Cosmic rays may reveal new physics just out of LHC’s reach (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“Most of these experiments required the reduction of the cosmic ray muon flux in order to be successful, and the group necessarily became expert in the operation of deep underground laboratories.” -Frederick Reines

High-energy particles from space, generated from stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, active galaxies and more, can far exceed the energies achievable by accelerators like the LHC. Even if you take into account the severe difference in available energy for producing new particles, cosmic rays still have the edge. But because there are so many interactions for them to undergo before they strike the ground, the signal gets incredibly messy.

The production of a cosmic ray shower, produced by an incredibly energetic particle from far outside our Solar System. Image credit: Pierre Auger Observatory, via http://ift.tt/11Wasx4.

Preliminary detection results showed a discrepancy between what’s predicted — that a certain percent of the energy should be in photons vs. muons — and additional tests were deemed necessary. Now they’ve implemented a new method with the most advanced detector arrays, and the discrepancy is stronger than ever. Could this be the sign of new physics that particle physicists have been hoping for?

The quark-gluon plasma of the early Universe. Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory.

If it is, it’s the strongest motivation ever to build a new collider 10 times as energetic as the LHC, as it will finally take us beyond the Standard Model, experimentally!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2g1I3xY

“Most of these experiments required the reduction of the cosmic ray muon flux in order to be successful, and the group necessarily became expert in the operation of deep underground laboratories.” -Frederick Reines

High-energy particles from space, generated from stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, active galaxies and more, can far exceed the energies achievable by accelerators like the LHC. Even if you take into account the severe difference in available energy for producing new particles, cosmic rays still have the edge. But because there are so many interactions for them to undergo before they strike the ground, the signal gets incredibly messy.

The production of a cosmic ray shower, produced by an incredibly energetic particle from far outside our Solar System. Image credit: Pierre Auger Observatory, via http://ift.tt/11Wasx4.

Preliminary detection results showed a discrepancy between what’s predicted — that a certain percent of the energy should be in photons vs. muons — and additional tests were deemed necessary. Now they’ve implemented a new method with the most advanced detector arrays, and the discrepancy is stronger than ever. Could this be the sign of new physics that particle physicists have been hoping for?

The quark-gluon plasma of the early Universe. Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory.

If it is, it’s the strongest motivation ever to build a new collider 10 times as energetic as the LHC, as it will finally take us beyond the Standard Model, experimentally!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2g1I3xY

Trump calls for a year in jail for flag burners [Greg Laden's Blog]

Flag burning may be obnoxious to many, but it is a constitutionally protected act, as long as it is your flag and you do it outside.

Presumptive President Elect Donald Trump has called for severe penalties for flag burners:

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016

I was about to write a post about something else Donald Trump tweeted, but I got distracted by this latest tweet, from just a few minutes ago.

I’ll be back.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2gEFIc8

Flag burning may be obnoxious to many, but it is a constitutionally protected act, as long as it is your flag and you do it outside.

Presumptive President Elect Donald Trump has called for severe penalties for flag burners:

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016

I was about to write a post about something else Donald Trump tweeted, but I got distracted by this latest tweet, from just a few minutes ago.

I’ll be back.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2gEFIc8

Supernovas and ultra-diffuse galaxies

Our Milky Way galaxy is thought to have some 100 billion stars, or more. But astronomers now know of some very faint galaxies, containing up to 1,000 times fewer stars, yet spread over just as large an area of space as the Milky Way. They call them ultra-diffuse galaxies, and wonder what made them. On November 28, 2016, astronomers announced new research, showing that if a lot of supernovae explode during the star formation process, both stars and the dark matter in a galaxy might be pushed outwards, causing the galaxy to expand. They think the ultra-diffuse faint galaxies might have formed in this way.

The movie above shows a computer simulation of the formation of an ultra-diffuse galaxy. The movie follows the galaxy’s gas component. Several outflows (fountains) of gas being launched out of the galaxy’s center are visible through the life of the galaxy. These scientists say these outflows – spawned by supernova explosions – are responsible for creating the expanded stars and dark matter of ultra-diffuse galaxies.

The results of this study are published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Astrophysicist Arianna Di Cintio of the Dark Cosmology Centre, Neils Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

Astrophysicist Arianna Di Cintio at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark is the leading researcher of this project. Her team performed advanced computer simulations in collaboration with the New York University in Abu Dhabi. She said in a statement:

By recreating almost 100 virtual galaxies, we have shown that when there are a lot of supernovae during the star formation process, it can result in the stars and the dark matter in the galaxy to be pushed outwards, causing the extent of the galaxy to expand.

When there is a small number of stars in an expanded area, it means that the galaxy becomes faint and diffuse and is therefore difficult to observe with telescopes.

Comparison of an ultra-diffuse galaxy with the nearby large Andromeda galaxy, an ordinary spiral galaxy and our Milky Way’s nearest large neighbor. Also, notice the comparative brightness of the Andromeda galaxy’s 2 satellite galaxies. They are ordinary dwarf elliptical galaxies, much brighter than an ultra-diffuse galaxy.

Di Cintio also said that the mechanism that causes the stars to move away from the galaxy’s center is the same one that is able to create areas with a lower density of dark matter. The many supernovae are so powerful that they blow the gas outwards in the galaxy. As a result both the dark matter and the stars move outwards so that the extent of the galaxy expands. The fact that the galaxy is spread over a larger area means that it becomes more diffuse and unclear. She said:

If we can recreate ultra-diffuse galaxies with computer simulations, it proves that we are on track with our cosmological model.

We therefore predict that there are ultra-diffuse galaxies everywhere – not only in galaxy clusters. They are dominated by dark matter and only a small percentage of their content is comprised of gas and stars and the most important thing is that they are dwarf galaxies with a mass of only about 10 to 60 times less than a large spiral galaxy …

Why do astronomers care about these faint dwarf galaxies? In recent years, they’ve been baffled by the lack of observable dwarf galaxies in our universe, and have been trying to explain why we see so few. That’s because standard cosmology calls for many more dwarf galaxies than we see.

These researchers described a next step, in which they hope to further confirm their ideas – and help confirm standard cosmology – by finding more ultra-diffuse galaxies. They said the largest could contain more gas and are, therefore, initiating close collaborations with research groups carrying out observations of very distant areas of the sky with powerful telescopes.

Arianna Di Cintio said she is looking forward to finding more ultra-diffuse galaxies, and learning how many stars they have, their content of elements and how the ultra-diffuse galaxies survive in galaxy clusters. She said:

It will open a whole new window into galaxy formation. There may be thousands of ultra-faint galaxies that are just waiting to be discovered.

Because ultra diffuse galaxies (circled) are much fainter than ordinary galaxies, they are harder to find. But astronomers intend to find ways to search for them.

Bottom line: Ultra-diffuse galaxies are small in their number of stars, but extremely spread out in space. How did they get that way? Astronomers used an advanced computer simulation to show that supernova explosions can cause both both stars and dark matter in a galaxy to be pushed outwards, causing the galaxy to expand and creating an ultra-diffuse galaxy.

Via University of Denmark

Read more: Dragonfly 44, a galaxy made of 99.9% dark matter

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2fHnXbk

Our Milky Way galaxy is thought to have some 100 billion stars, or more. But astronomers now know of some very faint galaxies, containing up to 1,000 times fewer stars, yet spread over just as large an area of space as the Milky Way. They call them ultra-diffuse galaxies, and wonder what made them. On November 28, 2016, astronomers announced new research, showing that if a lot of supernovae explode during the star formation process, both stars and the dark matter in a galaxy might be pushed outwards, causing the galaxy to expand. They think the ultra-diffuse faint galaxies might have formed in this way.

The movie above shows a computer simulation of the formation of an ultra-diffuse galaxy. The movie follows the galaxy’s gas component. Several outflows (fountains) of gas being launched out of the galaxy’s center are visible through the life of the galaxy. These scientists say these outflows – spawned by supernova explosions – are responsible for creating the expanded stars and dark matter of ultra-diffuse galaxies.

The results of this study are published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Astrophysicist Arianna Di Cintio of the Dark Cosmology Centre, Neils Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

Astrophysicist Arianna Di Cintio at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark is the leading researcher of this project. Her team performed advanced computer simulations in collaboration with the New York University in Abu Dhabi. She said in a statement:

By recreating almost 100 virtual galaxies, we have shown that when there are a lot of supernovae during the star formation process, it can result in the stars and the dark matter in the galaxy to be pushed outwards, causing the extent of the galaxy to expand.

When there is a small number of stars in an expanded area, it means that the galaxy becomes faint and diffuse and is therefore difficult to observe with telescopes.

Comparison of an ultra-diffuse galaxy with the nearby large Andromeda galaxy, an ordinary spiral galaxy and our Milky Way’s nearest large neighbor. Also, notice the comparative brightness of the Andromeda galaxy’s 2 satellite galaxies. They are ordinary dwarf elliptical galaxies, much brighter than an ultra-diffuse galaxy.

Di Cintio also said that the mechanism that causes the stars to move away from the galaxy’s center is the same one that is able to create areas with a lower density of dark matter. The many supernovae are so powerful that they blow the gas outwards in the galaxy. As a result both the dark matter and the stars move outwards so that the extent of the galaxy expands. The fact that the galaxy is spread over a larger area means that it becomes more diffuse and unclear. She said:

If we can recreate ultra-diffuse galaxies with computer simulations, it proves that we are on track with our cosmological model.

We therefore predict that there are ultra-diffuse galaxies everywhere – not only in galaxy clusters. They are dominated by dark matter and only a small percentage of their content is comprised of gas and stars and the most important thing is that they are dwarf galaxies with a mass of only about 10 to 60 times less than a large spiral galaxy …

Why do astronomers care about these faint dwarf galaxies? In recent years, they’ve been baffled by the lack of observable dwarf galaxies in our universe, and have been trying to explain why we see so few. That’s because standard cosmology calls for many more dwarf galaxies than we see.

These researchers described a next step, in which they hope to further confirm their ideas – and help confirm standard cosmology – by finding more ultra-diffuse galaxies. They said the largest could contain more gas and are, therefore, initiating close collaborations with research groups carrying out observations of very distant areas of the sky with powerful telescopes.

Arianna Di Cintio said she is looking forward to finding more ultra-diffuse galaxies, and learning how many stars they have, their content of elements and how the ultra-diffuse galaxies survive in galaxy clusters. She said:

It will open a whole new window into galaxy formation. There may be thousands of ultra-faint galaxies that are just waiting to be discovered.

Because ultra diffuse galaxies (circled) are much fainter than ordinary galaxies, they are harder to find. But astronomers intend to find ways to search for them.

Bottom line: Ultra-diffuse galaxies are small in their number of stars, but extremely spread out in space. How did they get that way? Astronomers used an advanced computer simulation to show that supernova explosions can cause both both stars and dark matter in a galaxy to be pushed outwards, causing the galaxy to expand and creating an ultra-diffuse galaxy.

Via University of Denmark

Read more: Dragonfly 44, a galaxy made of 99.9% dark matter

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2fHnXbk

New moon is November 29

Youngest possible lunar crescent, with the moon’s age being exactly zero when this photo was taken — at the instant of new moon – 0714 UTC on July 8, 2013. Image by Thierry Legault. Visit his website.

The ghostly image at the top of this post is a new moon. When the moon is new, its lighted half is facing entirely away from Earth, and its night face is facing us. That’s why we can’t see the moon at this time.

New moon comes on November 29 at 12:18 UTC. Translate to your time zone.

Lunar 101 – Moon Book caught the moon on the day before new moon, November 28, 2016 – 1% illuminated 4° altitude – just above the sunrise.

On the day of any new moon, most of us can’t see the moon with the eye alone for several reasons. First, at new moon, the moon rises when the sun rises. It sets when the sun sets. It crosses the sky with the sun during the day. A new moon is too close to the sun’s glare to be visible with the eye. It’s only as the moon moves in orbit, as its lighted hemisphere begins to come into view from Earth, that we can see it in our sky.

So you likely won’t see the moon on November 29, unless – like Thierry Legault whose photo appears at the top of this post – you are using special equipment. Modern techniques – telescopes, filters, photography – have made it possible to see the moon even at the instant of new moon. That’s the case with Legault’s image, which he acquired in 2013. Read more about that image here.

A new moon is more or less between the Earth and sun. Its lighted half is turned entirely away from us. Image via memrise.com.

It is possible to see a new moon if a solar eclipse takes place. Composite image of a 2006 solar eclipse by Fred Espenak. Read his article on the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, first one visible from contiguous North America since 1979.

We can’t see a new moon from Earth, except during the stirring moments of a solar eclipse. Then the moon passes in front of the sun, and the night side of the moon can be seen in silhouette against the disk of the sun. Meanwhile, if you could travel in a spaceship to the opposite side of the moon, you’d see it shining brightly in daylight.

Once each month, the moon comes all the way around in its orbit so that it is more or less between us and the sun. If the moon always passed directly between the sun and Earth at new moon, a solar eclipse would take place every month.

But that doesn’t happen every month. Instead, in most months, the moon passes above or below the sun as seen from our earthly vantage point.

Then a day or two later, the moon reappears, in the west after sunset. Then it’s a slim waxing crescent visible only briefly after sunset – what some call a young moon.

A typical young moon sighting, for most people with ordinary eyesight, comes when the moon is around 24 hours from new, or more. At the moment there are planets in the west after sunset. The moon will be moving up past first Mercury, and then Venus, in the evenings ahead.

A very thin young moon will be extremely low in the west after sunset on November 30. It’ll be near the planet Mercury. Read more.

The moon will be a fatter waxing crescent – easier to see after sunset – when it passes Venus on December 2, 2016. Read more.

As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.

Four keys to understanding moon phases

Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase

Moon in 2016: Phases, cycles, eclipses, supermoons and more

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/19T9DUm

Youngest possible lunar crescent, with the moon’s age being exactly zero when this photo was taken — at the instant of new moon – 0714 UTC on July 8, 2013. Image by Thierry Legault. Visit his website.

The ghostly image at the top of this post is a new moon. When the moon is new, its lighted half is facing entirely away from Earth, and its night face is facing us. That’s why we can’t see the moon at this time.

New moon comes on November 29 at 12:18 UTC. Translate to your time zone.

Lunar 101 – Moon Book caught the moon on the day before new moon, November 28, 2016 – 1% illuminated 4° altitude – just above the sunrise.

On the day of any new moon, most of us can’t see the moon with the eye alone for several reasons. First, at new moon, the moon rises when the sun rises. It sets when the sun sets. It crosses the sky with the sun during the day. A new moon is too close to the sun’s glare to be visible with the eye. It’s only as the moon moves in orbit, as its lighted hemisphere begins to come into view from Earth, that we can see it in our sky.

So you likely won’t see the moon on November 29, unless – like Thierry Legault whose photo appears at the top of this post – you are using special equipment. Modern techniques – telescopes, filters, photography – have made it possible to see the moon even at the instant of new moon. That’s the case with Legault’s image, which he acquired in 2013. Read more about that image here.

A new moon is more or less between the Earth and sun. Its lighted half is turned entirely away from us. Image via memrise.com.

It is possible to see a new moon if a solar eclipse takes place. Composite image of a 2006 solar eclipse by Fred Espenak. Read his article on the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, first one visible from contiguous North America since 1979.

We can’t see a new moon from Earth, except during the stirring moments of a solar eclipse. Then the moon passes in front of the sun, and the night side of the moon can be seen in silhouette against the disk of the sun. Meanwhile, if you could travel in a spaceship to the opposite side of the moon, you’d see it shining brightly in daylight.

Once each month, the moon comes all the way around in its orbit so that it is more or less between us and the sun. If the moon always passed directly between the sun and Earth at new moon, a solar eclipse would take place every month.

But that doesn’t happen every month. Instead, in most months, the moon passes above or below the sun as seen from our earthly vantage point.

Then a day or two later, the moon reappears, in the west after sunset. Then it’s a slim waxing crescent visible only briefly after sunset – what some call a young moon.

A typical young moon sighting, for most people with ordinary eyesight, comes when the moon is around 24 hours from new, or more. At the moment there are planets in the west after sunset. The moon will be moving up past first Mercury, and then Venus, in the evenings ahead.

A very thin young moon will be extremely low in the west after sunset on November 30. It’ll be near the planet Mercury. Read more.

The moon will be a fatter waxing crescent – easier to see after sunset – when it passes Venus on December 2, 2016. Read more.

As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.

Four keys to understanding moon phases

Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase

Moon in 2016: Phases, cycles, eclipses, supermoons and more

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/19T9DUm

Northern lights from the air

Shreenivasan Manievannan captured this photo on November 2, 2016 from an airplane flying over northern Canada, near the Arctic Circle.

Shreenivasan Manievannan submitted these photos taken of the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

He shot the first (above) from inside the airplane while traveling from the U.S. to Dubai. Shreeni wrote:

I was keeping a watch every now and then once we reached the high latitudes to see if the auroras were out. Finally, when we were flying over the icy Canadian landscape, I got to see the stunning active auroras shining and dancing bright in the sky.

This was shot with a Canon dslr at a ISO of 16000, f 3.2 for 3.2s exposure handheld.

I covered up myself trying to protect myself away from light reflections coming off the flight indoors.

He caught the second photo (below) while flying near the North Pole and said:

I got the approximate location from airplane interactive maps. I believe it was a rare occurrence to shoot auroras from the vicinity of the North Pole as they generally do not occur near the poles.

This was shot with same setting as above over the wings of the plane.

Thank you, Shreeni!

Shot from an airplane flying near Earth’s North Pole on November 24, 2016. You can also see the V-shaped Hyades star cluster, and dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster – both in the constellation Taurus – in this photo by Shreenivasan Manievannan.

Bottom line: Photos of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, seen from the air.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2fx9vHG

Shreenivasan Manievannan captured this photo on November 2, 2016 from an airplane flying over northern Canada, near the Arctic Circle.

Shreenivasan Manievannan submitted these photos taken of the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

He shot the first (above) from inside the airplane while traveling from the U.S. to Dubai. Shreeni wrote:

I was keeping a watch every now and then once we reached the high latitudes to see if the auroras were out. Finally, when we were flying over the icy Canadian landscape, I got to see the stunning active auroras shining and dancing bright in the sky.

This was shot with a Canon dslr at a ISO of 16000, f 3.2 for 3.2s exposure handheld.

I covered up myself trying to protect myself away from light reflections coming off the flight indoors.

He caught the second photo (below) while flying near the North Pole and said:

I got the approximate location from airplane interactive maps. I believe it was a rare occurrence to shoot auroras from the vicinity of the North Pole as they generally do not occur near the poles.

This was shot with same setting as above over the wings of the plane.

Thank you, Shreeni!

Shot from an airplane flying near Earth’s North Pole on November 24, 2016. You can also see the V-shaped Hyades star cluster, and dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster – both in the constellation Taurus – in this photo by Shreenivasan Manievannan.

Bottom line: Photos of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, seen from the air.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2fx9vHG

Children depict scientists as men

A recent study including children’s drawings of scientists found children typically show scientists as men. Image via Universe Awareness (UNAWE).

A group of Leiden University science communication researchers reported earlier this month (November 17, 2016) on a study suggesting that children pick up at an early age on male-female stereotypes about who does science. When the researchers asked the children to draw a scientist, the children most often drew a bald, middle-aged man in a white lab coat, they said. The study also analyzed teaching materials for children and found that professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%.

Their study was published in the journal PLOS ONE on November 16, 2016.

It’s not incorrect to depict mostly men as scientists, the researchers pointed out. In fact, most science fields are still dominated by men. In 2013, they said, the percentage of women in science professions worldwide was 28.4%. Their statement said:

These numbers have certainly improved over the decades. In 1960, 27% of biologists in the United States were female, while in 2008, that number was 52.9%. For engineers, these percentages were 0.9% in 1960 and 9.6% in 2008. Despite the improvement, most science fields are still dominated by men.

Students in the Ukraine see the sky through a telescope for the 1st time. Read more about this image from UNAWE, a teaching programme at Leiden University that provides activities for girls to increase their interest in science and technology. Despite many amazing past and present women astronomers, a 2010 study by the American Institute of Physics reported only 19% of faculty members at astronomy-only departments were women.

Anne Kerkhoven of Leiden Observatory conducted the study for her master’s thesis on the roles of men and women (and boys and girls) in teaching materials for primary school children. All co-authors work at the Faculty of Science at the Department of Science Communication and Society, Leiden Observatory and the Mathematical Institute.

The researchers investigated how and how often men and boys, and women and girls are depicted in online science teaching materials, examining items for primary school children in two popular online databases that provide teaching materials, Scientix and OERcommons.

The materials in the databases include experiments, demonstrations, assignments, videos and games on astronomy, chemistry, biology, geography, mathematics, physics, engineering and technology. The researchers’ statement said:

One of the findings was that, in these pictures and videos from the teaching materials, professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%. Women were found to be over-represented as teachers: 63.9% of the teachers were women, compared to 36.1% men.

Thus, [we] conclude that the male-female ratio in the science sector is already out of balance in the teaching materials used in primary schools.

That’s a problem, given that children’s awareness of stereotypes rapidly increases between the ages of 6 and 10, specifically in primary school.

The researchers added:

It is notable that the creators of the materials indeed paid careful attention to gender bias in the children they depicted: the researchers found only minimal differences in the number of boys and girls and hardly any difference in the roles they were assigned in the teaching materials. The creators of the materials apparently avoided stereotyping children, but seem to have forgotten to apply the same standards to the adults.

Image via UNAWE.

Bottom line: When researchers asked children to draw a scientist, the children most often drew a bald, middle-aged man in a white lab coat. The researchers also analyzed teaching materials for children and found that professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%.

Via Leiden University

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2gBAoKd

A recent study including children’s drawings of scientists found children typically show scientists as men. Image via Universe Awareness (UNAWE).

A group of Leiden University science communication researchers reported earlier this month (November 17, 2016) on a study suggesting that children pick up at an early age on male-female stereotypes about who does science. When the researchers asked the children to draw a scientist, the children most often drew a bald, middle-aged man in a white lab coat, they said. The study also analyzed teaching materials for children and found that professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%.

Their study was published in the journal PLOS ONE on November 16, 2016.

It’s not incorrect to depict mostly men as scientists, the researchers pointed out. In fact, most science fields are still dominated by men. In 2013, they said, the percentage of women in science professions worldwide was 28.4%. Their statement said:

These numbers have certainly improved over the decades. In 1960, 27% of biologists in the United States were female, while in 2008, that number was 52.9%. For engineers, these percentages were 0.9% in 1960 and 9.6% in 2008. Despite the improvement, most science fields are still dominated by men.

Students in the Ukraine see the sky through a telescope for the 1st time. Read more about this image from UNAWE, a teaching programme at Leiden University that provides activities for girls to increase their interest in science and technology. Despite many amazing past and present women astronomers, a 2010 study by the American Institute of Physics reported only 19% of faculty members at astronomy-only departments were women.

Anne Kerkhoven of Leiden Observatory conducted the study for her master’s thesis on the roles of men and women (and boys and girls) in teaching materials for primary school children. All co-authors work at the Faculty of Science at the Department of Science Communication and Society, Leiden Observatory and the Mathematical Institute.

The researchers investigated how and how often men and boys, and women and girls are depicted in online science teaching materials, examining items for primary school children in two popular online databases that provide teaching materials, Scientix and OERcommons.

The materials in the databases include experiments, demonstrations, assignments, videos and games on astronomy, chemistry, biology, geography, mathematics, physics, engineering and technology. The researchers’ statement said:

One of the findings was that, in these pictures and videos from the teaching materials, professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%. Women were found to be over-represented as teachers: 63.9% of the teachers were women, compared to 36.1% men.

Thus, [we] conclude that the male-female ratio in the science sector is already out of balance in the teaching materials used in primary schools.

That’s a problem, given that children’s awareness of stereotypes rapidly increases between the ages of 6 and 10, specifically in primary school.

The researchers added:

It is notable that the creators of the materials indeed paid careful attention to gender bias in the children they depicted: the researchers found only minimal differences in the number of boys and girls and hardly any difference in the roles they were assigned in the teaching materials. The creators of the materials apparently avoided stereotyping children, but seem to have forgotten to apply the same standards to the adults.

Image via UNAWE.

Bottom line: When researchers asked children to draw a scientist, the children most often drew a bald, middle-aged man in a white lab coat. The researchers also analyzed teaching materials for children and found that professions in the science sector were depicted as being filled by men 75% of the time and by women only 25%.

Via Leiden University

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2gBAoKd

Sun enters Ophiuchus on November 29

You can’t see the constellation Ophiuchus when the sun lies in front of it. But, each Northern Hemisphere summer, you’ll find this constellation to the north of the bright star Antares in the constellation Scorpius.

November 29, 2016. If you could see the stars in the daytime, you’d see the sun shining in front of the border of the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius on this date. The sun crosses a constellation boundary, into Ophiuchus, on November 29, 2016, at 1 m.m. CST in the central U.S. That’s 19 hours UTC on November 29.

At about this time each year, the sun passes out of Scorpius to enter Ophiuchus. Like Scorpius, Ophiuchus is a constellation of the zodiac … but unlike Scorpius, Ophiuchus is not one of the traditional twelve zodiacal constellations.

The sun will remain in front of Ophiuchus until December 18.

The ecliptic – which translates on our sky’s dome as the sun’s annual path in front of the background stars – actually passes through 13 constellations, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), although this is not commonly known. After all, when you read the horoscope in the daily newspaper or a monthly magazine, you see only 12 constellations, or signs, mentioned.

There are the 12 traditional zodiacal constellations that have been with us since ancient times. The relatively recent addition of Ophiuchus as a member of the zodiac has increased the number to 13.

Today’s constellation boundaries were drawn out by the International Astronomical Union in the 1930s.

View larger. | Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

Look at the chart carefully, and you’ll see that the border between Ophiuchus and the constellation Scorpius for the most part lies just south of, or below, the ecliptic. In ancient times, the Ophuichus-Scorpius border was likely placed to the north of, or above, the ecliptic. Had the International Astronomical Union placed its constellation boundary where the ancients might have, the sun’s annual passing in front of Scorpius would be from about November 23 till December 18, not November 23 to November 30.

Dates of sun’s entry into each zodiacal constellation

Dates of sun’s entry into each sign of the zodiac

Bottom line: As seen from Earth, the sun passes in front of the constellation Ophiuchus each year from about November 29 to December 18. In 2016, the sun enters Ophiuchus on November 30 at 1 m.m. CST (19 hours UTC on November 29).

Birthday late November to middle December? Here’s your constellation

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You can’t see the constellation Ophiuchus when the sun lies in front of it. But, each Northern Hemisphere summer, you’ll find this constellation to the north of the bright star Antares in the constellation Scorpius.

November 29, 2016. If you could see the stars in the daytime, you’d see the sun shining in front of the border of the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius on this date. The sun crosses a constellation boundary, into Ophiuchus, on November 29, 2016, at 1 m.m. CST in the central U.S. That’s 19 hours UTC on November 29.

At about this time each year, the sun passes out of Scorpius to enter Ophiuchus. Like Scorpius, Ophiuchus is a constellation of the zodiac … but unlike Scorpius, Ophiuchus is not one of the traditional twelve zodiacal constellations.

The sun will remain in front of Ophiuchus until December 18.

The ecliptic – which translates on our sky’s dome as the sun’s annual path in front of the background stars – actually passes through 13 constellations, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), although this is not commonly known. After all, when you read the horoscope in the daily newspaper or a monthly magazine, you see only 12 constellations, or signs, mentioned.

There are the 12 traditional zodiacal constellations that have been with us since ancient times. The relatively recent addition of Ophiuchus as a member of the zodiac has increased the number to 13.

Today’s constellation boundaries were drawn out by the International Astronomical Union in the 1930s.

View larger. | Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

Look at the chart carefully, and you’ll see that the border between Ophiuchus and the constellation Scorpius for the most part lies just south of, or below, the ecliptic. In ancient times, the Ophuichus-Scorpius border was likely placed to the north of, or above, the ecliptic. Had the International Astronomical Union placed its constellation boundary where the ancients might have, the sun’s annual passing in front of Scorpius would be from about November 23 till December 18, not November 23 to November 30.

Dates of sun’s entry into each zodiacal constellation

Dates of sun’s entry into each sign of the zodiac

Bottom line: As seen from Earth, the sun passes in front of the constellation Ophiuchus each year from about November 29 to December 18. In 2016, the sun enters Ophiuchus on November 30 at 1 m.m. CST (19 hours UTC on November 29).

Birthday late November to middle December? Here’s your constellation

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1l1yQbj