Star Explosion Leaves Behind a Rose like cloud in space

About 3,700 years ago, people on Earth would have seen a brand-new bright star in the sky. It slowly dimmed out of sight and was eventually forgotten, until modern astronomers later found its remains, called Puppis A. In this new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Puppis A looks less like the remains of a supernova explosion and more like a red rose.
Puppis A (pronounced PUP-pis) was formed when a massive star ended its life in a supernova, the most brilliant and powerful form of an explosion in the known universe. The expanding shock waves from that explosion are heating up the dust and gas clouds surrounding the supernova, causing them to glow and appear red in this infrared view. While much of the material from that original star was violently thrown out into space, some of it remained in an incredibly dense object called a neutron star. This particular neutron star (too faint to be seen in this image) is moving inexplicably fast: over 3 million miles per hour! Astronomers are perplexed over its absurd speed, and have nicknamed the object the "Cosmic Cannonball."
Some of the green-colored gas and dust in the image is from yet another ancient supernova -- the Vela supernova remnant. That explosion happened around 12,000 years ago and was four times closer to us than Puppis A.
The colors in this image represent different wavelengths of infrared light that humans can't see with their eyes.
JPL manages and operates the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
                                                                                                                            source:NASA

World's Largest Marine Reserve Coming Up in Australia

The Australian government has announced plans to create the a huge marine protection zone in the Coral Sea off the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. The reserve would span an area of approximately 990,000 sq km (larger than France). A 90 day public consultation period will take place through which the government hopes to finalize the plans. Meanwhile oil and gas exploration has been banned. Commercial and recreational fishing is permitted in certain areas. The proposed Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve if implemented will contribute a lot to preserving a lot of oce... more »

Pak Army takes over Shamsi airbase after Americans leave

  US planes in Shamsi airbase

The Pakistan Army today took over Shamsi airbase in the country’s southwest after it was vacated by U.S. forces in line with a deadline set by the government following a cross-border NATO attack that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.The last flight carrying U.S. personnel and equipment had departed from Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province and the facility had been “completely vacated” by the Americans, the Inter-

The airbase is now under the control of Pakistani forces.Pakistan had earlier set December 11 as the deadline for the U.S. to vacate Shamsi airbase, reportedly used by CIA-operated drones that target militants in the country’s restive tribal belt.An America flag that was previously hoisted at the airbase was lowered today.The U.S. personnel had removed radars and other sensitive equipment from the base.

Much of the gear and at least five drones were transferred to Afghanistan.