Earth has been hit by a blast from a dead star so energetic that scientists cannot explain it. The burst of gamma rays, originating in a dead star known as a pulsar, is the most high energy of its kind ever seen. It was equivalent about ten trillion times the energy of visible light, or 20 tera-electronvolts. Scientists are unable to explain exactly what kind of a scenario could lead a pulsar to emit such intense energy, and the researchers behind the breakthrough say that it “requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work”. Scientists hope that they can find yet more powerful energy blasts from pulsars, with a view to better understanding how they are formed. Pulsars are formed when a star dies, exploding in a supernova and leaving behind a tiny, dead star. They are just 20 kilometres across, and spin extremely fast with a powerful magnetic field. “These dead stars are almost entirely made up of neutrons and are incredibly dense: a teaspoon of their material has a mass of more than five billion tonnes, or about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” said Emma de Oña Wilhelmi, a scientist at the High Energy Stereoscopic System observatory in Namibia that detected the blast. As pulsars spin, they throw out beams of electromagnetic radiation, throwing it out like a cosmic lighthouse. That means that someone in one spot – like the Earth – will see the radiation pulses flash in a regular rhythm as they spin past. The radiation is thought to be the result of fast electrons that are produced and thrown out by the the pulsar’s magnetosphere, which is made up of plasma and electromagnetic fields that surround the star and spin with it. Scientists can search the radiation for different energy bands within the electromagnetic spectrum, helping them understand it. When scientists previously did that with the Vela pulsar examined in the new study, they found that it was the brightest everseen in the radio band, and the brightest persistent source in the giga-electronvolts. But the new research found that there is a part of the radiation with even more high energy components. “That is about 200 times more energetic than all radiation ever detected before from this object,” said co-author Christo Venter from the North-West University in South Africa. Scientists don’t know exactly how that could happen. 
“This result challenges our previous knowledge of pulsars and requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work,” says Arache Djannati-Atai from the Astroparticle & Cosmology (APC) laboratory in France, who led the research. “The traditional scheme according to which particles are accelerated along magnetic field lines within or slightly outside the magnetosphere cannot sufficiently explain our observations. “Perhaps we are witnessing the acceleration of particles through the so-called magnetic reconnection process beyond the light cylinder, which still somehow preserves the rotational pattern? But even this scenario faces difficulties to explain how such extreme radiation is produced.” An article describing the findings, ‘Discovery of a Radiation Component from the Vela Pulsar Reaching 20 Teraelectronvolts’, is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. Read More ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say

South Africa’s ruling party risks losing almost a quarter of its support unless it brings the country’s worst

VISSENBJERG, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2023--

Truth Social’s parent company lost almost $23m (£18.7m) in the first half of this year alone, according to a new securities filing that raises concerns about its “ability to continue”. The filing released on Monday marks the first time any financial details about Donald Trump’s social media platform have been shared publicly, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Truth Social was launched in February last year after Mr Trump was banned from most social networks in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots. The former US president – who announced his candidacy for the 2024 elections in November last year – has since returned to X (formerly known as Twitter), but says Truth Social is still his primary social media platform and that he won’t post anywhere else until six hours after he sends a “Truth”. Having Mr Trump on board has not translated into revenue for the platform’s parent company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), however. Over the first half of 2023 it has lost $23m while bringing in only $2.3m in net sales, the filing showed. This has raised doubts about the viability of the company and its social media startup, according to the filing. “TMTG’s independent registered public accounting firm has indicated that TMTG’s financial condition raises substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern,” the company noted in the filing. The company said the “management has substantial doubt that TMTG will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fall due, including liabilities related to promissory notes previously issued by TMTG”. The remarks were made in its assessment of business till the end of December last year and as of 30 June 2023. Concerns have also been raised over Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC), a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), that had some years ago announced plans to merge with TMTG. An SPAC is a shell corporation which raises money by listing itself on a stock exchange with the aim of using the funds for a merger with a different and usually more well-known entity. The filing said DWAC has “until 8 September 2024 to consummate a business combination”. It raised concerns that both TMTG and DWAC may not survive unless this merger is completed. “It is uncertain that Digital World will be able to consummate a business combination by this time. If a business combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of Digital World,” the filing said. “TMTG believes that it may be difficult to raise additional funds through traditional financing sources in the absence of material progress toward completing its merger with Digital World,” the filing further said. “A number of companies that had licence agreements with President Trump have failed. There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also fail,” the filing said. TMTG also cited a number of risks to its business in the new filing, including a dedicated section titled “Risks related to our chairman, president Donald J Trump”. The section lists his ongoing legal hurdles. “TMTG’s success depends in part on the popularity of its brand and the reputation and popularity of its chairman, president Donald J Trump,” the filing said. “The value of TMTG’s brand may diminish if the popularity of President Trump were to suffer. Adverse reactions to publicity relating to President Trump, or the loss of his services, could adversely affect TMTG’s revenues, results of operations and its ability to maintain or generate a consumer base.” Read More Return of original Fortnite map causes record traffic on Virgin Media O2 network Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers Elon Musk mocks politicians at AI summit Tesla to offer ‘beast mode’ version of Cybertruck with bulletproof panels X now valued at $19bn – less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it Solar panel world record smashed with ‘miracle material’

Instead of calling your extended family to tell them how college is going, how about meeting up with them on campus after classes? These four women can do just that. Carthage College welcomed three generations of women on campus this fall semester, a grandmother, a mother, and her two daughters.

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A scanning app with optical character recognition (OCR) is indispensable for getting organized and going

TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023--

MILAN (Reuters) -The Italian government could end up with a stake of as much as 20% in Telecom Italia's landline

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BEDMINSTER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2023--