Month: June 2020

Astronomers have finally measured the distance of first observed Einstein ring

The celestial object, a quasar known as MG 1131+0456, is 10 billion light years away.

A radio image of MG 1131+0456, the first observed Einstein ring, taken with the Very Large Array network of radio telescopes.

Enlarge / A radio image of MG 1131+0456, the first observed Einstein ring, taken with the Very Large Array network of radio telescopes. (credit: VLA)

Astronomers around the world may have lost access to their telescopes during the coronavirus pandemic, sheltering in place along with the rest of us, but that hasn't kept them from advancing their field. Two astronomers used the shutdown to comb through existing datasets to hunt for a rare type of quasar and wound up rediscovering a so-called "Einstein ring" first observed back in 1987. They became the first to officially measure its distance from Earth, as reported in a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

An Einstein ring is a direct consequence of the general theory of relativity; mass bends and warps spacetime, and light must follow that curvature. (An Einstein cross is an even rarer effect.) As Matthew Francis reported for Ars back in 2012:

For a sufficiently large mass, the light's shift may be sufficiently large that we can measure it, and it can produce lensed images of the original light source. In gravitational lensing, the lens is a galaxy or galaxy cluster lying between Earth and a distant source, itself typically a galaxy. If the lens is directly in the line of sight, the image of the source galaxy can be distorted into an Einstein ring, a circular image of the source. By studying the shape and other characteristics of the image, observers can reconstruct details about both the lens and the source galaxies.

Einstein himself thought an Einstein ring would be impossible to observe, but he was thinking of rings formed by stars, noting that it would be highly improbable to get stars to align in just the right way to produce the "halo" effect. A single star would also form too small of a lens, thereby defying, as Einstein observed in a 1936 paper, "the resolving power of our instruments." (The angular size of an Einstein ring increases with the mass of the lens.) But galaxies (and galaxy clusters) do make for a sufficiently massive lens.

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Brexit: Zweierlei Unfaires

Brüssel fordert “Level Playing Fields” und übt bei den Verhandlungen mit der Möglichkeit der Nichtanerkennung von Zivil- und Handelsrechtsurteilen Druck aus

Brüssel fordert "Level Playing Fields" und übt bei den Verhandlungen mit der Möglichkeit der Nichtanerkennung von Zivil- und Handelsrechtsurteilen Druck aus

Vicodin, ketamine, and caffeine: The ingredients of a good space pharmacy

If humans want to live longterm in space, they’ll need medicines—research is scarce for now.

As trusty as your grandparents' medicine cabinet from 1988 might be, you can't simply transport all this into space and safely assume results.

Enlarge / As trusty as your grandparents' medicine cabinet from 1988 might be, you can't simply transport all this into space and safely assume results. (credit: Barbara Alper/Getty Images)

In space, no one can hear you sneeze. But if an astronaut does catch the flu, it can be a major problem. With the nearest Walgreens several hundred kilometers away, every medication an astronaut could possibly need on a space mission must be packed beforehand. It makes designing a pharmacy for space extremely complicated.

On top of that, of course, space itself poses potential medical issues. That extreme environment is known to warp the human body, shift fluids, and shrink bones, among other things. But microgravity can also affect how medications are metabolized, potentially making drugs less effective or even toxic.

Yet, despite 60 years of humanity sending individuals to space, there has been alarmingly little research into how meds work differently off-planet. While self-medicating in space has been common, there aren’t great records of who took what, when they took it, and how it did or didn’t help. There is some evidence that certain meds can be less potent in space and radiation may even degrade medications—but really, experts just aren’t sure.

Read 43 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Movie Studios Apply For Injunction Against ISP With “Close Links” to The Pirate Bay

Two movie companies have applied for an information injunction against a Sweden-based Internet company that they believe has “close ties” to The Pirate Bay. An IP address operated by Obenetwork was handed over to the studios by Cloudflare last week as part of an investigation being carried out by anti-piracy group Rights Alliance.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Despite dozens of legal actions against The Pirate Bay, including the jailing of its founders, the world’s most famous torrent site remains online today.

That it continues to operate can only be an irritant to the many companies that have partnered to take it down and at least for a while, it seemed that tackling the site may have fallen down the list of priorities. Now, however, there is clear evidence that movie companies in Scandinavia are back on the trail.

Svensk Filmindustri is the leading distribution and production company in the Nordic region. Denmark-based Nordisk Film is one of the oldest film studios in the world. With the assistance of Swedish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, they have taken a keen interest in an Internet service provider and hosting company that they claim have “close ties” to The Pirate Bay.

Cloudflare Handed Over an IP Address Linked to TPB

The Pirate Bay’s real IP addresses are a closely guarded secret since these can be useful in tracking down where its servers are physically located. When people access the site they currently see IP addresses related to Cloudflare, the CDN company through which The Pirate Bay reaches the public. However, when faced with a copyright infringement complaint, Cloudflare will hand over a clients’ hosting details.

After being issued with a copyright infringement complaint, Cloudflare recently handed over an IP address that was reportedly being used by The Pirate Bay on June 2, 2020. According to Dagensjuridik, the movie companies and Rights Alliance then used this information to formulate an application for an information injunction against the IP address operator, Obenetwork.

Staff at Obenetwork Have “Close Ties” to The Pirate Bay

The application is characterized by its urgency. The studios asked the court not to hear Obenetworks in the matter but to issue a swift order that would prevent Obenetworks from destroying information detailing its business dealings with The Pirate Bay or face a fine of SEK 100,000 (US$10,872).

“[T]here is reason to believe that the staff of the defendant [Obenetwork] have close links to Pirate Bay. There is a risk that the information requested by the applicant will be destroyed or prevented from being disclosed,” the application reads.

“Staff at Obenetworks have appeared in previous investigations against Pirate bay. There is thus a risk that the information referred to in the action could be destroyed or withheld from the applicants.”

Complaining of ongoing infringement of their copyrights via The Pirate Bay, the studios state that an order to obtain the information held by Obenetwork is the only option they have to enforce their rights.

Information Road to Nowhere?

The big question now is whether this information – should it be handed over at all – will be of any assistance to the movie studios in their quest to track down their prey.

The operators of The Pirate Bay are veterans when it comes to dealing with anti-piracy actions and they will be acutely aware that Cloudflare hands over server details when it has a legal obligation to do so.

On that basis, it seems reasonable to conclude that TPB’s operators knew this day would come and that the IP address at Obenetwork won’t yield anything directly useful. It could, however, provide another piece of the puzzle.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.