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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Hubble Zooms in on the Center of M4

This new image from Hubble shows an up-close look at the center of M4 or Messier 4, a global cluster located in the constellation of Scorpius roughly 7,200 light-years away.

This sparkling picture taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the center of globular cluster M4. The power of Hubble has resolved the cluster into a multitude of glowing orbs, each a colossal nuclear furnace.

M4 is relatively close to us, lying 7,200 light-years distant, making it a prime object for study. It contains several tens of thousands stars and is noteworthy in being home to many white dwarfs — the cores of ancient, dying stars whose outer layers have drifted away into space.

Diogenes Laërtius: The Life of Epicurus

EPICURUS was an Athenian, and the son of Neocles and Chærestrate, of the burgh of Gargettus, and of the family of the Philaidæ, as Metrodorus tells us in his treatise on Nobility of Birth. 

Some writers, and among them Heraclides, in his Abridgment of Sotion, say, that as theAthenians had Colonis and Samos, he was brought up there, and came to Athens in his eighteenthyear, while Xenocrates was president of the Academy, and Aristotle at Chalcis. But after the deathof Alexander, the Macedonian, when the Athenians were driven out of Samos by Perdiccas,Epicurus went to Colophon to his father.

And when he had spent some time there, and collected some disciples, he again returned toAthens, in the time of Anaxicrates, and for some time studied philosophy, mingling with the rest of the philosophers; but subsequently, he somehow or other established the school which wascalled after his name; and he used to say, that he began to study philosophy when he was fourteenyears of age.

Funding helps protect Angkor Wat Temple complex

The Cambodian Government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) signed an agreement on September 6 to protect the Angkor Wat Temple complex.

The deal was agreed to by Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and UNESCO Representative to Cambodia Anne Lemaistre.

After the signing ceremony, Sok An said that the project will cost $250,000, including $200,000 provided by the Italian government and $50,000 coming from the Cambodian government.

Planck Satellite Observations May Help Solve the Mystery of Dark Matter

The Planck Satellite has observed a very unique emission of radio radiation from the center of the Milky Way, moving scientists closer than ever to a solution to the origin of dark matter.

The universe is comprised of a large amount of invisible matter, dark matter. It fills the space between the galaxies and between the stars in the galaxies. Since the prediction of the existence of dark matter more than 70 years ago, all sorts of researchers – astronomers, cosmologists and particle physicists have been looking for answers to what it could be. With the latest observations from the Planck satellite, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, may be closer than ever to a solution to the origin of the mysterious dark matter.