Here Comes the Sun!

"The sun would appear green if your eyes could handle looking at it."

"Basically, when you look at the sun, it has enough of all the different colours in it and it's so bright that everybody's eyes are firing like crazy and saying, 'It's too bright for me to tell you what colour it is'."

"That's why the sun looks white to us."

"Essentially, it's a green star that looks white because it's too bright, and it can also appear yellow, orange or red because of how our atmosphere works."

"The sun is at its mid-life, and it still has quite a lot of years before it changes colours. It still hasn't dimmed out one bit."

"When astronomers say colour, they really mean temperature. But to anyone in the public, colour just means the colour you see and how you make sense of the world."

W. Dean Pesnell, project scientist, Solar Dynamic Observatory, NASA 

"We think of perception and vision as being really straightforward, with this idea of 'I have my eyes and see'. And, actually, it's not like that at all. It's influenced by where you grow up, when you grow up and who you grow up around."

"When you're a kid, you don't necessarily pay that much attention to these deep philosophical questions about the nature of colour and light in the way you might start to when you're sitting in your office looking out the window on a sunny day, so perhaps you just override your memory with the learned association of 'yellow equals sun', which you leaned on heavily as a child."

"This is just another neat example of how life paints colour."

Alice Skelton, researcher of developmental colour science, University of Sussex, Britain

Do you know what color the sun really is? solarsystem.nasa.gov

 

While children in Japan might colour a circle red to represent the sun, in alignment with their national flag [Land of the Rising Sun], those in North American have a tendency to sketch a yellow circle. Adults are now debating the colour of the star at the centre of our solar system, some of whom feel it has changed hues since the time of their childhood. Weeks back, writer Jacqui Deevoy tweeted her opinion that the round yellow sun of her childhood had turned white and looks wonky. Her post amassed 6 million views.

Some of those had responses with people either agreeing with Deevoy's observation or those who claimed the sun had always appeared white. And as far as science is concerned, it's neither -- while being a bit of both. The sun from its 150 million kilometre distance generally appears a white spot in the sky, while the yellow tint perceived by some people is related to how light is scattered. Molecules in the air redirect sunlight's blue and violet wavelengths, and this directs more yellow and red to meet our eyes.

Sunlight passes through a thicker atmosphere as day transforms into night, so more molecules scatter its blue hues and lead to displays of oranges and reds at sunset. The sun's hue is really light bouncing off surfaces. With stars, colour equals temperature; the hotter a star, the more blue light it gives off. Cooler stars appear red. The sun at its core has a temperature topping 15 million degrees Celsius; "somewhere in the middle, in this weird space where we can't perceive its colour", observed Dr. Pesnell. In the distant future the sun is expected to change hues.

 

The sun appears different depending on who’s looking. From left, NASA’s NuSTAR sees high-energy X-rays; the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hinode mission sees lower energy X-rays; and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory sees ultraviolet light. NASA/JPL-Caltech/JAXA

The source of all the light and heat that makes flowers bloom, birds sing and people smile emanates as a result of the conversion of hydrogen to helium taking place deep inside the sun's core. The hydrogen gas will -- in a vast stretch of time run out. The sun will enlarge exponentially and take on a deep red shade then ingest all the planets surrounding it and finally it will glow bright blue for a while, and then dim to such a low temperature its colour will become imperceptible ... but no one will be around by then to perceive it.

That colossal event won't take place for at least four billion to five billion years into the future. The sun has some people convinced it has become whiter, but this is connected with the brain's perception more than with astrophysics, according to Dr. Pesnell. Perception itself differs from person to person. Colour, in its most physical sense is what people see when a wave length enters the eye and specialized cells send signals to the brain which translates waves into the colours we see. Everyone may be receiving the same information, but individual life experiences and backgrounds dictate what we make of it.

In the Arctic Circle for example, where some children are born during its long periods of darkness and others experience prolonged sunlight, colour looks different, depending on those life-beginning circumstances. As adults, research shows time of birth influences abilities to distinguish different shades. Language and culture may also play a role, with some not having a specific word to differentiate between blue and green, as an example. Dr. Skelton points out that people's upbringing and how they learn to associate colours with objects can affect perception.

The Sun from space... the color should be obvious. Image credit: NASA

Portal to Expiration

"[Wonderful to see] the first direct image of the gentle giant in the centre of our galaxy."

"They [supermassive black holes] go through periods where there is a lot of material around them. And then they go through these quiescent phases like the one at the centre of our galaxy where matter is just trickling in."

"We love our black hole."

Feryal Ozel, astronomer, University of Arizona

"The smaller physical size of Sgr A* [Sagittarius A*] also means that everything changes about a thousand times faster for Sgr A* than M87.

"We must also peer through the messy disk of our own galaxy to view Sgr A*, which blurs and distorts the image."

Lindy Blackburn, radio astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

The second-ever direct image of a black hole — Sagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way.   Credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

They're ravenous collapsars, are black holes, so dense and heavy their inexorable gravity pull ensnares any celestial object that ventures too near its portal's event horizon, the point at which stars, planets, gas dust, ice and any forms of electromagnetic radiation is pulled deep within and ceases to exist. Nature's ultimate waste bin. Nature's ways are infinite and mysterious, humanity specializing in attempting to understand its motivations and blueprints and outcomes along with all the elements that comprise nature's great project, the expanding universe, can only be hypothesized.

And some of those educated theories turn out to be right, just ask Einstein's ghost. The very effort in straining the human brain to try to understand the vastness of the universe and its complexities is itself a conundrum. Time and space are beyond our full comprehension. We speak in light years' distance, of origins back to the unimaginably faint passage of time. We are not even certain that time exists. We search for answers and nurture the hope that more advanced, more intelligent creatures may one day guide us to the answers of these mysteries.

So far they seem determined -- if indeed any extraterrestrials exist, and why should they not? -- to avoid us. If they are intelligent and they observe human behaviour, that is not entirely inexplicable. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy that revolves like a pinwheel to the music of the celestial rhythm of existence, contains an estimated 100 billion stars. Our sun is not, relatively speaking, a very large star, and our Earth, a little rock revolving around our sun, is dependent for life itself on its existence.

Now, an image has been produced of a formerly theorized-existence black hole, a ravenous end-of-life phenomenon for matter teetering close to its hungry maw. The first such black hole's existence to be verified through the Event Horizon Telescope, an international collaboration that produced the first photograph of an immense black hole at the centre of a different galaxy was revealed in 2019. That image was of a super-massive black hole in a galaxy about 54 million light years from Earth with a mass 6.5 billion times of our son, called Messier 87 (M87).

Now the second image to be produced by the Event Horizon Telescope has been identified within the Milky Way Galaxy, our very own. As imaging technology becomes more technically acute there are hopes a video might some day be produced that might offer a closer observation point to clear up lingering fundamental questions about these mysterious giant objects, the central vacuum cleaners of the galaxies housed in the Universe, the abode of all that exists.

Sagittarious "A" star has a mass four million times greater than that of our sun, located roughly 26,000 light-years which represents the distance light travels in a year, 95. trillion kilometres from Earth. Astrophysicist Michael Johnson describes Sagittarius A* as "ravenous but inefficient", for it seems to be resting rather than actively engorging. Like a boa constrictor that has swallowed a large creature whole after crushing it with its massive musculature, and now just relaxes, replete, allowing its gastric juices to slowly digest its meal over a lengthy period of time.

The Primal Origins of Life

"This is a very big moment. There's nothing else like this machine in the world."
"We are very interested in understanding how the first very basic cell formed on the early Earth four billion years ago."
"Nobody knows, but I think that's what we have; a very solid proposal that this is potentially the mechanism."
"The molecules started to form cell-like structures and they started to incorporate genetic material just by themselves. It's amazing."
Maikel Rheinstadter, biophysics professor, lead investigator, Origins of Life Laboratory, McMaster University, Hamilton

Professors Maikel Reinstadter, right, and Ralph Pudritz pose for a photo with the planet simulator in the origins of life lab at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018.
Peter Power/The Canadian Press

In 2012, Professor Rheinstadter, with Ralph Pudritz, a theoretical astrophysicist and Yingfu Li, a biochemist, made an application to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation for research funding with a proposal submitted describing their research looking for the origins of life. That proposal appeared for consideration just as NASA started revealing discovery of exoplanets where it was assumed that conditions might exist to support life, resulting in public interest surging, leading to the team's request for funding being approved. How serendipitous is that?

They then went about trying to find some company that could construct a simulator that would help to advance their work. Most companies they approached stated flat out that what they were looking for -- a planet simulator -- simply could not be built, only perhaps visualized. And then a company located in Kitchener, Ontario, decided to take on the project and the machine, after years of waiting was finally operational, allowing the researchers to mimic early Earth's 'seasons'.

They started off with a summer season within a volcanic environment, very hot during the day and cooling down at night, with occasional days of rain and periodic flooding. Within the simulator's chamber elements of the "primordial soup" were present, consistent with the chemicals and minerals that were in place during the early days of Earth's birth. That soup was comprised of inorganic salts, clays, lipid molecules and nucleotides at various concentrations.

While the lab's work is yet in its infant stages the planet simulator's results have excited great suspense. With the caveat that anything that has been done must be replicated to have any kind of scientific value. The simulator is roughly the size of a microwave, with the capacity to control temperature, humidity, pressure, atmosphere and radiation levels such as Earthly conditions at any historical point would have reflected. Moreover it has the capability of creating conditions reflective of any other planet.

Its purpose now is to test a theory suggesting life on Earth began in warm little ponds in response to meteorites splashing into them some four billion years ago. In recreating those conditions to determine whether cellular life can be created and evolve, that theory first thought by Charles Darwin, then expanded by Carl Sagan in the 1990s would have the effect of negating another theory suggesting the building blocks of life resulted through vents in the Earth's crust at the bottom of the ocean.

The researchers say their simulator has created proto-cells, not alive since the genetic material in the cells will still have to replicate itself and create proteins, but significant results withal. The lab experiments have resulted from Dr. Pudritz and graduate student Ben K.D. Pearce's calculations last year that meteorites bombarded Earth, delivering the building blocks of life which bonded to become ribonucleic acid; the basis for the genetic code.

"It's exciting times", Dr. Pudritz stated of the research the team at McMaster is currently testing. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, Harvard University and the University of California, Santa Cruz are now expressing interest in joining the lab's experiments in determining the origins of life on Earth. The California professor who re-pioneered work on the warm ponds theory, David Dreamer, is impressed: "It's marvellous. They'll be able to do experiments no one else can."

Alien Cyberattack: Send-Up?

"While it has been argued that sustainable ETI [extraterrestrial invasion intelligence] is unlikely to be harmful, we cannot exclude this possibility."
"After all, it is cheaper for ETI to send a malicious message to eradicate humans compared to sending battleships."
"[A cyber threat for example]: We will make your sun go supernova tomorrow."
"True or not, it could cause widespread panic, [or have a] demoralizing cultural influence."
"[A gaining-trust message, for example to read]: We are friends. The galactic library is attached. It is in the form of an artificial intelligence which quickly learns your language and will answer your questions. You may execute the code following these instructions ..."
"Current research indicates that even well-designed boxes [AI box] are useless, and a sufficiently intelligent AI will be able to persuade or trick its human keepers into releasing it."
"[Nonetheless] The potential benefits from joining a galactic network might be considerable. Overall, we believe that the risk is very small [but not zero], and the potential benefit very large, so that we strongly encourage to read an incoming message."
Michael Hippke, Sonnenberg Observatory, Germany -- John Learned, University of Hawaii

The common alien-doomsday scenario paints the picture of hostile invasion, with looming motherships and a firefight for the fate of Earth and all of humanity. But, according to new research, the reality could be far more sinister. A still from Countdown Alien Invasion is shown

Got that? Humanity is being forewarned. Two presumably knowledgeable scientists in the field of astronomy and astrophysics giving fair warning of the potential for an alien message arriving from that great unknowable horizon beyond or possibly within our galaxy prepared to do humankind great harm. Their considerable knowledge has led them to speculate and to prophesy an event that could conceivably solve the problem of humankind's inability to live together in peace. We could die together in infamy.

They're a trifle confused, perhaps a little paranoia in there, and certainly polarized in their might-be's, comparing the body of their work with the conclusion that we've nothing to lose but everything, so might as well join them. Despite that, should extraterrestrials decide a malevolent approach would suit them in contacting humanity any effort on our part to "decontaminate with certainty" might be negligible, in the face of such an "existential threat". Proceed, they warn, with caution.

Anyone recall Carl Sagan's optimism in 1977 when contact with extraterrestrials was hoped for when the Voyageur Interstellar Mission was launched? Carl Sagan, American cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer was excited at the prospect of intelligent life existing somewhere out in the universe on a planet like Earth, peopled by beings with whom earthlings could communicate. The prospect of such a contact between humans and other beings which vast distances separated did not come at that time with stated fears of miscommunication and hostility.

More recently, however, we have the world's foremost theoretical astrophysicist of great international renown whose brilliant mind is trapped in an enfeebled body, and whose outlook on the possibility of Earth's intelligent creatures coming in contact with another planet's far more advanced and presumably more advanced intelligent agents not particularly liking what they observe of humanity and turning out to be a threat to humankind's continued existence...and so, Stephen Hawking has warned of a looming -- perhaps -- disaster.

These two world-renowned scientists whose focus has been on the worlds within the universe have had plenty of company in their musings; other scientists, academics, futurists have joined this endless debate discussing the possibility of humans taking benefit from contact with other life forms existing elsewhere. This was the purpose and function of The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, (SETI), the group that endlessly scans the sky for signs of radio-signals from an outside source, emitting signals of our own to entice any intelligent beings to make contact. Nada.


Messrs. Hippke and Learned explore in their paper various malicious scenarios and have focused on a coded message with hidden threats, compressed and holding an algorithm shielding a code which could execute billions of instructions unleashing deadly malware. Expert computing intelligence could hope to isolate the artificial intelligence and in so doing rigging it with "remote-controlled fusion bombs" to execute its destruction in an emergency scenario, they muse.

Should, however, the artificial intelligence fail to be destroyed expeditiously as required, the issue is that innumerable types of damage could ensue, one of which is that the artificial intelligence could persuade a human agency that nanobots should be built to serve humankind. In reality, those nanobots would represent the destructive foot-in-the-door instructed to destroy humans and dominate the world to hand it to the possession of their masters. Sleep well tonight!

According to the researchers, a threat from aliens could come in several forms. These could be signals received by our radio telescopes, or even probes sent directly to our planet. According to the researchers, aliens could also transmit complex messages that embed viruses

Interstellar Interception? Misconception?

"It appears to be moving at an orbit affected only by gravity. The object is rotating and we want to make sure to catch every face of it."
"[Should Listen's telescopic probe detect something outside the norm, it could indicate] that either there is some very exotic physics going on, in and around the object] or that an advanced, extraterrestrial civilization had created it and perhaps sent it to our solar system for purposes that are unknown."
"Nature doesn’t broadcast on a very specific frequency, it smears it out across colour and time."
"Technology behaves differently. It can compress electromagnetic energy and so we look for those specific signs and for repeating patterns which nature doesn’t tend to do. We look for structure."
Andrew Siemion, director, Berkeley SETI Research Centre

"With our equipment at Green Bank, we can detect a signal the strength of a mobile phone coming out of this object."
"We don't want to be sensational in any way and we are very realistic about the chances this is artificial, but because this is a unique situation, we think mankind can afford ten hours of observing time using the best equipment on the planet to check a low-probability hypothesis."
Yuri Milner, Breakthrough Listen

"A cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust."
University of California, Berkeley, Breakthrough Listen project

"We're not implying anything here with respect to artificial intelligence or extraterrestrial life."
"It's on a trajectory that is well defined, moving at a speed that says it had to have entered from interstellar space. So it came from elsewhere, if you will."
"There's a lot of stuff flying between the stars. We eject material from planetary systems all the time, especially during formation processes."
Paul Delaney, Professor of physics and astronomy, York University, Toronto

An artist's impression of the huge cigar-shaped object (PA)

It is unusual enough to have drawn the attention of the world's foremost theoretical physicist and cosmologist to the possibility that the asteroid-like rock formation hurtling through space in a trajectory that brought it from outer space as an interstellar object of interest into our solar system for some deliberate purpose which in the minds of astronomers could only be to document the presence of life in solar systems throughout the universe other than their own; which is to say the advanced technological civilization that presumably lives elsewhere in the universe.

"Perhaps the aliens have a mothership that travels fast and releases baby spacecrafts that freely fall into planetary system on a reconnaissance mission."
"If this object is natural in origin, there should be many more like it in the solar system… and even if most of them are natural, perhaps one of them will be found to be of artificial origin, some space device or junk from an alien civilization."
"The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization."
Professor Stephen Hawking, Britain

The mysterious object is cigar shaped and believed to be from interstellar space

Seriously, can we take this seriously? But there it is, the first object to have ever been spotted coming into our solar system from interplanetary space. If it is indeed a highly advanced technological spaceship-laboratory designed and sent off by some alien extraterrestrials it would seem that however this object is designed, its exterior resembling a rocky asteroid, it is not dependent on any kind of rocketry or jet propulsion of any kind to attain its tremendous speeds through space, but on gravity itself, a method of taking advantage of the most basic force in nature unknown to earthly physicists.

The largest telescope on Earth will dedicate multiple hours of focused attention on this interloper into our solar system. Tentatively identified as an asteroid, or, in the enthused minds of astronomers, as a spaceship placed within an asteroid-like exterior covering, this strange object was discovered with the use of the University of Hawaii's PanSTARRS1 telescope in October. Funded by NASA's Near Earth Object Observations Program, the telescope is among the most powerful on the planet.

The Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, US, which is going to track the object (PA)

NASA revealed that the asteroid whipped past our sun on September 9 at a speed described as "blistering", some 87.3 kilometres each second. Hedging their bets, astronomers admit that chances are slim this curious object is an abandoned spacecraft, or alternately an alien interstellar probe. As of today, however, the University of California, Berkeley's Breakthrough Listen project which has been set up as a global astronomical program to search for life beyond Earth, will dedicate time using the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia to search for signs of extraterrestrial technology across four radio bands, emanating from Oumuamua.

Several days earlier, the asteroid was 50 to 70 times closer to Earth than was NASA's Voyager-1 spacecraft, and at the present time is roughly two astronomical units away, calculated at over two times as far as the Earth is from the sun, with no evidence it is propelled by anything but gravity. Electromagnetic emissions, optic or infrared light fundamentally in variance from known astrophysical background if detected, will offer affirmation that this space object is no mere asteroid but something profoundly more complex and puzzling.

On the one hand, scientists fully expect the object to be verified as completely natural; on the other hand if signals are detected that indicate otherwise, whatever is ultimately discovered will further humankind's knowledge of the universe and the world we inhabit.

The project will fly past Jupiter next year and will hurtle beyond Pluto by the 2020s

Here's Stephen Hawking with his sobering last thoughts expressed  a while ago in an interview:
"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach."
"If so, it makes sense for them to exploit each new planet for material to build more spaceships so they could move on. Who knows what the limits would be?"
"We don't know much about aliens, but we know about humans. If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced."
"A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria."

Cheerfully constructive optimist, isn't he?

The Imagined Confirmed

"The observations showed we were observing a kilonova, an object whose light is powered by extreme nuclear reactions."
"This tells us that the heavy elements, like the gold or platinum in jewelry, are the cinders, forged in the billion-degree remnants of a merging neutron star."
Dr. Joe Lyman, University of Warwick

"The first discovery of gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars is a historic event."
"It is every bit as exciting as the first discovery of gravitational waves from merging black holes. Since this involves neutron stars that radiate light, for the first time we can also see what is going on in an extreme astronomical event that shakes up spacetime."
David Wiltshire, department of physics and astronomy, University of Canterbury

"We're all made of stardust, but gold, silver and platinum are made of neutron stardust."
"In this particular event, it's likely that hundreds or thousands of Earth masses of gold and other elements were made."
"If the rate of neutron star mergers is as high as we now think, these dying stars are now the source of most of these elements in the universe."
Dr. J.J. Eldridge, astro-physicist, University of Auckland

"This discovery has answered three questions that astronomers have been puzzling for decades -- what happens when neutron stars merge? What causes the short duration gamma ray bursts? Where are the heavy elements, like gold, made?"
"In the space of about a week all three of these mysteries were solved."
Dr. Samantha Oates, University of Warwick astrophysics group

New source in galaxy NGC 4993   space in images

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory  in Washington and Louisiana a few short months ago validated as a reality a prediction that Albert Einstein proposed fully one hundred years ago. Einstein's theories, clarity in his mind, imponderable in the minds of most humans incapable of grasping the intuitive leaps of imagining the mechanics of the universe, have over time been shown to be amazingly scientifically clairvoyant. His visionary genius guided the science of astrophysics, theoretical physics.

His successors have built upon his theories, his advice, his philosophical view of science and the natural phenomena that we struggle to fully comprehend. One can only wonder what he might make of the great strides that have been realized since his death? What, above all, he might have taken out of the latest observations of the heavens. That scientists' theories that cataclysmic collisions of neutron stars and the monumental explosive force that ensued would create the sought-after precious metals mined on Earth, have seen observable confirmation.

These events of unimaginable force, dimensions, time-space occurrences where supernovas created from the death of giant stars become neutron stars where protons and electrons combine forming neutrons in the creation of tiny, dense stars and then collide in a spectacular burst of fierce energy, spewing debris hundreds of millions of years in the past, in a sense mimic the creation of the universe as we know it, through the Big Bang theory when planets and stars emerged.

Neutron stars merging     Space.com

The sheer magnitude of the event, the concussion that followed, were picked up in a space-time ripple in the detection of gravitational waves. The signal picked up by the LIGO Washington/Louisiana observatory by American astronomers was the remnant of a cosmic event at a time on Earth when dinosaurs made their home here, 130 million years ago. Space and time were rattled, to send gravitational waves throughout the universe in a powerful reaction.

Once the exciting word got out, astronomers worldwide aimed  heir telescopes toward the identified area of space, to pick up the infrared afterglow caused by the monumental collision and within that light they found the unique chemical signatures for gold, silver and platinum. The stars, before colliding, were 10 kilometres wide, yet each as heavy as our own sun. (A teaspoon-size of neutron star material has an estimated mass of a billion tons.)Their galaxy was NGC 4993, and gravity drew them to each other over millions of years as they revolved around each other more and more swiftly until they span at a rate of 500 times per second before crashing.

Another bonus from the discovery appears to be the realization that the mystery of what creates shortwave gamma ray bursts picked up on Earth may lead to future discoveries including how fast the universe is expanding. Stardust produces sensate, animate forms of life, it seems, while neutron dust creates dense material, inanimate, rare and costly. Will this discovery spur a precious metals rush into space to mine it of its treasures?

This map shows the locations of all five gravitational-wave signals detected by LIGO since the first detection in 2015. In the background is an optical image of the Milky Way; the discoveries are plotted on the entire celestial sphere, which is represented as a translucent dome. The gravitational waves come from relatively small sources (the two neutron stars were each only about the size of a large city),   Space.com

Celestial Bodies Boding The Future

Those who enter into this sanctuary ought to be devoted without reserve to the service of Urania [Rosenfeld 2009]. She is the goddess for whom the astronomer is the priest, and for whom he produces "oracles" -- but the "oracles" are earned, wrought by his perseverance. He enjoys no respite but days sombre and sad, the moments when Nature adds to all his shadows that of clouds. His day is interrupted, sectioned by different observations. The Sun occupies the morning, midday, and evening. When that star disappears, the other planets and stars reveal themselves, heralding other work. Astronomers often share the work amongst themselves, but those who would embrace all astronomical duties require an iron constitution. It is necessary that the zeal for science awakens at the moments indicated in the night. It is necessary that the zeal for science wards off sleep, so that the astronomer is awake for the duration of the night. It is necessary that those watches recur, and that the astronomer sacrifice himself to the work following observing, and still observe the stars every night. It is necessary that the eye be attached to the refractor, and the ear to the clock, whether the body be upright, bent, or, as frequently happens, supine to observe the zenith. The cold of the night, winters, fatigue, and the dangers of insomnia matter not!
Jean-Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer, 1736-1793 ... (translation) R.A. Rosenfeld, RASC Archivist, The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

To read that is to observe that the astronomer's lot is a heavy one, full of responsibility to science and astronomy, in a prodigious effort throughout the ages to discover the origin of the Universe and the Abiogenesis of all life forms, mysteries upon mysteries; how did nature formulate all that exists, and is there a why? and when did she decide in her infallible wisdom to create humankind, and if the Universe is endless, timelessly forever, surely there exist other highly intelligent beings capable of manipulating the natural landscapes into which they have been wrought into existence, and where are they?

Hypotheses abound over whether other life forms like ourselves exist,where they might find atmospheric conditions conducive to their origins and the level of intelligence they might achieve and their possible understanding of science and applications of technologies all their own. Might they be interested in humanity as it exists on Earth? Of course there is always the possibility that humankind suffers a particular type of hubris in considering itself intelligent to begin with; an observation uncertain to be shared by other life-forms.

Humans certainly seem to feel that if such life forms exist out there in the immensity of outer space we should know about their existence, and possibly make cautious and determined contact. Others feel the possibility that if intelligent life exists outside our solar system they might be intelligent enough not to make any overtures yet alone respond to ours, that would alert human life to their existence, after presumably examining human foibles.

But the search certainly goes on; in our times by radio-telescope and by search groups such as SETI, using powerful universal computer linkages and those tireless telescopes to try to detect any possible message that might be circulating in the upper atmosphere, possibly to float into our own, heralding other natural species whose existence would serve to answer that ages-old question: Are we alone in the Universe?

The latest discovery by astronomers and other scientists whose work on the Pale Red Dot project led them to the detection of a very small red dwarf star named Proxima Centauri, just over four light-years away from us, and a planet circling it with a mass similar to that of Earth's, and which has been named Proxima b, tantalizes with the prospect of life at a pittance of a distance from Earth.

If the right kind of propulsion technology were to be created by physicists and scientists and engineers, to be capable of sending a human being into the upper atmosphere and beyond in a determined effort to reach Proxima b, it would take the entire lifespan of that human to achieve. Yet
this distance is what astronomers consider to be the close distance, in a vastness where time and space is all stunningly relative.

A device named the High-Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher identified Proxima b, the new planet. A device capable of detecting light-spectrum shifts so infinitesimally minuscule it can be compared to movement similar to a metre per second in space. This turns out to be the perfect discovery scenario; a star small and cool, with a planet revolving around it betraying its existence by making that star wobble just slightly off its course at the approach and departure of the planet at its nearest approach during its orbit.

This planet just discovered, orbits every 11 days; Earth's orbit is much, much, much longer in duration. Astronomers are agog over the potential of a stable atmosphere that might invite the formation of an intelligent life form - actually any form of life. Astronomers are so devoted to their craft, it is the be-all and end-all of their existence. They seek to discover secrets of nature that might conceivably forestall the end of our existence.

Impressive stuff. That much brainpower working with that level of technology, peering into all-powerful Nature's intentions and devices.

Unmanned Aerial Devices

"People are starting to think of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] as not just science fiction, but real-life tools. I wouldn't be surprised if, within two years, it's standard for every fire engine to have a UAV on board."
Philip Reece, CEO, InDro Robotics

UAV operator and paramedic James Power flies a drone in Renfrew Ontario Tuesday April 12, 2016. The Renfrew County paramedic department uses a drone to fly over crash scenes and natural disasters to check out whats going on. (Tony Caldwell/Postmedia Networks)

"What if it had been possible to know more about the situation on Calabogie Lake [where a snowmobiler crashed through the lake urgently requiring rescue]? Of if there was a technology that could, say, deliver a rope to the desperate man hanging on to that wafer of ice?"
"It [use of a drone] identifies the likely injuries [for first responders]. It lets  you prepare for a situation that otherwise would be in the moment."
Paramedic chief Michael Nolan, Renfrew, Ontario

The drone was used for aerial surveillance when OPP were investing the scene of a homicide in Foymount last September. Tony Caldwell/Postmedia Network

Infamously, drones have been used by the American military to target and dispatch to Kingdom Come the CEOs of Terrorism International. They have become weapons of distance-destruction, safeguarding the lives of their operators while eradicating those of the Islamist jihadis for whom non-Muslims have become a moving target in the death game they have become skilled at.

But there are other plans for the use of these UAVs, mostly in the field of commercial deliverables, and in due time we'll hear and see far more about them as they are deployed in the name of commerce. There are multiple uses for drones, however, as eyes in the sky capable of manoeuvring their way into spaces not given to larger airborne vehicles, and at far less cost to deploy.

Several years back Renfrew paramedic chief Michael Nolan thought there must be a way that people involved in rescue could bring modern technology to aid in the preliminary work of gathering data before the paramedics themselves become involved at the actual rescue, to prepare them for what they would find, and what they should bring to the effort.

It often is, after all, a matter of life and death when people find themselves in desperately threatening situations and time is of the essence to help them find their way back to safety and security. The geographic area representing chief Nolan's jurisdiction is vast, stretching over ten thousand square kilometres. When he became aware that one of his crew had military experience with drones he began considering how his unit might procure one of their own and deploy it for life-saving purposes.

The video images that a drone could send back to aid first responders be more effectively efficient was of tremendous interest to Mr. Nolan. So he and paramedic James Power, took eventual possession of a modified drone reflecting in particular what paramedics would profit by having. Their drone was modified for their use by InDro Robotics and Technology of British Columbia. And not only has the drone proven to be indispensable for the Renfrew paramedic services but others as well.

The drone was seconded by the Ontario Provincial Police to obtain a bird's-eye view of a homicide scene in Foymount. Police were tracking the path of a killer of three women. There were unknowns to be dealt with: was the armed intruder still in the house? ...where were the exits? ... where was the victim's 20-year-old son? The use of the drone helped to clarify these issues and expedited the work of the police.

During a forest fire near Eganville in the spring of last year, the drone aided in identification of hot spots for the firefighters. A month ago the drone was used to film the scene of a landslide that had succeeded in plunging several hectares of Leda clay and the trees standing on it into the Bonnechere River. The difficult-to-access area was accessed by the drone, enabling responders to view a natural dam that the slide had created, giving the location and the extent of the ensuing damage.

The regulatory framework imposed by Transport Canada for the use of drones mandates they can be used only within the operator's range of vision. The Renfrew paramedics have requested an exemption to permit them to deploy the drone any time, anywhere that appropriate conditions apply. Weapons-mounted drones have taken away life, Mr. Nolan foresees a time when drones can be used for the delivery of life-saving medications such as an EpiPen to rescue someone in anaphylactic shock.

The Oncoming Storm

By Phil Plait

SLATE

Posted Friday, Sept. 6, 2013, at 8:00 AM

Lightning erupts under a storm cloud.
Photo by Jim Bailey, from the video

Astronomers have an understandable fascination with weather. It affects our observations directly, of course (unless we observe from space, or use observatories that see through clouds). Plus, as I’ve said here many times, we look up. We notice the clouds, the color and texture of the sky, the incredible interaction of light and air that can produce stunning optical effects.

I love pictures of weather, especially storms. Still, those static, unchanging photos sometimes lack that needed extra dimension to give you a sense of depth. In particular, that extra dimension can be time. When you see the motion of the clouds, you get a far better grasp of the perspective, the layering, the overwhelming scale of the phenomenon.

Photographer Jim Bailey can provide that dimension. His time-lapse video “Nimbus, Part II: Turbulence” is a riveting display of the fury of the sky. Make sure you set it to HD, make it full screen, and turn the volume up.

[Note: He has a warning about people sensitive to bright strobing flashes, so be ye fairly warned.]

That’s simply stunning. I have a hard time picking out my favorite bits, but I do like it when storm clouds and clouds at a different height are moving in different directions. That is a striking display of perspective, as are the rays of sunlight bursting from the clouds fanning out and moving as the cloud travels along the wind.

The colors are amazing too. Teal, green, blue, red, white: All of these are from sunlight mixing, scattering, interacting with air, dust, and moisture above us. The colors combine with the shapes of the clouds to create a gorgeous (if sometimes terrifying) tapestry, telling the story of the outrageously complex physics of fluid dynamics made into literally high art.

This being Part II, there is obviously a first installment, too, and you really want to watch Nimbus Part I: The Quiet Sky. It starts off in black and white, which emphasizes texture and structure, and when the colors come in, well, wow.  I can’t wait for Part III, which Bailey told me is titled “Rotation”. That one sounds like a fitting piece of this story.

Tip o’ the lens cap to the We Love Timelapse! Facebook group.

Truth To Tell....

Those who believe they speak the truth are a rare lot. Believing in their supreme confidence that they know an urban legend from a startlingly, very real, most serious, exceedingly important fact, are patient and abide confidently in their belief that the truth will eventually be more widely recognized.

"Because this is the third-most important issue facing humankind after global warming and changing the monetary system.
"There has been collaboration between one or more of them with the U.S. government and the U.S. Defense Department. They've been sharing technology, some of which they wouldn't want the public to know about. Not only anti-gravity machines, but also diabolical weapons -- so many things that will affect the future of humankind."
Alien intelligence "is like a scroll that opens up in both directions; it has no end, it goes on and on. There are people from other dimensions, too, and a lot of them have visited Earth and they still do. Some of them look very much like us. The species we call the 'Tall Whites' have been seen shopping in Las Vegas.
"The ramifications are just enormous. The question is, what's the end game as far as the people are concerned who have the knowledge and are doing the engineering and building the machines that the aliens showed them that will blow your mind away? If the United States is doing these things, then Russia and China know about it, and are doing the same thing. These are big issues, especially when people are starving.
"Some of the species live 900 years. If you read about Methuselah in the Bible, there might have been some around then. Personally, I have no desire to live 900 years. I have no desire to even live 100."
Paul Hellyer, formerly Minister of National Defence, Canada

Now 89 years of age, the man was always controversial, but not for his belief that extra-terrestrials not only exist, but move freely among us. That eccentric who lives down the street and seems so odd looking may be one, but don't act on it. During his stint as Minister of National Defence, under Prime Minister Lester Pearson, Canada's Nobel Laureate of Peace, Mr. Hellyer dismantled the Canadian Forces as they were traditionally; he controversially integrated the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Airforce, and all were similarly uniformed.

A different era, another story altogether, one that is only now, all those 50-plus years later being rectified. Mr. Hellyer is hell bent on changing and charging up public awareness and official recognition of two pet projects of his; the monetary system alterations he envisions are as disparate from the issue of insisting that governments come clean about their activities in keeping mum about the presence of advanced life forms among us, as could possibly be envisioned.

Presumably, because he and those like him find that human intelligence as we know it is deplorable in its lack of superior function in that grey cerebral matter, he has focused on the saving grace of communing with alien intelligence that is presumably infinitely superior to our own. After all, they are time-and-distance travellers; they have parlayed their supreme cerebral functioning to solutions, inventions and conventions that mere humans can only dream of discovering. And with their kindly assistance, we are meant to go forward in this world and on to the next.

Oh, some may believe him to be rather tetched, but on the other hand, he has plenty of company. Roughly 21% of a sampling of Americans appear to agree that a UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico back in 19847 was suppressed by the U.S. government. Aliens "exist" according to 29 percent who responded to the query: 'Do you believe that shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies or not?' Hell, I'm halfway to agreeing with them.

Mr. Hellyer and others disposed as he is, intent on uncovering the truth and forcing government to admit to a coverup, plan to attend the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure at the National Press Club in Washington. Witnesses will render opinions and the evidence they have amassed to five former members of the House of Representatives, along with ex-Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska. "When they invited me to take part in this hearing, I told them very candidly that I'm somewhat skeptical about some of the areas that are involved in this."

"From my point of view, the number of UFO sightings would indicate that, even if the numbers are exaggerated, they should be examined and reported to the public. France, Canada, and a few of the others have revealed all the information that they have -- the exception to this rule is the U.S. government. This canard that the American public would panic if there was anything proven is ridiculous. The people ... understand there are many facets of life that are unexplainable, and this is one of them. Are there Little Green Men? I don't know. We'll see what the testimony is."

Yup.

And to think that planetary observers, astronomers, physicists, brilliant scientists who have made the study of the heavens their life's work have no idea about all of this.  Stunning. And to think of the intellectual and technical resources being wasted by SETI, looking for radio signals from Outer Space in an effort to discover whether or not alien life actually does exist, that extra-terrestrials are out there...  We have known there has been speculation that it does, but they're giving us barbarians wide berth. Mr. Hellyer believes that not to be the case.

He may be right. A few years back during the federal election in Canada, the Natural Law Party was making headlines, demonstrating for those of little patience that Yogic Flying was one of their aptitudes and if they could levitate so entertainingly surely they were ready to govern? Who knows which governments of the world at the present time have been comprised of extra terrestrials? We often enough feel many of them are out of this world; perhaps we just don't recognize their abilities enough to admire them from our earth-bound perspective?

LHC upgrade to open up 'new realm of particle physics'

By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News, Cern, Geneva

Engineer Katy Foraz shows Pallab Ghosh how to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider

Engineers have begun a major upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Their work should double the energy of what's already the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.

BBC News is the first to be allowed to see inside the LHC - on the French-Swiss border - to watch the work being carried out.

Scientists believe the upgrade will enable them to discover new particles which will lead to a more complete theory of how the Universe works.

A project leader with the LHC's Atlas experiment, Dr Pippa Wells, told BBC News that there was much more to come from the LHC.

"The past two years have been the most exciting in my time as a particle physicist. People are absolutely fired up. They've made one new discovery (the Higgs) and they want to make more discoveries with the new high energies that the upgrade will give us. We could find a new realm of particle physics."

I was taken by the technical coordinator for the upgrade project, Katy Foraz, and Cern's UK communications manager Stephanie Hills, to one of the many access points to the LHC's underground tunnels.

LHC Upgrade

• Replace 10,000 connections
• Install 5,000 insulation systems
• 10170 leak tests
• 18,000 electrical tests
• Total cost £70m

We entered a lift shaft with two buttons marked zero and minus 1. Katy hit minus 1 and we made our way 100m below the surface.

As we exited the lift, we walked to a large heavy green door that we strained to open.
As we went through, it was like entering Aladdin's cave.

No jewels or gold - but one of the largest and most complex machines ever built. A bright blue superconducting beamline stretches into the distance - around it are gleaming precision instruments to make the line one of the coldest places in the Universe.

In front of me, engineers were replacing some of the first connectors. In all, 10,000 will need to be changed. Eight hundred people are involved in this project, which will cost £70m.

The tasks also include testing and replacing some of the LHC's main dipole and quadrupole magnets, which are used to bend the paths of the particles and keep them tightly bunched; conducting tests to detect any irregularities in the magnets or imperfections in the electrical insulation; and a range of other work to improve the machine.

The LHC is known for its cutting-edge science. But as we walked to this scientific wonderland, Katy told me that people often forget that the particle accelerator is also on the cutting edge of engineering. After all, creating the conditions of the beginning of the Universe is no easy feat.

"We are always at the limit of what we know in terms of the technology. It is very exciting: as the coordinator. I have access to all the technologies and they really are at their limit in terms of superconductivity cryogenics. It is very exciting for an engineer to be close to all these new technologies," she said.

Katy and her team of engineers are calling the work an "upgrade". But critics say it's a "repair".
As we walked passed a team replacing a damaged connector, Cern's Stephanie Hills was quick to respond to the charge that this expensive refit is putting right a mistake that should not have been made in the first place.

"Nobody has ever done this kind of technology before. Everything from the most basic welding to the most complicated beam diagnostics is pushing the boundaries of technology, and sometimes these things just don't go right simply because we don't know how it's going to work," she told me.

"You can see in front of us the way that we're managing the upgrade is meticulous. There is lots and lots of quality control, making sure that everything's absolutely spot-on so that when we turn the machine back on we are absolutely ready for some more fantastic scientific discoveries."

The damage was done shortly after the switch on of the Large Hadron Collider in September 2008.

The LHC upgrade will enable it to discover new particles. Pallab Ghosh explains how this will lead to a radical change in our understanding of how the Universe works. 

Nine days later, it broke down because the connections between the superconducting magnets simply could not take the current running through them.

It took a year and £24m pounds of taxpayer's money to repair the damage. Even then it could only operate on half power. That was enough to discover the much sought-after Higgs Boson.

Those in charge made a pragmatic decision. They decided to press ahead, and to keep their funders happy. 

To their joy and relief, scientists found their prize last summer. And so at the beginning of this year it was politically possible for Cern to begin the long shut down to fix faulty connections.

Back above ground, students from around the world are shown the Atlas control room, one of the places where data from the LHC will be gathered when it is switched back on. That is something for the students to look forward to - because after the upgrade, the beams will be crashing into each other at twice the energy.

This will enable researchers here to move on to their ultimate goal: to find evidence of "new physics", which they believe will lead to a new, more compete theory of sub-atomic physics.

The discovery of the Higgs last year was the end of a successful chapter of late 20th Century physics.
This was the development of the current theory in the 1960s and 70s called the "Standard Model".
This theory says that most of the forces of nature, the objects around us and our own existence, are all down to the interaction of the Higgs with 16 other particles. It successfully explains how electricity, magnetism and light operate.

Since then, all the particles predicted by the Standard Model have been discovered - including most recently the Higgs.

The problem though is scientists know this theory is limited. It explains extremely well the world around us, but it cannot explain the way most of the Universe behaves.

Physicists hope that by operating at full power, the LHC will be able to find evidence of so-called supersymmetric particles. These are like the particles in the Standard Model - but more massive.

One form of supersymmetry predicts that there should be five Higgs bosons, which are each slightly different. The first order of business for LHC scientists when the collisions resume in 2015 will be to test the Higgs that's been discovered, to see if it shows any of the properties predicted by supersymmetry, according to Dr Wells.

"The LHC is more than just a one trick pony," said Dr Wells. "It wasn't designed to find just the Higgs. We hope to find something completely new that will change our understanding of the Universe. We are on the threshold of finding many more new particles."

I Can See My House From Here!

By Phil Plait

SLATE

Posted Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at 8:00 AM

The Landsat fleet of Earth-observing satellites lives! The newest bird in the flock is temporarily named Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)—in May it will be handed over from NASA to the USGS and will be officially renamed Landsat 8.

Landsats have been looking down on our lovely planet for more than 40 years. LDCM just opened its eyes a few days ago, and sent back some fantastic “first light” pictures, including my own beloved home town of Boulder, Colorado taken on Mar. 18, 2013:

Where the ancient seadbed meets the ancient mountains: Boulder, Colorado from space. Click to morkandmindyate.
Image credit: USGS/NASA Earth Observatory

Cooool. They picked Boulder in part because it’s where Ball Aerospace is located, the company that built the Operational Land Imager—the visible camera—on LDCM.

But also, Boulder is a really cool place. The Rockies pushed up through the crust over the course of 30-80 million years ago. Before that, the entire middle of the U.S. was an inland sea. The mountains created a bulge in the middle, so even though the Midwest is flat (it was a seabed), it’s tipped.

Driving west from the central states is essentially all uphill. It’s amazing how flat eastern Colorado is, right up until you hit the mountains, which come out of the ground like a fist.

Right where I live is one of the most sudden changes in topography on Earth, and the view is magnificent. Even from space.

The image above shows a region about 25 kilometers (15 miles) across. I’ve ridden my bike farther than the borders of this picture from my house! Well, not to the west, though I tried once and suffered the consequences of an 800 meter vertical rise over a few kilometers of run while already 1700 meters above sea level. It took me three days to catch my breath.

The detail is incredible, and yes, my house is somewhere in this picture. I’ll give you a hint: I’m to the right of the mountains.

There is an infrared imager on LDCM as well, and it took this image of the Ft. Collins area, to the north of Boulder:

Just north of Boulder is Ft. Collins, Colorado, the scene of a recent wildfire. Click to CSUenate.
Image credit: USGS/NASA Earth Observatory

It’s false color; but the burned land from the recent Galena fire is easily visible. Images like this will help scientists understand how the land is affected by fire, weather, human influence, and more. There’s a nifty visible/infrared slider image on the NASA site, too.

My congratulations to everyone involved with getting this satellite into the sky and operating, and I’m looking forward to many years of gorgeous and scientifically useful views of our lovely world.