Shoppers hit streets for Diwali gifts, cars crawl Pune: A giant radio galaxy dying nine billion light years away has been discovered by a team of astronomers of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) here. Budding scientist Pratha- mesh Tamhane, a former stu- dent of Indian Institute of Sci- ence Education and Rese- arch, Pune, led the project un- der the supervision of Yogesh Wadadekar at NCRA. Wadadekar said, "When we see the sun, it is a mere eight light minutes away, whi- le the discovered galaxy is ni- ne billion light years away. We see it as it was nine billion ye- ars in the past. Compare this to the age of the universe, which is about 14 billion years old. So, the galaxy is seen by us today, as it was, when the universe was about one-third of its present age." Astronomers claimed that such giant radio galaxies we- re extremely rare, especially in the distant universe. Spot- ting such a rare object in its short-lived dying phase is an absolutely unique phenome- non. Such galaxies harbour a super massive black hole at their centre. Astronomers used the Gi- ant Metrewave Radio Telesco- pe (GMRT) for observing this galaxy, emitting powerful ra- dio waves. It has an extent of a whopping 4 million light ye- ars. Hence, it is called a giant radio galaxy. These results ha- ve been published in the No- vember issue of the interna- tional journal — Monthly No- tices of the Royal Astronomi- cal Society, London. The team has used these observations to understand the properties of the magne- tic field in the region between galaxies in the distant univer- se, a frontier area of research in astronomy. Wadadekar sa- id, "This galaxy provides us with a unique space laborato- ry. We can gain a better under- standing of its formation and evolution by carefully study- ing its properties." While radio galaxies with size less than a million light years are common, giant ra- dio galaxies are extremely ra- re, even more so at large cos- mic distances. This galaxy, known by the scientific name "J021659-044920", is the newest member of this elite group. Tamhane said, "What ma- kes J021659-044920 special is that it has been caught in dy- ing phase. Such dying radio objects are best studied using a low frequency radio telesco- pe such as the GMRT." For their analysis, the te- am combined their GMRT ob- servations with previous ob- servations made with a slew of international ground and space based telescope faciliti- es — XMM-Newton Space Te- lescope in X-ray, the Japanese Subaru telescope in optical, UK’s Infrared Telescope in ne- ar-infrared, Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope in mid-infra- red and the Jansky Very Lar- ge Array (USA) in high frequ- ency radio bands. By using da- ta from multiple telescopes spanning across the electro- magnetic spectrum, they we- re able to carry out a compre- hensive and incredibly detai- led analysis of the physical conditions around this dis- tant galaxy. 9 billion light years away, giant radio galaxy dying SwatiShindeGole @timesgroup.com The giant radio galaxy RARE DISCOVERY Times of India, Pune, November 7, 2015 Pp.2
INTERNATIONALä Dubai ä Singapore ä Thailand ä Sri Lanka
GET, SET, GOTOP SPOTS THIS DIWALI AIRFARE
RETURN AIRFARE PER PERSON (LOWER FARE LEVELS WHEN BOOKED IN ADVANCE)ä Mumbai to Singapore `20,000-25,000
ä Mumbai to Thailand `18,000-22,000
ä Mumbai to Sri Lanka `18,000-22,000
ä PUNE TO DUBAI `17,000 to 20,000
SHINING BRIGHT ON THE HOLIDAY HORIZON
THIS DIWALI IS
RAJASTHAN
Diwali break. They have plan-ned their travel before Diwali,so that they can celebrate thefestival in Pune. Most peopleare opting for domestic desti-nations at drivable distanceor those having direct flightconnection with Pune, suchas Jaipur, Goa, Bangalore and
Chennai," said Nikhil Tha-kurdas, owner of city-basedOdyssey Tours and Travels.
Thakurdas said Rajasthanwas almost on a par with Goain terms of tourist preference."Among international desti-nations, Dubai, Singapore,Thailand and Sri Lanka havehad many takers this Diwali.Dubai has emerged as thenumber one spot among the
international destinationsparticularly because of the di-rect flight connection fromPune. Thailand is cost-effecti-ve, though one has to travel toMumbai," he said.
Travel companies say bu-siness this Diwali is average.G Krishna, the chairperson ofthe Pune chapter of TravelAgents Association of India(TAAI) and general manager
at Travel Masters, said, "Inter-national destinations includeDubai, Singapore, Malaysiaand Maldives, while Goa, Hi-machal Pradesh and Kashmirare attracting many in the do-mestic circuit. We have, howe-ver, seen a 10% to 15% drop intourist rush to Kerala."
Krishna said with Novem-ber 10 to 15 a holiday in manycompanies, people are plan-ning short breaks, includingtravel to destinations they ha-ve already explored in thepast.
Sujit Katre, the generalmanager at Guardian Holida-ys, also reported a rise in ‘im-pulsive holidaying’ and saidhis company was taking seve-ral last-minute bookings.
"There is a general slow-down in business transac-tions during the festive sea-son. Rather than sitting in of-fices, many have decided toput on their traveling shoesfor some time out of the city,"said Katre.
Zelam Chaubal, the direc-tor of Kesari Tours Pvt Ltd,said that travel to MadhyaPradesh and Gujarat hadespecially picked up this vaca-tion period, as tourism boardsin the two states had done so-me extensive advertising oftheir tourist spots this year.
"Rush to Kerala has dippedby 5% and we have not witnes-sed a tourism boom this Diwa-li, particularly because peo-ple travelled extensively inthe summer of 2015," saidChaubal.
This holiday season, short breaks in vogue Pune: Short breaks, preferen-ce for destinations at drivabledistance and those with directflight connection from Puneare the rage this Diwali.
Dubai and Singapore havemade it to the top internatio-nal travel spots, while Rajast-han, Goa, Coorg-Kabini andDelhi-Agra circuits are themost preferred among domes-tic destinations. The extent ofresearch done by travellers inchoosing the destinationsthey travel to and hotels theypick has increased. But thetravel business has been justabout average, claims travelcompanies.
Nevertheless, shi-ning bright on the holi-day horizon this Diwaliis Rajasthan, while Ke-rala reported a drop of5% to 15% in touristnumbers from Pune. To-ur operators attributedthe drop in its tourist num-bers to negative publicity thestate got over the stray dogculling issue as one of the rea-sons.
Apart from Rajasthan, theother hotspots trending thisyear are Goa, Himachal Pra-desh, Kashmir and the nort-heast to an extent. "Most tra-vellers are opting for a short
TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015
PAWAR’S GUIDANCE IMPORTANT TO TACKLE AGRICULTURAL ISSUES, SAYS FADNAVIS I 4
PUNE RAILWAY STATION SOON TO HAVE WI-FI, REMODELLED PLATFORM NUMBER ONE I 8
Pune: Courier agencies in thecity are swamped by eager pa-rents and siblings lining up tosend festive goodies to their lo-ved ones miles away.
Clearly, the growing num-ber of packages being sent torecipients, living in India andabroad, is an indicator of howcrucial a role courier servicesplay in celebrating festivalsthese days. Sweets and savouri-es, gifts, clothes and even jewel-lery is delivered almost over-night through these services.In fact, people wait patientlyfor their packages to be weig-hed, safely packed and bookedfor delivery.
The demand for courier ser-vice has increased so much inthe city that ser-vice providershave had to bookmarriage halls toaccommodatethe excess load.
“Every year, we have to hirea marriage hall to handle thevolumes of outbound packagesduring Diwali. A larger placehelps us demarcate areas forpackaging, weighing and back-end operations as well as ar-range for a seating area with re-freshments for our customerssince the entire process may ta-ke between one to two hours,”said Nilesh Deshmukh, the fo-under and managing directorof Unique Courier.
The Shaniwarpeth-basedcourier agency is among thepopular services that also deli-vers larger packages to inter-national destinations. Desh-mukh said, “Until this week,3,500 boxes, containing 30 ton-ne material, have already beenbooked for delivery in the inter-national courier service. Weare expecting another 1,000 or-
ders in the days to come. Mostof our customers include peo-ple whose children are study-ing in the US and cannot travelback home for the festivities.”
Although it costs her Rs 495per kg to courier a parcel of ho-me-made goodies to her child-ren living abroad, Swati Ranehas been working hard to ensu-re the package reaches them ontime.
“It is the least we can do. Idon’t want my kids to miss the-ir favourite sweets while enjoy-ing Diwali here," said Rane,whose children are employeesof IT firms in foreign countries.
Usually, customers sendabout 6 to 8 kgs of items abroad.The couriers are delivered wit-hin a span of four days. The pri-ces have, however, increased
over the last yeardue to increaseddollar prices, saidDeshmukh.
ShrikrishnaChitale of Chitale Bandhu Mit-haiwale shared that the firmhad received almost 50 orderstill now and people were buy-ing sweets and savouries to addto their homemade fare. “Wehave ready boxes and gift pack-ages with a mix of items thatpeople like. For couriers, we ha-ve tied up with a company asthey are experienced in hand-ling big orders.”
Prashant Kumar, the ownerof Koregaon Park’s Multina-tional Courier, said his compa-ny was one of the few that ar-ranges packaging and deliveryof delicate items such as crock-ery.
“The rush begins around afortnight before Diwali and therates depend on the locationwhere the courier is to be deli-vered. We lay out rules and ra-tes very clearly for the custo-mers.”
Pune: The arterial roads inthe city were chock-a-block onFriday evening, primarily be-cause of festival shopping.
Traffic moved at snail’s pa-ce on most of the streets inpeth areas, including ShivajiRoad, Bajirao Road and TilakRoad. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on SinhagadRoad, Jangli Maharaj Road,Karve Road, Fergusson Colle-ge Road and University Roadas well. All roads heading toPune railway station and tho-se in Pune cantonment werealso congested.
The traffic police attribu-ted the congestion to festivalshopping and holidays.
"Holidays of schools andcolleges have started. Peopleare moving out in large num-bers for holidays. A largenumber of vehicles, particu-larly cars, plied on roads onFriday," a traffic official said.
"People came out in largenumbers for Diwali shopping.Many people came out withtheir cars, increasing the traf-fic load," another official said.
Several commuters werestranded on roads for hourson Friday evening. Vikrant, aresident of Kothrud, said pee-ping out of an ambulance,"My father has to be admittedto hospital, but I have beenstuck in this place for morethan 20 minutes."
Traffic officials said thecongestion was cleared onmost of the roads by 8.30 pm."We deployed additional menfor managing traffic. They we-re asked to work overtime.Traffic signals were switchedoff because there was heavyload of vehicles from all si-des," a senior traffic officialsaid.
Festivalfevergripsroads
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
We deployed additional men for
managing traffic. Trafficsignals were switched offbecause there was heavyload of vehicles from all sidesSenior traffic official
Mandar Deshpande
Courier agencies doing brisk business ahead of Diwali
Pune: A giant radio galaxydying nine billion light yearsaway has been discovered by ateam of astronomers of theNational Centre for RadioAstrophysics (NCRA) here.
Budding scientist Pratha-mesh Tamhane, a former stu-dent of Indian Institute of Sci-ence Education and Rese-arch, Pune, led the project un-der the supervision of YogeshWadadekar at NCRA.
Wadadekar said, "Whenwe see the sun, it is a mere
eight light minutes away, whi-le the discovered galaxy is ni-ne billion light years away. Wesee it as it was nine billion ye-ars in the past. Compare thisto the age of the universe,which is about 14 billion yearsold. So, the galaxy is seen byus today, as it was, when theuniverse was about one-thirdof its present age."
Astronomers claimed thatsuch giant radio galaxies we-re extremely rare, especiallyin the distant universe. Spot-ting such a rare object in itsshort-lived dying phase is anabsolutely unique phenome-
non. Such galaxies harbour asuper massive black hole attheir centre.
Astronomers used the Gi-ant Metrewave Radio Telesco-pe (GMRT) for observing thisgalaxy, emitting powerful ra-dio waves. It has an extent of a
whopping 4 million light ye-ars. Hence, it is called a giantradio galaxy. These results ha-ve been published in the No-vember issue of the interna-tional journal — Monthly No-tices of the Royal Astronomi-
cal Society, London.The team has used these
observations to understandthe properties of the magne-tic field in the region betweengalaxies in the distant univer-se, a frontier area of researchin astronomy. Wadadekar sa-id, "This galaxy provides uswith a unique space laborato-ry. We can gain a better under-standing of its formation andevolution by carefully study-ing its properties."
While radio galaxies withsize less than a million lightyears are common, giant ra-dio galaxies are extremely ra-
re, even more so at large cos-mic distances. This galaxy,known by the scientific name"J021659-044920", is the newestmember of this elite group.
Tamhane said, "What ma-kes J021659-044920 special isthat it has been caught in dy-ing phase. Such dying radioobjects are best studied usinga low frequency radio telesco-pe such as the GMRT."
For their analysis, the te-am combined their GMRT ob-servations with previous ob-servations made with a slewof international ground and
space based telescope faciliti-es — XMM-Newton Space Te-lescope in X-ray, the JapaneseSubaru telescope in optical,UK’s Infrared Telescope in ne-ar-infrared, Nasa’s SpitzerSpace Telescope in mid-infra-red and the Jansky Very Lar-ge Array (USA) in high frequ-ency radio bands. By using da-ta from multiple telescopesspanning across the electro-magnetic spectrum, they we-re able to carry out a compre-hensive and incredibly detai-led analysis of the physicalconditions around this dis-tant galaxy.
9 billion light years away, giant radio galaxy dyingSwatiShindeGole
@timesgroup.com
The Diwali shopping frenzy led to a traffic congestion on Fergusson College Road on Friday. Traffic signals had to be switched off
Shyam Sonar
Households will get wateronce a day during Diwali,
after the all-party committee ofthe Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC) approved a proposal onFriday.
According to PMC officials,the four dams that’s supply waterto the city — Khadakwasla,Temghar, Varasgaon and Panshet—have a collective stock ofaround 15 TMC, which can beutilised till the next monsoon.
Agroup of elected membersacross party lines had submittedaproposal before the all-partycommittee saying that the PMCshould restore twice-a-day watersupply during Diwali.
After discussing the matter,the committee decided tointroduce once-a-day watersupply on the five days of Diwali(November 9 to 14) instead ofalternate-day supply.
The city is currently drawing850MLD and the volume will beincreased to 1,100 MLD afterFriday’s approval. Fortwice-a-day water supply, thecity would have needed around1,250 MLD water.
