The winners in the MIT Hyperscore Ringtone Competition, held by Harmony Line Inc., were announced at a gala ceremony on Friday, Jan. 27, in Room 10-250. The celebration included a DJmix of finalist compositions, a performance by the Chorallaries of MIT of the three finalist pieces, a raffle and the presentation of prizes. Electrical engineering and computer science sophomore Alex Vazquez won the undergraduate category for "Wadam Starr," and media arts and sciences graduate student Owen Meyers won the affiliates category for "Oslo at Midnight." Honorable mentions went to mechanical engineering sophomore Lucas Hernandez-Mena for "Trans" and media arts and sciences graduate student Adam Boulanger for "Ambient_04857." To hear and/or download winning ringtones, visit www.h-lounge.com/.
A faraway planet intrigues
The panels show two possibilities for the bizarre orbit of HAT-P-7b. The top panel shows a "polar" orbit in which the planet goes over the north and south poles of the star. The bottom panel shows a "retrograde" orbit in which the planet revolves in the opposite direction as the star's rotation. Astronomers cannot distinguish these two possibilities because the exact orientation of the star's rotation axis is not yet known.
Photo - Illustrations: Simon Albrecht
Photo - Illustrations: Simon Albrecht
An exoplanet with an extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy.
