2012年1月30日星期一

What may be the first comet of the Sekanina-Chodas

What may be the first comet of the Sekanina-Chodas "cluster" was discovered this past Nov. 27 by Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer cheap moncler jackets, in Queensland. As soon as orbit calculations indicated that Lovejoy's comet was indeed a Kreutz sungrazer, excitement among astronomers became very high, as this was the first such comet to be discovered from the ground in over four decades. All the scientific instrumentation that is available now could be brought to bear on it.

Comet Lovejoy did not disappoint. As soon as it entered the field of view of the SOHO coronagraphs on Dec. 13, it immediately became clear that it was, by far, the brightest Kreutz sungrazer ever detected by SOHO. It brightened dramatically over the next two days as it approached the Sun, and in addition to observations with the instruments aboard SOHO several other sun-studying spacecraft were brought to bear on it, including both spacecraft of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission, the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, and the Japanese Hinode mission moncler outlet 2011.

Because Comet Lovejoy did not seem to be a large comet like Ikeya-Seki, most astronomers did not really expect it to survive its closest encounter with the sun, a passage of just 200,000 miles above the sun's "surface" early on December 16. But later that day it emerged from behind the sun still as a very brilliant object, although it had apparently shed its tail. As the hours went by and Comet Lovejoy receded from the sun, it began to grow a new tail, which soon was almost as bright and as long as its old one.

When Comet Lovejoy was bright and near the sun several astronomers attempted to view it during daytime, and although a couple of astronomers did report success, for the most part the comet remained elusive. It is now starting to re-emerge into the southern hemisphere's morning sky, and according to the handful of reports that have been made at this writing, the tail that has been seem emerging out of the bright dawn is bright and quite long.

We'll know more within a few days as the comet continues to climb out of the sunlight, but it's conceivable that our sky-watching friends in the southern hemisphere cheap moncler jackets for women could be in for quite a treat for the next week or so. Comet Lovejoy passes 46 million miles from Earth early next month and then close to the south celestial pole a couple of days later.

Meanwhile, those of us who are north of the equator are pretty much out of luck, although if it doesn't fade too quickly it might be bright enough to detect with moderate-sized backyard telescopes when it comes back north late in January.

Even though very few eyes have actually glimpsed it, Comet Lovejoy has undoubtedly been one of the most exciting comets that has come our way within the past several years. And, if it really is the first sungrazer of the "cluster" predicted by Sekanina and Chodas, we may have even cheap moncler jackets for men more representatives of this remarkable group of comets perhaps another brilliant comet like Ikeya-Seki to dazzle our skies during the years to come.

2012年1月5日星期四

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mark Roman

USA TODAY was first to report that O'Brien would interview Thursday. A person with knowledge of the search confirmed to USA TODAY late moncler jackets Thurdsay that O'Brien would be hired.

The school has been without a permanent coach since Paterno was fired Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Tom Bradley served as interim coach as the Nittany Lions dropped three of their final four games, including a 30-14 loss to Houston in the TicketCity Bowl on Monday.

O'Brien joined the Patriots staff in 2007 and worked his way to his current position this season. New England finished third in scoring at 32.1 points a game and enters the playoffs as the AFC's top seed.

O'Brien had college assistant coaching stints at Atlantic Coast Conference schools Georgia Tech, Duke and Maryland before moving to the cheap moncler jackets for women NFL. He also was an assistant at Brown, his and Paterno's alma mater.

O'Brien was the third person from the NFL mentioned as a possible candidate for the opening. Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, a former Penn State player, denied interest in the job last week.

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mark Roman, who like O'Brien has no direct ties to Penn State, acknowledged this week that he interviewed with the school.

Roman's college coaching experience consists of two seasons at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh before moving to the NFL last January with Harbaugh.

Samsung Electronics Co., the maker of the Galaxy mobile devices, failed to win a sales ban on Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone in Italy, as a global patent dispute between the two companies continues.

A Milan court yesterday rejected the Suwon, moncler outlet South Korea- based company’s bid to block the iPhone 4S in Italy, said Nam Ki Yung, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung, confirming an earlier report by Ansa news agency.

Samsung, which today reported a 73 percent cheap moncler jump in fourth- quarter operating profit after selling a record number of handsets last year, also failed to win a sales ban on the iPhone 4S in France last month. Samsung and Apple have been suing each other in multiple countries over patents related to mobile technologies and designs since the iPhone maker accused the South Korean rival of copying its products last year.

“We will review the ruling and consider all available measures to further protect our intellectual property rights and stop this free riding on our technology,” Samsung said in a statement, referring to yesterday’s court decision.

Steve Park, an Apple spokesman in Seoul, reiterated the company’s earlier statement on the dispute that Apple needs to protect its intellectual property against “blatant copying.”

Samsung fell 1.4 percent to 1,040,000 won at the close of trading in Seoul, the lowest level since Dec. 20. The stock was the biggest contributor to the benchmark Kospi index’s 1.1 percent decline.

The South Korean electronics maker overtook Apple as the world’s largest maker of smartphones in the third quarter, helped by the popularity of the Galaxy line of products.

Deputy Edward M. Nordskog of the sheriff's arson unit wrote in a declaration filed

Burkhart appeared in court briefly to be arraigned on 37 felony counts of arson that could send him to prison for life. He looked disheveled and distracted as moncler jackets jail authorities have him under suicide watch.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra set bail at $2.85 million and agreed to postpone arraignment until Jan. 24 at the request of Burkhart's public defender. The judge, who declined to hold Burkhart without bail, said the government could bring more evidence at the next hearing to back its contention that the defendant poses a flight risk or could resume setting fires if freed pending trial.

Burkhart torched cars, garages and homes across a significant portion of Los Angeles "to harm and terrorize as many residents" as possible, authorities wrote in a court filing asking that Burkhart be denied bail.

Deputy Edward M. Nordskog of the sheriff's arson unit wrote in a declaration filed with the court that Burkhart would be a danger to the public if released because of his hatred of Americans and the U.S. government.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sean Carney told the court that charges filed against Burkhart so far are probably "less than half of the charges we plan to file," noting that they covered 12 of the 52 suspected arsons authorities attribute to Burkhart.

Burkhart appeared in court in a green jail jumpsuit, wearing his long brown hair loose and unkempt. He is being closely monitored in custody, the Los Angeles Police cheap jackets for women Department reported, to ensure that he doesn't harm himself. He moved languidly in Kalra's courtroom, his gaze wandering and his body slumping and twitching.

The charging documents also accused Burkhart of using an acceleration device, which could lead to a longer prison term if he is found guilty of the special circumstance. If convicted on all 37 counts and ordered to serve the maximum terms consecutively, Burkhart could be facing up to a 341-year sentence.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley told reporters after the bail hearing that Burkhart faces "an awful, awful lot of time in prison" because of the trauma inflicted on the community, and that he thought a life sentence was warranted, calling the offenses "almost attempted murder."

Prosecutors disclosed in court papers that Burkhart had previously been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon but that no charges had been filed. . A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, Jane Robison, declined to provide a declination on the incident, citing policy on older cases that are closed without charges.

Earlier on Wednesday, prosecutors with the Hesse state government in central Germany disclosed that a 24-year-old named Harry Burkhart was being investigated in connection with a suspected arson at his family's home in the Schwalm-Eder district about an hour's drive north of Frankfurt.

A half-timbered house belonging to the Burkhart family suffered major damage in a fire three months ago that local investigators said left evidence of having been deliberately set.Moncler jackets for kids, buy cheap moncler 2011 kids down jackets.

Owners of the vacant home near the Medieval fortress town of Marburg filed an insurance claim after the blaze caused about $50,000 in damage and the incident is being investigated as a case of arson and insurance fraud, said Annemarie Wied, spokeswoman for the Marburg regional office of the Hesse state prosecutor.

Burkhart's mother, Dorothee, who is also in custody in Los Angeles, is wanted on a Frankfurt court warrant alleging that she defrauded about $10,000 from a plastic surgeon who performed a 2004 breast augmentation procedure, and defrauded at least a dozen renters and landlords of an additional $35,000, according to a complaint filed last month in Los Angeles by the U.S. attorney's office.

Harry Burkhart, a 24-year-old who authorities said travels on German documents but was born in the restive Russian region of Chechnya, reportedly came to the attention of Los Angeles law enforcement because he erupted into a rage at his mother's extradition hearing Dec. 29 in federal court. Burkhart was evicted by federal marshals after an expletive-laced diatribe against Americans and the U.S. government. A federal official who witnessed his tirade recognized him in security camera images from one of the weekend fires.

In the court documents filed in Los Angeles, prosecutors disclosed that sheriff's detectives searching the Hollywood apartment rented by Burkhart and his mother found newspaper clippings about the Los Angeles fires as well as German newspaper articles about other suspected arsons in Frankfurt.

Judge Kalra prohibited the media from taking video or photographs of Burkhart after prosecutors said investigators were continuing to interview possible cheap moncler witnesses. A Times photographer took photos of Burkhart's attorney, who was standing directly in front of his client. But Kalra ordered that those images be deleted because two images included part of the defendant's biceps.