Dwarf galaxies can be made with gas leftover from early Universe

Washington, Feb 19 : NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has identified dwarf galaxies forming out of nothing more than pristine gas likely leftover from the early universe.

Dwarf galaxies are relatively small collections of stars that often orbit around larger galaxies like our Milky Way.

The findings surprised astronomers because most galaxies form in association with a mysterious substance called dark matter or out of gas containing metals.

The infant galaxies spotted by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer are springing up out of gas that lacks both dark matter and metals.

Though never seen before, this new type of dwarf galaxy may be common throughout the more distant and early universe, when pristine gas was more pervasive.

Led by David Thilker of the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University, a team of astronomers spotted the unexpected new galaxies forming inside the Leo Ring, a huge cloud of hydrogen and helium that traces a ragged path around two massive galaxies in the constellation Leo.

The cloud is thought likely to be a primordial object, an ancient remnant of material that has remained relatively unchanged since the very earliest days of the universe.

Identified about 25 years ago by radio waves, the ring cannot be seen in visible light.

According to Thilker, "This intriguing object has been studied for decades with world-class telescopes operating at radio and optical wavelengths. Despite such effort, nothing except the gas was detected. No stars at all, young or old, were found."

"But, when we looked at the ring with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, which is remarkably sensitive to ultraviolet light, we saw telltale evidence of recent massive star formation. It was really unexpected. We are witnessing galaxies forming out of a cloud of primordial gas," he added.

"We speculate that these young stellar complexes are dwarf galaxies, although, as previously shown by radio astronomers, the gaseous clumps forming these galaxies lack dark matter," said Thilker.

"Almost all other galaxies we know are dominated by dark matter, which acted as a seed for the collection of their luminous components - stars, gas, and dust. What we see occurring in the Leo Ring is a new mode for the formation of dwarf galaxies in material remaining from the much earlier assembly of this galaxy group," he explained.

Tajikistan allows NATO cargo transit to Afghanistan

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan has agreed to allow the transit of NATO non-military cargo through its territory to Afghanistan, a U.S. military commander said on Tajik state television on Friday.

"Tajikistan has allowed (NATO) to use its railways and roads to transit non-military goods to Afghanistan," said Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek of the U.S. Transportation Command.

Washington seeks to diversify supply routes for its troops in Afghanistan as militants in Pakistan step up attacks on supply convoys.

Tajikistan's Central Asian neighbor Kyrgyzstan decided on Thursday to close a U.S. military air base, removing one of the U.S. military's supply routes into Afghanistan as it prepares to send more troops.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the base closure decision into law on Friday. The country's Foreign Ministry is now expected to hand the United States an official eviction note. When that happens, Washington will have 180 days to wrap up its operations in Kyrgyzstan.

"We plan to ship 50 to 200 containers a week from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and then to Afghanistan," Harnitchek said. "Tajikistan is very important because it is closest to our bases."

The United States has said earlier that cargo such as building materials, medicines and water would be delivered to Uzbekistan by rail via Russia and Kazakhstan.

Kyrgyz parliament approves US base closure

By LEILA SARALAYEVA, Associated Press Writer

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan's parliament voted Thursday to close a key U.S. air base in the country — a move that could hamper President Barack Obama's efforts to increase the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Deputies voted 78-1 with two abstentions for the government-backed bill to cancel the lease agreement on the Manas air base, a transit point for 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo each month to and from Afghanistan. The move follows Russia's offer of $2.15 billion in aid and loans to the impoverished Central Asian country.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in Poland for NATO talks, said the United States would consider paying more rent to continue using the strategic base. Speaking after the parliament vote in Kyrgyzstan, Gates said he considers talks still open over the future of the base.

Russia has denied pushing Kyrgyzstan to shut the base, but U.S. officials were skeptical.

"I think that the Russians are trying to have it both ways with respect to Afghanistan in terms of Manas," Gates said. "On one hand you're making positive noises about working with us in Afghanistan and on the other hand you're working against us in terms of that airfield which is clearly important to us."

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev — who announced the planned eviction and whose government introduced the legislation — is expected to sign the bill in the coming weeks. Once Kyrgyz authorities issue an eviction notice, the United States will have 180 days to leave the base.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the U.S. has "yet to receive any formal notification of a change in status of Manas so our operations there continue as normal."

"A stable, peaceful Afghanistan is in everyone's interest, including the Kyrgyz people, and Manas is instrumental to our efforts to make that a reality," he said. "However, the base is not irreplaceable and we have alternatives should they be needed."

Widespread public discontent in Kyrgyzstan over the U.S. military presence has been sharpened in recent years by a number of high-profile incidents surrounding the base.

In late 2006, a U.S. serviceman fatally shot truck driver Alexander Ivanov during a routine security check. U.S. officials said Ivanov threatened the serviceman with a knife. On a recent visit to Kyrgyzstan, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said an investigation into the killing had been reopened.

"So far, no American soldier appeared in court," Kyrgyz foreign minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev told deputies Thursday.

Sarbayev also complained the United States has failed to adequately compensate Kyrgyzstan for $650,000 worth of damage caused to a civilian Tu-154 plane when it collided with a U.S. KC-135 tanker aircraft.

The only opposition to the Kyrgyz bill came from the Social Democrat party, which argued the shuttering of Manas could undermine national security.

The United States is trying to finalize details of an alternative overland supply route to Afghanistan amid concerns over worsening security in Pakistan. Some 75 percent of U.S. supplies currently travel through Pakistan, where militants have stepped up attacks on truck convoys destined for U.S. bases.

Washington has already received permission from Russia and Kazakhstan to transport non-lethal supplies for Afghanistan by rail. It hopes to secure similar guarantees from Uzbekistan, which has a border and transportation links with Afghanistan.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the Kyrgyz vote was "an inconvenience and a decision to regret, but we can certainly absorb it."

"There is plenty of flexibility in the logistical supply chain for NATO," he added. "There are alternatives; they will be used."

Around 100 containers of non-lethal supplies bound for Afghanistan left by train Wednesday from Latvia for Russia, U.S. diplomats said.

Also Thursday, a delegation of U.S. military transportation officials arrived in another former Soviet state in the region, Tajikistan, which shares an 810-mile (1,300-kilometer) border with Afghanistan.

The officials will study Tajikistan's transportation infrastructure and evaluate the potential for shipping nonmilitary cargo through the country to Afghanistan, the Tajik Foreign Ministry said.

Netanyahu wins backing in Israeli PM contest

By Jeffrey Heller and Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu's chances of becoming Israel's prime minister again were boosted on Thursday by the conditional backing of an ultra-nationalist politician who emerged as a kingmaker in a close election.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, recommended to Peres that he choose Netanyahu to form a government, if the right-wing Likud chief pursued a broad coalition. Netanyahu has said he would do so.

President Shimon Peres plans to ask Netanyahu and rival Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima party on Friday to join forces to form a unity government, a presidential official said.

Livni and Netanyahu both laid claim to the premiership after Kadima won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament to Likud's 27 in an inconclusive February 10 election that deepened uncertainty about peace moves with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu renewed calls on Livni and Labor Party leader Ehud Barak to join a coalition under his leadership. Livni rejected his call, saying her party will sit in the opposition. Labor has said it will do the same.

"I don't intend to be a fig leaf for a government that has no path and is dysfunctional. I don't intend to change my path or to betray the voters for a job in the government," Livni said before meeting a visiting U.S. congressional delegation.

Peres wrapped up consultations with party leaders and would meet Netanyahu and Livni separately on Friday.

Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999. During his term he handed over part of the West Bank city of Hebron to the Palestinians.

With Lieberman's support, Netanyahu has the backing of some 65 legislators, enough for a narrow, governing majority of right-wing and Jewish religious parties.

UNITY

Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who has been at odds with religious parties and is reviled by Israel's Arab community, made unity the theme of his remarks to Peres.

"We recommend Benjamin Netanyahu, only in the framework of a broad government," Lieberman told reporters.

"We want a government of the three biggest parties, Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu," he said, without disclosing what he would do if a unity government proved impossible to achieve.

A Yisrael Beiteinu official said Lieberman sought a broad coalition out of concern that creation of a narrow, rightist government could lead to friction with the Obama administration, which has pledged to pursue Palestinian statehood.

Kadima has said it would be willing to relinquish parts of the occupied West Bank in exchange for peace, a position that would put it in conflict with Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud.

Yisrael Beiteinu, which won 15 seats in last week's ballot, has angered Israel's Arab citizens by proposing a law under which Israelis would have to pledge allegiance to the Jewish state as a condition for voting or holding office.

The party also wants to trade land inside Israel in which many of the country's 1.5 million Arabs live for Jewish West Bank settlements in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

Under Israeli law, the legislator designated by Peres to try to form a government has 42 days to complete the task. Traditionally, after an election, past presidents have picked the leader of the party that won the most votes, but there is no legal obligation to do so.

Germany disagrees with US over use of NATO's rapid response force

Krakow, Poland - German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said Thursday he opposed US plans to use NATO's embryonic Response Force (NRF) to provide security in Afghanistan during the country's presidential elections. "The NRF should not be considered as a reserve force. In principle, it has a very different role to play," Jung told reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Krakow, Poland.

Other European allies are understood to also oppose the deployment of the NRF in Afghanistan.

Launched at the alliance's 2002 summit in Prague and declared operational four years later, the NRF is designed to provide NATO with a rapid and flexible stand-alone force consisting of land, air and sea components and capable of being deployed within five days anywhere in the world.

But disagreements about its mission and widespread unwillingness to provide it with troops have prevented its use in any combat zone.

It has so far been used only a handful of times, and only for humanitarian relief purposes, such as when Hurricane Katrina hit the southern US in 2005.

Original plans for a 25,000-strong contingent have long been abandoned, with NATO officials now talking about the need to create a permanent "core" surrounded by a flexible amount of troops.

Speaking on his way to Krakow, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed deploying the NRF before and during Afghan's presidential elections, which are expected to take place in mid-August.

"We believe the NRF ought to be deployable. And I think that it's hard to get people to commit definitely to meet their NRF responsibilities if there's no notion that they'll ever be used anyplace," Gates said.

"And so my view is this pre-election period in Afghanistan is a very good example of where the NRF could provide a temporary strengthening of NATO's capabilities in support of the Afghan government and the elections," he said.

Meanwhile, his British colleague, John Hutton, said he would use the Krakow meeting to propose the creation of a 3,000-strong standing force committed to defending the alliance's territory against attack.

The idea is to reassure NATO's Eastern European allies in the wake of Russia's invasion of Georgia last August and to free up additional resources for Afghanistan.

Hutton said agreement on such a domestic security force could also break the deadlock over the NRF.

"I hope it might make it easier for NATO to do more in Afghanistan, certain in the knowledge that there is a dedicated homeland security force that will have no other call on its priorities (other) than European homeland security," Hutton told the Financial Times.

Spirit lifted by Martian winds

By Mary O’Keefe

As the Mars rovers deal with advanced age, broken appendages and memory lapses, good news comes from Jet Propulsion Laboratory: the rover named Spirit had a little power boost, thanks to a Martian wind.

Solar panels convert the Sun’s rays into power for the rovers. The more dust that covers the panels, the less power gets through. A Martian wind this month has blown away some of the dust that had accumulated on the panels, giving Spirit a very important uptick in electrical output.

That boosts Spirit’s energy by about 10%, according to John Callas, rover program manager.

“We welcome that extra energy,” Callas said.

The energy will allow Spirit to do more during the day. “We are trying to climb Home Plate,” he said.

Home Plate is a low plateau where Spirit has been parked during the winter months. Now that spring is almost over and the Martian summer is about to begin, engineers will be driving Spirit onto it.

“We want to climb up and drive across [Home Plate] south to our [new] destination,” he said.

With its extra power boost Spirit is expected to continue its quest to drive across Home Plate.

In late January, Spirit had a problem recalling its daily activity. It appeared to have thought it had driven somewhere but in actuality hadn’t moved. Callas said that a leading hypothesis to the memory loss was due to a cosmic ray event. This would explain why Spirit did not record its daily activities into a memory drive that erases when the rover shuts down.

Opportunity, Spirit’s sister rover, is rolling along on the other side of the planet.

“It is doing great,” Callas said.

He added that engineers have noticed an elevated current in Opportunity’s right front wheel that they will be watching. For now they feel it is a lubrication problem and are driving the rover backwards in an effort to correct it.

“We can’t drive as far going backwards,” he said. “It’s like backing up your car you can see [much easier] what is in front of you when you are driving forward.”

For right now engineers are taking it slow with Opportunity, and grateful for any extra Spirit power.

“We can expect some impulsive [sand storm] activities,” he said. “We will keep vigilante for dust storms but for now it has given us a good cleaning and we are happy with that.”

Pakistan: Child poet takes on the Taliban

Islamabad, 19 Feb. (AKI) - Tuba Sahaab is taking on the Taliban. But the 11-year-old Pakistani girl is no militant and her weapons are simply her words. She lives on the outskirts of Islamabad and writes poems about the pain and suffering of children in her country despite personal threats from hardline Islamic militants.

"If they kill me, do not worry," she says. "I want everyone in Pakistan to be equal."

The young poet has been interviewed by US network, CNN, and now regularly appears in the media. She is not afraid to express her views and is famous in Pakistan.

"I want to give peace to my nation," she tells CNN. "I will fight for it."

Tuba is strongly opposed to hardliners who have tried to restrict girls from going to school in certain parts of the country.

Before a peace agreement announced in the volatile Swat Valley in the country's northwest on Monday, the Taliban was forcing girls out of the classroom and destroying schools.

"This is very shocking to hear that girls can't go to school, they are taking us back to the Stone Age," Tuba says.

For the past 18 months, militants have beheaded opponents and burned scores of girls' schools in Swat, which lies next to Pakistan's tribal regions close to the Afghan border.

Monday's peace deal allows for the imposition of Islamic Sharia law in the former tourist region and surrounding districts in exchange for an end to the Taliban insurgency which has killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

Tuba refuses to remain silent despite threats on her life - by letter and telephone. "Stop it or we will kill you," they say.

Tuba's parents are proud of their daughter and say they are not afraid even when she speaks out publicly against the Taliban. Her mother says she is "worth more than seven sons and seven daughters."

Tuba is inspired by US president Barack Obama and his recent election. She tells CNN she prayed for his election and dreams of meeting Obama one day.

"I want to go the White House and show him my poems, show him what is happening and ask him to come to Pakistan and control it because he is a super power."

In her playground at school, Tuba dances and laughs with her friends. She loves writing her short stories and has already published a book.

Tuba also has a personal dream to be an astronaut and one day lead her country.

"I will do anything, if my life goes I don't worry, I just want to do something," she says.