Astronomers find most ancient planet yet

Astronomers have detected the most ancient planet yet known orbiting a binary system thousands of light-years away. The new discovery indicates that planet formation in the Milky Way may have started sooner and been more widespread than previously believed. A report describing the find appears in the current issue of the journal Science.

In 1988, researchers discovered pulsar PSR B1620-26, a neutron star spinning about 100 times a second, in the 13-billion-year-old globular star cluster known as M4. Scientists soon found a white dwarf nearby and further observations located a third object in orbit around both, which astronomers thought was either a brown dwarf or a low-mass star. The new work, carried out by an international team led by Steinn Sigurdsson of Pennsylvania State University, indicates that the orbiting object is instead a planet with a mass 2.5 times that of Jupiter. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the team inferred the weight of the planet from its effects on the pulsar, thereby determining that it was too small to be either a star or a brown dwarf. "This is tremendously encouraging that planets are probably abundant in globular star clusters," notes study co-author Harvey Richer of the University of British Columbia.

Because globular clusters have low concentrations of heavy elements--necessary building blocks for planets--scientists believed that they were unsuitable as planet breeding grounds. Indeed, the metal content of M4 is just 5 percent of that of our sun.

"Our Hubble measurement offers tantalizing evidence that planet formation processes are quite robust and efficient at making use of a small amount of heavier elements," Sigurdsson notes.

"This implies that planet formation happened very early in the universe."

--Sarah Graham, Scientific American

DANIEL RADCLIFFE
11 year old Daniel Radcliffe stars in the coveted role of young Harry Potter. He beat thousands of hopefuls to secure the role he was quite definitely born to play, as director Chris Columbus says: "Dan walked into the room and we all knew we had found Harry."

Daniel first appeared on our screens in December 1999 when he played the young David Copperfield in BBC television's production of David Copperfield. The drama which was directed by Simon Curtis, also starred Dame Maggie Smith and Zoe Wanamaker who now appear along side him as Professor McGonagall and Madame Hooch in Harry Potter.

Prior to filming Harry Potter he made his feature film debut as Jamie Lee Curtis' and Geoffrey Rush's screen son in John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama.

As well as being a firm fan of Fulham Football Club, Daniel is a big follower of the World Wrestling Federation and Formula One Racing.

EMMA WATSON
10 year old Emma Watson plays the bookish, but kind hearted Hermione Granger.

This is Emma's first foray into the world of professional acting, although her natural ability has been evident since an early age withhighly praised performances in several school productions.

Indeed, her talents first came to light in school plays in France and, when aged seven, Emma won top prize for poetry recital in her school's Daisy Pratt Poetry Competition for her year.

She went on to co-star as Morgan La Fay in the school's production of Arthur: The Young Years and then took one of lead roles in The Happy Prince.

Emma is a keen hockey and rounders player and likes to take part in all kinds of school activities including debating, sculling, tug of war and singing on the school bus!

RUPERT GRINT
Newcomer Rupert Grint plays the youngest Weasley brother and best friend to Harry Potter.

Rupert is 12 years old and is the eldest of five children. He has performed in school productions and with the local theatre drama group. Recent productions include the role of the gangster Rooster in Annie and a production of Peter Pan. At school he played the role of Rumplestiltskin in the Grimm Tales and Mystic Meg for a talent show!

Rupert auditioned for the role of Ron Weasley in Harry Potter after watching an appeal by the casting director on the BBC television show Newsround.

TOM FELTO
13 year old Tom Felton plays Slytherin school boy Draco Malfoy.

Tom has been acting professionally for six years and was first seen on the big screen in 1996 when he played the role of Peagreen in Peter Hewitt's The Borrowers. Most recently he played the part of Jodie Foster's screen son Louis in Anna & the King.

He has also appeared in two top UK television series: Bugs in which he played the role of James and Second Sight starring opposite Clive Owen as Thomas Ingham. He has also starred in two BBC Radio 4 plays playing the role of Ioeth in The Wizard of Earthsea and Hercule in Here's to Everyone.

Tom first came to attention in 1995 when he featured in a number of top television commercials. As well as displaying an early talent for acting, Tom is a talented singer. He has been a member of four choirs at school and church and was even offered a place in the Guildford Cathedral Choir.

He is a keen sportsman enjoying football, iceskating, roller blading, basket ball, cricket, swimming and tennis.

-- Compiled by Samiha Azam

Nandan Park hit off very well with people of all walks of life and ages -- the tiny tots had a swinging time on the merry-go-rounds at the Kids' Play Zone while the elderly, even those aged above seventy-five years, spent a relaxing day riding the cable cars or going across the lake on the Paddle Boats.

The most demanded rides at Nandan Park were the Tilt-A-Whirl, Caterpillar, Cable Car, Paddle Boat, Moon Raker, Water Coaster and Iceland. Long queues were seen in front of these rides, even after 9 pm. Of all the attractions the Musical Dancing Fountain was the most popular. Thousands of people sat around the Fountain to see the colourful water sway and move to the beat and rhythm of some lively music.

Other than the rides, Nandan Park offers a lush and scenic view for its visitors. For the visitors' convenience, tables and chairs have been scattered throughout the Park so that people can sit around an enjoy nature's beauty. The entrance ticket is priced at Tk. 50 while the rides are priced at an affordable range of Tk. 10 to Tk 30. Nandan Park has three Food Courts to cater to its visitors. The food courts offer a wide range of delicious and mouthwatering foods, from singaras to burgers.

The two public buses, Moonlight and BRTC, facilitate transportation to the Park. Moonlight buses starts from Gulistan through Moghbazaar, Mohakhali, Airport, and Ashulia, to Nandan Park. While BRTC, starts from Motijheel, Shahbag, Farmgate, Shamoli, Savar, Nabinagar and then to Nandan Park. For private vehicles, a parking lot accommodating 750 cars has been arranged at the Park. All in all, Nandan Park, located on the Nobinagar-Chandra Highway in Baroi Para, is the perfect place for a fun day out for the entire family.

 

Hey everyone!
Thanks for writing in. The issue we're discussing right now is about parental supervision over their children's access to the communication media, and to what extent it is reasonable, and at what point it becomes an infringement of privacy. I've got a few letters about that, and today, I'm putting up Black Rose's views. She says:

"Well, "liberty" seems to be the word , the motive behind all frequent debates taking place between us children and our dear parents. As far as I have observed, our dear parents love to take the opposition side while we children are strong supporters of the topic. I am not indifferent either. Being a teenager myself, I believe that we should be given the liberty we deserve. By the term 'liberty', I do not mean attending late night disco parties or staying out overnight . I won't disagree with the fact that parents should have control over children, but that should have a limit. It does not mean that they should be sitting by us to see what type of TV programmes we watch, or should have a parallel telephone lines (to eavesdrop on our telephone conversations) or perhaps caller ID to trace our calls. Isn't this infringement of our freedom? Well I agree that they should see that we don't do anything wrong. It is admissible, but as far as our recreation is concerned, I don't think they should create a barrier there. Because we all have the right to enjoy ourselves in the short span of our lives.

Moreover, this is the part of our life we are supposed to enjoy. We are restricted and being told that we will be able to enjoy in the later period of our life if we are restricted at this age, but they should understand that in the later period of life, we won't have this age, nor the desire. I am sure that if our parents think about their adolescent lives and place themselves in our positions, they won't disagree with these facts. Parents should trust their children. If they never trust us (to begin with), then how would we keep the trust unharmed?

Parents always keep on talking about responsibility and studies, but I don't get why don't they understand a few things. Now suppose we consider two children, one is restricted from enjoying the TV/ Net and the other is allowed to use them within a reasonable limit. So the first child will be sitting all the day with a book gloomily, staring at the pages blankly, while the other child , after enjoying a program or a chat will sit with studies with full concentration, being content at heart. So parents, what do you think? Whose study will be fruitful? I guess everyone is intelligent enough to understand. Restriction can never do good you see, instead it makes us feel crippled, leaving us in a state of depression.

As for the question of responsibility, we children don't have too many expectations. If we can at least expect simple satisfaction and fulfillment of our little desires, then we ourselves will be doing everything to satisfy you parents and try our best to accomplish our responsibilities. What is needed is understanding between parents and children. Parents should trust us and at the same time, allow us to do things which make us happy. Sure all the parents want their children beaming with smiles, don't they? If they can see to our happiness, I am sure we children will leave no stone unturned to prove ourselves!"

Thanks for your very vehement views, Black Rose. Does anyone have anything to add to it? Also, if there are parents amongst my readers, it would be nice to hear your side of the story. Please write in and share your views with us. Till our next tete-a-tete, take care!

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