Saturday, May 26, 2007
EXPENSIVE CARS !
Lamborghini Diablo vs Bugatti EB110
Lamborghini police car
Mitsubishi Evo Evolution MR FQ400 VS Lamborghini Murcielago
First Habitable Earthlike Planet Found
First Habitable Earthlike Planet Found
From The National Geographic:
The most Earthlike planet yet found, it orbits a red dwarf star and likely contains liquid water, said the European astronomers who made the discovery. The planet is estimated to be only 50 percent larger than Earth, making it the smallest planet yet found outside the solar system, according to a team led by Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.
Known as Gliese 581 c, the newfound world is located in the constellation Libra, some 20.5 light-years away. The planet is named after the red dwarf star it orbits, Gliese 581, which is among the hundred closest stars to Earth. Because the planet is 14 times nearer to its star than Earth is to the sun, a year there lasts just 13 days. Gravity on the planet's surface, though, may be twice as strong as Earth's gravity. Despite the close proximity to its parent star, however, Gliese 581 c lies within the relatively cool habitable zone of its solar system. That's because red dwarfs are relatively small and dim, and are cooler than our sun, the team explained.
n either case, Gliese 581 c will likely become a target for missions in search of extraterrestrial life, they added.
"We still have a long way to go before reaching that point. But for sure it's the best candidate we know of right now," Udry commented.
RELATED"The planet is really close to us," he said. Still, it would take 20 years to get there if traveling at the speed of light, and another 20 to return.
Gliese 581 c is better suited to life than larger planets like Jupiter, which tend to be dense masses of gas, Udry explained.
(See an interactive map of the solar system.)
"You need a rocky planet to find life—the big giants are not the best places for that," he said.
More precise instruments have recently enabled astronomers to detect small "exoplanets"—worlds found outside our solar system.
"We started to find them two or three years ago," Udry said. Thirteen exoplanets that have less than 20 times the weight of Earth have been discovered so far, he noted.
"We found them very easily, so it looks like they are much more numerous than the giant planets we were finding before," the astronomer said.
Planet Hunter
The new planet was detected using an instrument called a spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile.
Known as the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planetary Searcher (HARPS), the device is described by the team as a "unique planet-hunting machine."
It works by detecting the pull of an unseen exoplanet on the star it orbits. An orbiting planet causes its star to wobble slightly, and this effect can be measured by instruments such as HARPS.
Advanced spectrographs are enabling astronomers to detect ever smaller planets, said Michael Perryman of the European Space Agency's Astrophysics Missions Division in the Netherlands.
"The wobble for these planets that they are detecting now is very, very tiny—about three meters [nine feet] per second, which is about the speed you run at," Perryman said.
"New planets are being discovered every few weeks or so," he added. "The interesting development is when you start getting these lower-mass planets closer to [the weight] of the Earth."
The newfound planet is especially noteworthy, Perryman said.
"As soon as you find a planet at the right distance [from its star] such that liquid water might exist, then you're saying this is the kind of environment in which one might start looking for life," he added.
Udry, of the Geneva Observatory, said the goal of future programs is to find a planet and star pairing to match that of Earth and the sun.
"We are now developing instruments which will allow us to find those," Udry said
"We hope, and even expect, to have these habitable planets all over the place."
Friday, May 25, 2007
Worlds fastest bike
Worlds fastest bike
Do read the specification below.
Mindblowing...
ENGINE5. Two pushrod-actuated overhead valves per cylinder with roller-type hydraulic lifters 6. Sequential, multi-port electronic fuel injection with individual runners
11. Cooling System: Twin aluminum radiators mounted atop engine intake manifolds, force-fed from front-mounted, belt-driven turbine fan.
Rear:
Chrysler will be selling the original Tomahawk concept and nine replicas through Neiman Marcus, for up to $555,000 each. The motorcycles cannot be licensed, so they cannot be legally driven on public roads. A Chrysler spokesman told Reuters they were meant as rolling sculptures.
Rumors had the Tomahawk selling for under $200,000, most likely at a loss or breakeven price, for publicity purposes - but still fully drivable. Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler's not particularly respected first mate, was said to be enthusiastic about that project, so much so that hundreds were projected to be built at under $200,000 each. They reportedly cost Chrysler over $100,000 to build (admittedly the work is outsourced).
The Dodge Tomahawk can reach 60 miles an hour in about 2.5 seconds, and has a theoretical top speed of nearly 400 mph. Each pair of wheels is separated by a few inches and each wheel has an independent suspension. Bernhard said four wheels were necessary to handle the power from the engine.
0-60 mph: 2.5 seconds (est.)
Length: 102 inches
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:
Aluminum-cased two-speed, sequential racing-style with dog ring, straight-cut gearsGear Ratios: 1st 18:38; 2nd 23:25Clutch: Double-disc, dry-plate with organic friction materials, hand lever actuated with assistFinal drive: Dual 110-link motorcycle-style chains
Front Sprockets: 14 teethRear Sprockets: 35 teeth
Longitudinal, centrally mounted engine, rear-wheel drive layout; monocoque construction, engine is central, stressed member. Body of billet aluminum.
Gorgeous-New-sony-ericsson-concept-phone
Concept Phones are great, as they show what designers can do when they don't have to worry about the mundane stuff, like actually fitting electronics into their designs. I mean, just ake alook at this: this is a new Sony Ericsson CyberShot concept phone that looks simply breathtaking. As slim as a credit card with a 3.2 megapixel camera, sleek slider design, and OLED touch sensitive keypad, this is a phone that would sell by the bucket load.
More pictures of the Sony Ericsson Concept Phone after the jump.
So will we ever see this glorious phone in production? Well, not yet. 3.2 megapixels is a great dream to have in such a glorious looking phone, but today's electronics are just to bulky to squeeze such megapixellage into such a beautiful form. Mind you, 11mm used to be the thinnest a mobile phone was thought to be able to shrink to given the bulky nature of the wireless transmitter innards, until Samsung manged to shrink theirs down to just 6.9mm. So, give it a year or two and who knows.
Whatever features you can cram into such a beautiful phone, though, Sony Ericsson would be mad not to develop it, as designer phones are all the rage at the moment (LG have just shipped 6 million of their LG Chocolate designer phones). So, fingers crossed that this phone, or one very similar does eventually see the light of day. And maybe in 2008 they'll have worked out how to squeeze a 3.2 megapixel camera into such a sleek form.
