The thin crescent Moon is oriented “on its back”

Like a smile, in the fading dusk from the 14th to the 17th. Welcoming the Lunar New Year of the Tiger with open arms.

Islamic lunar calenders mark this day as the beginning of Rabi-1, Rabi' al-awwal (Rabī' I). In the year 1410 or ETA: February 15th 2010.

Rabi' al-awwal (ربيع الأول) is the third month in the Islamic calendar. The prophet Muhammad is considered by some Sunni Muslims to have been born on the twelfth of this month, and many Muslims celebrate the Mawlid on this day. Shi'a Muslims believe him to have been born on the dawn of the seventeenth day. The name means the first [month]/beginning of spring. (Wikipedia)

So it looks like the Lunar spring of 2010 will enter early.

Significant Events:

Chinese New Year of the Tiger: The Tiger ( 虎 ), is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the earthly branch symbol 寅.

12 Rabī‘ al-Awwal, some Sunni's observe Mawlid in commemoration of the Muhammad's birthday
17 Rabī‘ al-Awwal, Shi‘ah Muslims celebrate the birthday of Muhammad and the Shī‘ah Imām, Ja‘far al-Sādiq.
18 Rabī‘ al-Awwal, birth of Umm Khultum bint Ali
26 Rabī‘ al-Awwal, death of Abu Talib ibn Abdul Muttalib

Historical events:

*The Hijra (migration) took place in this month
Eid-e-Zahra (a.k.a. Eid e shuja), a celebration of Shi‘ah Muslims
Marriage of Muhammad to Khadijah
Building of the Quba Mosque (1st mosque in Islam)

The Year Of The Tiger:

02/14/2010 - 02/02/2011 (Metal)

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2010 is the Year of a Golden Tiger, which begins on February 14, 2010 and ends on February 2, 2011. The first day of the lunar New Year 2010 falls on the 14th day of February, which is Saint Valentine's Day, so it is a day the West celebrates as a lovers' day, a day of romance. To the Chinese, it is the start of the Golden Tiger Year. The Tiger is the third sign in the cycle of Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animal signs. It is a sign of courage. This fearless and fiery fighter is revered by the ancient Chinese as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household: fire, thieves and ghosts. On New Year's day itself, it is beneficial to celebrate, to be happy, to have smiling faces, and to refrain from scowling, quarreling, or criticizing anyone.

Tigers are rebels. They are both colorful and unpredictable. Their energy and love of life are stimulating.They love being the center of attention and never go unnoticed. Tigers are impatient and always look for action.They speak their minds when upset and have suspicious natures.

But in spite of their quick tempers, they are sincere, generous and very affectionate. They also possess a great sense of humor. Tigers like people, involvement,and dedication to humanitarian causes. They seek out adventures, and at certain points in their lives, they will be very rebellious. They must act out some of their ideals and lash out at the wrongs of society. Tigers are so daring that they acquire many admirers. Those who disapprove of what Tigers do still will secretly admire Tigers for their actions.

When Tigers are injured they need all-out sympathy. Logic does not appeal to them. They want to be comforted. They will listen sincerely to the advice you give, and then do exactly as they please. Since they have a lot of spunk, no matter how down and out they get,they never give up. They can always start over again.

People born during the year of the Tiger have super egos. Tread lightly and don't hurt their feelings. They may never forgive you! Tigers are romantic, passionate, and playful. They are also extremely jealous and possessive. If they do not learn to control their emotions, they could cause themselves much trouble.The lives of Tigers are full of emotional situations, but they love it that way. They love life and want to live it to the fullest.

Optimistic, Tigers always bounce back for new and fresh challenges. Tigers are very generous with rewards when you have pleased them. Being delightful hosts, Tigers go all-out to see that you have a good time. They are intense individuals, especially when upset and angry, but Tigers are famous for their ability in influencing others and swaying crowds.

Fri, Feb 5, 2010  Permanent link
Categories: Astronomy, Lunar, New Year

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Mystery radio signal could be from universe's first stars

A balloon-borne experiment has turned up a mysterious radio signal that seems to be coming from beyond the Milky Way. Astronomers do not yet have a clear explanation for the static, but say it could come from the universe's first generation of stars.

The noise was found with a balloon-borne instrument called ARCADE, which flew for four hours at an altitude of 37 kilometres above Texas in July 2006. The instrument mapped a doughnut-shaped region that covered some 7% of the sky.

The team intended to look for slight deviations in the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, the first radiation emitted after the big bang.

Instead, after subtracting known radio sources in the Milky Way and other galaxies, an unexplained radio static was left that seemed to pervade the sky and was some six times louder than all known astronomical sources combined at the same radio frequency.

"It is exciting evidence of something new and interesting going on in the universe," ARCADE leader Alan Kogut of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
First starlight?

The source of the signal is not clear. One possibility is that it is the last gasp of the universe's first stars, stellar behemoths that were hundreds of times more massive than the Sun and died within the first billion years after the big bang. As their cores collapsed into black holes, the stars may have spewed out jets of charged particles that produced radio emission. That emission might account for the unexplained signal.

In 2005, another team of astronomers made a similar claim about detecting infrared light from the earliest stars. They said that infrared light that the Spitzer telescope could not trace to individual stars or galaxies might have been the diffuse glow of the universe's first stars, but others counteredMovie Camera that it came from nearby galaxies that were just too faint for Spitzer to see.

Another possibility is that the mysterious radio signal could be created in distant galaxies, whose supermassive black holes whip charged particles up to high speeds, generating radio emission.
High precision

This signal has not been seen until now because ground-based telescopes did not have the required precision to detect it, team member Michael Seiffert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California told New Scientist.

To see the radio signal, ARCADE carried some 2000 litres of liquid helium to cool its detectors and instruments, bringing it to some -270 °C. Creating similar conditions on Earth would require sealing a telescope in a vacuum chamber. That would reduce the precision of the observations by placing a barrier between the telescope and the radiation it is meant to detect.

The team is confident they have found a true signal. "We don't think there's a lot of wiggle room in the result," Seiffert said.

But Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who was not part of the team, says it will take time for others to interpret the result. "It's a really tricky measurement, since you're trying to subtract all these [known] sources," he told New Scientist.

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Thu, Jan 8, 2009  Permanent link
Categories: Science, Astronomy, Cosmic, Entropy, Big Bang, Background Radiation

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