Where stars are born...

Image credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech/Subaru

A new Galaxy has been discovered by NASA, dubbed the "Baby Boom Galaxy" The Galaxy produces 4000 stars per year according to NASA.

A set of telescopes were used in the discovery of this starburst.

Its distance from the earth is 12.3 billion light-years!!!

To put this the distance of this galaxy from Earth into perspective:-
(1 Light Year =

speed of light per second x total amount of seconds in 1 year)

= 300000km per second x 31536000 seconds in 1 year
= 9460,800,000,000 Kms in 1 Light Year

A distance of 1Light Year will allow you to circumnavigate around the Earth 236,076,412 times. Eish I'd be tired :-)

Now add 12,3 Billion to the equation:-
The "Baby Boom Galaxy" therefore is:-
12,300,000,000 x 9460,800,000,000 = 116,367,840,000,000,000,000,000 Kms from the earth!!!!

Hypothetically should a person start walking on the day he is born and walk for 80 years without resting, at 1 meter per second the distance will be equal to ((1m x 31536000 seconds in 1 year) * 80 Years) / 1000 to convert to Kms = 2,522,880 Kms or almost 63 times around the earth.

How Many life times will it take to walk to the Baby Boom Galaxy?
Assuming that the life expectancy of all the people is exactly 80 years. To walk from Earth to the "Baby Boom Galaxy", if this was possible, will take 46,100,000,000,000,000 or Forty-Six-Thousand-One-Hundred-Trillion life times, now thats a lot of people!!!...and a lot of walking...

Animation Fun

The Worlds Most Powerful Computer

This is a picture of "Roadrunner" as it was aptly named, the Worlds most powerful computer at the time of writing.

The CPU used in this beast is based on the IBM QS022 an advanced version of the Cell Processor used in the Playstation 3. Who'd ever thought the worlds most powerful Super Computer will have even a remote comparison with a game console.

Capable of delivering processing of more than 478 teraflop/s (trillions of floating point operations per second) this system is a really hot potato.

FAQS: Why Blu Ray?

1. Q: Why should I buy a Blu Ray Player?
A: Blu Ray is the next level of digital entertainment, concocted by the entertainment Gods. People want to be entertained, watching a movie becomes way more entertaining when the quality of the media is as real to life as possible, Blu Ray delivers just this. At more than 5 times the resolution of conventional DVD (720 x 576 pixels), Blu Ray's (1920 x 1080 pixels) video and images are astoundingly clear. A frame of a Blu Ray movie can pass as a picture in a magazine. The sound thats delivered is true to Master Sound Quality, 100% the same sound quality as when we go and watch a movie at the Cinemas.


2. Q: Will my exsiting PAL / NTSC television play Blu Ray movies or discs?
A: Yes in most cases it should do. A minimum of 480 TV Lines is required to watch a Blu Ray Movie, the quality will be more or less the same than watching a normal DVD because of the sets limitation of 480 TV Lines, which is pretty pointless if you want to upgrade your entertainment system and experience.

But oh the quality will be so much better if the Blu Ray is watched on a 720 TV Lines LCD / Plasma set. 720 TV Lines translates into an image quality of 1280 x 720 pixels. This still does not compare to watching the movie on 1080 TV lines, these sets are still a little bit pricey but boy they will deliver the best video experience. A lot of video gurus feel that watching a Blu Ray at 1080 TV lines on anything less than a 46" display does not do the Blu Ray justice, and the quality between a 720 TV line display can barely be distinguished from the 1080 TV line if the display is anything below a 46" display.

Q: So will my old DVD's play in a Blu Ray player?
A: Yes it will, not only will some advanced players play the DVD it will also upscale it to High Definition. Put simply your DVD will look awesome upscaled, again display limitations of the screen TV might limit your experience depending on the quality of the screen or TV set.

Q: Which Blu Ray player is recommended?
A: There are many good players to choose from each with its own benefits.

But I will recommend a PS3, the PS3 is not only a Blu Ray which firmware can be updated with a very simple process, meaning that the software running the Blu Ray components of the PS3 can be updated. The PS3 is also gaming console and Linux can also be installed on it as a 2nd Operating System, it can also therefore be a PC.

(Please note that I will add to this list of FAQ's and it will grow from time to time. There are plenty of questions I haven't answered and I am planning to answer as many as possible)

The Worlds thinnest LCD?

With the advent of HD or High Definition television, we are all faced with a debacle we have to replace the old technology Television Sets with HD compatible sets.

The unfortunate predicament is HD television sets are expensive and to a huge degree inaccessible to the broad public. Sony may have developed an answer for this, Organic TV. It is alleged to be brighter and crispier than LCD and even Plasma and only 3mm thick, it can also be rolled up and tucked away in small storage area.

What drives this technology I hear you ask? OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED's are already being used in certain cellphones.

Some technical stats:-

• Contrasts of 1,000,000:1 are allegedly possible compared to some top notch Plasma contrasts of 10,000:1
• Luminosity is between 100% for white and a 100% for black resulting in a colour rich display

Currently the technology is expensive but like all manufactured technologies once it hits mass production we should see the price drop.

BBC Planet Earth on Blu Ray

If you ever wanted a reason to own a Blu Ray player BBC Planet Earth on Blu Ray has got to be it.

This has to be the most extraordinary footage I have ever seen of planet earth.

From the North to the South pole to video footage from space, from the highest peaks of Mount Everest to the lowest regions of Ethiopia the video footage is astonishing and mind blowingly clear. Every frame could just as well have been a picture for sale on Comstocks image library.

I highly recommend this title for Nature lovers and the curious alike.

There are footage of areas that I and certainly a great deal of us will never be privy to see and yet watching the Blu Ray almost puts you there, you can almost touch the Wild Life.

NASA Pictures of Planet Mercury

Images of Mercury taken during the flyby, from left: the Caloris basin, a volcano and a new view of the planet