Tag Archives: Chile

NSF’s South Pole Telescope Discovers a Galaxy Cluster Creating Stars at a Record Pace

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2012Scienceantarctic program, Antarctica, big bang, black hole, blanco 4 meter, bradford benson, chandra, Chile, cmb, cosmic microwave background, earth, energy, galaxy cluster, hubble fellow, john carlstrom, light year, magellan telescope, michael mcdonald, NASA, national science foundation, nsf, phoenix cluster, radiation, radio telescope, south pole telescope, spt, spt clj2344-4243, sunyaev zeldovich, sz effect, university of chicago, xray observatory

Researchers say Phoenix Cluster activity may cause scientists to rethink how galaxies evolve

A National Science Foundation-funded radio telescope in Antarctica has found an extraordinary galaxy cluster that may force astronomers to rethink how galaxy clusters and the galaxies that inhabit them evolve.

The galaxy cluster was discovered some 5.7 billion light years from Earth by the 10-meter wide South Pole Telescope (SPT) located at NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, which is funded by NSF’s Office of Polar Programs. (more…)

Astronomers Discover Houdini-Like Vanishing Act in Space

By Guest PostJuly 9, 2012Scienceastronomer, astronomical scale, baffling discovery, benjamin zuckerman, carl melis, Chile, constellation centaurus, dust, dust particles, dusty disc, game changer, gemini observatory, gemini telescope, infrared astronomical satellite, iras, joseph rhee, joy pollard, jupiter, lynette cook, mars, mega flare, mercury, NASA, neptune, norm murray, rocky debris, rocky planet, saturn rings, solar system, tyc 8241 2652, ucla, wise satellite

Astronomers report a baffling discovery never seen before: An extraordinary amount of dust around a nearby star has mysteriously disappeared.

“It’s like the classic magician’s trick — now you see it, now you don’t,” said Carl Melis, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego and lead author of the research. “Only in this case, we’re talking about enough dust to fill an inner solar system, and it really is gone!”

“It’s as if the rings around Saturn had disappeared,” said co-author Benjamin Zuckerman, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy. “This is even more shocking because the dusty disc of rocky debris was bigger and much more massive than Saturn’s rings. The disc around this star, if it were in our solar system, would have extended from the sun halfway out to Earth, near the orbit of Mercury.” (more…)

First-of-its-Kind Study Reveals Surprising Ecological Effects of 2010 Chile Earthquake

By Guest PostMay 7, 2012Environment2010 chile earthquake, arroyo quemado, california, cataclysmic occurrence, central chile, Chile, coastal ecosystem, coastal zone, earthquake, ecological effects, eduardo jaramillo, fondecyt, jenny dugan, lter, magnitude, national science foundation, natural disaster, sand crabs, sandy beach, tectonically active, tsunami, ucsb

Long-forgotten coastal habitats reappeared, species unseen for years returned

The reappearance of long-forgotten habitats and the resurgence of species unseen for years may not be among the expected effects of a natural disaster.

Yet that’s exactly what researchers found in a study of the sandy beaches of south central Chile, after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami in 2010.

Their study also revealed a preview of the problems wrought by sea level rise–a major symptom of climate change. (more…)

NASA’s Spitzer Finds Galaxy with Split Personality

By Guest PostApril 27, 2012Sciencearchetypal galaxy, centaurus, Chile, constellation virgo, dimitri gadotti, earth, elliptical galaxy, ellipticals, Galaxy, galaxy evolution, globular cluster, NASA, ngc 4594, ruben sanchez janssen, sean carey, sombrero galaxy, spiral disk, spiral milky way, spitzer space telescope, split personality

PASADENA, Calif. — While some galaxies are rotund and others are slender disks like our spiral Milky Way, new observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope show that the Sombrero galaxy is both. The galaxy, which is a round elliptical galaxy with a thin disk embedded inside, is one of the first known to exhibit characteristics of the two different types. The findings will lead to a better understanding of galaxy evolution, a topic still poorly understood.

“The Sombrero is more complex than previously thought,” said Dimitri Gadotti of the European Southern Observatory in Chile and lead author of a new paper on the findings appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “The only way to understand all we know about this galaxy is to think of it as two galaxies, one inside the other.” (more…)

Social Networking Eclipses Portals as the Most Engaging Web Activity in Latin America

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Technologyalejandro fosk, apple, Argentina, brazil, Chile, Colombia, Comscore, digital advertising, digital traffic, Google, ipad, iPhone, latin america, Mexico, mobile, mobile phone, online video, peru, puerto rico, search, social media, webinar

Google Sites Reigns as Most-Visited Destination in Region, Facebook Leads in Engagement Accounting for 1 in Every 4 Minutes Spent Online

comScore Presents Complimentary Webinar on the 2012 Latin America Digital Future in Focus

Santiago, Chile, March 21, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its annual report on Latin America’s key digital trends of the past year and what they mean for the year ahead. The 2012 Latin America Digital Future in Focus examines how the prevailing trends in social media, online video, digital advertising, mobile and search are defining the current marketplace and how they are likely to shape the coming year. The results of the study will be presented via a complimentary, live webinar on Thursday, March 22. For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Events_Webinars/Webinar/2012/Futuro_Digital_-_Latinoamerica_2012 (more…)

Sailing in a Sea of Microbes

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2012Sciencealgae, Arctic, atmospheric chemistry, bacteria, biogeochemical cycles, biomass, carbon dioxide, Chile, climate, daniel stolte, easter island, Environment, food production, genome, Germany, global warming, grassroots initiative, greenhouse gas, matt sullivan, melissa duhaime, microbe, ocean water, oceans, oxygen production, pacific ocean, research vessel, saguaro cacti, sequence, tara oceans, ua, university of arizona, wolves, world of viruses, world of webs

Researchers led by Matt Sullivan at the UA are among the first to dive into the world of viruses drifting through the world’s oceans.

Surrounded by the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean stretching from horizon to horizon, a lonely dot is glinting in the sun. It is the aluminum hull of a sailboat, a 118-foot schooner with white sails billowing from two masts.

On the deck, crewmembers and scientists are milling about. Commands are flying back and forth, and soon a strange contraption consisting of tubes clustered around an array of sensors dangling from a crane is lowered into the water, until it disappears in the clear blue depths. (more…)

Scientists Prepare to Take First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2012Scienceabyss of space, albert einstein, alma, arizona, astrophysicists, atacama large millimeter array, atmosphere, black hole, black void, center of milky way, Chile, cosmic traffic jam, dan marrone, daniel stolte, dimitrios psaltis, earth, einstein, event horizon, event horizon telescope, extreme environment, field of gravity, game changer, general relativity, global array, hawaii, haystack observatory, maelstroms, mass, massachusetts institute of technology, mauna kea, mercury, Mexico, MIT, mt graham, nothingness, optical telescopes, plasma, radio telescopes, radio waves, shadow, sheperd doeleman, south pole, space and time, steward observatory, sun, supermassive black hole, theory of general relativity, tucson, ultra precise timing, universe, university of arizona, virtual telescope, water vapor, wavelengths

*The Event Horizon Telescope is an Earth-sized virtual telescope powerful enough to see all the way to the center of our Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole will allow astrophysicists to put Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity to the test.*

Astronomers, physicists and scientists from related fields across the world will convene in Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 18 to discuss an endeavor that only a few years ago would have been regarded as nothing less than outrageous.

The conference is organized by Dimitrios Psaltis, an associate professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, and Dan Marrone, an assistant professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory. (more…)

Dictators in The Dock

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2011Politicsabdullah al senoussi, al capone, arab spring, Argentina, augusto pinochet, Chile, dictatorial regimes, dictators, dictatorship, egyptian president, embezzlemen, ex dictators, exile, hosni mubarak, human rights, hypothesis, intelligence chief, international criminal court, juan maria bordaberry, justice cascade, kangaroo courts, kathryn sikkink, latin america, libya, malefactors, military junta, moammar gadhafi, prosecution, sadam hussein, saif al islam, slobodan milosevic, trial, university of minnesota, uruguay, violations, yugoslavia and serbia

*Human rights trials for ex-dictators speed healing*

If dictators who torture, kill, or otherwise abuse their citizens’ human rights are overthrown, should they be brought to trial?

On one hand, convicting and punishing an ex-dictator and his minions would strike a welcome blow for justice in countries where it has been denied. (more…)