Amplify’d from www.reuters.com

Woman survives fall from 23rd floor

BUENOS AIRES

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine woman survived after jumping from the 23rd floor of a downtown Buenos Aires hotel on Monday, landing on a taxi moments after the driver dashed to safety, the state news agency reported.

The 33-year-old woman was in the intensive care ward of a Buenos Aires hospital after the suicide attempt, the Telam agency said.

Taxi driver Miguel Cajal said he got out of his parked taxi and ran for safety when he saw a policeman looking up at the woman, who was on an upper floor of the Panamericano hotel.

"If I hadn't got out, I'd be dead," Cajal, 39, told local television, which showed pictures of his mangled vehicle, its windshield and roof crushed by the impact of the woman's fall. Read more at www.reuters.com

 

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The Oil Crisis- Video

Amplify’d from www.presentruth.com

The Oil Crisis- Video

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President mockingly claimed Americans could avoid pat downs by switching to rail travel

Amplify’d from www.prisonplanet.com

ACLU Rebukes Obama For Pat Down Joke

President mockingly claimed Americans could avoid pat downs by switching to rail travel

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, January 26, 2011

President Obama pulled a fast one on the nation last night when he implied that only people traveling through airports were subject to invasive pat downs, when in fact TSA-style security procedures are already being rolled out in bus terminals, railway stations, as well as streets and highways.

Not only did Obama flagrantly lie during his State of the Union speech, but he also made a mockery of constitutional violations that have prompted a flurry of lawsuits as well as Freedom of Information Act requests.

Speaking on the subject of upgrading rail services for speedier travel times, Obama stated, “This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car, for some trips it’ll be faster than flying – without the pat down.”

Barely minutes had passed before the ACLU fired off a tweet that stated, “President Obama makes funny about TSA pat-downs, but the violations of the Constitution are NO JOKE!”

The tweet contained a link to an ACLU report concerning how the organization had received over a thousand complaints from travelers about being groped and also having to pass through naked body scanners.

Obama’s inference that only people traveling through airports are being subjected to invasive TSA pat downs and other intensive security measures is simply not true.

As we have documented, TSA-style “stop, question and frisk” pat downs are already being conducted by police on the streets targeting people who act suspicious, by doing things like putting their hands in their coat pocket.

Mobile x-ray scanners using similar technology to that deployed in airports are also roaming the streets and highways of America, peering through walls and subjecting Americans to mandatory scans at vehicle checkpoints.

Police departments, TSA and Homeland Security agents are also subjecting Americans to random pat downs at bus depots.

It was also announced back in 2005 that VIPR teams would be patrolling Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Los Angeles rail lines; ferries in Washington state; bus stations in Houston; and mass transit systems in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore, “expanding their work beyond airplanes, launching counterterror surveillance at train stations and other mass transit facilities.”

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show. Read more at www.prisonplanet.com

 

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UN Human Rights Official Under Fire For Describing 9/11 As A Cover Up

Pro-Israel group uses comments to go after long term critic of Zionist Israeli government’s actions in Gaza

The majority of the members of the 9/11 Commission have questioned the official account, it is not offensive to do so

Steve Watson Prisonplanet.com Wednesday, Jan 26th, 2011

An official working within the recently established UN Human Rights Council is under fire from an NGO closely affiliated with Israel for suggesting that the official explanation of the 9/11 attacks is a cover up.

Richard Falk, a former professor of international law emeritus at Princeton University, and an expert on human rights made the comments in a blog post last week, noting that the mainstream media is “unwilling to acknowledge the well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.”

Falk described this version of the 9/11 story as an “apparent cover up” containing “gaps and contradictions”.

The group UN Watch, which describes itself as “an independent Geneva-based watchdog organization”, pounced on the comments, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling for Falk to be removed from his post immediately. The group described Falk’s comments as an insult to the victims of the attacks and their families and loved ones.

Hilel Neuer, the group’s chief executive, described Falk as “a serial offender with zero credibility”.

Ban Ki-Moon responded Monday by publicly condemning Falk’s comments, but added that he was not in a position to fire Falk from the Human Rights Council.

The story has since found its way into the mainstream media, however there is one vital detail that you will not read in such articles.

The UN Watch group is closely affiliated with the American Jewish Committee and has been described as “a lobby group with strong ties to Israel”. The group has been after the head of Richard Falk and others like him for years, purely because he and other human rights experts alike continue to criticize and condemn the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinian people.

Falk’s appointment to the Human Rights Council, as a monitor on human rights issues relating to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, hit headlines in 2008 owing to the fact that he has previously slammed the Israeli occupation of Palestine and compared the Zionist government’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs to the Nazi treatment of Jews in the holocaust.

As a result, the Israeli government has routinely denied Falk a visa to enter Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

This legitimate criticism of the Zionist Israeli government gets boiled down to “Richard Falk believes that Jews are Nazis” in pieces such as this op ed in last Friday’s New York Daily News. This disgusting piece of tabloid trash suggests that Falk and his contemporaries are “apologists for dictatorships”, ironically for criticizing the actions of a vehemently racist government regime.

Despite this and the now customary attacks from the Anti-Defamation League, Falk has stood by his criticisms, previously telling the BBC: “If this kind of situation had existed for instance in the manner in which China was dealing with Tibet or the Sudanese government was dealing with Darfur, I think there would be no reluctance to make that comparison.”

Falk’s position on 9/11 has remained constant. Just over two years ago he called for a fresh investigation into 9/11 in order to examine the possible role that neoconservatives may have played in the attacks.

Indeed, two days prior to his appointment to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2008, Falk appeared on former University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Barrett’s radio show and spoke of how he was keen to see a fresh investigation into 9/11 in order to address inconsistencies in the official account of what happened.

Mr. Falk told Barrett, “It is possibly true that especially the neoconservatives thought there was a situation in the country and in the world where something had to happen to wake up the American people. Whether they are innocent about the contention that they made that something happen or not, I don’t think we can answer definitively at this point. All we can say is there is a lot of grounds for suspicion, there should be an official investigation of the sort the 9/11 commission did not engage in and that the failure to do these things is cheating the American people and in some sense the people of the world of a greater confidence in what really happened than they presently possess.”

Falk previously penned the preface to Professor David Ray Griffin’s groundbreaking 2004 book The New Pearl Harbor, in which the theologian catalogued scores of unexplained facets surrounding 9/11 and inconsistencies in the official government version of events.

Given that the majority of those who sat on the 9/11 Investigative Commission have themselves expressed doubts about the official findings and described their roles as participation in a cover up, it is perfectly legitimate for anyone else in the world to ask questions about 9/11. In fact it should be a priority of every official in Falk’s circle to ask the same questions and raise the same doubts.

Richard Falk has continually acted as a thorn in the side of the establishment. He has published a number of notable books and essays analyzing the legality of the Vietnam War and other military operations, including the Iraq invasion.

In 2007 he played a prominent role in a Citizens’ hearing on the legality of the Iraq War as a tribunal testifier. Of the Invasion he has previously written:

“inescapable that an objective observer would reach the conclusion that this Iraq war is a war of aggression, and as such, that it amounts to a Crime against Peace of the sort for which surviving German leaders were indicted, prosecuted and punished at the Nuremberg trials conducted shortly after the Second World War.”

The UN Human Rights Council has been afforded little opportunity to function in any meaningful way. It has met stiff opposition at every turn from the US Congress and was recently described by the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as a “rogues’ gallery” for “pariah states”.

There is a clear worry within the establishment that like Falk, some of the officials within the Human Rights Council are legal experts that recognize war crimes and illegitimate attacks when they see them and are actually attempting to do something about it.

This is one instance where some are attempting to work within and through the establishment left arm of the global elite system to meter out some justice.

In a 2008 interview, Japanese member of Parliament Yukihisa Fujita told the Alex Jones Show that there are numerous individuals within the UN structure that are significantly interested in pursuing the coordination of a new 9/11 investigation in order to address unanswered questions.

However, it remains to be seen whether the Human Rights Council is composed of enough well meaning individuals to have a significant impact, or whether, like much of the rest of the UN, it will merely become a powerless part of the overall establishment control mechanism. Read more at www.prisonplanet.com

 

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Abercrombie Shocked At Failure To Discover Obama Birth Certificate

Revelations of close friend of Hawaii Governor contradict official claim that privacy laws prompted Abercrombie to abandon search

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, January 26, 2011

UPDATE: Celebrity Journalist: I Never Spoke to Hawaii Gov About Obama Birth Certificate

Veteran reporter Mike Evans has described in a radio interview how Hawaii Governor and close friend Neil Abercrombie was shocked at his failure to discover Obama’s birth certificate after using his power to search hospital records, an outcome that could seriously impact President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Evans’ revelations contradict official claims that Abercrombie abandoned his search for birth records relating to Obama because of privacy laws that bar him from disclosing an individual’s birth documentation without the person’s consent.

The birth certificate issue has rocketed back into the public limelight in recent weeks as a result of World Net Daily and specifically New York Times best selling author Jerome Corsi’s continuing investigation into the controversy, reports that have been afforded ample coverage by the hugely popular Drudge Report website.

On Monday, Corsi reported how, “Former Hawaii elections clerk Tim Adams has now signed an affidavit swearing he was told by his supervisors in Hawaii that no long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate existed for Barack Obama Jr. in Hawaii and that neither Queens Medical Center nor Kapi’olani Medical Center in Honolulu had any record of Obama having been born in their medical facilities.”

In a radio interview with KQRS-FM, reporter Mike Evans explained how he had been a close friend of Abercrombie’s for decades since he first met him when Abercrombie was a taxi driver in Honolulu. Evans said that the Governor would often talk about how he was a friend of Barack Obama’s Kenyan father and how he remembered Barack Obama as a little kid in Hawaii whom he referred to as “Barry”.

Evans said he spoke to Abercrombie’s office who told him that Abercrombie had used his power as Governor to search records from all the hospitals where babies were being delivered at the time of Obama’s birth and that, “There is no Barack Obama birth certificate in Hawaii – absolutely no proof at all that he was born in Hawaii,” said Evans, pointing out that Abercrombie purposefully conducted the investigation to try and quash claims that Obama was not born in the United States.

“Now he admits publicly that there is no birth certificate,” said Evans of Abercrombie.

Evans said that he asked Abercrombie what his first memory was of Barack Obama as a child and that Abercrombie told him he recalled seeing Obama playing in the T-Ball league when he was 5 or 6 years old.

“What about before that,” asked Evans, to which Abercrombie responded, ” I don’t really remember much before that,” a retort described by Evans as “very odd”. Evans said that Abercrombie was shocked when he failed to find the birth certificate, having steadfastly believed that Obama was born and raised in Hawaii.

The fact that the birther issue is again starting to snowball could prove disastrous for Obama’s re-election campaign, especially given the fact that Arizona state Rep. Judy Burges has introduced a well-supported bill that will require presidential candidates to prove their eligibility before being able to occupy the White House. Similar legislation is also being introduced in Montana, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Texas.

Article 2, Section 1 of the US Constitution states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.”

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show. Read more at www.prisonplanet.com

 

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A federal judge ruled that Gregory and Barbara Bachman have standing to contest the law's 'individual mandate.'

Amplify’d from www.ydr.com

Federal judge rules York County couple can challenge federal health care law

A federal judge ruled that Gregory and Barbara Bachman have standing to contest the law's 'individual mandate.'

By RICK LEE Daily Record/Sunday News

A York County couple's claim that the federal health care reform law, which is to take effect in 2014, has an immediate financial effect on them gives them standing to challenge the "individual mandate" requiring them to purchase health insurance in three years, a federal judge has ruled.

In an order signed Monday, U.S. Middle District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner rejected the government's motion to dismiss the suit filed April 12 by Gregory Bachman and Barbara Goudy-Bachman of Etters.

According to the lawsuit, the Bachmans are self-employed, owning and operating Performance Marine in Newberry Township, and do not have health insurance. Since 2001, when their premiums jumped from $600 a month to more than $1,200, they have paid their own medical costs and do not have any outstanding medical bills.

They intend to buy insurance when it becomes mandatory on Jan. 1, 2014. But, according to their complaint, "the immediate reduction of long-term purchasing power" is a legal injury to them "directly resulting from the unconstitutional individual mandate and penalty."

On March 27, they began shopping for a new automobile. Their $450-a-month disposable income only allowed them to afford a five-year financing plan.

Four days earlier, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with "the lofty goals . . . to mend the nation's broken health care system and curtail the spiraling costs of health care, to provide affordable health insurance and to reduce the number of uninsured individuals," Conner stated in his order.

The "individual mandate" of the law requires citizens to purchase health insurance or be financially penalized through their income tax returns.

The Bachmans, who declined to comment for this story, contend that mandate means their disposable income must be directed toward insurance premiums instead of a new car.

Their attorney, Paul A. Rossi, said their complaint is different from other litigants who have challenged the individual mandate in that they intend to comply with the law when it goes into effect.

"They are law-abiding citizens," Rossi said. "Other plaintiffs in other states have said they are not going to buy insurance and therefore will be subject to having a penalty imposed on them."

Rossi said those complaints have been rejected by the courts because the penalty is to be imposed in the future, forcing the court to "speculate" an "injury" - the penalty - will occur.

"The Bachmans understand they have to make financial plans now," Rossi said. "Their injury is that they have to change their economic plans today."

Conner determined the Bachmans have standing to challenge the individual mandate because their decision not to buy a new automobile "in anticipation of future budgetary needs" is a direct result of "a law with budgetary implications in 2014."

The judge noted the law is now under attack by Republicans but explained "it is not the court's role to speculate on pending legislation."

In its motion to dismiss, the government claimed any financial problems encountered by the Bachmans were not because of the health care law but because of their "own . . . personal choice."

Conner disagreed, ruling "the alleged (financial) injuries are fairly traceable to the individual mandate provision."

"The Bachmans have no crystal ball," Conner said. "They must engage in financial preparation and reduced spending based upon their present circumstances in light of the impending effective date of the individual mandate."

Conner held the Bachmans' complaint "plausibly sets forth" an unwanted financial burden that is "the direct result of the individual mandate."

Conner said he will issue a separate opinion on whether the Bachmans have a "plausible claim that the individual mandate exceeds Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution."

Rossi said the federal court in Virginia, ruling on a similar challenge, determined the plaintiffs' case has merit to go forward.

"We are cautiously optimistic," Rossi said. "The greater fear here is, as lofty as the goals are, this is an arrow that simply is not in the quiver of Congress.

"If they can force you to buy health insurance, they can force you to buy a Prius. It's an incredible expansion of congressional powers beyond the Constitution."

At a glance

The complaint: Gregory Bachman and his wife, Barbara Goudy-Bachman, of Etters, are challenging the "individual mandate" of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that will require them to purchase health care insurance as of Jan. 1, 2014. The Bachmans contend the mandate has a financial effect on them today, preventing them from buying a new car. Their lawsuit is filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

The ruling: Federal Judge Christopher C. Conner ruled Monday the couple has standing to challenge the individual mandate because the financial burden affecting the Bachmans "are fairly traceable to the individual mandate provision."

Next: Conner said he will issue another opinion on the Bachmans' argument the individual mandate exceeds Congress's authority under the constitution's Commerce Clause. The Bachmans' attorney, Paul A. Rossi, said they "are cautiously optimistic" of a ruling in their favor. Read more at www.ydr.com

 

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Comcast customers need new gear for digital switch

CHRISTINA KAUFFMAN The York Dispatch

This kit is being sent out to Comcast customers who need to upgrade their TV sets for digital programming. Josh Barber photo

Comcast customers will need new equipment to keep all of their existing channels as the company upgrades, but the transition to digital programming will mean more channels for the same price, the company said.

Comcast is phasing out non-digital transmissions to make room for more high-definition channels, more On Demand choices and faster Internet speeds, said spokesman Bob Grove.

All customers will need the new equipment, which the company is providing free, or they'll lose access to their existing channels when the switch to digital signals is made, he said.

Keeping service: Changes will vary depending on the customer's level of service.

---Digital customers who have at least one converter box are eligible for two free digital adapters, to be used on their second and third television sets.

Connecting the adapters will allow those sets to pick up an additional 28 channels, while those sets currently only receive the standard cable lineup.

Additional channels include the Biography Channel, Lifetime Movie Network, Hallmark Movie Channel and the Game Show Network, Grove said.

---Expanded Basic cable customers who receive about 50 channels with no converter box are eligible for a free converter box and two digital adapters. Every television they hook up with any of the equipment will receive 28 additional channels. Customers who don't pick up the equipment by March 1 will lose about 20 channels. They'll lose all of their channels by late March if they don't get the equipment, because Comcast will by then be sending digital signals their televisions are not equipped to receive.

---Limited Basic customers with about 20 channels are eligible for up to three digital adapters that will bring them 11 additional channels, including C-SPAN 2, My Network TV, the Retro Network, and THIS TV.

Limited Basic customers will lose all of their channels in April if they don't get the equipment.

What to do: Equipment can be picked up immediately, by:

---Going to the local Comcast office

---Ordering it online at www.comcast.com/digitalnow and ordering it to be shipped free.

---Calling 1-877-634-4434 and requesting free shipment of the equipment.

If a customer wants more than the allotted amount of free equipment for additional television sets, he or she will be charged $1.99 per month per unit, Grove said.

Instructions will be provided on how to connect the equipment to the back of a television, which Grove said is "simple." Comcast will install the equipment if requested, but installation charges will apply.

Why? Grove said transmitting one channel to non-digital equipment takes the same amount of bandwidth as 10 digital or three high-definition channels.

For that reason, the company is converting to all-digital delivery of signals to create more space on its network. As a result, it will offer faster Internet speeds in the coming months, and will eventually grow from 18,000 to 25,000 On Demand choices.

There are currently 50 high-definition channels in York, but there will be about 100 as a result of the change in delivery, he said.

--Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436. Read more at www.ydr.com

 

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Operation Rescue has discovered a link between an accused murderer and two other abortion facilities

What Louisiana and Pennsylvania have in common

Amplify’d from www.onenewsnow.com

What Louisiana and Pennsylvania have in common

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow

Operation Rescue has discovered a link between an accused murderer and two other abortion facilities.

Kermit Gosnell, the Pennsylvania abortionist recently charged with eight counts of murder, was apparently employed to work at Leroy Brinkley's Atlantic Women's Services in Wilmington, Delaware one day per week. Operation Rescue's Cheryl Sullinger tells OneNewsNow Gosnell would begin a late-term abortion in Delaware, where they are illegal, and instruct his patients to travel to his Philadelphia clinic for completion. "In some cases, the women were 32 weeks [pregnant]. In fact, in one case the woman was at least 32 weeks," Sullinger reports. "She paid her money and had the process started in Delaware, which is illegal, and then she was transported to Pennsylvania," where Gosnell completed the late-term abortion. He and nine employees now face criminal charges. But the Operation Rescue spokesperson notes that her group has also discovered that Eileen O'Neill, who pretended to be a licensed doctor, worked for both Gosnell and Brinkley. The latter's Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is also reportedly deplorable. "The American Catholic Lawyers Association (ACLA) was in Baton Rouge last weekend. They asked the Department of Health and Hospitals to close the Delta Clinic because of the numerous violations that have been discovered there," Sullinger reports.

She adds that if officials refuse to shut down the Baton Rouge "house of horrors," the ACLA plans to sue the state.

Other Stories in Culture Pro-life generation gives hope A chance to 'reach out' More gov't support for trust in God 'Raunchy' MTV show on shaky ground Solution: Shrink size of gov't 'Big Brother' on the way? Speaking against China's one-child policy ACLU 'kissing cousins' with Communist Party? 'Heal or kill,' facilities must abide by standards Focus on 'gift of life' Accountability 'a must' Berkeley ignores costs, pushes agenda Co-ed dorms 'a recipe for disaster' Pro-life in the pulpit Anti-homosexual chicken sandwiches? Pro-lifers still hassled in Rockford British gov't wants competition in healthcare Debt, suicide increase in India Aged technologies 'don't deserve' subsidies False data = stolen money Read more at www.onenewsnow.com

 

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HILARIOUS Video – HOprah Watch: Oprah Exploits Half-Sister

By Debbie Schlussel

As you may have heard, HRHSBotU [Her Royal Highness Supreme Being of the Universe] Oprah discovered she has a half-sister, one of the many kids that Mother of Oprah (or is that, “the Oprah Queen-Mother?”), Vernita Lee, had with various men to whom she wasn’t married.  And, of course, as is always the case with Oprah, no exploitable moment can go unexploited.  So, instead of releasing a statement or something to that effect as any classy celebrity would have done, Oprah did a whole show starring the tear-induced abandoned half-sister.  There’s something really sick about this whole thing, actually.  Just like Oprah did a show featuring every daytime talk show host she put out of business to rub their noses in her success, she did this show to rub the abandoned sister’s nose in it.  That’s the subtext:  mama kept me, and I had a dad, too . . . and you had to live in foster homes.  So sad, too bad, now tell it to my gawking audience, so I can laugh all the way to the bank, poor “sis.”

Jimmy Kimmel’s take on this is spot on . . . and the video is pretty funny:

Cha-Chingsploitation: Oprah Wants the World To Know She Has a Sister Who Had to Live in Foster Homes

(Oprah artwork by Six Meat Buffet/Preston Taylor Holmes) Read more at www.debbieschlussel.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.space.com

Huge Runaway Star Creates Stunning Dust Shockwave

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

This infrared image from NASA's WISE telescope shows the runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi as it creates a bright shockwave (yellow arc) in an interstellar dust cloud as it zooms through space. NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team View full size image

A huge star ejected from a binary system has been photographed slamming headlong through a barrier of cosmic dust, creating a shockwave that shines in brilliant yellow in infrared views.

The star, called Zeta Ophiuchi, is a stellar behemoth with about 20 times the mass of our sun and would be 65,000 times brighter if it weren't surrounded by a thick blanket of dust. It is about 4 million years old and is 460 light-years away from Earth. The star is zooming through space at a whopping 54,000 mph (nearly 87,000 kph), according to NASA scientists.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, called WISE, caught the massive star plowing through thick dust to create what scientists call a "bow shock" – a shockwave that precedes stars as they move through space much like the ripple raised by the front of a boat traveling through water.

In the new infrared image of Zeta Ophiuchi, the star appears as a hot, bright blue light streaming through a vast cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

The image's colors are artificial – generated by infrared measurements rather than optical observations. In the visible range of the light spectrum, Zeta Ophiuchi appears as a relatively dim red star surrounded by other dim stars. The envelope of gas and dust is invisible in those views.

But in the infrared range, Zeta Ophiuchi is a cosmic spectacle. The giant star appears at the center of a bright yellow arc of dust.

The arc is shaped by the powerful stellar wind thrown off by Zeta Ophiuchi. As the star moves through space, the stellar wind compresses the gas in front until it forms a hot shockwave (the bow shock) that glows extremely bright in the infrared.

"This feature is completely hidden in visible light," WISE scientists wrote in a description. "Infrared images like this one from WISE shed an entirely new light on the region."  Astronomers think Zeta Ophiuchi wasn't always a loner star.

Most likely, it was part of a binary system that was ripped to shreds when Zeta Ophiuchi's partner – an even more massive star – exploded in a supernova. The resulting blast catapulted Zeta Ophiuchi through space.

A similar supernova end awaits Zeta Ophiuchi. The star is expected to last another 4 million years before it consumes all of its fuel and explodes, according to WISE scientists.

NASA's WISE observatory is a $320 million space telescope that launched in December 2009. The infrared telescope has been working to record detailed maps of the sky ever since.

The telescope completed its primary mission to map the whole sky 1 1/2 times by October 2010, when it ran out of the coolant it needs to keep some of its instruments chilled. But the observatory is still able to observe astronomical objects in two infrared channels that aren't affected by warmer temperatures.

Mismatching Galaxies Revealed in New Photo

Cosmic Nebulas Dazzle in New Space Telescope Photos

NASA Sky-mapping Telescope Starts New Mission … Without Coolant Read more at www.space.com

 

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