Exoplanet Search Strategies for the Next 15 Years Aug 27, 2008
(The term "red" is something of a misnomer for most red stars; though redder and dimmer than the Sun, they still have temperatures and surface brightnesses great enough to make them appear as dazzlingly white as a light-bulb filament to anyone seeing them up close as the artist has correctly shown. NASA and G. Bacon (STScI). (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Space 'ropes' hang together by threads Aug 21, 2008
Filaments may represent most visible effect of galaxy's central black hole. Fabian et al. / Cambridge / NASA / ESA / CXCComparison of the filaments with the red, hard X-ray emission from the intra-cluster medium, showing the hot gas bubbles that created the filaments in their wake ... Scientists have discovered the forces that bind together a strange network of 100-million-year-old, ropelike gas filaments that extend from an enormous elliptical galaxy. (MSNBC -- Politics)
Dodder is a dangerous plant parasite Aug 14, 2008
If any little part of the dodder filament breaks off and encounters a green host plant, it can start growing again. And a new giant version has recently invaded the state. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Main Mirror for SOFIA Infrared Observatory Receives Finish Coating Jul 3, 2008
The coating chamber vaporizes aluminum by heating more than 60 tungsten filaments around its edges. These filaments have shapes similar to ones found in ordinary light bulbs, but are much larger ... Each filament is laced with small twists of 99. (PR Newswire)
Hubble Sees Stars And A Stripe In Celestial Fireworks Jul 2, 2008
In 1976, the first detection of exceedingly faint optical emission of the supernova remnant was reported, but only for a filament located on the northwest edge of the radio ring. A tiny portion of this filament is revealed in detail by the Hubble observation. (Science Daily)
Solutia looks at options, possible sale of nylon business Jul 1, 2008
Its brands include Vydyne nylon molding resins, Ascend nylon polymers and industrial fibers, and nylon carpet staple and bulk continuous filament sold under the Wear-Dated and Ultron brands and private labels. The integrated nylon business operates facilities in Alvin, Texas; Decatur and Foley in Alabama; Greenwood, S.C.; and Pensacola, Fla. (St. Louis Business Journal, MO)
"Holy Cow!" — Phoenix Spots Ice Jun 7, 2008
The first of these to get a "taste" of Mars will be the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA), despite problems with a heating filament that's forced a switch to its backup. Also awaiting a sample is the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), actually a cluster of four tools that will subject the ruddy soil to a series of tests. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Lander set to test Martian soil Jun 3, 2008
The instrument has two filaments, one of which is shorted out, and tests relying on the second filament were successful. "That's really good news for us," Smith said during a teleconference briefing from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where the mission is headquartered. (AZCentral -- News)
Mars lander seeks ice and hits a snag May 31, 2008
The glitch seems to be a short circuit in a filament in a part of the instrument that ionizes the vapors before they are sent to the detector, said TEGA co-investigator William Boynton of the University of Arizona. There are two filaments in the detector, however, and scientists are now investigating whether they can operate the instrument with just the one filament. (MSNBC -- Technology)
More missing cosmic matter found May 21, 2008
Another group of astronomers another filament of the missing baryonic matter connecting two distant galaxies. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, to be installed on Hubble by astronauts later this year, will help search for weaker signals of this missing matter. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Astronomers discover missing matter May 13, 2008
ESA/XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/ MPE (A. Finoguenov)Scientistsobserved a filament connecting two clusters of galaxies, Abell 222 and Abell 223, shown in this composite optical and X-ray image ... A team of astrophysicists has now found evidence of part of the missing half in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies ... The team used the XMM-Newton, an X-ray space observatory, to observe a filament connecting two clusters of galaxies, Abell 222 and... (MSNBC -- Technology)
Piece of missing cosmic matter found May 13, 2008
A team of astrophysicists has now found evidence of part of the missing half in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies ... The team used the XMM-Newton, an X-ray space observatory, to observe a filament connecting two clusters of galaxies, Abell 222 and Abell 223 ... Finding and analyzing these filaments could help astronomers better understand what happened after the Big Bang and what forces are dominating the universe today. (USA Today -- Tech)
Part Of Universe's Missing Matter Discovered May 7, 2008
Astronomers suspected that the low-density gas permeates the filaments of the web ... "The hot gas that we see in this bridge or filament is probably the hottest and densest part of the diffuse gas in the cosmic web, believed to constitute about half the baryonic matter in the universe," says Norbert Werner from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, leader of the team reporting the discovery ... Even with XMM-Newton s sensitivity, the discovery was only possible because the filament is... (Science Daily)
Fun in the Sun Continues Mar 31, 2008
But much more impressive than the spots (at least more impressive to me), was the appearance of a dark filament across the Sun's disk. It looked to my eye as if there was a crack on the Sun's surface. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Newborn Stars: Dark Filaments Observed In Detail Mar 9, 2008
Newborn Stars: Seeing Dark Filaments Inside A Molecular Cloud ... Newborn Stars: Seeing Dark Filaments Inside A Molecular Cloud ... 9, 2008) Astronomers have measured the distribution of mass inside a dark filament in a molecular cloud with an amazing level of detail and to great depth. (Science Daily)
The LED Illumination Revolution Mar 3, 2008
An Edison bulb burns 1,000 hours before the hammered metal filament flakes out. CFLs achieve 10,000 hours. (Forbes)
Young Stars In Their Baby Blanket Of Dust Feb 13, 2008
Most of the stars forming now are concentrated in a filament of cold, dense gas that shows up as a dark cloud in the lower center and left side of the image against the bright background of the warm dust. Although infrared radiation at 24 microns pierces through dust easily, this dark filament is incredibly opaque, appearing dark even at the longest wavelengths in the image. (Science Daily)
EU Industry Unites to Promote Energy-Saving Lamps Jan 29, 2008
CFLs consume up to five times less energy and can last up to 15 times longer than conventional incandescent lamps, which use a filament. The agreement was signed by European electricity industry association Eurelectric, the EU's top retail industry lobby EuroCommerce and the European Lamp Companies Federation, whose members include Osram, owned by Germany's Siemens, and the world's biggest lighting maker Philips. (Planet Ark, United States)
Moves for more energy-efficient lighting run into complications Jan 2, 2008
I quickly found a screw-in compact fluorescent bulb made by a company called Megaman to replace my bedside bulb, which has a conventional incandescent filament ... This source of light, which uses semiconductor material instead of a filaments or neon gases, are a promising technology for eco-friendly domestic lighting because they consume as little as a tenth the power that incandescent bulbs do. (International Herald Tribune -- Business)
Film Underground Presents: 2001: A Space Odyssey Nov 30, 2007
2001 serves as a reminder of a vast universe beyond the blue sheet of sky, a vast universe that crushes the flimsy filament of our atmosphere under the weight of its great nothing. 2001 forces you to confront the implications of your minuscule island of existence in the expanse of infinity. (The New Hampshire, NH)
Autumn meteor shower set to peak Nov 17, 2007
Occasionally we'll pass directly through an unusually concentrated dust trail, or filament, which can spark a meteor storm resulting in thousands of meteors per hour. That's what happened in 1999, and , because Tempel-Tuttle had passed through the inner solar system in 1998. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Portable Atomic Emission Detector Under Development Sep 23, 2007
Jones Tungsten Coil Atomic Emission Spectrometer is constructed using the metal coil filament from a standard slide projector bulb powered by a 12-volt battery, such as the type used to start boats or automobiles. Environmental samples of suspect particles are dissolved in liquid, and droplets are placed on the coil. (Science Daily)
Early Star Formation In The Universe Illuminated Sep 19, 2007
In the authors' simulations, a gas filament condenses and then fragments to form the first stars ... The bursts occurred in long and thin filaments ... One of the researchers, Dr Liang Gao, who receives funding from the UK's Science and Technologies Facilities Council, said: "These filaments would have been around 9000 light years long, which is about a quarter of the size of the Milky Way galaxy today. The very luminous star burst would have lit-up the dark universe in spectacular fashion.". (Science Daily)
Does my bum look green in this? Sep 19, 2007
It is another natural fibre - spun by silkworms as a semi-liquid, continuous filament that hardens on contact with air. It takes 0. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
"Unusually Good" Meteor Shower Expected Tonight Aug 14, 2007
That's when Earth will enter a relatively young, and thus dense, filament of dust that boiled off comet Swift-Tuttle in 1862. Swift-Tuttle is the parent comet of the Perseids. (National Geographic)
'Olympian Galaxy' Near Andromeda Gives Clues To How Galaxies Form May 30, 2007
Cosmology models predict small galaxies form along a web of filamentary structures in the universe, and then gradually fall into dense groups and cluster environments ... Andromeda XII probably formed in a dense filament structure, toward the general direction of the M81 group ... A likely scenario is Andromeda XII formed in a filamentary region of space that connects the Local Group to the M81 group. (Science Daily)
Not a bright idea May 13, 2007
Edison worked up a sweat to find a filament that would burn long enough to make electric light economical for households everywhere. A few decades later one of his employees came up with an even better filament, tungsten ... Edison worked up a sweat to find a filament that would burn long enough to make electric light economical for households everywhere. (Townhall.com)
EU Lighting Needs Time to Go Eco-Friendly - Philips Apr 4, 2007
Incandescent lamps are traditional lightbulbs that use a filament. They are inefficient compared with new fluorescent lights and other alternatives. (Planet Ark, United States)
Environmental concerns citedin growing global crackdown Mar 22, 2007
"Most of us still use the same glass and filament bulbs that Thomas Edison invented 128 years ago. When it comes to illumination, we still live in a cave.". Her plan technically would ban the sale of any light bulb that fails to meet the standards set by current fluorescent bulbs, but the opinion is nearly unanimous that those targeted would be incandescent bulbs. (WorldNetDaily)
Age of enlightenment Mar 17, 2007
For a spurned piece of "obsolete" technology, it still shifts by the truck load - some 200 million a year are sold in the UK. It's hard to think of another electrical component that is more affordable, ubiquitous and disposable; its influence more profound, than the familiar incandescent tungsten filament light bulb ... Bulb filled with inert gas Current heats filament to very high temperature Filament becomes excited, releasing thermally equilibrated photons in the process ... Several inventors... (BBC News -- UK)
FEATURE - Going Green Can Pay Off in the Home Mar 14, 2007
Energy-saving bulbs, which have a fluorescent tube rather than a filament, can be bought in most European countries for less than two euros apiece, compared with up to 20 euros 10 years ago. And they last up to five times longer than old-fashioned bulbs. (Planet Ark, United States)
New twist in light bulbs Mar 12, 2007
An incandescent bulb has a tungsten filament that heats and glows as electrical current passes through it ... A fluorescent bulb, on the other hand, produces light by means of an electrical arc that travels between filaments at both ends of a tube. (Akron Beacon Journal, OH -- Living)
Rejection is inevitable in love, art, business and life Mar 7, 2007
"Haas tells the popular tale of Thomas Edison, asked what it was like to have 999 failures before getting the filament right on the first light bulb."His perspective was, they weren't 999 failures," Haas said. "It was a process with a thousand steps. And so if you approach socializing or business or salesmanship in general as a process, and you accept that you're going to get more nos than yesses. (Florida Today)
The glass ceiling Feb 21, 2007
Improving on existing lights, in 1879 Edison designed a far more reliable bulb using lower-current electricity, a small carbonised filament, and an improved vacuum inside the globe. But even today's incandescent bulbs remain very inefficient, converting only about 5 per cent of the energy they produce into light. (The Age, Australia -- Breaking News)
Household light bulbs get the flick Feb 20, 2007
The standard incandescent light bulb, developed for the mass market more than 125 years ago, consists of a metal filament glowing white-hot in a vacuum which wastes up to 95 per cent of the energy it uses. Compact fluorescent lights use about a fifth of the electricity to produce the same illumination. (NEWS.com.au)
Power-Sipping Bulbs Get Backing From Wal-Mart Jan 2, 2007
The new bulbs ; lighted by sparking an efficient chemical reaction, rather than heating a metal filament ; were ungainly, took several seconds to light up and often did not fit into traditional light fixtures. Since then, refinements have made them far more convenient to use, reducing their size and price as well. (Shoals TimesDaily)
Good Question: Which Holiday Lights Save Energy? Nov 28, 2006
These lights do not have filaments or bulbs like traditional lights ... "The LED lights are much more durable and more reliable because there's no filament to burn out.". (WCCO.com, MN)
> read more Nov 17, 2006
This year, reports meteor expert Joe Rao, specialists predict that we'll sail through a narrow, dense filament of the stream ... Every 33 years the comet passes through the inner solar system, warms up in the heat of the Sun, and sheds a new filament of debris, adding to the general meteor stream ... When Earth encounters one of these dense new filaments (which haven't yet had time to disperse very much), we can get a very strong but short-lived meteor display. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Leonid Meteor Outburst in the Offing? Nov 15, 2006
This year, reports Sky & Telescope meteor expert Joe Rao, specialists predict that we'll sail through a narrow, dense filament of the stream ... Every 33 years the comet passes through the inner solar system, warms up in the heat of the Sun, and sheds a new filament of debris, adding to the general meteor stream ... When Earth encounters one of these dense new filaments (which haven't yet had time to disperse very much), we can get a very strong but short-lived meteor display. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
MIT engineers probe spiders' polymer art Oct 31, 2006
The magic that makes silk so strong, the researchers discovered, happens while it flows out of the spider's gland, lengthens into a filament and dries. Engineering Nature. (EurekAlert!)
The light dawnsHow to solve to the growing light pollution problem Oct 24, 2006
" Good news Much of the light generated on Earth is wasted, spilling out into space. In terms of energy consumption, this is not very efficient. Incandescent lightbulbs, the type which have a filament inside, account for around half of the lightbulbs in homes around the world. But only about 5% of the energy they use is actually turned into light. The other 95% is wasted. Because LEDs are so small, we're able to put them into very efficient optical systems - waste light is significantly reduced... (BBC News -- Science)
More clues in the cosmic jet mystery Oct 20, 2006
Out shoots a tightly collimated filament. After decades of speculation, astrophysicists now are beginning to get some hard facts and suggestive leads with which to pursue the cosmic jet mystery. (Yahoo News -- Astronomy and Space)
Gibbs' Genius a Throwback Jul 19, 2006
While Gibbs wont be pulling all-nighters putting an offensive plan togetherhe was lucky enough to delegate this duty to the best in the business, Al Saundershe will still be working long, hard hours to build a winning football team, changing a filament here, adjusting the strength of a current there. The result could be something that is still shining brightly in early February in Miami. (WarpathInsiders.com)
Vega's Second Stage Motor Roars To Life Jun 27, 2006
5m tall, 2m diameter motor, featuring a carbon epoxy filament wound casing, delivered more than 100 metric tons of thrust (1,070 kN), burning some 24 metric tons of solid propellant in 75 seconds. Numerous data were gathered during the test and are now under analysis to improve technical knowledge of the motor s behaviour and refine the launcher s future performance. (Science Daily)
The case of the neutron star with a wayward wake Jun 2, 2006
At a recent conference on neutron stars in London, England, they announced their findings, which include a thin filament of cooler gas that appears to extend from the neutron star along the long axis of its wake, and a second point-like feature embedded in the X-ray nebula around the neutron star. "There are a number of puzzling observational features associated with this system crying out for longer observations" said Karovska. (EurekAlert!)
Space Observatory Digs Into The Secrets Of Fossil Galaxy Clusters Apr 30, 2006
Instead, if we assume that galaxies fall towards the centre of the developing cluster in an asymmetric way, such as along a filament, the dynamic friction and so the cluster formation process may occur in a shorter time scale, he continues ... 4+2315, to sustain the idea of a collapse along a dominant filament. (Science Daily)
Swiss Ski Resort Tries to Cover up Climate Change Mar 20, 2006
Televerbier has contested the need to receive official permission to lay down the filament, made by Swiss company Fritz Landolt which also supplied material for a similar project at the Andermatt ski resort last year. Balet said the material, which is blue on the bottom and white on top, does not damage the environment and can help slow the effects of temperature increases that some scientists say will eventually melt Europe's Alpine glaciers. (Planet Ark, United States)
Exhibit chips the old designer block Jan 21, 2006
Predock Frane Architects' "Acqua Alta," an installation piece designed specifically for a site in Venice, is composed of 5,000 filaments arranged vertically referencing the high tides that continuously flood the city. A scale model stands in the Architecture Gallery, but the plywood boxes framing fishing line-thin filament hardly recreate the spiritual space of the model that was large enough to walk through, which was left in Venice. (Yale Daily News, CT)
Magnetic Slinky confirms space theory Jan 13, 2006
In 2000, Jason Fiege and Ralph Pudritz from McMaster University suggested that filamentary clouds like the Orion Molecular Cloud might exhibit a helical magnetic field around their long axis ... The helical shape of the magnetic field is believed to be caused by matter in the interstellar cloud moving in a straight line along the length of the filament. (MSNBC -- Technology)
