Sprial galaxy: Hidden depths of Messier 77 revealed

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Messier 77 is a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. Also known as NGC 1068, it is one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies. It is a real star among galaxies, with more papers written about it than many other galaxies put together.

Despite its current fame and striking swirling appearance, the galaxy has been a victim of mistaken identity a couple of times; when it was initially discovered in 1780, the distinction between gas clouds and galaxies was not known, causing finder Pierre Mechain to miss its true nature and label it as a nebula. It was misclassified again when it was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue as a star cluster.

Now, however, it is firmly categorised as a barred spiral galaxy, with loosely wound arms and a relatively small central bulge. It is the closest and brightest example of a particular class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies -- galaxies that are full of hot, highly ionised gas that glows brightly, emitting intense radiation.

Strong radiation like this is known to come from the heart of Messier 77 -- caused by a very active black hole that is around 15 million times the mass of our Sun. Material is dragged towards this black hole and circles around it, heating up and glowing strongly. This region of a galaxy alone, although comparatively small, can be tens of thousands of times brighter than a typical galaxy.

Although no competition for the intense centre, Messier 77's spiral arms are also very bright regions. Dotted along each arm are knotty red clumps -- a signal that new stars are forming. These baby stars shine strongly, ionising nearby gas which then glows a deep red colour as seen in the image above. The dust lanes stretching across this image appear as a rusty, brown-red colour due to a phenomenon known as reddening; the dust absorbs more blue light than red light, enhancing its apparent redness.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by ESA/Hubble Information Centre.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/ecypzfdwMAw/130328125104.htm

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Newtown massacre search warrants released

Police tape seen outside the Lanza home in Newtown (Getty Images)

NEWTOWN, Conn.?Search warrant affidavits related to the Newtown school shootings were unsealed by judge in Danbury on Thursday, a little more than 100 days after Adam Lanza killed 26 people?including 20 children?at Sandy Hook Elementary School here before turning a gun on himself.

[Related: NRA blasted over Newtown robocalls]

The documents?dozens of pages of affidavits, warrants and items seized from the Newtown home Lanza, 20, shared with his mother, Nancy?paint a chilling picture of the killer in the weeks and months leading up to the Dec. 14 massacre.

Lanza in an undated photo (AP/File)

Lanza shot and killed his mother before driving to the school, shooting his way into the elementary school and opening fire.

Among the items seized by police at

Superior Court Judge John Blawie ordered parts of the documents redacted after state prosecutors requested that the identity of a key witness not be revealed for another 90 days. The judge also approved blacking out some phone numbers, credit card numbers and the serial numbers of some property confiscated from the Lanza home.

Connecticut State Police briefed family members of the Newtown shooting victims on Wednesday on what was recovered inside Lanza's home and car. About 50 family members attended the briefing, according to the Connecticut Post:

A few mothers cried, though most of the parents remained calm. After the more than two-hour session concluded, they left the Municipal Center alone or in small groups, escorted by state police troopers who kept reporters at a distance.

[Related: Images from Newtown, Dec. 14-21, 2012]

Thursday's release came after state lawmakers, media and Newtown residents criticized police officials for leaking details of their investigation at a convention of police chiefs in New Orleans, which were then published by the New York Daily News.

"If state police officers can leak details of the Newtown investigation at conventions, surely that information can be shared with the Connecticut public," the Hartford Courant said in an editorial. "It has more of a right to know than out-of-state police chiefs do. ... This isn't information to be hoarded and shared only at the state police water cooler. The longer information is kept under wraps, the more questions there will be about why. Most important, the details will inform the debate about gun control, mental health and violence in society. There's no reason to fear an informed public."

Connecticut's General Assembly has been considering gun-control legislation in the wake of the Newtown shootings, including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. State lawmakers said on Monday they would delay a vote on gun control until after search warrants related to the school shootings were unsealed.

The final police report on the massacre is not expected to be released until June.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/adam-lanza-newtown-search-warrants-released-131056789.html

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Texas man found guilty in wrongful conviction case

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) ? A West Texas jury on Wednesday convicted a man for the murder of an Austin woman whose husband was wrongfully convicted of her slaying and spent nearly 25 years in prison before being exonerated.

Jurors in San Angelo found Mark Alan Norwood guilty of capital murder for the 1986 killing of Christine Morton, who was attacked in her north Austin home. Prosecutors said Norwood beat the woman to death.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but is eligible for parole after 15 years. Jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning their verdict.

Morton's husband, Michael, was initially convicted in her death in 1987, but he was exonerated and freed in 2011 after new DNA testing was done on a bloody bandanna found near the couple's home. Investigators said the DNA evidence led them to Norwood, whose DNA was in a national database as a result of his long criminal history.

Michael Morton hugged Norwood's mother outside the courtroom after the trial. He also hugged Norwood's brother, Dale.

Morton told the Austin American-Statesman that what he was feeling was "a mixed bag. It's not a celebration, and it's not a happy day."

"Michael and his family are pleased that justice, at last, has been provided for the memory of Christine Morton," John Raley, Morton's Houston-based attorney, said in an email. Raley spent years working for free on the case after teaming up with the Innocence Project.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office handled Norwood's prosecution, said no verdict can bring back Christine Morton's life or "recover the devastating years that her husband Michael Morton spent unjustly imprisoned for her murder."

"We can only hope that today's verdict provides some much-deserved, but woefully delayed justice for a family that suffered so terribly for so long," Abbott said in a statement.

Norwood's sister, Connie Hoff, said her brother had been railroaded because prosecutors had introduced evidence from the 1988 death of Debra Masters Baker in Austin during the trial. Norwood, 58, also has been charged with capital murder in the death of Baker, who lived near the Mortons.

Hoff said her family is now going through what the Morton family went through when he was convicted.

"This is history repeating itself," she told the American-Statesman.

During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, prosecutor Lisa Tanner told jurors they need to convict Norwood "and not let evil walk out of this room with you."

One of Norwood's lawyers, Ariel Payan, suggested to jurors during closing arguments that the evidence gathered from the bandanna was contaminated.

DNA testing wasn't available when the blood on the bandanna was initially tested in 1986. The testing wasn't done until Michael Morton's attorneys spent years lobbying for it.

Prosecutors also told jurors that a gun Norwood stole from the Mortons' home and later sold linked him to the murder. Morton testified at the trial, telling jurors about the missing gun.

The trial was held in San Angelo after being moved from Williamson County, near Austin, because of publicity in the case. The Texas Attorney General's Office was not seeking the death penalty.

Last month, a special hearing known as a court of inquiry was held to examine whether state District Judge Ken Anderson acted improperly in 1987 when, as Williamson County district attorney, he prosecuted Michael Morton. Morton's lawyers have accused Anderson of intentionally hiding evidence.

Anderson has denied any wrongdoing. A decision by a judge on whether Anderson should face criminal charges in the case might come next month. Anderson also is being sued by the State Bar of Texas for his conduct in the Morton case.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-man-found-guilty-wrongful-conviction-case-200125061.html

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Professional Business Marketing ? 'Matt Lauer is the best in the ...

A top NBC News executive said Wednesday the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the Today show despite reports that Anderson Cooper of CNN was approached about the job.

?Matt Lauer is the best in the business,? said Alex Wallace, a NBC News executive who oversees the Today show. ?We want him in the Today show anchor chair for many years to come.?

Wallace spoke after reports of a meeting with Cooper first appeared in Deadline Hollywood. The report was confirmed to The Associated Press by a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private and was not authorized to speak to the media.

The longtime king of morning television,?Today has fallen behind ABC?s Good Morning America in the ratings over the past year, particularly since the messy ouster of Ann Curry as Lauer?s co-anchor last summer. There has been a flurry of stories recently retracing that decision. Lauer has said he urged the network to move more slowly with its planned changes, but a New York Magazine cover story this week suggested he didn?t like Curry and did little to help her.

Whatever happened, it?s clear that many Today viewers who did not like what happened to Curry have taken their anger out on Lauer.

In 2012, Lauer?s positive ?Q? score was 23 ? meaning 23 percent of people who knew him considered Lauer one of their favorite broadcasters, according to Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that measures public sentiment toward well-known personalities. Last summer that score dropped to 14 and this month stands at 9, the company said. For the first time, George Stephanopoulos of Good Morning America has surpassed him. Among women, who make up the bulk of morning show audiences, Stephanopoulos is nearly twice as popular as Lauer and his GMA?partner, Robin Roberts, is nearly three times as popular, the company said.

Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Trapped in a vortex of bad vibes with no escape in sight.

The approach to Cooper could mean that NBC has concluded that the time is right to actively work on replacing Lauer. Or not: his contract expires at the end of 2014 and it is widely assumed that Lauer will be ready then to move on from a job he?s held since 1997. Under those circumstances, a forward-looking management team would be expected to be looking at alternatives.

?NBC News has many exploratory talks with talent inside and outside of the network, but to read anything specific into that is presumptuous,? said an NBC News executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss personnel moves.

Lauer has talked about resetting Today to be more serious, with less emphasis on crime stories. NBC was criticized this week by advocates for sexual abuse victims because Today aired excerpts of an interview that filmmaker John Ziegler had with convicted Penn State molester Jerry Sandusky; Lauer interviewed Ziegler on the air.

Potential internal replacements for Lauer could include Willie Geist, who co-hosts the third hour of Today in addition to work on MSNBC?s ?Morning Joe,? and ?Meet the Press? anchor David Gregory. Both have subbed for Lauer when he was absent.

The question for many in the television industry is whether the Today show can hope to change its fortunes with Lauer at the helm. Today hasn?t beaten Good Morning America for any week in the ratings since the Olympics last summer and with Roberts? return after an illness in February, the gap between the two shows hit its widest. NBC says preliminary numbers show the two shows last week were as close as they?ve been since December and that ?Today? frequently wins among youthful news viewers.

?This awful, false narrative campaign against Matt has certainly made him vulnerable, but Matt is still, in my opinion, the best anchor who has ever occupied that chair,? said Shelley Ross, former executive producer at Good Morning America and The Early Show at CBS, where she competed against Lauer. She said she believed NBC?s competitors were helping to keep negative stories about Lauer alive.

NBC was right to replace Curry but handled it badly, she said.

The cyclical nature of television is also likely hurting Lauer. It?s a rare personality that stays beloved forever. Ross and others in the industry believe that Lauer?s latest contract, which reportedly pays him $25 million a year, drove a wedge between the anchor and viewers who no longer view him as a regular guy.

Paul Friedman, a former news executive at ABC and CBS, also said Lauer is the best he?s seen in his role. But currently, ABC?s Good Morning America is a broadcast that provides viewers with information from personalities who appear to be enjoying what they?re doing, he said.

?I don?t think the fuss in the press is what matters to viewers,? said Friedman, who teaches journalism at Connecticut?s Quinnipiac University. ?What matters is what is seen on the air, and right now what?s on the air is a cast that doesn?t appear to enjoy themselves and what they?re doing ? as they do at Good Morning America.?

Read more:
Anderson Cooper eyed as Matt Lauer replacement: Report
Matt Lauer was ready to jump to ABC: Report
Matt Lauer to stay ?as long as he likes? on ?Today?

Source: http://lowbrowse.org/matt-lauer-is-the-best-in-the-business-says-nbc-executive.html

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Sharapova beats Errani in Key Biscayne quarters

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) ? The grunts were long and loud in the final game, as if Maria Sharapova was pushing a couch across nearby Crandon Beach.

Trying to win the Sony Open must feel that way to Sharapova, a four-time runner-up. She returned to the semifinals Wednesday despite a patchy performance, beating Sara Errani 7-5, 7-5.

Sharapova had 57 unforced errors, including 13 double-faults, and overcame three set points in the second set.

"I made things much more difficult than they should have been," she said.

The two sets took 2? hours, and a flurry of mistakes by both players left spectators groaning. Sharapova had the last laugh, whacking a forehand winner past Errani on match point.

"She really made me work for this match," Sharapova said. "I had to dig deep ? so many opportunities, a few ups and downs. I'm definitely happy to get through another one."

Seeded No. 3, she'll play Thursday against No. 22 Jelena Jankovic, who beat No. 15 Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3.

The men's quarterfinals featured eight Europeans for the first time, and in the opening match, No. 3 David Ferrer of Spain rallied past unseeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Ferrer's opponent Friday will bracket buster Tommy Haas of Germany, who beat No. 11 Gilles Simon of France, 6-3, 6-1.

The 34-year-old Haas became the oldest man to beat a No. 1 player in a completed match in 30 years when he upset three-time champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday night.

Sharapova faced Errani in a rematch of last year's French Open final, which Sharapova won to complete a career Grand Slam. But she has never won Key Biscayne, losing the final in 2005, '06, '11 and '12.

"I've been so close to winning," Sharapova said. "I would love to win this. I've been coming to this tournament since I was a little kid as a spectator. To be playing here, to be doing so well and getting to that stage, I sure hope I can go further this time."

Her quarterfinal took place with the stadium half empty despite postcard weather. Attendance is down about 7 percent from last year, and promoters blame the absence of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Sharapova struggled with both her first and second serves, and in the second set she lost eight consecutive service points. While she and Errani waged a series of long, entertaining baseline rallies, both were also prone to blowing easy shots.

Sharapova's superior firepower proved the difference. Serving at 4-5 in the second set, she erased three set points and held. Two games later she endured one final double-fault, then hit winners on the last two points.

Errani, seeded No. 8, fell to 0-26 against opponents ranked in the top five. She's 0-4 against Sharapova.

"It's nice to get through a match when you don't feel like you're playing your best, because you feel like you have a lot to improve," Sharapova said. "You have no choice. It's a semifinal.

"Would I have loved to play better? Of course. But some days you can't go out on the court and everything goes in and you feel great and you're playing the way you imagined to play. It just doesn't happen."

Sharapova has won 10 consecutive matches, all in straight sets. She won the Indian Wells championship this month and is bidding to become the third woman to claim that title and Key Biscayne in the same year. Steffi Graf did it in 1994 and 1996, and Kim Clijsters won both in 2005.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharapova-beats-errani-key-biscayne-quarters-200237938--spt.html

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Cyprus deal could spur stocks to new high?

Chuck Mikolajczak , Reuters ? ? ? 21 hrs.

NEW YORK - Stocks could break through to all-time closing highs next week - provided a resolution to the fiscal woes of Cyprus satisfies investors.

The island nation accounts for a fraction of euro zone economic output, and yet the wrangling over a $13 billion bailout package kept markets on edge throughout this past week. The S&P 500 fell for the first time in four weeks, with weakness linked to uncertainty overseas.

The Cypriot ruling party said Friday that it was close to a deal to raise billions of euros in order to secure a bailout from the European Union to avoid a financial meltdown and a potential exit from the euro.

Eurozone leaders have offered the country 10 billion euros on the condition it raises 5.8 billion euros on its own. The rescue plan is smaller in scope than previous bailouts to eurozone members, making investors worry less about a banking collapse and more about the possibility Cyprus would exit the bloc and drop the euro currency.

The worry "is the psychological knock-on effect of the credible possibility of some (country) saying ?Cyprus got out, now they are on their own, they devalued their currency, they don't have to go through austerity,'" said Art Hogan, managing director at Lazard Capital Markets in New York.

"What is going to stop Greece from doing the same thing? And you start a daisy chain."

Similarly, investors had reacted harshly to proposals by European officials to tax depositors - including those protected by depositor insurance - to fund the bailout. That sparked some selling on the idea that such a plan could set a precedent for dealing with other troubled euro zone economies, and set off bank runs across the continent.

Assuming Cyprus's troubles are solved, investors will turn their attention to economic data due during the holiday-shortened week, with equity markets closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.

The data will include orders for durable goods orders and pending home sales for February as well as the final reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

But with the trend of economic data showing a slow improvement in the U.S. economy, few negative surprises are expected next week. That could enable the S&P 500 to once again make a run at its all-time closing high of 1,565.15. After all, for all of the worry about Cyprus, the S&P only dipped 0.3 percent this week and the benchmark index remains up more than 9 percent for the year.

"The story doesn't seem to be weakening and domestically it seems to be growing in terms of strength," said Sandy Lincoln, chief market strategist at BMO Asset Management U.S. in Chicago.

"People are looking at a better backdrop, whether it is the jobs data, the GDP data or the consumer stepping up on the retail sales side in spite of fiscal drag."

Stocks could see another boost in the form of quarter-end "window dressing" in which money managers add outperforming stocks to their portfolios.

"You are coming into the end of the quarter, everybody has some great results. You are going to get some window dressing on some of the stocks that are doing well," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

With earnings season several weeks away, only nine S&P 500 companies are expected to report quarterly results next week, including discount retailer Dollar General Corp and video game retailer Gamestop Corp.

Only a few companies released results this week, but they were disconcerting. Oracle Corp, the world's No. 3 software maker, fell well short of revenue expectations. FedEx Corp, the second-largest U.S. package delivery company, cut its forecast for the year.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 491 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings, 69 percent have topped analysts' expectations, compared with 62 percent since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

A strong showing next week could push the index past both its record closing high as well as its record intraday high of 1,576.09.

But the index has faced stiff resistance in prior attempts to break the mark, climbing as high as 1,563.62 before losing steam. As more attempts to break the mark fall short, the likelihood of a bigger dip that many analysts have been expecting increases.

"Every time it gets up there, it seems to sell off, so you have to get through that resistance point," Mendelsohn said.

"Once we get through that resistance point that will probably bring more buyers in. If you can't get through it, that will probably encourage some of the sellers a little bit."

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/29edbd7b/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ccyprus0Edeal0Ecould0Espur0Estocks0Enew0Ehigh0E1C90A34370A/story01.htm

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