Daily Archives: March 31, 2021

My charity Easter egg post was dairy shamed: what happened to the milk of human kindness? – The Guardian

Posted: March 31, 2021 at 5:22 am

A few days ago, I was asked to share a Facebook post for a charity Im working with, one that provides groceries and food for Crawleys most vulnerable families. In the message, people were asked to donate Easter eggs to families who cant afford them; it was accompanied by a stock photo of a load of eggs. I shared the post without a seconds thought. So far, so Romesh looks like a great guy.

A couple of hours later, I checked to see if any donations had been made. I was surprised to see some people asking me if I was still vegan, because they were concerned that I had shared a picture of dairy products. I was worried that these comments would detract from the charitys cause, so I removed them, keeping my original post intact and on message. So far, so Romesh looks like a great guy who has effectively dealt with his naysayers.

I went to look at the post a little later and, in short, found that it was on fire. Some vegans had been notified that I had blocked the negative comments and had gone online to tell me, in my unwanted role as a moderator of plant-based dissenters, how disappointed they were that I had betrayed my vegan roots. Somehow they had decided that I was therefore also responsible for Nestls activities in Africa (I think there was a KitKat egg in the picture).

Silencing the critics hadnt worked, so I decided to respond. I said that, although I didnt support Nestl, or in fact dairy products in general, I was overlooking that to help children in the local area and to support a charity that needed as much support as it could get. I asked anyone who found my behaviour contradictory or hypocritical to unfollow. So far, so Romesh has put together some compelling arguments we could all learn from and isnt he still a really great guy?

It turns out I may as well have poured petrol all over my Facebook page. There was an onslaught of angry vegans saying I was encouraging the exploitation of animals, and an onslaught of angry other people saying vegans should get over themselves and that this was exactly why people hated them so much.

I am amazed by how passionate these principled vegans are, as well as confused by why they think this tactic might be effective. As far as I can see, it only seems to antagonise everyone else and confirm the opinion that we vegans are a humourless bunch of sanctimonious twats.

Still, I respect their passion. I also think they are awful, but I respect their awfulness. In fact, I understand how they became so hardcore. You become vegan for various reasons, but it often comes back to the idea that harming a sentient being seems abhorrent. So it can become increasingly frustrating when everyone else seems to be very relaxed about something you find horrendous.

However, had I been a vegan who found myself disagreeing with someones charity post, I might have tried using a little soft persuasion to encourage them to my way of thinking. Or maybe I might have donated some vegan Easter eggs to the cause, so I could really feel the warm hug of moral superiority, rather than attacking the post quite publicly and alienating a huge number of people.

Having said that, I didnt privately message them back. I publicly posted what I thought of them and even blocked some because I was so annoyed. Now Im writing about it. So far, so hypocritical. And this all coming from the guy who left Twitter because it was toxic. At this rate, the only place left for me will be Friends Reunited.

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Office Space Will Be The Next Frontier Post-Pandemic – Forbes

Posted: at 5:22 am

When workers start returning to their offices chances are they will look and feel very different. ... [+] (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

We know some people are going to go back to some offices. We know those office spaces will be different than they used to be. And we know the commercial real estate industry is facing one of its most serious challenges in modern history.

But theres so much more we dont know and that will make the next 12 to 18 months an unprecedented time both for companies moving back into office spaces and the businesses that own and lease these spaces.

Forget about outer space being the final frontier: inner space in offices is certainly shaping up as the next frontier as the country starts to enter the post-pandemic era.

The quantitative and qualitative reports already coming out from across business indicate that were starting to see the first real signs of how this next phase may play out. At the height of the pandemic last year, its estimated that more half of the entire U.S. workforce did their jobs at home, up from single digits previously, according to IDC, a market research company. Emergent Research says that 15 to 18% of the workforce is likely to remain home-based once the pandemic subsides with most workers operating on a hybrid model, with some time spent in the office and some at home.

In the meantime, major companies like JPMorgan Chase JPM , Salesforce CRM and PricewaterhouseCoopers are all looking to sublet major portions of their existing office space, according to the Wall Street Journal. At the end of last year the amount of space available for sublet was up 40% from the prior year and at its highest level since 2003, CBRE Group CBRE reported.

Prices of existing premium office space dropped 17% over the past year in New York and San Francisco, worse than the national average of 13% said real estate firm JLL JLL .

So, theres no doubt the office market is going to be challenged. But property owners and real estate leasing companies alike are working to figure out how to navigate these new conditions and both see a very different commercial space landscape going forward. Among the key new characteristics are:

More use of flexible office space providers like WeWork as employers look for short-term solutions until more regular office work patterns return. Green Street, a real estate analytics company, estimates that flex leases will grow from their current share of 2% of the overall market to as much as 10% by the end of this decade.

Some office space will converted to alternative uses and while that might include the obvious choice of residential use, a less apparent reuse could be as distribution centers for e-commerce companies. With office space centrally located and adjacent to transportation these buildings could be attractive choices rather than warehouses away from major population areas, especially as same-day and even two-hour delivery becomes more common. Prologis PLD , which services the field, says a lot of its demand in the past decade has been focused in major 24-hour cities.

When office buildings do start to welcome daily workers back, chances are they will look and feel differently than in the past, says Gabe Marans, executive managing director for Savills, a major real estate leasing company. Like other businesses that have been challenged they will learn to adapt to new conditions. Remember when movie theaters upgraded? They put in reclining seats, better food and drink service. They had no choice but to offer an experience customers couldnt achieve at home, said Marans.

My prediction is that offices will be next to undergo a similar transformation. If companies want employees back in the office, everything will need to be reimagined. And employees will expect a workplace that they cant achieve remotely.

Marans says that means more services like child care, in-office health providers and even nap spaces. Individual work spaces will get bigger again, reversing a trend that had seen them decline over the past decade and there will be more collaborative huddle spaces.

Depending on the size of the office, these services will be provided by either the individual tenant or the office building itself. This will be the office 2.0, providing an experience and working environment that cant be replicated at home. Were starting to see this happening already.

While offices will need to adapt they also must be able to provide some of the comforts of home that workers have gotten used to over the past year. Thats the opinion of Gensler, the renowned architectural firm that has just issued an 81-page report on how office space will evolve going forward. It will put extra focus on health, wellness and flexibility, according to published reports. Theres going to be a lot of emphasis on technology to keep us connected and also new policies from both building operators and companies to allow that flexibility and virtual work to thrive, said Bill Baxley, managing director of Genslers Minneapolis office.

He added that Gensler learned that people miss the human experience of the traditional office setting, and that the hybrid working model is here to stay.

The return back to the office will no doubt be a long, slow process and as with most predictions about the impact of Covid, subject to constant revision. Even as many workers tell survey takers they like working from home others says they are anxious to get back to the office and out of their homes.

However many do come back and when when it happens they are likely to find the offices very different places from when they abruptly left more than a year ago.

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Godzilla vs. Kong Finds the Balance Between Monster and Human – Film School Rejects

Posted: at 5:22 am

The primary critical argument against the three previous films in the MonsterVerse franchise Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) has been focused almost exclusively on the human element. Basically, the human characters and storylines in those three films long overstay their welcome, and the issue is exacerbated by idiocy, convoluted details, and more. The counter has always been that you dont watch a giant monster movie for the humans, but while thats true, their ubiquitous presence has always been hard to shake. King of the Monsters came close, but its the fourth film in the franchise thats finally gotten the balance right as Godzilla vs. Kong focuses on the big brutes and leaves the people to fight for scraps of attention at their feet.

Its been five years since Godzilla declared himself king of the monsters, and these days he only pops up periodically to destroy high-tech laboratories. King Kong, meanwhile, is living a far more sheltered life as Monarch the shadowy organization overseeing titan activity has erected a dome over Skull Island to keep Kong in and Godzilla out. It cant last forever, though, so when an ex-scientist named Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgrd) comes asking if Kong can come out to play his keepers say yes. Nathan needs the great ape to help them find an ancient power source in the earths hollow core, and Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) needs a new home for the big lug, so its a win-win. Well, in theory, as the two titans seem inexorably drawn towards each other, and both have bloodlust in their eyes.

Godzilla vs. Kong succeeds because it understands the very first rule of a giant monster movie is to focus on the damn giant monsters. There are plenty of humans scrambling around including a couple of returning characters Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) and his daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and several new ones, but theyre thankfully and blissfully kept to a relative minimum in favor of Kong and Godzilla. Director Adam Wingard does fine work with his first blockbuster (and you just know hes to credit for the Lethal Weapon 2 nod), but its the CG spectacle, monster mayhem, and epic carnage that rule the screen.

While there are attractive visuals throughout, primarily in the hollow earth and Hong Kong, the films not quite the showcase for gorgeous shots that the two previous movies managed to be. Its still a movie best watched loudly and on the biggest screen at your disposal, though, as both Godzilla and Kong are beautifully rendered as is the destruction left in their wake. Cybernetic factories in Florida and Hong Kong are leveled, monstrous threats lurk in the hollow earth, and a face-off out at sea plays havoc with a naval fleet. Its thrilling stuff, and the action remains clear throughout keeping everything in understandable geography.

The one hiccup on that front, though, is an inconsistent scale between the two titans of Godzilla vs. Kong. Its acknowledged that Kong has grown since we last saw him, but ships and aircraft seem to give a fluctuating sense of size between the two as sometimes the ape looks smaller than Godzilla while they appear evenly matched elsewhere. Its far from a deal-breaker as the action and spectacle hold focus.

The script, by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, still manages plenty of the expected human silliness, but either through restraint or post-production editing, its never overwhelming or enough to drag down the films momentum. Fighter pilots still fly within arms reach of the giant beasts, theres still a weird bond between titans and little girls, and brilliant scientists capable of reaching the earths hollow-core inexplicably need Kong to find them a very obvious magic mountain for them, but the monsters take precedence. The desire to ensure human characters play a pivotal role does become laughable once or twice as the writers throw them a bone for a brief heroic moment or feeling of continuity seriously, remove both Madison and her father and not a single element would have played out differently here but Godzilla vs. Kong belongs to big guys.

This is the shortest of the four films, and the action and momentum keep things moving at a strong pace. Junkie XLs score adds to the adrenalized feeling, and the personable nature of the cast helps ensure an easy watch. The body count is high, like tens of thousands high, but the overwhelming majority are off-screen or as unseen specks within the CG devastation. We get the expected themes greed and a hunger for power are bad; working together is good; people are endlessly stupid but we also get an energetic action film featuring big, messy brawls, giant monsters, Kong scratching his bare ass on his way to the shower, and more. Honestly, what more could you want in a MonsterVerse movie? Now go see Godzilla vs. Kong so theyll make another one and we can finally get Godzillas adopted son, Minilla, back on the big screen where he belongs.

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California bear cubs developing unexplained illness that makes them unafraid of humans – CTV News

Posted: at 5:22 am

TORONTO -- Scientists are warning about an unexplained neurological disorder found in black bear cubs in California that causes the animals to exhibit uncharacteristic and overly friendly behaviours.

But they aren't sure why this is happening.

According to a press release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), four cubs in the past 12 months have shown "dog-like" behaviours, including being comfortable around humans.

The CDFW says it encountered one of these bears last month -- a small, female black bear in Pollock Pines, east of Sacramento.

The CDFW was alerted to the bear after it had moved into a residential backyard.

A biologist with the department reported that the bear was lethargic, underweight, and showed no fear of people, picking up apples and eating them in front of the residents on their backyard patio.

The CDFW said the bear did not respond to the people yelling or clapping, and at one point jumped into a housekeeper's open car trunk.

"Physically and mentally, the bear just didnt seem quite right, walking oddly, dull and not responsive like a normal bear should be," the department said in the release.

According to the release, the bear was taken to CDFWs Wildlife Investigations Laboratory for observation by veterinarians. They reported that the cub displayed "intermittent head tremors" and a subtle head tilt, which are "troubling signs of neurological abnormalities."

According to preliminary findings, scientists say the behaviours are linked to encephalitis, or inflammation in the brain.

However, the CDFW says the root cause of the inflammation "remains a mystery."

While scientists arent sure what's causing the encephalitis, theyve identified five new viruses in the sick bears, though the department says their relationship to the condition and the neurological disorders arent clear.

The CFDW previously told The Sacramento Bee that the viruses dont appear to be a risk to humans.

Officials in Nevada were first to notice the abnormal behaviours in bears, alerting wildlife colleagues in California in 2014 to growing human encounters in the Tahoe Basin with young black bears.

The CDFW says the situation has become more common elsewhere around the state.

One bear with these symptoms gained attention on social media in 2019 when it approached a snowboarder at the Northstar ski resort. In a video shared to Instagram, the bear is seen stepping onto the snowboard and sniffing the snowboarder's pant leg.

That bear, named Benji, was treated for the disorder at the San Diego Humane Society's Ramona Campus. He is now three-years-old and continues to live at the campus.

Despite this, the CFDW says Benji's story is "something of a cautionary tale" as he has never fully recovered and has required "significant veterinary care" over the years.

CDFW wildlife veterinarian Brandon Munk said in the release that it is "not possible" for these neurologically impaired bears to be released back into the wild, for fear of spreading the disease to other animals.

"At this point, we dont know what causes the encephalitis so we dont know what, if any, health risks these bears might pose to other animals," Munk explained.

Munk said that having the bears live the rest of their lives out at a zoo or wildlife sanctuary is a rare scenario, as care expenses are difficult for many wildlife facilities to take on and limit placement options.

"The few bears like this we have placed do not seem to fully recover, some requiring significant medical management for the life of the bear, which is a huge burden for these facilities that often operate on tight budgets," he said.

The female black bear found in Pollock Pines was euthanized. The CDFW says a post-mortem examination is underway.

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Point of Contact Gallery Announces the Opening of ‘Carrying the Thick Present: Fabulation,’ Syracuse University’s 2021 M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition -…

Posted: at 5:18 am

Artwork from the Carrying the Thick Present: Fabulation exhibition at the Point of Contact Gallery. (Photo courtesy of Catherine Spencer)

Point of Contact Gallery is proud to announce the opening of Carrying the Thick Present: Fabulation, the 2021 Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) exhibition curated by Manuela Hansen. Featured artists include Katlyn Brumfield, Ellery Bryan, Jihun Choi, Alvin Huang, Catherine Spencer and Dahee Yun from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

The exhibition will be on view at Point of Contact Gallery from March 30-May 21. Admission is free and open to the public by appointment only, with proper social distancing and face masks worn over the nose and mouth. Guided tours will be available virtually or upon request.

To book an appointment, visit puntopoint.org. Carrying the Thick Present is broken down into three central themes: intimacy, fabulation and trauma. Fabulation, on view at Point of Contact Gallery, features six artists exploration into the potentials of fabulation, that is, of fabricating the real through speculative storytelling and alter-worlding. Eerie environments and monstrous organisms emerge. Communal care, dancing with ghosts and grieving with others are forwarded as methods of bearing the weight of loss. Gaming and tales of multispecies kinship heighten awareness of our enmeshment within a multispecies landscape. Through the gesture and practice of fabulation, these artists works offer other configurations to dwelling with loss and open us into an appreciation of our entwined shared living and dying. Through fabulations, these works reimagine the thick present and its multiple past and future durations, disrupting habitual narratives about the self and about our ways of living together.

Katlyn Brumfield grew up in Madison County, Kentucky, and earned her bachelors degrees in art history and studio art from the University of Louisville. Her sculptural work draws from the material culture of Appalachian agrarianism to create ritual settings for ecological mourning. Brumfield has collaborated with scientific collections and conducted international fieldwork in her research and creative practice. By weaving scientific knowledge into elegiac and regional narratives her works embody the emotional dimensions of imminent planetary catastrophe.

Ellery Bryan is a nonbinary visual artist working primarily with loss, ritual and temporality. Their artwork manifests as tactile objects, written and verbal text, aural installations, film and video. They envision the potential for tangible media and everyday environments to perform as entrances for mysticism and transcendent futures. They are based on unceded Piscataway land currently called Baltimore, Maryland, and have shown their work at institutions such as the Museum of Art and Design in New York and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Jihun Choi received a bachelor of arts degree in media studies and production from Temple University in Philadelphia in 2017. He uses video documentation of self-expression to illuminate social injustices that directly affect him, while also investigating and identifying the complexities of humanities and the side effects of a society compartmentalized by identity. He identifies this as social gaze; a product of social construction, that is a tainted lens that everyone subliminally looks through. Chois position as an Asian minority artist is to express the lost sense of belonging that was generated from his own experiences and exposure to the diverse culture.

Alvin Huang was born in New York, grew up in the U.K. and now lives in Taiwan. He earned a B.S. in life science in 2011 and now takes an interdisciplinary approach toward the computer art field. His works focus on fictional biodiversity, where he uses them as a figurative device to invite people to think through real-world issues.

Catherine Spencer from rural upstate New York uses a wide range of materials in her work. By transforming found objects beyond recognition, she offers her audience an alternative environment. These environments reference various forms of escapism as well as the distortion of emotional pain. She received a bachelor of fine arts in painting at Alfred University in 2013.

Dahee Yun was born in March 1991 in South Korea and currently works in Syracuse, New York. She is a filmmaker, painter and film educator and her films have screened at numerous international film festivals. Conceptually, Yun investigates blurring boundaries such as reality and dreams and questioning normality; furthermore, her works always talk about women and animals based on her autobiographical story.

About the Curator

Manuela Hansen is a Fulbright Fellow from Argentina pursuing an M.A. in modern and contemporary art: critical and curatorial Studies at Columbia University. Her field of research includes contemporary art with a focus on the posthuman turn, institutional critique and Latin America. Through a post-humanist feminist lens, her thesis focuses on works by Mariko Mori, Anicka Yi and Mika Rottenberg, and argues that they can be seen as challenging pervasive dualisms in Western thought. Hansen currently serves on the steering committee of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery; she has also served at MALBA Jovens steering committee (Young Friends Association of the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires). She has worked as adjunct professor of Latin American and Argentinean art in Universidad del Salvador, Argentina (2016-19); as project manager of Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires (2017-19); and as artistic director of Buenos Aires Art Week (2019). Manuela earned her bachelor of arts (with Honors) in arts management and art history at Universidad del Salvador Argentina.

Exhibition Venues:

This program is possible thanks to the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community and the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

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Point of Contact Gallery Announces the Opening of 'Carrying the Thick Present: Fabulation,' Syracuse University's 2021 M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition -...

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Light pollution from satellites ‘poses threat’ to astronomy – The Guardian

Posted: at 5:17 am

Artificial satellites and space junk orbiting the Earth can increase the brightness of the night sky, researchers have found, with experts warning such light pollution could hinder astronomers ability to make observations of our universe.

There are more than 9,200 tonnes of space objects in orbit around the Earth, ranging from defunct satellites to tiny fragments, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Now it seems space junk not only poses a collision risk but, together with other space objects, is contributing to light pollution.

Writing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers describe how sunlight that is reflected and scattered from space objects can appear as streaks in observations made by ground-based telescopes.

Because the streaks are often comparable to or brighter than objects of astrophysical interest, their presence tends to compromise astronomical data and poses the threat of irretrievable loss of information, the team writes.

But for some instruments, the impact could be greater still. When imaged with high angular resolution and high sensitivity detectors, many of these objects appear as individual streaks in science images, they write. However, when observed with relatively low-sensitivity detectors like the unaided human eye, or with low-angular-resolution photometers, their combined effect is that of a diffuse night sky brightness component, much like the unresolved integrated starlight background of the Milky Way.

Calculations in the report suggest this glow could reach up to 10% of the natural night sky brightness a level of light pollution previously set by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as being the limit that is acceptable at astronomical observatory sites.

While the researchers say the idea of a natural level of brightness has its own difficulties, they stress further research is necessary, adding that the situation could become worse as further satellites, including mega-constellations, are launched.

Greg Brown, a Royal Observatory astronomer who was not involved in the study, said light pollution was a big problem for astronomers.

Telescopes like the soon-to-be-operational Vera C Rubin Observatory are expecting vast contamination of their images from just the mega-constellations expected in the next few years, which will be difficult and costly to compensate for and do seriously risk scientists missing out on key scientific discoveries, he said.

While Brown said it was unclear whether the assumptions made in the study held true, given changes in satellite design and the difficulty of estimating small space debris, he said astronomical observations would be increasingly affected by such light pollution.

This is definitely the time to be concerned about the future of both professional and amateur astronomy, he said.

Prof Danny Steeghs of the University of Warwick said there was a balance to be struck between the benefits of satellites and their impact on our ability to study the night sky, but agreed light pollution was likely to be a growing, and escalating, problem.

We can, as astronomers, remove or reduce the direct impact on our data somewhat by employing image processing techniques, but of course it would be a lot better if they are not there for starters, he said.

Fabio Falchi, from the Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute in Italy, said the problem was global. The distribution of the space debris is fairly uniform around our planet, so the contamination is already present everywhere, he said, suggesting those responsible for the problem should help to solve it.

Maybe Elon Musk can put his engineers at work to find out a solution, at least to counterbalance a little the damage that his Starlink mega-constellation of satellites is going to make to the starry sky, he said.

While projects have recently begun to clean up space junk, Steeghs said one difficulty was that small fragments could be tricky to sweep up yet could nonetheless contribute to the light pollution.

Chris Lintott, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford, also stressed the need for action. It does seem that simple efforts like building satellites out of darker materials might be very helpful, and I hope operators will take such steps as soon as possible, he said.

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Written in the Stars: April astronomy calendar The Rocky Mountain Collegian – Rocky Mountain Collegian

Posted: at 5:17 am

(Graphic illustration by Charlie Dillon | The Collegian)

Stargazing can be a new hobby to explore this spring as the evenings begin to warm up.

Colorado State Universitys Emily Hardegree-Ullman, assistant professor in the Colorado State University physics department and director of the on-campus Madison-Macdonald Observatory, offers some insight to this months celestial calendar.

Check out last months Written in the Stars for Fort Collins-specific beginner stargazing suggestions and to review some of the springtime constellations that are still visible.

According to in-the-sky.org, the moon will align with three different planets on the evenings of April 6, 7 and 17. The planets will be visible to the naked eye and in line with the moon. This month, Saturn will align with the moon on April 6, Jupiter on April 7 and Mars on April 17.

Following the meteor drought occurring from January to April, the Lyrid meteor shower will be best visible from the Northern Hemisphere on the nights of April 21 and 22 and into the morning of April 23, Hardegree-Ullman said.

They are going to be a little bit tricky (to see) because the moon will be pretty bright, Hardegree-Ullman said. She said the best time to spot them will be after the moon sets, in the wee hours after 4:30 in the morning. Hardegree-Ullman said the Lyrids would be most visible in the early mornings of April 22 and 23.

The Lyrids are going to be appearing to come from the direction of (the constellation) Lyra, Hardegree-Ullman said. She said stargazers can look toward the bright star, Vega, part of the constellation Lyra, in the east to try and spot the meteor shower.

This months full moon will appear up to 10% bigger than its smallest state, making it a supermoon, according to Hardegree-Ullman. Aprils full moon is always called the pink moon, named for some of the earliest flowers to bloom in spring. Hardegree-Ullman said the supermoons size may not be especially apparent, but it will be noticeably brighter than usual.

Students use this website to track International Space Station passes over a variety of locations. Hardegree-Ullman said that in Fort Collins, On April 2, 4 and 5, the ISS will be visible for multiple minutes and will be very bright.

According to Hardegree-Ullman, stargazers can look for the red giant Arcturus in the constellation Botes.

Arc to Arcturus; so if you find the Big Dipper handle, and follow it to a bright red star, youve found it, she said.

Hardegree-Ullman also said to look for the constellation Gemini and its colorful stars, Castor and Pollux. Cancer, a faint constellation, will also be visible, and its Beehive Cluster can be viewed with either binoculars or a telescope, according to Hardegree-Ullman.

Happy stargazing, Rams!

Noelle Mason can be reached atnews@collegian.comor on Twitter@noellemaso.

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Hubble Team Releases Reprocessed Image of Veil Nebula | Astronomy – Sci-News.com

Posted: at 5:17 am

A small portion of the Veil Nebula, which is part of a supernova remnant called the Cygnus Loop, was featured in previous Hubble photos, but now new processing techniques have been applied, bringing out fine details of the Veil Nebulas delicate threads and filaments of ionized gas.

This Hubble image shows a small portion of the Veil Nebula, which is located 2,400 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Z. Levay.

The Cygnus Loop is a large donut-shaped nebula located approximately 2,400 light-years away from Earth.

Also known as W78 and Sharpless 103, it is actually an expanding blast wave from a supernova explosion that occurred about 15,000 years ago.

Its name comes from its position in the northern constellation of Cygnus, where it covers an area 36 times larger than the full Moon.

The visual portion of the supernova remnant is known as the Veil Nebula, also called the Cirrus Nebula or the Filamentary Nebula.

The nebulas progenitor star which was 20 times the mass of the Sun lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy, Hubble astronomers said.

Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the nebulas delicate tracery of ionized gas creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty.

To create this colorful image, of the Veil Nebula observations taken by Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument through five different filters were used.

The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionized oxygen (blue), ionized hydrogen and ionized nitrogen (red).

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Astrotourism: These resorts will have you seeing stars – USA TODAY

Posted: at 5:17 am

Astrotourism has travelers jaunting to dark skies around the globe specifically for stargazing and astronomical events. USA TODAY

When Valerie Stimacspotted Hale-Bopp, that was it. She was hooked.

That unusuallybright comet,which flew by earth in the mid-1990s,sparked, her lifelong fascination with the night sky. Add to that the fact that she grew up in Alaska watching the aurora borealis on a regularly basis, and its easy to see why she fell for starry nights early on. It also makes sense that her career now focuses on all things celestial.

As the founder of Space Tourism Guide and author of "Dark Skies: A Practical Guide to Astrotourism,"she loves getting others stoked on stellar encounters through astrotourism. Which begs the questions, what exactly is astrotourism?

It encompasses any travel related to astronomy experiences, she says, whether its a solar eclipse, meteor shower, rocket launch or even something more off-worldly like taking a zero-gravity flight or eventually going to space.

If you can, try to plan your trip around an astronomy events. In 2021, Stimac says to consider the lunar occultation of Mars in April, total lunar eclipse in May, lunar occultation of Venus in November and total solar eclipse over Antarctica in December.

The best astronomical phenomena in 2020 were ones we didn't necessarily know to plan for Comet NEOWISE was only discovered in March, she says. I'm also excited for what new wonders we'll discover this year.

Here are several resorts with a focus on astronomy.

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The Wyoming wilderness is dazzling by day, of course, but by night, well, its even better. That said, theres nothing quite like staying at HotelJackson, a four-star boutique property, for a bespoke, socially distanced stargazing experience. Wyoming Stargazing takes guests to Grand Teton National Park where they can bundle up in a blanket and cozy up in a camping chair while as astronomer guides them through the cosmic display. Back at the hotel youll have views of the Snow King and the Jackson Valley Mountains. Plan a day trip to nearby Yellowstone National Park to hit the slopes or go for a hike.

Stimac recommends paying attention to the moon phase and dressing in layers. The moon is astonishingly bright and can prevent you from seeing the stars in that area of the sky, she explains. "If you want to go stargazing without the moon, aim for nights near the new moon or plan to enjoy some moongazingduring the rest of the month.

Next, don't underestimate how cold it gets once the sun goes down, she says. It's better to pack too many layers than to have your stargazing session cut short because you get cold.

Getting there: Fly into Jackson Hole Airport, and the hotels luxury car will pick you up.

Maui meets all the requirements for epic stargazing: fantastic weather all year, barely any light pollution and impeccable star visibility. HyattRegencyMauiResort and Spais a seaside escape known for its focus on the stars. For two decades, EdwardMahoney has served as the director ofastronomyforthe hotels Tour of the Stars program.Needless to say, he can answer nearly any question you come up with. And, since Maui is just 20 degrees north of the equator, guests can gaze at 80 of the 88constellations. Choose from an 8 or 9 p.m. nightly astronomy session for your glimpse of the crystal-clear skies. Or book the romance tour at 10 p.m., which comes with sparkling wine and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Nearby, The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua has a stargazing program, where guests learn about the significant role the Polynesian voyagers played in the migration to Hawaii. Plus, telescopes are available upon request so you can spot constellations throughout your stay.When youre ready to venture outside of the five-star hotel, there are miles of hiking trails to choose from and six beaches to lounge on. Once youre out of energy, treat yourself to a deep-muscle massage, oxygen-renewal facial and a coconut-mango pedicure or a private cabana by the pool. If you are there from December to March, keep those eyes peeled for whales. Thousands of humpbacks visit Mauis shores to breed and give birth in the warm waters.

Getting there: Maui is open for tourism with some travel protocols and restrictions. Hawaiian Airlines has nonstop flights from several major cities.

Four Seasons Resort, Bora Bora

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Tahiti might be overwater bungalows and stunning turquoise water. But stargazing should also top the list. Bora Bora happens to be one of the best places to view the Southern hemisphere sky.

For the ultimate stargazing getaway, make a beeline to the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora, where the overwater bungalows make for the perfect spot to lounge and look up at the stars. Come nighttime, get cozy on your patio lounge chairs and gaze at the night sky with the sound of waves rolling below. With no light pollution and perfect clarity, its often possible to see the Milky Way and the Southern Cross.

Many of our guests are coming for an escape from the big cities, traffic, noise and stress, says Etienne Baldeschi, head concierge at the resort. The environment here is really about privacy, romance, peace and exploration, so stargazing fits right in and is enjoyed here by almost every guest to various degrees.

To learn more about the night sky, book a stargazing session with Vavau where guests take a sunset cruise to a motu (island) and learn about how ancient Polynesians used celestial navigation.

Getting there: Youll have to wait for tourism to reopen in French Polynesia before you visit. But once it does, book an Air Tahiti Nuidirect flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Tahiti. Find the latest travel restrictions here.

At Amangiri Resort, a 600-acre paradise near Page, Arizona, guests can sign up for a complimentary stargazing session with the in-house astronomer. Theres even an astrophotographymachine that allows up to 10 users to connect wirelessly and download astro-photos from the machine directly to their device. With Amangiri being super remote, the stargazing is spectacular.

Come nighttime, rest your head in a suite with a sky terrace (that makes stagazing quite simple). During the day, spend time trekking through the national parks and kicking back at Aman Spa for a healing Navajo-inspired treatment. During the daytime, explore nearby natural wonders like majestic Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Adventurous types will appreciate climbing the via ferrata route, exploring slot canyons or hot-air ballooning at sunrise.

Getting there: Page Municipal Airport is located 25 minutes from Amangiri and is the closest airport.

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Astrotourism: These resorts will have you seeing stars - USA TODAY

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Astronomers find the ‘safest place’ to live in the Milky Way – Livescience.com

Posted: at 5:17 am

Astronomers havesearched the entire Milky Way to identify the safest places to live.It turns out, we're in a pretty good spot.

But if the past year has made you feel ready to relocate to another planet, you might want to looktoward thecenter of the galaxy, according to the new research.

The new findings were made by a group of Italian astronomers, who studied locations where powerful cosmic explosions may have killed off life. These explosions, such as supernovas and gamma-ray bursts, spew high-energy particles and radiation that can shred DNA and kill life. By this logic, regions that are more hospitable to life will be the ones without frequent explosions, the astronomers reasoned.

"Powerful cosmic explosions are not negligible for the existence of life in our galaxy throughout its cosmic history," said lead author on the new study, Riccardo Spinelli, astronomer at the University of Insubria in Italy. "These events have played a role in jeopardizing life across most of the Milky Way."

Related: 11 fascinating facts about our Milky Way galaxy

In addition to finding the deadliest hotspots, the astronomers also identified the safest places throughout the galaxy's history, going back 11 billion years. The results show that we're currently at the edge of a wide band of hospitable real estate. But in the Milky Way'syouth, the galaxy's edges were a safer bet.

Many factors make a planet habitable. For instance, planets need to be in a Goldilocks zone, where heat and activity from their host star isn't too much or too little it's just right. But in addition to these local conditions, life also has to combat harmful radiation coming from interstellar space.

Powerful cosmic events, such assupernovas and gamma-ray bursts, stream dangerous, high-energy particles at nearly the speed of light. Not only can they kill all the lifeforms we know about, but these particles can also strip entire planets of their atmospheres. After such an event, the scientists believe that planets orbiting nearby star systems would be wiped clear of life.

Related: The 9 real ways Earth could end

"For planets very close to the stellar explosion it is plausible that there is a complete sterilization," Spinelli told Live Science. "In those far away, a mass extinction is more likely."

The authors wrote in the study that a nearby gamma-ray burst may have played a leading role in theOrdovician mass extinction event around 450 million years ago the second largest in Earth's history. While there is no concrete evidence linking a specific gamma-ray burst to this extinction event, the authors think it could be likely, given Earth's position in the galaxy.

Using models of star formation and evolution, the astronomers calculated when specific regions of the galaxy would be inundated with killer radiation. Early on in the galaxy's history, the inner galaxy out to about 33,000 light-years was alight with intense star formation, which rendered it inhospitable. At this time, the galaxy was frequently rocked by powerful cosmic explosions, but the outermost regions, which had fewer stars, were mostly spared these cataclysms.

Until about 6 billion years ago, most of the galaxy was regularly sterilized by massive explosions. As the galaxy aged, such explosions became less common. Today, the mid regions, forming a ring from 6,500 light-years from the galaxy's center to around 26,000 light-years from the center, are the safest areas for life. Closer to the center, supernovas and other events are still common, and in the outskirts, there are fewer terrestrial planets and more gamma-ray bursts.

Luckily for us, our galactic neighborhood is getting more and more life-friendly. In the long-term galactic future, there will be fewer extreme events nearby that could cause another mass extinction.

The new paper's conclusions seem reasonable at first glance, Steven Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told Live Science.

"I'm pleased to note that they do seem to put [the research] in a rigorous framework and have realistic expectations about what a gamma ray burst would do, and account for factors that sometimes people forget," such as how the energy and material released by gamma-ray bursts isnt equal in all directions, said Desch, who was not involved with the new work. "I haven't gone through their numbers in detail, but at first glance it's reasonable."

The new research, published in the March issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, might one day help astronomers decide where to search for habitable exoplanets. But for now technology limits astronomers to only searching nearby areas, Desch said.

Originally published on Live Science.

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