Planetary nebulae are shells of gas and dust expelled by stars near the end of their lives and are typically seen around stars comparable or smaller in size than the Sun.

The team surveyed the Magellanic Clouds, the two companion galaxies to the Milky Way, with radio telescopes of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia Telescope National Facility. They noticed that 15 radio objects in the Clouds match with well known planetary nebulae observed by optical telescopes.

The new class of objects are unusually strong radio sources. Whereas the existing population of planetary nebulae is found around small stars comparable in size to our Sun, the new population may be the long predicted class of similar shells around heavier stars.

Filipovic'’s team argues that the detections of these new objects may help to solve the so called “missing mass problem” - the absence of planetary nebulae around central stars that were originally 1 to 8 times the mass of the Sun. Up to now most known planetary nebulae have central stars and surrounding nebulae with respectively only about 0.6 and 0.3 times the mass of the Sun but none have been detected around more massive stars.

The new Super Planetary Nebulae are associated with larger original stars (progenitors), up to 8 times the mass of the Sun. And the nebular material around each star may have as much as 2.6 times the mass of the Sun.

“This came as a shock to us”, says Filipovic', “as no one expected to detect these object at radio wavelengths and with the present generation of radio telescopes. We have been holding up our findings for some 3 years until we were 100% sure that they are indeed Planetary Nebulae”.

Some of the 15 newly discovered planetary nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds are 3 times more luminous then any of their Milky Way cousins. But to see them in greater detail astronomers will need the power of a coming radio telescope - the Square Kilometre Array planned for the deserts of Western Australia.

More information: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122542603/abstract

Provided by Royal Astronomical Society (news : web)
http://www.physorg.com/news169477900.html


US soldiers, largest swine flu-infected group in Iraq
Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:20:48 GMT


US soldiers in Iraq have become the largest group in the country to be infected with the deadly A/H1N1 virus, which is rapidly spreading in Asian countries.

Iraqi health officials reported on Wednesday that some 67 American soldiers have been diagnosed with swine flu, adding that 23 Iraqis and six other foreigners have tested positive for the deadly virus.

"We think they have this many cases because they come through different countries to come here. They come from the United States. They come from Europe," said Iraqi deputy health minister, Amer al-Khuzai.

He went on to say that all the US troops had either been treated or were receiving the necessary medication, adding that there have been no fatalities among American forces.

Iraqi officials had previously stressed that US military provides the health ministry with weekly updates about the number of swine flu cases diagnosed in American bases in Iraq.

Reports say troops are screened for the virus before leaving the US as well as upon their arrival in Iraq in order to contain the spread of the virus.

Last week, al-Khuzai had confirmed the death of a 21-year-old Iraqi woman from the A/H1N1 virus in the city of Najaf, marking the country's first swine flu death.

PKH/HGH
Related Stories:

* Swine flu cases reach 196 in Iran

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103300§ionid=3510203





Super Planetary Nebulae
August 14th, 2009 by Robert Massey Super Planetary Nebulae

Enlarge

An optical image from the 0.6-m University of Michigan/CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope of the brightest Radio Planetary Nebula in the Small Magellanic Cloud, JD 04. The inset box shows a portion of this image overlaid with radio contours from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The planetary nebula is a glowing record of the final death throes of the star. (Optical images are courtesy of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS) team).

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists in Australia and the United States, led by Associate Professor Miroslav Filipovic' from the University of Western Sydney, have discovered a new class of object which they call “Super Planetary Nebulae.” They report their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.http://www.geocities.com/baskarc/cbscience/2004/nov2004.htm






Drug to combat swine flu leaves '1,000 patients in suffering' -- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said yesterday that between 1 April and 6 August there had been 418 reports of adverse side effects to Tamiflu and a further 686 suspected cases of adverse reactions. Last week alone there were 125 reports of adverse side effects in people taking Tamiflu, although not all of them may be due to the drug, the MHRA said.



National Guard Takes Over School In Swine Flu “Vaccine Riot” Drill -- A High School in Maine is to be taken over by the National Guard today for the purposes of a drill that will see Guardsmen deal with unruly citizens begging for swine flu vaccines. Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, ME, has been chosen as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine by state officials.