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Pronounce cassiopeia7/25/2023 ![]() In particular, the Chinese and the Inca both grouped their constellations according to the four seasons. Observations of the skyscape and celestial patterns have always been exchanged among people of various cultures. As we invented languages and symbols, we learned to exchange knowledge and communicate with others of our species. However, humans are also social animals and love to exchange. Several network analysis studies have shown that the stellar patterns were grouped in similar ways all over the Earth (Bucur 2021, 2022 Kemp et al., 2022). The effect of human cognition that makes us see patterns in arbitrary configurations (like clouds, mountain chains, or stars) is studied by gestalt psychology. The images interpreted by cultural groups from patterns of stars depend on the natural environment and cultural habits: only people who have seen emus can interpret such a bird in an arbitrary pattern in the sky. For the Inuit in the far north, this was the prediction of the return of the Sun for the Egyptians, it was the flood of the Nile for the Babylonians and others in the monsoon zone, it was the predominant direction of the wind and for the Aboriginal Australians, it was the emu’s breeding cycle. They developed astronomical methods for navigation in space and time, in particular, to determine their calendars: to measure equinoxes and solstices and to predict the seasonal behaviour of nature. Therefore, all cultures have long traditions of using astronomy as a tool of survival. Ancient peoples noticed that the rising and setting points of the Sun and the Moon, as well as the visibility of stars, change throughout the year. But it's a natural consequence of the physics, if you apply the theory under these extreme conditions.Ever since people first wandered the Earth, great significance has been given to objects seen in the sky. "A photon suddenly converting from one flavor to another - you don't usually see this kind of thing. "You can think about the polarization as two flavors of photons," Lai continued. The polarity could therefore cause high-energy X-rays to swing 90 degrees relative to low-energy X-rays. Because they have a charge, however, these particles are influenced by the magnetar's powerful magnetic field. Lai said that in this phase, photons that have no electric charge could convert into a virtual pair of particles (an electron and a positron) that have equal and opposite charges but still combine to a net zero charge. QED predicts that as X-ray photons leave the tenuous atmosphere of a neutron star's surrounding plasma - hot and magnetized gas - the photons pass through a phase called vacuum resonance. This image uses data from the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal the remnant in a new light. Related: Bizarre object 10 million times brighter than the sun defies physics, NASA saysĬassiopeia A is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. ![]() "QED is one of the most successful physics theories, but it had not been tested in such strong magnetic field conditions." "In this observation of radiation from a faraway celestial object, we see a beautiful effect that is a manifestation of intricate, fundamental physics," Lai said. ![]() ![]() "Photon metamorphosis" is an element of quantum electrodynamics (QED), which is a field of physics examining subatomic interactions between electrons and photons. "Photon metamorphosis," meaning the transformation of X-ray photons into electrons and positrons, may be able to explain the weird behavior of X-rays around magnetars, Cornell University astrophysics professor Dong Lai said in a May 4 statement. Both energetic ray sets were oriented at 90 degrees to the electromagnetic field of the magnetar. IXPE information suggested that may be the case after looking at X-rays in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A around the magnetar 4U 0142+61, located 13,000 light-years away.Īs the first-ever measurement of the polarization of X-rays around a magnetar, the IXPE observations showed that lower energy X-rays were polarized at 180 degrees to the high-energy X-rays. But, scientists were surprised in 2022 when data collected by NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite, which launched the year before, showed polarization may depend on energy. ![]()
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