Category Archives: Astronomy

Are we alone in the Universe? The expert opinion on that, it turns out, is surprisingly consistent.

Is there other life in the Universe? I would say: probably, Daniel Zucker, Associate Professor of astronomy at Macquarie University, tells astrophysics student and The Conversations editorial intern Antonio Tarquinio on todays podcast episode.

I think that we will discover life outside of Earth in my lifetime. If not that, then in your lifetime, says his fellow Macquarie University colleague, Professor Orsola De Marco.

And Lee Spitler, a Senior Lecturer and astronomy researcher at the same institution, was similarly optimistic: I think theres a high likelihood that we are not alone in the Universe.

The big question, however, is what that life might look like.

Read more: The Dish in Parkes is scanning the southern Milky Way, searching for alien signals

Were also hearing from Danny C Price, project scientist for the Breakthrough Listen project scanning the southern skies for unusual patterns, on what the search for alien intelligence looks like in real life - and what its yielded so far.

Read more: 'The size, the grandeur, the peacefulness of being in the dark': what it's like to study space at Siding Spring Observatory

Everything you need to know about how to listen to a podcast is here.

Additional audio credits

Kindergarten by Unkle Ho, from Elefant Traks.

Lucky Stars by Podington Bear, from Free Music Archive

Illumination by Kai Engel, from Free Music Archive

Podcast episode recorded and edited by Antonio Tarquinio.

Shutterstock

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We asked astronomers: are we alone in the Universe? The answer was surprisingly consistent - The Conversation AU

Get your friends together for Friends trivia this Tuesday

Think you have the unagi to participate in Friends Trivia at Reginellis Pizzeria Tuesday, March 10? Well, get your gang of one to six people together as you compete for Reginellis gift cards. And as always, the best team name wins a free pitcher of NOLA Blonde. Could you be any more excited? If so, be sure to share plenty of food while youre at it, too, because we all know Joey doesnt share food!

Reginellis Pizzeria (Goodwood) is at 684 Jefferson Highway.

Head over to Bin 77 Bistro & SideBar as the restaurant features Single Vineyard wines of the Hartford Court Family Winery on Tuesday, March 10. Besides two flights of white and red wine, there will also be plenty of chef and sommelier boards, starting at 7 p.m., which will include various cheeses, charcuteries and cooked proteins to go with the wines.

To make a reservation, call Bin 77 at 763-2288.

Bin 77 Bistro & SideBar is at 10111 Perkins Rowe, Ste. 160.

Curious about whether or not Experiment 626 and Chewbacca could exist, and what their lives might be like? You and your kids can find out as Astronomy on Tap celebrates its second anniversary Wednesday, March 11. LSU grad student Rachel Malacek will talk about the possible adventures of Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch), and fellow grad student Aaron Ryan will discuss the life of Chewbacca.

There will be plenty of games, raffles, glow sticks and spaced-themed drinks for everyone, too.

The Varsity Theatre is at 3353 Highland Road.

Need to wine down? Join Rouj Creole Wednesday, March 11, as the new restaurant hosts another wine dinner. You can enjoy the chefs four-course meal, included with a Duckhorn wine pairing, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

To make a reservation, call Rouj at 614-2400.

Rouj Creole is at 7601 Bluebonnet Blvd., Ste 100.

Join Red Stick Spice Co. as its team teaches you how to demystify pantry staples with Middle Eastern foods Thursday, March 12. You can look forward to tahini cookies, roasted eggplant, pomegranate molasses and more, 6-8 p.m.

This class is available for those 16 and older. Tickets are available here.

Red Stick Spice Company is at 660 Jefferson Highway.

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Dine Roundup: Wine dinners, Astronomy on Tap and more in Baton Rouge this week - 225 Baton Rouge

On Friday, 6th March 2020, at the Women Development Center Calabar, the Learnspace Foundation, a non-governmental organization registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria, hosted the 1st Space Science and Astronomy competition in Cross River State in Nigeria, the theme being: The benefits of space science and astronomy education in Nigeria. The competition was open to students in secondary schools in Calabar.

The President of the Foundation Nelly-Helen Ebruka explained that the Foundation is dedicated to promoting and increasing knowledge and interest in Space through space education in Africa. The Foundation also aims to create opportunities for African students to take an active part in the Space industry.

A trustee of the Foundation Ms Anne Agi while speaking to Space in Africa, noted that the aim of the competition is to promote the interest, involvement and knowledge of space science and astronomy among students by providing a fair and competitive environment for learning, interacting and the understanding of space science and astronomy. She added that the competition further encourages the development of space science as well as strengthen the inclusion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in the curriculum of academic institutions.

A total of ten schools in Calabar were in attendance at the Competition, however, nine schools participated in the competition. These schools were: Lourdes Academy, Berith Academy, Hillcrest High School, St. Patricks College, Christian High School, Government Secondary School Akim, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria Secondary School, Hope Waddell Training Institute and Margaret Ekpo Secondary school.

Participating schools partook in a quiz, poetry and public speaking competition. The quiz segment was open to a total of three participants from each school with Lourdes Academy emerging as the winners, St. Patricks College was the 1st runners up and Hillcrest secondary school placed as the 2nd runners up. These positions were not only determined by their participation in the quiz but also by the cumulative scores obtained during the public speaking portion of the competition.

The poetry competition entitled If I Could Walk On The Moon, was open to only female students, with each school entitled to one participant. All participating schools submitted their written poems and the too 3 were selected to compete orally. The poem presentations, were judged by Mr Augustine Ushie, a co-trustee and founder of the foundation, along with a panel of judges. Miss Agan Grace Ripeh from Lourdes Academy was recognized as the winner; Miss Precious Ali from Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria Secondary School secured the 1st runner up position, while Miss Rosseta Tegan from Christian High School placed as 2nd runner up.

The Competition prizes included plaques, participation certificates, writing materials and cash prizes; the Coaches, Institutions and all participating students were also presented with certificates of participation by a representative of the Director of Schools, Ministry of Education, Cross River State.

The Competition also hosted a lecture segment on the theme of the Competition: The benefits of space science and astronomy education in Nigeria. Papers were presented by Mrs Iroka Chidinma Joy, the Chief Engineer, Engineering and Space Systems Division of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and by Ms Anne Agi.

The Competition was a huge success and the spirit of enthusiasm exhibited by the team and all volunteers was infectious. When Space in Africa spoke to a few of the trustees and volunteers, they expressed delight at being a part of history. Mr Timothy Ogar, head of the Quiz Faculty, stated that he was impressed by the students as it was clear that they studied for the Competition and were knowledgeable on space history and surrounding affairs. He maintained that it was obvious that the aim of the competition had been achieved.

President of the Foundation, Ms Nelly-Helen Ebruka assured that the Competition will be held annually as the Foundation believes that Space education is essential to the development of the society. She sincerely thanked the Foundations team of volunteers.

Following this event, Space in Africa spoke to Ms Nelly-Helen Ebruka, the Founding President, to learn more about the Foundation.

LSF is a non-governmental and non-profit organization registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission Of Nigeria with interest in Space science and Astronomy Education across Africa for the benefit of the community and desired growth of Africa.

It was established in November 2019 after the Team representing Africa at the Manfred Lachs Competition returned from the competition in Washington D.C. Members of the Team came together and agreed to form a Foundation committed to training future leaders all around Nigeria and Africa to become global players in the space industry and to make a positive impact in the society.

The originating members of the team behind its establishment include Nelly-Helen Ebruka-President/Trustee/Co-Founder; Anne Agi, Esq-Trustee/Co-Founder; Augustine Ushie-Trustee/Co-Founder; And Engr. Etim Offiong -Trustee/Co-Founder.Other members of the Board of Trustees include Thankgod Egbe, Joshua Faleti, Timothy Ogar and Abraham Eni.

Our first goal is to become a pan-African organization dedicated to increasing space exploration, innovation and technology on the continent through space science and astronomy education. Secondly to develop an enabling environment for the advancement of STEM and space education and industry in Africa.

The international womens day was recently celebrated globally and it was a period to reflect on the remarkable achievements of women who dared, who gave, who lived for others. In my opinion, young women in STEAM should dedicate more time and energy in developing themselves professionally and personally. The goal should be excellence and nothing short of it. I understand that certain stereotypes about women still exist, in this age however, gender becomes irrelevant if you create the value and make the impact the world needs.

With regards to their prospective activities, the Foundation is open to partnerships, collaborations and sponsorship. With their level of enthusiasm and engagement, support from major stakeholders and players in the space industry and the general community would stimulate an interest in space education not only in Nigeria but the entire continent. Such initiatives have a direct bearing on the human capital development of the future African Space industry and the work of the LearnSpace Foundation is highly commended.

Excerpt from:

LearnSpace Foundation Holds Maiden Space Science And Astronomy Competition In Nigeria - Space in Africa

Observations of the star Betelgeuse taken by the ESOs Very Large Telescope in January and December ... [+] 2019, which show the stars substantial dimming.

Astronomers expect Betelgeuse to explode as a supernova within the next 100,000 years, when its core collapses. However, evidence is mounting that the stars dimming, which began in October, isnt necessarily a sign of an imminent explosion.

A new paperaccepted to Astrophysical Journal Letters and published on the preprint site arXiv entitled Betelgeuse Just Isn't That Cool: Effective Temperature Alone Cannot Explain the Recent Dimming of Betelgeuse by Emily Levesque, a UW associate professor of astronomy, andPhilip Massey, an astronomer with Lowell Observatory, suggests that Betelgeuse isnt dimming because its about to explode.

Its just dusty.

Astronomers have been on alert since late in 2019 when Betelgeusefound in the constellation of Orionbegan to visibly dim, eventually dropping to around 40% of its usual brightness before slightly brightening in recent weeks.

Could it be about to explode as a massive supernova?

Probably not. Levesque and Massey made optical spectrophotometry observations of Betelgeuse on February 14, 2020 at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, to calculate the average surface temperature of the red supergiant star. Their results indicate that Betelgeuse is significantly warmer than expected if the recent dimming were caused by a cooling of the stars surface.

This evidence suggests that Betelgeuse has probably sloughed off some material from its outer layers, something that is common with red supergiant stars. We see this all the time in red supergiants, and its a normal part of their life cycle, said Levesque. Red supergiants will occasionally shed material from their surfaces, which will condense around the star as dust. As it cools and dissipates, the dust grains will absorb some of the light heading toward us and block our view.

The first direct image of a star other than our sun, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. ... [+] Betelgeuse is an enormous star in the constellation Orion. This ultraviolet image shows a bright spot on the star that is 2000 degrees centigrade hotter than the rest of the surface. The picture on the right shows the constellation Orion, with Betelgeuse marked by a yellow cross. The star's size relative to the earth's orbit is also shown. (Photo by CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How do you take a stars temperature?

The astronomers calculated Betelgeuses temperature by looking at the spectrum of light emanating from it. Emily and I had been in contact about Betelgeuse, and we both agreed that the obvious thing to do was to get a spectrum, said Massey. I already had observing time scheduled on the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery Telescope, and I knew if I played around for a bit I would be able to get a good spectrum despite Betelgeuse still being one of the brightest stars in the sky.

They looked for the telltale signs of light that had been absorbed by titanium oxide, which forms in the upper layers of large, relatively cool stars like Betelgeuse. By their calculations, Betelgeuses average surface temperature on February 14 was about 3,325 Celsius/6,017 Fahrenheit.

Thats only 50-100 Celsius cooler than calculated in 2004.

Orion rising behind the iconic Hoodoos on Highway 10 east of Drumheller, Alberta, near East Coulee, ... [+] on a moonless January night, with illumination by starlight and by a nearby yardlight providing some shadows and warmer illumination. Clouds are beginning to move in and are providing the natural star glows. (Photo by: Alan Dyer /VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Orion rising behind the iconic Hoodoos on Highway 10 east of Drumheller, Alberta, near East Coulee, ... [+] on a moonless January night, with illumination by starlight and by a nearby yardlight providing some shadows and warmer illumination. Clouds are beginning to move in and are providing the natural star glows. (Photo by: Alan Dyer /VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

So, not much has changedand dimming should be ruled-out. A comparison with our 2004 spectrum showed immediately that the temperature hadnt changed significantly, said Massey. We knew the answer had to be dust. The theory is that newly formed dust is absorbing some of Betelgeuses light. The other possibility is that huge convection cells within Betelgeuse had drawn hot material up to its surface, where it had cooled before falling back into the interior. A simple way to tell between these possibilities is to determine the effective surface temperature of Betelgeuse, said Massey.

However, if youre hoping to see Betelgeuse go supernova and shine brightly day and night for weeks or months, keep looking. Red supergiants are very dynamic stars, said Levesque. The more we can learn about their normal behaviortemperature fluctuations, dust, convection cellsthe better we can understand them and recognize when something truly unique, like a supernova, might happen.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Link:

Now Whats Going On With Betelgeuse? The Future Supernova Just Isnt That Cool, Say Astronomers - Forbes

Now, it seems that every time scientists make a new discovery about Mars, the conversation quickly shifts to: When are we going to go there and see for ourselves? With the upcoming Mars 2020 mission, scientists are finally taking the first steps toward exploring the Red Planet in person.

Planned for launch between July 17 and August 5, Mars 2020 will embark on a roughly seven-month journey to the Red Planet, arriving February 18, 2021. And once engineers confirm its landed safe and sound, Mars 2020 will set to work achieving its four main objectives.

Theres plenty of overlap between Mars 2020s goals and those of previous rovers, but Mars 2020 still has a unique agenda. Namely, Mars 2020 will seek signs of past life by searching for sites that were once habitable; hunt for evidence of ancient microbes at those sites by studying rocks known to preserve life; collect and store rock cores for a future sample return mission; and help scientists prepare for the hurdles human explorers will face on Mars, partly by testing a method for pulling oxygen out of thin air.

But first, the newly named rover has to get to the Red Planet.

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The rover formally known as Mars 2020 - Astronomy Magazine

Neutron stars are the remains of massive stars after they go supernova; while the outer layers of the star explode outward creating fireworks literally on a cosmic scale, the core of the star collapses, becoming incredibly compressed. If the core has enough mass it'll become a black hole, but if it's shy of that limit itll become an ultra-dense ball made up mostly of neutrons.

The stats for neutron stars are sobering. They have a mass of up to over twice the Sun, but the density of an atomic nucleus: Over 100 trillion grams per cubic centimeter. That's hard to grasp, but think of it this way: If you compressed every single car in the United States into neutron-star-stuff, youd get a cube 1 centimeter on a side. The size of a sugar cube, or a six-sided die. All of humanity compressed into such a state would be less than twice that width.

Neutron stars have a surface gravity hundreds of billions times Earth's, and magnetic fields even stronger. A neutron star half the galaxy away from us had a seismic event on it that physically affected us here on Earth, 50,000 light years distant.

Everything about neutron stars is terrifying. But for all that, we're still not exactly sure how big they are.

I mean, we have a rough idea, but the exact number is difficult to determine. They're too small to see directly, so we have to infer their size from other observations, and those are plagued with uncertainties. Their size also depends on their mass. But using observations of X-rays and other emission from neutron stars, astronomers have found they have a diameter of 2030 kilometers. That's tiny, for such a huge mass! But it's also an irritatingly large range. Can we do better?

Yes! A group of scientists have approached the problem in a different way, and have been able to narrow down the size of these fierce but wee beasts: They found that, for a neutron star with a mass of 1.4 times the Sun (about average for such things), it will have a diameter of 22.0 kilometers (with an uncertainty of +0.9/-0.6 km). They find their calculation is a factor of two more accurate than any others done before.

That's small. Like, really small. I'd consider 22 km a short bike ride, though to be fair doing it on a neutron star would be difficult.

So how did they get this number? The physics they employed is actually fiendishly complicated, but what they did in effect was solve a neutron star's equation of state the physical equations that relate characteristics of an object like pressure, volume, and temperature to get what the conditions would be like for a model neutron star with the mass fixed at 1.4 times that of the Sun.

They then used those results and compared them against observations of an event from 2017: A merger of two neutron stars that resulted in a colossal explosion called a kilonova. This event, called GW170817, was a huge watershed moment for astronomy, because the colliding neutron stars emitted powerful gravitational waves, literally shaking the fabric of the Universe. This was our first alert to the event, but then a large fraction of telescopes on and above the Earth aimed at the part of the sky where the merger was found to be, and saw the explosion itself, the kilonova. It was the first time an event was seen emitting electromagnetic energy (that is, light) that was first seen in gravitational waves.

It also put a lot of constraints on the neutron stars that collided. For example, after they merged they emitted light in a specific way, and it turns out that was inconsistent with the merged remnant having enough mass to collapse directly into a black hole. That happens around 2.4 times the Sun's mass, so we know the two stars together had less mass then that. Conversely, the light was inconsistent with the remnant being a neutron star well below that limit, too. It looks like a "hypermassive" neutron star was formed near that limit, lasted for a very short time, and then collapsed into a black hole.

All of this data was fodder for the scientists calculating the neutron star size. By comparing their models with the data from GW170817, they were able to greatly reduce the range of sizes that made sense, zeroing in on the 22 km diameter.

This size has interesting implications. For example, one thing the gravitational wave scientists are hoping to see is the merger of a black hole and a neutron star. This will definitely be detectable, but the question is will it emit any light that more traditional telescopes can see? That happens when material from the neutron star gets ejected during the merger, generating a lot of light.

The scientists in this new work ran the numbers, and found that for a neutron star of 1.4 solar masses and 22 km diameter, any black hole bigger than about 3.4 times the mass of the Sun would not eject any material! That's a very low mass for a black hole, and it's very unlikely we'd see any that low mass, especially one with a neutron star it can eat. So they predict this event will only be seen in gravitational waves and not light. On the other hand, thats only for non-spinning black holes, and in reality most will have a rapid spin; it's unclear what would happen there, but I imagine a lot of folks will be running their models again to see what they can predict.

Having the size of a neutron star means being able to better understand what happens as they spin, as their ridiculously powerful magnetic fields affect material around them, how they accrete new material, and what happens near the mass limit between a neutron star and a black hole. Even better, as the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave observatory folks fine-tune their equipment they expect their sensitivity to increase, allowing better observations of neutron star mergers, which can then be used to tighten the size constraints even more.

I've been fascinated by neutron stars my whole life, and to be honest that's the correct attitude. They're leftovers from supernovae; they collide and make gold, platinum, barium, and strontium; they are the powerhouse behind pulsars; they can generate mind-crushing blasts of energy; and are the densest objects you can still consider to be in the Universe (the physical object inside a black hole's event horizon is forever beyond our reach). I mean, c'mon. They're amazing.

And that about sizes them up.

Continued here:

How big is a neutron star? - SYFY WIRE

A computational approach inspired by the growth patterns of a bright yellow slime mold has enabled a team of astronomers and computer scientists at UC Santa Cruz to trace the filaments of the cosmic web that connects galaxies throughout the universe.

Their results,published March 10 inAstrophysical Journal Letters, provide the first conclusive association between the diffuse gas in the space between galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmic web predicted by cosmological theory.

According to the prevailing theory, as the universe evolved after the big bang, matter became distributed in a web-like network of interconnected filaments separated by huge voids. Luminous galaxies full of stars and planets formed at the intersections and densest regions of the filaments where matter is most concentrated. The filaments of diffuse hydrogen gas extending between the galaxies are largely invisible, although astronomers have managed to glimpse parts of them.

None of which seems to have anything to do with a lowly slime mold calledPhysarum polycephalum, typically found growing on decaying logs and leaf litter on the forest floor and sometimes forming spongy yellow masses on lawns. ButPhysarumhas a long history of surprising scientists with its ability to create optimal distribution networks and solve computationally difficult spatial organization problems. In one famous experiment, a slime mold replicated the layout of Japans rail system by connecting food sources arranged to represent the cities around Tokyo.

Slime mold algorithm

Joe Burchett, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, had been looking for a way to visualize the cosmic web on a large scale, but he was skeptical when Oskar Elek, a postdoctoral researcher in computational media, suggested using aPhysarum-based algorithm. After all, completely different forces shape the cosmic web and the growth of a slime mold.

But Elek, who has always been fascinated by patterns in nature, had been impressed by thePhysarumbiofabrications of Berlin-based artistSage Jenson. Starting with the 2-dimensionalPhysarummodel Jenson used (originallydeveloped in 2010 by Jeff Jones), Elek and a friend (programmer Jan Ivanecky) extended it to three dimensions and made additional modifications to create a new algorithm they called the Monte Carlo Physarum Machine.

Burchett gave Elek a dataset of 37,000 galaxies from theSloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS), and when they applied the new algorithm to it, the result was a pretty convincing representation of the cosmic web.

That was kind of a Eureka moment, and I became convinced that the slime mold model was the way forward for us, Burchett said. Its somewhat coincidental that it works, but not entirely. A slime mold creates an optimized transport network, finding the most efficient pathways to connect food sources. In the cosmic web, the growth of structure produces networks that are also, in a sense, optimal. The underlying processes are different, but they produce mathematical structures that are analogous.

Elek also noted that the model we developed is several layers of abstraction away from its original inspiration.

Of course, a strong visual resemblance of the model results to the expected structure of the cosmic web doesnt prove anything. The researchers performed a variety of tests to validate the model as they continued to refine it.

Dark matter

Until now, the best representations of the cosmic web have emerged from computer simulations of the evolution of structure in the universe, showing the distribution of dark matter on large scales, including the massive dark matter halos in which galaxies form and the filaments that connect them. Dark matter is invisible, but it makes up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe, and gravity causes ordinary matter to follow the distribution of dark matter.

Burchetts team used data from the Bolshoi-Planck cosmological simulationdeveloped by Joel Primack, professor emeritus of physics at UC Santa Cruz, and othersto test the Monte Carlo Physarum Machine. After extracting a catalog of dark matter halos from the simulation, they ran the algorithm to reconstruct the web of filaments connecting them. When they compared the outcome of the algorithm to the original simulation, they found a tight correlation. The slime mold model essentially replicated the web of filaments in the dark matter simulation, and the researchers were able to use the simulation to fine-tune the parameters of their model.

Starting with 450,000 dark matter halos, we can get an almost perfect fit to the density fields in the cosmological simulation, Elek said.

Burchett also performed what he called a sanity check, comparing the observed properties of the SDSS galaxies with the gas densities in the intergalactic medium predicted by the slime mold model. Star formation activity in a galaxy should correlate with the density of its galactic environment, and Burchett was relieved to see the expected correlations.

Now the team had a predicted structure for the cosmic web connecting the 37,000 SDSS galaxies, which they could test against astronomical observations. For this, they used data from the Hubble Space TelescopesCosmic Origins Spectrograph. Intergalactic gas leaves a distinctive absorption signature in the spectrum of light that passes through it, and the sight-lines of hundreds of distant quasars pierce the volume of space occupied by the SDSS galaxies.

We knew where the filaments of the cosmic web should be thanks to the slime mold, so we could go to the archived Hubble spectra for the quasars that probe that space and look for the signatures of the gas, Burchett explained. Wherever we saw a filament in our model, the Hubble spectra showed a gas signal, and the signal got stronger toward the middle of filaments where the gas should be denser.

In the densest regions, however, the signal dropped off. This too matched expectations, he said, because heating of the gas in those regions ionizes the hydrogen, stripping off electrons and eliminating the absorption signature.

For the first time now, we can quantify the density of the intergalactic medium from the remote outskirts of cosmic web filaments to the hot, dense interiors of galaxy clusters, Burchett said. These results not only confirm the structure of the cosmic web predicted by cosmological models, they also give us a way to improve our understanding of galaxy evolution by connecting it with the gas reservoirs out of which galaxies form.

Creative coding

Burchett and Elek met through coauthor Angus Forbes, an associate professor of computational media and director of theUCSC Creative Codinglab in theBaskin School of Engineering. Burchett and Forbes had begun collaborating after meeting at an open mic night for musicians in Santa Cruz, focusing initially on a data visualization app, which theypublished last year.

Forbes also introduced Elek to the work of Sage Jenson, not because he thought it would apply to Burchetts cosmic web project, but because he knew I was a nature pattern freak, Elek said.

Coauthor J. Xavier Prochaska, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC who has done pioneering work using quasars to probe the structure of the intergalactic medium, said, This creative technique and its unanticipated success highlight the value of interdisciplinary collaborations, where completely different perspectives and expertise are brought to bear on scientific problems.

Forbes Creative Coding lab combines approaches from media arts, design, and computer science. I think there can be real opportunities when you integrate the arts into scientific research, Forbes said. Creative approaches to modeling and visualizing data can lead to new perspectives that help us make sense of complex systems.

In addition to Burchett, Elek, Prochaska, and Forbes, the coauthors include Nicolas Tejos at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile; Todd Tripp at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and Rongmon Bordoloi at North Carolina State University. This work was supported by NASA.

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In the filaments of slime mold, astronomers see the... - ScienceBlog.com

HONOLULU Heated conversations at the American Astronomical Society's January meeting are usually about stars and galaxies, distant worlds and elaborate calculations.

This year, however, a more terrestrial controversy echoed through both formal presentations and casual conversations at the "Super Bowl of Astronomy," which was held here last week. The debate surrounded the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a massive observatory approved for construction on the Big Island of Hawaii. Specifically, it would join the astronomy-rich summit of Maunakea, sometimes written as Mauna Kea.

Astronomers say the instrument would offer deep insight into the earliest days of the universe and study mysteries like black holes and alien worlds. But a vocal subset of the native population of the Hawaiian Islands opposes the construction for a host of historical, cultural and environmental reasons. The dispute has reached such a tenor that some called the situation an "existential crisis" for astronomy.

Related: Thirty Meter Telescope: Hawaii's giant space eye (gallery)Complete coverage: The 235th American Astronomical Society meeting

The ongoing controversy came to a head last July, when TMT project leaders announced that they would begin construction. Kpuna native Hawaiian elders and others opposing the telescope flocked to Maunakea to block the road leading to the construction site and the dozen existing observatory facilities. Local and state officials dispatched law enforcement personnel and three dozen people were arrested.

Then, stalemate: For five months, TMT opponents calling themselves kia'i, or protectors, camped out on the road leading to the summit. Eventually, they agreed to allow staff up to the existing observatories via a side road. In December, David Ige, the governor of Hawaii, announced that he would temporarily withdraw law enforcement, since telescope construction wasn't in a state to proceed. Just after Christmas, the kpuna and kia'i moved to allow normal access to the summit, but they remained beside the road in case the situation changed again.

And then, five islands to the northwest and 6,500 feet lower in altitude, in the early days of the new year, 3,500 astronomers poured into Honolulu. They came armed with poster tubes and PowerPoint slides, ready to share and discuss a year's worth of scientific discoveries; among them were supporters and opponents of the TMT, as well as others who weren't sure either way.

The discussions unfurled throughout the conference and in a range of formats. On the opening morning of the conference (Jan. 5), about two dozen people greeted attendees in front of the convention center, demonstrating their support for the telescope with posters reading "Imua TMT," using a Hawaiian word that means to go forward.

But not all the discussions boiled down to such straightforward declarations. Near the end of the conference, a session that was a late addition to the program gave the podium to two kia'i. They shared with astronomers not their reasons for opposing the telescope, but the daily rituals they are following on Maunakea and an invitation to visit their roadside outpost.

That was a deliberate choice. "This is different, perhaps, from what you thought this would be," said Pua Case, a native Hawaiian who has been organizing against the TMT for a decade. "We're not presenting our side to get another side, we're not going to do that. You know why? Because we're meeting you for the first time, most of you."

Instead, she explained that they wanted to offer astronomers a glimpse into their world. "The way we create relationship is through ceremony, ritual, tradition, ancestral passing down of knowledge and protocol," Case said. That's also how the kia'i have arrived at their opposition of the project and how their daily prayers on the mountain continue their process of determining how to live with Maunakea. "We have no choice but to stand, so we're letting you know that," she said.

On all sides, speakers at the conference acknowledged how knotty they consider the situation to be. "One of the reasons why we're stuck is because the conversation has been restricted to a very small, binary choice," Greg Chun, a psychologist and native Hawaiian who currently leads Maunakea stewardship at the University of Hawai'i, which oversees the astronomy community's use of the mountain, said during a presentation. "We're also stuck because the ecosystem that we're trying to have this conversation is not set up to solve these problems."

"We're also stuck because everybody's right," Chun said. "Those people sitting in the middle of the road have suffered. I'm Native Hawaiian; I know the social and historical injustices and the impacts of those injustices. Similarly, TMT is right. They've done everything they're supposed to do legally."

For now, the uncertain truce on the mountain continues.

What comes next is less clear.

And the truce itself isn't very clear either, on closer inspection. Ige's statement on withdrawing law enforcement from the mountain in December read, "We made this decision after we were informed that TMT is not prepared to move forward with construction on Mauna Kea at this time."

But Gordon Squires, TMT's vice president for external relations, told Space.com that he wasn't sure how the withdrawal came about. "It wasn't initiated by us at all, although we're very hopeful that this opportunity, now this space has been created, is a space where something good will happen," he said.

As to when construction may resume, Squires called the late February time frame that has been discussed with equally vague origins realistic. And when asked how long TMT might be willing to wait to sort out the situation at Maunakea before moving the facility to another location, the answer was more uncertainty.

"I don't know. What I've been saying for the last few months, I guess, is we need to get started soon, but I don't know what soon means. I honestly don't know," Squires said. "Eventually, you need a home, and that time is coming where we can't continue in a place where we don't have a home to build the telescope."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Controversy over giant telescope roils astronomy conference in Hawaii - Space.com

In the nearly five years since their first direct detection, gravitational waves have become one of the hottest topics in astronomy. With facilities such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), researchers have mostly used these ripples in spacetime to study the inner workings of merging black holes, but LIGO has also detected gravitational waves from other sorts of celestial crashes, such as the collisions of ultradense stellar remnants called neutron stars. Sometimes, however, LIGO serves up gravitational waves that leave astronomers scratching their headsas was the case for GW190425, an event detected last April that was recently attributed to a neutron star merger.

The trouble is that LIGOs data suggest this neutron star pair was substantially overweightcollectively, some 3.4 times the mass of the sun, which is half a solar mass heavier than the most massive neutron star binaries ever seen. It is the heaviest known by a pretty wide margin, says Chad Hanna, an astrophysicist at Pennsylvania State University who hunts gravitational waves.

That extra weight has some theorists suspecting that GW190425 did not arise from colliding neutron stars at all but rather something much more exotic: A merger of two primordial black holes (PBHs), never before seen objects that are considered a dark horse candidate for dark matterthe invisible, unidentified something that makes up most of the matter in the universe. Theorized to have formed from density fluctuations in the very early universe, these ancient black holes could still exist today and could explain the mass discrepancy identified in the recent LIGO observations.

Almost a half-century ago, cosmologist Stephen Hawking proposed that PBHs could have sprung fully formed from regions of the infant universe that were especially dense with matter. Since then, the ideas popularity among astrophysicists and cosmologists has wildly waxed and waned. Today, in the absence of direct evidence for their existence, PBHs are seen by many researchers as a hypothesis of last resort, only to be considered when no other scenario readily fits observations. The possibility that PBHs are real and widespread throughout the universe cannot yet be dismissed, howeverespecially as searches for other dark matter candidates come up empty.

PBHs make an appealing candidate for dark matter for several reasons, but the most important one is that, being black holes, they are quite dark yet still pack a hefty gravitational pull. Despite that fact, Hanna says that if PBHs were abundant enough to account for all of the universes dark matter, astronomical surveys that hunted for them should not have come up empty. Consequently, he adds, PBHs can only make up a small fraction of dark matterif they exist at all.

Not everyone agrees. Primordial black holes can comprise the whole of dark matter, says Juan Garca-Bellido, a theoretical cosmologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid. The trick, he adds, is for the ancient objects to exhibit an array of masses rather than a single definitive size. If PBHs run the gamut from a thousand times less massive than the sun to a billion times larger, they could make up all of the universes dark matter. All published constraints that claim to rule out primordial black holes as dark matter assume they exist in a monochromatic, or single-mass, spectrum and are uniformly distributed in space, Garca-Bellido says. For such large mass ranges to manifest, the PBHs would have to cluster in compact groups in which they could occasionally collide, merge and grow larger.

Because PBHs would have been created shortly after the big bang, they initially could have easily connected with one another. The early universe was a much smaller place than it is today after dramatically expanding for nearly 14 billion years, making it easier for the objects to find other PBHs and pair up with them. As the universe continued to expand, and the first stars and galaxies emerged, however, those connections would have become increasingly rare. So while it is possible that LIGO has observed merging PBHs, it is unlikely, according to astronomer Katerina Chatziioannou, a LIGO team member at the Flatiron Institute in New York City and co-author of a study set to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters that pegs GW190425 as the product of colliding neutron stars.

Last April, alerted to LIGOs detection of GW190425, telescopes around the world hunted for a corresponding electromagnetic signal that would typically be expected from the explosive collision of two neutron stars. But the skies remained dark, as they would if a pair of primordial black holes had slammed together. We would not have expected any light to have come out of the merger of two primordial black holes, Chatziioannou says. Even so, she adds, the lack of light does not rule out neutron stars. Massive neutron stars could have had a relatively placid merger, collapsing directly into a black hole before sparking any celestial fireworks. It is also possible that the events location in the sky could be from somewhere that Earth-bound telescopes could not probe, such as in a region behind the sun. There are good reasons for them to have missed it if there was any light, she says.

The newest observations provide only tantalizing hints that PBHs might be out there, occasionally coming together in the cosmic dark. A clearer signature would come from a pair of black holes in which each weighed less than the sun. If you find a black hole below a solar mass, that, at the very least, comes from a mechanism that no one has predicted, astrophysically, outside of a primordial black hole, Hanna says. Garca-Bellido concurs. The smoking gun would be the discovery of a less than one-solar-mass black holeor a black hole with a mass larger than 50 [times the sun], he says.

Although LIGOs observations could mark the first detection of PBHs, both Chatziioannou and Hanna agree that it is more likely that the gravitational waves merely came from overweight neutron stars. Theories for the formation of such bulky neutron stars already exist, and they require no speculative scenarios from the dawn of the universe. Its definitely a lot less likely that [the sources of these events] are primordial black holes than just neutron stars that are heavier than what we see in the galaxy, Chatziioannou says. It's not impossible; its just less likely.

Although Hanna calls the case for GW190425 as a primordial black hole binary weak, Garca-Bellido remains more optimistic. All LIGO events could be due to primordial black holes, he says. Only timeand more datawill tell.

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Did Astronomers Just Discover Black Holes from the Big Bang? - Scientific American

The International Astronomical Unions Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU OAD) has concluded its eighth annual call for proposals.

According to a release by the organisation, it has selected a total of 17 projects for funding, including six projects from Africa. The final list of projects emerged after a thorough review and evaluation processes carried out in two stages by both officials of the IAU-OAD and an independent review panel. The Call had 107 applicants from all over the world narrowed down to 39 after the first stage, and finally to 17 projects.

The Astronomy for Development funds sponsor projects that will address challenges around the globe using astronomy-based interventions. The 17 selected projects will receive the sum of 110,834 to support and carry out their activities for the year.

Projects selected in Africa include an astronomy program coupled with counselling sessions to support children in internally displaced camps in Nigeria; various projects to inspire, stimulate, and educate children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds in South Africa and East African countries, including:

Astro Molo Mhlaba project targets the issues of inclusivity in South African science by engaging its most underrepresented group black girls from underserved communities in astronomy programs at various stages of education. The project provides these girls with tools and the motivation to be passionate about science, and to pursue a career in STEM.

The funding received by the project will cover the costs of continuing its programme in the schools where it is enrolled.

Hands-on Astronomy Curriculum Training for Primary and Secondary School Teachers (HOACTS) is a sustainable local socio-economic development workshop through Astronomy, designed to promote astronomy appreciation among primary and secondary school science teachers with Physics and Engineering education students.

The project aims to promote Astronomy awareness using the CBSS 15cm David Levy comet Hunter Optical telescope with deep sky imaging camera and the 15cm Lunt Solar Telescope alongside relevant observing filters and software. It also looks to promote indigenous design and fabrication of small locally made optical telescopes using the CBSS 3-D Printer.

The funding from OAD will finance a 6-day practical workshop targeting two different zones (Northern and Western)of the country.

IDP Childrens Astronomy Outreach aims to teach the children to embrace peace and togetherness by bringing in seasoned counsellors and professionals to be a part of the project.

In its activities for 2020, it will use Astronomy as a tool to educate participants. The project expects to install solar-powered learning hubs in an IDP camp in Garki area of Abuja.

LAMPS seeks to address misconception at grassroots levels by leveraging the existence of the future radio astronomy African VLBI Network (AVN) site in Arivonimamo, a rural town of around 30,000 population. Through Astronomy and STEM-oriented activities, it aims to promote STEM education; demonstrate the relevance of STEM for local socio-economic development; inform learners on the importance of Astronomy and STEM fields in daily life, and encourage them to pursue STEM-oriented studies and careers.

LAMPS is a two-stage outreach led by Ikala STEM, an association of women in STEM from Madagascar.

The project strives to strengthen the east Africa region astronomical community partnership via science diplomacy. It also aims to deliver short-term training that focuses on improving skills and competitiveness of careers of BSc and MSc graduates and students in astronomy and science-related fields.

EA-SA training incorporates how to use, practice and apply astronomical instruments, astronomical software, big data analysis and science communication skills. These skills, it believes, applies to multi-sector fields at governmental and industry level, that fits the modern technology and global market demand.

The Networking and Skilling In Astronomy Project is a capacity-building project with a focus on a program that will be integrated into the existing Masters or Bachelors programmes in Physics and Mathematics. The project also involves all key actors (university students, teachers, secondary teachers, and amateur astronomers) in the process.

Funds received from OAD will go into 6-days training sessions focused around two themes:a) acquiring astronomical data remotely with Astrolab,b) data processing using the python programming language with the library Astropy.

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together about 13,000 distinguished astronomers from around the world. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the worlds largest professional body for astronomers.

The IAU established the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) in partnership with the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), and supported by the South African Department of Science and Innovation. The OAD, located at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, South Africa, aims to help further the use of astronomy, including its practitioners, skills and infrastructures, as a tool for development.

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IAU-OAD To Fund Six Grassroots Astronomy Projects In Africa - Space in Africa