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Webb snaps highly detailed infrared image of actively forming stars

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9 months ago

July 27, 2023

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Webb snaps highly detailed infrared image of actively forming stars

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the “antics” of a pair of actively forming young stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light.

To find them, trace the bright pink and red diffraction spikes until you hit the center: The stars are within the orange-white splotch. They are buried deeply in a disk of gas and dust that feeds their growth as they continue to gain mass. The disk is not visible, but its shadow can be seen in the two dark, conical regions surrounding the central stars.

The most striking details are the two-sided lobes that fan out from the actively forming central stars, represented in fiery orange. Much of this material was shot out from those stars as they repeatedly ingest and eject the gas and dust that immediately surround them over thousands of years.

When material from more recent ejections runs into older material, it changes the shape of these lobes. This activity is like a large fountain being turned on and off in rapid, but random succession, leading to billowing patterns in the pool below it. Some jets send out more material and others launch at faster speeds. Why? It’s likely related to how much material fell onto the stars at a particular point in time.

The stars’ more recent ejections appear in a thread-like blue. They run just below the red horizontal diffraction spike at 2 o’clock. Along the right side, these ejections make clearer wavy patterns. They are disconnected at points, and end in a remarkable uneven light purple circle in the thickest orange area. Lighter blue, curly lines also emerge on the left, near the central stars, but are sometimes overshadowed by the bright red diffraction spike.

All of these jets are crucial to star formation itself. Ejections regulate how much mass the stars ultimately gather. (The disk of gas and dust feeding the stars is small. Imagine a band tightly tied around the stars.)

Now, turn your eye to the second most prominent feature: the effervescent blue cloud. This is a region of dense dust and gas, known both as a nebula and more formally as a Bok globule. When viewed mainly in visible light, it appears almost completely black – only a few background stars peek through. In Webb’s crisp near-infrared image, we can see into and through the gauzy layers of this cloud, bringing a lot more of Herbig-Haro 46/47 into focus, while also revealing a deep range of stars and galaxies that lie well beyond it. The nebula’s edges appear in a soft orange outline, like a backward L along the right and bottom.

This nebula is significant – its presence influences the shapes of the jets shot out by the central stars. As ejected material rams into the nebula on the lower left, there is more opportunity for the jets to interact with molecules within the nebula, causing them both to light up.

There are two other areas to look at to compare the asymmetry of the two lobes. Glance toward the upper right to pick out a blobby, almost sponge-shaped ejecta that appears separate from the larger lobe. Only a few threads of semi-transparent wisps of material point toward the larger lobe. Almost transparent, tentacle-like shapes also appear to be drifting behind it, like streamers in a cosmic wind. In contrast, at lower left, look beyond the hefty lobe to find an arc. Both are made up of material that was pushed the farthest and possibly by earlier ejections. The arcs appear to be pointed in different directions, and may have originated from different outflows.

Take another long look at this image. Although it appears Webb has snapped Herbig-Haro 46/47 edge-on, one side is angled slightly closer to Earth. Counterintuitively, it’s the smaller right half. Though the left side is larger and brighter, it is pointing away from us.

Over millions of years, the stars in Herbig-Haro 46/47 will fully form – clearing the scene of these fantastic, multihued ejections, allowing the binary stars to take center stage against a galaxy-filled background.

Webb can reveal so much detail in Herbig-Haro 46/47 for two reasons. The object is relatively close to Earth, and Webb’s image is made up of several exposures, which adds to its depth.

Herbig-Haro 46/47 lies only 1,470 light-years away in the Vela Constellation.

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Microsoft to invest 2.2bn dollars in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

Published

13 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Microsoft to invest 2.2bn dollars in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Thursday it will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in Malaysia to expand cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services in the company’s latest push to promote its generative AI technology in Asia.

The investment, the largest in Microsoft’s 32-year history in Malaysia, will include building cloud and AI infrastructure, creating AI-skilling opportunities for 200,000 people, and supporting the country’s developers, the company said.

“We want to make sure we have world class infrastructure right here in the country so that every organisation and start-up can benefit,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said during a visit to Kuala Lumpur.

Microsoft will also work with the Malaysian government to establish a national AI Centre of Excellence and enhance the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities, the company said in a statement.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who met Nadella on Thursday, said the investment supported Malaysia’s efforts in developing its AI capabilities.

Microsoft is trying to expand its support for the development of AI globally. Nadella this week announced a $1.7 billion investment in neighbouring Indonesia and said Microsoft would open its first regional data centre in Thailand.

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Nvidia supplier SK Hynix says HBM chips almost sold out for 2025

Published

13 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Nvidia supplier SK Hynix says HBM chips almost sold out for 2025

South Korea’s SK Hynix (000660.KS) said on Thursday that its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI chipsets were sold out for this year and almost sold out for 2025 as businesses aggressively expand artificial intelligence services.

“The HBM market is expected to continue to grow as data and (AI) model sizes increase,” Chief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-Jung told a news conference. “Annual demand growth is expected to be about 60% in the mid-to long-term.”

SK Hynix which competes with U.S. rival Micron (MU.O) and domestic behemoth Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) in HBM was until March the sole supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia, according to analysts who add that major AI chip purchasers are keen to diversify their suppliers to better maintain operating margins. Nvidia commands some 80% of the AI chip market.

Micron has also said its HBM chips were sold out for 2024 and that the majority of its 2025 supply was already allocated. It plans to provide samples for its 12-layer HBM3E chips to customers in March.

“As AI functions and performance are being upgraded faster than expected, customer demand for ultra-high-performance chips such as the 12-layer chips appear to be increasing faster than for 8-layer HBM3Es,” said Jeff Kim, head of research at KB Securities.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) which plans to produce its HBM3E 12-layer chips in the second quarter, said this week that this year’s shipments of HBM chips are expected to increase more than three-fold and it has completed supply discussions with customers. It did not elaborate further.

Last month, SK Hynix announced a $3.87 billion plan to build an advanced chip packaging plant in the U.S. state of Indiana with an HBM chip line and a 5.3 trillion won ($3.9 billion) investment in a new DRAM chip factory at home with a focus on HBMs.

Kwak said investment in HBM differed from past patterns in the memory chip industry in that capacity is being increased after making certain of demand first.

By 2028, the portion of chips made for AI, such as HBM and high-capacity DRAM modules, is expected to account for 61% of all memory volume in terms of value from about 5% in 2023, SK Hynix’s head of AI infrastructure Justin Kim said.

Last week, SK Hynix said in a post-earnings conference call that there may be a shortage of regular memory chips for smartphones, personal computers and network servers by the year’s end if demand for tech devices exceeds expectations.

The Nvidia (NVDA.O) supplier and the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker will begin sending samples of its latest HBM chip, called the 12-layer HBM3E, in May and begin mass producing them in the third quarter.

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Qualcomm jumps as AI sparks rebound in Chinese smartphone market

Published

13 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Qualcomm jumps as AI sparks rebound in Chinese smartphone market

Qualcomm (QCOM.O) shares rose 4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the smartphone-focused chipmaker signaled an AI-fueled rebound in demand, especially in China, after a two-year slump.

Sales to Chinese smartphone makers jumped 40% in the first half of its fiscal year, the company said on Wednesday, as buyers there gravitate toward higher-priced devices that can accommodate AI chatbots.

“Chinese vendors who traditionally relied more on MediaTek, are going to start leveraging Qualcomm’s high-end chips more as they push hard into the AI Agenda,” said IDC analyst Nabila Popal.

“They further represent an upside for Qualcomm because majority of the recovery is also going to be driven by Chinese OEMs this year, coming from a tough last two years.”

Qualcomm on Wednesday projected third-quarter sales that were above estimates as it also benefits from its IoT (Internet of things) and auto segments.

The company, the biggest supplier of smartphone chips, was on course to add more than $8 billion to its market value based on premarket movements. Other semiconductor firms such as Arm and Broadcom (AVGO.O) rose 2.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

According to preliminary data from research firm IDC, in the high-end segment, the AI buzz and the foldable products allowed the Android smartphone vendors to further differentiate themselves from Apple (AAPL.O) and garnered increased interest from Chinese consumers in the first quarter of 2024.

“We’re optimistic that numbers can be driven higher, given last year’s muted Android cycle and the likelihood of IoT(internet of things) improvement as inventory normalizes,” analysts at Wolfe Research said.

At least 14 analysts raised their price targets on Qualcomm, according to LSEG data.

Qualcomm’s shares have gained 13.5% this year following a 31.5% rise in 2023.

Shares of Apple, which is set to report earnings after market closes on Thursday, were up 1.05% in premarket trading.

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