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Spectacular: Scientists find two icy giants colliding in deep space

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Researchers have found in their new study a successful sight of a collision between two icy giants — as large as Neptune — for the first time ever, sparking enormous amount of debris and radiation. 

As the collision occurred, scientists found that a spinning object was formed — regarded hundred times larger than our Earth, according to the study published in the journal Nature.  

Matthew Kenworthy, a co-author of the study at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, Dr said: “It would be very spectacular. The energy of the collision would turn the remnant into something resembling a star, fainter than the main star in the system but about seven times larger in size, visible all through the rest of the stellar system.”

It was revealed after an astronomer replied to a post from Dr Kenworthy about a star known as ASASSN-21qj.

Dr Kenworthy was observing for the casting shadows of the giant rings around the planets that occur when they face their parent star. 

ASASSN-21qj — located at a distance of 1,800 light years from Earth — sparked his interest because in December 2021 its light went bleak.

A citizen scientist at Nasa, Arttu Sainio looked the past studies of the star by the US Space Agency’s Neowise mission, an infrared space telescope.

The volunteer scientist found that 900 days before the star dimmed, Neowise saw a steady and sustained brightening of infrared light from the same location.

“I was looking for something completely different,” Kenworthy said, adding that, “the infrared brightening told us something unusual had happened in the neighbourhood of this star, and so it took us down this new path.”

The astronomers concluded after running the analysis: “The blast of infrared radiation came from a hot new object or synestia created by the collision of two planets nearly as large as Neptune.”

Infrared readings also suggested them that the vast spinning object had a temperature of more than 700C for about three years, which will cool down and form a new planet around the star.

The star started to go dim about 2.5 years after the afterglow began as a massive cloud of fine impact debris drifted across the face of the star, the findings suggest.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen the afterglow from such an event,” said Simon Lock, another co-lead author at the University of Bristol, adding that “we’ve seen debris and discs before, but we have never seen the afterglow of the planetary body that’s produced.”

The experts are now looking for follow-up studies to gain further insight.

Dr Kenworthy said: “If the dust cloud continues to orbit the star, then in about five to 10 years the cloud will have moved to one side of the star and astronomers should see the star’s light reflected from the dust with the largest ground-based telescopes.”

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Cybersecurity firm reports exposure of sensitive DeepSeek data on the internet.

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The New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz has discovered a cache of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek that was mistakenly exposed to the public internet.

In a blog post released on Wednesday, Wiz reported that examinations of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had inadvertently exposed over a million lines of unencrypted data. The materials were digital software keys and chat logs that seemingly documented prompts transmitted from consumers to the company’s complimentary AI assistant.

The chief technical officer of Wiz stated that DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data following the notice from his organisation.

“It was removed in under an hour,” stated Ami Luttwak. “However, this was exceedingly easy to locate, leading us to believe we are not the sole discoverers.”

DeepSeek did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

DeepSeek’s rapid success after the introduction of its AI helper has exhilarated China and incited concern in America. The Chinese company’s evident capacity to rival OpenAI’s skills at a significantly reduced cost has raised concerns regarding the viability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft.

By Monday, it surpassed the U.S. competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, prompting a worldwide decline in technology stocks.

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WhatsApp launches bulk channel management functionality

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WhatsApp has initiated testing of a bulk channel administration feature on iOS for select beta users, enabling the simultaneous selection of many channels, hence enhancing the efficiency of managing following channels.

This essential update enables users to perform bulk activities, including muting many channels simultaneously, designating them as read, and altering notifications. If the chosen channels are muted, users will now have the option to activate notifications. Users can swiftly silence unmuted channels in one action.

Additionally, this feature enables users to unfollow many channels simultaneously, thereby optimizing the process of decluttering their channel list. This change is particularly beneficial for users that oversee numerous subscriptions, as reported by WABetaInfo.

Previously, users were required to manage each channel individually, rendering tasks such as muting or designating channels as read laborious and time-consuming.

The functionality provides enhanced flexibility and control over channel subscriptions, enabling users to efficiently manage notifications. The solution streamlines laborious operations for consumers who subscribe to numerous channels, hence enhancing their entire experience.

Accessibility
The bulk management feature is presently accessible exclusively to a limited number of beta testers who installed the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS using the TestFlight application. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, plans to expand the feature’s availability to a larger user base in the next weeks.

This update demonstrates WhatsApp’s dedication to enhancing user experience by offering a clear and efficient method for managing channels and notifications.

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Pakistani internet slowdown: ongoing submarine cable issue

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Even after two weeks, the global submarine cable AAA-1 problem that was discovered on January 2 near Qatar has not been fixed, causing sluggish internet connection in several Pakistani towns.

According to a representative for Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the issue has affected customers’ capacity to effectively access social media applications and browse the online. Even with initiatives to fix the problem, social networking sites still lag during busy times.

Internet traffic has been redirected via alternate channels to lessen the impact, and more capacity has been set up to stabilize the service.

The PTCL representative promised that “Internet service across the country is operating normally, and there will be no issues with web browsing,” noting that social media applications’ lag is common during

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