NASA to shut down SOFIA telescope that found water on Moon.

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

• It is a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry a 2.7-meter reflecting telescope.
• Flying into the stratosphere, it flies above 99 percent of Earth’s infrared-blocking atmosphere.
• SOFIA is made possible through a partnership between NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR.
• SOFIA is designed to observe the infrared universe and understand Star birth and death, ?Formation of new solar systems, Identification of complex molecules in space, Planets, comets and asteroids in our solar system, Nebulas and galaxies, Celestial magnetic fields, and Black holes at the center of galaxies.

Hall Effect

• If an electric current flows through a conductor in a magnetic field, the magnetic field exerts a transverse force on the moving charge carriers which tends to push them to one side of the conductor.
• This is most evident in a thin flat conductor.
• A buildup of charge at the sides of the conductors will balance this magnetic influence, producing a measurable voltage between the two sides of the conductor.
• The presence of this measurable transverse voltage is called the Hall effect after E. H. Hall who discovered it in 1879.
• This phenomenon is used in a lot of everyday technology, including the sensor in your phone that knows to switch off the screen when its cover is closed.

Anchor Investors

• An anchor investor in an IPO is a qualified institutional buyer (QIB) like a foreign portfolio investor or mutual fund or insurance company which invests before the IPO is made available to the public as per Sebi regulations.
• As initial investors, they make the IPO process more attractive for investors, and instil confidence in them.
• Anchor investors also aid in price discovery of the IPO.
• They get guaranteed allotment a day before the IPO opens to the public are normally allocated 60 per cent of the QIB quota.
• The demand in the anchor category is an indication of the success of the IPO, according to analysts.

Indigenous artillery gun passes validation trials.

Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS)

• ATGAS is a large calibre Gun system with the capability to program and fire future Long Range Guided Munitions (LRGM) to achieve precision and deep strike.
• The system is configured with an all- electric drive that will ensure maintenance free and reliable operation over longer periods of time.
• The ATAGS is a 155mm, 52-calibre heavy artillery gun jointly developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), the Pune-based laboratory of DRDO, under the public-private partnership with Bharat Forge and Tata Group.
• The ATAGS has demonstrated a range of over 45 km.

Sedition Law

• Drafted by British historian-politician Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1837.
• It is defined as n act by ‘whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India’.
• The Sedition charge, which was included in Section 124 A of the Indian penal code in 1870, was imposed by the British Colonial government to primarily suppress the writings and speeches of prominent Indian freedom fighters.
• As per section 124A, sedition is a non-bailable offence, punishable with imprisonment from three years up to life, along with a fine.
• The person charged under this law is also barred from a government job and their passport is seized by the government.
• Incidentally, the sedition charge was abolished by the United Kingdom in 2010.