Previously underestimated activity of ultra-large black holes discovered in the Milky Way

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

According to an analysis of new data from NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, the ejaculation ability that orbits Sagittarius a* emits a constant flow of flares with no period of rest. Some flares are faint flickering for a few seconds, while others are blindly bright eruptions that spit out every day. There is also slight flicker than the surges for several months at a time.

The artist's concept depicts an ultra-high Massive black hole in the heart of the Milky Way galaxy known as Sagittarius a*. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/RALF CRAWFORD, STSCI.

“We expect flares to occur in essentially every super-large black hole, but our black holes are unique,” says Dr. Farhad Yousef Zadeh, an astronomer at Northwestern University. Ta.

“It's always bubbled up with activity and doesn't seem to reach a stable state.”

“We observed Sagittarius A* multiple times throughout 2023 and 2024, and noticed changes in all observations.”

“We saw something different each time, and that's really surprising. It didn't stay the same.”

Dr. Yousefzadeh and his colleagues used it Webb's nircam instrument Observe Sagittarius A* in total of 48 hours, increments of 8-10 hours over a year.

They expected to see the flare, but Sagittarius A* was more active than he had expected.

The accretion disk surrounding the black hole produced 5-6 large flares per day, during which several small subflares were generated.

“Our data showed constantly changing and bubbly brightness,” Dr. Yusef-Zadeh said.

“And boom! A huge explosion of brightness suddenly appeared. Then it settled down again. No patterns were found in this activity. It seems random. The activity profile of the black hole is what we see every time we see it. It was new and exciting.”

“It appears to be caused by two separate processes: short bursts and long flares. If the accretion disk is a river, the short, faint flicker is like a small ripple that fluctuates randomly on the surface of the river. .”

“But longer, brighter flares are like tidal waves caused by more important events.”

“Mild faults in the accretion disk can produce faint flickers. Specifically, turbulent fluctuations within the disk cause plasma (high-temperature charge gas) to be compressed and temporary. It can cause a burst of radiation.”

“This is similar to the way the solar magnetic fields gather together to compress and eject solar flares.”

“Of course, the environment around the black hole is much more energetic and extreme, so the process is more dramatic. But the surface of the sun also bubbles up with activity.”

Astronomers attribute large, bright flares to magnetic reconnection events. This is the process in which two magnetic fields collide and release energy in the form of accelerated particles. These particles, moving at a speed close to the speed of light, emit a burst of bright radiation.

“The magnetic reconnection event is like a static electricity spark, and in some ways it is also an electrical reconnection,” Dr. Yusef-Zadeh said.

The team wants to use Webb to observe Sagittarius A* for a long period of time.

“When you're watching such a weak flare event, you have to compete with the noise,” said Dr. Yousef Zadeh.

“If you can observe 24 hours a day, you can reduce the noise and see features that you didn't see before. That would be great. Also, these flares show periodicity (or repeat yourself) or really You can also check if it is random.”

Survey results It will be published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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F. Yusef-Zadeh et al. 2025. Nonstop Variation of SgrA** Uses JWST at wavelengths of 2.1 and 4.8 microns: evidence of clear populations of faint and bright variable emissions. apjlin press; Arxiv: 2501.04096

Source: www.sci.news

Google Calendar removes Black History Month, Pride and other cultural events sparking controversy

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Google’s online and mobile calendars no longer feature Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and LGBTQ+ Holidays.

Previously, the world’s largest search engine acknowledged the beginning of Black History Month in February and Pride Month in June, but they will not be included in 2025.

The removal of these holidays was first reported by The Verge last week.

Google spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld shared a statement with The Guardian stating that the listed holidays were not “sustainable” for the model.

“A few years ago, the calendar team started manually adding broader cultural moments in many countries worldwide. It was noted that several other events and countries were missing, making it unsustainable to maintain hundreds of moments globally. So, in mid-2024, we decided to only display public holidays and national compliance from Timeanddate.com worldwide, allowing users to manually add other important moments,” the statement said.

The decision to remove black, LGBTQ+ and women’s holidays is another change by Google following Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Recently, Google announced a rollback of previous commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in employment policy following an order by the US President to end DEI in federal agencies.

Google also revealed that US users will now be referred to as “American Gulf,” following an executive order by Trump to rename Alaska’s mountains to “Mount McKinley”. The company announced the name change for US users will take effect on Monday.

Many users on social media have expressed disappointment and frustration at Google’s latest decision. Users who wish to track events like Pride Month, Black History Month, and Indigenous Month will need to manually add them to their calendar.

Google assured The Guardian that changes to the calendars will not impact future Google Doodles, which typically celebrate these events with digital artwork on the website’s homepage. The company stated, “Google continues to actively celebrate and promote our cultural moments as a company,” and offers a Black History Month Playlist on YouTube Music.

Source: www.theguardian.com

What caused the formation of the Super Massive Black Hole?

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Black hole is a spots in the universe that cannot be escaped by light because the gravity is very strong. One of the black holes that confuses astronomers is how large they are. Researchers explain one category of black holes over 100,000 to 10,000,000,000,000,000 times, like the sun. Super Massive Black Hall。 These black holes are very large, so Whole galaxy! It generally exists in the center of the galaxy, including ourselves milky wayOur thing is a modest 4,000,000 sun. Scientists are wondering if the universe, which was formed only in the universe, has grown very much. 13.7 billion years ago Big bang.

Considering that the earth is only growing, it may seem like enough time for a huge heavenly object to grow. 4.5 billion years old. However, when they are formed, black holes can only be enlarged by fusing with others or waiting for things to fall. Astronomer estimates it Many black holes are fused every yearbut Only Super Massive Black Hall will join Rarely. Astronomers who use mathematics models for these events calculate that they can be taken. There were more time than the universe.。

Gas and dust falling in the black hole, Light flashing attachedIt also occurs slowly to explain the growth of the ultra -high MASSIVE black hole. For example, our Galaxy's super huge black hole grows with just one sun. 3,000 years。 However, assuming that the black hole grows at a constant speed, the huge hole has had to increase the mass of the sun more than the value of the sun every year since the Big Bang.

To solve this problem, astronomers theorize how Black Hall was born in the early universe. Super Massive Black Hall requires a good start compared to the conventional black hole cousin. There is a sun from 10S to 100 years。 Thus, astronomers assume that many black holes and many 100,000 solar sun must have been formed early in the universe. They call these early black holes seed。 Roughly speaking, astronomers propose two potential origin, a black hole species. Giant clouds of dust It collapses directly into the black hole Population III star explosion.

Columbia University's astronomers have recently explored how the seeds have grown to grow to today's size, and how they have appeared in a very large black hole. The first step of the astronomer was to find an appropriate formula to calculate the initial quantity of black holes. Researchers have indicated that black hole growth is almost completely exponential. Therefore, this astronomer began with a modified index growth ceremony, like the calculation. Compound interest。 He took this type of derivative and determined how fast the black hole grew. Astronomers have assumed that all super -large black holes formed between the Big Bangs between 100 and 200 million years will be formed.

Astronomers selected 132,539 ultra -large black holes with sufficiently measured mass, and calculated the characteristics of seeds using his new formula. He discovered that 54 % of the seeds could be less than 350 times the mass of the sun, and could occur from the explosion of the individual group III stars. Another 40 % was 350-2,000 times the mass of the sun, and only 2,000 to 30,000 times the mass of the sun was about 6 %. He suggested that the latter two categories could cause small seeds that fuse immediately after being formed. He pointed out that these results did not directly exclude the collapse of the dust in black holes, indicating that there was no need to explain the ultra -large black hole we are looking at today. I mentioned.

Astronomers suggested that these ultra -large black holes have accumulated most of their mass in the first 1.5 billion years of the universe. 。 He explained that the universe was very dense at the time. Later, the galaxies were approaching each other, so a large amount of materials could fall into the black hole. He concludes that the ultra -large black hole is ultimately the relic of the primitive universe, and has been in a very different way than today's organic stars, dust clouds, and galaxies. I did it.

Post view: 38

Source: sciworthy.com

Astronomers: Massive Black Holes Can Create Their Own Meals

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

New data from a very large telescope between NASA's CHANDRA X-Ray Observatory and ESO provides evidence that explosions from ultra-large black holes can help you cool the gas and feed yourself.

These images indicate two galaxy clusters of research, Perseus cluster and Centaul scraster. The chandradata represented by blue reveals X -rays from hot gas filaments, and VLT data indicates a red cooler filament. Image Credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / OLIVARES et al. / dss / cfht / sitelle / ESA / STSCI / ESO / VLT / MUSE / N. wolk.

In a new study, Dr. Valeria Olibales and her colleagues of Santiago De Chile University analyzed the deep observations of seven galaxy clusters, which indicate a remarkable poly-phase filament structure: Perseus, M87, Centaur, Abel 2597, Abel 1795, Hydra-A, Hydra, and Hydra PKS 0745-191.

“At the center of the galaxy cluster is the huge galaxy in the universe. This galaxy has a huge black hole with millions to billion times a mass of the sun.” I said.

“The jet from these black holes is driven by the black hole that exhales gas.”

Their results support a model in which the explosion from the black hole causes hot gases and cools down a narrow gas filament.

Gas turbulence also plays an important role in this trigger process.

According to the model, some of these warm gases in these filaments should flow into the center of the galaxy and supply them to black holes, causing explosions.

The explosion cools more gas, supplies black holes, and leads to further explosions.

The model predicts that it is related to the bright gas and warm gas filament at the center of the galaxy cluster.

More specifically, in areas where hot gas is bright, warm gases need to be brightened.

“Our results provide a new understanding of filament filled with these gases. This is important not only for feeding black holes, but also for forming new stars.” The person said.

“This progress has been made possible by innovative technology that separates hot filaments of Chandra X -ray data from other structures, including a large cavity of hot gas created by a black hole jet.”

“The newly discovered relationship of these filaments indicates the remarkable similarity of what is found in the tail of the jellyfish. These are peeled off when moving the surrounding gases and the long tail. It was formed.

“This similarity means that the universe connection between the two objects is revealed and that these objects have a similar process.”

Team paper Published in the journal Natural astronomy.

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V. Olivary et al. Hα-X-ray surface gaze correlation of the cooling flow cluster filament. Nut asron Released online on January 27, 2025. Doi: 10.1038/S41550-02473-8

Source: www.sci.news

Mysterious X-ray oscillations detected in supermassive black hole by XMM-Newton

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

In 2018, astronomers discovered that the corona of 1ES 1927+654, an actively accreting black hole with 1.4 million solar masses located in a galaxy some 270 million light-years away, suddenly disappeared and reassembled several months later. I observed that. The short but dramatic outage was the first of its kind in black hole astronomy. Now, astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory have captured the same black hole exhibiting even more unprecedented behavior. They detected X-ray flashes from 1ES 1927+654 at a steadily increasing clip. Over a two-year period, the frequency of millihertz vibration flashes increased from every 18 minutes to every 7 minutes. This dramatic speed-up of X-rays has never been observed from a black hole before.

In this artist's concept, material is stripped from a white dwarf (bottom right sphere) orbiting within the innermost accretion disk surrounding the supermassive black hole of 1ES 1927+654. Image credit: NASA/Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University.

Black holes are a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. They are gravitational monsters that trap any matter or energy that crosses their “surface,” a region of spacetime known as the event horizon.

In its final descent into the black hole, a process known as accretion, the doomed material forms a disk around the black hole. The gas in the accretion disk heats up and emits primarily ultraviolet (UV) light.

The ultraviolet light interacts with the cloud of electrically charged gas or plasma that surrounds the black hole and accretion disk. This cloud is known as the corona, and the interaction energizes the ultraviolet light and amplifies it into X-rays, which can be captured by XMM Newton.

XMM-Newton has been observing 1ES 1927+654 since 2011. Back then, everything was very normal.

But things changed in 2018. As the X-ray corona disappeared, the black hole erupted in a massive explosion that seemed to disrupt its surroundings.

The coronavirus gradually returned, and by early 2021, it seemed like normal conditions had returned.

However, in July 2022, XMM Newton began observing its X-ray output fluctuating at a level of about 10% on timescales of 400 to 1,000 seconds.

This type of fluctuation, called quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO), is notoriously difficult to detect in supermassive black holes.

“This was the first sign that something strange was going on,” said Dr. Megan Masterson. Student at MIT.

The oscillations could suggest that a massive object, such as a star, is embedded in the accretion disk and rapidly orbiting the black hole on its way to being swallowed.

As an object approaches a black hole, the time it takes to orbit decreases and the frequency of its oscillations increases.

Calculations revealed that the orbiting object was probably the remains of a star known as a white dwarf, had about 0.1 times the mass of the Sun, and was moving at an astonishing speed.

It was completing one orbit of the central monster, covering a distance of about 100 million km, about every 18 minutes. Then things got even weirder.

Over nearly two years, XMM Newton showed an increase in the strength and frequency of the vibrations, but not as much as the researchers expected.

They assumed that an object's orbital energy is being emitted as gravitational waves, as prescribed by the theory of general relativity.

To test this idea, they calculated when the object crossed the event horizon, disappeared from view, and stopped oscillating. It turns out to be January 4, 2024.

“Never in my career have I been able to predict anything so accurately,” says Dr. Erin Kara of MIT.

In March 2024, XMM Newton observed it again and the oscillations were still present.

The object was currently traveling at about half the speed of light, completing an orbit every seven minutes.

Whatever was inside the accretion disk, it stubbornly refused to be swallowed up by the black hole.

Either something more than gravitational waves is at play, or the entire hypothesis needs to be changed.

Astronomers also considered other possibilities for the origin of the vibrations.

Remembering that the X-ray corona disappeared in 2018, they wondered if this cloud itself was vibrating.

The problem is that there is no established theory to explain such behavior, so there is no clear path to take this idea further, so they go back to the original model and realize there is a way to fix it. I did.

“If the black hole has a white dwarf companion, the gravitational waves produced by the black hole could be detected by LISA, an ESA mission scheduled to launch within the next 10 years in partnership with NASA.” said Masterson.

team's paper will appear in journal nature.

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Megan Masterson others. 2025. Millihertz oscillations near the innermost orbit of a supermassive black hole. naturein press. arXiv: 2501.01581

Source: www.sci.news

The Surprising Truth: Black Holes as Secret Time Machines

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

In Einstein’s theory of gravity, mass distorts space-time, creating an effect known as gravitational time dilation. This means that observers with different gravitational potentials measure elapsed time differently. Therefore, when you are close to a black hole, time slows down compared to time that is far away from the black hole.

Observers far away from the black hole say that for objects that fall into it, time stops at the so-called “event horizon” (the edge of the black hole, the point of no return).

Nothing appears to cross the event horizon. However, an observer who falls into a black hole does not experience time stopping at the event horizon. They will see time passing normally, but far away from the black hole they will see time speeding up. The closer you get to the event horizon, the faster time appears to move farther away from the black hole.

https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2025/01/GettyImages-1485451803.mp4

This is the first direct image of a black hole shooting a powerful jet into space, taken in April 2023.

Gravitational time dilation can actually be measured. In 1976, NASA launched an atomic clock into space to measure the passage of time at an altitude of 10,000 km (6,214 miles) compared to the Earth’s surface. The results of this measurement matched exactly what was expected from Einstein’s theory.

At sea level, time moves a billionth of a second slower per year than at the top of Mount Everest.

This article answers the question (asked by Sean Roberts via email): “What happens to time at the event horizon of a black hole?”

If you have any questions, please email us at: questions@sciencefocus.comor send us a message facebook, ×or Instagram Page (remember to include your name and location).

Check out our ultimate fun facts More amazing science pages.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Binary star system found in close proximity to the central black hole of the Milky Way galaxy

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Using data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Keck Telescope, astronomers detected a binary star system in the S star cluster near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. I discovered it. This is the first time that a binary star has been discovered near a supermassive black hole.

This image shows the location of binary star D9 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Image credit: ESO / Peißker et al. / S. Guizard.

Sagittarius A* is orbited by fast stars and dusty objects collectively known as the S cluster.

Binary star systems (two stars gravitationally bound to each other around a common center of mass) are predicted to exist within the S cluster, but have not been detected so far.

Previous studies have suggested that such stars are unlikely to be stabilized by their interactions with Sagittarius A*.

“Black holes are not as destructive as we think,” says Florian Peisker, an astronomer at the University of Cologne.

“Our findings show that some binaries can temporarily thrive even under disruptive conditions.”

The newly discovered binary star, named D9, is estimated to be just 2.7 million years old.

Due to the strong gravity of the nearby black hole, it will probably merge into a single star within just a million years, a very short time for such a young system.

“This only provides a short window on the cosmic timescale for observing such binary star systems, but we succeeded,” said Dr. Emma Bordier, also from the University of Cologne. Ta.

“The D9 system shows clear signs of gas and dust surrounding the star, suggesting it may be a very young system that must have formed near a supermassive black hole. ” said Dr. Michal Zajacek. Astronomer at Masaryk University and the University of Cologne.

The most mysterious of the S clusters are the G objects, which behave like stars but look like clouds of gas and dust.

It was while observing these mysterious objects that the research team discovered a surprising pattern in D9.

“This result sheds new light on what the mysterious G-objects are,” the authors said.

“They may actually be a combination of binaries that have not yet merged and leftover material from stars that have already merged.”

“Planets often form around young stars, so this discovery allows us to speculate about their existence,” Dr. Pisker said.

“It seems like it’s only a matter of time before planets are detected at the center of the galaxy.”

a paper This discovery was published in today’s magazine nature communications.

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F. Peisker others. 2024. A binary star system in the S star cluster near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Nat Commune 15, 10608; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54748-3

Source: www.sci.news

Astronomers Uncover Magnetic Filaments Surrounding the Central Black Hole in Messier 77’s Accretion Disk

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Messier 77 is a relatively nearby and well-known bright spiral galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center.

Messier 77 concept by artist. It is characterized by its powerful black hole and accretion disk, as well as the polarized light of water masers located outside the Milky Way. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NRAO / S. Dagnello.

Messier 77 is a barred spiral galaxy located 62 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus.

Also known as NGC 1068, LEDA 10266, and Cetus A, it has an apparent magnitude of 9.6.

Messier 77 was discovered in 1780 by French astronomer Pierre Méchain, who initially identified it as a nebula. Méchain then relayed this discovery to his colleague, the French astronomer Charles Messier.

Messier believed that the extremely bright objects he saw were clusters of stars, but as technology advanced, their true status as a galaxy was recognized.

At 100,000 light-years in diameter, Messier 77 is one of the largest galaxies in the Messier catalog, and its gravity is enough to twist and distort other galaxies nearby.

It is also one of the closest galaxies to active galactic nuclei (AGNs).

These active galaxies are among the brightest objects in the universe, emitting light in many if not all wavelengths, from gamma rays and X-rays to microwaves and radio waves.

But Messier 77's accretion disk is hidden by a thick cloud of dust and gas, despite being a popular target for astronomers.

Several light-years in diameter, the outer accretion disk is dotted with hundreds of different water maser sources that have been hinting at deeper structures for decades.

Masers are clear beacons of electromagnetic radiation that shine at microwave or radio wavelengths. In radio astronomy, water masers, observed at a frequency of 22 GHz, are particularly useful because they can shine through many of the dusts and gases that block the wavelengths of light.

Bucknell University astronomer Jack Gallimore and his colleagues began observing Messier 77 with two goals in mind: astronomical mapping of the galaxy's radio continuum and measuring the polarization of water masers.

“Messier 77 is a bit of a VIP among active galaxies,” says Dr. CM Violette Impellizzeri, an astronomer at the Leiden Observatory.

“There's an accretion disk right next to the black hole, and it's unusually powerful. And because it's so close, it's been studied in great detail.”

But the study authors looked at Messier 77 in an entirely new way.

Their observations were recently upgraded High sensitivity array (HSA) consists of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Very Long Baseline Array, and NSF's NRAO telescope at the Green Bank Telescope.

By measuring the water maser's polarization and the continuous radio emission from Messier 77, they reveal the compact radio source, now known as NGC 1068*, and the mysterious extended structure of the fainter emission. I created a map to

Mapping the astronomical distribution of galaxies and their water masers reveals that they are spread along structural filaments.

“These new observations reveal that the maser spot filaments are actually arranged like beads on a string,” Dr. Gallimore said.

“We were stunned to see that there was an apparent offset, or displacement angle, between the radio continuum, which describes the structure of the galaxy's core, and the position of the maser itself.”

“The configuration is unstable, so we're probably looking at a magnetically ejected source.”

Measuring the polarization of these water masers with HSA revealed significant evidence of a magnetic field.

“No one has ever seen polarization in water masers outside of our galaxy,” Dr. Gallimore said.

“Similar to the loop structures seen as prominences on the Sun's surface, the polarization patterns of these water masers clearly indicate that there is also a magnetic field at the root of these light-year-scale structures.”

“Looking at the filaments and making sure the polarization vector is perpendicular to the filaments is key to confirming that they are magnetically driven structures. It's exactly what you expected. It’s a thing.”

Previous studies of the region have suggested patterns, usually related to magnetic fields, but such conclusions were until recently beyond the scope of observational techniques.

The discovery reveals evidence for a compact central radio source (the galaxy's supermassive black hole), distinct polarization of water masers indicating structure within Messier 77's magnetic field, and spectacular extended signatures across the radio frequency continuum. It became.

Taken together, these findings indicate that magnetic fields are the underlying driving force for these phenomena.

However, many mysteries remain. For example, within the radio continuum map there is a diffuse, faint protrusion that the team has dubbed the foxtail foxtail, extending northward from the central region.

“When we set out on this, we said to ourselves, 'Let's really push the limits and see if we can get good continuum and polarization data,' and those goals were both It was a success,” Dr. Gallimore said.

“Using the NSF NRAO High Sensitivity Array, we detected the polarization of a water megamaser for the first time. We also created a very surprising continuum map, which we are still trying to understand.”

a paper The results will be explained today. Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Jack F. Gallimore others. 2024. Discovery of polarized water vapor megamaser emission in molecular accretion disks. APJL 975, L9; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad864f

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists study planets, asteroids, and primordial black holes in Earth’s matter

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and may even be the eternally elusive dark matter. However, primordial black holes have not yet been observed. These tiny black holes could become trapped in rocky planets or asteroids, consuming their liquid cores from within and leaving hollow structures behind, according to a duo of astrophysicists from the University at Buffalo, Case Western Reserve University, and National Donghua University. It is said that there is. Alternatively, microtunnels could be left in very old rocks on Earth, or in the glass or other solid structures of very old buildings.

An artist's impression of a primordial black hole. Image credit: NASA.

Small primordial black holes are perhaps the most intriguing and intriguing relics of the early universe.

They could act as candidates for dark matter, be sources of primordial gravitational waves, and help solve cosmological problems such as domain walls and the magnetic monopole problem.

However, so far no convincing primordial black hole candidates have been observed.

Professor Dejan Stojković of the University at Buffalo said: “Although the chances of finding these signatures are low, the search does not require many resources and the potential reward of providing the first evidence of a primordial black hole is enormous. It's going to become something.”

“We need to think outside the box because what has been done so far to find primordial black holes has not worked.”

Professor Stojkovic and colleague Dr. De Zhang Dai, of Case Western Reserve University and National Donghua University, are investigating how large hollow asteroids can grow without collapsing, and whether a primordial black hole is The probability of passing was calculated. Earth.

“Because of such long odds, we have focused on hard traces that have existed for thousands, millions, or even billions of years,” Dr. Dai said. .

“If the object has a liquid central core, a trapped primordial black hole could absorb the liquid core, whose density is higher than that of the outer solid layer,” Professor Stojković added.

“In that case, if the object was hit by an asteroid, the primordial black hole could escape from the object, leaving only a hollow shell.”

But would such a shell be strong enough to support itself, or would it simply collapse under its own tension?

Comparing the strength of natural materials such as granite and iron to their surface tension and surface density, the researchers found that such hollow objects could be less than one-tenth the radius of the Earth, making them smaller than normal We calculated that it was more likely to be an asteroid than a planet. .

“If it gets any bigger, it will collapse,” Professor Stojković said.

“These hollow objects could potentially be detected with telescopes. The mass, and therefore the density, can be determined by studying the objects' trajectories.”

“If an object's density is too low for its size, that's a good sign that it's hollow.”

For objects without a liquid core, the primordial black hole could simply pass through, leaving a straight microtunnel behind.

For example, a primordial black hole with mass 10^{twenty two} grams, leaving a tunnel 0.1 microns thick.

Large slabs of metal or other materials could serve as effective black hole detectors by monitoring the sudden appearance of these tunnels, but very old materials from buildings that are hundreds of years old Searching for existing tunnels has a higher probability. From the oldest to rocks that are billions of years old.

Still, even assuming that dark matter is indeed composed of primordial black holes, they calculated that the probability that a primordial black hole would pass through a billion-year-old rock is 0.000001.

“You have to compare costs and benefits. Does it cost a lot of money to do this? No, it doesn't,” Professor Stojković said.

“So, to say the least, it's unlikely that a primordial black hole will pass through you during your lifetime. Even if you did, you probably wouldn't notice.”

“Unlike rocks, human tissue has a small amount of tension, so the primordial black hole won't tear it apart.”

“And while the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole may be huge, it is moving so fast that it cannot release much of that energy during a collision.”

“If a projectile is moving through a medium faster than the speed of sound, the molecular structure of the medium has no time to react.”

“If you throw a rock through a window, it will probably break. If you shoot a window with a gun, it will probably just leave a hole.”

team's paper Published in a magazine physics of the dark universe.

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De Chan Dai and Dejan Stojković. 2024. We're looking for planets, asteroids, and tiny primordial black holes on Earth. physics of the dark universe 46: 101662;doi: 10.1016/j.dark.2024.101662

Source: www.sci.news

Pro Players Share 7 Tips to Level Up in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 | Call of Duty

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

LJust guessing, did you recently purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, wander into the multiplayer mode, and find yourself being brutally beaten by hundreds of teenagers with suggestive usernames? Don’t worry. That’s completely normal. Call of Duty has always been an arcade twitchfest of the online shooting scene, but Black Ops 6 has a whole new feel thanks to its omni-movement system that lets you dive, roll, and sprint in all directions. And all weapons have been completely redesigned. As Olivia Rodrigo said, it’s cruel.

So I asked two talented professional players, Ethan “Fifakill” Pink and Liam “Jukeyz” James, for some tips. Instead of laughing and pointing at me, they agreed.

use the correct gun

If you’re new to CoD, stick with assault rifles or submachine guns [SMGs] – These are suitable for Black Ops 6’s small maps and intense engagement speed. “My favorite assault rifle” [AR] Probably Model L, but very good experts agreed not to use it, so we moved to AMES,” Jukeyz says. “The SMG is either the Jackal, which is fun to use, or the KSV, which is more difficult but way too powerful.”

Fifakill, on the other hand, recommends Kompakt 92. However, if you are a mid-range player, I think the Model L Assault Rifle is a very good option. It takes time to unlock, but it’s worth the effort – Super TTK [time to kill] and very low recoil.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Photo: Activision

Become a gunsmith

The Gunsmith is where you can make modifications to your weapons, which are essential to gaining an advantage in combat. “For the majority of players, it’s best to start by reducing recoil,” Fifakill says. “Focus on attachments that reduce load” horizontal Recoil – If your gun bounces up and down, it’s pretty easy to fix. But left and right makes it more difficult when you’re trying to track enemy players.”
Jukeyz prioritizes aim-down aiming speed (how quickly you can move the gun into the aiming position), but also suggests installing a vertical foregrip to counter recoil. “I also recommend Gunfighter Wildcard,” Fifakir added. “With eight attachments per gun, you get it all: better movement, bigger magazines, less recoil.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Astronomers Find Fastest-Feeding Black Hole in Early Universe

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The 7.2 million solar mass black hole, named LID-568, appears to be feeding on matter 40 times faster than the Eddington limit and is thought to have existed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.

An artist's impression of the accreting black hole LID-568 in the early universe. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / M. Zamani.

eddington limit The maximum brightness a black hole can achieve is related to the rate at which a black hole can absorb matter, such that the inward gravitational force is balanced with the outward pressure generated from the heat of the compressed and falling matter. I will.

LID-568 appears to be feeding on matter at a rate 40 times faster than the Eddington limit.

This accreting black hole was detected by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in a sample of galaxies from the COSMOS Legacy Survey of Chandra.

This galaxy population is very bright in the X-ray part of the spectrum, but invisible in the optical and near-infrared.

Webb's unique infrared sensitivity allows it to detect these weak corresponding emissions.

LID-568 stood out in the sample for its strong X-ray emissions, but its exact location could not be determined using X-ray observations alone.

So instead of using traditional slit spectroscopy, Webb's measurement support scientists suggested that the study authors use an integral field spectrometer. Web's NIRSpec (near infrared spectrometer) equipment.

“Due to its faint nature, detection of LID-568 would be impossible without Webb,” said Dr. Emanuele Farina, an astronomer at the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.

“The use of an integral field spectrometer was innovative and necessary to obtain the observations.”

“This black hole is having a party,” said Dr. Julia Schallwechter, also of the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.

“This extreme case shows that a fast-feeding mechanism that exceeds the Eddington limit is one possible explanation for why we see these extremely massive black holes in the early universe.”

These results provide new insights into the formation of supermassive black holes from smaller black hole “seeds.” Until now, theories have lacked observational support.

“The discovery of super-Eddington accretion black holes suggests that, regardless of the black hole's origin as a light or heavy seed, a significant portion of the mass growth can occur during a single episode of rapid feeding. “This suggests something,” said Dr. Hyewon Seo. Also provided by the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.

“The discovery of LID-568 also shows that black holes can exceed the Eddington limit, giving astronomers the first opportunity to study how this happens,” the astronomers said. .

“The strong outflow observed on LID-568 may act as a release valve for excess energy generated by extreme accretion, preventing the system from becoming too unstable.”

“The team plans a follow-up study with Mr. Webb to further investigate the mechanisms involved.”

Their result Published in today's diary natural astronomy.

_____

Sue H others. A super-Eddington accretion black hole observed by JWST about 1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang. Nat Astronpublished online on November 4, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02402-9

This article is based on a press release provided by NSF's NOIRLab.

Source: www.sci.news

DESI seeks proof of dark energy originating from black holes

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to the popular inflationary universe theory, at the beginning of the Big Bang, a mysterious energy caused an exponential expansion of the early universe, creating all known matter. That ancient energy shared important characteristics with the dark energy of the current universe. “Where in the later universe will we see gravity as strong as it was at the beginning of the universe?'' The answer lies at the center of a black hole. What happened during inflation could also be reversed, with the matter of a massive star becoming dark energy again during gravitational collapse – like a mini-Big Bang played in reverse. A new study strengthens the evidence for this scenario using recent data. dark energy spectrometer (DESI).

A view of the accretion disk surrounding a supermassive black hole and the jet-like structures flowing out of the disk. The black hole's extreme mass bends space-time so that the backside of the accretion disk can be seen as an image above and below the black hole. Image credit: Science Communication Lab, DESY.

“If a black hole contains dark energy, it could merge with the expanding universe and grow faster,” said Dr. Kevin Croker, an astronomer at Arizona State University.

“We can't know the details of how this is happening, but we can see evidence that it's happening.”

Data from the first year of DESI's planned five-year study shows intriguing evidence that the density of dark energy has increased over time.

This provides a compelling clue to support this idea of what dark energy is. Because that increase in time matches how the amount and mass of black holes has increased over time.

“When I first got involved in this project, I was very skeptical,” said Boston University professor Steve Arlen.

“But I remained open-minded throughout the process, and when I started doing the cosmological calculations, I said, 'This is a really cool mechanism for creating dark energy.'”

To look for evidence of dark energy from black holes, astronomers used tens of millions of distant galaxies measured by DESI.

The instrument looks into the past billions of years and collects data that can be used to determine with great precision how fast the universe is expanding.

Furthermore, these data can be used to infer how the amount of dark energy changes over time.

The researchers compared these data to how many black holes have been created by large star explosions throughout the history of the universe.

“The two phenomena were consistent with each other. When a new black hole was created by the death of a massive star, the amount of dark energy in the universe increased in the right way,” said Dr. Duncan Farrar, a physicist at New York University. said. Hawaii.

“This makes the theory that black holes are the source of dark energy more plausible.”

This study complements a growing literature investigating the possibility of cosmological coupling in black holes.

A 2023 study reported cosmological coupling in a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy.

This study encouraged other teams to investigate the effects of black holes in different parts of the universe.

“These papers explore the relationship between dark energy and black holes in terms of their growth rate,” said astrophysicist at Healthpeak Properties and former general counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. said Dr. Brian Cartwright.

“Our new paper links dark energy to when black holes are born.”

The main difference in the new paper is that most of the black holes involved are younger than those studied previously.

These black holes were born at a time when star formation, which tracks black hole formation, was well underway, not just beginning.

Professor Roger Windhorst from Arizona State University said: “This happened fairly late in the universe and is informed by recent measurements of black hole formation and growth observed by the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes. ” he said.

“The next question is where are these black holes and how have they been moving around for the past eight billion years? Scientists are now working to suppress this,” Croker said. the doctor said.

Science needs more research and observation tools, and now that DESI is online, this exploration of dark energy is just beginning.

“Whether or not we continue to support the black hole hypothesis, this only brings further depth and clarity to our understanding of dark energy,” Professor Ahlen said.

“I think it's great as an experimental endeavor. You can have preconceptions or not, but we're based on data and observation.”

Regardless of what future observations yield, the research being conducted now represents a major shift in dark energy research.

“Essentially, whether black holes are dark energy is no longer just a theoretical question, coupled with the universe in which they live. This is now an experimental question,” said Gregory of the University of Michigan.・Professor Tarr said.

of study Published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

_____

Kevin S. Crocker others. 2024. The temporal evolution of DESI dark energy is harvested by cosmologically coupled black holes. JCAP 10:094;Doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2024/10/094

This article is adapted from the original release by the University of Michigan.

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists discover that black hole-hosting binary star V404 Cygnus is part of a triple system

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

V404 Cygnus, an X-ray binary star that hosts a low-mass black hole, has a wide echelon with a tertiary companion at least 3,500 astronomical units (AU) away from the inner binary, according to MIT astrophysicists. It is said to be part of a triple star.

V404 SIGNI. Image credit: Verge others., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6.

V404 Cygni is located approximately 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

This system first attracted attention more than 80 years ago, during the 1938 nova explosion.

Another eruption occurred in 1989 and was discovered by the Japanese X-ray satellite Ginga and high-energy instruments aboard the Mir space station.

The 1989 explosion, known as Nova Cygnus 1989, was pivotal in the study of black holes.

Until then, astronomers had known of only a handful of objects that could be black holes, and V404 Cygnus was one of the most likely candidates.

V404 Cygnus is known to host a central stellar-mass black hole in the act of consuming a small star that spirals very close to the black hole every 6.5 days. This is a configuration similar to most binary star systems.

But new research suggests there's a second star orbiting the black hole, albeit much further away.

“Most black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps cast doubt on that,” said Kevin Burge, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ta.

“This system is very interesting for the evolution of black holes, and also raises the question of whether triples exist.”

Artist's impression of V404 Cygnus: The central black hole (black dot) is consuming a nearby star (orange object on the left), while the second star (white flash at the top) is far away orbiting a distance of Image credit: Jorge Lugo.

Burge and his colleagues estimate that the third companion star orbits the V404 Cygnus black hole every 70,000 years.

The fact that black holes appear to exert a gravitational pull on distant objects raises questions about the origins of black holes themselves.

Black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of dying stars. This is a process known as a supernova, in which a star releases a huge amount of energy and light in one final burst before collapsing into an invisible black hole.

But the team's findings suggest that if the newly observed black hole had originated from a typical supernova, the energy released before it collapsed would have kicked loosely bound objects around it. It suggests that it might have been.

So the second outer star shouldn't be hanging around yet.

Instead, the authors believe that the V404 Cygnus black hole formed through a more gentle process of direct collapse, in which the star simply collapsed and formed the black hole without a final, dramatic flash. I think it might be.

Such a benign origin poses little impediment to loosely bound, distant objects.

Because V404 Cygnus contains a very distant star, this suggests that the black holes in this system were born through a more gradual, direct collapse.

And while astronomers have observed more violent supernovae for centuries, this triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole formed from this more gentle process.

In addition to providing clues about the black hole's origin, the outer star also revealed the age of the system.

Astrophysicists observed that the outer star happened to be in the process of becoming a red giant, a stage that occurs at the end of a star's life.

Based on this star's evolution, they determined that the outer star was about 4 billion years old.

Considering that the neighboring stars were born at about the same time, they conclude that the components of the binary star are also 4 billion years old.

“This has never been done before with old black holes,” Dr. Burge says.

“Thanks to this discovery, we now know that V404 Cygnus is part of a triple star. It may have formed by direct collapse, and it formed about 4 billion years ago.”

of findings Published in this week's magazine nature.

_____

KB barge others. The black hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cygnus is part of a wide triple. naturepublished online October 23, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists unravel the composition of the unique toxin found in black widow spider venom

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Black widow spider venom contains a cocktail of seven specific latrotoxins, but only one, alpha-latrotoxin, targets vertebrates, including humans. chemist of University of Munster They have now deciphered the structure of alpha-latrotoxin before and after membrane insertion at near atomic resolution.

Cryo-EM structures of α-latrotoxin in two different tetrameric states. Image credit: Klink others., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52635-5.

Latrotoxin is the main toxic component of the venom of black widow spiders (genus). latrodectus).

The toxins include five insecticidal toxins known as α-latrotoxin, α-, β-, γ-, δ-, and ε-latroinsect toxins, which are unique to vertebrates, and one toxin that is unique to crustaceans.

“Alpha-latrotoxin interferes with nervous system signal transmission,” said researcher Björn Klinck and colleagues at the University of Münster.

“As soon as alpha-latrotoxin binds to specific receptors at the synapse (contacts between nerve cells or between nerve cells and muscles), calcium ions flow uncontrollably into the presynaptic membrane of the signal-transmitting cell.”

“This triggers the release of neurotransmitters, which causes strong muscle contractions and spasms.”

“Although this process seems simple at first glance, there are very complex mechanisms behind it.”

To better understand the mechanism of calcium influx into the presynaptic membrane, the authors used high-performance cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations.

They showed that alpha-latrotoxin undergoes significant changes when it binds to the receptor.

Some of the toxic molecules form stalks and penetrate the cell membrane like a syringe.

As a special feature, this stalk forms small pores in the membrane, which act as calcium channels.

MD simulations revealed that calcium ions can enter the cells through a selection gate on the side directly above the pore.

“This toxin mimics the function of calcium channels in the presynaptic membrane in a very complex way,” said Christos Gatsogiannis, a researcher at the University of Münster.

“Therefore, it is different in every way from any toxin known to date.”

“The new discovery opens up a wide range of potential applications.”

“Latrotoxin has considerable biotechnological potential, including the development of improved antidotes, treatments for paralysis, and new biopesticides.”

of study Published in a magazine nature communications.

_____

Clink BU others. 2024. Structural basis of α-latrotoxin transition to cation-selective pores. Nat Commune 15, 8551; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52635-5

Source: www.sci.news

Critics question China’s gaming industry after the release of Black Myth: Wukong

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

a The Chinese game Black Myth: Wukong has become a summer sensation, selling 10 million copies in just three days, as reported by developer Game Science. With over a million daily players on Steam, it marks China’s first major success in the console and PC gaming market, typically dominated by mobile games. The game’s popularity as a single-player experience contrasts with previous multiplayer failures, indicating a growing demand for this type of adventure.
still The game industry executives may have underestimated the appetite for such immersive experiences.

Goku, the main character of the game, has also sparked interest for other reasons. IGN’s report shed light on public comments by Game Science employees, revealing a concerning pattern of sexism. This led to conversations about gender inequality in Chinese gaming and society as a whole. While some defended Game Science, others criticized the studio for its alleged attitudes. This controversy further fueled the debate in the gaming community.

Black Myth: Wukong’s success has placed it at the center of cultural debates in the gaming world. Recent incidents of limiting discussions around sensitive topics in game demos amplified the scrutiny on the game and its developers. The game’s guidelines reflect broader restrictions in China, raising questions about creative freedom in the country’s gaming landscape. Despite these controversies, the game continues to thrive, attracting attention from global audiences.

Gamers in Shanghai try out Black Myth: Wukong on release day.
Photo: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

These events underscore the multi-layered significance of Black Myth: Wukong’s success, highlighting the changing dynamics in China’s gaming sector. With the game’s roots in Chinese cultural heritage, it has garnered support from nationalist sentiments. However, critiques about its gameplay quality raise questions about its lasting impact. Despite differing opinions, the game remains a pivotal example of the evolving gaming industry landscape.

What to Play

Astro Bot: “Overflowing with ideas”
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Dive into the imaginative world of Astro Bot on PlayStation 5, a platform game that offers endless fun and creativity. Explore the galaxy as Astro and his robot friends in a spaceship-shaped adventure. Experience the PS5’s capabilities in a captivating storyline. Stay tuned for a detailed review coming soon.

Available: PlayStation 5
Estimated play time: 20+ hours

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Concorde.
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Sony’s cancellation of Concorde highlights the challenges of the gaming industry, with a failed release prompting quick action. The game’s premature end raises questions about market demand and quality standards.
Explore the legacy of Mabel Addis, the pioneering female game designer who revolutionized the industry. Her contributions to storytelling and character development set new standards for interactive entertainment.

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leader Adam question:

“I game online with friends regularly, and have been looking for a new story-driven online co-op adventure for a while. I'm struggling to find something to fit in for a short Friday night session. Any suggestions? As a kicker, something where he can act planned and careful, and I impulsively make a mess that he has to clean up, would be ideal.”

Discover exciting co-op adventures like Stardew Valley and Monster Hunter World, offering engaging gameplay experiences where collaboration and chaos collide. These titles provide an immersive escape for short gaming sessions with friends, catering to different play styles and preferences.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

Top Sonos Discounts on Black Friday 2024

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you’re considering purchasing new audio equipment, you’re in luck: Sonos is among the brands offering Black Friday sales this year. The sales will be available not only on Sonos’ website but also through retailers like John Lewis, Amazon, Curry’s, Very, and more.

In recent years, Sonos has become one of the top speaker brands globally, known for its aesthetically pleasing products with excellent audio quality. Given their higher price point, the Black Friday sales event might be the perfect time to invest in a Sonos product.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the best Black Friday deals, featuring discounts on everything from Bluetooth speakers to soundbars and more.

When is Black Friday 2024?

In the United States, Black Friday occurs annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th, with Cyber Monday following on December 2nd. Sales for Black Friday often start weeks or even months in advance, so be sure to keep an eye out for your favorite deals.

How to get the best Black Friday deals in 2023

Most sales during this time tend to be genuine discounts, but some may be inflated, especially if the product hasn’t been sold at full MSRP for a while. Here are some tips to ensure you get a good deal:

Research the products you’re interested in and their prices before Black Friday sales begin
Check customer reviews, as some items may be discounted for specific reasons during a sale
Utilize online tools like Camel Camel Camel to view product price history
Compare prices for the same product across multiple retailers
Avoid making impulsive purchases
Bookmark this page to stay updated on Black Friday deals

Where can you find Sonos deals this Black Friday?

Sonos sales in the UK

Sonos Sales in the United States

The best Black Friday Sonos deals we’ve found in 2023

Sonos Roam Speaker – £179 £134 (save £45)

buy now from Sonos (134 pounds)

The Sonos Roam speaker is a must-have for any music fan – it’s the perfect balance of stylish, compact, and powerful. With five different color options available, the Roam makes an ideal Christmas gift for home audio enthusiasts.

buy now from Sonos (134 pounds)

Premium Entertainment Set (with Arc) – £1698 £1613 (save £85)

buy now from Sonos (from £1,613)

Get a discount on the Sonos Premium Smart Soundbar and Premium Wireless Subwoofer, designed to deliver ultra-realistic sound and enhance your entertainment experience.

buy now from Sonos (from £1,613)

For more content on soundbars, check out our reviews of the best soundbars to buy in 2023.

Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc – £2597 £2466 (save £130)

buy now from Sonos (from £2,466)

This home cinema audio system includes Sonos’ Premium Smart Soundbar and Premium Wireless Subwoofer, along with two Era 300 Premium Smart Speakers. While it may be a significant investment, this bundle delivers a mesmerizing audio experience with spatial sound and powerful bass.

buy now from Sonos (from £2,466)

Sonos Beam (2nd generation) – £499 £399 (20% discount)

buy now from Argos (from £399), Curry (from £399)

The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) offers an immersive performance at a competitive price. This compact speaker features a range of drivers and amplifiers to deliver exceptional audio, creating an immersive listening experience.

buy now from Argos (from £399), Curry (from £399)

For more information on Sonos Beam (Gen 2), read our reviews.

1 SL speaker – £179 £133 (save £46)

buy now from Amazon (from £133), Sonos (134 pounds)

This powerful speaker is ideal for streaming music, radio, audiobooks, or creating surround sound. It can be controlled via the Sonos app or Apple AirPlay 2 and connects to Wi-Fi to fill large rooms with music.

buy now from Amazon (from £133), Sonos (134 pounds)

Move the speaker – £399 £249.99 (38% discount)

The Sonos Move speaker is waterproof, drop-resistant, voice-enabled, and features an 11-hour battery life. It’s a portable yet powerful speaker, currently on sale at a reduced price from £399.

Check availability at Amazon (from £249), Very (from £279)

Sonosray – £279 £219 (22% discount)

buy now from eBay (from £217.50), Very (from £259)

The Sonos Ray is one of the newest speakers from the brand, aiming to provide Sonos soundbar technology at a more affordable price. Currently, it’s on sale for £219.

buy now from eBay (from £217.50), Very (from £259)

Sonos Arc Smart Soundbar with Dolby Atmos and Voice Control – £899 £749 (17% discount)

buy now from Amazon (£749)

The Sonos Arc with Dolby Atmos revolutionizes your entertainment experience with lifelike sound. This smart soundbar offers immersive 3D audio controlled through your TV remote, voice commands, the Sonos app, or Apple AirPlay 2.

Advanced technology delivers exceptional detail and bass, while customization features like Speech Enhancement and Trueplay optimize audio based on your room’s acoustics.

buy now from Amazon (£749)

SONOS SUB (3rd Generation) Wireless Subwoofer – Black – £799 £599 (25% discount)

buy now from Amazon (from £599)

The Sonos SUB (3rd Gen) wireless subwoofer delivers powerful bass specifically designed to complement Sonos soundbars and home cinema systems. This exceptional subwoofer integrates seamlessly into Sonos’ premium audio lineup.

buy now from Amazon (from £599)

For more great Black Friday deals, check out our dedicated deals pages for the Best Black Friday tech deals, Best Black Friday heater deals, Black Friday Toy Deals, and Best Apple Deals for Black Friday.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Top heater bargains for Black Friday 2024

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

We all love summer, so the thought of cold weather can make you a little depressed. Or maybe you enjoy the coziness of winter. Either way, the biggest sale of the year is just around the corner, giving you a chance to offset rising energy costs. This year, Black Friday might be the perfect time to grab a great deal on a heater.

When the house gets cold, you will inevitably need to turn on the central heating. If you have a small house or apartment, or only one room, especially When it’s cold, a space heater can be a cheaper way to deal with a home that can’t stay warm, and if you’re thinking about buying one, you might be happy to know that there are loads of heaters on sale this Black Friday.

Below, we’ve rounded up all the best deals on space heaters, portable radiators, and everything in between at discounted prices. Keep reading to discover our top picks.

When is Black Friday 2024?

In the United States, Black Friday occurs annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th and Cyber Monday falls on December 2nd. Black Friday sales often start weeks or even months before Cyber Weekend, so make sure you don’t miss out on your favorite deals.

How to get the best Black Friday deals 2024

Most sales this time of year are genuine discounts, but some may be overstated, especially if the product hasn’t been sold at full MSRP for a while. Here’s how to make sure you get a good deal:

Before the Black Friday sales begin, research the products you’re interested in and their prices.
Check customer reviews when there is a sale, some items may be discounted for some reason.
Use online tools such as Camel Camel Camel View product price history
Compare prices for the same product at multiple retailers
Avoid impulse buying
Bookmark this page to stay up to date on Black Friday deals.

Where to find Black Friday heater deals

UK Heater Sales

US Heater Sales

The best Black Friday heater deals we found in 2023

VYBRA VS001W Smart 3-in-1 Air Purifier, Fan, Heater

buy now from Currys (was £199.99, now £129)

This cooling fan also has 9 different wind speed options, a quiet motor, and a quiet airflow. It can be controlled with Amazon Alexa or the included remote, but the best thing about this fan is that it’s more than just a fan. It also doubles as a heater and purifies the air with UV rays to kill bacteria, viruses, and germs.

BELDRAY EH3109W Portable Smart Panel Heater – White

buy now from Currys (was £219, now £189)

This Beldray model comes with plenty of smart features to make life easier. Not only can you adjust your heating from anywhere in the home using your smartphone, but it will automatically switch off if a window is open, helping to save energy. You can also use the timer function to schedule heating levels up to seven days ahead. It’s currently on sale for well under the usual RRP of £219.

RUSSELL HOBBS RHFH1008 Portable Hot & Cool Convector Heater – White

buy now from Currys (was £44.99, now £39.99)

This hot and cold convector has two heat settings and a variable thermostat so you can easily regulate the temperature around you. With 2KW of power, it’s the perfect size for a bedroom or living room, and it’s on sale now at several retailers as part of their Black Friday promotions.

VYBRA NeatHeat VSCH01 Portable Ceramic Fan Heater – White

buy now from Currys (was £69.99, now £49.99)

This heater has three power levels up to 2000W, and the oscillation feature ensures that heat reaches every corner of the room.

AM09 Hot + Cool Fan Heater

buy now From eBay (was ~~£399~~ Currently £299)

This Dyson fan heater is specially designed to heat a room quickly and evenly in cold weather. It’s one of the cheaper Dyson heaters but it’s packed with hi-tech features, including intelligent temperature control, a built-in sleep timer and auto-off, and it’s currently on sale at several retailers for around £100 less than the usual RRP of £399.

Best electric blanket deals

Want to save money on your energy bills this winter? Why not consider investing in an electric blanket?

Lakeland Faux Fur Heat Throw

buy now from Lakeland (was £119.99, now £71.99)

Get extra cozy with this luxurious Lakeland faux fur heated throw.

Nine temperature settings keep you comfortable, while nine time settings and an auto-off function let you relax in peace. Plus, it’s machine washable at 30°C for easy care and long-lasting freshness.

Silent Night Yours and Mine Dual Control Electronic Blanket

buy now from Silent Night (was £40, now £38)

A cost-saving alternative to a heater, this cozy fleece electric blanket has two controls, each with three temperature settings.

With ultra-fast heating and overheating safety protection, you can rest assured that you will enjoy uninterrupted comfort.

Looking for more great Black Friday deals? We’ve rounded up a great deals page for you. Best Sonos deals for Black Friday, Black Friday Toy Deals, Best Black Friday tech deals,and Best Apple Deals for Black Friday.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Top Apple Discounts on Black Friday 2024

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Purchasing a new product from Apple can be costly: whether it’s the latest iPhone, MacBook, or a relatively inexpensive iPad tablet, the well-known tech brand is not typically associated with discounts.

However, one of the rare occasions when Apple reduces its prices is during Black Friday. This massive annual sale often includes Black Friday Apple sales, allowing customers to save some money on both old and new products.

We search the internet for the top deals on Apple devices and accessories and compile them all in one place.

When is Black Friday 2024?

This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th and Cyber Monday on December 2nd. Many deals are revealed before Cyber Weekend, but some shoppers choose to wait for the deepest discounts. However, waiting too long poses a risk of the desired products selling out. It’s crucial to strike the right balance.

How to save money on Black Friday shopping in 2024

With numerous promotions available, it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. We recommend preparing a few things in advance. Are you eyeing a specific brand or model? Note down the price before the sale kicks off to ensure you snag a genuine bargain.

Bookmark this page – we will monitor all sale activities throughout the month to bring you the best deals.

Consider subscribing to retailer newsletters to be among the first to learn about discounts. Camel Camel Camel or Keeper are also valuable tools for Black Friday shopping on Amazon, helping you track price changes and ensure you secure the best deal.

Where can you find Apple deals this Black Friday?

Apple Sales in the UK

US Apple Sales

The best Black Friday Apple deals we found in 2023

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch, M3 Pro processor, 18GB RAM, 512GB SSD (2023) – Space Black

The 2023 MacBook Pro is powered by Apple’s M3 Pro processor, delivering exceptional performance for work and play. Enhanced graphics support demanding apps and games, while the Liquid Retina XDR display with 120Hz ProMotion offers incredibly smooth visuals. With ample ports and impressive battery life, Apple has redefined the MacBook Pro, setting a new standard.

Buy now from Very (was £1,699, now £1,579)

Apple iPad 10.2-inch 64GB WiFi 2021 – Space Gray

If you’re considering investing in a tablet, this iPad is an excellent choice. Featuring a 10.2-inch Retina display, powerful A13 Bionic chip, and ultra-wide front-facing camera, this iPad is compatible with Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard. It is currently discounted by over £50 in Black Friday sales across several retailers.

Buy now from Argos (£299), Currys (£299), Very (£299), or AO (£319)

Apple iPad 10.2″ 256GB WiFi 2021 – Silver

Another budget-friendly tablet option is the Apple iPad 10.2-inch 256GB version. Equipped with a 10.2-inch Retina display and additional True Tone technology, this model features the A13 Bionic chip, Neural Engine, and Touch ID for enhanced security. With a discount of approximately £50, depending on the retailer, this model is currently on sale in Black Friday deals.

Buy now from Argos (£299), Currys (£299), Very (£299), or AO (was £549, now £499)

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch, M2 Processor, iOS, Wi-Fi, 256GB (2022) – Space Gray

The 2022 11-inch iPad Pro has been significantly enhanced, now featuring Apple’s M2 processor. Delivering exceptional performance, this iPad boasts a remarkable and advanced display. With features like the Liquid Retina display, wide viewing angle front camera, and impressive rear camera, this iPad Pro offers a professional-level experience for tasks ranging from photography to entertainment and gaming.

Buy now from Very (was £899, now £838)

iPhone 14 Plus, 128GB – Midnight

The iPhone 14 Plus features 128GB of storage, an advanced camera system, and all-day battery life. Currently on sale at various retailers with discounts, some also offer additional perks like three months of Apple TV+ for free with the purchase of the device.

Buy now from Very (previously £864, now £749), Argos (£749), Currys (£749), Mobiles.co.uk (£749)

iPhone 14 Plus, 256Gb – Starlight

Another model of the iPhone 14 Plus available on sale is the 256GB variant. Offering all-day battery life, collision detection safety technology, and an advanced camera system, this model is discounted at various retailers.

Buy now from Mobiles.co.uk (£749), Currys (£749), Very (previously £974, now £849)

iPhone 14, 128Gb – Purple

Another iPhone in Black Friday sales, this iPhone 14 comes with 128GB of storage and is currently discounted to around £649 from the usual £764 at retailers including Very and Amazon.

Buy now from Ebay (£627.43), Mobiles.co.uk (£649), Currys (£649), Very (previously £764, now £649)

Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Generation

Select AirPod models are currently on sale at discounted prices, with Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) available at unique new prices from multiple retailers. Designed for an enhanced audio experience, the AirPods Pro offer up to 2x more noise cancellation than the previous generation, making them ideal for commuters and those working in shared spaces.

Buy now from OnBuy (£194.96), Amazon (£189.05), Currys (£199.00)

Watch Series 8 GPS + Cellular, 45mm, Regular – Red

Your Apple Watch Series 8, a reliable health companion, has now been enhanced with more power. In addition to advanced health features, it comes with temperature sensors for deeper insights and collision detection for emergency aid*. Featuring sleep stage monitoring and an upgraded Workout app for improved health, it automatically identifies workouts and tracks blood oxygen, heart rate, sleep, and more for optimal health.

*Emergency SOS requires Wi-Fi calling with cellular or internet connection from your Apple Watch or nearby iPhone.

Buy now from Amazon (was £379, now £369)

Looking for more great Black Friday deals? We’ve compiled a fantastic deals page for you. Best Sonos deals for Black Friday, Black Friday Toy Deals, Best Black Friday heater deals, and Best Apple Deals for Black Friday.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Top tech discounts for Black Friday 2024

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you’re looking to upgrade your home with some new tech gadgets, Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to do so. With a wide range of deals available, you’re bound to find some great discounts on everything from phones and laptops to electric scooters and smart home devices.

Keep an eye out for sales starting as early as November, with Black Friday falling on November 29th and Cyber Monday on December 2nd this year. Sales can start much earlier, so be sure to stay informed and bookmark this page for updates on the best tech deals.

When is Black Friday 2024?

This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th and Cyber Monday on December 2nd. Sales can start much earlier in November, so be sure to keep an eye out for deals throughout the month.

How to save money on Black Friday shopping in 2024

With so many promotions available, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Before the sale begins, make note of the prices of items you’re interested in to ensure you’re getting a true bargain. Bookmark this page to stay updated on the best deals throughout the month.

Signing up for retailer newsletters and using tools like Camel Camel Camel or Keeper for Amazon shopping can also give you an edge in securing the best deals.

Jump to:

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the UK

Amazon – Offers end at midnight on November 27th
ao – Save on games consoles, white goods, and more
Sonos – Upgrade your home sound system
Emma – Up to 65% off on mattresses
Very – Great deals for gamers
Currys – Up to 40% off mobile phones, TVs, and more
Robert Dyas – Discounts on vacuum cleaners, air fryers, and more
Carphone Warehouse – Savings on monthly plans
Argos – Deals on Lego, gadgets, and more
Jessop’s – Save on cameras

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the US

LG – Discounts on laptops, monitors, and more
Amazon – Tech deals for every room in your home
Breville – Deals for foodies
Samsung – Savings on smart TVs
Walmart – Discounts on audio and home appliances

Looking for speakers? Check out our top Sonos deals for Black Friday.

The best Black Friday tech deals in the UK for 2023

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G 128GB – £339 £269 (20% discount)

The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G (Awesome Silver) with 128GB storage and a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display is a powerful and stylish device perfect for capturing every moment with its 48MP triple camera.

This Android 13 smartphone offers 5G connectivity for fast speeds and an immersive experience, making it a great choice for tech enthusiasts.

buy now from Amazon (£244.00), AO (£269.00)

Amazon Fire Max 11 Tablet – £249.99 £134.99 (46% discount)

The Amazon Fire Max 11 Tablet boasts an 11-inch screen with 2.4 million pixels for incredible detail in movies and games, along with a powerful octa-core processor and 4GB of memory for responsive performance. It also features Alexa for smart home control and up to 14 hours of battery life.

buy now from Amazon (£134.99), Very (£134.99)

Ring Video Doorbell – £99.99 £49.99 (50% discount)

If you’re looking to enhance your home security, the Ring Video Doorbell is a great choice, allowing you to see and speak to visitors at your door. With a 50% discount, it’s a must-have smart home device for added convenience and security.

buy now from Amazon (£49.99), Ebay (£63.49)

T-fal Easyfry Classic 2in1 Air Fryer – £99.99 £49.00 (51% discount)

Black Ops 6: Omni Movement – Revolutionizing Gameplay

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

HHere’s a fact I’m not entirely proud of: I’ve played every Call of Duty game since the series launched in 2003. I’ve experienced the very good (Call of Duty 4) and the very not so good (Call of Duty: Roads to Victory). There have been times when I was put off by narrative decisions, the mindless bigotry pervasive in online multiplayer servers, and the series-wide “America is the best!” mentality, but I’ve always come back to the games.

In that time, I’ve seen a lot of attempts to tweak the core feel of the game, from perks to jetpacks (thanks, Advanced Warfare!), but after spending a weekend testing the multiplayer beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I think developer Treyarch may have stumbled upon their best thing yet: something called Omni-Movement.

In essence, this seemingly minor addition allows players to sprint and dive in any direction, not just forward, and also allows for a degree of aftertouch, so you can glide around corners and change direction in the air. Being able to run sideways and jump backwards over couches isn’t all that important in a fast-paced game anyway, but this seems to have really changed the game. The beta test only features three of the full version’s 16 online multiplayer maps and a small selection of online game modes, but it’s already ridiculously fun.

There are always people flying around during the game. AnywhereIn the Skyline map, players dive through windows, run across hallways, and leap off the balconies of a ridiculously luxurious modern penthouse. In the Rewind map, they slide on their backs across the polished floors of a video rental store, pounce on each other from various heights, and dodge gunfire and remote-controlled bomb cars at the last moment. At critical moments, it feels like a giant John Woo shootout, with equal parts balletic choreography and bloodshed.

But rather than feeling chaotic and unbalanced like jetpack-era titles Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare, it actually seems to bring more depth and variety to the moment-to-moment experience. The ability to slip under gunfire gives you a way out of encounters that were previously deadly, and it also lets you move very quickly to different cover positions, which is extremely useful in modes like Domination and Hardpoint, where you have to capture and defend specific areas. I like the longer durations between spawns, which allows you to think in more spatially interesting ways.

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Why did it take so long? A recent interview with gaming site VGCTreyarch associate design director Matt Scronce and production director Yale Miller said the game’s unusual four-year development cycle (CoD games are typically two-years max) allowed the team to experiment with fundamental elements and refine new features. Omni Movement was born out of that process; the team even read a white paper from the Air Force Academy about how fast a human could run backwards.

Otherwise, the game feels more solid than innovative. Skyline is the most fun map, with sleek multi-storey interiors and hidden ventilation ducts, while Squad is a standard Middle Eastern CoD map with sandy trenches, caves and a destroyed radar station. Rewind is a deserted shopping mall with store interiors, fast food joints, parking lots and extremely long sightlines along storefronts that could be called Sniper’s Avenue. The new game mode, Kill Order, is a familiar old-school FPS staple. One player on each team is designated as a high-value target, and the opponent must eliminate that target to score. This leads to very dense skirmishes and a ton of chases around the map, with HVTs trying to hide in little nooks and crannies. It’s like a Benny Hill sketch, but with high-end military weaponry.

It’s like a Benny Hill sketch, but with high-end military weaponry… Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Photo: Activision

There are also some new weapons, such as the Ames 85, a fully automatic assault rifle similar to the M16, and the Crazy Jackal PDW, a small Scorpion-esque machine pistol like the ones Ernie used in 1980s action movies. The latter has an incredible rate of fire, but is also highly accurate at long range, making it a devastating force in beta matches. It will most likely be significantly nerfed before the game is released. Perhaps the most controversial addition is the body shield. This is a new ability that allows you to sneak up behind an enemy player and take them hostage by double tapping the melee attack button. The victim can then be used as a human shield for a few seconds, and Treyarch says you’ll be able to actually talk to the hostage via the headset’s microphone. This will inevitably lead to the most offensive homophobic trolling imaginable. It’s exactly what Call of Duty needs.

Black Ops 6 looks set to be a strong addition to the series, at least in terms of multiplayer. I’m not proud of the fact that I spent an entire weekend happily recreating my favorite scenes from Hard Boiled, darting sideways through modern interiors and firing shiny fetish rifles at strangers. But I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and for some reason, I have no plans to stop just yet.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Controversy Surrounds Hit Game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Over Comments on ‘Feminist Propaganda’

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Controversy surrounds the popular new Chinese game, Black Myth: Wukong, as gaming influencers were instructed not to address news, politics, the coronavirus, or “feminist propaganda” when discussing the game publicly.

Released last week, the game is China’s first “triple-A” rated game, based on the renowned 16th-century Chinese novel “Journey to the West.”

Developers reported selling more than 10 million copies globally in three days.Game Science.

However, controversy arose over guidelines given to influencers and content creators, instructing them on specific topics to avoid while live streaming the game.

Don’t insult others or use offensive language.
Avoid politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, and other negative content.
Stay away from trigger words like “quarantine,” “isolation,” or “Covid-19.”
Refrain from discussing China’s gaming industry policies and news.

The avoidance of “feminist propaganda” raised eyebrows, especially with reports of alleged sexist behavior by Game Science employees.

Game Science and co-publisher Hero Games, reported issuers of the guidelines, have been contacted for comment.

Online fans have engaged in heated discussions regarding the guidelines, linking them to prior reports of sexism within the gaming industry.

The directive, not extended to traditional publications or peer reviewers, is legally unenforceable and has sparked mockery and backlash in the gaming community.

The game’s global success has been notable, with over three million concurrent players in its first week, including two million on Steam.

Chinese authorities and media have praised the game for promoting Chinese culture and countering prejudice.

Recent reports refute Western media’s criticisms, accusing them of politicizing China’s gaming achievements to attack the country.

Source: www.theguardian.com

In Search of Mavis Beacon: Uncovering the Enigmatic Black Tech Hero | Documentary Film

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

BBefore the era of thumb-typing emails and text messages, typing was a manual skill reserved for those who could type 40 words per minute in the ’80s. If you’re reluctant to attend an in-person class, you can opt for a software program like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for $50. This application was the Typing class at the Catholic high school I attended when the priests just introduced the use of computers.

Mavis Beacon, launched in 1987, gamified typing exercises and carefully tracked typing progress. The software featured an elegant black woman on the cover, but it would take years to realize the implications of using one’s image for corporate gain.

The documentary “Searching for Mavis Beacon” sheds light on this lesson and the filmmakers’ struggle with the irony of their pursuit. The filmmakers embarked on a quest to uncover the woman behind Mavis Beacon: Haitian-born model Renée L’Esperance.

The film delves into Beacon’s influence as a pioneer of “obedient female robot assistants” and the challenges faced in exposing her true identity. The narrative unfolds like a detective story, drawing parallels to contemporary online identity politics and queer culture.

The filmmakers uncover L’Esperance’s background working in a department store perfume department where she was paid to pose as Mavis Beacon. Despite legal battles with the software company, her impact remains profound.

The documentary explores themes of privacy, representation, and cultural appropriation while honoring L’Esperance’s legacy. It concludes with a hint at future projects to explore the lives of those who followed in Beacon’s footsteps.

Ultimately, the film serves as a heartfelt tribute to Mavis Beacon’s legacy and the complexities of her story. It aims to provoke thought and reflection on the intersection of race, gender, and technology in society.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Breakthrough: EHT Captures Highest-Resolution Image of Black Hole Ever Detected from Earth

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astrophysicists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration have conducted test observations that achieve the highest resolution ever obtained from Earth’s surface by detecting light emanating from the center of a distant galaxy at a frequency of about 345 GHz. When combined with existing images of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 and the Milky Way galaxy at a lower frequency of 230 GHz, these new results not only produce a 50% sharper picture of the black hole, but also a multi-color image of the region just outside the boundaries of these cosmic monsters.

This artist’s impression shows the locations of radio observatories on Earth that took part in the EHT Collaboration’s pilot experiment to produce the highest-resolution observations from the ground. Image courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser.

In 2019, the EHT Collaboration released images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87, and in 2022, they released images of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

These images were obtained by linking multiple radio observatories around Earth, using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope.

To get higher resolution images, astronomers typically resort to larger telescopes, or greater distances between observatories acting as part of an interferometer.

But because the EHT was already the same size as Earth, a different approach was needed to increase the resolution of ground-based observations.

Another way to increase a telescope’s resolution is to observe shorter wavelengths of light, and that’s exactly what the EHT Collaboration is currently doing.

“The EHT has seen the first image of a black hole at 1.3 millimeter wavelengths, but the bright ring created by the black hole’s gravity bending light still appears blurry because we’ve reached the absolute limit of how sharp an image we can make,” said Dr Alexander Raymond, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“At 0.87mm, the images will be clearer and more detailed, which may reveal new properties, some previously predicted, but also some perhaps not.”

To demonstrate detection at 0.87 mm, EHT researchers carried out test observations of distant, bright galaxies at this wavelength.

Rather than using the entire EHT array, they used two smaller subarrays, including ALMA and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX).

Other facilities that will be used include the IRAM Thirty Meter Telescope in Spain, the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France, and the Greenland Telescope and Submillimeter Array in Hawaii.

In this pilot experiment, scientists achieved measurements down to 19 microarcseconds, the highest resolution ever achieved from the Earth’s surface.

But it hasn’t yet been able to capture an image: Though it has robustly detected light from some distant galaxies, it hasn’t used enough antennas to be able to accurately reconstruct an image from the data.

This technical test opens up new avenues for studying black holes.

With the full array, the EHT can see details as small as 13 microarcseconds, the equivalent of seeing a bottle cap on the Moon from Earth.

This means that at 0.87mm we can obtain images with approximately 50% higher resolution than the previously published M87* and Sagittarius A* 1.3mm images.

What’s more, it may be possible to observe a black hole that is more distant, smaller and fainter than the two black holes imaged so far.

“Observing changes in the surrounding gas at different wavelengths will help us solve the mysteries of how black holes attract and accrete matter, and how they can launch powerful jets that travel across the Milky Way galaxy,” said Dr Shepard Doleman, EHT founding director and astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

This is the first time that VLBI technology has been used successfully at a wavelength of 0.87 mm.

“The detection of a VLBI signal at 0.87 mm is groundbreaking as it opens a new observational window into the study of supermassive black holes,” said Dr Thomas Krichbaum, astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

“In the future, the Spanish and French IRAM telescopes in combination with ALMA and APEX will allow us to image smaller and fainter radiation simultaneously at two wavelengths, 1.3 mm and 0.87 mm, which was previously possible.”

Team paper Published in Astronomical Journal.

_____

Alexander W. Raymond others2024. First Very Long Baseline Interferometry Detection at 870 μm. AJ 168, 130;doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad5bdb

This article is a version of a press release provided by ESO.

Source: www.sci.news

Review of Black Myth: Wukong – An Exciting and Thrilling Action Game | Games

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

B
Missing Myth: Wukong is a video game that focuses on spectacle, but true awe requires confidence. This confidence is often lacking in big-budget games where developers play it safe, concerned about mainstream appeal. Despite its cutting-edge graphics, Black Myth: Wukong stands out as a potential hit, but surprisingly, it’s developed by the Chinese indie studio Game Science. The game’s polished experience is so impressive that it’s hard to believe it’s the studio’s first “premium” game.

Based on the classic 16th-century novel, Journey to the West, Black Myth: Wukong allows players to step into the shoes of the novel’s main character, the stone monkey, Son Goku. Son Goku possesses incredible strength, speed, and the ability to transform into various creatures and objects, manipulate the weather, and even create clones of himself. The game introduces these abilities through an exhilarating tutorial where Wukong faces off against gods and armies, providing a constant adrenaline rush throughout its 40-hour playtime.

Black Myth: Wukong draws inspiration from modern action games, particularly the challenging “Soul-like” genre known for epic boss fights. The game’s combat mechanics feel heavy and swift, with attention to detail like the use of soaking gourds to enhance abilities, immersing players in an authentic world.

Unlike many action games, Wukong isn’t open-world, devoid of mini-maps and quest logs. The lack of handholding encourages exploration and trust in the game’s process, leading players through dangerous terrains and breath-taking landscapes without distractions.

Capturing the allure of exploration…Black Myth: Wukong.

Photo: GameScience

In addition to exploration, Wukong caters to curiosity with hidden areas that only become visible once players acquire specific items or interact with certain characters. These optional sections, called “Attachment,” play into Buddhist themes of attachment leading to suffering, adding depth to the game’s narrative and gameplay.

Black Myth: Wukong’s success is a testament to its captivating gameplay and storytelling. Despite initial surprise at its origin from a country known for mobile games, the game’s accessibility to Chinese audiences has contributed to its massive popularity. It’s a game that transcends market expectations and delivers an exceptional gaming experience.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Black holes that have the potential to outlast the universe

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Black holes have the ability to die, but this process happens very slowly and in a rather normal manner.

Despite appearing empty, space is not entirely devoid of mass or energy. Within this space, there exist “quantum fields” that give definition to mass and energy. These fields do not necessarily have zero energy, allowing for the creation of pairs of “virtual particles” (typically particle and antiparticle pairs) that quickly eliminate each other.

Another common explanation is that near a black hole, one of these particles may vanish inside the black hole while the other escapes as “Hawking radiation.”

In order to maintain the total energy of a black hole, incoming particles must possess “negative energy” (hence “negative mass”) while escaping particles must have positive energy.

Hawking radiation is a result of gravity’s impact on space-time. Quantum fields within empty space adhere to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, limiting our understanding of the energy of a quantum field or the duration for which we can attribute a specific energy to it.

Since gravitational fields influence the curvature of space-time and the flow of time in a given area, regions of space-time with varying gravitational curvatures struggle to agree on the energy of the quantum field.

The variance in vacuum energy within different points of a black hole’s gravitational field creates what are known as “virtual particles.”

As positive energy escapes from a black hole, the mass and energy of the black hole gradually diminish, causing a black hole that is not actively attracting new material to gradually shrink and ultimately vanish.

However, this process occurs over massive time scales. For instance, a black hole with the mass of the sun would take 10⁶⁴ years to evaporate, far surpassing the age of the universe at 10 years old.

This article endeavors to answer Catrin Phelps of Winchester’s question, “Can black holes ever die?”

If you have any further inquiries, please direct them to the email address provided below. For additional information: or get in touch with us via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (please include your name and location).

For more fascinating science, check out this page.

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The enigmatic black hole “parsec problem” could potentially be resolved

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Just like a runner hitting the wall at the end of a race, supermassive black holes face a similar challenge as they approach each other, coming to a virtual standstill in the final parsec.

Recent research indicates that dark matter could be the key to overcoming this last obstacle.

This is because researchers have identified a crucial behavior of dark matter that has been previously overlooked – its ability to interact with itself.

“The assumption of dark matter particles interacting is an additional component not present in all dark matter models,” explained the co-authors of the study. Dr. Gonzalo Alonso Alvarez. “Our argument is that only a model with these features can address the final parsec problem.”

What is the final parsec problem?

The final parsec problem refers to the challenge that slows down the black holes before they merge.

This discovery follows a previous study that detected gravitational waves resulting from the merging of supermassive black holes, each a billion times the mass of the sun.

In the new study published in Physics Review Letter, researchers found that the black holes came to a halt at just one parsec away from each other.

The question remains: if black holes cannot merge, how are gravitational waves produced?

The answer may lie in a better understanding of dark matter behavior, which may facilitate the merger of supermassive black holes over the final parsec.

When two galaxies collide, their supermassive black holes begin to orbit each other. Gravity slows them down, bringing them close to merging before their orbits shrink too much to support the final collapse. Interaction with a halo of dark matter then absorbs the remaining orbital energy, allowing the black holes to eventually merge.

This new model is supported by the Pulsar Timing Array, which detects gravitational waves originating from supermassive black hole mergers predicted by Alonso Alvarez and his team.

“Our study offers a new perspective on understanding the nature of dark matter particles,” said Alonso-Alvarez. “Observations of supermassive black hole mergers can provide insights into these particles.”

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Black Myth: Wukong – The Most Anticipated and Talked-About Video Game of the Summer | Games

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

circle
When Chinese developer Game Science announced its first console game, Black Myth: Wukong, last year, it immediately created a stir. Inspired by the great 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, the action-packed film sees the titular mythical monkey Sun Wukong battling demons from Buddhist folklore and sword-wielding anthropomorphic foxes in beautifully rendered forests. Smartphone games are extraordinarily popular in China but console game developers remain scarce, so anticipation for Wukong was at an all-time high in Game Science’s home country. Within 24 hours, the trailer had garnered two million views on YouTube and more than 10 million on Chinese video-sharing site Bilibili, surprising and delighting its creators. One excited fan said:
Breaking into the developer’s office
eager for more information about the game.

After playing Wukong for an hour and a half in a London hotel suite, with a few Game Science folks nervously watching, I was convinced that, by some miracle, this masterful Dark Souls-infused take on Chinese mythology lived up to the promise of its splashy trailer, blending fluid combat with reflex-testing difficulty and the expensive cinematic sheen of God of War. Sprinting through Wukong’s jungles, ducking and dodging between hordes of terrifying flora and fauna, you’ll face everything from gi-clad toads to nightmarish giant-headed infants. Unlike many of its brutally difficult FromSoftware-esque brethren, Wukong’s difficulty feels judged by experts. My ape-man avatar met a gruesome end more times than I’d like to admit, but I persisted. Eventually I defeated enough foes to unlock new abilities. Soon I was perched on a staff mid-attack, gaining the upper hand against the savage monsters of myth. I can flit through the forest like a stealthy cicada, summon flames with my sword, and eventually take down a werewolf the size of a truck roaring atop a crumbling temple.

“We feel a lot of pressure,” recalls one of Game Science’s co-founders, Ted (who Game Science declined to reveal his full name), through an interpreter. “This is our first time working on PC and console games, and we’re a new studio, so we’re really grateful for the players’ and the market’s openness towards us. Their enthusiasm encourages us. But the Chinese mindset tends to be risk-oriented, so when faced with such great encouragement, the best we can do is to do our best to meet players’ expectations… and communicate with them in a very sincere way.”

Unfortunately, when I talk about this, I rarely get any honest communication.
Report from IGN
The email was about alleged sexist comments made by multiple developers and people in leadership positions at Game Science. I offered Ted the opportunity to speak about the alleged misogynistic posts and whether or not he thought they were representative of Game Science’s values. However, I received a hasty “no comment” from the UK PR representative, followed after a long wait by a longer statement, also “no comment”, relayed through Ted’s translator. I was then told that Game Science’s US PR agency would follow up with a prepared statement later, which read, “Game Science is focused on demos at this time and will only answer questions about gameplay.”

The same thing happened to an IGN reporter.
Demo in LA
It’s disappointing that Game Science chose to invite journalists to talk and play the game last month, but refuses to answer questions. Perhaps there’s nothing reassuring to say. A generous interpretation of the situation would be that the inexperienced studio is afraid to say the wrong thing. But by staying silent, Game Science is also failing to distance itself (and the game) from a number of crude, derogatory and misogynistic comments directed at its employees and management.

Journey to the West is, of course, no stranger to the world of video games; from Ninja Theory’s 2010 Xbox 360 adaptation Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, written by Alex Garland and starring Andy Serkis, to the late Akira Toriyama’s world-conquering Dragon Ball, its mythology and ape world are ripe for gaming. Black Myth: Wukong’s stunning visuals, cinematic beauty and exhilarating sense of speed make it the best playable adaptation of the fable to date, but the uninhibited excitement I would otherwise feel is trampled by the elephant in the room.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Intermediate-sized black hole found in the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and other telescopes, astronomers have found evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole. IRS 13a dusty group of stars within the nuclear cluster of our Milky Way galaxy.

Intermediate-mass black holes can form in dense star clusters, either through the merger of stellar-mass black holes or the collapse of very massive stars. Image credit: Sci.News/Zdeněk Bardon/ESO.

Black holes are found in a wide range of masses, from stellar-mass objects with masses of 10 to 100 times that of the Sun, to objects at the centers of galaxies with masses over 100,000 times that of the Sun.

However, there are only a few intermediate-mass black hole candidates between 100 and 100,000 times the mass of the Sun.

“The IRS 13 cluster is located 0.1 light-years away from the centre of our galaxy,” said Dr Florian Peisker from the University of Cologne and his colleagues.

“I noticed that the stars in IRS 13 were moving in an unexpectedly orderly pattern.”

“They actually expected the stars to be randomly positioned.”

“Two conclusions can be drawn from this regular pattern,” they added.

“Meanwhile, IRS 13 appears to be interacting with Sagittarius A*, a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way that is four million times more massive than the Sun, which leads to the orderly motion of stars.”

“However, something else needs to be present inside the cluster to maintain the observed compact shape.”

Using data from the VLT, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and NASA's Chandra X-ray Telescope, astronomers have found strong evidence that IRS 13 has a disk-like structure.

“Multi-wavelength observations suggest that the reason for IRS 13's compact shape could be an intermediate-mass black hole located at the center of the cluster,” the researchers said.

“We were able to observe characteristic x-rays and ionized gas rotating at hundreds of kilometers per second in the disk surrounding the suspected intermediate-mass black hole.”

“Another indication of the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole is the unusually high density of this cluster, which is higher than the density of any other cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.”

“IRS 13 appears to be an essential component in the growth of the central black hole, Sagittarius A*,” Dr Peisker said.

“This fascinating star cluster has continued to astonish the scientific community since its discovery almost 20 years ago. It was initially thought to be an unusually massive group of stars, but high-resolution data have now allowed us to confirm its component parts, with an intermediate-mass black hole at its center.”

of result Appears in Astrophysical Journal.

_____

Florian Peisker others2024. The evaporating massive embedded stellar cluster IRS 13 close to Sgr A*. II. Kinematic structure. ApJ 970, 74; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad4098

Source: www.sci.news

What lies on the other side of a black hole? (Speculation included)

Posted on July 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

One of the most astonishing scientific discoveries of the past decade is the abundance of black holes in the universe.

These black holes come in a range of sizes, from slightly larger than the Sun to billions of times more massive. They are detected through various methods, such as radio emissions from material falling into them, their impact on orbiting stars, gravitational waves from black hole mergers, and the unique distortions of light they create, like the “Einstein rings” seen in images of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Our universe is not flat but filled with holes like a sieve. The physical characteristics of black holes are accurately described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Although Einstein’s theory aligns well with our current knowledge of black holes, it fails to address two crucial questions. First, what happens to matter once it crosses the event horizon of a black hole? Second, how does a black hole eventually disappear? Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking proposed that, over time, black holes shrink through a process called Hawking radiation, emitting high-temperature radiation until they become very small.

These unanswered questions are related to quantum aspects of space-time, specifically quantum gravity, for which we lack a comprehensive theory.

An attempt at an answer

Despite these challenges, there are evolving tentative theories that offer some insights into these mysteries. While these theories require further experimental support, they provide possible explanations for the fate of black holes.

One prominent theory in this realm is loop quantum gravity (LQG), a promising approach to understanding quantum space-time developed since the late 1980s. LQG proposes a novel scenario where black holes transition into white holes, where the interior evolves under quantum effects, causing a reversal of its collapse.

White holes, the hypothetical opposites of black holes, may hold the key to understanding the fate of evaporating black holes. These structures could potentially explain the enigmatic nature of dark matter, offering a compelling link between well-established principles of general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Same idea but in reverse

While the direct detection of white holes remains challenging due to their weak gravitational interactions, technological advancements may enable future observations. If dark matter indeed comprises remnants of evaporating black holes in the form of white holes, this hypothesis could shed light on the elusive nature of dark matter.

By reevaluating long-held assumptions about black holes and incorporating quantum gravity phenomena, we may uncover a more nuanced understanding of these cosmic phenomena. The evolving field of quantum gravity offers a fresh perspective on the dynamics of black holes and the potential existence of white holes as remnants of their evaporation.

Next steps

Exploring the implications of white holes and their possible role in dark matter formation requires further research and technological advancements. As we continue to refine our understanding of black holes and quantum gravity, we may unlock new insights into the fundamental nature of our universe.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Astronomers find intermediate-mass black hole in largest globular cluster in Milky Way

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Using more than 500 images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found evidence of a 20,000-solar-mass black hole at the center of Earth. Omega CentauriIt is a globular cluster located in the constellation Centaurus, 5,430 parsecs (17,710 light years) from the Sun.

Omega Centauri is about 10 times more massive than other large globular clusters. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Maximilian Häberle, MPIA.

Astronomers know that stellar-mass black holes (black holes with masses between 10 and 100 times that of the Sun) are the remnants of dying stars, and that supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times that of the Sun, exist at the center of most galaxies.

But the universe is littered with what appear to be more mysterious types of black holes.

These intermediate-mass black holes, with masses between 100 and 10,000 times that of the Sun, are so difficult to measure that their very existence is sometimes debated.

Only a few intermediate-mass black hole candidates have been discovered so far.

Determining the black hole population is an important step towards understanding the formation of supermassive black holes in the early universe.

“Omega Centauri is a special example among globular clusters in the Milky Way,” said astronomer Maximilian Höberle of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and his colleagues.

“Omega Centauri is widely accepted to be the stripped core of an accreted dwarf galaxy due to its high mass, complex stellar population and kinematics.”

“These factors, combined with its proximity, make the planet a prime target in the search for intermediate-mass black holes.”

Omega Centauri is made up of about 10 million stars, making it about 10 times more massive than any other large globular cluster.

In the study, the authors measured the velocities of 1.4 million stars from images of the cluster taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Although most of these observations were intended for calibration of Hubble's instruments rather than for scientific use, they proved to be an ideal database for the team's research activities.

“We looked for fast-moving stars that are expected to be near concentrated masses such as black holes,” said astronomer Holger Baumgart of the University of Queensland.

“Identifying these stars was the smoking gun we needed to prove the existence of black holes, and we've done just that.”

“We found seven stars that shouldn't be there,” Dr Hebel said.

“They're moving so fast that they're likely to escape the herd and never come back.”

“The most likely explanation is that a very massive object is gravitationally tugging on these stars, keeping them near the center.”

“The only objects this massive are black holes, which have a mass at least 8,200 times that of the Sun.”

“This discovery is the most direct evidence to date for the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole at Omega Centauri,” said Dr Nadine Neumayer, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

“This is extremely exciting because very few other black holes with similar masses are known.”

“The black hole at Omega Centauri may be the best example of an intermediate-mass black hole in our cosmic neighborhood.”

Team paper Published in the journal Nature.

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M. Heberle others2024. Stars moving at high speed around the intermediate-mass black hole at Omega Centauri. Nature 631, 285-288; Source: 10.1038/s41586-024-07511-z

Source: www.sci.news

The behavior of small black holes within the Sun, Earth, and humans

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Dead Planets Society is a podcast that explores wild ideas about manipulating the universe and tests them against the laws of physics, from splitting the moon to creating catastrophic events with gravitational waves. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Listen on Spotify or visit our podcast page.

In the early universe, there may have been tiny black holes as massive as mountains but smaller than atoms. If these primordial black holes exist, they could address major cosmological issues and offer endless opportunities for the Society of Dead Planets to explore.

In this episode, hosts Chelsea White and Leah Crane are joined by black hole experts like Alison Kirkpatrick. Researchers at the University of Kansas are investigating the effects of placing a primordial black hole inside different objects, such as the Sun, Earth, or even the human body, yielding surprising results.

A small black hole inside a star or planet would have minimal impact, either passing through or staying near the center depending on the object’s mass. However, a larger black hole the size of Earth but with the radius of a grape could drastically alter the fate of the Sun or consume a planet from within.

Despite the risks, a black hole of this size could potentially manipulate gravity to reshape the universe. For instance, a small black hole near the Moon’s surface could counteract its drift away from Earth.

Kirkpatrick explains that standing a few meters away from a small black hole is relatively safe, but closer proximity would result in gravitational forces tearing apart the nearest parts of the body. Introducing a black hole into the body, even through teleportation, is not advisable.

Kirkpatrick strongly advises against placing a primordial black hole inside the human body due to the immediate havoc it would wreak. The American Medical Association did not provide a response regarding the effects of black holes on humans.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Could space and time be an illusion of entanglement? Clues may be found in black holes

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

We tend to think of space-time as the underlying structure of the universe, but whether it’s truly fundamental, or whether it arises from something much deeper, is a question that keeps physicists up at night. “It’s not a philosophical question to debate over a beer,” physicists say. Marika Taylor “This is something that actually gets built into the calculations that people make,” say researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK.

A great place to start is quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of elementary particles. One of the core tenets of this notoriously counterintuitive theory is that connections between particles can transcend our usual concepts of space and time. This happens through a phenomenon called quantum entanglement, in which particles can affect each other’s properties even when they’re half a universe apart.

Cosmologists now generally accept that quantum entanglement is intimately connected to the emergence of space. If we know the degree of quantum entanglement between two quantum particles, we can derive the distance between them. When we do this for a network of many particles, a geometry begins to form from which we can call space emerge. In other words, space may emerge from quantum entanglement.

Entanglement and space-time

Furthermore, advances in string theory, a candidate theory of everything, suggest that what happens in the universe can be explained entirely by data held at the exterior, or boundary, of that space — a phenomenon known as holographic duality. Combine this with quantum entanglement and you can build a universe that boasts a spatial fabric of distance and geometry.

Spiridon Michalakismathematical…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Astronomers observe the reawakening of a supermassive black hole

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In December 2019, a little-known galaxy called SDSS 1335+0728, located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, suddenly started glowing brighter than ever before. To understand why, astronomers used data from multiple space and ground-based observatories to track the changes in the galaxy's brightness. They concluded that they were witnessing the sudden awakening of the supermassive black hole at its center.

This artist's impression shows the black hole drawing in the surrounding gas, growing a disk of material that lights up the galaxy. Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser.

“Imagine observing a distant galaxy for years and it always seemed quiet and inactive,” said Dr Paula Sánchez Sáez, astronomer at ESO and the Millennium Astrophysics Institute.

“Suddenly, the brightness of its central core began to change dramatically, which is not a typical phenomenon we've seen before.”

This is what happened to SDSS 1335+0728, which has been classified as having an active galactic nucleus (AGN) after brightening dramatically in December 2019.

Galaxies can suddenly brighten due to events such as supernova explosions or tidal disruption, but these changes in brightness usually only last for a few tens or, at most, a few hundred days.

SDSS 1335+0728 continues to grow brighter, more than four years after it was first observed “lighting up.”

What's more, the changes detected in the galaxy are unlike anything seen before, suggesting alternative explanations to astronomers.

Dr Sáez and his colleagues sought to understand these brightness changes by combining archival data with new observations from several facilities, including the X-SHOOTER instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope.

Comparing data taken before and after December 2019, we found that SDSS 1335+0728 now emits much more light in ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths, and the galaxy also began emitting X-rays in February 2024.

“This kind of action is unprecedented,” Dr. Saez said.

“The most concrete option to explain this phenomenon is that we are seeing the galactic core starting to show activity,” added Dr Lorena Hernández García, an astronomer at the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics and Valparaíso University.

“If this is the case, it would be the first time that we have observed the activation of a massive black hole in real time.”

“Supermassive black holes are normally dormant and cannot be seen directly,” said Dr Claudio Ricci, an astronomer at the Diego Portales University and the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University.

“In the case of SDSS 1335+0728, we were able to observe a massive black hole awakening and suddenly absorbing the surrounding gas, becoming extremely bright.”

“This process has never been observed before,” Dr. Garcia said.

“Previous studies have reported that dormant galaxies become active after a few years, but this is the first time that the process of black hole awakening itself has been observed in real time.”

“This could also happen to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, but we don't know how likely this is to happen.”

“Regardless of the nature of the fluctuations, SDSS 1335+0728 will provide valuable information about how black holes grow and evolve,” said Dr. Sáez.

“We hope that instruments like MUSE on the VLT and the upcoming MUSE on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will hold the key to understanding why galaxies are brightening.”

of study Published in a journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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P. Sanchez Aes others2024 SDSS1335+0728: The awakening of the universe about 1 billion years ago⁶ M_sun Black hole. A&Ain press; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202347957

Source: www.sci.news

First Glimpse of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – 300GB Packed with Espionage, Undead Threats, and Historical Figures

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

MaMicrosoft didn’t skimp on its Xbox showcase this year. After a string of layoffs and studio closures, the company tried to give gamers what they wanted at its Summer Game Fest on Sunday night, culminating with a 40-minute preview of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, a massive 300GB download. Continuous online access Even in single-player mode, the textures are streamed from a remote server due to the large amount of textures. As expected, the Xbox version will be available on GamePass from day one, but will not be platform exclusive. The PlayStation version will also be released on the same day, i.e. October 25th.

The game itself is set during the geopolitical turmoil of the early 1990s, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War, and the transition of the US presidency from George Bush to Bill Clinton. As always, the campaign story is an airport-fiction spy thriller, dealing with undeniable CIA operations, covert power struggles, and conspiracies that reach all the way to the very top. Series regular Frank Woods is severely injured and retired from active duty, and is replaced by Troy Marshall, a feckless special forces leader, and Jane Harrow, a shrewd CIA handler. When a mission goes wrong, they are forced to mutiny, recruiting a ragtag team of tech nerds and charming assassins. your Your ass is in danger, sir.

Like most recent Call of Duty titles, Black Ops 6 promises a bit of variety in the way you tackle its campaign missions. Most set pieces, whether they’re set in the glitzy casinos of southern Europe or the tundra of northern Russia, allow for guns blazing attacks or stealth approaches. There are also sequences where players can converse with NPCs to open up new possibilities, such as bribing a senator to grant access to forbidden areas. Familiar faces from the era will make an appearance, including Saddam Hussein, George Bush and Margaret Thatcher, and thankfully Activision has confirmed that at least the latter will be making an appearance. Not a playable option.

Call of Duty titles are typically developed in a quick two years, but with this game, co-developers Treyarch and Raven had double that time. “We had the opportunity to redefine what a Black Ops game is,” says associate design director Matt Scronce. “Every decision we made along the way allowed us to be very deliberate. Previously, each game built on the previous one, but with this game, we really built from the ground up and redefined Black Ops.”

One of the biggest changes to gamefeel is a new system called Omnidirection, which lets players sprint and slide in any direction. “Movement fluidity was a big thing we talked about a lot,” says Yale Miller, Senior Production Director at Treyarch. “That led to a desire to see what we could do.”

One story… Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Photo: Microsoft

Scrance further explains, “Initially, we tried a 'jug', a quick side step. But when we thought about movement in Black Ops 6, it was all about keeping the player in the flow. It's about fluidity and fidelity, and something like a jug just didn't cut it. So we went back to the drawing board. For over 20 years, Call of Duty has only allowed you to sprint forward. So we looked to the best athletes in the real world: NFL players, NBA players, tennis players — players who can move quickly in all directions.”

Players can now sprint, dive, and slide with 360-degree movement, enabling a wider variety of evasive maneuvers. They can even roll onto their back and under cover, or recreate a classic move from Hong Kong action movies of the time: sliding backwards while shooting forward. Naturally, this system required thousands of new animation frames and motion capture, which wouldn’t have been possible without additional development time.

According to the team, accessibility has also been a key factor. A new intelligent movement system has been introduced, adding crouch, sprint and mantle assist that can be toggled on/off. Players can choose to fully automate jumping over walls and sliding under low obstacles. This was inspired by a variety of games. “We looked at the Forza series with traction control, anti-lock and turn assist,” Scronce said. “Also, mobile games are a good example of this, where you don’t have physical buttons. So what do they do?” The HUD is now also customizable, allowing players to move around on-screen information such as the minimap. This is a feature created with Call of Duty streamers in mind. They often want to add their own camera view in the game and have a hard time deciding where to place it without obscuring important information.

Key multiplayer components have been heavily tweaked, undoing some recent changes. There are 16 new maps, most of which feature the traditional three-lane design, while the Prestige system, which allows seasoned veteran players to show off their prowess with exclusive outfits, accessories, and classified weapons, has returned to the style of previous Black Ops games. Treyarch is also promising a vast arsenal of firearms from the era, with dozens of attachments.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – Capitol Station. Photo: Microsoft

Meanwhile, the regular Call of Duty zombies mode is returning to its roots, which Treyarch first introduced with World at War back in 2008. While the most recent Modern Warfare title introduced a new type of open-world zombie game, Black Ops 6 returns to the older round-based structure, where players work together to survive wave after wave of the undead while unlocking new weapons and exploring confined environments.

The Call of Duty monster truck continues to roll, accompanied by concerns about the appropriation of recent historical events, the glorification of U.S. foreign policy, and an enthusiasm for military-grade weaponry. But like the best blockbuster war movies, the game has its charms, and Black Ops 6 seems to bring some interesting additions to the series’ atmosphere. Which may point to the benefits of giving the studio a bit more time. Scrance said: “Overall, the extra time allowed us to pay more attention to detail and really push the character fidelity, movement, animations, audio, multiplayer maps, and so on, to a point where we can all say this is the best we’ve ever made.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

NASA reveals stunning visualization of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Thanks to a new visualization created on a NASA supercomputer, we can now dive into the event horizon, the point of no return for a black hole.

“People often ask about this, but simulating these hard-to-imagine processes is the key to bringing the mathematics of relativity to reality,” said Dr. Jeremy Schnitman, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It helps us connect this with real-world consequences in the universe.”

“So I simulated two different scenarios: one in which the camera, standing in for the daring astronaut, misses the event horizon and the slingshot recedes; This is a scenario in which your fate will be determined.

To create the visualization, Dr. Schnitman worked with scientist Brian Powell at Goddard Space Flight Center and used the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Climate Simulation Center.

It took about five days to generate about 10 terabytes of data and run on just 0.3% of Discover’s 129,000 processors. It would take a typical laptop more than a decade to do the same thing.

The destination is a supermassive black hole with a mass 4.3 million times that of the Sun, comparable to the monster at the center of the Milky Way.

“If I had a choice, I would want to fall into a supermassive black hole,” Dr. Schnitman said.

“Stellar-mass black holes, containing up to about 30 solar masses, have much smaller event horizons and stronger tidal forces, and can tear apart approaching objects before they reach the horizon.”

This occurs because the gravitational force at the edge of the object near the black hole is much stronger than at the opposite edge. Falling objects stretch like noodles, a process astrophysicists call spaghettification.

The simulated black hole’s event horizon spans about 16 million miles (25 million km), or about 17% of the distance from Earth to the sun.

A flat, swirling cloud of hot, glowing gas called an accretion disk surrounds it and serves as a visual reference as it falls.

The same goes for glowing structures called photon rings, which are formed near black holes by light that has circled the hole one or more times.

A starry sky background seen from Earth completes the scene.

As the camera approaches the black hole, approaching the speed of light itself, the glow from the accretion disk and background stars is amplified, similar to the pitch of the sound of an approaching race car increasing.

If you look in the direction of travel, the light will appear brighter and whiter.

The film begins with a camera located some 640 million km (400 million miles) away, and a black hole quickly fills the field of view.

In the process, the black hole’s disk, photon ring, and night sky become increasingly distorted, even forming multiple images as light traverses an increasingly distorted space-time.

In real time, the camera takes about three hours to fall to the event horizon, performing nearly two full 30-minute orbits along the way. But for those observing from afar, it will never get there.

As the space-time distortion increases as you approach the horizon, the camera’s image slows down and appears to stop in front of you. This is why astronomers originally called black holes “frozen stars.”

At the event horizon, even space-time itself flows inward at the speed of light, the speed limit of the universe.

Once inside, both the camera and the spacetime it moves through hurtle towards the center of the black hole. A one-dimensional point called a singularity, where the laws of physics as we know them no longer work.

NASA’s visualization shows a camera tracking a supermassive black hole, similar in mass to that at the center of our galaxy, as it approaches, briefly orbits, and crosses the event horizon (point of no return). Masu. Image credit: J. Schnittman & B. Powell, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

“Once the camera crosses the horizon, there are only 12.8 seconds left before spaghettification destruction,” Dr. Schnitman said.

From there, the singularity is only 128,000 km (79,500 miles) away. The last leg of this voyage is over in the blink of an eye.

In another scenario, the camera orbits close to the event horizon, but never crosses it and flees to safety.

If an astronaut were to fly this six-hour round trip, and her co-worker on the mother ship was far away from the black hole, she would return 36 minutes younger than her co-worker.

That’s because time slows down when you move near a strong source of gravity or at speeds close to the speed of light.

“This situation could become even more extreme,” Dr. Schnitman says.

“If a black hole were rotating rapidly, like the one shown in the 2014 movie, interstellar, she would return many years younger than the sailors. ”

Source: www.sci.news

Detecting Iron in the Accretion Disk Around the Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 4151: XRISM Observations

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

NGC 4151 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 62 million light-years away in the northern constellation Hanabi.

This artist's concept shows possible locations for iron revealed in NGC 4151's XRISM X-ray spectrum. Image credit: Conceptual Image Lab, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a joint effort between JAXA and NASA, with extensive participation from ESA, launched from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on September 6, 2023.

After beginning science operations in February 2024, the spacecraft focused on the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4151.

“XRISM's Resolve instrument captured a detailed spectrum of the region around the black hole,” said researcher Brian Williams, Ph.D., of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

“The peaks and valleys are like chemical fingerprints that tell us what elements are present and can reveal clues about the fate of matter that approaches a black hole.”

NGC 4151's supermassive black hole holds more than 20 million times the mass of the Sun.

This galaxy is also active, meaning its center is unusually bright and changeable.

Gas and dust swirling toward the black hole forms an accretion disk around it, heated by gravity and frictional forces, creating fluctuations.

Some of the material at the edge of the black hole forms twin jets of particles that shoot out from either side of the disk at nearly the speed of light.

A bulging donut-shaped cloud of material called a torus surrounds the accretion disk.

XRISM's Resolve instrument captured data from the center of NGC 4151. The resulting spectrum reveals the presence of iron with a peak around 6.5 keV and a dip around 7 keV, thousands of times more energetic than the light visible to our eyes. Image credits: JAXA / NASA / XRISM Resolve / CXC / CfA / Wang et al. / Isaac Newton Telescope Group, La Palma Island / Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope / NSF / NRAO / VLA.

“In fact, NGC 4151 is one of the closest known active galaxies,” Dr. Williams and his colleagues said.

“Other missions, such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, are conducting research to learn more about the interactions between black holes and their surroundings, allowing scientists to study galaxies. Find out how the supermassive black hole at the center of time grows throughout the universe.

“This galaxy is unusually bright in X-rays, making it an ideal early target for XRISM.”

“The NGC 4151 spectrum in Resolve shows a sharp peak at energies just below 6.5 keV, an iron emission line.”

Astronomers believe that much of the power in active galaxies comes from X-rays emanating from hot, blazing regions near black holes.

When the X-rays reflect off the cold gas inside the disk, the iron there fluoresces, producing a specific X-ray peak.

This allowed for a more accurate depiction of both the disk and the eruptive region much closer to the black hole.

“The spectrum also shows some dips around 7 keV,” the astronomers said.

“The iron present in the torus caused these dips as well, but due to absorption rather than emission of X-rays, because the material there is much cooler than in the disk.”

“All of this radiation is about 2,500 times more energetic than the light we can see with our eyes.”

“Iron is just one of the elements that XRISM can detect. The telescope can also detect sulfur, calcium, argon, and more, depending on the source.”

“Each one tells us something different about the cosmic phenomena that litter the X-ray sky.”

Source: www.sci.news

Unexpectedly large stellar-mass black hole spotted in close binary star system

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Using data from ESA’s Gaia mission, astronomers discovered a nearby binary system of massive stars orbiting a dormant star-derived black hole over a period of 11.6 years. The black hole’s estimated mass (33 solar masses) is significantly larger than all known stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way and within the mass range of extragalactic black holes detected by gravitational waves.

Locations of the first three black holes discovered in the Milky Way by ESA’s Gaia mission. Image credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC.

The binary star system in question is named Gaia BH3 and is located 1,926 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquila.

Also known as Gaia DR3 4318465066420528000, LS II +14 13, and 2MASS J19391872+1455542, it consists of an old, very metal-poor giant star and a dormant stellar-mass black hole.

Gaia BH3 is the third dormant black hole discovered by ESA’s interstellar mapping satellite Gaia.

“This is the kind of discovery that only happens once in a research career,” said Dr. Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer at the CNRS and the Paris Observatory.

“So far, black holes this large have only been detected in distant galaxies by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, thanks to observations of gravitational waves.”

The average mass of the known stellar-origin black holes in our galaxy is about 10 times the mass of the Sun.

Astronomers face the pressing problem of explaining the origin of black holes as large as Gaia BH3.

Our current understanding of how massive stars evolve and die does not immediately explain how this type of black hole could be born.

Most theories predict that as massive stars age, a significant portion of their material is shed by powerful winds. Eventually, it will be partially blown into space when it explodes as a supernova.

The remainder of the core shrinks further, becoming either a neutron star or a black hole, depending on its mass.

It is extremely difficult to explain a core large enough to eventually become a black hole 30 times the mass of the Sun. But the clues to solving this mystery may lie very close to Gaia BH3.

The star, which orbits Gaia BH3 at about 16 times the distance between the Sun and Earth, is quite unusual and is an ancient giant that formed during the first two billion years after the Big Bang, when our galaxy began to form. It’s a star.

It belongs to the family of galactic stellar halos, which move in the opposite direction to the stars in the galactic disk.

Its orbit indicates that the star was probably part of a small galaxy, or globular cluster, that was swallowed up by the Milky Way more than 8 billion years ago.

This companion star contains almost no elements heavier than hydrogen or helium, indicating that the massive star that became Gaia BH3 may also have been extremely poor in heavy elements.

For the first time, the theory that the massive black holes observed in gravitational wave experiments were created by the collapse of primordial massive stars lacking heavy elements has been confirmed.

These early stars may have evolved differently from the massive stars we see in our galaxy today.

The composition of the companion star can also reveal the formation mechanism of this surprising binary system.

“We were surprised that the chemical composition of the companion star is similar to that seen in older, metal-poor stars in the Milky Way,” said Dr. Elisabetta Cuffo, an astronomer at the CNRS and the Paris Observatory.

“There is no evidence that this star was contaminated by material ejected from the supernova explosion of the massive star that became BH3.”

“This may suggest that the black hole acquired a mate from another star system for the first time after its birth.”

of the team paper be published in a magazine astronomy and astrophysics.

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P. Panuzzo other. (Gaia collaboration). 2024. Gaia astronomical measurements prior to release discovered a dormant black hole with the mass of 33 solar masses. A&A, in press. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202449763

Source: www.sci.news

Discovery of a Remarkably Large Black Hole in Our Galaxy

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This artist's impression shows the orbits of both a massive stellar black hole and its companion star

ESO/L. Calzada

Astronomers have discovered Gaia-BH3, the largest stellar black hole ever discovered. It has a mass 33 times that of the Sun and is dwarfed only by supermassive black holes and black holes formed by merging with other black holes.

At about 2000 light-years away, Gaia-BH3 is also the second closest black hole to Earth ever discovered. george seabroke Researchers at University College London used the Gaia Space Telescope to discover this stellar black hole, formed from a star that has reached the end of its life.

Because light cannot escape from a black hole, most black holes are discovered by looking for the glow of hot material orbiting around them and falling. However, BH3 is in a dormant state and does not phagocytize substances. Instead, researchers made their discovery by noticing the strange movement of a star that appeared to be orbiting a part of empty space.

The star itself is also unusual, being made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Most stars contain at least some heavy elements, which formed in the cores of massive stars and were distributed throughout the universe by supernovae. However, the first generation of stars would have had very low amounts of heavy elements. The composition of BH3's partner star suggests that the massive star that eventually collapsed to form BH3 was also one of these primitive objects and evolved differently from the way massive stars do today. suggests that it is possible. This would explain how black holes became so huge. If it had evolved like a normal star, it would be difficult to explain its size.

The discovery of such a massive black hole was not a complete surprise. Experiments looking for gravitational waves (ripples in space-time caused by the motion of heavy objects) have found signs of them in other galaxies.

“These gravitational wave measurements should lead us to expect that such a black hole exists in our galaxy, but until now it hasn't,” Seabrook said. And this should be just the beginning, he says. “This star is very bright, so if you find a star this bright, you generally expect to find many fainter stars.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New image exposes magnetic field surrounding Milky Way’s black hole

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

New and impressive images of the supermassive black hole located at the center of our galaxy show that its powerful magnetic field twists and rotates in a spiral pattern.

This is a never-before-seen view of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A*), the massive black hole in the Milky Way galaxy that consumes nearby light and matter.

The images suggest similarities in structure between this black hole and the black hole in the galaxy M87. Although the black hole in M87, which was imaged for the first time, is over 1,000 times larger than Sagittarius A*, both exhibit strong, organized magnetic fields.

This pattern hints that many, if not all, black holes may share common traits, according to the scientists who published their findings in the Astrophysics Journal Letter on Wednesday.

“We’ve discovered that strong, orderly magnetic fields are crucial in how black holes interact with surrounding gas and matter,” said study co-leader and NASA Hubble Fellowship Program co-author, Einstein Fellow Sarah Isaun, as stated in a press release.

Isaun worked with an international team of astronomers known as the Event Horizon Telescope to conduct the research. This team comprises over 300 scientists from 80 institutions worldwide.

This same collaboration captured the first direct visual evidence of Sagittarius A* in 2022 and also studied the M87 galaxy, which is located approximately 53 million light-years away from Earth.

The magnetic field around the massive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, known as M87*, is believed to play a vital role in its extraordinary behavior. Black holes emit powerful jets of electrons and other subatomic particles into space at nearly the speed of light.

Although no such bursts of activity have been observed from Sagittarius A*, the similarities between the two black holes suggest that hidden jets may still be detected. Researchers suggest this possibility in the new images.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

The Event Horizon Telescope Detects a Twisted Magnetic Field Surrounding the Central Black Hole of the Milky Way

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to astronomers’ best models of black hole evolution, the magnetic field within the accretion disk must be strong enough to push the accreted plasma out into the surroundings. New results from Sagittarius A*, the 4.3 million solar mass black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and its much larger cousin M87* provide the first direct observational evidence supporting these models.

This image from the Event Horizon Telescope shows a polarized view of Sagittarius A*. The lines superimposed on this image show the direction of polarization associated with the magnetic field around the black hole’s shadow. Image credit: EHT Collaboration.

In 2022, EHT collaboration The first image of Sagittarius A*, about 27,000 light-years from Earth, has been released, showing that the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole looks very good despite being more than 1/1000th smaller and lighter in mass than M87. revealed that they are similar.

This led scientists to wonder if the two men had more in common than just their looks. To find out, they decided to study Sagittarius A* in polarized light.

Previous studies of the light surrounding M87* revealed that the magnetic field around the supermassive black hole causes powerful jets of matter to be ejected into the surrounding environment.

Based on this study, new EHT images reveal that the same may be true for Sagittarius A*.

“What we’re seeing now is a strong, twisted, organized magnetic field near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way,” said astronomers at the Harvard University & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. said Dr. Sarah Isaun.

“In addition to having a polarization structure that is strikingly similar to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, Sagittarius A* has a polarization structure that is strikingly similar to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole. We found that strong, well-ordered magnetic fields are important for how they act.”

Light is a vibrating or moving electromagnetic wave that allows us to see objects. Light can oscillate in a particular direction, which scientists call polarization.

Polarized light is all around us, but to the human eye it is indistinguishable from “normal” light.

In the plasma around these black holes, particles swirling around magnetic field lines impart a polarization pattern perpendicular to the magnetic field.

This will allow astronomers to see in clearer detail what’s happening in the black hole region and map its magnetic field lines.

“By imaging polarized light from glowing gas near a black hole, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic field that flows through the streams of gas and matter that the black hole feeds and ejects.” said Dr. Angelo Ricarte. Astronomer at Harvard University and the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“Polarized light can tell us much more about astrophysics, the properties of the gas, and the mechanisms that occur when black holes feed.”

But imaging black holes under polarized light isn’t as easy as wearing polarized sunglasses. This is especially true for Sagittarius A*. Sagittarius A* changes so quickly that you can’t stand still and take a photo.

Imaging supermassive black holes requires sophisticated tools beyond those previously used to capture a more stable target, M87*.

“Sagittarius A*s are like enthusiastic toddlers,” said Avery Broderick, a professor at the University of Waterloo.

“For the first time, we see invisible structures that guide matter within a black hole’s disk, drive plasma to the event horizon, and help the plasma grow.”

“Sagittarius A* moves around while trying to photograph it, so it was difficult to even construct an unpolarized image,” said astronomer Dr. Jeffrey Bower of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica in Taipei. Told.

“The first image is an average of multiple images from the movement of Sagittarius A*.”

“I was relieved that polarized imaging was also possible. Some models had too much scrambling and turbulence to build polarized images, but nature isn’t that cruel. did.”

Professor Maria Felicia de Laurentiis, University of Naples Federico II, said: “Using samples of two black holes with very different masses and host galaxies, we can determine what they agree on and what they do not agree on.” It’s important.

“Since both point us toward strong magnetic fields, this suggests that this may be a universal and perhaps fundamental feature of this type of system.”

“One similarity between these two black holes could be a jet. But while we imaged a very obvious black hole in M87*, we have yet to find one in Sagittarius A*. not.”

The results of this research are published in two papers (paper #1 & paper #2) in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

_____

Collaboration with Event Horizon Telescope. 2024. Horizon telescope results for the first Sagittarius A* event. VII. Polarization of the ring. APJL 964, L25; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df0

Collaboration with Event Horizon Telescope. 2024. Horizon telescope results for the first Sagittarius A* event. VIII. Physical interpretation of polarization rings. APJL 964, L26; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df1

Source: www.sci.news

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