NASA’s Chandra and IXPE telescopes have revealed the complex magnetic field structure of the “hand”-shaped pulsar wind nebula MSH 15-52, providing new insights into how X-rays are polarized and how magnetic fields evolve in these extreme environments.

The “ghostly hand” was created by the death of a massive star. This catastrophic event, called a supernova explosion, left behind a fast-spinning, superdense stellar corpse known as a pulsar.

According to a statement from NASA, pulsars are spinning stars that have very strong magnetic fields. These magnetic fields create powerful jets of charged particles and a strong wind. This wind forms a cloud of gas and plasma called a pulsar wind nebula. The pulsar PSR B1509-58 is in the middle of the image, at the base of the “palm” of the pulsar wind nebula MSH 15-52. The pulsar releases particles into space, which create a glowing shape that looks like a human hand.

In 2001, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory first observed the pulsar PSR B1509-58 and revealed that its pulsar wind nebula (referred to as MSH 15-52) resembles a human hand. The pulsar is located at the base of the “palm” of the nebula. MSH 15-52 is located 16,000 light-years from Earth.

Now, NASA’s newest X-ray telescope, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), has observed MSH 15-52 for about 17 days, the longest it has looked at any single object since it launched in December 2021.

“The IXPE data gives us the first map of the magnetic field in the ‘hand’,” said Roger Romani of Stanford University in California, who led the study. “The charged particles producing the X-rays travel along the magnetic field, determining the basic shape of the nebula, like the bones do in a person’s hand.”

Maharashtra is witnessing a fresh wave of protests over the Maratha quota demand with some of them even turning violent and leading to vandalism and arson. Beed was the worst affected in the recent violence with two legislators’ houses and a Nationalist Congress Party office set on fire by the angry protesters. But the demand for Maratha reservations is not new to Maharashtra. In this article, we explain the reason behind this recent flare-up.

What Is Maratha Quota Demand?

Marathas, who constitute nearly 33% of the state’s population, have been demanding the reservation in education and government jobs. The first protest demanding reservation was held in Mumbai in 1982 under the leadership of Mathadi Labour Union leader Annasaheb Patil.

In 2021, the Supreme Court had struck down Maharashtra’s Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018, which granted reservation to the Maratha community, for violating the 50 per cent quota limit.

The community has been seeking Kunbi caste certificates for Marathas which will enable their inclusion in the OBC category for reservation. Kunbis, who are associated with agriculture, are grouped under the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra had formed a committee led by a retired judge to look into this demand. After examining the documents of a lakh people, about 11,530 Marathas were found to have documents of being Kunbi, the committee has said in its report.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called an all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the state amid the violent protests.

Recent flare-up

The fresh protests began after pro-quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil started an indefinite hunger strike on October 25. He took few sips of water on Monday after being prodded by the locals, but his hunger strike is still on.

Chief Minister Shinde on Tuesday dialled Mr Patil and assured him of a concrete decision by the state cabinet on giving Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community.

The violences targeted mainly the NCP legislators and offices over some alleged comments by a politician on the quota demand.

NCP MLA Prakash Solanke, whose house was vandalized and set on fire in Beed, was purportedly heard calling the quota demand a “child’s game” in a widely circulated audio clip. “The person who has not even contested a gram panchayat election (seen as a dig at Manoj Patil), has become a smart person today,” he allegedly said in the clip.

Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has demanded the centre to resolve the issue of Maratha reservation by calling a special session of Parliament.

The National Testing Agency will open the correction window for making any changes in the online application filled for the UGC-NET. The correction window opened on November 1 and will continue till November 3, 2023.

“All the registered candidates for the said examination are advised to visit the website and verify their particular. They are further advised to make corrections in their particulars, in their respective Online Application Form, if required, as per Annexure 1.”

The notice further mentions that the candidates who have verified Aadhar can not make any changes in the mobile number, Email address, Permanent address and correspondence address. These candidates can also not make any changes in candidate’s name, date of birth and gender, photo. The  changes can only be made in father’s name or mother’s name.

The candidates who have not used Aadhar for modification can make change in either their name, or father’s/mother’s name.

The UGC-NET exam will be conducted from December 6 to December 22, 2023.  The city of exam centre will be announced in the last week of November 2023. The students will be able to download the admit cards from the NTA website in the first week of December 2023.

The National Testing Agency conducts the UGC-NET to determine the eligibility of Indian nationals for ‘Assistant Professor’ and ‘Junior Research Fellowship and Assistant Professor’ in Indian universities and colleges.

The National Testing Agency will conduct UGC – NET December 2023 for ‘Junior Research Fellowship’ and eligibility for ‘Assistant Professor’ in 83 subjects in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode.

Candidates can apply for UGC -NET December 2023 through the ‘Online’ mode as the application form in any other mode will not be accepted.