Researchers last week reached the midpoint in building a pair of observatories designed to pinpoint the location of cataclysmic events sensed by gravitational wave detectors so that other astronomers can quickly zoom in on the aftermath. The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) uses two sets of 16 small telescopes, one in the Canary Islands—now operational—and one in Australia, whose construction has just started. They will swing into action automatically when gravitational wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States and Virgo in Italy, register a space-time ripple caused by events such as a merger of two black holes. Such detectors don’t give precise locations, so GOTO’s scopes will sweep the region of space for rapidly brightening objects that could be the source of the wave; operators will then send alerts, giving more sensitive optical telescopes a location to aim at. A neutron star merger, spotted gravitationally in 2017, produced visible signals, but telescopes took 11 hours to find them after the event became known, and missed the explosion’s early phases. The £4.4 million GOTO telescopes hope to do better and flag candidates in half an hour. Project leaders aim to be ready by March 2023, when upgrades to LIGO and Virgo are finished and they begin their next observing runs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared the global monkeypox outbreak, which has sickened more than 15,000 in at least 70 countries, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), even though a sharply divided advisory committee had not recommended doing so. In June, WHO’s Emergency Committee for monkeypox first advised against giving the epidemic PHEIC status—which grants WHO extra powers and helps focus political attention on an outbreak—a decision that was widely criticized. At its second meeting on 21 July, the panel could not reach a consensus, with nine members opposing a PHEIC declaration and six supporting it. (The meeting was followed by tense exchanges between participants via email and text messages, Science has learned.) Opponents noted that monkeypox is not yet circulating in the general population; it has been observed mostly in men who have sex with men. But others argued for action now because there is a danger the virus could become established long-term in the wider population. On 23 July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak met criteria in the International Health Regulations and, in an unprecedented move, declared a PHEIC anyway.
The first NASA robotic rover to visit the Moon will be delayed by a year, launching in November 2024, the agency announced last week. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, known as VIPER, will land at the Moon’s south pole, hunting for water ice. The delay, which will nudge the $754 million mission closer to the planned launch by China of a similar device, will allow further testing of the lunar lander, developed by Astrobotic Technology, that will carry the rover in the lander’s first lunar touchdown.
International Conference on Gravitational Waves
visit:https://gravitational-waves.sfconferences.com/
Nomination link :x-i.me/granom Registration link :x-i.me/grareg2
No comments:
Post a Comment