored by the ACM, the worlds largest educational and scientific computing society, PEARC20 is now taking place online through July 31.

This years theme, Catch the Wave, embodies the spirit of the communitys drive to stay on pace and in front of all the new waves in technology, analytics, and a globally connected and diverse workforce. Scientific discovery and innovation require a robust, innovative and resilient cyberinfrastructure to support the critical research required to address world challenges in climate change, population, health, energy and environment.

Anvil: Composable, Interactive, User-Focused

Anvil, the first of the three NSF Category I Capacity Systems, was introduced by principal investigator Carol Song, senior research scientist and director of Scientific Solutions with Research Computing at Purdue University. Song stressed the capabilities of the $9.9-million system in providing composability and interactivity to meet the increasing demand for computational resources, enable new computational paradigms, expand HPC to non-traditional research domains, and train the next generation of researchers and HPC workforce.

Its not just the CPU nodes or the GPU nodes, Song said. Its the entire ecosystem that focuses on getting more users onto the significant resources.

Partnering Purdue with Dell, DDN, and Nvidia, Anvil will feature:

The system, which will have a peak performance of 5.3 petaflops, will become operational by Sept. 30, 2021, with early-user access the previous summer. It will be 90% allocated through XSEDEs XRAC allocations system, with the remainder as discretionary allocation by Purdue.

Delta: The Mark of Change

Bill Gropp, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, introduced the Category I Delta system. With more than 800 late-model Nvidia GPUs, the $10-million resource will be the largest GPU system by FLOPS in NSFs portfolio at launch.

Titled after the Greek letter, the name was chosen to indicate change, said Gropp, PI of the new resource. Theres a lot of change in the hardware and software and the way we make use of the systems. Delta is intended to help drive a broader adoption of GPU technology past the end of Dennard scaling.

Delta will feature:

Delta, like Anvil, will be 90% allocated through XSEDE, will start operations on Oct. 1, 2020.

Jetstream2: An Approaching Front in Cloud HPC

Jetstream2, the final new NSF Category I system, was introduced by PI David Hancock, director for advanced cyberinfrastructure at Indiana University. Building on the success of the Jetstream system, the new $10-million supercomputer will serve a similar role in interactive, configurable computing for research and education, thanks in part to agreements with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to support cloud compatibility.

The configuration process for Jetstream2 is in its final phases and is still ongoing, Hancock said. But the new system will feature:

The system, which will combine cyberinfrastructure from Indiana University, Arizona State University, Cornell University, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, and the University of Hawaii, is planned to begin early operations in August 2021 and production by October 2021. Additional partners include the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins University [Galaxy team], and UCAR [Unidata team]. The system vendor partner for the project will be Dell, Inc. Jetstream2 will be XSEDE-allocated.

Neocortex: The Next Leap Forward in Deep Learning

Paola Buitrago, director of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, presented on the centers new NSF Category II system, Neocortex. Named for the brains center for higher functions, the new machine will serve as an experimental testbed of new technology to accelerate deep learning by orders of magnitude, similar to the sea change introduced by GPU technology in 2012.

Its innovative and its meant to be exploratory, PI Buitrago said. In particular we have one goal that we would like to scale this technology we aim to engage a wide audience and foster adoption of innovative technologies in deep learning.

The $5-million system will pair Cerebrass CS-1 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Superdome Flex technology to provide 800,000 AI-optimized cores with a uniquely quick interconnect. Neocortex will feature:

Neocortex will enter its early user program in the fall of 2020.

Voyager: Specialized Processors, Optimized Software for AI

Voyager, another $5-million NSF Category II system, was introduced by PI Amit Majumdar of the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Beginning with focused select projects in October 2021, the supercomputer will stress specialized processors for training and inference linked with a high-performance interconnect, x86 compute nodes, and a rich storage hierarchy.

We are most interested to see this as an experimental machine and see its impact and engagement of the user community, Majumdar said. So we will reach out to AI researchers from a wide variety of science, engineering and social sciences [fields], and there will be deep engagement with users.

Supermicro Inc. and SDSC will jointly deploy Voyager, featuring:

Specific early user applications intended for Voyager will include the use of machine learning to improve trigger, event reconstruction, and signal-to-background in high-energy physics; achieving quantum-modeling-level accuracy in molecular simulations in chemistry, biophysics, and material science; and satellite image analysis.

Voyager will follow a three-year testbed phase focused on select deep user engagement with a minimum of two years of XSEDE-allocation.

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NIH Awards $6M to UConn Health Biological Computer Modeling Teams – HPCwire

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July 28, 2020 Two UConn School of Medicine biological computer modeling groups at UConn Health have won a five-year award worth more than $6 million to continue and enhance their longstanding software resource, committed to supporting cellular biology research throughout the international scientific community.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health awarded the funding toVirtual Cell (VCell)andCOPASIbased on their 20-year record of serving the research community as vital computational resources. The award assures the continued maintenance of both software tools and allows the teams to work together to support their tens of thousands of users.

COPASI is a computer program that shows how a system changes over time, and which factors might affect those changes. Originally designed for biochemistry, it is now used by researchers from many fields, from ecology to cell biology. COPASI has even been used for epidemiology: biochemist Pedro Mendes, one of the original designers of COPASI, is currently using the program to help UConn Health predict how many COVID-19 patients to expect in future weeks.

The components are molecules, but they could be people. COPASI allows you to define their dynamics, and how they interact, Mendes says.

VCell is a virtual environment that allows cell biologists to explore the spatial dimension of biochemistry in cells. It matters where a chemical reaction takes place, and how the products of that reaction might travel to a remote target; for example, a toxic molecule might be easily disarmed if it encounters a certain area of a particular cell in your kidney, but if it doesnt get there, it could stay toxic. VCell allows scientists to incorporate that kind of detail into a model, allowing scientists to simulate biochemical reactions coupled to diffusion and transport in the complex geometries of cells and tissues.

VCell also keeps a library of biological models in an openly accessible database, so researchers dont have to reinvent the wheel every time they want to model a specific biological process. And it has a dedicated supercomputer, housed at UConn Health, that researchers can access remotely to run their simulations if their own machines dont have enough computing power.

COPASI and VCell are both powerful tools on their own, but together they can do extraordinarily sophisticated things. For example, brain cells can be very long, with many fingerlike dendrites that connect with other brain cells. Researchers might use COPASI to develop a model of how such a brain cells chemistry changes over time, and then use the COPASI model inside of a VCell spatial model of a brain cell to see how the chemistry changes in different areas of the cell.

Researchers from all over the world use COPASI and VCell. Because of this NIH funding, the programs, and UConn Healths supercomputing facilities, are available to anyone who wants to use them and has an internet connection. Maintaining and improving such sophisticated computer models requires a whole team of cell biologists, physicists, programmers, and support staff. The grant will go a long way towards supporting this group and the physical infrastructure that makes biological modeling possible for researchers around the world.

Its very unusual for a single institution to have this confluence of expertise in a single area, says Les Loew, a professor of cell biology and Director of the Berlin Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, who heads the VCell team.

Mendes adds: Both Les and I are pioneers in this field. We began working on simulation in the late 1980s, early 1990s. Its been a lifelong investment. So that working together and getting this grant is really satisfying.

Source: Kim Krieger,University of Connecticut

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NIH Awards $6M to UConn Health Biological Computer Modeling Teams - HPCwire

How Innovation & Regulation Have Changed the Nutrition Industry – Manufacturing.net

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According to recentresearch,the global personalized nutrition market was valued at USD $5.59 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach an astounding USD 11.35 billion by the year 2026.

We continue to see anever-increasing trend toward healthier foods, made from ingredients found in nature that protect the planet and its inhabitants.And, as more and more consumers are selecting food based on their individual definitions of healthy, enter the age of personalized nutrition where science and technology can dictate what food is right for usnot only for weight management but, more importantly, to support our overall health and wellness.

That said, although much of this growth has been driven by an increase in consumer demand for health and wellness products. Historically, this hasnt always been the case.

Herbalife Nutrition, for 40 years, has been helping people live healthy lives through nutrition and weve seen numerous changes throughout that time. Changes that have been driven by consumer demand, or by legislation and regulation, or the implementation of innovation and technology. The purpose of these changes have been to improve consumer safety.

They have been embraced by the industry and pioneered by companies like Herbalife Nutrition who have taken a leadership role, making great investments in scientific development, technology, analytical science and manufacturing. Companies now have better and safer products and as the numbers show, have helped to increase consumer trust and use of nutritional products.

The 1980s was a decade that could be characterized as the birth of quality management, partially in response to unforeseen crises and partially because of developments in analyticial and manufacturing technology. While there was much support from consumers, the nutrition business being in its infancy, had few alternative nutrition options. .

At this time, regulations in the United States for foods, and what would later be called dietary supplements were much less comprehensive than today. Although there were regulations for approving food additives and for protecting consumers from adulterated and contaminated foods, many quality standards had not yet been developed.

On the manufacturing technology front, smart cameras were developed, and manufacturers began using machine vision systems to identify characters and dates, and conduct code verification.

In 1982, in an effort to protect consumers, the FDA issued tamper-resistant packing regulations to prevent poisonings, spurred by deaths from cyanide placed in Tylenol capsules. This was important regulation for all packaged consumer goods manufacturers, leading to the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, approved by Congress in 1983, making it a crime to tamper with packaged consumer products.

It wasnt until the 1990s that the industry saw some of the greatest advancements in helping build consumer awareness and education.

It wasnt until the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was signed into law in 1990 that all packaged foods were required to bear nutrition labeling and all health claims for foods to be consistent with terms defined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The law preempted some state requirements for food standards, nutrition labeling, and health claims and, for the first time, authorized some health claims for foods. As part of the act, food ingredient panel, serving sizes, and terms such as "low fat" and "light" were standardized.

In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) established specific labeling requirements, provided a regulatory framework, and authorized FDA to promulgate good manufacturing practice regulations for the industry. This act defined "dietary supplements" and "dietary ingredients" and classified them as a subset of foods.

The act also established a commission to recommend how to regulate claims. Additionally, it confirmed that manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients were prohibited from marketing products that were adulterated or misbranded. That meant that these firms were responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they met all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

Together with the passing of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act in 1997, we saw the birth of the nutrition industry as we know it today.

As the new millennium rolled around, the impact of the previous decades regulations helped build a foundation for consumer trust as companies continued to beef up their quality assurance processes. Government agencies continued to refine rules and regulations to help protect and educate.

It was not until 2006 that the industry would begin experiencing true change. On December 22, 2006, the President signed into law the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, which amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). For the first time in US regulatory history, the Nutrition industry would be held accountable for safety surveillance and mandatory serious adverse event reporting to FDA (effective December 22, 2007).

In addition, the FDA issued in June 2007 the Dietary Supplement Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). In essence, the cGMP required that the proper controls be in place for dietary products during manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and holding operations. Large companies manufacturing and/or distributing dietary products, were expected to comply with the new regulations. And by 2009, all companies manufacturing and/or distributing dietary products, were required to comply.

These two major regulatory milestones would pave the way for industry to develop more comprehensive and standardized practices for ensuring consumer safety and product quality, both critical components for building consumer trust and regulatory parnterships for good stewardship.

Along with the industry, Hebalife Nutrition experienced great change during these years. Founded in 1980 to sell food and nutrition products, the company had a clear desire to lead the industry in quality, and eventually invested more than $300 million into scientific development, manufacturing facilities and technology, and by 2009 it established its second innovation and manufacturing facility, in Lake Forest, California.

The Company has made significant investments in technology, purchasing advanced testing equipment that was not currently being used by the industry, including a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Mass spectrometry high performance liquid chromatography equipment (LCMS) , next-generation sequencing (NGS) equipment and other cutting edge technologies. The recent investment in these sequencing technologies has diversifyied the Companys Genomic/DNA laboratory to improve DNA analytical techniques for processed botanicals, including extracts, making itone of the only nutrition companies in the world to have its own comprehensive program to completely characterize botanical ingredients.

This most recent decade has been a wake-up call for those manufacturers who have not seized the opportunity to invest and improve their manufacturing processes, product claims and quality control systems. The FDA kicked off the decade in 2011 by introducing one of the most sweeping regulations, 21 CFR Part 117.

This regulation, also known as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), provided the FDA with new enforcement authorities related to food and food safety standards, also giving them the tools to hold imported foods to the same standards as domestic foods, and directing FDA to build an integrated national food safety system in partnership with state and local authorities.

But regulations and legislation alone are not the answer to improving food quality and food safety. It is imperative that companies, academia and government partner up for the greater good and the benefit of the consumer. Those who can, have an obligation to the industry and consumers to commit to scientific research, transparency and accountability.

Examples of such partnerships includeThe Research Alliance,a partnership with The University of Guelph, a comprehensive public research university in Canada and leader in food science investigation. The Research Alliance, of which Herbalife Nutrition is a founding member, is designed to develop new, mutually agreed standards for the industry, including:

I believe that companies who have committed great amounts of resources, including manpower and financial investment to these systems, have created an atmosphere of transparency and earned consumer trust, positioning themselves for the next decade as industry leaders.

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How Innovation & Regulation Have Changed the Nutrition Industry - Manufacturing.net

Clinical Nutritional Supplements Market Analysis With Key Players, Applications, Trends And Forecasts To 2027 – Connected Lifestyle

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Clinical Nutritional Supplements Market

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Furthermore, the statistical survey in the report focuses on product specifications, costs, production capacities, marketing channels, and market players. Upstream raw materials, downstream demand analysis, and a list of end-user industries have been studied systematically, along with the suppliers in this market. The product flow and distribution channel have also been presented in this research report.

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Portuguese consulate for Macau and HK received 1,500 residence requests this year – Macau Business

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The Consulate General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong has registered about 1,500 requests from people wanting to live in the country, Consul Paulo Cunha Alves announced today (Thursday).

The information was advanced during the webinar Invest in Portugal. Your Next Place, whose main mission was to attract investment and promote Portugal as an investment destination for citizens of Macau and Hong Kong.

Alves explained that in the first semester the number of people who applied to the Macau-based consulate for a criminal record was around 1,500.

The criminal record is one of the requirements for the gold visa and residency process in Portugal.

Total investment raised through gold visas increased 2.9 per cent in the first half, compared to the same period in 2019, to 383 million euros, according to accounts made by Lusa based on SEF statistics.

In the first six months of the year, the total investment resulting from the granting of a Residence Permit for Investment (ARI) amounted to 383 million euros, 2.9 per cent more in the first half of 2019.

In June, a company specializing in obtaining gold visas in Portugal told Lusa that requests for information from Hong Kong residents soared after Beijings announcement about the national security law imposed on the former British colony.

At the event, which had as one of the organizers the aicepPortugalGlobal Trade&Investment Agency(AICEP), Consul Paulo Cunha Alves also underlined the success of foreign investment in Portugal and which places the country on the radar of several companies in the world.

Alves also said that the Portuguese consulate will always be available to support investments through Hong Kong and Macau.

Meanwhile, the investment advisor at the Portuguese Embassy in Beijing, Patrcia Conceio, said that foreign investment is central to the countrys economy

It has a tremendous impact on all companies, he stressed.

In order to capture the attention of investors attending the online conference, Patrcia Conceio said that Portugal is the second safest country in the European Union, according to the index of security threats.

The fact that Portugal is part of the European Union and that it is a link to Portuguese-speaking countries gives potential investors access to a market of more than 700 million people, she emphasized.

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Portuguese consulate for Macau and HK received 1,500 residence requests this year - Macau Business

Astronomy – Wikipedia

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Not to be confused with astrology, the pseudoscience.

Scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena

Astronomy (from Greek: ) is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates outside Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy. It studies the Universe as a whole.[1]

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars. Nowadays, professional astronomy is often said to be the same as astrophysics.[2]

Professional astronomy is split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects. This data is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. These two fields complement each other. Theoretical astronomy seeks to explain observational results and observations are used to confirm theoretical results.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs play an active role. This is especially true for the discovery and observation of transient events. Amateur astronomers have helped with many important discoveries, such as finding new comets.

Astronomy (from the Greek from astron, "star" and - -nomia from nomos, "law" or "culture") means "law of the stars" (or "culture of the stars" depending on the translation). Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the belief system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects.[4] Although the two fields share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct.[5]

"Astronomy" and "astrophysics" are synonyms.[6][7][8] Based on strict dictionary definitions, "astronomy" refers to "the study of objects and matter outside the Earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties,"[9] while "astrophysics" refers to the branch of astronomy dealing with "the behavior, physical properties, and dynamic processes of celestial objects and phenomena".[10] In some cases, as in the introduction of the introductory textbook The Physical Universe by Frank Shu, "astronomy" may be used to describe the qualitative study of the subject, whereas "astrophysics" is used to describe the physics-oriented version of the subject.[11] However, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics.[6] Some fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics. Various departments in which scientists carry out research on this subject may use "astronomy" and "astrophysics", partly depending on whether the department is historically affiliated with a physics department,[7] and many professional astronomers have physics rather than astronomy degrees.[8] Some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field include The Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal, and Astronomy & Astrophysics.

In early historic times, astronomy only consisted of the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye. In some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. In addition to their ceremonial uses, these observatories could be employed to determine the seasons, an important factor in knowing when to plant crops and in understanding the length of the year.[12]

Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye. As civilizations developed, most notably in Mesopotamia, Greece, Persia, India, China, Egypt, and Central America, astronomical observatories were assembled and ideas on the nature of the Universe began to develop. Most early astronomy consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon and the Earth in the Universe were explored philosophically. The Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the geocentric model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system, named after Ptolemy.[13]

A particularly important early development was the beginning of mathematical and scientific astronomy, which began among the Babylonians, who laid the foundations for the later astronomical traditions that developed in many other civilizations.[15] The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a repeating cycle known as a saros.[16]

Following the Babylonians, significant advances in astronomy were made in ancient Greece and the Hellenistic world. Greek astronomy is characterized from the start by seeking a rational, physical explanation for celestial phenomena.[17] In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the size and distance of the Moon and Sun, and he proposed a model of the Solar System where the Earth and planets rotated around the Sun, now called the heliocentric model.[18] In the 2nd century BC, Hipparchus discovered precession, calculated the size and distance of the Moon and invented the earliest known astronomical devices such as the astrolabe.[19] Hipparchus also created a comprehensive catalog of 1020 stars, and most of the constellations of the northern hemisphere derive from Greek astronomy.[20] The Antikythera mechanism (c. 15080 BC) was an early analog computer designed to calculate the location of the Sun, Moon, and planets for a given date. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical astronomical clocks appeared in Europe.[21]

Medieval Europe housed a number of important astronomers. Richard of Wallingford (12921336) made major contributions to astronomy and horology, including the invention of the first astronomical clock, the Rectangulus which allowed for the measurement of angles between planets and other astronomical bodies, as well as an equatorium called the Albion which could be used for astronomical calculations such as lunar, solar and planetary longitudes and could predict eclipses. Nicole Oresme (13201382) and Jean Buridan (13001361) first discussed evidence for the rotation of the Earth, furthermore, Buridan also developed the theory of impetus (predecessor of the modern scientific theory of inertia) which was able to show planets were capable of motion without the intervention of angels.[22] Georg von Peuerbach (14231461) and Regiomontanus (14361476) helped make astronomical progress instrumental to Copernicus's development of the heliocentric model decades later.

Astronomy flourished in the Islamic world and other parts of the world. This led to the emergence of the first astronomical observatories in the Muslim world by the early 9th century.[23][24][25] In 964, the Andromeda Galaxy, the largest galaxy in the Local Group, was described by the Persian Muslim astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in his Book of Fixed Stars.[26] The SN 1006 supernova, the brightest apparent magnitude stellar event in recorded history, was observed by the Egyptian Arabic astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan and Chinese astronomers in 1006. Some of the prominent Islamic (mostly Persian and Arab) astronomers who made significant contributions to the science include Al-Battani, Thebit, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Biruni, Ab Ishq Ibrhm al-Zarql, Al-Birjandi, and the astronomers of the Maragheh and Samarkand observatories. Astronomers during that time introduced many Arabic names now used for individual stars.[27][28] It is also believed that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe and Timbuktu[29] may have housed astronomical observatories.[30] Europeans had previously believed that there had been no astronomical observation in sub-Saharan Africa during the pre-colonial Middle Ages, but modern discoveries show otherwise.[31][32][33][34]

For over six centuries (from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment), the Roman Catholic Church gave more financial and social support to the study of astronomy than probably all other institutions. Among the Church's motives was finding the date for Easter.[35]

During the Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system. His work was defended by Galileo Galilei and expanded upon by Johannes Kepler. Kepler was the first to devise a system that correctly described the details of the motion of the planets around the Sun. However, Kepler did not succeed in formulating a theory behind the laws he wrote down.[36] It was Isaac Newton, with his invention of celestial dynamics and his law of gravitation, who finally explained the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope.[37]

Improvements in the size and quality of the telescope led to further discoveries. The English astronomer John Flamsteed catalogued over 3000 stars,[38] More extensive star catalogues were produced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. The astronomer William Herschel made a detailed catalog of nebulosity and clusters, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet found.[39]

During the 1819th centuries, the study of the three-body problem by Leonhard Euler, Alexis Claude Clairaut, and Jean le Rond d'Alembert led to more accurate predictions about the motions of the Moon and planets. This work was further refined by Joseph-Louis Lagrange and Pierre Simon Laplace, allowing the masses of the planets and moons to be estimated from their perturbations.[40]

Significant advances in astronomy came about with the introduction of new technology, including the spectroscope and photography. Joseph von Fraunhofer discovered about 600 bands in the spectrum of the Sun in 181415, which, in 1859, Gustav Kirchhoff ascribed to the presence of different elements. Stars were proven to be similar to the Earth's own Sun, but with a wide range of temperatures, masses, and sizes.[27]

The existence of the Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, as its own group of stars was only proved in the 20th century, along with the existence of "external" galaxies. The observed recession of those galaxies led to the discovery of the expansion of the Universe.[41] Theoretical astronomy led to speculations on the existence of objects such as black holes and neutron stars, which have been used to explain such observed phenomena as quasars, pulsars, blazars, and radio galaxies. Physical cosmology made huge advances during the 20th century. In the early 1900s the model of the Big Bang theory was formulated, heavily evidenced by cosmic microwave background radiation, Hubble's law, and the cosmological abundances of elements. Space telescopes have enabled measurements in parts of the electromagnetic spectrum normally blocked or blurred by the atmosphere.[citation needed] In February 2016, it was revealed that the LIGO project had detected evidence of gravitational waves in the previous September.[42][43]

The main source of information about celestial bodies and other objects is visible light, or more generally electromagnetic radiation.[44] Observational astronomy may be categorized according to the corresponding region of the electromagnetic spectrum on which the observations are made. Some parts of the spectrum can be observed from the Earth's surface, while other parts are only observable from either high altitudes or outside the Earth's atmosphere. Specific information on these subfields is given below.

Radio astronomy uses radiation with wavelengths greater than approximately one millimeter, outside the visible range.[45] Radio astronomy is different from most other forms of observational astronomy in that the observed radio waves can be treated as waves rather than as discrete photons. Hence, it is relatively easier to measure both the amplitude and phase of radio waves, whereas this is not as easily done at shorter wavelengths.[45]

Although some radio waves are emitted directly by astronomical objects, a product of thermal emission, most of the radio emission that is observed is the result of synchrotron radiation, which is produced when electrons orbit magnetic fields.[45] Additionally, a number of spectral lines produced by interstellar gas, notably the hydrogen spectral line at 21cm, are observable at radio wavelengths.[11][45]

A wide variety of other objects are observable at radio wavelengths, including supernovae, interstellar gas, pulsars, and active galactic nuclei.[11][45]

Infrared astronomy is founded on the detection and analysis of infrared radiation, wavelengths longer than red light and outside the range of our vision. The infrared spectrum is useful for studying objects that are too cold to radiate visible light, such as planets, circumstellar disks or nebulae whose light is blocked by dust. The longer wavelengths of infrared can penetrate clouds of dust that block visible light, allowing the observation of young stars embedded in molecular clouds and the cores of galaxies. Observations from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have been particularly effective at unveiling numerous Galactic protostars and their host star clusters.[47][48]With the exception of infrared wavelengths close to visible light, such radiation is heavily absorbed by the atmosphere, or masked, as the atmosphere itself produces significant infrared emission. Consequently, infrared observatories have to be located in high, dry places on Earth or in space.[49] Some molecules radiate strongly in the infrared. This allows the study of the chemistry of space; more specifically it can detect water in comets.[50]

Historically, optical astronomy, also called visible light astronomy, is the oldest form of astronomy.[51] Images of observations were originally drawn by hand. In the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, images were made using photographic equipment. Modern images are made using digital detectors, particularly using charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and recorded on modern medium. Although visible light itself extends from approximately 4000 to 7000 (400 nm to 700nm),[51] that same equipment can be used to observe some near-ultraviolet and near-infrared radiation.

Ultraviolet astronomy employs ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 100 and 3200 (10 to 320nm).[45] Light at those wavelengths is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, requiring observations at these wavelengths to be performed from the upper atmosphere or from space. Ultraviolet astronomy is best suited to the study of thermal radiation and spectral emission lines from hot blue stars (OB stars) that are very bright in this wave band. This includes the blue stars in other galaxies, which have been the targets of several ultraviolet surveys. Other objects commonly observed in ultraviolet light include planetary nebulae, supernova remnants, and active galactic nuclei.[45] However, as ultraviolet light is easily absorbed by interstellar dust, an adjustment of ultraviolet measurements is necessary.[45]

X-ray astronomy uses X-ray wavelengths. Typically, X-ray radiation is produced by synchrotron emission (the result of electrons orbiting magnetic field lines), thermal emission from thin gases above 107 (10million) kelvins, and thermal emission from thick gases above 107 Kelvin.[45] Since X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, all X-ray observations must be performed from high-altitude balloons, rockets, or X-ray astronomy satellites. Notable X-ray sources include X-ray binaries, pulsars, supernova remnants, elliptical galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and active galactic nuclei.[45]

Gamma ray astronomy observes astronomical objects at the shortest wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays may be observed directly by satellites such as the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory or by specialized telescopes called atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes.[45] The Cherenkov telescopes do not detect the gamma rays directly but instead detect the flashes of visible light produced when gamma rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere.[52]

Most gamma-ray emitting sources are actually gamma-ray bursts, objects which only produce gamma radiation for a few milliseconds to thousands of seconds before fading away. Only 10% of gamma-ray sources are non-transient sources. These steady gamma-ray emitters include pulsars, neutron stars, and black hole candidates such as active galactic nuclei.[45]

In addition to electromagnetic radiation, a few other events originating from great distances may be observed from the Earth.

In neutrino astronomy, astronomers use heavily shielded underground facilities such as SAGE, GALLEX, and Kamioka II/III for the detection of neutrinos. The vast majority of the neutrinos streaming through the Earth originate from the Sun, but 24 neutrinos were also detected from supernova 1987A.[45] Cosmic rays, which consist of very high energy particles (atomic nuclei) that can decay or be absorbed when they enter the Earth's atmosphere, result in a cascade of secondary particles which can be detected by current observatories.[53] Some future neutrino detectors may also be sensitive to the particles produced when cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere.[45]

Gravitational-wave astronomy is an emerging field of astronomy that employs gravitational-wave detectors to collect observational data about distant massive objects. A few observatories have been constructed, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory LIGO. LIGO made its first detection on 14 September 2015, observing gravitational waves from a binary black hole.[54] A second gravitational wave was detected on 26 December 2015 and additional observations should continue but gravitational waves require extremely sensitive instruments.[55][56]

The combination of observations made using electromagnetic radiation, neutrinos or gravitational waves and other complementary information, is known as multi-messenger astronomy.[57][58]

One of the oldest fields in astronomy, and in all of science, is the measurement of the positions of celestial objects. Historically, accurate knowledge of the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars has been essential in celestial navigation (the use of celestial objects to guide navigation) and in the making of calendars.

Careful measurement of the positions of the planets has led to a solid understanding of gravitational perturbations, and an ability to determine past and future positions of the planets with great accuracy, a field known as celestial mechanics. More recently the tracking of near-Earth objects will allow for predictions of close encounters or potential collisions of the Earth with those objects.[59]

The measurement of stellar parallax of nearby stars provides a fundamental baseline in the cosmic distance ladder that is used to measure the scale of the Universe. Parallax measurements of nearby stars provide an absolute baseline for the properties of more distant stars, as their properties can be compared. Measurements of the radial velocity and proper motion of stars allows astronomers to plot the movement of these systems through the Milky Way galaxy. Astrometric results are the basis used to calculate the distribution of speculated dark matter in the galaxy.[60]

During the 1990s, the measurement of the stellar wobble of nearby stars was used to detect large extrasolar planets orbiting those stars.[61]

Theoretical astronomers use several tools including analytical models and computational numerical simulations; each has its particular advantages. Analytical models of a process are better for giving broader insight into the heart of what is going on. Numerical models reveal the existence of phenomena and effects otherwise unobserved.[62][63]

Theorists in astronomy endeavor to create theoretical models and from the results predict observational consequences of those models. The observation of a phenomenon predicted by a model allows astronomers to select between several alternate or conflicting models as the one best able to describe the phenomena.

Theorists also try to generate or modify models to take into account new data. In the case of an inconsistency between the data and model's results, the general tendency is to try to make minimal modifications to the model so that it produces results that fit the data. In some cases, a large amount of inconsistent data over time may lead to total abandonment of a model.

Phenomena modeled by theoretical astronomers include: stellar dynamics and evolution; galaxy formation; large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe; origin of cosmic rays; general relativity and physical cosmology, including string cosmology and astroparticle physics. Astrophysical relativity serves as a tool to gauge the properties of large scale structures for which gravitation plays a significant role in physical phenomena investigated and as the basis for black hole (astro)physics and the study of gravitational waves.

Some widely accepted and studied theories and models in astronomy, now included in the Lambda-CDM model are the Big Bang, dark matter and fundamental theories of physics.

A few examples of this process:

Along with Cosmic inflation, dark matter and dark energy are the current leading topics in astronomy,[64] as their discovery and controversy originated during the study of the galaxies.

Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry "to ascertain the nature of the astronomical objects, rather than their positions or motions in space".[65][66] Among the objects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background.[67][68] Their emissions are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists typically apply many disciplines of physics, including mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics.

In practice, modern astronomical research often involves a substantial amount of work in the realms of theoretical and observational physics. Some areas of study for astrophysicists include their attempts to determine the properties of dark matter, dark energy, and black holes; whether or not time travel is possible, wormholes can form, or the multiverse exists; and the origin and ultimate fate of the universe.[67] Topics also studied by theoretical astrophysicists include Solar System formation and evolution; stellar dynamics and evolution; galaxy formation and evolution; magnetohydrodynamics; large-scale structure of matter in the universe; origin of cosmic rays; general relativity and physical cosmology, including string cosmology and astroparticle physics.

Astrochemistry is the study of the abundance and reactions of molecules in the Universe, and their interaction with radiation.[69] The discipline is an overlap of astronomy and chemistry. The word "astrochemistry" may be applied to both the Solar System and the interstellar medium. The study of the abundance of elements and isotope ratios in Solar System objects, such as meteorites, is also called cosmochemistry, while the study of interstellar atoms and molecules and their interaction with radiation is sometimes called molecular astrophysics. The formation, atomic and chemical composition, evolution and fate of molecular gas clouds is of special interest, because it is from these clouds that solar systems form.

Studies in this field contribute to the understanding of the formation of the Solar System, Earth's origin and geology, abiogenesis, and the origin of climate and oceans.

Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary scientific field concerned with the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology considers the question of whether extraterrestrial life exists, and how humans can detect it if it does.[70] The term exobiology is similar.[71]

Astrobiology makes use of molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, astronomy, physical cosmology, exoplanetology and geology to investigate the possibility of life on other worlds and help recognize biospheres that might be different from that on Earth.[72] The origin and early evolution of life is an inseparable part of the discipline of astrobiology.[73] Astrobiology concerns itself with interpretation of existing scientific data, and although speculation is entertained to give context, astrobiology concerns itself primarily with hypotheses that fit firmly into existing scientific theories.

This interdisciplinary field encompasses research on the origin of planetary systems, origins of organic compounds in space, rock-water-carbon interactions, abiogenesis on Earth, planetary habitability, research on biosignatures for life detection, and studies on the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in outer space.[74][75][76]

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Cosmology (from the Greek (kosmos) "world, universe" and (logos) "word, study" or literally "logic") could be considered the study of the Universe as a whole.

Observations of the large-scale structure of the Universe, a branch known as physical cosmology, have provided a deep understanding of the formation and evolution of the cosmos. Fundamental to modern cosmology is the well-accepted theory of the Big Bang, wherein our Universe began at a single point in time, and thereafter expanded over the course of 13.8 billion years[77] to its present condition.[78] The concept of the Big Bang can be traced back to the discovery of the microwave background radiation in 1965.[78]

In the course of this expansion, the Universe underwent several evolutionary stages. In the very early moments, it is theorized that the Universe experienced a very rapid cosmic inflation, which homogenized the starting conditions. Thereafter, nucleosynthesis produced the elemental abundance of the early Universe.[78] (See also nucleocosmochronology.)

When the first neutral atoms formed from a sea of primordial ions, space became transparent to radiation, releasing the energy viewed today as the microwave background radiation. The expanding Universe then underwent a Dark Age due to the lack of stellar energy sources.[79]

A hierarchical structure of matter began to form from minute variations in the mass density of space. Matter accumulated in the densest regions, forming clouds of gas and the earliest stars, the Population III stars. These massive stars triggered the reionization process and are believed to have created many of the heavy elements in the early Universe, which, through nuclear decay, create lighter elements, allowing the cycle of nucleosynthesis to continue longer.[80]

Gravitational aggregations clustered into filaments, leaving voids in the gaps. Gradually, organizations of gas and dust merged to form the first primitive galaxies. Over time, these pulled in more matter, and were often organized into groups and clusters of galaxies, then into larger-scale superclusters.[81]

Various fields of physics are crucial to studying the universe. Interdisciplinary studies involve the fields of quantum mechanics, particle physics, plasma physics, condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, optics, and nuclear physics.

Fundamental to the structure of the Universe is the existence of dark matter and dark energy. These are now thought to be its dominant components, forming 96% of the mass of the Universe. For this reason, much effort is expended in trying to understand the physics of these components.[82]

The study of objects outside our galaxy is a branch of astronomy concerned with the formation and evolution of Galaxies, their morphology (description) and classification, the observation of active galaxies, and at a larger scale, the groups and clusters of galaxies. Finally, the latter is important for the understanding of the large-scale structure of the cosmos.

Most galaxies are organized into distinct shapes that allow for classification schemes. They are commonly divided into spiral, elliptical and Irregular galaxies.[83]

As the name suggests, an elliptical galaxy has the cross-sectional shape of an ellipse. The stars move along random orbits with no preferred direction. These galaxies contain little or no interstellar dust, few star-forming regions, and older stars. Elliptical galaxies are more commonly found at the core of galactic clusters, and may have been formed through mergers of large galaxies.

A spiral galaxy is organized into a flat, rotating disk, usually with a prominent bulge or bar at the center, and trailing bright arms that spiral outward. The arms are dusty regions of star formation within which massive young stars produce a blue tint. Spiral galaxies are typically surrounded by a halo of older stars. Both the Milky Way and one of our nearest galaxy neighbors, the Andromeda Galaxy, are spiral galaxies.

Irregular galaxies are chaotic in appearance, and are neither spiral nor elliptical. About a quarter of all galaxies are irregular, and the peculiar shapes of such galaxies may be the result of gravitational interaction.

An active galaxy is a formation that emits a significant amount of its energy from a source other than its stars, dust and gas. It is powered by a compact region at the core, thought to be a super-massive black hole that is emitting radiation from in-falling material.

A radio galaxy is an active galaxy that is very luminous in the radio portion of the spectrum, and is emitting immense plumes or lobes of gas. Active galaxies that emit shorter frequency, high-energy radiation include Seyfert galaxies, Quasars, and Blazars. Quasars are believed to be the most consistently luminous objects in the known universe.[84]

The large-scale structure of the cosmos is represented by groups and clusters of galaxies. This structure is organized into a hierarchy of groupings, with the largest being the superclusters. The collective matter is formed into filaments and walls, leaving large voids between.[85]

The Solar System orbits within the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy that is a prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a rotating mass of gas, dust, stars and other objects, held together by mutual gravitational attraction. As the Earth is located within the dusty outer arms, there are large portions of the Milky Way that are obscured from view.

In the center of the Milky Way is the core, a bar-shaped bulge with what is believed to be a supermassive black hole at its center. This is surrounded by four primary arms that spiral from the core. This is a region of active star formation that contains many younger, population I stars. The disk is surrounded by a spheroid halo of older, population II stars, as well as relatively dense concentrations of stars known as globular clusters.[86]

Between the stars lies the interstellar medium, a region of sparse matter. In the densest regions, molecular clouds of molecular hydrogen and other elements create star-forming regions. These begin as a compact pre-stellar core or dark nebulae, which concentrate and collapse (in volumes determined by the Jeans length) to form compact protostars.[87]

As the more massive stars appear, they transform the cloud into an H II region (ionized atomic hydrogen) of glowing gas and plasma. The stellar wind and supernova explosions from these stars eventually cause the cloud to disperse, often leaving behind one or more young open clusters of stars. These clusters gradually disperse, and the stars join the population of the Milky Way.[88]

Kinematic studies of matter in the Milky Way and other galaxies have demonstrated that there is more mass than can be accounted for by visible matter. A dark matter halo appears to dominate the mass, although the nature of this dark matter remains undetermined.[89]

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Astronomy - Wikipedia

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Astronomy, science that encompasses the study of all extraterrestrial objects and phenomena. Until the invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity in the 17th century, astronomy was primarily concerned with noting and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, originally for calendrical and astrological purposes and later for navigational uses and scientific interest. The catalog of objects now studied is much broader and includes, in order of increasing distance, the solar system, the stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy, and other, more distant galaxies. With the advent of scientific space probes, Earth also has come to be studied as one of the planets, though its more-detailed investigation remains the domain of the Earth sciences.

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Astronomy is the study of objects and phenomena beyond Earth. Astronomers study objects as close as the Moon and the rest of the solar system through the stars of the Milky Way Galaxy and out to distant galaxies billions of light-years away.

Since the late 19th century, astronomy has expanded to include astrophysics, the application of physical and chemical knowledge to an understanding of the nature of celestial objects and the physical processes that control their formation, evolution, and emission of radiation. In addition, the gases and dust particles around and between the stars have become the subjects of much research. Study of the nuclear reactions that provide the energy radiated by stars has shown how the diversity of atoms found in nature can be derived from a universe that, following the first few minutes of its existence, consisted only of hydrogen, helium, and a trace of lithium. Concerned with phenomena on the largest scale is cosmology, the study of the evolution of the universe. Astrophysics has transformed cosmology from a purely speculative activity to a modern science capable of predictions that can be tested.

Its great advances notwithstanding, astronomy is still subject to a major constraint: it is inherently an observational rather than an experimental science. Almost all measurements must be performed at great distances from the objects of interest, with no control over such quantities as their temperature, pressure, or chemical composition. There are a few exceptions to this limitationnamely, meteorites (most of which are from the asteroid belt, though some are from the Moon or Mars), rock and soil samples brought back from the Moon, samples of comet and asteroid dust returned by robotic spacecraft, and interplanetary dust particles collected in or above the stratosphere. These can be examined with laboratory techniques to provide information that cannot be obtained in any other way. In the future, space missions may return surface materials from Mars, or other objects, but much of astronomy appears otherwise confined to Earth-based observations augmented by observations from orbiting satellites and long-range space probes and supplemented by theory.

A central undertaking in astronomy is the determination of distances. Without a knowledge of astronomical distances, the size of an observed object in space would remain nothing more than an angular diameter and the brightness of a star could not be converted into its true radiated power, or luminosity. Astronomical distance measurement began with a knowledge of Earths diameter, which provided a base for triangulation. Within the inner solar system, some distances can now be better determined through the timing of radar reflections or, in the case of the Moon, through laser ranging. For the outer planets, triangulation is still used. Beyond the solar system, distances to the closest stars are determined through triangulation, in which the diameter of Earths orbit serves as the baseline and shifts in stellar parallax are the measured quantities. Stellar distances are commonly expressed by astronomers in parsecs (pc), kiloparsecs, or megaparsecs. (1 pc = 3.086 1018 cm, or about 3.26 light-years [1.92 1013 miles].) Distances can be measured out to around a kiloparsec by trigonometric parallax (see star: Determining stellar distances). The accuracy of measurements made from Earths surface is limited by atmospheric effects, but measurements made from the Hipparcos satellite in the 1990s extended the scale to stars as far as 650 parsecs, with an accuracy of about a thousandth of an arc second. The Gaia satellite is expected to measure stars as far away as 10 kiloparsecs to an accuracy of 20 percent. Less-direct measurements must be used for more-distant stars and for galaxies.

Two general methods for determining galactic distances are described here. In the first, a clearly identifiable type of star is used as a reference standard because its luminosity has been well determined. This requires observation of such stars that are close enough to Earth that their distances and luminosities have been reliably measured. Such a star is termed a standard candle. Examples are Cepheid variables, whose brightness varies periodically in well-documented ways, and certain types of supernova explosions that have enormous brilliance and can thus be seen out to very great distances. Once the luminosities of such nearer standard candles have been calibrated, the distance to a farther standard candle can be calculated from its calibrated luminosity and its actual measured intensity. (The measured intensity [I] is related to the luminosity [L] and distance [d] by the formula I = L/4d2.) A standard candle can be identified by means of its spectrum or the pattern of regular variations in brightness. (Corrections may have to be made for the absorption of starlight by interstellar gas and dust over great distances.) This method forms the basis of measurements of distances to the closest galaxies.

The second method for galactic distance measurements makes use of the observation that the distances to galaxies generally correlate with the speeds with which those galaxies are receding from Earth (as determined from the Doppler shift in the wavelengths of their emitted light). This correlation is expressed in the Hubble law: velocity = H distance, in which H denotes Hubbles constant, which must be determined from observations of the rate at which the galaxies are receding. There is widespread agreement that H lies between 67 and 73 kilometres per second per megaparsec (km/sec/Mpc). H has been used to determine distances to remote galaxies in which standard candles have not been found. (For additional discussion of the recession of galaxies, the Hubble law, and galactic distance determination, see physical science: Astronomy.)

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Astronomy for Beginners | Night Sky Facts, FAQs …

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Ali Matinfar captured this image of stargazers under the Milky Way from the Mesr Desert in Iran. Ali Matinfar / Online Photo Gallery

Did the astronomy bug bite you while you were out last night? Feeling inspired to learn about the wonders of the sky, the solar system, and all the science behind them? Let this page serve as your guide to astronomy for beginners.

Check out what's up in the night sky this week. Get advice for buying your first telescope. And find the best coverage youll find online of upcoming celestial events such as eclipses and meteor showers.

The best guide to astronomy for beginners is the night sky. All you really need to do to get started is look up preferably at night! You'll find an amazing treasure chest of astronomical wonders, even if you don't have a telescope.

Our most popular (and free) offering, "This Week's Sky at a Glance," guides you to the naked-eye sky, highlighting the major constellations and planets viewable in the evening sky, with occasional dips into deep-sky territory. (Download the free app for iTunes or Android.)

If you'd rather listen while under the stars, download our monthly astronomy podcast and take it with you when you venture out tonight for a guided tour to the night sky.

Or do your own sleuthing with our interactive sky chart.

If there are any major celestial events, such as comets, eclipses, or meteor showers, you'll find all the latest information (including instructions on where to look and detailed sky charts) in our observing news section.

Even though you don't need to know the Greek names of the constellations or understand the nature of black holes in order to relish the night sky, you might want to anyway. We provide a rich supply of information and resources on astronomy for beginners.

You'll also find a growing supply of answers to frequently-asked astronomy questions, be they related to the hobby or science of astronomy.

The naked-eye sky is full of astronomical treasures, and it gets even better with a little magnification. But don't feel you have to go out and buy a high-power telescope right away. Often the best first telescope is a pair of binoculars. Binoculars can give you the wide-field view that's essential to really learning your way around the night sky. Find out more about choosing and using binoculars here.

Once you're ready for a telescope, we have more than a few words of advice! You'll want to check out two digestible articles on the topic of choosing your first telescope: "What to Know Before Buying a Telescope" and "How to Choose a Telescope." You might also be interested in our video guides to choosing, using, and equipping your telescope.

Once you're ready to take on deep-sky challenges, such as spotting faint galaxies and fuzzy nebulae, prepare for a dive into deep celestial seas with Sky & Telescope's Deep-Sky Observing Collection.

And if you're looking to get started in astrophotography, be sure to check out our free Astrophotography Primer. Enter your email to download the ebook for free, plus receive our weekly e-newsletter with the latest astronomy news.

Astronomy can be an enlightening solitary activity, but it can also be fun to have company and advice from seasoned experts. Discover astronomy clubs and other organizations near you or find local astronomy-related events in our events calendar. (Or if you're already involved, submit your own club or event.)

Also, keep up with the Sky & Telescope community online at Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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What is Astronomy? Definition & History | Space

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Humans have long gazed toward the heavens, searching to put meaning and order to the universe around them. Although the movement of constellations patterns imprinted on the night sky were the easiest to track, other celestial events such as eclipses and the motion of planets were also charted and predicted.

Definition of astronomy: Astronomy is the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets, comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust and other non-Earthly bodies and phenomena. In curriculum for K-4 students, NASA defines astronomy as simple "the study of stars, planets and space." Astronomy and astrology were historically associated, but astrology is not a science and is no longer recognized as having anything to do with astronomy. Below we discuss the history of astronomy and related fields of study, including cosmology.

Historically, astronomy has focused on observations of heavenly bodies. It is a close cousin to astrophysics. Succinctly put, astrophysics involves the study of the physics of astronomy and concentrates on the behavior, properties and motion of objects out there. However, modern astronomy includes many elements of the motions and characteristics of these bodies, and the two terms are often used interchangeably today.

Modern astronomers tend to fall into two fields: the theoretical and the observational.

Unlike most other fields of science, astronomers are unable to observe a system entirely from birth to death; the lifetime of worlds, stars, and galaxies span millions to billions of years. Instead, astronomers must rely on snapshots of bodies in various stages of evolution to determine how they formed, evolved and died. Thus, theoretical and observational astronomy tend to blend together, as theoretical scientists use the information actually collected to create simulations, while the observations serve to confirm the models or to indicate the need for tweaking them.

Astronomy is broken down into a number of subfields, allowing scientists to specialize in particular objects and phenomena.

Planetary astronomers (also called planetary scientists) focus on the growth, evolution, and death of planets. While most study the worlds inside the solar system, some use the growing body of evidence about planets around other stars to hypothesize what they might be like. According to the University College London, planetary science "is a cross-discipline field including aspects of astronomy, atmospheric science, geology, space physics, biology and chemistry."

Stellar astronomers turn their eyes to the stars, including the black holes, nebulae, white dwarfs and supernova that survive stellar deaths. The University of California, Los Angeles, says, "The focus of stellar astronomy is on the physical and chemical processes that occur in the universe."

Solar astronomers spend their time analyzing a single star our sun. According to NASA, "The quantity and quality of light from the sun varies on time scales from milli-seconds to billions of years." Understanding those changes can help scientists recognize how Earth is affected. The sun also helps us to understand how other stars work, as it is the only star close enough to reveal details about its surface.

Galactic astronomers study our galaxy, the Milky Way, while extragalactic astronomers peer outside of it to determine how these collections of stars form, change, and die. The University of Wisconsin-Madison says, "Establishing patterns in the distribution, composition, and physical conditions of stars and gas traces the history of our evolving home galaxy."

Cosmologists focus on the universe in its entirety, from its violent birth in the Big Bang to its present evolution, all the way to its eventual death. Astronomy is often (not always) about very concrete, observable things, whereas cosmology typically involves large-scale properties of the universe and esoteric, invisible and sometimes purely theoretical things like string theory, dark matter and dark energy, and the notion of multiple universes.

Astronomical observers rely on different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (from radio waves to visible light and on up to X-rays and gamma-rays) to study the wide span of objects in the universe. The first telescopes focused on simple optical studies of what could be seen with the naked eye, and many telescopes continue that today. [Celestial Photos: Hubble Space Telescope's Latest Cosmic Views]

But as light waves become more or less energetic, they move faster or slower. Different telescopes are necessary to study the various wavelengths. More energetic radiation, with shorter wavelengths, appears in the form of ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths, while less energetic objects emit longer-wavelength infrared and radio waves.

Astrometry, the most ancient branch of astronomy, is the measure of the sun, moon and planets. The precise calculations of these motions allows astronomers in other fields to model the birth and evolution of planets and stars, and to predict events such as eclipses meteor showers, and the appearance of comets. According to the Planetary Society, "Astrometry is the oldest method used to detect extrasolar planets," though it remains a difficult process.

Early astronomers noticed patterns in the sky and attempted to organize them in order to track and predict their motion. Known as constellations, these patterns helped people of the past to measure the seasons. The movement of the stars and other heavenly bodies was tracked around the world, but was prevalent in China, Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Central America and India.

The image of an astronomer is a lone soul at a telescope during all hours of the night. In reality, most hard-core astronomy today is done with observations made at remote telescopes on the ground or in space that are controlled by computers, with astronomers studying computer-generated data and images.

Since the advent of photography, and particularly digital photography, astronomers have provided amazing pictures of space that not only inform science but enthrall the public. [All-Time Great Galaxy Photos]

Astronomers and spaceflight programs also contribute to the study of our own planet, when missions primed at looking outward (or travelling to the moon and beyond) look back and snap great pictures of Earth from space.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd, Facebook, or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+.

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Mars shifting sands revealed by long-term observations – Astronomy Magazine

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(Inside Science) -- Martian megaripples might sound like they are straight out of science fiction. But they are real and just as fantastic as they seem.

Megaripples are sandy landforms, or bedforms, that rise 1 or 2 meters off the surface. They have been spotted all over the surface of the red planet from the mottled floors of craters to the undulating plains of sand dunes. Not quite as large as sand dunes, but also not as small as what scientists call large ripples, megaripples are the middle child of bedforms on Mars. Unlike middle children, however, they are big and bright enough to be easily spotted by satellites.

Most Martian sand dunes are made up of a large range of grain sizes and large ripples are composed only of tiny, finer grains. Megaripples, on the other hand, are made of fine-grained sands at the bottom and coarse-grained sands at the top, making them less mobile by the weak Martian atmosphere. This has prompted scientists to assume that they are remnants of a past environment when the wind was stronger. But now, after a decade of observation, planetary scientists have used images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) to show that these megaripples are actively moving.

"We had the opportunity to see these megaripples moving because now we have more than 10 years of observations,"said lead author Simone Silvestro, a planetary scientist at the National Institute for Astrophysics Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte in Naples, Italy. As HiRISE continues to photograph the Martian surface, the repeated observations reveal processes that were once thought to be dormant.

"It isnt like Mark Watney getting blown away from the other astronauts in 'The Martian,'"said Matt Chojnacki, co-author and associate staff scientist at the University of Arizonas Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson. "You wouldnt see a lot of dust devil movement or drifts of dust blowing through."Instead, the megaripples in the regions that the scientists studied, near the Nili Fossae and McLaughlin Crater, migrate at almost imperceptible rates, moving only about 1 meter every nine Earth years. Nevertheless, their activity is a pleasant surprise to the planetary science community.

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Mars shifting sands revealed by long-term observations - Astronomy Magazine

Astronomers nab the farthest visible explosion from a neutron star collision ever seen – SYFY WIRE

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Some quick work by astronomers nabbed the optical flash from a huge explosion caused by two neutron stars colliding nearly three-quarters of the way across the observable Universe. This is the second farthest short gamma-ray burst ever seen, the very farthest visible flash of light from one ever seen, and a rare beast indeed.

Gamma-ray bursts (or GRBs) are some of the most powerful and violent explosions in the cosmos. They were first detected in the 1960s, but their true nature didn't start unfolding until the 1990s, when we learned they were extremely far away and therefore ridiculously powerful. Like, emitting in a few seconds the same energy the Sun will over its entire 12 billion year lifetime powerful.

They come in two flavors: Long (longer than 2 seconds on average) and short (you guessed it: shorter than 2 seconds). Long ones have a number of different sources, but in general come from massive stars exploding as supernovae, and their cores collapse to form black holes. Not every supernova generates a GRB, but when they do the explosion is incredibly energetic, allowing us to see them at vast distances.

Short GRBs involve neutron stars, also the leftover object after a star's core collapses. They're less massive than black holes, but still objects to be reckoned with. If two massive stars orbit each other, they can both explode to form binary neutron stars. Over billions of years they slowly spiral toward each other, then in the last moments they tear each other apart through their fierce gravity and merge, usually forming a black hole. This process generates an intense burst of gamma rays, the highest energy form of light.

This explosion isn't quite as powerful as a supernova, so it's nicknamed a kilonova. Still, quite a bit of energy goes into the blast of light after a merger, which means we can see them from far away.

The short blast of gamma rays is the key to finding them: NASA's Swift observatory is designed specifically to detect GRBs and then train its ultraviolet and optical telescopes on them, nailing down their positions better and alerting telescopes on Earth to take a closer look.

And so it was on 23 November 2018. Swift's Burst Alert Telescope detected a flash of gamma rays lasting about a quarter of a second coming from the direction of the constellation of Coma Berenices. No afterglow was seen by its Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope, though to be fair it's not a very big scope. Swift then sent out an alert, and fast-acting astronomers pointed the huge Gemini telescope at that area of the sky just over 9 hours later, where it saw a feeble glow of near-infrared light (an i magnitude of 25, if you want the tech details, which is faint). It observed again a couple of days later and the glow had faded, confirming it was the GRB afterglow.

Not long after, the mighty Keck telescope took a look at what was now called GRB 181123B (the second GRB detected on 2018 November 23), and was able to take a spectrum of the host galaxy, and astronomers determined it is roughly 10 billion light years from Earth. This makes the GRB the second most distant short one ever seen (GRB 111117A, the current record holder from 2011, was 10.7 billion light years from Earth), and the most distant one with an optical afterglow detected.

Most short GRBs are much closer to us, averaging about 5 billion light years away. Only three are known at about this distance, making GRB 181123B an important marker for studying the Universe at this time.

Around that time of ten billion years ago, galaxies in the Universe were about at their peak of star-birth efficiency, churning out stars at prodigious rates. The host galaxy for this gamma-ray burst is smallish, with about 15 billion times the Sun's mass worth of stars in it (our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 50 billion solar masses of stars in it), but astronomers determined that at the time it was cranking out about 35 times the Sun's mass in stars every year. That's a lot (currently the Milky Way produces something like 1-2), but about average for galaxies of its size back then, and probably it was already past its peak of star formation.

The reason this is important is because it takes time to make a short GRB. Massive stars blow through their nuclear fuel rapidly, exploding after a dozen million years or so, but it may take billions of years for them to spiral together and collide. This event happened less than 4 billion years after the Big Bang, so that's a hard upper limit on how quickly you can go from making stars to creating a short GRB (and GRB11117A got to the finish line even faster). That tells us a lot about how these events work.

Finding short GRBs at this distance is hard; Swift isn't really designed to see them this far away, so they have to be unusually bright, and even then they're very rare. But the more we find, the better we'll understand this time in the history of the Universe (rather poetically called Cosmic Noon, because so many stars were being made).

It's amazing to me how generous the Universe is sometimes, giving us all these ways to investigate it, including merging neutron stars billions of light years away blasting out high-energy gamma rays for a fraction of a second. It doesn't make things easy but then where's the fun in that?

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Astronomers nab the farthest visible explosion from a neutron star collision ever seen - SYFY WIRE

A&M-Commerce Planetarium & Observatory Offer the Universe to Students and Community – frontporchnewstexas.com

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The Planetarium and the Observatory at Texas A&M University-Commerce offer an astronomical amount of knowledge to students and the community.

Located on the first floor of the McFarland Science Building, the Planetarium features a Digistar 5 all-digital projection system and 87 reclined seats within a 40-foot dome, surrounding viewers in a space environment filled with astonishing, stellar sights and sounds sure to amaze audiences of all ages.

As the only planetarium within 60 miles, the facility receives over 10,000 visitors annually. Although some A&M-Commerce classes and labs are held at the Planetarium, the facilitys major function is to support outreach efforts focused on instilling a love of astronomy and physics in the minds of young people.

Planetarium shows are specifically designed to meet critical learning criteria for school groups, and feature presentations target grade-level content that is appropriate for all ages. Teachers can select presentations from titles such asA Starry Night, Earth, Moon & Sun, Asteroid Mission Extreme, Astronaut,andKaluokahina: The Enchanted Reef. They can also get recommendations from staff.

Approximately 75% of guests are children visiting with public and private school groups, as well as homeschool groups. It is amazing to see the excitement for astronomy increase and grow through the eyes of our young visitors, stated Dr. Cheri Davis, Planetarium director.

The Planetarium is open to the public on Friday nights for shows at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. The shows last approximately 50 minutes, beginning with a live, interactive presentation featuring constellations, stars and planets in the current night sky. Mid-week matinees are offered through June and July.

Additionally, the first Wednesday of each month is reserved for homeschool groups. The box office opens at 11 a.m. and the show begins at 11:30 a.m.

For more information about the A&M-Commerce Planetarium, visittamuc.edu/planetarium.

Five miles south of campus, the A&M-Commerce Observatory houses the universitys observing and research-grade telescopes, including a Planewave CDK 700 27-inch telescope and a Meade 16-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

The 27-inch telescope is the largest in Northeast Texas, giving our students access to a research-grade facility every clear night, said Dr. Matt Wood, professor of physics and astronomy.

Our students and faculty use the facility to obtain data for honors and masters theses in collaboration with astronomers from around the globe, Wood continued.

Students majoring in physics work closely with a faculty mentor on research projects as they search for exoplanets, track asteroid light curves and rotation periods, and investigate white dwarf stars.

The universitys membership in the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) also provides students with remote access to three 1-m-class telescopes housed at premier astronomical observatories in Arizona, Chile and the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

In addition to research-grade telescopes, the facility features multiple smaller telescopes and binoculars for public viewing. The observatory is ideally positioned on open acreage, thus avoiding light pollution from the city. Red indoor lighting also helps to protect viewers night vision.

The observatory is open to the public during seasonally scheduled open house events and occasional astronomical events, such as lunar eclipses. Public viewing events can be found on the observatoryswebpage.

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A&M-Commerce Planetarium & Observatory Offer the Universe to Students and Community - frontporchnewstexas.com

There are three scenarios at play – Press of Atlantic City

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There are three options at play. However, there is still much to be figured out. If the storm makes landfall before reaching New Jersey, that will weaken the storm, and vice versa. The first two scenarios are favored, with the third one looking less and less likely.

Option 1:

The European model from Wednesday night is a good representation of what scenario 1 would look like. The center of the storm is well out to sea.

Tropical Storm Isaias stays 200 to 300 miles out to sea, passing between late Monday and early Wednesday.

Spotty, but heavy, rain bands will pass. Winds would be gusty, but likely would not be enough to bring damage.

The real concerns would be out on the water. Given the full moon Monday and the onshore winds. Multiple rounds of minor or moderate coastal flooding would be likely. High seas would be present, with dangerous rip currents, too. During Tropical Storm Fay, a teenage lost his life in Ventnor while swimming with two friends the evening of the storm. In Ocean City, two 18-year-old girls were brought to shore by city police the following morning.

A heat wave that drives you to the shore, warm water temperature that draws you to the surf

Option 2:

The storm hugs the Jersey Shore. While the western side of the storm is usually the safer side, since the winds around the counter-clockwise spinning system goes against the northerly direction of the storm's movement, worse impacts than option 1 are possible.

Flooding rain, damaging winds at the coast, minor to moderate coastal flooding, dangerous rip currents and high seas will all be likely.

This being said, a track coast to the close would likely mean land interaction with North Carolina. If that happens, the storm would weaken. This could mean the difference between a strong tropical storm and weak, less organized one.

The Global Forecast System, American, model paints this picture. Though, note that the exact track of the storm should not be paid attention to. Rather, note how organized the storm is.

The GFS model shows the worst of the storm offshore. However, a shift just 50 miles to the east would bring tropical storm force sustained winds to the shore. Emergency personnel will not respond to a 9-1-1 call when winds are above tropical storm force.

Option 3:

Isaias makes landfall in Florida or the Southeastern United States and the center of the storm passes to the west of the state. That is illustrated on the western edge of the forecast cone.

The storm would likely be a remnants storm by then, or perhaps a Tropical Depression. However, flooding rains, some coastal flooding, dangerous seas, rip currents and high surf would be likely.

The Canadian weather forecast model from Wednesday night. Note the center of the storm is well inland and would likely be a remants storm, or a tropical depression by then.

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There are three scenarios at play - Press of Atlantic City

Alta Mar High Seas When Will Season 3 Release On Netflix? – NationEditions

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High Seas is a series of puzzles that hit Netflix in May 2019. The show has 2 seasons that have been quite average and were dubbed into the English language by Netflix. Fans of the series will receive the third season of the show. The renewal was officially announced in November 2019 and filming for Season 3 began in the same month. The show is slated for a release in August 2020.

Great news for fans here! In November 2019, a Spanish journalist published that the creators had already started filming High Seas Season 3. In fact, it is said that he also started improving in season 4 in installments. The production team behind the series shared that they are set to produce 16 episodes.

Source: Trinikid

These will be divided into eight chapters into 2 chapters. As reported, the premiere of High Seas season 3 will take place on August 7, 2020, it has not yet been confirmed if it will be the last season or so, but much entertainment and drama is confirmed, which fans season 3 will be able to.

The second season of High Seas ended with Cruise arriving in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, some mysteries are open with the second season. Therefore, the next season will probably focus on them. In addition, Cruise dropped his anchor in Rio. It is unclear when the cruise will continue or fall in the center in the next season. The show has also brought in a pretty extraordinary way in the second season as well. So it will be exciting to see where the story goes in the third season of High Seas.

Season 2 of High Seas was released in its entirety on Netflix on November 22, 2019. The second season consists of eight episodes like its predecessor. The series, prior to its original release, was planned for the first two seasons. And so, it didnt seem like a surprise when the second installment came to a standstill of just six months.

Now, until the third season, Netflix has yet to appear with an announcement. Audience reviews are more or less favorable, no doubt. But a new season will depend on whether the creators need to create a multi-season story in the first place. For now, if Netflix stays to follow its regular broadcast schedule and chooses to resume the series, we can expect High Seas season 3 premiere to be sometime in late 2020.

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Alta Mar High Seas When Will Season 3 Release On Netflix? - NationEditions

Alta Mar ‘High Seas’ Season 3: Has The Official Discussed Its Arrival And The Possible Storyline – The Digital Wise

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Netflix has also many Spanish shows that received love from the audiences very much. Back in the previous year, the streaming giant appeared with the Spanish mystery series titled High Seas or Alta Mar. It is created by both Ramn Campos, and Gema R. Neira and produced by Bamb Producciones. It cast actors like Ivana Baquero, Jon Kortajarena, Alejandra Onieva, Chiqui Fernndez, and Eloy Azorn in the lead roles.

The second season landed back on November 22, 2019, and now fans are hoping for a third season. They want to know if it is happening or not and about its release date. So below are all the important details for the third season of High Seas:

The good news is Netflix has already renewed the Spanish series for a third season. It was expected because its a very popular series and the ratings are also high. It hs also received praise for the story and acting. The news of the third season appeared soon after the release of the second season and it was also revealed that we will get a season 4 also.

Netflix has also renewed other series like Lucifer, You, Sex Education, Outer Banks, Glow, Family Reunion, Trinkets, etc.

Filming began in the previous year for the third season of Spanish thriller series High Seas. The news was confirmed by the star Jon Kortajarena who performed the role of Nicolas Vazquez, through an Instagram post, have a look:

But for now, it is not revealed if the production completed or not before the coronavirus impacted the world. If the filming is not finished then we have to wait for more for the new season. Earlier it was revealed that the third season will release this year but if a delay happens then it can release in 2021. If Netflix announces anything we will let you know about it.

In the third season, these stars will reprise their roles: Ivana Baquero as Eva Villanueva, Alejandra Onieva as Carolina Villanueva, Jon Kortajarena as Nicolas Vasquez, Jos Sacristn as Pedro Villanueva. We are not sure about other stars return.

In the upcoming season we will get our answers as the second season ended with a major cliffhanger. We will know if the new season remain on the cruise journey or not. For now there is limited information on the story of the third season.

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Alta Mar 'High Seas' Season 3: Has The Official Discussed Its Arrival And The Possible Storyline - The Digital Wise

Best swimming headphones 2020: best waterproof earbuds for the pool and the high seas – T3

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Gone are the days when you had to stop listening to music when you went swimming. Thanks to the best swimming headphones, you can continue listening to your favourite tracks, even when you do your laps in the swimming pool. Better still, these swimming headphones provide clearer sounds than some of their cheaper dry-land counterparts: welcome to the 21 century, people!

Typically, the headphones have an in ear design that should stay secure, whether youre all about the front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke or butterfly and while some are completely wireless, others feature a strong wire that should be able to withstand the constant drag of you moving through the water.

The best swimming headphones are the ones that don't require any connection to your phone, which would be disrupted anyway once your headphones are underwater and your phone is on the side of the pool. Therefore, competent swimming headphones should have built-in storage for music.

As well as that, they should also provide at least an 'okay' sound quality when you are fully submerged in water. No point in listening to music as you front crawl your way through the pool if all you hear is some muffled voices in your ear.

All things considered, the best swimming headphones at the moment are the Aftershokz Xtrainerz as they deliver great sound quality under water as well as being compatible with all swim-headwear, such as swimming caps, goggles and even earplugs.

If you have a suitable waterproof music player to hand, the Swimbuds Sport Waterproof Headphones are probably your top choice. With heaps of five star reviews, theyre popular at retail giant Amazon, and come with special fit tree design ear plugs which they claim provide the best watertight seal for swimmers.They are also relatively cheap too.

(Image credit: Aftershokz)

Best headphones for swimming

Water rating: IP68

Type: Bone conducting

Battery life: 8 hours

Music storage: 4GB

+Bone conducting tech makes the sound clearer underwater+Supports various audio formats+IP68 waterproof+Compatible with swim caps,goggles and even earplugs

-No Bluetooth

You might have heard about bone conducting headphones before and this technology makes even more sense when used under water. Bone conducting headphones create the sensation of music by resonating your cheekbone (in layman's terms) and without covering your ears, increasing your spatial awareness when you are out and about.

Bone conducting headphones are often criticised for not being isolating enough, although the whole point of them is not to isolate you from your surroundings, so this argument is also a bit silly. However, when you are in water, there is no need for isolation and also, since the headphones don't require air to deliver sound, they also sound clearer than 'regular' headphones.

When it comes to waterproof bone conducting headphones, nothing beats the Aftershokz Xtrainers. The Xtrainerz is IP68 rated and will provide a second-to-none audio quality underwater. The titanium frame and the around-the-ear profile makes the Xtrainers compatible with swim caps,goggles and even with earplugs!

The 8-hour battery life ensures that you can finish an Ironman without the Xtrainers running out of juice. Well, maybe not a full Ironman distance but an Ironman 70.3 for sure. You have 4GB on-board memory to store all your MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and FLAC files too.

If I must criticise something, I would say the Xtrainers would be even more versatile if it was Bluetooth-enabled so you can also stream music too, not just listen to the ones you have as MP3 over and over again.

Best wired headphones for swimming

+Tree design ear plugs have been designed to provide a secure fit in the water

-Requires a waterproof MP3 player as well

If quality is key, these Swimbuds headphones shouldnt disappoint. Theyre not wireless but with the short wires theyre ideal for those who wear their music device on the strap of their swimming costume or attached to their goggles.

Featuring third generation 'Hydrobeat' sound and four types of ear plug, these Swimbuds are the complete package. Swimbuds recommend the tree style ear plug for lengths, the fins for watersports, the ergo for running and cycling and the mushroom for general purpose.

Another excellent all-in-one, wireless headphone for swimming

+Minimal wires for a hassle-free swim

Lightweight and streamlined, this all-in-one MP3 player and headphones from Sony will help you to smash your personal best in style. As with the i360, you dont need to worry about attaching a device to your swimming costume or goggles because the music player is fully integrated into the headphones and compatible with MP3, WMA, AAC and even LPCM music files.

You need to use Sony's app on PC and Mac to drag and drop tunes and while that is not an awesome bit of software, the audio quality and the fact you can get a full hour of playback after just a three-minute charge make up for that. We prefer the fit and feel of the i360 overall, however.

Best cheap headphones for swimming

+Includes five sets of earbuds to ensure the right fit

-Requires external MP3 player

If the Swimbuds are a touch too expensive for you, these ones from H2O Audio are a great alternative. Having been designed by athletes, a lot of thought has gone into the design of these headphones to ensure theyre as comfortable as possible.

They also feature the tree earplug for optimal water resistance, and with five sizes to choose from, you can make sure they fit securely for hassle free swimming.

For super clear sound underwater, invest in these headphones from HydroActive

+Comes with a smart case and plenty of earbud options

Extremely waterproof and coming with a range of earbuds, these headphones are also a top choice. The range of earbuds makes them suitable for different types of watersports including kayaking and windsurfing, while the wrap around design means you wont get tangled up mid lap.

Designed to fit snugly into the ear for minimal muffling and made from high quality material to resist the effects of drag, these swimming headphones should do a grand job of keeping you powering through.

Round up of today's best deals

Aftershokz Xtrainerz MP3...

Swimbuds Sport Waterproof...

Sony Walkman NW-WS413 Sport...

Waterproof Headphones for...

Underwater Audio Hydroactive...

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Best swimming headphones 2020: best waterproof earbuds for the pool and the high seas - T3

What are the long-term prospects for offshore wind? | ESI-Africa.com – ESI Africa

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Global offshore wind capacity has the potential to increase 15-fold and attract around $1 trillion of cumulative investment by 2040. Beyond this ambition, the industry also envisions an installation of 1,400GW of offshore wind by 2050 to drive decarbonisation and a green economic future. But is it achievable?

This article first appeared inESI AfricaIssue 3-2020.Read thefulldigimaghereorsubscribe to receive a print copy here.

Considering the resource potential, technology innovation, and government appetite to position offshore wind at the centre of the global energy transition, the Ocean Renewable Energy Action Coalition (OREAC) believes these market aspirations are achievable. And the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) estimates that 1,400GW of offshore wind would power one-tenth of global electricity demand while saving over three billion tonnes of CO2 per year, equal to taking 800 million cars off the road.

If the 1,400GW vision were achieved, OREAC calculates that offshore wind prospects could provide around 24 million years of employment by 2050 (defined as full-time work for one person per calendar year with 260 working days). This job creation potential is calculated using data by IRENA, and covers the full value chain of offshore wind prospects, from procurement to construction to decommissioning.

Long-term growth of offshore wind technology

In terms of the 2040 timeframe falling costs, supportive government policies, and some remarkable technological progress, such as larger turbines and floating foundations, will drive market growth. In its Offshore Wind Outlook 2019, the IEA states that under current policy settings, growth is set to rise to nearly 130GW by 2040.

However, if the EU reaches its carbon-neutrality targets, offshore wind capacity would jump to around 180GW and will become the regions largest single source of electricity. An even more ambitious vision in which policies drive a big increase in demand for clean hydrogen produced by offshore wind could push European offshore wind capacity dramatically higher.

An estimated 40% of the lifetime costs of an offshore wind project, including construction and maintenance, have significant synergies with the offshore oil and gas sector.

China is also set to play a major role in offshore winds long-term growth, driven by efforts to reduce air pollution. The technology is particularly attractive in China because offshore wind farms can be built near major population centres spread around the east and south of the country.

By around 2025, China is likely to have the largest offshore wind fleet of any country, overtaking the UK. Chinas offshore wind prospects and capacity is set to rise from its current 4GW to 110GW by 2040. Policies designed to meet global sustainable energy goals could push that even higher to above 170GW.

The US has excellent offshore wind resources in the northeast of the country and near demand centres along the densely populated east coast, offering a way to help diversify the countrys power mix.

Floating foundations would expand the possibilities for harnessing wind resources off its west coast. Another advantage, which the IEA report points out, is the vast business opportunities that exist for oil and gas sector companies to draw on their offshore expertise.

An estimated 40% of the lifetime costs of an offshore wind project, including construction and maintenance, have significant synergies with the offshore oil and gas sector. That translates into a market opportunity of $400 billion or more in Europe and China over the next two decades.

A legal framework is critical for offshore wind development

The industry has made great strides in developing technology that allows projects to be built further from shore. However, another report indicates that if such technology were to enable the construction of wind farms in the high seas, the current legal framework would not have the scope to cover such development.

This report by Chatham Partners, Offshore Wind in High Seas: Unlimited potential beyond national control?, recommends that the industry form a robust legal framework now, or risk missing the opportunities in decades to come.

The high seas are all regions of the sea that lie outside the control of a single nation, making up 50% of the surface area of the planet, and covering over two-thirds of the oceans. However, the lack of clear rules covering development in the high seas would be a challenge for using any of these areas for offshore wind projects.

While offshore wind at high seas clearly has barriers to overcome, it could drastically increase capacity by adding almost 70% more construction space to consider.

Global efforts towards decarbonisation have proven offshore wind to be a viable alternative power source to fossil fuels. However, the sector could still face challenges in developing close to shore due to countries desire to protect coastal ecosystems, and conflicts with local industries and the military or simply inactivity. These would not be obstacles in most of the high seas.

While offshore wind development in the high seas clearly has barriers to overcome, it could drastically increase capacity by adding almost 70% more construction space to consider. Should the market look to the high seas for development, the lack of a legal framework will become a significant obstacle. In particular, uncertainty around the right of use, ownership and jurisdiction of the high seas presents a considerable challenge.

Building close to shore in an Exclusive Economic Zone means that the relevant state has the remit to govern and authorise installation and operations of a wind farm under its national laws. No such jurisdiction or governing body exists for the high seas.

As such, currently, investing in offshore wind prospects in these areas would be too great a risk for any company. However, the Chatham Partners report notes that precedents for international cooperation to take advantage of valuable resources already exist in the scope of current legislation.

An example is the fishing industry, which is regulated in the high seas by the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) acts as a governing body to authorise public and private organisations to extract minerals from the deep seabed outside their states jurisdiction.

Also, a treaty for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction is currently proposed that may introduce so-called area-based management tools as well as various forms of governance concepts that could include or serve as an example for a framework concerning offshore wind.

These precedents took years to unfold and provide an example for the offshore wind industry of how long it can take to build a legal framework. The ISA took more than 20 years of negotiation between member states to establish formally.

The treaty concerning biodiversity has been negotiated since 2004 and will likely stay a draft for several years to come. In conclusion, without a legal framework, the potential market growth of offshore wind will remain close to shore and the high seas out of reach for developers for decades to come. ESI

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What are the long-term prospects for offshore wind? | ESI-Africa.com - ESI Africa

Players team up on demand for Sea of Thieves to hit PS4 – Explica

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Editorial: Gaming / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / News / Discord / Forums

Currently, and given that the hardware conditions allow it, some of the most successful multiplayer titles are craving for a presence on as many platforms as possible. In the case of Sea of Thieves, which was a huge hit for Rare in recent years, the experience leapt to Steam, immediately capturing users, and after 15 million players were reached, PS4 users want the title. I got to the console.

3 years ago, Juan Antonio Martnez launched a petition on Change.org for Sea of Thieves to debut on PlayStation 4, just at a time when the title was on . of conquering the world and was still raising doubts and was considered with a future uncertain existing in the environment of Xbox One and Windows 10. Well, the history in 2020 showed that Rare was back with his experience of pirates and after it was confirmed that 15 million players have turned to the high seas in recent years , many fans surprisingly joined the proposal.

So far, the request for Sea of Thieves to come to PS4 has 3,625 people and its target is 5,000 signatures, but it should be mentioned that this sudden increase in the number of players supporting the proposal has recently taken place.

Would you like Sea of Thieves to come to PS4 or another platform?

Tell us in the comments and follow here at LEVEL UP.

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Players team up on demand for Sea of Thieves to hit PS4 - Explica

Life is Strange – Partners in Time Comic Continues Max and Chloe’s Story, Set to Release This October – Gameranx

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Titan Comics has announced that Square Enixs and Dontnods excellent story adventure title, Life is Strange, will be receiving a new comic line later this Fall.

The upcoming issue of the Life is Strange comic, which will star fan favorite characters Max and Chloe, will release on October 14th, 2020. Issue #1 titled Life is Strange Partners in Time, readers will experience an alternate timeline in where Max left Chloe back in time, but will have to stop running and rewind time to face her responsibilities. Titan Comics released a new trailer showcasing the upcoming comic issue.

Check out the new Life is Strange comic trailer Partners in Crime down below:

LIFE IS STRANGE: PARTNERS IN TIME #1 A NEW ERA, A NEW #1! THE ADVENTURES OF MAX, CHLOE, AND RACHEL FROM THE HIT LIFE IS STRANGE GAME, CONTINUE INTO A NEW ERA!

Time-rewinding photographer Max has spent the last couple of years in a reality parallel to her own. Lately, she realised she was running from her responsibilities and from the Chloe she left. Now there may be a way for her to get home. With the universe against her, its time for the coast-to-coast road trip of multiple lifetimes to find it following the band The High Seas towards an uncertain destiny!

Written by Emma Vieceli with art by Claudia Leonardi and Andrea Izzo.

Life is Strange is one of the best story adventure games of this last generation, so there is no shock that Dontnod, Square Enix, and everyone else involved would like to see the series continue. Life is Strange 2 recently just wrapped up its five-episode series, which was pretty awesome in its own right. If you want to learn more about Life is Strange season 2, then click here!

The Life is Strange Partners in Time set to release on October 14th, 2020. Are you excited for the upcoming comic series? Let us know in the comments below!

source: YouTube

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Life is Strange - Partners in Time Comic Continues Max and Chloe's Story, Set to Release This October - Gameranx