NASA plans to make a telescope out of the Sun

As NASA astronomers peer further and further into space, they require ever larger and more powerful telescopes to do so. That’s why one team of researchers from the Jet Propulsion Lab have proposed using the biggest object in our solar system, the Sun, as a cosmic magnifying glass.

According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, massive objects will bend the space around it and cause the path of objects traveling within that space — including light itself — to curve as well. And, under the right conditions, that light can bend just enough that it magnifies the view of space behind it. This is known as gravitational lensing and astronomers have leveraged its effect for years to help boost the visual prowess of our telescopes. We discovered the exoplanet Kepler 452b in this manner and that thing is hundreds of millions of light years away.

However, there are some technical challenges with this plan. As the JPL team explained during a presentation to NASA’s recent Planetary Science Vision 2050 workshop in DC, the observational instruments would need to be stationed 550 AU away from the Sun in order to focus its light accurately. 1 AU is the distance between the Sun and the Earth so 550 AU is smack dab in the middle of interstellar space. For reference, Voyager 1 is currently only 137 AU from Earth and it’s taken 40 years for the plucky little spacecraft to get there.

There’s also the issue of the Earth’s orbit. Depending on the planet’s position relative to the Sun and observational instruments, window for observing specific stars or sections of the sky could be extremely limited.

Despite these technical difficulties, the payoff for actually implementing this system would be huge. Currently, we have difficulty separating the exoplanet and its host star in our imaging. Like the TRAPPIST-1 shots that came out earlier this week, generally what you get is an amorphous blob of pixels. But with the Sun as a gravitational lens, telescopes equipped with starshade technology will be able to see the exoplanet itself.

Not only that, the magnification will be an order of magnitude better than what we can currently achieve. Rather than image a couple of pixels, we’d be able to capture 1000 x 1000 pixel images — enough to see a 10km square of a planet’s surface — from 100 light years away. The Hubble can’t even manage that when looking at Mars. The magnification effect would also drastically increase our ability to analyze the chemical makeup of atmospheres of distant exoplanets through spectroscopy.

So while the challenges of implementing such a system are daunting, the scientific rewards for doing so would be astronomical.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: Air & Space Magazine

Fossil’s smartwatches start receiving Android Wear 2.0

Fossil may have been a bit late to introducing Android Wear watches, but it’s one of the fastest out of the gate with the Android Wear 2.0 upgrade. The fashion brand has started rolling out Google’s latest software to its Q Founder, Q Marshal and Q Wander watches as of today. There are no surprises if you know what 2.0 brings, for better or worse. You’ll get the more intuitive interface, Google Assistant, a new Google Fit app and the option to download apps directly to your wrist. The bigger deal is simply that Fossil’s wristwear is getting the update so quickly.

While numerous manufacturers have promised Android Wear 2.0 upgrades for at least some of their models, Fossil is one of the few to have an upgrade already in hand — even TAG Heuer won’t offer 2.0 until the end of March. It also bodes well if you own a Michael Kors smartwatch, for that matter, since Fossil had already promised an upgrade for that timepiece. We wouldn’t buy a smartwatch just for speedy updates, but it’s something to consider if you’re on the fence about your choice of Android accessories.

Source: Fossil

Twitter hopes you want to watch live lacrosse

Good news — Twitter has landed another sports streaming deal! Only… it’s probably not what you were expecting. The social network has scored the rights to stream National Lacrosse League games for the 2017 and 2018 seasons in the US and Canada. The arrangement will offer you one game per week as well as playoff games and the Champion Cup series. The first game takes place March 17th at 7:30PM Eastern, when Colorado visits Toronto.

The deal may have you scratching your head at first. Wouldn’t Twitter want to focus on baseball, hockey and other more popular sports? It no doubt wants those deals, but this helps it corner an underserved market. As Variety explains, the NLL doesn’t have a national TV broadcast deal. There’s a real chance this is your only way to watch top-tier lacrosse without visiting an arena or subscribing to the league’s internet-only service. Even though there will only be small crowd tuning into lacrosse each week, that group is unlikely to head anywhere else.

Source: National Lacrosse League

Popular teen social app Wishbone hacked

Popular teen social networking app Wishbone was hacked, according to a report today from Motherboard. Now, millions of email addresses and thousands of cell phone numbers are circulating the internet, many of them from kids under 18.

Wishbone is one of the top 10 most popular social networking apps for iPhone in the US, according to analyst firm App Annie. It lets users vote on pop culture-based questions like whether they prefer Dominos or Pizza Hut, whether they prefer eyeshadow or eyeliner, or which Kendall Jenner outfit they like best. After picking a side, they get to see how their friends voted. Hackers apparently accessed the app’s database through an unprotected API and took an estimated 2.2 million email addresses and over 287,000 cellphone numbers, along with personal information like birthdates and gender. No passwords or financial information were stolen, Wishbone said.

Wishbone owner Science Inc. told Motherboard the security hole is now fixed, and offered an apology to users in the following statement:

We value your privacy and deeply regret that this incident occurred. Maintaining the integrity of your personal information is extremely important to us. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this incident may have caused you. We are continuing to investigate this matter and have taken and will continue to take appropriate action to prevent future similar incidents. Please be assured that we will keep you informed of any developments in the investigation that may be of importance to you.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Motherboard

LG’s UltraFine 5K Display Shielding Fix Successfully Addresses Wi-Fi Interference Issues

LG’s UltraFine 5K Display returned to the market earlier this month after LG made some changes to the display’s shielding following the discovery that the original design left the display vulnerable to interference from Wi-Fi routers and other electronics. The issue was a bit of a black eye for Apple, considering the company recently elected to exit the display market and instead partnered with LG on the new 27-inch UltraFine 5K and its smaller sibling, the 21.5-inch UltraFine 4K.

We purchased one of the original UltraFine 5K units back in December, with our model carrying a manufacturing month of November 2016 based on its serial number. LG has now provided us with a unit manufactured last month after the design revisions were put in place, and we’ve had a few days to compare the performance of the two units in the presence of Wi-Fi routers.

In day-to-day usage, we failed to see any issues with the original model, even with an AirPort Time Capsule located just three feet from the display, inside the two-meter radius LG recommended users should keep as a minimum once the company discovered the issue.

We were, however, able to induce the issue in the unit by bringing another Time Capsule into very close proximity with the rear of the display, causing it to flicker and disconnect from the host computer. The display sometimes reconnected to the computer on its own once the interference was removed, but other times it required that the Thunderbolt 3 cable be briefly unplugged or even the entire UltraFine 5K be power cycled before it would reconnect.

With the revised UltraFine 5K Display in hand, we’ve been able to subject both displays to side-by-side testing that confirms the issue has been successfully addressed. While the issue is easily reproducible on the original model as long as the Wi-Fi router is in close enough proximity, we were unable to recreate the issue on the revised model despite extensive efforts.

With Apple once again shipping the UltraFine 5K Display, new orders are currently showing in-stock availability in Apple’s U.S. online store, although Personal Pickup remains unavailable.

Apple’s discounted pricing on the display of $974 is scheduled to run through the end of this month, at which time the display will return to its normal $1299.95 price. Apple already extended its discounted pricing on USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 accessories once and it’s possible the promotion could again be extended, but for those who want to make sure they receive the discounted pricing, they should be sure to order by March 31.

Customers purchasing the UltraFine 5K Display, regardless of what vendor they use, should make sure they are receiving revised units to ensure they are protected from the Wi-Fi interference issue. The first three digits of the display’s serial number (visible on the exterior of the box) correspond to the last digit of the year and the two-digit month of manufacture, so buyers should look for serial numbers starting with 702 or 703.

Those who purchased earlier units may be eligible for repairs if their units are exhibiting the interference issue, and affected customers should contact LG or Apple for information on repair procedures.

We’ve arranged for a repair of our affected unit through the live chat option. Once the repair request is initiated it can take a day or two to receive a shipping label and repair details, and LG tells us it can take up to 7-10 business days for the actual repair once the display has been received at the service facility.

Related Roundup: Displays
Tag: LG
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