Cosmic rays may broadly be divided into two categories, primary and secondary. The cosmic rays that arise in extrasolar astrophysical sources are primary cosmic rays; these primary cosmic rays can interact with interstellar matter to create secondary cosmic rays. The sun also emits low energy cosmic rays associated with solar flares. The exact composition of primary cosmic rays, outside the Earth's atmosphere, is dependent on which part of the energy spectrum is observed. However, in general, almost 90% of all the incoming cosmic rays are protons, about 9% are helium nuclei (alpha particles) and nearly 1% are electrons. The ratio of hydrogen to helium nuclei (28% helium by mass) is about the same as the primordial elemental abundance ratio of these elements (24% by mass He) in the universe.

The remaining fraction is made up of the other heavier nuclei which are abundant end products of stars' nuclear synthesis. Secondary cosmic rays consist of the other nuclei which are not abundant nuclear synthesis end products, or products of the Big Bang, primarily lithium, beryllium, and boron. These light nuclei appear in cosmic rays in much greater abundance (about 1:100 particles) than in solar atmospheres, where their abundance is about 10−7 that of helium.

This abundance difference is a result of the way secondary cosmic rays are formed. When the heavy nuclei components of primary cosmic rays, namely the carbon and oxygen nuclei, collide with interstellar matter, they break up into lighter nuclei (in a process termed cosmic ray spallation) - lithium, beryllium and boron. It is found that the energy spectra of Li, Be and B fall off somewhat more steeply than those of carbon or oxygen, indicating that less cosmic ray spallation occurs for the higher energy nuclei presumably due to their escape from the galactic magnetic field. Spallation is also responsible for the abundances of scandium, titanium, vanadium, and manganese ions in cosmic rays, which are produced by collisions of iron and nickel nuclei with interstellar matter. (See environmental radioactivity#Natural).

In the past, it was believed that the cosmic ray flux has remained fairly constant over time. Recent research has, however, produced evidence for 1.5 to 2-fold millennium-timescale changes in the cosmic ray flux in the past forty thousand years.[3]

WORLD'S LARGEST MACHINES

1. Liebherr T 282B: Largest Earth-hauling Truck in the World

This monster machine Liebherr T 282B is a large earth-hauling dump truck designed in 2004 by a German manufacturer and became the largest earth-hauling truck in the world. The top level model is driven by a 10.5 ton, 90 liter diesel engine, producing 3650 horsepower (2700 kW).

Features

Weight: empty - 203 tons; maximum capacity - 365 tons; maximum operating weight - 592 tons

Length: 14.5 m long

Height: 7.4 m tall

Wheelbase: 6.6 m

Top Speed: 40 mph or 65 kph

Costs: US$3.5 M

2. Bagger 288: World's Largest Digging Machine


This machine is the largest digging machine in the world. The bucket-wheeler excavator named Bagger 288 (Excavator 288) is built by the German company Krupp. More specifically, it is a mobile strip mining machine. It is the largest tracked vehicle in the world at 13,500 tons. However, Bagger is powered from an external source and is more correctly described as a mining machine which can be moved, while the crawler-transporter was built as a self-powered, load-carrying vehicle.

Features

Height: 95 m tall

Length: 215 m long

Weight: 13,500 tons

3. Crawler-Transporter: 2nd Largest Tracked Vehicle in the World


The Crawler-Transporter is a tracked vehicle used to transport the Saturn V rocket, the Saturn IB rocket during Skylab and Apollo Soyuz, and now the Space Shuttle. It was designed by Bucyrus International and built by the Marion Power Shovel Co. at a cost of US$ 14 million each. When they were built, they were the largest in the world. The German Bagger 288 excavator is now the largest tracked vehicle in the world.

Features

Height: 20 ft or 6.1 m to 26 ft or 7.9 m

Length: 131 ft or 40 m

Width: 114 ft or 35 m

Weight: 2400 tons 2,700 short tons or 2,400,000 kg; 5,400,000 lb

4. TAKRAF RB293: Largest Terrestrial Vehicle in Human History


Like the Bagger 288, the TAKRAF RB293 is a giant bucket-wheel excavator made by the German industrial company TAKRAF. It holds the record for the largest terrestrial vehicle in human history. It is used in Australia for removing over-burden from a brown coal mine in Victoria. It is also recognized as the largest and heaviest land vehicle.

Features

Height: over 94.5 meters or 310 feet tall

Length: over 220 meters or 722 feet long,

Weight: over 14,196 tons or 31.3 million lbs

Operation: requires five people to operate.

Others: The bucket-wheel itself is over 70 feet in diameter with 20 buckets, each of which can hold over 15 cubic meters

of material.It can move 240,000 cubic meters or 8.475 million cubic feet of earth per day.

5. Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60: World's Largest Machine That Can Move


This is the world's largest machine that can move. It was shut down after 13 months of operation due to energy and political reasons. The cutting height is 60 meters, hence the name F60. With a length of 502 meters, it is described as the "lying Eiffel Tower". F60 is the series designation of five overburden conveyor bridges used in brown coal (lignite) opencast mining in Germany. They are the largest movable technical industrial machines in the world.

Features

Length: 502 m long

Width: 240 m wide

Height: 80 m tall

Weight: 13,600 metric tons

6. Large Hadron Collider: World's Largest and Highest-energy Particle Accelerator


This is the largest machine in the world with a length of 27 km the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world intended to collide opposing particle beams. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for testing various predictions of high-energy physics. It lies beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientist and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.

Features

Length: 27 km or 17 mi

Circumference: 175 m or 570 ft

Built & Funded: 10,000 scientists and engineers from 100 countries

B. World's largest machine on land, ice and water...

7. BHC SR-N4 Mk-3: World's Largest Non-military Hovercraft


This mammoth machine is the world's largest hover to date. BHC SR-N4, as shown above, is the world's largest non-military hovercraft, carrying 418 passengers and 60 cars. A hovercraft, or air-cushion vehicle (ACV), is a craft, designed to travel over any smooth surface supported by a cushion of slowly moving, high-pressure air, ejected downwards against the surface below, and contained within a "skirt." Hovercrafts are used throughout the world because they are unique among all forms of transportation in their ability to travel equally well over land, ice, and water.

C. World's largest machine underneath the water...

8. Typhoon: World's Largest Submarine Class Ever Built


This machine is the largest submarine class in the world ever built. It is a ballistic missile carrying, nuclear-powered submarine (SSBN). This large machine was deployed by the Soviet navy in the 1980s. With a maximum displacement of 26,000 tons, Typhoons are the largest class of submarine ever built. In its day it was one of the most feared weapons of mass destruction ever made. Technically, it is capable to successfully deploy long-range nuclear weapons. The cost of operations for the Typhoon submarines was so high that the Russian Navy retired all but one of them.

D. World's largest machines on the water...

9. Emma Maersk: World's Longest Container Ship Ever Built


This huge vessel is the longest container ship ever built in the world and as of 2008 - it is the longest ship in use. It is able to carry around 11,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) which is about 1,400 more containers than any other ship is capable of carrying.

10. Knock Nevi's: World's Largest Ship Ever Constructed


This machine is the largest supertanker. It is also the largest machine that can move long distance. The Knock Nevis is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) owned by the Fred Olsen Production of Norway. It was previously a supertanker and as such held the record for the world's largest ship. The vessel is longer than the Petronas Twin Towers, one of the world's tallest buildings, at 452 meters or 1,480 ft.

Features

Length: 458.45 m or 1,504 ft long

Width: 69 m wide

Height: 30 m tall

Weight: 564,763 tons

E. And the world's largest machines in the air...

11. Airbus A380: World's Largest Passenger Jet


This is the world's longest passenger aircraft that first flew in 1991- the Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world. It entered commercial service in 2007. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it. It provides seating for 525 people in standard three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all economy class configurations.

12. Antonov An 225: World's Largest and Heaviest Aircraft Ever Built


This is the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world - the An225 Mriya. As shown on the picture above, space shuttle Buran is being carried by the An-225. It first flew in 1988. It is a strategic airlift transport aircraft and is the largest airplane ever built. Currently there is only one aircraft operating but a second mothballed airframe is being reconditioned and is scheduled for completion around 2010.

Features

Payload: 250,000 kg (550,000 lb)

Door dimensions: 440 x 640 cm (14.4 x 21.0 ft)

Length: 84 m (275.6 ft)

Wingspan: 88.40 m (290 ft 2 in)

Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)

Wing area: 905.0 m² (9,743.7 ft²)

Cargo Volume: 1300 m³ (45913.8 ft³)

Empty weight: 175,000 kg (385,800 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 600,000 kg (1,323,000 lb)

Takeoff run: 3,500 m (11,500 ft) with maximum payload

Maximum speed: 850 km/h (460 knots, 530 mph)

Cruised speed: 800 km/h (430 knots, 500 mph)

RESPECT OUR FLAG

Is it a sign of the times or an indication that we are so complacent about our freedoms that we no longer feel the need to show respect for the flag that stands for the ideals and dreams of INDIA? Perhaps it is only the older generation who remembers or cares.

How dare we say we support our troops and love our country when we cannot even stand for a few moments to salute our flag when it passes by in review? Maybe we should take stock of ourselves and decide just whether or not we want to live or deserve to live in a country which provides for individual freedoms not found in many, many places on this world.

Support for those who may die to protect our way of life begins in our hearts and what we show the world. Respecting our flag is one way of showing we care!

TEN FASTEST CARS IN THE WORLD

1.Bugatti Veyron - Top Speed 253 mph

1.Saleen S7 - Top Speed: 240-260 mph
2.Koenigsegg CCR - Top Speed: 242 mph
3.McLaren F1 - Top Speed: 231 mph

4.Spyker C8 - Top Speed: 187-215 mph
5.Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren - Top Speed: 207 mph
6.Ford GT - Top Speed: 205 mph
7.Lamborghini Murcielago - Top Speed: 205 mph
8.Porsche Carrera GT - Top Speed: 205 mph
9.Ferrari 575M Maranello - Top Speed: 202 mph

IMAGE OF WOW SIGNAL

FIRST CONNECTIVITY WITH THE ALIENS BY WOW SIGNAL

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Dr. Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project at The Big Ear radio telescope of Ohio State University.[1] The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-solar system origin. It lasted for the full 72 second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. Much attention has been focused on it in the media when talking about SETI results.

Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment "Wow!" on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.[1]

Contents [hide]
1 Interpretation of the paper chart
2 Location of the signal
3 Time variation
4 Searches for recurrence of the signal
5 Speculations on the signal's origin
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Interpretation of the paper chart
The circled letter code 6EQUJ5 describes the intensity variation of the signal. A space denotes an intensity between 0 and 1, the numbers 1 to 9 denote the correspondingly numbered intensities (from 1.000 to 10.000), and intensities of 10.0 and above are denoted by a letter ('A' corresponds to intensities between 10.0 and 11.0, 'B' to 11.0 to 12.0, etc.). The value 'U' (an intensity between 30.0 and 31.0) was the highest detected by the telescope, on a logarithmic scale it was over 30 times louder than normal deep space.[1] The intensity in this case is the unitless signal-to-noise ratio, where noise was averaged for that band over the previous few minutes.[2]

Two different values for its frequency have been given: 1420.356 MHz (J. D. Kraus) and 1420.4556 MHz (J. R. Ehman). The frequency 1420 is significant for SETI searchers because, it is reasoned, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, and hydrogen resonates at about 1420 Mhz, thus extraterrestrials might use that frequency on which to transmit a strong signal.[1] The frequency of the Wow! signal matches very closely with the hydrogen line, which is at 1420.40575177 MHz. The bandwidth of the signal is less than 10 kHz (each column on the printout corresponds to a 10 kHz-wide channel; the signal is only present in one column).


The location of the signal in the constellation Sagittarius, near the Chi Sagittarii star group. Because of the design of the experiment, the location may lie in either one of the two red bands, and there is also significant uncertainty in the declination (vertical axis). For clarity, the widths of the red bands are not drawn to scale; they should actually be narrower.The original print out of the WOW signal, complete with Jerry Ehman's famous exclamation, is preserved by the Ohio Historical Society.[3]

[edit] Location of the signal
Determining a precise location in the sky was complicated by the fact that the Big Ear telescope used two feed horns to search for signals, each pointing to a slightly different direction in the sky following Earth's rotation; the Wow! signal was detected in one of the horns but not in the other, although the data were processed in such a way that it is impossible to determine in which of the two horns the signal entered. There are therefore two possible right ascension values:

19h22m24.64s ± 5s (positive horn)
19h25m17.01s ± 5s (negative horn)
The declination was unambiguously determined to be −27°03′ ± 20′. The preceding values are all expressed in terms of the B1950.0 epoch.[4]

Converted into the J2000.0 epoch, the coordinates become RA= 19h25m31s ± 10s or 19h28m22s ± 10s and declination= −26°57′ ± 20′

This region of the sky lies in the constellation Sagittarius, roughly 2.5 degrees south of the fifth-magnitude star group Chi Sagittarii.

[edit] Time variation

Plot of signal strength vs timeThe Big Ear telescope was fixed and used the rotation of the Earth to scan the sky. At the speed of the Earth's rotation, and given the width of the Big Ear's observation "window", the Big Ear could observe any given point for just 72 seconds. A continuous extraterrestrial signal, therefore, would be expected to register for exactly 72 seconds, and the recorded intensity of that signal would show a gradual peaking for the first 36 seconds—until the signal reached the center of Big Ear's observation "window"— and then a gradual decrease.

Therefore, both the length of the Wow! signal, 72 seconds, and the shape of the intensity graph may correspond to a possible extraterrestrial origin.[5]

[edit] Searches for recurrence of the signal
The signal was expected to appear three minutes apart in each of the horns, but this did not happen.[5] Ehman unsuccessfully looked for recurrences of the signal using Big Ear in the month after the detection.[6]

In 1987 and 1989, Robert Gray searched for the event using the META array at Oak Ridge Observatory, but did not re-detect it.[6]

In 1995 and 1996, Gray also searched for the signal using the Very Large Array, which is significantly more sensitive than Big Ear.[6]

Gray and Dr. Simon Ellingsen later searched for recurrences of the event in 1999 using the 26m radio telescope at the University of Tasmania's Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory.[7] Six 14-hour observations were made at positions in the vicinity, but did not detect anything similar to the Wow! signal.[5]

[edit] Speculations on the signal's origin
Interstellar scintillation of a weaker continuous signal—similar, in effect, to atmospheric twinkling—could be a possible explanation, although this still would not exclude the possibility of the signal being artificial in its nature. However, even by using the significantly more sensitive Very Large Array, such a signal could not be detected, and the probability that a signal below the Very Large Array level could be detected by the Big Ear radio telescope due to interstellar scintillation is low.[6] Other speculations include a rotating lighthouse-like source, a signal sweeping in frequency, or a one time burst. Some have also suggested it could have come from a moving space vehicle of extraterrestrial origin.

Ehman has stated his doubts that the signal is of intelligent extraterrestrial origin: "We should have seen it again when we looked for it 50 times. Something suggests it was an Earth-sourced signal that simply got reflected off a piece of space debris."[8]

He later recanted his skepticism somewhat, after further research showed an Earth-bound signal to be very unlikely, due to the requirements of a space-borne reflector being bound to certain unrealistic requirements to sufficiently explain the nature of the signal.[9] Also, the 1420 MHz signal is problematic in itself in that it is "protected spectrum": it is bandwidth in which terrestrial transmitters are forbidden to transmit.[10][11] In his most recent writings, Ehman resists "drawing vast conclusions from half-vast data."