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The intergalactic medium was not completely reionized until approximately a billion years after the Big Bang, as revealed (1) by observations of quasars with redshifts of less than 6.5. It has been difficult to probe to higher redshifts, however, because quasars have historically been identified (2-4) in optical surveys, which are insensitive to sources at redshifts exceeding 6.5. Here we report observations of a quasar (ULAS J112001.48 + 064124.3) at a redshift of 7.085, which is 0.77 billion years after the Big Bang. ULAS J1120 + 0641 has a luminosity of 6.3 x [10.sup.13] [L.sub.[dot encircle]] and hosts a black hole with a mass of 2 x [10.sup.9] [M.sub.[dot encircle]] (where [L.sub.[dot encircle]] and [M.sub.[dot encircle]] are the luminosity and mass of the Sun). The measured radius of the ionized near zone around ULAS J1120 + 0641 is 1.9 megaparsecs, a factor of three smaller than is typical for quasars at redshifts between 6.0 and 6.4. The near-zone transmission profile is consistent with a Lyα damping wing (5), suggesting that the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium in front of ULAS J1120 + 0641 exceeded 0.1., ULAS J1120 + 0641 was first identified in the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Deep Sky Survey (6) (UKIDSS) Eighth Data Release, which took place on 3 September 2010. [...]

Byline: Robert J. Barber (a), Steve Miller (a), Tom Stallard (a), Jonathan Tennyson (a), Paul Hirst (b), Tim Carroll (b), Andy Adamson (b) Keywords: Comets; Infrared observations Abstract: We present results from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope observations of the impact of Deep Impact with Comet 9P/Tempel 1, on July 4, 2005 UT. These observations were carried out in conjunction with the worldwide observing campaign co-ordinated by K.J. Meech [Meech, K.J., and 208 colleagues, 2005. Science 310, 265-269]. The UKIRT team was the first to observe and announce the successful impact. At 05:50:52 ([+ or -]2.5 s) UT the visible camera that is used to guide the telescope on the comet showed the start of a rapid rise in intensity, such that the visible brightness of Tempel 1 approximately doubled in 70 s. After that time there was a steady increase in the visible flux from the comet until it reached a maximum around 35 min post-impact, at which point it was more than ten times its original intensity. From an average of the time to maximum brightness and the time to noticeable intensity decline, we deduce that the material ejected by the impact expanded with a range of velocities between [approximately equal to]125 and [approximately equal to]390 m/s. We also observed water emission lines in the spectral region from 2.8945 to 2.8985 [mu]m. We noted several water lines, which are known to be pumped by sunlight. But there was a lower intensity spectral component, which we propose may result from solar heating of icy grains freshly exposed by the impact. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK (b) Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 N. A'ohoku Place, University Park, Hilo, HI 96720, USA Article History: Received 12 April 2006; Revised 31 July 2006

This article documents the process of adapting and re-working Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as a dance-theatre production - Midsummer Madness, absolutely not Shakespeare. It describes the process of practical research and seeks briefly to place this production within the context of other danced ‘Dreams’. Using a physical vocabulary based in Central European Modern Dance the production considers itself as a paradigm of intertextuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]