My Science School

Kaurava is a Sanskrit term for the descendants of King Kuru (or simply Kurava in Tamil), a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mah?bh?rata. The well-known Kauravas are Duryodhana, Dushasana, Vikarna, Yuyutsu and Dussala. Yuyutsu is not the son of Gandhari. But he is the same age of Duryodhana and Bhima.

The name Kaurava comes from the lineage of Dhritarashtra’s ancestor Kuru, a dynamic king and ruler of the earth to all its corners, hence the heirs of the Kuru lineage termed as Kauravas, which for instance, also includes the five Pandavas and the later discovered sixth Pandava, Karna. Since Pandu could not continue to remain the king of Hastinapur due to a curse, Dhritarashtra, his cousin-brother was made the king. Pandu’s five sons chose to be called Pandava and not Kaurava. Dhritarashtra was blind from birth while Gandhari being a women of strong conviction and wanting to suffer her husband’s share of blindness, covered her eyes by tying a silk robe when she married him which she would only open at her death. In addition to the 100 Kauravas, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were also blessed with a single daughter called Dussala. 

After Yudhishthira lost his kingdom, his brothers and his wife Draupadi, in a game of dice with Shakuni, Duhshasana dragged Draupadi by the hair into the assembly, at the behest of his brother Duryodhana, and tried to disrobe her. Draupadi prayed to Krishna and he made her sari to be of infinite length, so that Duhshasana could not take it off. Dussasana was very exhausted and he nearly fainted. The assembled men were amazed at this miracle. They condemned Duhshasana and praised Draupadi. However,Draupadi was humiliated by being dragged into court by her hair. After this humiliation Draupadi swore that she will not tie her hair until it is bathed with blood of Duhshasana. Bhima, who could no longer watch Draupadi's insult in silence, rose up. He vowed to tear open Dussasana's chest in battle and drink his blood. Bhima also exclaimed that if he could not fulfill his oath, then he would not meet his ancestors in heaven.

 

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Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ (while /b/ in foreign words is instead commonly transcribed as ??). Letters that arose from beta include the Roman letter ?B? and the Cyrillic letters ??? and ???.

Like the names of most other Greek letters, the name of beta was adopted from the acrophonic name of the corresponding letter in Phoenician, which was the common Semitic word *bait ('house'). In Greek, the name was ???? bêta, pronounced [b???ta] in Ancient Greek. It is spelled ???? in modern monotonic orthography and pronounced [?vita].

Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. Software in the beta stage is also known as betaware. A Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it. Software beta releases can either be public or private, depending on whether they are openly available or only available to a limited audience. 

 

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A used book or secondhand book is a book which has been owned before by an owner other than the publisher or retailer, usually by an individual or library. Some new book shops also carry used books, and some used book shops also sell new books. Though the original authors or publishers will not benefit financially from the sale of a used book, it helps to keep old books in circulation. Sometimes very old, rare, first edition, antique, or simply out of print books can be found as used books in used book shops. A number of small towns have become centres for used book sellers, most notably Hay-on-Wye in South Wales. They act as a magnet for buyers, and are located in country areas of great scenic beauty.

Used bookstores (usually called "second-hand bookshops" in Great Britain) buy and sell used books and out-of-print books. A range of titles is available in used bookstores, including in print and out-of-print books. Book collectors tend to frequent used book stores. Used bookstores can range in size offering from several hundred to several hundred thousands of titles. They may be brick-and-mortar stores, internet-only stores, or a combination of both. A book town is a locale where numerous bookstores are located and serve as the town's main attraction to tourists.

 

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Africa is No. 2 on both lists: population and size. In area, it spans 11.6 million square miles (30 million square kilometers). Its population is estimated at 1.3 billion. Along with Asia, these two continents are forecast to be the highest areas of world population growth in the coming decades.

Africa is home to the longest river in the world, the Nile. It stretches 4,100 miles (6,600 kilometers) from Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea.

The continent is cut almost equally in two by the Equator, so that most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the Tropic of Cancer and on the south by the Tropic of Capricorn. Because of the bulge formed by western Africa, the greater part of Africa’s territory lies north of the Equator. Africa is crossed from north to south by the prime meridian (0° longitude), which passes a short distance to the east of Accra, Ghana.

Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral resources, including some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, and gems and precious metals. This richness is matched by a great diversity of biological resources that includes the intensely lush equatorial rainforests of Central Africa and the world-famous populations of wildlife of the eastern and southern portions of the continent. Although agriculture (primarily subsistence) still dominates the economies of many African countries, the exploitation of these resources became the most significant economic activity in Africa in the 20th century.

 

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After securing the neutrality of the Soviet Union (through the August 1939 German-Soviet Pact of nonaggression), Germany started World War II by invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany on September 3. Within a month, Poland was defeated by a combination of German and Soviet forces and was partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The relative lull in fighting which followed the defeat of Poland ended on April 9, 1940, when German forces invaded Norway and Denmark. On May 10, 1940, Germany began its assault on western Europe by invading the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg), which had taken neutral positions in the war, as well as France. On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice with Germany, which provided for the German occupation of the northern half of the country and permitted the establishment of a collaborationist regime in the south with its seat in the city of Vichy.

Post-war Germany would be divided into four occupation zones, to be controlled by the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France. On the divisive matter of Eastern Europe’s future, Churchill and Truman acquiesced to Stalin, as they needed Soviet cooperation in the war against Japan.

 

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Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of India's freedom struggle, and Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, were born on October 2. They coined popular national slogans that resonated with masses.

October 2 is of great national importance for the country as on this day, two great leaders were born on the Indian soil. Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of India's freedom struggle, and Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, with their selfless service to the nation, continue to inspire everyone.

When Lal Bahadur Shastri took over the prime ministership of India after Jawahar Lal Nehru's death in 1964, India was attacked by Pakistan. During that time, India was reeling under scarcity of food grains. Lal Bahadur Shastri's call for "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" inspired the soldiers and the farmers to save the country at the border and from hunger strike. 

"Do or die" became a very popular slogan during India's fight for freedom against the British. Mahatma Gandhi had coined the slogan during a meeting of the All India Congress Committee which took place on August 7, 1942. 

 

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Buzz Aldrin, original name Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., (born January 20, 1930, Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.), American astronaut who was the second person to set foot on the Moon. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York (1951), Aldrin became an air force pilot. He flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War, where he flew F-86 “Sabre” aircraft as part of the 51st Fighter Wing in Seoul and shot down two MiG-15 jets. Aldrin later served in West Germany. In 1963 he wrote a dissertation on orbital mechanics to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Later that year he was chosen as an astronaut.

Aldrin's initial application to join the astronaut corps when NASA's Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962 was rejected on the grounds that he was not a test pilot. He was aware of the requirement and asked for it to be waived, but the request was turned down. On May 15, 1963, NASA announced another round of selections, this time with the requirement that applicants had either test pilot experience or 1,000 hours of flying time in jet aircraft. Aldrin had over 2,500 hours of flying time, of which 2,200 was in jets. His selection as one of fourteen members of NASA's Astronaut Group 3 was announced on October 18, 1963. This made him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree which, combined with his expertise in orbital mechanics, earned him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous" from his fellow astronauts. Aldrin was aware it was not always intended as a compliment. Upon completion of initial training, each new astronaut was assigned a field of expertise – in Aldrin's case, it was mission planning, trajectory analysis and flight plans.

 

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As the home of the Marathi people, Maharashtra is the second-most populous state and third-largest state by area in India. Spread over 307,713 km2 (118,809 sq mi), it is also the world's second-most populous country subdivision. Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to the southeast and Chhattisgarh to the east, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the north, and the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the northwest.

Maharashtra is the most industrialised state in India while state capital Mumbai is India's biggest financial and commercial capital. The state has played a significant role in the country's social and political life and widely considered a leader in terms of agricultural and industrial production, trade and transport, and education. Maharashtra is one of the most developed and prosperous Indian states and continues to be the single largest contributor to the national economy with a share of 15% in the country's GDP.

 

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The Sun won’t last forever. Just like other stars in the Universe, the Sun was born and it will die. At 4.6 billion years old, the Sun is almost halfway through its life. In about 5 billion years time it will start to change, as it burns up the fuel that kept it shining bright for so long. It will expand to become a type of star called a red giant, before shrinking to become a white dwarf.

Life of the Sun

The Sun is a medium-sized star. The Sun was born in a nebula – a giant cloud of gas and dust. The Sun is currently middle-aged. It is about halfway through its life. As it runs out of fuel, the Sun starts to collapse, but this causes it to heat up again. The outer layers of the Sun expand to turn it into a red giant. The Sun throws off its outer layer of gas and dust. The Sun will spend its final days as a white dwarf, a star about the same size as Earth.

Eating Mercury

The red giant Sun will become so enormous that it will gobble up the planet Mercury!

 

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It is one of the great unanswered questions. Some scientists think it is very likely that the Universe is full of life. Their motto is “follow the water”, as they believe the best place to find life will be where there is liquid water. Within our own Solar System there are several places of interest to these scientists.

Candidates for life

Although finding intelligent life, like us, in our own Solar System is unlikely, there are words that may be home to simple forms of life. Scientists are interested in these places because they have conditions that might be suitable for life to exist.

Europa

Scientists believe that there is a liquid water ocean under the thick frozen surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Life has been found at the deepest, darkest parts of Earth’s oceans, and scientists think the same thing might be possible on Europa.

Mars

Mars is of interest to scientists because of the recent discovery of flowing water on its surface. It is possible that life may have existed on the planet in the past, or that some form of life may still exist today.

Enceladus

Enceladus is a moon that orbits around Saturn. It has a frozen surface and scientists think there is liquid water underneath. The Cassini spacecraft has been flying through geysers of frozen water that erupt from the surface, and analyzing it to see if it could harbor life.

Titan

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon. It has a thick atmosphere and seas made of liquid gas. Titan is very interesting may be similar to that of the early Earth – before life emerged on our planet.

SETI Institute

SETI stands for “Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence”. The SETI Institute, based in California, USA, is looking for evidence of life in the Solar System and the wider Universe. SETI scientists try to find places that may have the ingredients needed for life and also listen out for possible signals that may have come from aliens. SETI believe our first contact with intelligent life in the Universe may even be with robots built by alien civilizations!

 

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Did you know that you are a different age on each planet? This is because a year is the time it takes an object in the Solar System to orbit the Sun. every planet or dwarf planet takes a different length of time to do this, so their years can be long or short. A year on Earth is the same as about four years on Mercury, while a year on Pluto takes 248 Earth years!

Mercury

Mercury flies round the Sun more quickly that the other planets – its year is only 88 Earth days long. That means that if you are 10 on Earth, you are 41 on Mercury!

Venus

A day is the amount of time it takes a planet to spin once. Venus takes 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun, but it spins very slowly. This means the days on Venus are very long. In fact, a day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus!

Pluto

Pluto is so far from the Sun that you would wait a long time for your first birthday. It would take 2,480 Earth years to turn 10!

Neptune

A year on Neptune takes 165 Earth years. This means that it is impossible to turn one on Neptune in a human lifetime.

 

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The spacecraft Rosetta and its lander Philae travelled for ten years across the Solar System to reach the comet 67P/Churtyumov-Gerasimenko. To get enough speed, the spacecraft had to loop around the Earth three times and Mars once, using the gravity of the planets to slingshot through space. On the way they passed lots of other fascinating objects. Finally, in 2014, Philae made the first ever successful touchdown on a comet.

Rosetta was set to be launched on 12 January 2003 to rendezvous with the comet 46P/Wirtanen in 2011. This plan was abandoned after the failure of an Ariane 5 ECA carrier rocket during Hot Bird 7's launch on 11 December 2002, grounding it until the cause of the failure could be determined. In May 2003, a new plan was formed to target the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, with a revised launch date of 26 February 2004 and comet rendezvous in 2014. The larger mass and the resulting increased impact velocity made modification of the landing gear necessary.

After two scrubbed launch attempts, Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 at 07:17 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, using Ariane 5 G+ carrier rocket. Aside from the changes made to launch time and target, the mission profile remained almost identical. Both co-discoverers of the comet, Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, were present at the spaceport during the launch

Giant comet

The comet that Rosetta and Philae visited is 4.1 km (2.5 miles) long. That’s roughly the same height as 10 Empire State Buildings stacked up!

 

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Our Solar System isn’t just made up of planets, dwarf planets, and moons. There are lots of other objects that make up the Solar System family. Comets and asteroids have existed since the Solar System formed, and both have hit Earth in the past. There are also smaller bits of rock and dust, called meteoroids, meteors and meteorites.

Asteroid

An asteroid is a rocky object that orbits the Sun. they are much smaller than planets. Some are less than 1 km (0.6 miles) wide.

Meteoroid

A small piece of rock or space dust that has broken off an asteroid or comet is called a meteoroid.

Meteor

A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is called a meteor. They are also known as “shooting stars”.

Meteorite

If the meteor makes it to the ground it is called a meteorite.

Comets

Made from rock, ice and dust, comets are the size of mountains. There are thousands of billions of comets in our Solar System.

Orbiting the Sun

Comets travel around the Sun in an oval-shaped orbit. Some comets are so far away they take tens of millions of years to orbit the Sun. comets get tails when they pass near the Sun and are heated up. The tails always point away from the Sun.

Death of the dinosaurs

 Every day around 90 tonnes (100 tons) of rock and dust from space smashes into the Earth. Most of it burns up in the atmosphere, but larger objects can reach the ground. Scientists think a meteorite about 10 km (6 miles) wide hit into the Earth about 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.

 

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Pluto was once thought to be a barren, boring lump of rock at the edge of the Solar System. However, a recent mission has shed new light on this mysterious world. It is filled with ice mountains and volcanoes, and it has particles in its atmosphere that scatter sunlight, giving it a blue sky just like on Earth.

Strange surface

In 2015, photos revealed Pluto’s surface for the first time. NASA scientists spotted smooth plains riddled with craters and mountains of ice.

Dwarf planets

In 2006, it was decided Pluto wasn’t a planet, but a dwarf planet. Dwarf planets are similar to planets in many ways, but share their orbits around the Sun with other objects, such as asteroids and comets. There are currently five recognized dwarf planets in the Solar System, but it thought there are many more.

New Horizons

In 2015 the New Horizons probe made a close flyby of Pluto. It was the first time the dwarf planet had been seen in such clear detail, revealing a world far more active than was previously thought.

Charon

When it wasn’t busy snapping shots of Pluto, New Horizons had the chance to photograph Pluto’s biggest moon, Charon.

The Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is made up of millions of icy and rocky objects that orbit the Sun at the edge of the Solar System. It is also home to dwarf planets. New Horizons will do its first flyby of a Kuiper Belt object in 2019.

 

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Cold and dark, Uranus and Neptune are known as ice giants because they are made of a mix of gas and icy materials. Both worlds have small rings and many moons. They have only been visited by one spacecraft, Voyager 2, and are still waiting to be explored.

Spinning on its side

Uranus is the odd-ball of the Solar Systems, as it orbits the Sun tilted on its side! Scientists think this is because Uranus was struck by an Earth-sized object early in its life, knocking it over.

Stormy planet

Neptune is the wildest planet in the Solar System. Winds tear through Neptune’s clouds at speeds of up to 2,000 kph (1,200 mph). These ferocious winds once blew a huge storm across the planet. It was called the Great Dark Spot and it was the size of the Earth!

Great Dark Spot

This storm was spotted by Voyager 2 when it visited Neptune in 1989. It had disappeared by the next time Neptune was viewed.

 

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