New planet in the solar system

Description of the orbit of the new planet and associated objects (Batygin & Brown)

This kind of stuff does not happen every day: a new planet 10 times the mass of Earth has been inferred to exist in the outer reaches of the solar system, but has not yet been directly observed. Or has it?

Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown have deduced (press release, study) the existence of this object from the trajectory of several anomalous transneptunian bodies of the type of Sedna, whose trajectories seem to orbit both the sun and a distant "super-earth" type planet, so remote that it takes 20,000 years to complete an orbit. 

The Caltech team has not directly eyed the object. However...

A Swedish-Mexican team led by R. Liseau pre-published last month a study where they claimed to have directly spotted a possible outer solar system planet. After some controversy the second version of the pre-pub was withdrawn until further data was collected but the first version is still available online. Another pre-pub paper on the same issue was also authored by W. Vlemmings et al., co-authors of the previous one. 

Direct observation of an object that might be a new planet (Liseau et al.)

I do not know yet if the two studies are convergent or rather they refer to different objects. Neither is fully confirmed as of now in any case but something is almost certainly out there lurking in the depths of the Oort cloud.

No to fracking demand reaches the stratosphere

No kidding. The mascot of the fiestas of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Zeledon, traveled to the Earth's stratosphere with all his paraphernalia (wine bag, beret and umbrella) and with a strong message: FRACKING EZ (no to fracking in Basque).

Zeledon in space against fracking (more images at La Otra Mitad)

It is no photoshopping: the puppet is part of a balloon sent by the pupils of a course imparted by the astronomical difussion group La Otra Mitad (the other half). This is the third such course and the third such estratospheric ballooon sent by this modest group of Basque enthusiasts of Astronomy. The first one, Haziak 1, carried no icon, while the second one, Txantxiku 1, brought to the near space a fluffy frog with a Basque national flag.

Haziak 2, which is this balloon carrying Zeledon and the anti-fracking message, was launched from Vitoria-Gasteiz on Saturday at 11:50 (CET), climbing to 33 kilometers before exploding above the Sierra of Cantabria at 13:38. The equipment fell near Cenicero (La Rioja) around 14:10.

La Otra Mitad is in the process of compiling a video on this modest Basque astronomical feat, as well as analyzing the scientific data gathered by the balloon. 

Among other abusive late Capitalist impositions, the authorities are trying to implement the highly destructive method of oil production known a fracking in the Araba region of the Basque Country. As usual the vast majority of the population is against it but the oligarchs manage to force-feed their decisions by legal imposition and without any referendum.

Source: Naiz Info.

Ice and "complex organic materials" on Mercury's poles

This is one of those perplexing astronomical news that make history and I can't but mention. US scientists have found, with the help of scout satellite MESSENGER,  that not just suspected Mercury's polar water ice (in shadowed craters) is indeed that but also that confusing dark regions around it are complex organic materials, possibly darkened by the intense solar radiation that bathes the small inner planet. 

The team found that the probe's reflectance measurements, taken via laser altimetry, matched up well with previously mapped radar-bright regions in Mercury's high northern latitudes. Two craters in particular were bright, both in radar and at laser wavelengths, indicating the possible presence of reflective ice. However, just south of these craters, others appeared dark with laser altimetry, but bright in radar.

This confused scientists for a while but eventually they realized that the puzzling regions actually hold water ice at a meter's depth into the soil, where the heat of the sun can't reach so easily. 

Radar-reflectant regions (ice) show in yellow

The most interesting part however is that the astronomers are almost certain now that the dark material must be complex organic matter, darkened by the extreme solar radiation.

Is there life in Mercury? 

Source: Science Daily.

Ref studies: 

1. David A. Paige, Matthew A. Siegler, John K. Harmon, Gregory A. Neumann, Erwan M. Mazarico, David E. Smith, Maria T. Zuber, Ellen Harju, Mona L. Delitsky, and Sean C. Solomon. Thermal Stability of Volatiles in the North Polar Region of Mercury. Science, 29 November 2012 DOI: 10.1126/science.1231106
2. Gregory A. Neumann, John F. Cavanaugh, Xiaoli Sun, Erwan M. Mazarico, David E. Smith, Maria T. Zuber, Dandan Mao, David A. Paige, Sean C. Solomon, Carolyn M. Ernst, and Olivier S. Barnouin. Bright and Dark Polar Deposits on Mercury: Evidence for Surface Volatiles. Science, 29 November 2012 DOI: 10.1126/science.1229764

Mystery mission for US new robotic shuttle

The USA has run out of space shuttles but to some extent these have been replaced by a miniature robotic clone, the size of a truck, operated not anymore by NASA but by the Air Force (USAF). They do not serve the International space station anymore (a job now performed only by European partners: Russia and EU) but they endeavor mysterious classified missions flying around Earth for 15 months.

The Daily Mail has some more details.

Echoes from the Class War (Oct 4)

Basque Country:

Many thousands demonstrate in Pamplona against political trials ··> Ateak Ireki[es], includes photo slideshow.

For political freedoms - ALL RIGHTS FOR ALL - Basque youth free and legal

Urbina: Protest against trial of two people arrested arbitrarily by police in a march against the High Speed Train (HST, AHT in Basque, TAV in Spanish) ··> Ateak Ireki[es].

They ask prison for opposing the HST - Criminalization and HST stop!

Also in Barañain (··> AI[es]):

Documentary (12 mins) on the brutal police occupation and violent repression in Errekaldeberri, Bilbao, in the context of the eviction and demolition of Kukutza social center ··> Sare Antifaxista (very visual, no narration: just occasional voices from context or TV in Spanish or, less commonly, Basque).

Literature prize (Euskadi Literatura Saria) for Joseba Sarrionandia 'Sarri', on-the-run ETA member and prolific top-quality author in Basque language. Basque Government rejects paying money prize even if the decision of the juries can't be changed ··> Gara[eu].

Back in the day, when he and Iñaki Pikabea 'Piti' starred an spectacular flight from prison inside a musical loudspeaker, Basque ska band Kortatu dedicated him one of their most danced songs ever: Sarri Sarri:

Europe:

England: Manchester: many thousands take over to the streets emulating US protests, demanding an end to austerity measures against the poor ··> video at PO, another video before Tory Conference (trigger of the protests), at Inside the M60, but nothing too apparent in mainstream media, not even in "red" media like Morning Star.

Demo at Manchester - source

Check also Occupy Manchester site.

Iceland: protesters boo Members of Parliament at start of new year. First Lady crosses the police wall and joins protesters ··> video at PO.

Greece: large demonstrations in solidarity with Revolutionary Struggle prisoners ··>  Contra Info (includes letter of the three main accused, who have admitted responsibility).

Demo of solidarity with Revolutionary Struggle

Nuclear energy news (via EneNews):

• Playground radiation in Prague caused by a small metal rod of unknown origin ··> Prague Daily Monitor.
• Hinkley Point (Somerset, England) to be blockaded by activists ··> Jack Bristol.
• Life-long Chernobyl health studies will not be funded by EU ··> Nature. 

Breaking news (update 18:15 CET):

Spanish-language Catalan rapper Pablo Hasél arrested for apology of terrorism (··> SA[es]). In a recent interview (··> Kaosenlared) he admitted that it was possible that something like this could happen under the current state of ideological terror against any dissidence in the State of Spain and worldwide yet he said I am aware and I assume the consequences.

See also his sites at MySpace, YouTube and YouTube (TV).

North Africa: 

Libya: NTC militias torture prisoners (has anything changed?) ··> Morning Star.

America:

USA:

Police violence against New Yorkers shown in Russia Today but not in local media ··> video at PO.

New York: Economics Nobel Prize Joseph Stiglitz addresses the protest ··> video at PO - a little hard to follow because of the 'echo chamber' method (there's a modern invention called megaphony, WTF?!)

Los Angeles: hundreds protest in front of City Hall ··> video at PO.

Seattle: protest at Westlake Park ··> video at PO, another video.

Nuclear problems all around the country:

• Radioactive water under Georgia nuclear power plant (what did you expect?) ··> EneNews.
• Los Alamos nuclear military complex: 43,000 cubic yards of radioactive debris were extracted just across the street from local business ··> EneNews.
• Many other nuclear issues ··> EneNews.

Honduras:

Another person murdered in Bajo Aguán: Carlos Martínez, member of the Unified Movement of Peasants of Aguán (MUCA) was shot dead by (probably) mercenaries of Miguel Facussé, the feudal cacique of the region, who enjoys full support of the ilegitimate authoritarian regime of Porfirio Lobo ··> LINYM[es], includes video of the secular funeral.

Recently another farmer activist, Germán Castro, was attacked and injured, being shot dead his wife instead, Enelda Marcos. As many as 40 farmers have been murdered by death squads in the last two years, since the coup ··> LINYM[es].

Photos of the extreme militarization of the region ··> LINYM[es].

Railroad workers don't burn trains

Argentina: demand freedom for framed-up railroad union members Rubén Sobrero and Leonardo Portorreal ··> Rolando Astarita Blog[es].

More on the Sobrero/Portorreal case here[es]: the only witness and apparent material author, homeless Alan Skrobacki has a version that does not hold up (describes Sobrero as tall with a piercing in the eyebrow, when he is short and wears no piercings, for example).

South Asia:

Nepal: Maoist labor unions (recently split) to strike against Maoist government ··> Revolution in South Asia.

India sues Monsanto for biopiracy ··> Food Freedom.

East Asia:

Japan: 

Latest nuclear headlines ··> EneNews.

Opera crew members opt out trip to Japan on radiation concerns ··> Pollstar. 

Breaking news (update 18:15 CET):

Government planning 'New Tokyo' (old Tokyo too dangerous, it seems) ··> Fukushima Diary.

Government acknowledges that fleeing Fukushima Prefecture 'in panic' was rational decision ··> Ex-SKF.

Fukushima children begin suffering thyroid cancer ··> Fukushima Diary.

Oceania:

Australia: Sydney protest against ongoing genocide against Hazara people in Pakistan ··> video at PO.

Science:

Solar system once had extra planet ··> PysOrg.

Could primordial black holes be dark matter ··> PhysOrg.

Magic mushrooms (Psylocibes sp.) can change personality (for the better) with single dose in certain circumstances or for certain people ··> SD, but check this critique at Psychedelic Research.

IgNobel Prizes 2011 (link):

• Physiology: no evidence of contagious yawning in turtles.
• Chemistry: development of pungent horse-radish (wasabi) fire alarm.
• Medicine: on the influence of peeing urgency on decision making in humans.
• Psychology: why do people sigh?
• Literature: how to procrastinate and still get things done.
• Biology: sexual fetishism among beetles: they love beer bottles!
• Physics: why discus throwers become dizzy while hammer throwers do not?
• Mathematics: for a long list of doomsayers who have predicted the end of the world and failed.
• Peace prize: the mayor of Vlinus for demonstrating that armored tanks can be recycled into luxury-car-smashing tools for the good of humankind, traffic fluidity and Internet popularity success.
• Public safety: for testing how can you drive while losing sight intermittently (video).

Echoes from the Class War (Sep 25)

Basque Country:



Video homage to Kukutza III social center:

The arrested in the demos (mostly while running away from police attacks) report very different treatments: some were treated properly, while others have been beaten, threatened, insulted and abused ··> SA[eu].

A new social center is occupied in the old quarter of Donostia (San Sebastian) ··> Gara[es].

Spanish fascists show up in Leitza for a photo. The citizens ignored the provocation ··> SA[es].


Britain: protests against healthcare (NHS) cuts ··> video at PO.


Yemen: after return, dictator Saleh attacks opposition breaking his own request of a truce ··> Al Jazeera.


Egypt: striking teachers protest in Cairo ··> video at PO.


USA:


Occupy Wall Street movement continues growing amidst arrests and police repression:

Live Stream from New York.

Videos at PO: reporters arrests, arrests of women who protested police touching them, RT report.

Washington's Blog also has a host of videos on police violence. The movement also gets a commentary at Naked Capitalism. 



Los Angeles Israel consulate close down... by local anti-Zionist Jews ··> video at PO.


Japan:

Latest Fukushima Dai Ichi videos show steam ··> Fukushima Diary.

Yellow powder scattered by typhoon may be plutonium ··> Fukushima Diary.

Generalized food insecurity in Japan as newly harvested rice measures 500Bq/Kg (and yet is distributed as "food"). The amount is more than a hundred times normal safety standards in Germany ··> Fukushima Diary.


Science:

Speed of light limit may have been broken by neutrinos ··> BBC, Al Jazeera.

Dwarf galaxies dislike the very concept of dark matter ··> BBC.

Echoes from the Class War (Sep 13)

Greece: street clashes continue against the neocolonial imposition of brutal austerity (for the poor, not for the rich) ··> videos at PO: video 1, video 2 (Thessaloníki).

Germany: demonstration for Freedom not Fear, against government surveillance and control of the citizenry ··> video at PO. 

USA: Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant (Iowa) suffered a fire in July, apparently not related to the floods ··> EneNews.

Chile: Fascist attack, with police support, against Communist Party main see in Santiago leaves four injured ··> Disidente del Capitalismo[es].

Banners of the Communist Youth of Chile

Australia: teachers demonstrated in Sydney against government reactionary labor reforms ··> video at PO.

Science:

• Birth control pill affects memory: women on the pill remember better the emotional aspects, while those not using it remember better the material details ··> SD.
• 50 new exoplanets discovered in a row, 16 of them 'super-Earths' ··> BBC.
• New evidence for a preferred direction of Spacetime challenges the Cosmological Principle (viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of the Universe are the same for all observers) ··> PhysOrg.

Cables from the class war (Aug 8) - London riots continue

England: Riots extend through London suburbs.

It would seem that the ambient was already very hot before the trigger, the killing by police of a Tottenham young resident, that people is tired of the abuses of authorities in general and needed to vent their anger off. Systematic racism by London Metropolitan Police is almost without doubt one of the causes.

An acquaintance of Mark Duggan declared:

I knew the person that was shot, he's a really nice guy, and they're making him out to be some kind of gangster involved in guns and all that kind of stuff.

You know sometimes you might get caught up in a situation, I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying that you should have a gun or a knife, but you might get caught up in a situation where you can't go to the police. 

The way the police treat black people is like we're nothing, they handle us really like we're nothing. They speak to the young people like they're nothing.

The uprising has extended to much of the North, South and Easth suburbs of Greater London.

Sare Antifaxista mentions Tottenham, Brixton, Walthamstow Central, Chingford and Leyton. The officialist BBC mentions also Wood Green, Ilsington, Oxford Circus and Waltham Forest, mentioning that the following public transport has been affected:

• Brixton Tube station is closed
• Tottenham High Road and Bruce Grove closed between Monument Way and the Roundway
• Lordship Lane closed between the A1010 High Road and Bruce Grove
• Church Street in Enfield closed between Chase Side and Willow Road
• Bus routes 67, 123, 141, 243, 259, 279, 349, 318, 341 and W4 are on diversion

··> BBC (link 1, link 2, link 3), Sare Antifaxista[es].

Spain: conservatives smooth down their discourse against the Basque Nationalist Left

While they do not want to be perceived as 'weak', they are already planning ahead for the expected role in government after November elections, when they will have to negotiate. 

··> La Haine[es].

Spain: struggles between fascists and anti-fascists in Poyales del Hoyo for the tombs of victims of fascism. ··> Sare Antifaxista[es].

Basque Country, Spain, Chile: those readers who understand Spanish may be interested in the radio-interview to Paco Etxeberria, forensic physician and president of Arazandi Society of Science, who has played a central role in the research of the deaths of President Allende and other victims of fascism in Chile and the state of Spain.  ··> Sare Antifaxista[es].

Chile: police arrest students protesting  at Copiapo against Piñera visit

The much questioned President of Chile was visiting the site of a mining accident a year ago. Students consider him a hypocrite and persona non grata ··> Protestation.org blog (video).

Syria: citizens demonstrate in Damascus against governemnt massacres

At Al Saqba neighborhood ··> Protestation.org blog (video).

At Arbeen neighborhood ··> Protestation.org blog (video).

Bahrain: Doctors without borders attacked by the dictatorship

The charity''s project in the island was shut down, a driver arrested and their office raided by police forces of the fascist regime ··> NPR.

Pakistan: citizens rally against pro-US policies ··> Protestation.org blog (video).

USA: Nuclear Power Plant closed in New York

Nine Mile Point 2 NPP was shut down on Saturday because of leakage. The incident is considered low level ··> Syracuse.com.

Japan: Fukushima Daiichi 3: fuel is melted and remelted, causing radioactive spikes ··> Ex-SKF. 

Also Tokyo citizens protest against nuclear power ··> Protestation.org blog (video)

Science: Earth's magnetic field holds antimatter atoms

Not many but enough to use them as fuel for spacecraft, claim some. ··> BBC.

Today's song. Guess what:

A one-dimensional universe at the Big Bang?

This is so weird and intriguing that I can't but make a quick comment on it. Two US scientists, Jonas Mureika and Dejan Stojovic, are proposing a radical rethink of what we understand as the basic physics of our universe: they suggest that, at the Big Bang, the Universe had only one dimension (like a line), acquiring then two dimensions (plane) and then three (space), and probably soon a fourth (if not already). 

This radical rethink seems to have been pushed by the advances (and lack of them) in the fields of Physics and Astrophysics in the last decades, when questions have been piling up and convincing answers have been lacking instead. 

These problems include the fundamental incompatibility between gravito-centric General Relativity and particle-centric Quantum Mechanics, the mystery of the Universe's accelerating expansion (which seems to demand extra dimensions) and serious issues with the elusive (and maybe non-existent) Higg's Boson. 

By reflecting this new proposal I do not mean to adhere to it but I do like the principle they begin from: maybe something fundamental is wrong in the way we think Physics, so exploring radically new venues may be the way out of an otherwise unsolvable problem. 

They are thinking out of the box and that is something I really like and that often brings real solutions in all fields. 

The new theory has been published in the Physical Review Letter (pay per view) and is also discussed in its essentials at Science Daily.

Host of Earth-like planets found

NASA's Kepler observatory has found five planets that are Earth-like in all that is relevant: size and temperature. However the observations need to be confirmed. 

A total of 54 candidate planets were found in the habitable zones of their respective stars but most are quite larger than Earth. 

This is the result of surveying just 1/400 of the sky since February 2009, when the mission began. At about that time the "lightest exoplanet to date" was still twice the size of Earth, and not even in the habitable zone at all.

Source: Science Daily.

2010 hottest year ever

After the unusually lengthy Solar minimum is over, 2010 retook the pre-2008 tendency of greater and faster warming becoming the hottest year ever, though tied with 2005 and 1998 because of uncertainty margins. 

And the new solar 11-year cycle has just begun, I'd expect by 2015-16 (solar maximum) to be much hotter because, in general, solar sunspots correlate with temperature on Earth, everything else equal, as they increase solar radiance. So it was totally logical to have a short break in increasing temperatures and arctic loss of ice these last two years, as we went through one of the strongest solar minimums ever, with almost no documented sunspots in two years.

But now we are "back to normal" in the Sun and that means that the escalation of Earthly temperatures should continue, as we have done nothing to reduce the hothouse effect.

Source for the global temperature data: BBC. The rest is my elaboration. 

See also at Leherensuge (my old blog): 

• Ice sheet fragmenting near the North Pole
• Younger Dryas began in just few months
• Global warming de-stabilizing North Atlantic climate
• Blame the rich for global warming
• Even in a cool year (2008) arctic ice is down
• Ice melting sooner than ever in spite of solar low
• Antarctica heating up faster than predicted

Measure of Eris' diameter surprises discoverer

There's a particularly fascinating astronomy story today at Mike Brown's Planets blog: it is about how astronomers through the World have been trying to measure Eris' diameter with greater precision that was known so far.

This has been done by measuring the time of the occultation of a star as Eris passed in front of it.

Somewhat surprisingly Eris is in the low range of expected diameters, just about the size of Pluto. However it is known that it is quite more massive, what poses some intriguing questions about why, as Eris is not the only KBO more massive than Pluto.

Anyhow, Mike Brown explains it much better than I could, so go read the original story.

Mars water is recent

Deposits of soluble minerals under the wheels of the trapped Mars rover but not in the upper layer support that water existed in liquid form recently on the red planet, otherwise the layers should be mixed by wind erosion.

Full story at Science Daily.