9 September 2010 Last updated at 08:24

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Astronomers find evidence for unusual class of black holes

By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC News

An artist's impression of the source HLX-1 - the light blue object to the top left of the galactic bulge

Researchers say they may have found further evidence for the existence of an unusual type of black hole.

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, an international team of scientists studied the images of the most extreme ultra-luminous X-ray source, HLX-1.

They say the data about the distance and the brightness of the source shows that it may contain an intermediate-size mass black hole, located some 300 million light years away from Earth.

The results of the study have been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

A black hole is a region of space that has such an extremely powerful gravitational field that it absorbs all the light that passes near it and reflects none.

If confirmed, HLX-1 would be classified as an intermediate-type black hole - something astrophysicists suspected to exist, but for which there have been only tentative detections in the past.

Radiation question

The lead author Klaas Wiersema of the University of Leicester's department of Physics and Astronomy, said that after the earlier discovery of the very bright X-ray source, the astronomers "were very keen to find out just how far away it really is, so that we can work out how much radiation this black hole produces".

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Understanding how super-massive black holes form... is crucial to our comprehension of the formation of galaxies”

End Quote Sean Farrell University of Leicester

"We could see on images taken with big telescopes that a faint optical source was present at the location of the X-ray source, located near the core of a large and bright galaxy," he said.

"We suspected that this faint optical source was directly associated with the X-ray source, but to be sure we had to study the light of this source in detail, using the Very Large Telescope in Chile."

He said that the VLT was able to measure the precise distance to HLX-1 and the data from the telescope allowed the scientists to separate the light of the big, bright galaxy from that of the faint optical source.

"Much to our delight we saw in the resulting measurements exactly what we were hoping for: the characteristic light of hydrogen atoms was detected allowing us to accurately measure the distance to this object.

"This provided conclusive proof that the black hole was indeed located inside the big, bright galaxy, and that HLX-1 is the brightest ultra-luminous X-ray source known."

Galactic centre

HLX-1 is located in another galaxy some 300 million light years from our planet. The study also shows that the source is not a super-massive black hole.

An artist's impression of a black hole at the centre of a galaxy

Astronomers believe that the centres of most galaxies contain such super-massive black holes, and intermediate black holes might simply turn out to be their progenitors.

"Understanding how super-massive black holes form and grow is thus crucial to our comprehension of the formation and evolution of galaxies, which in turn goes part of the way to answering one of the really big questions: how did our own galaxy form and evolve?" said astronomer Sean Farrell, also of the University of Leicester.

More on This Story

Related stories

• Supercomputer clue to black holes 25 AUGUST 2010, SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
• Black hole 'hurled out of galaxy' 12 MAY 2010, SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
• New support for black hole theory 15 APRIL 2004, SCI/TECH

Archaeologists have discovered a second henge

The new "henge" is about 900m (2,950ft) from the giant stones
Archaeologists have discovered a second henge at Stonehenge, described as the most exciting find there in 50 years.

The circular ditch surrounding a smaller circle of deep pits about a metre (3ft) wide has been unearthed at the world-famous site in Wiltshire.

Archaeologists conducting a multi-million pound study believe timber posts were in the pits.

Project leader Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University of Birmingham, said the discovery was "exceptional".

The new "henge" - which means a circular monument dating to Neolithic and Bronze Ages - is situated about 900m (2,950ft) from the giant stones on Salisbury Plain.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
It's a timber equivalent to Stonehenge”
End Quote
Professor Vince Gaffney

University of Birmingham
Images show it has two entrances on the north-east and south-west sides and inside the circle is a burial mound on top which appeared much later, Professor Gaffney said.

"You seem to have a large-ditched feature, but it seems to be made of individual scoops rather than just a straight trench," he said.

"When we looked a bit more closely, we then realised there was a ring of pits about a metre wide going all the way around the edge.

"When you see that as an archaeologist, you just looked at it and thought, 'that's a henge monument' - it's a timber equivalent to Stonehenge.

"From the general shape, we would guess it dates backs to about the time when Stonehenge was emerging at its most complex.

"This is probably the first major ceremonial monument that has been found in the past 50 years or so.

Continue reading the main story
Archaeologists say the find is "exceptional"

Discovering the henge
"This is really quite interesting and exceptional, it starts to give us a different perspective of the landscape."

Other wooden structures have been found in the area, one of these being Durrington Walls about 3km (1.86m) to the north east of the stones.

Data from the site is being collected as part of a virtual excavation to see what the area looked like when Stonehenge was built.

Speculation as to why the 4,500-year-old landmark was built will continue for years to come, but various experts believe it was a cemetery for 500 years, from the point of its inception.

In 2008, the first excavation in nearly half a century was carried out at the iconic site on Salisbury Plain.

This latest project is being funded by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, in Vienna, and the University of Birmingham, and is assisted by the National Trust and English Heritage.

Professor Gaffney said he was "certain" they would make further discoveries as 90% of the landscape around the giant stones was "terra incognita" - an unexplored region.

"The presumption was this was just an empty field - now you've got a major ceremonial monument looking at Stonehenge," he said.

Whale trainer's family speak of shock at SeaWorld death

Dawn Brancheau's sister Diane Gross said SeaWorld ''was her dream''

The sister of a trainer who died after being attacked by a killer whale at a Florida entertainment park has said her family is in shock at the incident.

Veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, died after the orca grabbed her from a poolside platform and dragged her under the water.

Diane Gross said the family considered the death an accident, which they had yet to come to terms with.

Ms Gross said her sister had loved the whales like they were her children.

"She loved all of them," Ms Gross said, according to the Associated Press.

Sea World curator Chuck Tompkins: "He grabbed her hair and pulled her underwater". Courtesy Good Morning America/ABC News

"They all had personalities, good days and bad days."

She said her sister had been inspired to work with marine life after a trip, as a nine-year-old, to a SeaWorld centre.

The killer whale, Tilikum, was also reportedly involved in the death of a female trainer in Canada in 1991.

Other orcas were also said to have attacked trainers at SeaWorld parks in 2006 and 2004.

'Shoe floating'

A SeaWorld representative was quoted by Reuters as saying that the trainer, who had 16 years experience working with marine animals, was grabbed by the 12,000lb (5,450kg) killer whale as she rubbed its head. The firm has launched an investigation.

Eyewitnesses described how the whale "took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently. The last thing we saw was her shoe floating".

FEARSOME PREDATOR The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is largest species of dolphin family Known as orcas, they roam all the oceans, from the Arctic and Antarctic to tropical seas Can specialise in particular prey: salmon, sea lions, seals, or walruses, even large whales Considered under threat due to pollution, loss of prey and habitat Despite its savage reputation, there have been very few documented attacks on humans After success of 1993 film Free Willy, the movie's star Keiko was freed near his native Iceland What to do with captive orcas? Killer whale attack: Your comments

Several other people in the audience described how the whale had pulled Ms Brancheau underwater and appeared to be swimming with her.

The entertainment park, in Orlando, known for its killer whale, seal and dolphin displays, was closed after the incident.

Tilikum is said to have been involved in previous incidents, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports from Florida.

A SeaWorld spokesman said the orca had been one of three whales blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after she had fallen in a pool at a marine park in British Columbia, Canada.

After the whale - nicknamed Telly - was sold to SeaWorld Orlando it was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in 1999.

Officials later concluded the man, who had either crept into SeaWorld after closing time or hidden in the park until it closed, probably drowned after suffering hypothermia.

Though called a killer whale, the orca (Orcinus orca), is actually the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.

Animal rights group Peta says it has long been asking SeaWorld to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals and confining them to an area that, to them, is "the size of a bathtub".

Druid Greetings and Happy New Year!

Druid Greetings and Happy New Year!

The Druid Tradition is ancient, and represents one of the wellsprings of inspiration of the Western Spiritual Tradition. But even though it is ancient, it is as relevant and alive today as it ever has been. All spiritualities grow and change - and Druidism, or Druidry as it is also known, has changed too - and now it is experiencing a Renaissance. Druidry has become a vital and dynamic Nature-based spirituality that is flourishing all over the world, and that unites our love of the Earth with our love of creativity and the Arts. And flowing through all the exciting new developments in modern Druidism is the power of an ancient tradition: the love of land, sea and sky - the love of the Earth our home. A member writes: 'Druidry is a spirituality of simple things - of place and time, existence and imagination. It teaches the apreciation of sunrises and the sound of water. We are free to express divinity as we experience it. To those who are willing to learn, it teaches love and compassion, to listen to the song of our hearts and the music of the earth. And sometimes, hugging trees is in order!' Lily For information about the Order's home study course click here. LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS HERE! The Order is now a subject on the new UK GCSE curriculum. Details here Picture by Will Worthington from

eroding the traditional security nets system

!Waste not want not would be a useful maxim for the labour party and all those who have followed the financial

nonsense preached by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, the huge lies around the green word is so irritating and now

we have the depression , the equality trade is unequal and far from global, practice what you preach you narrow

minded hypocrits,consumerism leads to huge amounts of rubbish and pollution , quality of life for all not

glutony for all, feminists need retail therapy, women have cupboards full of clothes made by all the poor

people of India and China , outsourcing labour , what a grotesque landscape you have painted , the Nhs of

great Britain highlights the waste and immoral times which Blair is responsible for, the man spoke to the pope

before he went to war, and Jack Straw reckons he is a Christian, lying bastads, they and europe are a bunch of

self serving assholes, everything they have touched is now in disaster, you want the answers then follow richimag.

The housing market has been the backbone of the U.k. economy, relying on inflation to cover the fact that nobody

valued agriculture as the mainstay of survival , nobody wanted to include the cost of accomadation in the inflation

figures, all these financial gurus messed up big time and now 28 March 2009 these experts want to tell everybody

they how to fix the mess that they have created, why ?

Fat glutinous bastads in the media love to show us posh nosh on their cookery programs and then they sit in baths

full of baked beans to supposedly help the starving people around the world if they do not understand that that is

obscene then it is about time they were reeducated,this is the world and again the european communists are

telling us we are all the same , well we are not,

one of Shia Islam's most respected theologians

Ahmadinejad's theological foes

By Edward Stourton Analysis, BBC Radio 4

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri is one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fiercest critics

It is not often you find an email from a Grand Ayatollah in your inbox - especially not when the Ayatollah in question is a pivotal figure in one of the great dramas currently unfolding on the world stage.

Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri is one of Shia Islam's most respected theologians - he was a moving spirit behind the revolution which gave birth to an Islamic state in Iran 30 years ago, and at one stage he was designated to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini in the role of Iran's Supreme Leader.

The month after this summer's disputed presidential election he issued a fatwa condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

The Grand Ayatollah lives in Qom and does not often give interviews, but we thought we would take a punt by submitting some questions via his website.

The current decisions, which are being taken by the minority faction that is in power, are mainly against the interests of the country, and are not in keeping with Islamic principles and values Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Full text: Montazeri's email Who's who in Iran Visiting Iran's ayatollahs at Qom

The answers that came fizzing back make very strong copy indeed.

Montazeri tells Iran's clerics that they "can and must" act to bring about reform. They should, he declares, "be in step with the people" and tell them about their rights. He warns of dire consequences for Iran's religious authorities if they fail; the clerics' popular standing will, he says "become weaker and shakier".

It is to all intents and purposes an exhortation to take on the government.

Crackdown

The Grand Ayatollah's comments reflect a hugely significant shift in the dynamic driving events in post-election Iran. Mr Ahmadinejad does seem to have succeeded in suppressing the demonstrations which filled the streets of Tehran in the immediate aftermath of the vote.

But the popular anger that fired them has not gone away, and some of the most serious opposition to the regime now comes from the most unexpected source; many of the country's mainstream clergy and theologians want him to go.

Thousands of people protested against the result of the June poll

Because state and religion are presented as one and the same in the Islamic Republic, the sins of the state are tarnishing religion's reputation.

The problem has been growing for a while now; opposition journalists say all sorts of social ills, from drug addiction and prostitution to unemployment, are blamed on religion.

But with the election it has acquired a new dimension. Professor Ali Ansari of the Institute of Iranian Studies at St Andrew's University says that people were especially badly shaken by the fact that the violent post-election crackdown was carried out "in the name of Islam".

He cites the case of a minister's daughter who stopped praying because she was so shocked by what she had seen.

To many clergy it looks as if the actions taken by the president of the Islamic Republic are undermining support for the very religion the Republic was meant to serve.

Eccentric behaviour

And the clergy have another, more personal reason to fear the President; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad belongs to a minority sect of Shia Islam with a pronounced strain of anti-clericalism.

FIND OUT MORE... Analysis: Ayatollogy is on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 19 October at 2030 BST, and Sunday 25 October at 2130 BST Or hear it later on the iPlayer Or download the podcast

One of the mainstream teachings of Shia Islam is that the Prophet Mohammed's authority was inherited by a line of spiritual leaders known as Imams, and that in the 10th century the last of them, the 12th Imam, went into what's known as occultation - that is to say he didn't die, but he has been hidden from humanity ever since.

One day, the teaching goes, he will return, ushering in an age of justice and peace and, shortly thereafter, the end of times.

It is very like the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming, and most Shia Muslims understand it in a similar way - as something that will happen in God's good time.

But Mr Ahmadinejad belongs to a minority sect called the Hasteners; they believe that it is the duty of the faithful to prepare the way for the return of the Hidden Imam - or Mahdi - and perhaps even to create propitious conditions.

Professor Ansari says this has led to some eccentric behaviour by the president's entourage.

They have meals where they leave a place at the table in case the Imam appears, they have spent large amounts of money refurbishing a well at a shrine where it is thought the Imam may appear, and, Professor Ansari says, "they've even had fanciful notions of, when they write their cabinet proposals, taking a note and dropped it down the well so the imam can be aware of it".

Many Iranians find this kind of behaviour eccentric, and most orthodox clerics regard it as something akin to heresy. But beyond that it is accompanied by some inflammatory anti-clerical language.

Mehdi Khalaji, a Shia theologian now teaching in the United States, quotes a warning from one of the president's close aides; when the Hidden Imam returns, he said, "the first thing he does is to behead the clerics because... they've been corrupted by money and politics".

Whether clerical discontent with Mr Ahmadinejad will harden into real and effective political opposition is still very much an open question, but it does seem very likely that religion will play a central role in what now happens in Iran - just as it did during the country's last great political upheaval thirty years ago.

Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches

Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is spreading around the world and destroying the lives of millions of people, experts said on Wednesday. The experts -- United Nations officials, civil society representatives from affected countries and non-governmental organisation (NGO) specialists working on the issue -- urged governments to acknowledge the extent of the persecution. "This is becoming an international problem -- it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe," Jeff Crisp of the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organised by human rights officials of the world body. Aides to U.N. special investigators on women's rights and on summary executions said killings and violence against alleged witch women -- often elderly people -- were becoming common events in countries ranging from South Africa to India. And community workers from Nepal and Papua New Guinea told the seminar, on the fringes of a session of the U.N.'s 47-member Human Rights Council, that "witch-hunting" was now common, both in rural communities and larger population centres. Gary Foxcroft of British-based charity Stepping Stones- Nigeria said children living homeless on the streets in many countries had been driven out by families or communities because they were suspected of being witches. But increasingly children suspected of witchcraft -- usually on the basis of vague accusations -- were being killed because their parents feared they would have to take them back if the authorities identified them. Ulrich Garms from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the seminar that there were no reliable statistics on how many women and child "witches" were killed annually around the globe. Other U.N. officials tracking the problem said deaths ran into at least tens of thousands, and beatings, deprivation of property and banishment and isolation from community life meant victims of "witch frenzy" ran into millions. Speakers at the seminar agreed that poverty, exacerbated by the current world economic crisis, often lay behind the phenomenon as people sought to find scapegoats for their misfortunes and the illnesses they suffered. But some preachers of major religions and governments were also responsible, they said.

Source: Reuters

26,000yrs

word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj' which essentially means to join or unite. The union referred to is that of the individual self uniting with Cosmic Consciousness or the Universal Spirit. Yoga is a means to achieving this goal.

Born in India, almost 26,000 years ago, Yoga is believed to have evolved during the period of the ‘Sat Yuga’, also called the Golden age. This period became known as a time of everlasting peace and abundant blessings, filled with seekers of the Eternal Truth. That is why, probably, even today we associate yoga with sages and hermits.

It was not until the discovery of the Indus- valley civilization, the largest civilization, that knowledge about the origin of Yoga surfaced. Excavations give evidence of yoga’s existence during this period; yogi -like figures engraved on soapstone seals have been unearthed. In fact, it was the Aryans, migrating from the north- west, who were instrumental in discovering yoga.

Matching Quote

"Christianity, on the other hand, is humane, practical, and, in a large sense, radical. So many years and ages of the gods those Eastern sages sat contemplating Brahm, uttering in silence the mystic "Om," being absorbed into the essence of the Supreme Being, never going out of themselves, but subsiding farther and deeper within; so infinitely wise, yet infinitely stagnant; until, at last, in that same Asia, but in the western part of it, appeared a youth, wholly unforetold by them,—not being absorbed into Brahm, but bringing Brahm down to earth and to mankind; in whom Brahm had awakened from his long sleep, and exerted himself, and the day began,—a new avatar. The Brahman had never thought to be a brother of mankind as well as a child of God."

-Henry David Thoreau

angels

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Hint of planet outside our galaxy

angels at home now
Hint of planet outside our galaxy

By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The first planet to be seen outside the Milky Way may lie in Andromeda

Astronomers believe they have seen hints of the first planet to be spotted outside of our galaxy.

Situated in the Andromeda galaxy, the planet appears to be about six times the mass of Jupiter.

The method hinges on gravitational lensing, whereby a nearer object can bend the light of a distant star when the two align with an observer.

The results will be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

The team, made up of researchers from the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Italy and collaborators in Switzerland, Spain, and Russia, exploited a type of gravitational lensing called microlensing.

The effect of large, massive objects between an observer and a distant planet or star can cause distortion or multiple images as the intermediary object's gravity bends the passing light. Microlensing, by contrast, occurs when a less massive object lies in the middle.

The technology is in place to truly see planets of Jupiter's mass and even less in other galaxies

Francesco De Paolis
INFN

There is a noticeable increase in the observed intensity of light coming from the aligned pair as the intermediate object focuses the distant one's light.

Because the effect depends on smaller objects that will be moving quickly relative to one another, microlensing events are fleeting, happening over the course of minutes or hours. Moreover, the mutual alignment of two small, far-flung objects with an observer on the Earth is exceptionally rare.

For that reason, dense collections of millions of stars, such as the Andromeda galaxy, are surveyed in order to detect them.

'Exceptional'

Francesco De Paolis of the INFN and his colleagues developed a computer model to determine the likelihood of detecting an exoplanet via a microlensing event in the Andromeda galaxy.

They modelled the "light curve", the variation in light that a microlensed star would exhibit if it were being orbited by a companion - another star or a planet.

Having determined the clues that a planet in Andromeda would show, they returned to a survey completed in 2004 by the Point-Agape collaboration of astronomers that showed an unusual light curve.

That event, the group says, matches up to its theory and can be attributed to a companion of a mass about six times that of Jupiter.

That suggests either a planet, or a small companion star such as a brown dwarf.

Stronger gravitational lensing results in multiple images

Unfortunately, given that microlensing events from a given pair of objects happens just once, astronomers cannot return to the planet candidate to confirm the idea.

But Dr De Paolis is encouraged by the possibility of detecting planets at such phenomenal distances.

"The interesting thing is that the technology is in place to truly see planets of Jupiter's mass and even less in other galaxies," he told BBC News. "It's an exceptional thing."

Armed with the new theory, the authors of the work are looking to secure time on a larger telescope to continue with their observations in the hope of finding more candidates.

With about 350 extra-solar planets already found in our galactic neighbourhood, Dr De Paolis said, it was likely that such candidates were abundant. The difficulty is in catching sight of one through a gravitational lens.

"It's not easy, obviously," he said. "The problem is that we don't know when a gravitational microlensing event is going to happen."

shades of green

!Waste not want not would be a useful maxim for the labour party and all those who have followed the financial

nonsense preached by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, the huge lies around the green word is so irritating and now

we have the depression , the equality trade is unequal and far from global, practice what you preach you narrow

minded hypocrits,consumerism leads to huge amounts of rubbish and pollution , quality of life for all not

glutony for all, feminists need retail therapy, women have cupboards full of clothes made by all the poor

people of India and China , outsourcing labour , what a grotesque landscape you have painted , the Nhs of

great Britain highlights the waste and immoral times which Blair is responsible for, the man spoke to the pope

before he went to war, and Jack Straw reckons he is a Christian, lying bastads, they and europe are a bunch of

self serving assholes, everything they have touched is now in disaster, you want the answers then follow richimag.

The housing market has been the backbone of the U.k. economy, relying on inflation to cover the fact that nobody

valued agriculture as the mainstay of survival , nobody wanted to include the cost of accomadation in the inflation

figures, all these financial gurus messed up big time and now 28 March 2009 these experts want to tell everybody

they how to fix the mess that they have created, why ?

Fat glutinous bastads in the media love to show us posh nosh on their cookery programs and then they sit in baths

full of baked beans to supposedly help the starving people around the world if they do not understand that that is

obscene then it is about time they were reeducated,this is the world and again the european communists are

telling us we are all the same , well we are not,

teachers

spirit
"Your teachers are doubtless learned men. But why do they
strive to force their beliefs on us without first learning what our beliefs
are?...To show you how ignorant they are I shall tell you what we teach the
Common Man...We teach that he has a body; that within that body is a soul;
and within the soul is a spark or portion of something we call Itongo, which
the Common Man interprets as the Universal Spirit of the Tribe...

distant stars in distant Galaxies

Some enlightened brains would like to include primates like the Gorilla in the social
care we are trying to establish . Basic rights to protect them from anialation and
disappearance .
Surely this is natural selection finished , the endless unknown is over , on this planet at the
moments past present and future , one species has reached the point which could have been
reached long previous in other places , distant stars in distant Galaxies should be farther ahead.Species is a very misleading term

Following traditional Darwinism