HMS Torbay captain and crew to hand back Freedom of Torbay – Devon Live

Posted on by

Comments(0)

The crew of nuclear submarine HMS Torbay will parade through Torquay on Wednesday July 19 as they hand back the Honorary Freedom of Torbay which was presented to them by Mayor Gordon Oliver in 2015. The sub is being decommissioned at Devonport on Friday July 14.

Mayor Oliver said: "The Honorary Freedom of Torbay gave the submarine's crew the right and honour to march through the Borough bearing arms. Granted under the Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act 1885, the title is being returned as the submarine is decommissioned.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Torbay to say a big thank you to all the commanding officers and crews for defending us and keeping us free. We are very grateful to them for the service that they have provided not only for Torbay but this country and we will welcome them."

READ MORE: Thousands take a peek behind the scenes at world-famous Navy base

A ceremonial service will take place at 2pm outside Torquay Town Hall followed by a parade through the town centre led by the Royal Marines Band. The parade will start at the Town Hall, through Union Street and Fleet Street then around the Clocktower back towards Torbay Road finishing at the Princess Theatre.

Total Distance Travelled in 32 years: 705,600 miles Dived Distance Travelled: 544760 miles 3,162.5 days spent at sea 2,415 days under water Approximately 70 port visits (not including base port visits) Number of crew who have served on board ~ 2,500 Basic submarine qualifications completed ~ 1,850 Meals eaten at sea ~ 379,440 7 Perisher (submarine command course) courses hosted Length overall 85.4 m Breadth 9.83m Draught 9.5m Displacement 4,730t surfaced, 5,208t dived Armament: five 21 inch torpedo tubes Complement 96

After 32 years of service the Plymouth-based nuclear-powered submarine will come alongside a jetty in Devonport for the last time on Friday as she decommissions. Her 614,000 mile journey around the world, through war zones, diplomatic missions and covert operations will be marked with a parade and traditional ceremony attended by current and past crews and commanding officers.

Commander Dan Knight, HMS Torbay's captain, said: "I have had the privilege of serving in Torbay on a number of occasions; at the start of her second commission as first casing officer then navigating officer and now at the end of that commission as her commanding officer.

READ MORE: Anti-racism group demands Anne Marie Morris' resignation

"It has been a huge honour to be her final commanding officer and to have had the opportunity to lead the exemplary men who have made her the 'Good Boat' that she has always been recognised as. It is with immense sadness, but significant pride, that all of us say goodbye to her."

Dignitaries from Torbay are expected to be in Plymouth for the occasion.

HMS Torbay has been on the forefront of submarine development during her life, proving the Trafalgar Class submarine is capable of adapting to the changing threats around the world.

For the parade in Torquay on July 19 there will be a number of road closures between 1.30pm and 3.30pm and signed diversions will be in place. Parking suspension will be in place in Union Street and Torbay Road from Abbey Sands to Princess Gardens between 11am and 3.30pm.

RETURN to the DevonLive homepage

Read the original:

HMS Torbay captain and crew to hand back Freedom of Torbay - Devon Live

Despite threats, woman who opened liberal mosque in Berlin keeps fighting for religious freedom – Fox News

Posted on by

Seyran Ates has gotten used to the hundreds of threats she receives daily.

She is the devil, they say. She should burn in hell.

Since founding a liberal and controversial mosque in Berlin last month, Ates has been constantly targeted by those who have a strict interpretation of Islamic law. She vows to fight for religious freedom and challenge radical Islam even if it puts her life in danger.

German authorities are taking the threats seriously. Six policemen guard her around the clock.

The mosque is open to Sunni, Shia, and other interpretations of Islam. It also welcomes gays. The burka and niqab are forbidden. Women may lead prayer services, and men and women sit together, which violates traditional Sharia law that requires men and women to pray separately and prohibits women from becoming imams.

GERMANY OPENS ITS FIRST LIBERAL MOSQUE IN BERLIN

The Rushd-Goethe Mosque, named after a Muslim philosopher and a German writer fascinated by Middle Eastern poetry, is housed in a building on the property of a Protestant church in Berlins Moabit District.

Ates, 54, a Turkish-born German attorney, defies the condemnations issued by Turkish and Egyptian religious authorities. Dyanet, the Turkish authority, condemns the new mosque as depraving and ruining religion. Egypts state-run religious authority issued a fatwa condemning the mixing of the sexes during prayer as a violation of Islam.

Ates a daughter of Turkish immigrants founded the first liberal mosque in Germany where men and women can pray together, homosexuals are welcome and Muslims of all sects can leave their inner-religious conflicts behind. (AP)

Yet Ates is willing to risk her life to chart a new path for Muslims.

GERMANY REJECTS TURKISH OFFICE'S CRITICISM OF LIBERAL MOSQUE

We have the responsibility to show that we do not agree with Muslims who commit violence, she said during a phone interview. We have to stand up and fight for the peace side of our religion.

She said she has repeatedly called for dialogue within Germanys predominantly conservative Muslim community of 4.5 million. Her voice grew sad as she recalled the response.

They shouted that they have to kill me to rape me, she said. These are their messages.

While many condemn Ates, the German government strongly backs her.

AP (Seyran Ates said she's standing up for the peace side of her religion.)

Harald Neymanns, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, made it clear that freedom of religion is enshrined in the German constitution and will be defended. The volatile situation at the mosque is being monitored to ensure safety at the Friday night services, he said.

The Ministry of the Interior has a responsibility to uphold the constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee office in Berlin, also condemned the death threats.

The defamatory attacks are attempts by Turkish and Egyptian national religious authorities to crush newer forms of religious expression that bridge tradition with democratic values of equality, she said in an email.

Berger also said the resistance to the new mosque in Berlin shows that reformers like Ates face a daunting task in their attempt to create greater compatibility between Islam and European values. If the new mosque fails, she said, this would tear at the fabric of religious freedom which is a core western values.

But a new report by the German government shows that those who advocate for a broader interpretation of Islam have increasingly come under attack. The governments domestic intelligence agency, or the BIV, reports a rise in the number of Muslim fundamentalists, from 8,350 in 2015 to 10,100 in 2016. These militant Muslims oppose any liberalization of Islam and increase the chance for terrorist attacks in Germany, according to the report, which also disclosed a rise in attacks by Islamic extremists over the same time period.

Norwegian author, Birgitte H. Huitfeldt, interviewed feminists in the region for her new book, Uncensored, which was recently published in Germany. She found that there has been little change in the perception of women in Middle Eastern societies, with similar perceptions prevalent among Muslims in Germany.

It was difficult to distinguish between Islamic fundamentalism and everyday oppressing family codes, or patriarchal suppression of women, Huitfeldt writes.

Despite the uphill fight, Ates, nevertheless, remains resilient.

She recalled her early struggles during our 2007 interview in a Berlin safe house. Her brother and father beat her and prevented her from leaving their tiny apartment unaccompanied. She escaped this oppressive environment when she was 17 and ran away to live in a womens shelter with battered Turkish and German women.

In 1984, she was badly wounded when Turkish nationalists invaded the shelter, guns blazing, killing the woman next to her. It took her five years to recover from the wounds and psychological trauma. She continued her education and became a lawyer, often representing Muslim women in divorce cases. One of the husbands attacked her outside a courthouse.

Ates said she is not intimidated by the death threats and plans to continue pushing the limits.

The pushback I am getting makes me feel that I am doing the right thing, she said. God is loving and merciful, otherwise he would not have turned me into the person I am.

Donald Snyder was a news producer at NBC for 27 years and has been a freelance writer since his retirement. He specializes in Germany and Eastern Europe.

See the article here:

Despite threats, woman who opened liberal mosque in Berlin keeps fighting for religious freedom - Fox News

Bill Berry: Eugenics not a proud aspect of American history | Column … – Madison.com

Posted on by

STEVENS POINT If youre looking for some light summer reading, dont pick up Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck.

Author Adam Cohen treats the humorless subject with appropriate seriousness in his 2016 book as he explores the American eugenics movement and bogus science that supported it in the early 20th century. Eugenics supporters preached that the improvement of the human species was best achieved by encouraging or permitting reproduction of only those people with genetic characteristics judged desirable.

We took it much further in the first four decades of the last century, using eugenic science to seek to eliminate through sterilization undesirables like epileptics and those labeled through bogus testing morons, idiots and imbeciles. These included poor people, those labeled sexual perverts, alcoholics, criminals and just about anyone else deemed to be capable of passing on undesirable traits. Eugenics supporters took it a step further, too, successfully limiting the immigration of undesirables such as Jews and Italians.

If it all sounds a bit like Nazi Germany, it should. The U.S. eugenics movement inspired the Nazis on their brutal racial purification journey, as author Cohen points out. And if it sounds a bit like some of the nationalistic fervor racing across the U.S. today, there are some unfortunate parallels, he notes.

A major difference between then and now is that progressives and conservatives alike embraced eugenics the last time around, if for different reasons. Progressives like Teddy Roosevelt believed sterilization and other eugenic activities would prevent unfit people from breeding and saw it as part of efforts to improve the lot of the majority of Americans. Conservatives were drawn to it in the belief that there was a natural elite, and that differences among people couldnt be eradicated by improving their environment.

The story of Carrie Buck is one of a young Virginia woman institutionalized in one of the states institutions for the feeble-minded. Using bogus science to establish she was a low-grade moron, eugenicists used her case to test the legality of their sterilization law. Her mother was labeled similarly with the same test, as was her infant daughter, born after Buck was raped. The case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927, where justices ruled 8-1 that the law was legal. None other than the revered Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the opinion, proclaiming among other things: Three generations of imbeciles are enough. It apparently didnt matter to Holmes that Buck was labeled a moron, a less feeble-minded category than imbecile.

His ruling set the stage for tens of thousands of state-sponsored sterilizations across the country, most of them women.

Wisconsin has its own eugenic history. Lutz Kaelber, a historical sociologist at the University of Vermont and on the faculty committee of the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, writes that of more than 1,800 recorded sterilizations in Wisconsin, almost 80 percent were women. This started in 1913, when the state passed its first sterilization law, and continued until 1963. Sterilizations increased dramatically after the Supreme Court ruling. Criminals, insane, feeble-minded, and epileptics were the chosen, he reports. All of this was facilitated by state law, with many of the procedures carried out at the Wisconsin Home for the Feeble-Minded in Chippewa Falls, now known as the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled.

It was progressives, dominant in Wisconsin politics at the time, who pushed the concept in the Legislature and Wisconsin's public arena, notes Kaelber.

All of this was a long time ago, so there is no need to be concerned today, right? Maybe we should be. For one thing, the Supreme Court ruling was never overturned. Public sentiment, led by the Catholic Church, turned states away from sterilization, but it is still technically legal in some cases.

Sterilization wasn't the only method used by proponents of eugenics. The desire to "improve" humankind fueled anti-immigration sentiment, and since Jews were among those considered undesirable, many thousands were turned away during the Nazi years. Todays anti-immigrant sentiment carries some of the same prejudices and dangers.

And while mass sterilization doesnt seem likely again soon, does denying medical care to the least among us amount to a 21st-century version of eugenics?

Bill Berry of Stevens Point writes a semimonthly column for The Capital Times. billnick@charter.net

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.

Read the original here:

Bill Berry: Eugenics not a proud aspect of American history | Column ... - Madison.com

Margolis: Fact and Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s fiction – vtdigger.org

Posted on by

Author Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

(Jon Margolis writes political columns for VTDigger.)

Some of her novels and stories were about children, and she was obviously writing those for young people. No wonder, then, that Vermont librarians call their best-kids-book-of-the-year prize the Dorothy Canfield Fisher (or just the DCF) award.

Fisher was also politically active, and her politics were decidedly left of center. Eleanor Roosevelt admired her. The daughter and granddaughter of fierce abolitionists, Fisher devoted much of her professional life to combating intolerance, bigotry and authoritarianism, in the words of a 1997 article in the Journal of the Vermont Historical Society by historian Hal Goldman. In 1943 she urged Gov. William Wills to try to persuade Vermont resorts to drop their policy of being restricted, the euphemism for no Jews allowed.

Now comes a request to the state librarian that he drop Fishers name from the annual award because she was a racist.

Specifically, in the view of Abenaki educator Judy Dow, of Essex Junction, Fisher stereotyped Abenaki and French Canadians in her fiction and was part of the eugenics movement of the 1920s and 1930s that sought to sterilize those considered degenerate or feeble-minded.

The second of these allegations is complicated, not because there is anything complicated about Vermonts eugenics initiative it was a truly shameful episode but because it is not clear that Fisher played any part in it, or even that she thought it was a good idea. Goldman, who is an adjunct professor of history and a provosts teaching fellow at Minnesotas Carleton College, said he found the evidence of the ties between Fisher and the eugenics movement very attenuated.

Thats academic for weak.

But there is nothing complicated about the charge that Fishers novels and short stories display negative views of racial or ethnic minorities. That charge is nonsense.

Fiction is fiction. Characters in fiction speak as those characters, not as their author. If a character in Fishers novel Bonfire describes another as half-hound, half-hunter, all Injun, thats how that character at that time and in that place would talk. If in Seasoned Timber a bigoted headmaster scorns a students awful Jewish mother, well, thats how bigoted Vermont headmasters talked back then.

Considering that starting in 1939 a steady stream of Jewish refugees from Hitlers Germany found refuge with Fisher and her husband in Arlington (this from Ida H. Washingtons biography of Fisher, published by New England Press in 1982), the headmaster clearly was not reflecting the views of his creator.

The task of a fiction writer is to portray the world as it is, not as the writer would like it to be. Any effort to discern a writers opinions through the words of his or her fictional characters is worse than foolish; it misconstrues the purpose of literature. It is barbaric.

So was the Vermont eugenics movement, which ended up sterilizing an unknown number of people, disproportionately Abenaki or French Canadian. Patients consented to the operations, but often that consent was the only way they could be released from prison.

Fisher was not part of the eugenics operation. It is not certain that she supported it. The worst that can be said about her with any confidence is that it is not certain she did not support it.

Perhaps she was a bit of a snob. She wanted Vermont to attract those who earn a living preferably by the trained use of their brains, rather than those who buy or sell material objects or handle money.

Well, la di da, and no wonder some suspect she might have harbored bigoted thoughts. But there is no reason that an Abenaki, a French Canadian, a Hutu or an Eskimo cant earn a living with the trained use of his or her brain, and no grounds for concluding that Fisher thought otherwise.

Removing Fishers name from the award would do little harm. She was hardly a giant of 20th century American literature a la Hemingway, Faulkner or her friend Willa Cather (and lets not inquire too deeply about some of their ethnic prejudices). Though someone checked her most famous book, Understood Betsy out of Burlingtons Fletcher Free Library just two months ago, most of todays teens and preteens dont read her and know her name only because of the award.

But that doesnt answer the question of whether changing the name of the award would do any good, beyond easing the sensitivities of those who care about it.

Needless to say, this anti-Dorothy flap has to be viewed in the context of other efforts to remove the names and symbols of people and causes once admired, now scorned.

Some of this has been beneficial. The Confederate States of America and its leaders and symbols should not be honored. Their secession was the greatest act of treason ever committed against the United States, and it was motivated (this is beyond debate because the traitors said so at the time) by a belief in slavery and white supremacy.

But not much about the past including its flaws is that clear-cut, and it might be wise to guard against the temptation to go out in search of new dragons to slay.

Especially dragons as unthreatening as Dorothy Canfield Fisher appears to be.

Continue reading here:

Margolis: Fact and Dorothy Canfield Fisher's fiction - vtdigger.org

Tropical Storm Eugene to create dangerous surf along Southern California beaches – AccuWeather.com

Posted on by

Large waves from Tropical Storm Eugene will reach the coast of Southern California and threaten bathers and boaters through the middle of this week.

"Eugene, once a Category 3 hurricane, will slowly weaken over cool water and within dry air over the next few days," according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.

Eugene was located about 550 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California as of Tuesday morning.

Eugene became the strongest tropical system in the Eastern Pacific so far this season during this past weekend.

While Eugene will impact California with wind and rain, waves radiating outward from the center of the storm will reach Southern California waters.

The increased threat for coastal waters comes following several days of extreme heat in the southwestern United States. While the latest heat wave is past its peak, thousands will still be heading to the beach for relief or summer vacation this week.

With Eugene well offshore and to the south, waves that propagate northward will bring the heaviest surf to the south-facing beaches on Tuesday and Wednesday. Waves during this period can reach 6 to 10 feet.

However, waves and rip currents will build throughout the beaches of Southern California. Rip currents are likely to become strong and frequent.

Waves can be large enough to cause considerable over-wash and minor coastal flooding along the beachfront.

RELATED: AccuWeather Severe Weather Center: Coastal, surf advisories How to avoid rip currents Is western US heat so far this season a sign of what's to come for the rest of summer?

Bathers and novice boarders should use extreme caution when entering the surf this week and heed all advisories.

Small craft operators should use caution and be prepared for a large southerly swell.

As Eugene weakens and remains at sea, waves and rip currents will diminish later Thursday and Friday.

Report a Typo

See original here:

Tropical Storm Eugene to create dangerous surf along Southern California beaches - AccuWeather.com

High waves, dangerous currents feared off Southern California … – The Daily Breeze

Posted on by

After two swimmers died off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes less than a week apart, officials warned of dangerous currents and large waves at Southern California beaches over the next few days.

The precarious waters arrived during a regional hot spell that sent throngs headed for the shoreline to cool off. The heat, which broke records in many communities, eased up a little Monday, but more triple-digit swelter is expected around Southern California this week.

Hurricane Eugene, making its way north off the coast of Mexico, sent a strong swell toward local beaches and spurred waves several feet higher than usual. And the southerly swell that swept up the coast over the weekend is just the forerunner to a larger one headed up the coast later this week, officials warned.

Two swimmers died in the past week as Eugene developed off the Mexican coast. Erick Herrera, a 29-year-old Long Beach resident, died Sunday after he was pulled from the ocean by a friend near Golden Cove. And Christopher Elton, 27, went missing while swimming near Trump National Golf Club July 3 and was found dead the next day.

Beachgoers are warned to be especially cautious this week. The southerly swell is the precursor of a swell thats going to get even bigger Tuesday through Wednesday of this week, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

READ: Weather: Temperatures break records in Southern California; now, you can expect a short break

Eugene weakened Sunday and the National Hurricane Center projects it will be downgraded to a tropical storm by Tuesday, but it still makes for some choppy waters, Sweet said.

Normally, beaches like those off the Palos Verdes Peninsula would see surf heights of between one and four feet, Sweet said. Over the weekend, that jumped to between three and five feet, and it will likely increase again to between five and eight feet before the end of the week.

Combine that with record-breaking temperatures like the ones that baked the region over the weekend, and its a recipe for more people in the water when they shouldnt be, said Spencer Parker, an ocean lifeguard specialist for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

You can have hazardous conditions, but if its an ugly day, youre just not going to have that many people at the beach, he said.

After days of record-setting heat, the swelter eased up a bit Monday, with highs hitting 95 in Corona, Woodland Hills and Pasadena, 90 in Burbank and only 85 in Los Angeles. Seaside visitors enjoyed temperatures a tick below 80 in Long Beach, Torrance and Redondo Beach.

Advertisement

Temperatures were expected to drop several degrees Tuesday before temperatures start climbing anew.

Just shy of 600 people were rescued on beaches around Los Angeles County during the weekend.

The area off the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast poses a particular problem, in part because the area is prone to strong currents even without the pumped-up swell from a storm to the south, Parker said.

Its a pretty dynamic part of the coast right there, with sand, rocks, gorges (and) underwater caves, so theres a lot of different currents going on there, he said.

The beaches also tend to be at the base of steep cliffs, which pose an access issue for rescuers. Many areas arent monitored by lifeguards, he said.

Parker and Sweet recommended simply staying out of the water until the swell from Hurricane Eugene has passed.

Parker recommended beachgoers who insist on getting wet use waters near an open lifeguard tower and make a point to check the forecast before hitting the waves.

And, if you do find yourself in trouble in the water, Parker advised remaining calm while shouting and waving for help.

Or, if you think you can make it back on your own, Parker said, swim parallel to the beach to get out of the current before swimming toward the beach.

Read the rest here:

High waves, dangerous currents feared off Southern California ... - The Daily Breeze

Wildwood keeps finding better uses for its beaches | Pac … – Press of Atlantic City

Posted on by

WILDWOOD The city has spent the last few years finding ways to make better use, and a profit, from its expansive beaches.

Kite-flying festivals, soccer tournaments, beach concerts and the Race of Gentlemen, an antique-car race that pays homage to Americas hot-rod history, are just a few ways the city has focused on marketing its beaches.

Soon, the city will add on-beach parking to the list.

Owners of four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles will have to wait a couple of more weeks before they can park on the beaches at Baker Avenue.

City commissioners unanimously adopted an ordinance to allow parking on the wide expanse, but implementation has been delayed due to bad weather and the need to make improvements to the beach access ramp at Baker Avenue, Commissioner Pete Byron said.

We cant control Mother Nature, Byron said. The Baker Avenue access ramp needs to be improved so that the access height is that of parking garages.

Once the upgrades are complete, visitors will be able to park on the sand, creating more spaces as well as revenue for the city, Byron said.

Brigantine started parking on the beach in 2007 and in 2014 made more than $600,000, Byron said. And for taxpayers, that would equal approximately 4 cents in tax savings per $100 of assessed value.

The daily cost for parking in Wildwood will be $10, with special-event parking costing $20. It will be limited to four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles, Byron said.

For a city that doesnt charge visitors to use its beaches, Wildwood has come up with some interesting ways to generate revenue. Besides the monster trucks, motorcycle races and concerts, the city has tried to turn some of its sand into a park for recreational vehicles. Not all the ideas were hits, but the city keeps trying.

At more than a quarter-mile wide at some points, theres ample room to experiment.

The city has made other improvements to its beaches, including moving the dog beach from Juniper Avenue to Glenwood Avenue, where it has a larger run area with toys and obstacles, Byron said.

Frankly, we outgrew the park, which took off more rapidly than I can imagine, and we need a bigger space, Byron said. So we moved it a couple of blocks south between Glenwood and Maple avenues.

If you like what you see today, wait until tomorrow, Byron added. We have something special in the works and hope to have it sometime mid-August.

The city also approved a surfing beach at Andrews Avenue.

The opportunity presented itself, and we wanted to bring more than surf lessons to the beach, said Tim Kaye, operator of Surftopia on the Andrews Avenue beach. The joy of surfing brings together so many different things and experiences, and we wanted to be able to share that here in Wildwood.

Surftopia offers surfboards and paddleboards for rent as well as food and refreshments.

Wildwood is a world-class beach, and we should have had a surfing beach a long time ago, Byron said.

Follow this link:

Wildwood keeps finding better uses for its beaches | Pac ... - Press of Atlantic City

Portuguese man of wars washing up on New England beaches – Turn to 10

Posted on by

by CRYSTAL BUI, NBC 10 NEWS

A danger is washing up on beach shores in Massachusetts -- an odd creature called the Portuguese "Man of War." (NBC 10 viewer photo/WJAR)

A danger is washing up on beach shores in Massachusetts -- an odd creature called the Portuguese "Man of War."

"My husband and just laughed because the name, said Vure Resendes.

But it was only until after the Fourth of July weekend that viewers sent NBC 10 News photos of the jelly-fish-like creature popping up.

Those in charge posted an 8-by-11-inch warning sign at Horseneck Beach in Westport, Massachusetts.

"I'm pretty aware of the signs that are here and today is the first time I've seen this sign, Ruth Silvernail said, adding that shes a regular on these shores. It would be very nervous, for me, and my sister to go into the water, when there's Portuguese man of war.

If touched, the man of war can deliver an extremely painful sting.

Don't want to ever take the chance of getting stung, said Silvernail.

But the caution sign is so subtle that until NBC 10 pointed it out, some people didn't even know they needed to pay closer attention to where they were walking.

It's a little bit nerve-wrecking, said Chris Bartczak. Definitely.

Their long, thin tendrils can extend 165 feet in length below the surface. Above water, in shallow areas, the tendrils can still extend 30 feet.

"There's a concern, said Resendes.

Although there's no way to completely avoid some of Mother Nature's predators, beachgoers wish they were told sooner.

"We don't want to frighten the patrons, but just to be aware that they are in the water and just be extra cautious, said Silvernail.

Link:

Portuguese man of wars washing up on New England beaches - Turn to 10

A Maine Vacation: From Hiking And Beaches To Adventure And The Arts – Hartford Courant

Posted on by

For me, summer vacation means spending time on a Maine pond where the sound of loons calling is about the most exciting thing that happens all day.

But I do venture occasionally from my little paradise to experience other things the state has to offer, whether it's the coast, a mountain hike, a whitewater adventure or a museum. Here are a few options.

The Shore

Maine's scenic coast has so many wonderful towns that you almost can't go wrong, but every spot has its own personality. Old Orchard Beach just outside Portland has a sandy beach, busy pier with food, drink and souvenirs, and an old-fashioned amusement park. You could also make a day of visiting Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg in the morning (the wide sandy beach is great for kite-flying) and nearby Reid State Park in Georgetown in the afternoon (rocky outcroppings, tidal pools and a lagoon). In Rockland, the man-made Breakwater jetty lets you walk nearly a mile from the shore into Penobscot Bay, and a ferry runs across to Vinalhaven island, where it's worth spending the night. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park is another popular spot.

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

Nessa King of Wyndham, Maine, returns a shot while playing volleyball in at Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

Nessa King of Wyndham, Maine, returns a shot while playing volleyball in at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)

Hiking

Acadia National Park and the gateway town of Bar Harbor are beautiful but very busy in summer. About 1.5 million people visited the park in July and August of 2016, so be prepared for traffic and crowded trails. For a lovely, doable alternative, consider a day in Camden, with a hike up Mount Battie. A poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Renascence," engraved on a plaque at the top, describes the stunning view, with references to "three long mountains and a wood" and "three islands in a bay."

For serious hikers, the Appalachian Trail runs through Maine , terminating atop Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park . Depending on your route and fitness level, a hike up and down Katahdin's steep, rocky trails could take 10 to 12 hours, which means you'll run out of daylight if you don't start early. Parking for Katahdin hikes is also limited and often gone by 8 a.m., so consider driving up the night before.

The new (and controversial) Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument doesn't offer many visitor services yet, but the National Park Service offers tips online for enjoying the area.

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

The Wassataquoik Stream flows through Township 3, Range 8, Maine, on land owned by environmentalist Roxanne Quimby, the co-founder of Burt's Bees.

The Wassataquoik Stream flows through Township 3, Range 8, Maine, on land owned by environmentalist Roxanne Quimby, the co-founder of Burt's Bees. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)

Whitewater

Whitewater trips are available on several Maine rivers. My favorite outfitter is Moxie Outdoor Adventures, based in West Forks, which offers an all-day Kennebec River trip that's part paddling like crazy through Class IV rapids and part scenic wilderness float trip. Midday, boats are beached on an island where guides cook steak and chicken over a fire. On one trip, we even saw a moose en route to our launch spot. Warning: You will get soaked. Bring a quick-drying fleece to wear over a swimsuit and shoes (not flip-flops) to wear in the water.

Moose

You can find moose-watching tours on land and water. I've enjoyed sunset boat trips to see moose on Moosehead Lake, but as with any such excursion, there are no guarantees that you'll see the wildlife you came for. In rural and northern areas, moose present serious driving hazards, especially at dawn, dusk and after dark, so watch out (and be careful what you wish for).

For Kids

Portland Children's Museum is fun for a rainy day. Aquaboggan Water Park in Saco offers slides, wave pools and mini-golf. Old-fashioned fairs take place around the state all summer, featuring rides, games, farm animal displays and more. One friend told me his little girl's favorite Maine outing was chasing butterflies at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

Shoppers pause at the giant boot outside the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine.

Shoppers pause at the giant boot outside the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)

Shopping

Freeport is home to dozens of outlet stores along with the flagship for L.L. Bean . Take your picture in front of the massive boot by the Bean entrance. Note for insomniacs: Bean's flagship is open 24/7.

The Arts

In Portland, visit Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house (he wrote the poem "Paul Revere's Ride") or take a Stephen King tour of Bangor to see places that inspired his spooky tales. In Cushing, tour the Olson House where Andrew Wyeth painted "Christina's World" and see Wyeth paintings at Rockland's Farnsworth Museum . The Portland Museum of Art offers tours of painter Winslow Homer's waterfront studio and house on Prouts Neck. Music festivals abound as well, from classical to folk.

Boat Rides

Rent a kayak or canoe, or take a ferry, like the ones to Monhegan Island or from Portland to the islands of Casco Bay. There are fancy yachts, schooner rides and dinner cruises, along with lobster boats where you can watch a lobster trap being pulled in. Many port towns also offer nature boat rides. Just know that you could pay a lot of money to spend a few hours on the ocean and not see the whales, seals, eagles or puffins pictured in the brochure.

Seafood

Everybody has a favorite place for lobster rolls and chowder. Mine include the Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster Company in South Freeport and The Lobster Shack at the end of Two Lights Road in Cape Elizabeth.

Lodging

Take your pick: campsites, B&Bs, motels, hotels, even upscale resorts. Or rent a rustic cottage, what Mainers refer to as a "camp." If you're lucky enough to be on the water, sit back and listen for those loons.

Visit link:

A Maine Vacation: From Hiking And Beaches To Adventure And The Arts - Hartford Courant

An oddball planet has astronomers scratching their heads … – Astronomy Magazine

Posted on by

HIP 65426 is weird. The star rotates at clip 150 times the rotation rate of the Sun, and despite a young age (14 million years), it has no debris disk. Oh, and it has an oddball gas giant sitting out 100 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, at a time (indicated by its age) before most planets migrate out that far.

Many planets seem to challenge formation mechanisms of planets altogether, at least according to the press releases. But this much is true: nothing weve seen thus far is much like HIP 65426.

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy researchers directly imaged the planet using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument, which blots out light from the home star to draw out reflected light from the planet. This is the first object discovered by the instrument, and is currently the only planet discovered in the system. The work has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The planet is still warm from its formation, with an estimated temperature of 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit (1,300 Celsius). Its between 6 and 12 Jupiter masses, which would place it firmly in the planetary range (rather than a brown dwarf, or failed star).

Most gas giants dont have an orbit that far out unless their orbit has been disrupted which, indeed, is one of the scenarios researchers are exploring for its formation. In this scenario, the planet formed close in, while the orbit of another forming planet in the system became destabilized. That planet fell in toward the star, shooting HIP 65426b outward to 100 AU. The other possibility researchers are exploring is that the star and the planet formed at the same time, which is thus far unheard of.

Either way, this system still has a lot of explaining to do for how it got this way.

Read more here:

An oddball planet has astronomers scratching their heads ... - Astronomy Magazine

There’s a lot of bias in astronomy and women of color are hurt the … – The Verge

Posted on by

Nearly half of women of color working in astronomy have felt unsafe because of their gender, says a new study.

Researchers gave a survey to 474 astronomers and planetary scientists. The results, published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research, show that women especially non-white women often face a negative environment at work. Women of color felt unsafe 40 percent of the time due to gender, and 28 percent of the time due to race. In addition, 18 percent of women of color and 12 percent of white women reported that theyd skipped fieldwork, class, or professional events because they seemed unsafe. Given that these events are important for networking and career advancement, there is a real cost to being forced to opt out.

Recent years have brought more attention to sexual harassment in academia. For instance, well-known UC Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy violated sexual harassment policies for years, while a Caltech professor who harassed two women was allowed to return to campus. There have, of course, been other papers on the negative experiences of minorities in academia, including one in 2014 about the experiences of women doing field work, by Kathryn Clancy, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois and a co-author of this new paper.

But this is one of the first to focus on women of color in science.

Were following the lead of women of color, who have been trying to say this for decades and havent been heard, says Clancy. Its presumed that its mostly white women who are the victim, and we really wanted to make it clear that thats simply not the case. Instead, women of color in the sciences have been missing for far too long, partly because their absolute numbers are small.

Were going to keep publishing these papers, but what are these disciplines going to do with this information?

For the study, the researchers adapted a 2011 survey conducted by the American Physical Society about the workplace climate in physics. They recruited participants (both men and women) through various newsletters such as the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences. Because there are so few women in astronomy to begin with, the scientists intended to get more women than is representative, so they also used outlets like the Women in Astronomy blog and American Astronomical Society Women Newsletter. As a result, 84 percent of the sample were white, which is about representative of national data, but 67 percent were female, which is much higher than average.

Participants took the 39-question survey from January to March 2015. They provided demographic information gender, ethnicity, whether they were able-bodied and career position, and answered questions about how often they felt unsafe, whether they experienced racist or sexist remarks, and whether they heard negative language or comments about not being masculine or feminine enough. (You can see the list of questions here.)

Overall, 88 percent of everyone surveyed reported having a negative experience relating to gender, race, or physical ability at work. Across nearly every significant finding, women of color faced the most discrimination and harassment.

There are some limitations to the study. People werent randomly recruited, so its possible that the people who responded were more likely to have already experienced harassment. In addition, the study uses terms like verbal harassment and physical harassment, meaning that people had to think of the events as harassment. This may seem like nitpicking, but studies have suggested that cultural differences mean that minorities may report harassment at different rates.

The authors say that this research highlights the double jeopardy situation that women of color find themselves in, receiving harassment for both their race and their gender. Clancy says that she is aware of other groups who are interested in doing studies on the experiences of women and minorities in their own fields. But raising awareness is not sufficient, she adds. There will be more, and were going to keep publishing these papers, but what are these disciplines going to do with this information?

They suggest changes such as a code of conduct, diversity training, and responding quickly to allegations of harassment, but acknowledge that, ultimately, no one solution alone is enough.

Original post:

There's a lot of bias in astronomy and women of color are hurt the ... - The Verge

In astronomy, women of color face the most discrimination – Engadget – Engadget

Posted on by

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, surveyed nearly 500 astronomers and planetary scientists between 2011 and 2015. 40 percent of women of color reported feeling unsafe in the workplace due to their gender or sex, while 28 percent of women of color felt unsafe due to their ethnicity. 18 percent of them skipped professional events due to a "hostile climate," with 12 percent of white women reporting the same. The study's authors point out that this results in a "significant loss of career opportunities."

This isn't the first study into gender or racial bias in the sciences. The study's authors point out other papers that show a host of other examples in the literature, including gendered language on science curriculum, implicit bias related to gender and race in mentorship opportunities and an outsider experience that leads to women faculty of color having their views validated less often than their colleagues. The community of scientists still needs to figure out how to combat this bias, of course. For now, the current study's authors conclude that the results represent "a significant failure in the astronomical community to create safe working conditions for all scientists."

See the article here:

In astronomy, women of color face the most discrimination - Engadget - Engadget

How Eclipse Anxiety Helped Lay the Foundation For Modern Astronomy – Smithsonian

Posted on by

NASA's Earth-orbiting satellite Hinode observes the 2011 annual solar eclipse from space.

In August, a total solar eclipse will traverse Ameica for the first time in nearly a century. So many tourists are expected to flood states along the eclipses path that authorities are concerned about illegal camping, wildfire risks and even devastating porta-potties shortages.Theres a reason for all this eclipse mania.A total solar eclipsewhen the moon passes between the sun and the Earthis a stunning natural event. For a few breathtaking minutes, day turns to night; the skies darken; the air chills. Stars may even appear.

As awe-inspiring as an eclipse can be, it can also evoke a peculiar fear and unease. It doesnt seem to matter that science has reassured us that eclipses present no real dangers (aside from looking straight into the sun, of course): When that familiar, fiery orb suddenly winks out, leaving you in an eerie mid-day darkness, apprehension begins to creep in.

So its perhaps not surprising that theres a long history of cultures thinking ofeclipses as omens that portend significant, usually bad happenings. The hair-raising sense that something is off during these natural events has inspired a wealth of myths and rituals intended to protect people from supposed evils. At the same time, eclipse anxiety has also contributed to a deeper scientific understanding of the intricate workings of the universeand even laid the foundation for modern astronomy.

The idea of eclipses as omens stems from a belief that the heavens and the Earth are intimately connected. An eclipse falls outside of the daily rhythms of the sky, which has long been seen as a sign that the universe is swinging out of balance. When anything extraordinary happens in nature ... it stimulates a discussion about instability in the universe, says astronomer and anthropologist Anthony Aveni, author ofIn the Shadow of the Moon: The Science, Magic, and Mystery of Solar Eclipses.Even the biblical story of Jesus connects Christs birth and death with celestial events: the first by the appearance of a star, the secondby a solar eclipse.

Because eclipses were considered by ancient civilizations to be of such grave significance, it was of utmost importance to learn how to predict them accurately. That meant avidly monitoring the movements of the sun, moon and stars, keeping track of unusual celestial events and using them to craft and refine calendars. From these records, many groupsthe Babylonians, the Greek, the Chinese, the Maya and othersbegan to tease out patterns that could be used to foretell when these events occurred.

The Babylonians were among the first to reliably predict when an eclipse would take place. By the eighth century B.C., Babylonian astronomers had a firm grasp of the pattern later dubbed theSaros cycle: a period of 6,585.3 days (18 years, 11 days, 8 hours) in which sets of eclipses repeat. While the cycle applies to both lunar and solar eclipses, notes John Dvorak, author of the bookMask of the Sun:The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses,its likely they could only reliably predict lunar eclipses, which are visible to half of the planet each time they occur. Solar eclipses, by contrast, cast a narrow shadow, making it much rarer to see the event multiple times at any one place.

Babylonians believed that an eclipse foretold the death of their ruler, leading them tousethese predictions to put kingly protections in place. During the period of time that lunar or solar eclipses might strike, the king would be replaced with a substitute. This faux ruler would be dressed and fed like royaltybut only for a brief time. According toancient Babylonian astronomers inscriptions on cuneiform tablets, the man who was given as the kings substitute shall die and the bad omens will not affect that [ki]ng.

The Babylonian predictions, though accurate, were all based purely on observations, says Dvorak; as far as scholars know, they never understood or sought to understand the mechanism behind planetary motions. It was all done on the basis of cycles, he says. It wasntuntil 1687, when Isaac Newton published thetheory of universal gravitationwhich drew heavily on insights from Greek astronomersthat scientists began to truly grasp the idea ofplanetary motion.

Surviving records from the ancient Chinese make up the longest continuous account of celestial happenings. Beginning around the 16th century B.C., Chinese star-gazers attempted to read the skies and foretell natural events using oracle bones. Ancient diviners would carve questions on these fragments of tortoise shell or oxen bone, and then heat them till they cracked. Similar to the tradition of reading tea leaves, they would then seek divine answers among the spidery network of fractures.

These methods may not have been scientific, but they did have cultural value. The sun was one of the imperial symbols representing the emperor, so a solar eclipse was seen as warning. When an eclipse was foretold to be approaching, the emperor would prepare himself by eating vegetarian meals and performing sun-rescuing rituals, while the Chinese people would bang pots and drums to scare off the celestial dragon that was said to devour the sun. This long-lived ritual is still part of Chinese lore today.

As far as accurate astronomical prediction, it would be centuries until Chinese predictions improved. By the first century AD they were predicting eclipses with fair accuracy using what is known as the Tritos cycle: a period of eclipse repetition that falls one month short of 11 years.Historians debate how exactly each culture developed its own system of eclipse prediction, says Dvorak, but the similarities in their systems suggest that Babylonian knowledge may have contributed to the development of others. As he writes inMask of the Sun, what the Babylonians knew about eclipses was diffused widely. It moved into India and China and then into Japan.

In ancient India, legend had itthat a mythical demon named Swarbhanu once attempted to outsmart the gods, and obtain an elixir to make himself immortal. Everything was going to plan, but after Swarbhanu had already received several drops of the brew, the sun and moon gods recognized the trick and told the supreme god Vishnu, who had taken the form of a beautiful maiden Mohini. Enraged, she beheaded Swarbhanu. But since the beast had already become immortal, its head lived on as Rahu and its torso as Ketu.

Today, according to the legend, Rahu and Ketu continue to chase the Sun and the Moon for revenge and occasionally gulp them down. But because Swarbhanus body is no longer whole, the eclipse is only temporary; the moon slides down his throat and resumes its place in the sky.

Eclipses in India were seen as a time when the gods were in trouble, says Dvorak, and to counter these omens land owners donated land to temples and priests. Along with the sun, moon and five brightest planets, they tracked Rahu and Ketus movement through the sky. In 499 AD, Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata included these two immortal beings, dubbed dark planets, in his accurate description of how eclipses occur. His geometric formulation showed thatthe beasts actually represent two lunar nodes: positions in the sky in which the paths of sun and moon crossto produce a lunar or solar eclipse.

They followed the nine wanderers up in the sky, two of them invisible, says Dvorak. From that, it was not a big step to predicting lunar eclipses. By the sixth century A.D.whether through independent invention, or thanks to help from the Babyloniansthe Indians were successfully predicting eclipses.

...

Eclipse fears aren't just limited to ancient times. Even in the modern era, those seeking signs of Earthly meaning in the movements of the heavens have managed to find them. Astrologists note that Princess Dianas fatal car crash occurred in the same year as a solar eclipse. An eclipse darkened England two days before the British King Henry I departed for Normandy; he never graced Englands shores again. In 1918, the last time an eclipse swept from coast-to-coast across the United States, an outbreak of influenza killed up to 50 million people worldwide and proved one of the deadliest pandemics in history.

Of course, there is no scientific evidence that the eclipse had anything to do with the outbreak, nor the other events. Thousands of people are born and die every dayand solar and lunar eclipses are far from rare. In any given year, up to four solar and three lunar eclipses darken the surface of the Earth. Because of this, as Dvorak writes, it would be surprising if there were no examples of monarchs dying on or close to days of eclipses.

In their time, ancient Babylonians werent trying to create the foundation of modern mathematics. But in order to predict celestial eventsand thus, from their perspective, better understand earthly happeningsthey developed keen mathematical skills and an extensive set of detailed records of the cosmos. These insights were later adopted and expanded upon by the Greeks, who used them to make a lasting mark on geometry and astronomy as we know it. Today, astronomers still use these extensive databases of ancient eclipses from Babylon, China and India tobetter understandEarth's movements through the ages.

So if you feel a little uneasy when the sun goes dark on August 21st, youre not alone. Just remember: It was this same unease that helped create modern astronomy as we know it.

The rest is here:

How Eclipse Anxiety Helped Lay the Foundation For Modern Astronomy - Smithsonian

Australian Astronomy Just Got A $129 Million Boost | Gizmodo … – Gizmodo Australia

Posted on by

Good news, Australian Scientists!

Australia is set to team up with the European Southern Observatory in a Government-led "big science" partnership, aiming to provide Aussie astronomers with long-term access to the world's best optical telescopes - and keep us at the forefront of global optical astronomy. (That's astronomy, the science - not astrology, the not-science.)

First announced in the 201718 budget, the deal was formally signed today, with the Government investing $129 million over 10 years in the partnership.

The partnership starts in 2018, and will allow Australian astronomers to use the 8-metre telescopes at ESO's La Silla and Paranal Observatories in the Atacama Mountains of Chile, which is among the world's best sites for optical astronomy.

The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science says this agreement answers calls from the Australian astronomy community over several years for long-term access to large optical-infrared telescopes.

"This important partnership with a world-class organisation will allow Australia to maintain its research excellence in this era of global astronomy, and provides crucial opportunities for Australian influence and technical and scientific input, stimulating international research and industry collaborations," the department says.

But the benefits of this partnership will be felt beyond the research community, with new opportunities opening up for small and medium businesses to tender for contracts ranging from heavy engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering to the design and development of precision optics, electronics, sensors, and complex instrumentation.

The department says commercialisation of astronomy technologies can also mean future applications in areas like medicine, telecommunications, and manufacturing.

The Director General of ESO, Professor Tim de Zeeuw, said the collaboration would lead to fundamental new advances in science and technology that neither could hope to achieve alone.

"Australia has a long and rich history of internationally acclaimed astronomical research. The already very active and successful astronomical community will undoubtedly thrive with long-term access to ESO's cutting-edge facilities," Prof de Zeeuw said.

Prof de Zeeuw pointed out that Australia's expertise in astronomical technology (including advanced adaptive optics and fibre-optics) is ideally matched with ESO's instrumentation programme, and that Australia will benefit from access to industrial, instrumentation and scientific opportunities at ESO's La Silla Paranal Observatory.

"By working together, we can sustain and strengthen Australia's world-leading astronomy capability and seize this unprecedented opportunity to secure the future of optical astronomy in this country," Prof de Zeeuw said.

Please log in or register to gain access to this feature.

Last week South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced he would take Elon Musk up on his offer to power the state, with the world's largest lithium ion battery set to be installed in collaboration with French renewable company Neoen and the State Government. But will it solve the state's power woes? Australian experts weigh in below.

Tailgating is the leading cause of rear-end crashes, with half of drivers failing to keep a safe following distance, a new report has revealed.

See original here:

Australian Astronomy Just Got A $129 Million Boost | Gizmodo ... - Gizmodo Australia

BepiColombo Mercury mission tested for journey into ‘pizza oven … – Astronomy Now Online

Posted on by

A view of the BepiColombo spacecraft stacked in launch configuration at the European Space Agencys ESTEC test center in the Netherlands. The sunshield cover for Japans Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter is pictured at lower right. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space

Three spacecraft built in Europe and Japan have completed their final joint tests to ensure they are ready for departure to Mercury on an Ariane 5 rocket late next year on the nearly 1.5 billion BepiColombo mission to survey the Solar Systems innermost planet.

Officials displayed the BepiColombo spacecraft to the media last week in the Netherlands, where engineers are putting the probe to the test in the extreme thermal, acoustic and vibration environments it will encounter in flight.

Readying the mission to survive the searing temperatures at Mercury proved to be one of the biggest challenges in BepiColombos two-decade development.

We have to survive 10 times the solar radiation we are experiencing at Earth, plus surface temperatures of up to 450 degrees Celsius (842 degrees Fahrenheit), said Ulrich Reininghaus, ESAs BepiColombo project manager, in a press briefing last week.

The European Space Agency-led project will dispatch two scientific orbiters to Mercury with instruments to map the planets landscapes and topography, peer into darkened craters that may contain water ice and a mysterious frozen organic sludge, and probe the scorched worlds interior structure by measuring its magnetic field.

I think our two spacecraft we send to Mercury will, first of all, do a very comprehensive and thorough investigation of the planet and its environment, said Johannes Benkhoff, BepiColombo project scientist at ESA. It will help to unveil the mysteries of Mercury and hopefully provide clues to better understand the formation history of the planet and of our Solar System.

A propulsion module will go along on the 7.2-year trip to Mercury to steer the robotic science probes through the solar system with the aid of four ion engines.

Scheduled for launch in October 2018, the tandem mission developed by ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is the most ambitious expedition to Mercury yet mounted, and the first time the blazing hot planet will be visited by a spacecraft not owned by NASA.

Two previous NASA missions Mariner 10 and MESSENGER previously explored Mercury. Mariner 10 zipped by Mercury three times in the 1974 and 1975, photographing less than half of the planet before MESSENGER made its own flybys and eventually entered orbit in March 2011 for a four-year global science campaign.

BepiColombo will follow on MESSENGERs results and get even more details (about Mercury), Benkhoff said. We will be able to answer many, many of the questions that were raised by the MESSENGER mission.

Those questions include the nature of water ice deposits hidden deep inside permanently-shadowed craters near Mercurys poles, and the source of the planets unexpected magnetic field.

BepiColombos European-built Mercury Planetary Orbiter carries 11 instruments, a suite comprising a high-resolution mapping camera, a laser altimeter, an accelerometer, and a set of spectrometers on a downward-facing science deck that will remain pointed toward the planet throughout each orbit.

The Japanese-made Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiters five science sensors will study the plasma environment around Mercury, attempt to image the planets sodium-rich tenuous atmosphere, and measure Mercurys magnetic field.

The Mercury Transfer Module will shepherd the two science orbiters on the 5.5-billion-mile (8.9-billion-kilometre) voyage from Earth to Mercury. The engine section hosts no science instruments, but its two electricity-generating solar panels each stretching nearly 40 feet (12 metres) long will produce power for four rear-mounted xenon-fueled electric thrusters.

The ion engines, which can fire two at a time, will provide more than half the impulse BepiColombo needs for the one-way trip. The spacecraft will also use nine gravity boosts from flybys with Earth, Venus and Mercury to line up for orbital insertion at the innermost planet.

Named for Giuseppe Bepi Colombo, the Italian mathematician and engineer who helped design Mariner 10s Mercury flyby trajectory, the mission is due to arrive at its destination in December 2025.

The flight plan calls for the spacecraft to jettison the transfer module and fire rocket engines to slip into orbit around the planet. Japans magnetospheric orbiter, cocooned in a protective sunshield during the missions interplanetary transit, will be released in an egg-shaped elliptical orbit stretching up to 7,232 miles (11,640 kilometres) above Mercury.

Then the sunshield will be ejected as the European orbiter spirals closer to Mercury, eventually ending up in a tighter orbit ranging between about 300 miles (480 kilometres) and 930 miles (1,500 kilometres) from the planet.

The dual spacecraft will spend at least a year observing Mercury.

ESA and JAXA officials said last week the mission is on track for liftoff at the opening of an eight-week launch window Oct. 5, 2018.

BepiColombos launch window opens the same month the James Webb Space Telescope a U.S.-European-Canadian observatory that will succeed Hubble is set for blastoff on a different Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Arianespace officials will meet with managers from both projects in September to determine which high-profile science mission will go first.

Engineers last month simulated the vibration and noise BepiColombo will experience during its rocket ride from Earth, capping a series of tests on the combined spacecraft in its launch configuration, which towers around 20 feet (6 metres) tall.

The ground team will disassemble the spacecraft in the coming months, conduct additional electrical checks, then place BepiColombos transfer module in a space environment simulator modified to mimic the extreme temperatures at Mercury. The propulsion sections thermal test follows up similar exposure verifications already completed on the European and Japanese orbiters.

ESA originally intended to launch the BepiColombo in 2009 when the mission was formally selected by the agencys science committee in 2000.

Crafting a spacecraft capable of withstanding the hot temperatures at Mercury turned out to be tough, officials said.

Engineers had to design new solar cells, develop heat-resistant pointing mechanisms for BepiColombos antennas and solar panels, and install mirrors to reflect sunlight and infrared heat.

Much of the technology had to be invented just for BepiColombo.

The challenge was to develop a solar cell assembly that was capable of withstanding high temperatures and ultraviolet radiation at the same time, said Markus Schelkle, BepiColombo program manager at Airbus Defense and Space in Germany, the missions prime contractor. This was (something) we learned, and due to that, we had a really hard, long way to find a solution.

BepiColombo also carries ceramic thermal coatings and titanium parts covered in silver and gold to ensure its communications antenna can function in the furnace-like temperatures at Mercury.

We had several delays, Reininghaus said. Work on the solar cells and high-temperature mechanisms cost us much more time than we expected, he said.

The database on materials we had, even for qualified products, was good up to 125 degrees Celsius (257 degrees Fahrenheit), Reininghaus said.

That was not good enough for BepiColombo.

Were flying into a pizza oven, Reininghaus said. This is why we had to test materials at very high temperature regimes, sometimes with very unwanted results.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

View original post here:

BepiColombo Mercury mission tested for journey into 'pizza oven ... - Astronomy Now Online

Local astronomer sets lens on public outreach – Nogales International

Posted on by

Local astronomer Michael Schwartz may have a contract with NASA, but his real passion lays in teaching the community about the solar system.

In Patagonia Im known as Astronomer Michael, he said.

Schwartz, 67, travels to deliver lectures and host astronomy nights in Patagonia from his home on top of a hill in the rural, rugged terrain between Patagonia Lake and Rio Rico.

The public is curious but also unafraid to ask about astronomy, he said.

When he travels to Patagonia, Schwartz brings along a portable telescope. But back at home, which doubles as his so-called Tenagra Observatories, two large, automated professional telescopes scan the night sky for near-Earth objects (NEOs) satellites and comets that travel close to our planet.

Every night before he goes to bed, Schwartz sends computer codes from the control room inside his house telling the telescopes where to look in the sky.

One of those telescopes, the Tenagra II, a blue, custom-made 32-inch model, sends the images it collects to NASA for general study and monitoring. If the data shows that a deadly NEO will impact the Earth, NASA can then re-direct or blow the object up.

Theres a very real asteroid threat, but its a kind of pseudo-real, Schwartz said. It can happen tomorrow or it could happen within the next 50,000 years.

Schwartz, a largely self-taught astronomer, was awarded a grant with NASA in 2015. Hes one of the few people not affiliated with a university to have received one, he said.

Schwartzs interest in space began when, as a 12-year-old, he was playing at his schools playground and a stranger with a telescope asked him if he wanted to take a look. Peering into the telescope, he saw Saturn.

I fell in love (with astronomy). I saw something perfect and I never fell out of love, said Schwartz, who recently got an orange tattoo of Saturn on his forearm.

I only hope that Im one of those people to someone else, he said of the stranger that introduced him to astronomy.

Growing up in New Jersey, Schwartz said, he would operate small telescopes and frequently visit astronomy museums.

I practically grew up in the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, he said.

While he took a few astronomy courses in college, Schwartz said, he ultimately graduated with degrees in anthropology and physics before going on to found a successful software company.

After selling his company, he turned his attention to professional astronomy, inventing automated computer-controlled telescopes and selling access to his images to universities.

Schwartz said after driving all across Arizona and New Mexico, he opened Tenagra Observatories named after an island in Star Trek in 2000 because of Santa Cruz Countys clear skies and proximity to amenities in Rio Rico and the community in Patagonia. He said prime spots for astronomy are often remote, but this location lets him conduct his studies while having a normal life.

When his grant with NASA runs out at the end of the year, Schwartz will hand the control of his telescopes to Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist who will program and monitor the Tenagra telescopes from Italy. Schwartz described Masi as the Neil deGrasse Tyson of Italy, referencing the popular American science commentator and director of the Hayden Planetarium.

Once his grant ends, Schwartz said, he will focus on total public outreach and education.

He said hes committed to volunteering at places like the Patagonia Public Schools or the Tin Shed Theater, partly in response to what he sees as a huge dumbing-down of America.

My own pet peeve is conspiracy theorists as they relate to things astronomical, he said.

Continue reading here:

Local astronomer sets lens on public outreach - Nogales International

AstroFest to offer four evenings of astronomy activities during Arts Festival – Penn State News

Posted on by

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Penn State will be holding its annual AstroFest program from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. each night from Wednesday, July 12, through Saturday, July 15, during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. All ages are encouraged to participate in the festivities. The events are free and will take place on the fifth floor of Davey Lab on the University Park campus. All activities will occur rain or shine, except the rooftop observing, which will be weather permitting.

On clear nights, several telescopes will be open on the roof of Davey Lab for viewing stars and planets, including Saturn and Jupiter. "The rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter are so vivid, people often ask if we have painted them on the end of the telescope," said Jane Charlton, a professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the founding organizer of AstroFest. "It is so rewarding to see the looks on people's faces when they first see their favorite planets in such amazing detail."

When they arrive, visitors will be greeted with several activities taking place in front of Davey Lab where they can launch bottle rockets, walk across a simulated gooey alien planet surface (called "oobleck"), and watch sound waves converted to fire and electricity in a Ruben's Tube and a Tesla Coil.

In the lobby of Davey Lab, visitors can watch as subatomic particles and other cosmic rays pass through a cloud chamber, leaving a streak of air to mark their passage. The lobby is also where kids can pick up their AstroFest Activity Passport. After receiving stamps on their passports for the activities they attend, kids can collect science-themed prizes, such as glow-in-the-dark putty, light-up toys, and dinosaur excavation kits.

Up the elevators, visitors will find the majority of the activities for AstroFest, including stations to "make your own comet," answer quiz questions to win astronomy posters and bookmarks at the "Astronomy Question and Answer" booth, and, for those with an artistic side, design Astrogami postcards based on actual astronomical images. The popular "Finding Planets" lab provides a hands-on exploration of how astronomers look for planets beyond our solar system. The current exoplanet count is above a thousand! Five-minute tours of a scale model of the solar system or of the evolution of the Universe are also available.

Featured presentations will also take place throughout the night. Topics will vary over the course of the week, and range from the upcoming solar eclipse, to detection of gravitational waves from LIGO, to dark energy. "Solar eclipses have captured the imagination of humans for millennia. All of us here are thrilled to be having AstroFest this year right before an eclipse of our own," said Chris Palma, senior lecturer in astronomy and astrophysics and co-coordinator of AstroFest.

"We are so excited about the program that we are putting together for AstroFest this year," said Charlton. "We hope that we will have many new visitors, and maybe even some future astronomers. Returning visitors will also have plenty of new things to see and do, since astronomers are always learning about new and exciting aspects of our universe."

For more information, visit the AstroFest webpage, follow us on Facebook @PennStateAstronomy, or contact the Penn State Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (by phone at 814-865-0418 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by email).

View original post here:

AstroFest to offer four evenings of astronomy activities during Arts Festival - Penn State News

WVXU Launches ‘Looking Up’ Astronomy Podcasts – WVXU

Posted on by

Dean Regas and Anna Hehman from the Cincinnati Observatory will voice Cincinnati's newest podcast, "Looking Up," starting Wednesday, July 12.

The 20- to 25-minute program -- the first produced by WVXU-FM exclusively as a downloadable audio file and not for a broadcast -- will be available on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, says Kevin Reynolds, the Cincinnati Public Radio community relations manager who produces the podcast.

It was a marriage made in the stars for Cincinnati Public Radio andRegas, outreach astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory and co-host of PBS' "Star Gazers" series. Reynolds says Regas "was looking for the right partner for a podcast." Regas says he had "been working with WVXU for a long time, and they thought astronomy would be a big hit."

"Looking Up" will be for everyone, not just astronomy experts. "Innate curiosity is all you need," says Regas, who will appear on WVXU-FM's "Cincinnati Edition" at 1 p.m. Wednesday talking about the Mars rover.

Hehman, the observatory's development director, will make sure Regas doesn't drift too deep into space. "She works at the observatory, but she's not an astronomer. She's our non-expert, our audience representative," Reynolds says.

"It's something people can listen to on their way home to pick up some information and a few laughs," Reynolds says.

Regas has a long association with Cincinnati Public Radio. He did recorded interviews for the old weekend version of "Cincinnati Edition," before live weekday broadcasts began four years ago. Here's a link to his 2012 interview with Bill Prady,co-creator and executive producer of CBS' hit "Big Bang Theory" sitcom.

Josh Elstro engineers "Looking Up" with producer Reynolds. They produce and engineer the Cincinnati StoryCorps segments airing Wednesdays on WVXU-FM (91.7) and WMUB-FM (88.5) and available online at wvxu.org and on the WVXU mobile app.

You can subscribe to "Looking Up" on iTunes or go to the "Looking Up" page on the WVXU website.

PBS' "Star Gazers" showwith Regas and James Albury, produced by the WPBT-TV in Miami, Fla., airs on WCET-TV (Channel 48) and WPTO-TV (Channel 16).

Here is the original post:

WVXU Launches 'Looking Up' Astronomy Podcasts - WVXU

Intel, While Pivoting to Artificial Intelligence, Tries to Protect Lead – New York Times

Posted on by

How successful Intels efforts prove to be will be crucial not only for the company but also for the long-term future of the computer chip industry.

Were seeing a lot more competition in the data-center market than weve seen in a long time, said Linley Gwennap, a semiconductor expert who leads a technology research firm in Mountain View, Calif.

Intel has long dominated the business for central processing chips that control industry-standard servers in data centers. Matthew Eastwood, an analyst at IDC, said the company controlled about 96 percent of such chips.

But others are making inroads into advanced data centers. Nvidia, a chip maker in Santa Clara, Calif., does not make Intel-style central processors. But its graphics-processing chips, used by gamers in turbocharged personal computers, have proved well suited for A.I. tasks. Nvidias data-center business is taking off, with the companys sales surging and its stock price nearly tripling in the last year.

Big Intel customers like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are also working on chip designs. AMD and ARM, which make central processing chips like Intel, are edging into the data-center market, too. IBM made its Power chip technology open source a few years ago, and Google and others are designing prototypes.

To counter some of these trends, Intel is expected on Tuesday to provide details about the performance and uses of its new chips and its plans for the future. The company is set to formally introduce the next generation of its Xeon data-center microprocessors, code-named Skylake. And there will be a range of Xeon offerings with different numbers of processing cores, speeds, amounts of attached memory, and prices.

Yet analysts said that would represent progress along Intels current path rather than an embrace of new models of computing.

Stacy Rasgon, a semiconductor analyst at Bernstein Research, said, Theyre late to artificial intelligence.

Intel disputes that characterization, saying that artificial intelligence is an emerging technology in which the company is making major investments. In a blog post last fall, Brian Krzanich, Intels chief executive, wrote that it was uniquely capable of enabling and accelerating the promise of A.I.

Intel has been working in several ways to respond to the competition in data-center chips. The company acquired Nervana Systems, an artificial intelligence start-up, for more than $400 million last year. In March, Intel created an A.I. group, headed by Naveen G. Rao, a founder and former chief executive of Nervana.

The Nervana technology, Intel has said, is being folded into its product road map. A chip code-named Lake Crest is being tested and will be available to some customers this year.

Lake Crest is tailored for A.I. programs called neural networks, which learn specific tasks by analyzing huge amounts of data. Feed millions of cat photos into a neural network and it can learn to recognize a cat and later pick out cats by color and breed. The principle is the same for speech recognition and language translation.

Intel has also said it is working to integrate Nervana technology into a future Xeon processor, code-named Knights Crest.

Intels challenge, analysts said, is a classic one of adapting an extraordinarily successful business to a fundamental shift in the marketplace.

As the dominant data-center chip maker, used by a wide array of customers with different needs, Intel has loaded more capabilities into its central processors. It has been an immensely profitable strategy: Intel had net income of $10.3 billion last year on revenue of $59.4 billion.

Yet key customers increasingly want computing designs that parcel out work to a collection of specialized chips rather than have that work flow through the central processor. A central processor can be thought of as part brain, doing the logic processing, and part traffic cop, orchestrating the flow of data through the computer.

The outlying, specialized chips are known in the industry as accelerators. They can do certain things, like data-driven A.I. tasks, faster than a central processor. Accelerators include graphics processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field-programmable gate arrays (F.P.G.A.s).

A more diverse set of chips does not mean the need for Intels central processor disappears. The processor just does less of the work, becoming more of a traffic cop and less of a brain. If this happens, Intels business becomes less profitable.

Intel is not standing still. In 2015, it paid $16.7 billion for Altera, a maker of field-programmable gate arrays, which make chips more flexible because they can be repeatedly reprogrammed with software.

Mr. Gwennap, the independent analyst, said, Intel has a very good read on data centers and what those customers want.

Still, the question remains whether knowing what the customers want translates into giving them what they want, if that path presents a threat to Intels business model and profit margins.

Follow Steve Lohr on Twitter @SteveLohr.

A version of this article appears in print on July 11, 2017, on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Intel Protects Its Lead While Pivoting to A.I.

See the original post here:

Intel, While Pivoting to Artificial Intelligence, Tries to Protect Lead - New York Times