Cygnus X-1 Solving a Busy Stellar Mystery

Deep in the heart of the constellation Cygnus, the Swan lies an otherwise-invisible object called Cygnus X-1. Its name comes from the fact that it was the first galactic x-ray source ever discovered. Its detection came during the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union, when sounding rockets began to carry x-ray sensitive instruments above Earths atmosphere. Not only did astronomers want to find these sources, but it was important to distinguish high-energy events in space from likely events caused by incoming missiles. So, in 1964, a series of rockets went up, and the first detection was this mysterious object in Cygnus. It was very strong in x-rays, but there was no visible-light counterpart. What could it be? Sourcing Cygnus X-1 The discovery of Cygnus X-1 was a big step in x-ray astronomy. As better instruments were turned to look at Cygnus X-1, astronomers began to get a good feel for what it might be. It also emitted naturally occurring radio signals, which helped astronomers figure out exactly where the source was. It appeared to be very close to a star called HDE 226868. However, that wasnt the source of the x-ray and radio emissions. It wasnt hot enough to generate such strong radiation. So, there had to be something else there. Something massive and powerful. But what? Further observations revealed something massive enough to be a stellar black hole orbiting in a system with a blue supergiant star. The system itself could be about 5 billion years old, which is about the right age for a 40-solar-mass star to live, lose a bunch of its mass, and then collapse to form a black hole. The radiation is likely coming from a pair of jets that extend out from the black hole — which would be strong enough to emit the strong x-ray and radio signals. The Peculiar Nature of Cygnus X-1 Astronomers call Cygnus X-1 a galactic x-ray source and characterize the object as a high-mass x-ray binary system. That simply means there are two objects (binary) orbiting a common center of mass. Theres a great deal of material in a disk around the black hole that gets heated to extremely high temperatures, which generates the x-rays. The jets carry material away from the black hole region at a very high rate of speed. Interestingly, astronomers also think of the Cygnus X-1 system as a microquasar. This means that it has many properties in common with quasars (short for quasi-stellar radio sources). These are very compact, massive, and very bright in x-rays. Quasars are seen from across the universe and are thought to be very active galactic nuclei with supermassive black holes. A microquasar is also very compact, but much smaller, and also bright in x-rays. How to Make A Cygnus X-1 Type Object The creation of Cygnus X-1 happened in a grouping of stars called an OB3 association. These are fairly young, but very massive, stars. They live short lives and can leave behind very beautiful and intriguing objects such as supernova remnants or black holes. The star that created the black hole in the system is called a progenitor star, and may have lost as much as three-quarters  of its mass before it became a black hole. Material in the system then began to swirl around, drawn in by the gravity of the black hole. As it moves in an accretion disk, it is heated by friction and magnetic field activity. That action causes it to give off x-rays. Some material is funneled into jets that are also superheated, and they give off radio emissions. Due to actions in the cloud and jets, the signals can oscillate (pulsate) over short periods of time. These missions and pulsations are what caught the attention of astronomers. In addition, the companion star is also losing mass through its stellar wind. That material gets drawn into the accretion disk around the black hole, adding to the complex actions going on in the system. Astronomers continue to study Cygnus X-1 to determine more about its past and future. Its a fascinating example of how stars and their evolution can create strange and wonderful new objects that give clues to their existence across the light-years of space.

The Unchanged Character of Hester in Hawthornes The...

The Unchanged Character of Hester in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter In the course of most stories, at least one of the main characters changes in one way or another. In The Scarlet Letter, one of the main characters we see a change in is Hester. Through the course of the novel, it appears that Hester changes from an arrogant, unremorseful woman to a much kinder and helpful, repentant woman. Although it appears that Hester has learned a lesson from her sin and consequential punishment, has she really changed her sinful ways? If she has, why, then, is she going to leave for Europe with Arthur Dimmesdale? In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester being punished publicly for the sin she has committed with Arthur†¦show more content†¦Yes!—these were her realities,—all else had vanished! Hester has no reason here to clutch the child fiercely or to question the reality of the events occurring if the ordeal is not affecting her on the inside. After Hester is released from the prison and is living in the cottage, she is daily reminded of her shame and she is constantly hurting because of her punishment. When she walks around town, people look at her in a demeaning manner. In chapter five, Hawthorne writes, Another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye. When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter,—and none ever failed to do so,—they branded it afresh into Hester’s soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand. Hester admits Pearl is her torture – in chapter six, Hawthorne writes, so infinite was the torture inflicted by the intelligent touch of Pearl’s baby-hand. Not long after her punishment starts, Hester commences to help the needy by sewing clothing and helping them out in various other ways. After a few years of torture from the letter and from Pearl, Hester begins getting overly familiar with her punishment, and it no longer has the affect it once had. Her helpfulness causes people to give theShow MoreRelatedReview Of The Scarlet Letter 1524 Words   |  7 Pagesfinal cast for their true character and virtues. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, the author knows the importance of â€Å"lasts† in the novel and uses the last moments of characters to explore common themes of human nature and to further develop a character. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne of The Scarlet Letter uses literary artistry, the final decisive acts of Reverend Dimmesdale, and the last exposition and the responses of the Puritan community to further explore the character of Dimmesdale to ultimatelyRead MoreDimmesdale Rapture1657 Words   |  7 Pages’ In these stories, an unforeseen factor arrives and offers an apparent solution to what would otherwise be an insoluble problem. Toward the end of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan minister Dimmesdale seems to find such a resolution for the inner torment he has imposed on himself in atonement for his affair with Hester. While Dimmesdale’s emotions escalate toward rapture at the suggestion of leaving his life of outward piety and private shame behind, he remains constrainedRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesor a short story. Events of any kind, of course, inevitably involve people, and for this reason it is virtually impossible to discuss plot in isolation from character. Character and plot are, in fact, intimately and reciprocally related, especially in modern fiction. A major function of plot can be said to be the representation of characters in action, though as we will see the action involved can be in ternal and psychological as well as external and physical. In order for a plot to begin, some

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Free Essays

string(101) " over him as he ‘beheld the figure of a man†¦ advancing towards me with superhuman speed\." In their chapter on ghosts in literature, Bennett and Royle propose that nineteenth century literature altered the widespread understanding of ghosts. The ghost now ‘move[d] into one’s head. The ghost is internalised: it becomes a psychological symptom, and no longer a thing that goes bump in the night†¦ ‘ (p. We will write a custom essay sample on Frankenstein by Mary Shelly or any similar topic only for you Order Now 133). Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley certainly provides evidence for this argument that nineteenth century Gothic literature became more concerned with the haunted consciousness than the haunted house (Byron 2004: Stirling University). The tale like all Gothic works is concerned with the uncanny, and if we believed the popular representation of Frankenstein, we could be fooled into thinking that it is simply about a terrifying, grotesque monster. However, is this actually what Shelley’s novel is about? By paying particular attention to chapter two in volume two of Frankenstein, and using Bennett and Royle’s chapter on ghosts, I will consider to what extent Frankenstein can be described as a ghost story. Before we start to look at Frankenstein itself, we should first look at the context in which it was written. As is well known, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when travelling in Geneva with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. In her preface to Frankenstein, Shelley tells the reader that ‘in the evenings we crowded around a blazing wood fire, and, occasionally amused ourselves with some German stories of ghosts†¦ ‘ She goes on to describe how ‘these tales excited us in a playful desire of imitation. [Percy Shelley, Lord Byron]†¦ and myself agreed to write each a story, founded on some supernatural occurrence’ (Norton Anthology, p. 908). So before we have even read her tale, we know that she initially intended to write it as some form of ghost story. Did Shelley achieve her goal? Chapter two in volume two of Frankenstein does seem to provide evidence to the presence of the theme of the supernatural. This is the chapter in which Victor and his creature are reunited after Victor first ran away after bringing the creature to life because he was terrified by its horrific appearance. Prior to this, our only impression of the creature was very much a mysterious one; we knew him only by Victor’s description of his hideous and deformed appearance. Now we get to ‘meet’ him for ourselves, and our first impression may be that of shock; not because of his appearance (as of course we never really know what the creature looks like) but due to the eloquence with which he speaks. As Sparknotes summarise, ‘The monster’s eloquent narration of events†¦ reveals his remarkable sensitivity and benevolence. ‘ The creature tells Victor of the pain and rejection he has had to suffer with great emotion; ‘All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! (Norton Anthology, p. 960). His expressive words show us that the creature is not a purely evil being, as Victor would have had us believe. The creature’s appearance has an otherworldly attribute, simply because we never know and never will know what he actually looks like; we can only rely on Victor’s and Walton’s descriptions which may be biased, and so his appearance remains a secret. Nicholas Abraham ventures that ‘ghosts have to do with unspeakable secrets’ (Bennett and Royle, p. 134). As we know, Frankenstein felt his secret of creating life was unspeakable to his family and friends – the only person he recounts his tale to is Walton (that the reader knows of anyway). On the other hand, Victor never constantly reiterates the creature’s horrific appearance, and pays much less attention to the humane, sensitive side of the creature. This turns out to be a fatal and tragic mistake, as the creature’s human characteristics turn out to be the most important; it is his humane side that becomes blackened by rejection of society, and causes the creature to kill Victor’s family and friends and eventually, Victor himself. The way in which the creature appears before Victor in this chapter is also extremely eerie. He ‘bound[s] over the crevices in the ice’ as an answer to Victor’s call to the spirits. Victor pleads with them ‘Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow beds, allow me this faint happiness, or take me, as your companion, away from the joys of life’ (Norton Anthology, p. 959). The fact that the creature’s arrival comes when Victor is pleading for someone to carry him away from his worries by means of death could foreshadow who Victor’s ‘saviour’ will be. The creature also has a distinguishable effect on Victor when the two are reunited; he becomes the catalyst to cause Victor to become haunted only by his sheer animal hatred of the creature. As the creature approaches Victor, Victor describes how ‘anger and hatred had at first deprived me of utterance, and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious detestation and contempt’ (Norton Anthology, p. 959). The creature has a ghostlike effect on Victor, as he causes him to become paralysed, not by fear however, but by his pure loathing for him. If we take this further, we could even venture to say that from the creature’s animation right until Victor’s death, the creature ‘initiates a haunting theme that persists throughout the novel-the sense that the monster is inescapable, ever present, liable to appear at any moment and wreak havoc’ (Sparknotes). Victor constantly lives in fear from the appearance of the creature, and also fears that he will kill all his family and friends. The way in which Frankenstein is narrated also carries on this haunting theme. It is told through a series of multiple narratives, as if Shelley was trying to recreate the way in which scary stories are passed down through generations, and perhaps also how they change over time. A noteworthy example of the creature’s haunting effect on Victor comes when the two are reunited on the glacier. Victor describes with horror the feeling that came over him as he ‘beheld the figure of a man†¦ advancing towards me with superhuman speed. You read "Frankenstein by Mary Shelly" in category "Papers" ‘ He tells the reader that ‘I felt a faintness seize me; but I was quickly restored by the cold gale of the mountains. I perceived as the shape came nearer, (sight tremendous and abhorred! that it was the wretch whom I had created. I trembled with rage and horror†¦ ‘ (Norton Anthology, p. 959). Victor must have, on some level, expected a reunion with his creature at some point; he knew he could only run from him for so long. However, his guilt has haunted him from the creature’s creation, and so it could be that the creature is simply the embodiment of all of Victor’s guilt and remorse for acting like God. This could explain why he is overwhelmed with horror – not by the creature’s appearance, but because now he has to face his guilt head on, which he has attempted to put out of his mind for so long. We should also observe that Victor says he was ‘restored by the cold gale of the mountains’ (Norton Anthology, p. 959) when he feels faint. This is the chapter in which the theme of sublime nature becomes utterly important in regard to understanding Victor Frankenstein, his creature and their remarkable relationship (Sparknotes). The majestic scenery of nature affects Victor’s moods, has the power to move him and remind him of good times and also bad times. In a striking example, he goes so far as to say that ‘these sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving’ (Norton Anthology, p. 58). This comment may show that Victor takes greater comfort in God’s creation, that is, nature, than his own family, to whom he has not told his awful secret, and thus a barrier has been created. Victor has chosen instead to isolate himself and take comfort from the inanimate and almost haunting scenes around him. The changing weather can also arouse in Victor his feelings of despondency. He remarks ‘†¦ the rain poured down in torrents, and thick mists hid the summits of the mountains. I rose early, but felt unusually melancholy. The rain depressed me; my old feelings recurred, and I was miserable’ (Norton Anthology, p. 58). This could reveal that Victor’s moods are ruled by some absent yet ever-present being – perhaps God. God is notable primarily by his distinct absence in the novel (Byron 2004: Stirling University). However, the way that Victor does not appear to have the power to control his own feelings could show us that he has lost some of his own life and vitality in creating the creature, and now leaves it up to the changing nature and weather to control his emotions. The place where Victor and his creature meet is also significant, as it first introduces the idea of the creature being Victor’s doppelganger. The fact that they both meet at a rather random scene of beauty rather than an actual place could show that they are both isolate creatures, albeit that Victor is isolated because he chooses to be, and the creature because he has to hide from human eyes. The language that Victor uses indicates to the reader that he would prefer to be alone with his secret in nature than with other people. He uses phrases such as ‘solitary grandeur’ and ‘terrifically desolate’ (Norton Anthology, p. 958) to describe the scenes around him, and perhaps also his state of mind. The creature, like Victor, is affected by beautiful nature around him, and feels that ‘the desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge,’ (Norton Anthology, p. 960) which also reflects how Victor feels. The creature and Victor are both so at home in nature, which could stress that there is more to this relationship than meets the eye; are these two really so different? Many modern critics believe that the creature is Victor’s doppelganger. In earlier Gothic literature, evil was generally located in an external source, but Frankenstein sees a turn inwards to a focus on the evil within ourselves (Byron 2004: Stirling University). Bennett and Royle propose that ‘conflicting senses of the word ‘ghost’ suggest ghosts are both exterior and central to our sense of the human’ (p. 132). The creature in Frankenstein is the embodiment of this confusion. While he is physically exterior, he also pervades Victor’s consciousness. It has to be remembered that it was Victor who created the creature, and so perhaps the creature is Victor’s doppelganger, as he is ‘the embodiment of an internal and irreparable division in the human psyche’ (Byron 2004: Stirling University). It is possible to see that the gaps between Frankenstein and his creature are not as wide as we may have initially believed. However, while I do believe that Frankenstein is a ghost story to a very large extent, I do not think one could describe the tale of Frankenstein without, at some point, mentioning the genre of science fiction. While at once being Gothic and having the style of the German ghost stories that Shelley and her companions were reading on their travels, the story would have much less of an impact if it were not for the role that science plays in the book. Victor becomes obsessed by the secret of life in the book, and it is he who creates the ‘ghost’ in the story, so it is not simply a case of the bogey man in Frankenstein. The creature challenges our way of thinking about ghosts because he was brought to life made of dead parts, as if life can spring from death with the use of science. So, while I would argue that the tale is most definitely a ghost story, I do not think that Frankenstein would have become such a literary classic if Shelly had not chosen to use the role of science to show us what can happen if we mere mortals meddle too much with God’s prerogative. How to cite Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Papers

Manifesto to Certain Filipinos free essay sample

As I read Rizal’s â€Å"Manifesto to Certain Filipinos† I have sighted his consistency and unalterable pronouncement of his firm stand apropos of insurrection deemed as a final, justifiable and only means plotted by his fellowmen; the Filipinos. The extent of the letter is a declaration of his firm stand and detestation of insurrection as a movement; he deemed one as such to be discouraged and never to be considered as a justifiable means to obtain independence. We have judged rightly that indeed he is an improbable person to have any schemes that shows his admiration of a drastic and disastrous reform. His words reflected on the lines mirrored his resistance for drastic change in the Philippine setback. As a person, Rizal was a pacifist by nature. He refuses to delve in matters hinting a want for revolt for which both party will suffer great casualties despite what profit and glory they may grasp in the end. We will write a custom essay sample on Manifesto to Certain Filipinos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page And Rizal was never more right in believing so, for nothing benefited out of irrational and radical force was anymore than undignified nobility. We are right then to have proclaimed Rizal as the Philippines’ hero, for hero’s are not only the ones who have bravely died for what they cherished to believe, but for what they have modeled for people to believe that despite any setback and cruelty we could trounce the likes of which in a diplomatic and dignified way where no adversary can ever gainsay. Rizal is not only a man with first-class decisions and answers; he is also superior in giving solutions to the social cancer brought about by Spanish imposition. I greatly admire his way of finding education as a first step towards independence; it was a simple answer of providing leverage and advantage for his fellowmen who are entitled to fit such solution. Education was to enlighten them on the best course of action to be taken when the time comes when they have finally grasp what it means to be totally free of a bondage that has maimed them for centuries. credential donate I believe, especially in our prevalent circumstances, that the Philippines is both independent and not. We could still see strings attach to our government and economy that wanted us not to stray from American rule, we were dependant no less of them than we were hundreds of years ago, despite the given joy of finally being free from Spanish tyranny. But never the less, Rizal was not shortened for his admirable deeds that somehow it cured our fickle minds and ignorant ways. I could never forget Rizal for his bravery to have at least gave his all for the country he considers more precious than his life, he was no less a true Filipino and a well-deserve hero.