Daily Archives: December 10, 2021

This serene cloud of gas belies a lot of activity deep within the nebula.

NGC 6891 glows brightly in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope, as the observatory assists scientists in learning more about how these gas clouds formed and evolved.

Astronomers call NGC 6891 a "planetary nebula," a term arising from an old misidentification with planets back when telescope technology was in its infancy. Today we know that such nebulas form after supernova explosions that see huge stars shed gas. A white dwarf remnant of the star remains behind, slowly cooling.

Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!

The Hubble Space Telescope's high-definition imagery revealed knots and filaments wrapped around the white dwarf embedded deep within the cloud. The data also shows that the outer halo of gas is expanding faster than the innermost part of the nebula, and the observations even catch shells of gas that are oriented in different directions.

"From their motions, astronomers estimate that one of the shells is 4,800 years old while the outer halo is some 28,000 years old, indicating a series of outbursts from the dying star at different times," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

The glowing from NGC 6891 occurs as the white dwarf stars ionizes, or strips away electrons, from the surrounding hydrogen gas.

"As the energized electrons revert from their higher-energy state to a lower-energy state by recombining with the hydrogen nuclei, they emit energy in the form of light, causing the nebulas gas to glow," NASA said.

Hubble is currently in recovery from a synchronization glitch that occured on Oct. 23 and its instruments are slowly being brought back online. Hubble was last serviced in person in 2009 and with the retirement of the space shuttle, is no longer accessible to astronauts. That said, the 31-year-old telescope has plenty of archival data to process.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomor onFacebook.

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Hubble telescope spots a complex cloud of gas expanding into space - Space.com

As she woke on a clear, cold March morning in Montreal, Lisa Dang felt the weight of the pandemic bearing down on her.

It had been a long, hard year since the first lockdowns began, there was no end in sight, and she was deeply troubled by the news a few days earlier of six Asian women being shot to death in Atlanta, a symptom of rising anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic.

Dang, a 28-year-old PhD candidate at McGill University, is an astronomer. She studies exoplanets planets that orbit other stars. For the past year, she had been working at home, locked down, like all her colleagues, because of the pandemic.

On this day, with all that weighing on her mind, she had to get out. She grabbed her coat, said goodbye to her boyfriend and left her downtown apartment to take a walk and clear her head.

An hour later, her phone began to buzz. Her inbox was flooded with emails. And one of the messages she read there would change her life forever.

Across the world that day, at about the same time, thousands of other astronomers were wading through the same torrent of emails.

But only Dang and a select few colleagues would be among the first to scan the universe with the latest, greatest observational tool the world has ever seen.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to launch in late December. The long-delayed, $10-billion multinational project promises to open the universe to scientists as it never has been before.

Itll settle in orbit around the sun 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, four times further from the planet than the Moon.

The successor to the famed Hubble telescope, the Webb telescope will be 100 times more powerful, thanks primarily to a mirror thats 6.25 times larger in area. Its designed to observe in infrared, which will not only better equip it to see objects in the furthest reaches of the universe but will also allow it to pierce through veils of cosmic dust that often obscure visible light.

Across the globe, astronomers are salivating at the prospect of peering back through time to the near-dawn of the universe, of scrutinizing planets around other stars that just might possess the same building blocks of life as ours, of gazing into the hearts of galaxies hundreds of light-years away to see how stars are born.

In an alleyway in Montreal, a block from her apartment, Dang, disbelieving, read the email over and over again.

I think I was more stunned than happy at that moment, she says.

Immediately, I started FaceTiming my boyfriend. And the first thing that came out when he picked up was just tears, so he was unsure whether or not I was happy, or if it was some kind of mental breakdown.

Of the nearly 1,200 proposals received from 44 countries around the world, only 286 had been selected for time on the JWST, and only 10 of those with Canadians as principal investigators.

Dangs proposal was to study suspected lava planet K2-141b, closely orbiting a star some 200 light-years away. The planets proximity to its star means it is likely to have a molten rock surface and a rock vapour atmosphere the kind of place where it might rain liquid rock and snow rock particles. It was the first proposal shed ever had accepted as a principal investigator.

Even just getting time to use the Hubble Space Telescope is a huge deal for any astronomer, she says. For me, personally, this is a big deal, because for the first time, I felt like an astronomer ... I cant believe that my first proposal is a James Webb Space Telescope proposal.

For a 28-year-old PhD candidate, it was the rough astronomical equivalent of an NHL rookie having a 50-goal season.

Across the country from Dang, in Victoria, B.C., Erik Rosolowsky was waiting at a B&B for his family to get ready to go for a walk along the coast.

Rosolowsky, an associate professor of physics at the University of Alberta, had driven there from Edmonton with his family for March break.

I shouldnt have been checking my email because I was on vacation, he said. But I did ... and I was just flabbergasted.

Rosolowsky had, four months prior, submitted a proposal to use the Webb telescope to photograph the formation of stars in the spiral arms of a distant galaxy. Hed thought at the time his proposal had little chance of being chosen.

He was wrong.

He reread the email, sure that it was a mistake. As a scientist who had been on review panels, receiving proposals like his, he knew how fierce the competition was to even get time on existent telescopes, let alone be among the first to use the JWST.

With his son tarrying inside the B&B, Rosolowsky stepped outside to try and absorb just what was happening to him. He pondered how wildly different his life had become over the span of a few short moments.

This is the kind of thing that changes what youre going to be doing for the next several years, he says now. Were going to have this great opportunity to be the first people to use the Webb. This is where the great discoveries in the next few years in astrophysics are going to come from.

Then he went inside and told his wife. She was happy for him, he says. And then scolded him for checking his email on vacation.

But Dang and Rosolowsky and researchers like them arent celebrating just yet.

Theyre still holding their collective breaths because the telescope on which they have pinned their hopes has not left the ground.

It sits right now at a European Space Agency spaceport in French Guiana having travelled there from California via the Panama Canal awaiting a scheduled launch date of Dec. 22.

When deployed, the JWST will be the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built.

With its extended reach, it will let astronomers probe back in time to an era only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang itself just after what astronomers call the Dark Age when the first stars began to appear, a time of which we know relatively little.

In those distant reaches, light has been travelling toward us for more than 13 billion years. What astronomers see is a snapshot of what the universe looked like when that light started its journey. The more distant objects we can observe, the further back in time we can see.

The JWSTs primary mirror which is primarily responsible for that extended reach is 6.5 metres in diameter, and made up of 18 hexagonal pieces, each made of beryllium thinly coated with gold, and each individually adjustable. That puts the honeycomb-shaped surface area of the mirror at 25 square metres, about six times that of the Hubble telescope.

That bigger mirror means much higher resolution images of the universe, but what also sets JWST apart from the Hubble, is that its designed to see in infrared, that longer-wavelength portion of the light spectrum thats invisible to the human eye.

This has a few advantages. One is that infrared can pierce through the haze of cosmic dust better than visible light, enabling astronomers to gain clearer images of the bowels of the universe. Another is that they are able to study objects that may be too dim to study in visible light a lava planet for example.

A third advantage has to do with the fabric of space itself.

When astronomers are looking at the furthest reaches of the universe, they are looking at light which has been travelling towards them for millions or billions of years. While that light has been travelling, the universe itself has been expanding. And one of the consequences of that expansion is that the very space through which the light has been travelling has been stretched also.

When that happens, wavelengths become longer think of a Slinky being stretched and light becomes red-shifted what started out as visible light moves toward the red end of the spectrum. And that makes an infrared telescope the ideal instrument to probe the extremes of the universe.

By studying the amount that a particular object has red-shifted, astronomers can gain an idea of its distance relative to us. And by gauging its distance, they can tell how far back in time they are looking.

But to properly observe such faint sources, the JWST has to be isolated from other sources, namely the heat from the sun and Earth, which shows up in infrared. Hence its position in orbit around the sun 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

The telescope will orbit whats called a Lagrange point, an area of space where the gravitational pull of the Earth and sun balance the orbit of the telescope, keeping it in a relatively stable position with respect to the Earth.

When it arrives there, the JWST will spend three months cooling to the ambient temperature of space.

But even that distance and time is not enough.

The Webb has a huge sunshield about the size of a tennis court made of five layers of a lightweight, heat- and cold-resistant material called Kapton, which has a reflective metallic coating. The sunshield acts as a parasol, always oriented between the sun and Earth and the telescope.

Engineers estimate that while temperatures on the sun side of the shield could rise as high as 85 C, the telescope, in the shade, would still remain at -233 C.

But the size of the sunshield and the telescope comes at a price: its too large to fit into any rockets we have, and it has to be folded like a giant metallic origami for its launch from Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope Stats

5 to 10 years

Mission duration

Dec. 22, 2021 07:20 EST

Proposed launch date

Ariane 5 rocket

Launch vehicle

Kourou, French Guiana

Launch site

Total payload mass:

Approx 6200 kg, including observatory, on-orbit consumables and launch vehicle adapter.

Orbit:

1.5 million km from Earth orbiting the L2 Point

Wavelength coverage:

Near- and mid-infrared light

-233.2 C

Operating temperature

25 m

Mirror collecting area

18

Number of primary mirror segments

Primary mirror mass:

20.1 kg for a single beryllium mirror, 39.48 kg for one entire primary mirror segment assembly (PMSA).

Primary mirror material:

beryllium coated with gold

705 kg

Mass of primary mirror

25 m

Clear aperture of primary Mirror

21.2 m 14.6 m

Sunshield dimensions

And that means, immediately after launch, it has to go through an elaborate two-week unfolding and assembly process, one that will have scientists and engineers chewing at their fingernails as it unfurls. And the stakes are, well, astronomical, since, unlike the Hubble, the JWST will be too distant for repairs once its launched.

Its going to be what I call the 14 days of terror, says Ren Doyon, whos the scientific director of the JWST in Canada. Doyon, a professor at the Universit de Montral, will be in French Guiana for the launch. Hes been working toward that moment for the past 20 years.

This is arguably the most complex machine that humanity has ever built. And were going to send it 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

Canada has contributed two instruments to the JWST: a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS).

The FGS targets a series of stars as a reference points and, measuring their positions 16 times per second, uses them to keep the telescope pointed at its target. Its so accurate, says Doyon, that it can detect the telescope being off target by the equivalent of the width of a human hair at a distance of a kilometre.

The NIRISS, which observes infrared wavelengths, also includes a spectrograph, which allows astronomers to look at the atmospheres of planets, to determine whether there are traces of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide or methane which might indicate the possibility that life might exist on those planets.

Both of those instruments, a labour of years for Doyon and the Canadian Space Agency, fit into a compact cuboid which belies its importance.

Its the greatest team effort ever ... to build this incredible machine, says Doyon. Its not much bigger than a washing machine, but what a heck of a washing machine.

For now, that washing machine, and its associated telescope are at rest at a spaceport just north of the equator in South America.

If it launches on schedule, after its one-month journey, after its deployment and calibration, it will be about six months before the first JWST research images arrive on Earth.

And that is what researchers are holding their breath for.

The celebration will be actually seeing the science come through, says Rosolowsky.

Were nerds, right? So when those first images end up getting delivered and we see the first view of these galaxies using Webb thats the treat.

Nobody has seen this before. And having that moment where you have an answer that you get to share with the world ... thats really exciting.

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Worlds most powerful space telescope will let researchers look back in time. This Canadian astronomer will be among its first users - Toronto Star

Scientists in the US have created the worlds smallest camera - the same size as a single grain of salt!

Oh, how I wish that piece of equipment had been available on Tuesday when I went for a colonoscopy.

Might be wrong, dear reader, but Im sure they examined my bahookie with the Hubble telescope. Two days later and Im STILL walking about like Groucho Marx

Ive very grateful, though, especially at the time of a global pandemic. Listen, at a charity event I hosted last week, the top prize in the raffle was a doctors appointment.

I had a wee scare with my Simon Cowells two years ago the poo test at the time of my 50th birthday revealed traces of blood and I was whisked into hospital where they removed four polyps (theres a word Ill never forget).

This week, the very talented Dr Simon Dover - oh, how I wish his parents had called him Ben - zapped one tiny polyp and gave me a clean bill of health (well, notwithstanding my varicose veins and morbid obesity).

And you know what? I make absolutely no apology for putting you off your breakfast by writing about the inner workings of my posterior as I simply want to remind every single Daily Record reader: GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

A free bowel screening test is available to everyone in Scotland from the age of 50 and, as I learned from my little episode in 2019, it could save your life.

So, at the risk of repeating myself: GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

To be honest, the colonoscopy was easy-peasy. As one of my pals joked, you only have to worry if the doc says Look - no hands!

Another wisecracker suggested I should lighten the mood by secreting plastic toys and Dinky cars up my bum.

I also loved the patter from a couple of (ahem) well-wishers on my Instagram page.

All the best, said Steve Inness, just put it behind you and, on the hole, you should be fine.

And I laughed out loud when a fella called Blair Allan dubbed me The Sultan of Broon-Eye.

Sure, even under anaesthetic, the procedure was a wee bit sore - reminiscent of the time I caught my willy in my zip (after that eye-watering experience, ladies, I went back to wearing shoes with laces).

But if laughter really is the best medicine, I knew Id be fine when I spotted the sign above the door that read Endoscopy Procedure Area - No Unauthorised Access

I hope so!!!

Tell you what, though, I wasnt laughing the day before my colonoscopy when I had to clear out my system with TWO LITRES of laxative.

Laugh? I was terrified to cough!

My panto pal Johnny Mac - brilliant as Buttons alongside Elaine C Smith in the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, production of Cinderella - reckons that opening night is the best laxative in the world.

Aye right. Hes clearly never tried the stuff they give you before a colonoscopy.

Its called MoviPrep (orange flavour, allegedly) and, boy-oh-boy, it could put Slimfast out of business.

My advice? Make sure youre never more than TWO FEET from a toilet pan.

Anyway, wont go into too much detail (Youre too late! - Ed) but, if I can use a Christmas turkey analogy, youre good to go when the juices run clear

After Dr Dover had worked his magic, I was picked up at the hospital by my wife - having gone 24 hours without food and still woozy from the anaesthetic, I was unsteadier on my feet than Celtic striker Kyogo - and, absolutely STARVING, we drove straight to one of my favourite restaurants (Little Soho in Glasgow) for a double cheeseburger & chips.

I actually fancied a curry but, after two litres of MoviPrep, itll be at least another fortnight before I go anywhere near a vindaloo

PS. One more time, ladies and gentlemen GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

Good news for all us Coronation Street fans - the legendary Roy Cropper is making his comeback on the cobbles at Christmas.

After signing everything over to his niece Nina, regular viewers feared the cafe owner was away to South America for good

Nah, no chance. Hed never be able to stand the heat in that anorak

Enjoyed a terrific night at the Whitehall Theatre in Dundee last Friday hosting An Evening with Harry Redknapp.

The football legend and former King of the Jungle on Im A Celeb was in top form - the audience absolutely loved him - and Ill share just a couple of his great stories.

After signing Paul Merson - a player with serious drugs, drink and gambling issues - he promised Harry hed get in shape and got permission to spend two weeks at Tony Adams rehabilitation clinic in Hertfordshire.

A fortnight later, Merson returned to the club - with a suntan!

Hed gone to Barbados for a fortnight

Never one to shy away from controversy, I also asked Harry about his pet dog Rosie - as you may recall, he famously opened a Monaco bank account in her name which led police to his secret bungs.

Shes no longer with us, said Harry.

What happened to her? I asked.

And to howls from the audience, he smiled and said: I shot her - she knew too much

Karl Marx is an historically famous figure, but nobody ever mentions his sister, Onya, who invented the starter pistol.

Single malt whisky is set to triple in price next year due to the worst supply chain crisis in the industrys history.

So let me get this straight - youll pay treble, but still only see double?

Seems unfair, eh?

PS. Staying with food & drink, heres a fascinating query I received last week: is there a chip shop in Scotland that sells SQUARE sausage suppers???

We all love a sausage supper in this country - nearly as much as we love our famous square-sliced.

So how come nobody (as far as Im aware) has combined the two?

I reckon theres DEFINITELY a gap in the market.

After forking out a small fortune on flights and accommodation, I felt really sorry for the Rangers fans who were told - at extremely short notice - they cant attend tonights Europa League tie in Lyon.

Theyd already been banned from entering the city centre as the game clashes with the Festival of Light which dates back to 1643 and attracts half a million visitors to the Lyon.

As a spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Association apparently said: Thats utterly ridiculous. Why are they still celebrating something that started in the 17th century?

Last weeks Saturday edition of Off The Ball featured The Toilet Roll XI as our Team of the Week.

For example, Tore Andrex Flo, Jurgen Plop and George Best (he was usually three sheets to the wind).

But heres a cracker that arrived too late for the show - referee Willie Collum.

Why? Well, hes the tube in the middle.

Meanwhile, when the legendary loo roll from school - the tracing paper that was Izal - got a mention, Robert in Beauly told us it was just like haggling in an Arnold Clark showroom.

No matter how much you try, you hardly get anything off

PS. Another subject last week was: What has Glasgow done for you?

An email that dropped after the programme said: Well be forever grateful to this wonderful city.

And it was signed (aye right!) by all the monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

PPS. On which note - and keeping it closer to your Lanarkshire correspondents neck of the woods - please tell me theres at least ONE pub in Airdrie at this time of year that sells MULLED Buckfast tonic wine?

Finally got my Christmas tree up AND the washing sorted!

Raider of the Lost Bark.

Any reader know someone called Leon who might want these? I ordered Noel but they sent me the wrong one.

Celtic legends Chris Sutton and John Hartson were thrilled to meet Oscar-winning Gandhi star Ben Kingsley.

First it was elf on the shelf, now its

Word of the week is testiculate: to wave ones arms around while talking bollocks.

Dear Santa, all I want is a fat bank account and a skinny body. Please dont mix it up again like last year.

In this cold weather, spare a thought for all the pigs who heard they were getting blankets for Christmas.

I was on a flight last week and the lunch choice was either chicken or German sausage. Unfortunately I was seated in the back row. I was hoping for the breast, but prepared for the wurst.

Due to the recent cold snap, schools are advising mothers to wear TWO pairs of pyjamas while dropping the kids off in the morning.

My sex life is like a Ferrari. I dont have a Ferrari.

The four stages of a mans life: 1/ you believe in Santa; 2/ you dont believe in Santa; 3/ you are Santa; 4/ you look like Santa.

A huge blaze totally destroyed the doctors surgery last night. Unfortunately, the fire brigade are only doing telephone appointments right now

I nearly got knocked off my bike by a council salt lorry last night. You f****** idiot! I shouted through gritted teeth.

Really wish I hadnt taken my son to see Father Christmas yesterday - hed clearly been drinking and he stank of cigarettes. Goodness knows what Santa thought of him.

Warning: if you get sent a link to listen to the new Ed Sheeran and Elton John Christmas song, dont open it! Its a link to the new Ed Sheeran and Elton John Christmas song...

A 99-year-old woman has been revealed as Britains oldest (guess what?) learner driver!

Sure enough, in every report I read there was NO mention of where exactly shes from.

And so, for super safety, Id advise every single motorist in the UK to stay off the roads

You know it makes sense.

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Tam Cowan: It felt like medics used the Hubble telescope to do my colonoscopy - Daily Record