Scientists warn of unusually cold Sun: Will we face another ice age?
There are several space mysteries that
have been solved and remain unsolved, but scientists and astronomers
have finally put one of the widely-discussed debates to rest about how our sun is going to die.
If the thought of our sun's demise has kept you up at night, this settles the score after nearly 25 years. The latest research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy,
offers insight into sun's dramatic demise as a visible planetary
nebula. The only setback is you (or anyone else for that matter) won't
be around to see it.
One of the scientists involved in solving the years-long mystery,
Albert Zijlstra, an astrophysics professor at Jodrell Bank, described the sun will
die creating the most beautiful visual formation in the sky. Even
though our sun is deemed a small star and some speculated that it won't
be able to create a planetary nebula, scientists concluded that the sun
has enough mass to create one.
Scientists solved the mystery behind sun's demiseCreative Commons
Stars even a fraction smaller than the sun won't be able to produce a
visible planetary nebula, but our sun will die to form a comparatively
faint planetary nebula. Even so, Zijlstra noted that it would still be
visible two million light years away if someone lived in the Andromeda.
"When a star dies it ejects a mass of gas and dust – known as its
envelope – into space. The envelope can be as much as half the star's
mass. This reveals the star's core, which by this point in the star's
life is running out of fuel, eventually turning off and before finally
dying," Zijlstra explained.
While our sun is just capable enough to form a planetary nebula, the
envelope it forms will only shine for about 10,000 years, which isn't a
long duration of time in astronomy. Only while the core is still hot,
the envelope will shine – making it visible tens of millions of light
years away.
Researchers used a computer model to conclude these new findings,
which challenge earlier claims that our sun will simply fade away into
the ether when it runs out of fuel, in this case, it is hydrogen. But
it's not happening anytime soon.
As per the latest model, the stars heat up three times faster, which
makes low mass stars such as our sun to form a bright planetary nebula.
The sun has already reached half its lifetime and it would take
another 5 billion years before it collapses. When the sun's core will
run out of hydrogen, nuclear reactions will take place outside the core,
forming a red giant and expanding to 250 times its current size. This
will engulf Mercury, Venus, and Earth, but our planet will long be
inhabitable by then.
"We found that stars with mass less than 1.1 times the mass of the
sun produce fainter nebula, and stars more massive than 3 solar masses
brighter nebulae, but for the rest, the predicted brightness is very
close to what had been observed. Problem solved, after 25 years!"
Zijlstra concluded.
Odds
are, you’ve probably seen the phrase “net neutrality” somewhere online
in the past month or so, and for good reason. Net neutrality is the idea
that all websites will load just as fast as any other site when you
access them from your device. From streaming Netflix to posting on
Facebook to shopping on Amazon and reading articles on First to Know,
your internet speed for all of these activities are the same under our
current net neutral system. But that could all change very soon.
Ajit Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon and now the FCC Chairman
appointed by the Trump Administration, wants to end net neutrality and
give Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) the freedom to pick and choose
which sites you’ll have access to and others that may not load at all.
Consumers are worried that this will lead to a “website package”
model much like how TV channel packages are sold by cable providers.
This will allow your ISP to put extra price tags on popular websites,
and some websites may even become inaccessible if you don’t want to
shell out the extra cash.
======================================
Here’s a mockup infographic you may see coming to an Internet Service Provider near you:
All the major players have come out in support of keeping net
neutrality where it is. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Snapchat and
other tech companies could all lose money if their consumers’ access is
restricted. Meanwhile, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and other ISPs are
wringing their hands together, promising they won’t abuse their new
freedoms if given the chance.
Unfortunately for you and me, there’s not much impact we as consumers
have on whether net neutrality stays or goes. The FCC’s decision is
made by a 5-member board, and 3 of the 5 have already said that they
will be voting to repeal net neutrality. That means this is already
looking like a done deal, but feel free to call your Congressman and
complain!
So how long do we have until Net Neutrality is a thing of the past?
THIS week: Senate tees off net neutrality showdown
By Jordain Carney and Juliegrace Brufke - 05/07/18 06:00 AM EDT 36
The
Senate is heading for a showdown over the future of the internet with
Democrats preparing to force a vote as soon as this week.
Sen. Ed Markey
(D-Mass.) is expected to file a discharge petition on Wednesday — the
first step to getting a vote on restoring the Federal Communications
Commission's (FCC) net neutrality regulations.
Democrats
haven’t yet said if they will also force the vote this week. Under
Senate rules, the resolution is subject to up to 10 hours of debate
after senators overcome an initial hurdle to bring it up on the floor.
“We’re in the homestretch in the fight to save net neutrality,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer
(D-N.Y.) said in a statement last week. “Soon, the American people will
know which side their member of Congress is on: fighting for big
corporations and ISPs or defending small business owners, entrepreneurs,
middle-class families and every-day consumers.”
Democrats have a 60-day window to force a vote under the Congressional Review Act, setting up a hard June 12th deadline.
They appear to have the simple majority they need to win the net neutrality fight on the Senate floor.
With Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) absent as he battles brain cancer, the GOP majority is effectively capped at 50 votes. GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) has said she will vote to restore the FCC regulations, which would result in a 50-49 vote in favor.
If
McCain returns, Democrats would need to pick up an additional
Republican senator in order to be successful in the Senate. They are continuing to hunt for an additional GOP vote with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) viewed as the likeliest potential pickup.
The FCC rules mandated that internet service providers treat all traffic equally.
Even
if Democrats are able to get their resolution through the Senate, they
face an uphill battle in the House, where they would need to pick up the
votes of 25 Republicans.
Aug 21, 2013 - In
a recent article, Top 7 Newspapers Known to Favor Specific Political
Parties in India, I talked about how most of the popular newspapers
favor specific political parties. When it comes to television, the
confederacy between politicians and media goes to a whole new level.
Instead of paying for ...
May 10, 2016 - So
unfortunately what has happened is that people have associated
nationalism with BJP. For example, if you say, 'I love India', people
will say you are a pro-BJP person, and if you say
India is not the right place to live anymore' then they will give you a
certificate of being secular. We are not pro-congress .
Aug 25, 2017 - This was about the Rapture, the worldwide disappearance of believers
that would trigger Christ's second coming, as promised in the biblical
Book of ... We went about our routines in a daze, working and studying,
collecting ration stamps, cooking, making music, always waiting for the next big shock. Though ...
Find out more about the history of Religions on the End of the World,
including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features
and more. Get all the ... They contend that Judgment Day will take place
on Armageddon and Jesus will save the true believers, while non-believers left behind will face enormous suffering.
Nov 20, 2012 - Believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse
have been dismissed and oversimplified by the media. ... He has a
family and a job — he's a real estate agent in California — and although
he worries about the way the world is going, he says, he's not cowering in a bunker waiting for the end of the world to come.
