A 1.3 cm wavelength radio flare from a deeply embedded source in the Orion BN/KL region

Aims: Our aim was to measure and characterize the short-wavelength radio emission from young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Orion Nebula Cluster and the BN/KL star-forming region. Methods: We used the NRAO Very Large Array at a wavelength of 1.3 cm and we studied archival X-ray, infrared, and radio data. Results: During our observation, a strong outburst (flux increasing >10 fold) occurred in one of the 16 sources detected at a wavelength of 1.3cm, while the others remained (nearly) constant. This source does not have an infrared counterpart, but has subsequently been observed to flare in X-rays. Curiously, a very weak variable double radio source was found at other epochs near this position, one of whose components is coincident with it. A very high extinction derived from modeling the X-ray emission and the absence of an infrared counterpart both suggest that this source is very deeply embedded.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The structured environments of embedded star-forming cores. PACS and SPIRE mapping of the enigmatic outflow source UYSO 1

The intermediate-mass star-forming core UYSO 1 has previously been found to exhibit intriguing features. While deeply embedded and previously only identified by means of its (sub-)millimeter emission, it drives two powerful, dynamically young, molecular outflows. Although the process of star formation has obviously started, the chemical composition is still pristine. We present Herschel PACS and SPIRE continuum data of this presumably very young region. The now complete coverage of the spectral energy peak allows us to precisely constrain the elevated temperature of 26 - 28 K for the main bulge of gas associated with UYSO1, which is located at the interface between the hot HII region Sh 2-297 and the cold dark nebula LDN 1657A. Furthermore, the data identify cooler compact far-infrared sources of just a few solar masses, hidden in this neighbouring dark cloud.Comment: accepted contribution for the forthcoming Herschel Special Issue of A&A, 5 pages (will appear as 4-page letter in the journal), 6 figure file

What can we learn from a race with one runner? A comment on Foreman-Peck and Zhou, ‘Late marriage as a contributor to the industrial revolution in England’

Foreman-Peck and Zhou’s claim that late marriage was a major contributor to the Industrial Revolution in England cannot be sustained. They consider neither other influences on English industrialisation nor other European economies where marriage age was high throughout the early modern period but industrialisation came much later. It is not possible to argue that late marriage age was a major contributor to English industrialisation without analysing other possible contributing factors. Any consideration of this question must assess marriage age alongside other causes of industrialisation and explain why other European economies with higher marriage age industrialised much later than England