Thursday Tech News
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on November 3, 2005 at 3:55:07 PM
I'll be posting a new review in a couple of days. Stay tuned for that.
Peering into the Milky Way black hole.
Photonic chips down the pike.
Neutron star forms where black hole should be.
Peering into the Milky Way black hole.
Quote
Observations made in 2004 by a team at the University of California at Berkeley in 2004 focused on a region twice as large as the new study, though at a lower resolution. The difference between the two observations comes down to the radio wavelength used: the Berkeley team took their measurements at a wavelength of 7 millimetres, while the Shanghai group was able to get down to a wavelength of 3.5 mm. A shorter wavelength means less distortion of the radio waves from interstellar plasma, enabling astronomers to see in greater detail.
Photonic chips down the pike.
Quote
Engineers have known for decades that it is more efficient to communicate with photons than electrons. Photons do not interact easily with stray electronic and magnetic fields nor with each other and so are better for long-distance communications. Today most of the world's communications networks rely on light and the optical fibres that carry it.
Neutron star forms where black hole should be.
Quote
Researchers discovered this neutron star, a dense neutron ball about 12 miles in diameter, in the midst of an extremely young cluster of stars. By estimating the age and mass of the other stars in the cluster, the scientists were able to determine that this neutron star’s parent was at least 40 times the mass of the Sun.