#Billow Observatory

[dustedmagazine]

Ian Mathers’ 2022: Are you with me even now?

For the third year in a row, Low are part of my reflection on the year that just happened. But this time I don’t want them to be. They didn’t put out a record, I didn’t see them play live (virtually or not) even once. I don’t really want to spend a ton of time going over Mimi Parker’s death and the reactions to it (including my own); I can say this is the one time ever in my life that mourning an artist whose work I love felt anything at all like mourning someone I actually knew. For at least a month I thought about it all the time, read about it constantly, watched and listened to everything I could get my hands on, talked about it often. It felt ridiculous and necessary. I don’t know what happens with my favorite band now; I mainly just hope her family and other loved ones are doing as ok as possible. One wonderful and horrible thing about the reactions is that they were both more numerous and more heartfelt than I would have guessed; up until a few years ago running into other fans of their work felt a lot more rare. 30 years into what I personally think stacks up as one of the greatest creative runs in all of popular music (I’ve been ringing the bell about Low doing better, more vital and interesting work than other bands [x] years into their career since… 2007’s The Great Destroyer at least), I’m glad that people were noticing what they did. The bittersweetness of that, that at least by the end Low were a lot more widely and deeply loved than I would have guessed... I hope she knew that too. How many artists have passed before they made their Double Negative and HEY WHAT? We can never really know the extent of what the world misses out on when someone dies.

Other than that horrible pall weighing down the end of the year, though, at least on the small scale 2022 was pretty good to me. The world in general continues to feel more and more fraught (here in Canada too!) and we’re still not properly dealing with a pandemic. With us being an immunocompromised household… when you see people talking about leaving behind the chronically ill, it absolutely includes those of us who, pre-COVID, nobody could tell weren’t “normal” or “healthy.” I did get to a very few shows this year, masked. But mostly this was a third year in a row of just… never going out or doing most of the things we used to do. Both my wife and I switched jobs to positions that are both much more satisfying and important to us and, not incidentally, quite a bit better paying. By the end of 2022 we’ve hit the first time in our adult lives where (despite how little it would take to knock us back down) we’re not experiencing constant financial stress.

I could have guessed this would change my relationship with music, but honestly, would have underestimated the degree to which that would be true. I’m happier with my writing this year, both frequency and end result, although there’s always more work to do on those fronts. And without feeling like I was trying very hard to do so, I somehow listened to 170 new LPs and EPs over the course of the year. And I found a lot to like, too: my 2022 playlist in Swinsian (which I tried out and then switched to when the Apple Music program started having weird glitches and hours of tech support couldn’t help at all) currently has a little over 1000 tracks in it, equaling over 3 days of music. There’s still a near-infinite amount of stuff out there I’ve never touched or even heard of. But more than ever, it feels like I covered my particularly bailiwick(s) as thoroughly as could be expected of someone who still has a day job and relatively normal life.

This increased volume of input doesn’t necessarily make me think 2022 was a better (or worse!) year for music than any other, but it does lead to a list of records that I feel more strongly about. There are plenty of good records I am keeping in full that just didn’t make it onto my list(s), especially since I’m sticking with a top 40 like I did in 2021. In years where I’ve ‘only’ managed to check out 80-90 records, even a top 20 often covers just about everything I’ve solidly enjoyed from the year. In 2022, 40 records isn’t even half of that group. It has made me reflect a bit on just how sustainable this all is — do I just keep accumulating dozens of records I love every year I’m here? How often am I going to go back to any of them? And sure enough, one thing all this new listening has done has drastically slowed progress on my now years-long effort to corral and organize my existing collection. But I do feel strongly enough about what I loved this year, both from existing favorites and acts totally new to me, that I’m probably just going to kick those cans a little further down the road. I’m also mulling over how, if at all, I want to change my listening in the new year, not least because one of the major ways I discover new things ended in 2022 (RIP, The Singles Jukebox).

As I’ve mentioned before in these roundups, I don’t necessarily feel like every year these days I have an “album of the year” (and am generally loathe to try and rank things). This year I can’t decide if I have one or two; Cloakroom’s Dissolution Wave was one of my most anticipated and ever since I first got the promo back in January, I’ve been listening to it very regularly. One of the things I like about music writing (at least the way I do it) is that it forces me to listen to records a lot more than I would even if I otherwise adore them, and at this point I have an almost Pavlovian joy reaction to the beginning of “Lost Meaning.” For a long time, it seemed like it stood alone for me, and I think it still does, but I need to give at least an honorable mention to Let’s Eat Grandma’s Two Ribbons. It didn’t have the immediate impact on me the Cloakroom did, even though that first half, especially, is immediately ingratiating. But over months I found myself going back to it more and more and in another year, I could easily see it having the unquestioned top spot. I’ve seen neither in most year-end stuff, which makes me a bit sad.

So here are the lists; my 40 favorite LPs, followed by 5 EPs, 5 reissues and/or compilations, 5 releases from Aidan Baker (which makes up not even half of the releases from his various projects!), and 20 ‘loose’ songs either from records I liked but who don’t make it into the main list, or where this song was really the only one I liked, or just ones that came out on their own. If all the little extra lists seem like cheating, well, they kind of are. But this was as narrowed down as I could get it. All of the lists are in alphabetical order, and for all but the songs list any links are to where I’ve written about them here at Dusted. For the songs, partly because so many of them do have music videos (and I love music videos), I’ve actually just provided a link to the song on YouTube should you be so moved. Last year I ended by saying I hoped we’d all continue to get better at taking care of ourselves and each other in 2022. On a micro level, I can say that did happen for us, and many of our loved ones. I hope as much as possible it did for you too, and we can all find the strength to keep at it in 2023.

40 LPs

Aarktica — We Will Find the Light

Alvvays — Blue Rev

Aoife O'Donovan — Age of Apathy

Beyoncé — RENAISSANCE

Billow Observatory — Stareside

Black Ox Orkestar — Everything Returns

The Body & OAA — Enemy of Love

Bruno Bavota & Chantal Acda — A Closer Distance

Carly Rae Jepsen — The Loneliest Time

Charli XCX — Crash

Chelsea Jade — Soft Spot

Cloakroom — Dissolution Wave

Earthless — Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

Eric Cheneaux — Say Laura

Esmerine — Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More

Ethel Cain — Preacher’s Daughter

Fujiya & Miyagi — Slight Variations

Hagop Tchaparian — Bolts

Hatchie — Giving the World Away

High Vis — Blending

Horsegirl — Versions of Modern Performance

Hot Chip — Freakout/Release

Jessica Moss — Galaxy Heart

Kali Malone — Living Torch

Let’s Eat Grandma — Two Ribbons

Locrian — New Catastrophism

Loop — Sonancy

loscil — The Sails p.1/p.2

Michael Beharie — Promise

Oneida — Success

Party Dozen — The Real Work

SASAMI — Squeeze

Spiritualized — Everything Was Beautiful

Szun Waves — Earth Patterns

Use Knife — The Shedding of Skin

Vince Staples — RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART

Water Damage — Repeater

Wet Leg — Wet Leg

Winged Wheel — No Island

Winter — What Kind of Blue Are You?

5 EPs

Gillian Stone — Spirit Photographs

Greet Death — New Low

Picastro — I’ve Never Met a Stranger

Sun’s Signature — Sun’s Signature

Trauma Ray — Transmissions

5 Reissues/Compilations

Broadcast — Maida Vale Sessions

Laddio Bolocko — '97​-​'99

Les Rallizes Dénudés —’77 LIVE

Prolapse — John Peel session 20.08.94/John Peel session 08.04.97

Wire — Not About to Die

5 Releases From Aidan Baker

Aidan Baker — The Evelyn Tables

Aidan Baker — Tenebrist

Baker Ja Lehtisalo — Crocodile Tears

Nadja — Labyrinthine

Nadja — Nalepa

20 More Songs

Animal Collective — “Prester John”

Boy Harsher ft Lucy - Cooper B. Handy — “Autonomy”

Caroline Polachek — “Billions”

Chappell Roan — “Casual”

Death Cab for Cutie — “I Won’t Give Up on You”

Diatom Deli — “False Alarm”

Duke Deuce ft GloRilla — “Just Say That”

Flume ft Caroline Polachek — “Sirens”

HAAi ft. Jon Hopkins — “Baby, We’re Ascending”

Ibibio Sound Machine — “Protection From Evil”

Miči & Sun-EL Musician — “Respond”

MUNA — “Anything But Me”

Porridge Radio — “Back to the Radio”

Spoon — “Wild”

Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”

Storefront Church ft Phoebe Bridgers — “Words”

Stromae — “L’enfer”

Sudan Archives — “Selfish Soul”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs ft Perfume Genius — “Spitting Off the Edge of the World”

yeule — “Bites on My Neck”

Ian Mathers

[trevlad-sounds]

Sunday 9 July 2023 4:30 pm Mixtape 334 “Gloss Healing”

2023-07-09

Ambient drone instrumental sleep spanning 32 years of ambient.

Wednesdays, Fridays & Sundays. Support the artists and labels. Don't forget to tip so future shows can bloom.

Jogging House-Gloss-00:00

Billow Observatory-Pankalia-05:31

sun electric-Castor & Pollux - Live-09:25

Epic45-Through Frosted Glass-13:01

Pepo Galan, Sita Ostheimer-Distance-15:34

Sigur Rós-Takk…-18:00

The Orb-Spanish Castles In Space-19:32

Tetsu Inoue-Background Story-25:52

Jon Neher, Michael Scott Dawson-End Notes-29:18

Segue-West Coast Rain-33:13

Pete Lazonby-Sacred Cycles - Healing Mix-38:01

Susumu Yokota-Tobiume-42:49

Umber-Tomorrow We'll Throw Out Some Old Shoes-47:00

Desolate-Follow Suit-50:48

[ambientworld]

Listen/purchase: Calque by Billow Observatory

[sonicziggy]

"Conifer Walls" by Billow Observatory https://ift.tt/DeLONkh

[mixamorphosis]

Blog post and linked up tracklist [HERE]

Tracklist

01. UNKLE - Outro (Mo Wax) 02. Lav & Purl - All Is Breath (A Strangely Isolated Place) 03. Billow Observatory - Plains (Azure Vista Recordings) 04. Gaussian Curve - T.O.R (Music From Memory) 05. Wilson Tanner - Further Than Your Headlights (Growing Bin Records) 06. Suzanne Kraft - Roberto & Giovanni (Melody As Truth) 07. Okinawa Delays - Nariyama Ayagu (Claremont 56) 08. Chris Coco - Splash Point (Melodica Recordings) 09. Seahawks - Didn't Know I Was Lost (Black Peaches Remix) (Ocean Moon) 10. Bendith - Dinas (Aficionado Recordings) 11. Mark Barrott - Sacred Islands (International Feel Recordings) 12. Wolf Muller & Cass. - Applepie Dreams (International Feel Recordings) 13. Evenings - Babe (Late Night Tales) 14. Slow Magic - Feel Flows (Sun Glitters Remix) (LebenStrasse Records) 15. Cale Parks - 36 Questions Sunset (Throne Of Blood) 16. Farbror Resande Mac - Vardagsrummet (Horisontal Mambo) 17. Arcane - The Arc (Ninja Tune) 18. 36 - Pulse Dive (3six Recordings) 19. Telefuzz - If The Vice Is Right (Upstairs Recordings) 20. ambientsketchbook - Life In Slow Motion (Self Released) 21. Laurie Anderson - Oh Superman (Jascha Hagen Remix) (Self Released)

Download available via [Hearthis]

[imathers]

Top 40: Billow Observatory — Stareside

This past year I switched from what-used-to-be-iTunes to Swinsian. Given the way I’ve copied over the contents of my Mac from iteration to iteration over the years my library there was... decades old, possibly? And the errors had just compounded, until it was refusing to file some music correctly no matter what we did, and spending days on the phone with Apple tech support did nothing. Finally we tried something drastic, and despite my poor service technician’s good faith assurances that we’d definitely backed up my playlists, not only did it not work, but all the contextual information I’d amassed over the years was wiped out. In some ways it was a blessing, and certainly an excuse to seriously reform my filing system for the 104 days and change of music I have on here.

All of this is to say one thing Swinsian does with a playlist like my “2022″ one (every year I make a playlist that holds all of the music I get from that year until I delete a given album or I get around to going through and filing it all early the next year) is assign numbers in the “#” column not based on the order they’re in, but I think in the order they were added to the playlist (although, see below). Today’s albums in my alphabetical “top 40″ listing are at nearly opposite ends of that order; out of 1012 songs in there now Billow Observatory’s Stareside is 1-9, and this afternoon’s installment (which happens to be sequenced directly after Stareside on the alphabetical playlist) is 983-991.

This is also the first instance on the list of a record (and even an act) I only heard about via my compatriots at Dusted, in this case Tim Clarke reviewing it. Given that Tim’s review is from April, that makes it seem outlandish that this would be ‘first’ in my year playlist, except... I switched players midyear. This confused me consistently throughout the rest of the year until literally when I was writing this post.

In one sense I feel I’ve done Stareside a bit of a disservice here, it’s a gorgeous and calming record, and if with this kind of ambient stuff I sometimes have trouble articulating much beyond that (or even fully sussing out what the gap between efforts like this one which work for me and most other ones I try, which... don’t) it does deserve, perversely enough, your attention. But these year review posts aren’t supposed to be anything definitive, and as much as I’ve enjoyed listening to the record over the course of the year when I think of it, my brain tends to go “isn’t it weird that it’s track 1?” So here we are.

[complexdistractions]

Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums of 2022 Part IV(10-1)

These lists, as much as I enjoy putting them together, have become harder and harder to do. I never was much into ranking albums. I can talk about how much I love a record till I’m blue in the face, but putting them in some numerical order from loved to most loved is just a lot. Especially when I’ve listened to and reviewed over 100 albums in a year. But in the same breath I do want to let the…

[a-forbidden-detective]

Another day, another discovery.

The blurry couple on the left will become Unno-san and Donzawa from the Observatory on Solitary Island arc.

The two men on the right will become Torage and his victim.

The femicide victim and her husband are already un-blurred while Kawasemi-san and Yamane still await their turn.

The young woman sitting on the bench’s arm support will become Onodera the photographer and John Grizzly behind her.

Culled from Episode 2, the Case of the Piggy Bank Murder

Much has been said ( @ecargmura ) on the opening song’s blurring of the people around Ron and Toto that has become clearer once these supporting characters have appeared from the episodes.

@plant-akki posted several gifs of these comparisons from episode 3 to the latest.

But have you noticed the man who’s running with the billowing black coat? Once he is seen running in the other direction, but most of the time Ron and Toto are chasing after him.

During Episode 8, the man on the left becomes Jumonji, the director of the observatory. But take a look at the man wearing a black coat running behind him.

He’s now in front of Toto. It looks like the duo is running after him.

He’s appeared now behind them of what looks like a rendition of the “Murder on the Orient Express.”

In the end, he’s pointed the crime scene to them from what looks like a scene from a Japanese detective TV series or mystery film.

The trench-coat wearing Ron is a direct reference to “Columbo.”

Take note that it is only Ron who wears different kinds of clothing, depends on the media he’s dreaming in, while Toto still wears his grey suit.

Anyway, it is none other this guy.

This guy here, Sherlock Holmes, and the man next to him, his John Watson, are fond of running after their suspects in this BBC series. This image is iconic.

It must be an homage, or a running gag (no pun intended), that Ron and Toto should do the same as Ron gets to live his dream of becoming a full-fledged detective like his ancestor with the help of Toto. Hence, Toto holding his friend’s hand who must be telling him, “Hey, slow down, I got you, you are all right. I’ll be here beside you. You aren’t alone now.”

[urlocallesbiabs-reblog-sideblog]

so, i remember seeing a red dwarf tumblr post about how if you leave your universe, it's almost impossible to go back, because there's trillions upon trillions of them, and every minute decision branches off a new one

so what if our original rimmer spent maybe a few months genuinely being ace and enjoying the hero status, then decided it's too dangerous and scary and tiresome and wanted to go home, and spent the entirety of those nine years (between s7 and s9) looking for his home universe?

and he kept saving people along the way of course, ace duty is ace duty (half of those heroic acts were accidents anyway), but his heart wasn't in it anymore; he's found many a universe where there were still people, where he could theoretically fit in and settle and live as close to a normal life as he could hope for, but he could never stay for long, he longed for *his* home, for lister, *his* lister

and wise people told him "you'll never get there. there are too many universes, and every day that you wake up and make a choice to continue looking for home, that choice creates a new one, setting you back. you're dooming yourself.", and he answered "shut up, you stupid goit, you don't get it! get smegged to hell!"

and i imagine a scene:

it's close to the end of the 9 year gap, kochanski's already gone, lister's Not Doing Well, and it's another monster-of-the-week life-or-death situation aboard the red dwarf, a particularly nasty one: all is shit, end is near, how will our heroes get out of *this one!* this is probably it! this is it! they're all gonna smegging die! and then outta nowhere ace pops out, hair billowing in the air and all, shoots some bullets that bullshitly ricochet and perform miracles, and saves the day

after that he asks to spend the night there, because even heroes need to sleep a bit, and of course he's welcome!!

lister doesn't quite know how to approach the subject, so he goes for subtle bordering on undecipherable: asks how long has it been since this ace got the flame passed on to him? what was it like? ace deflects with a charming non-answer and a fun adventure story, and lister thinks well, that's not him, then. must be a new one. that means that his rimmer passed on the flame, that he... died.

lister doesn't know how to process the idea, so he doesn't.

he tries to stick around and listen to the stories that's gotten kryten (and even cat, a little bit!) enthralled, but quickly grows bored and goes off to wander the ship and entertain himself on his own. at some point few hours later, he notices ace out and about as well, measuring doorways with tape, comparing wall paint with color swatches, counting the rooms and making notes in his little notebook; ace doesn't notice him. kinda sketchy behaviour, lister thinks, but doesn't confront him just yet. who knows, maybe the guy just went a little bit space crazy, maybe he's preparing for some impending disaster; would be rude to accuse him of nothing, wouldn't it?

as lister returns to his quarters in the evening, he sees ace briskily walking out from about the same corridor that lister is headed to, throwing him a shining, but somewhat strained smile; ace is going to the room he's claimed for the night, which is on the officer's deck, literally on the other side of the ship (makes sense to lister that he doesn't share the room with him, since this isn't really his bunkmate. smeg knows him, maybe in his universe he actually was an officer and slept alone, not like lister cares). this feels *really* sketchy, but none of lister's things seem to have been messed with on closer inspection, so he can't really prove shit. he feels kind of paranoid, but also tired, and decides he'll talk to ace in the morning.

lister sleeps badly and fitfully, and wakes up in the middle of the night. he can't fall asleep again, and decides to go and grab a bite; maybe visit krissie in the observatory, watch stars together, have some time for himself.

the lights are on in the drive room. ace is there, talking to– *interrogating* holly and kryten, swiveling on a chair back and forth to face either of them, whisper-barking rapid-fire questions; lister is Alarmed (what is this? mutiny? a hostage situation? a threat?), so naturally he hides and eavesdrops.

ace runs them through a bunch of questions that vary wildly in immediately obvious importance, seemingly nonsensical (what fuel does this ship run on? when did the leak happen? who was assigned to fix it? how many irradiated haggies were in the ship's hold at the moment of disaster? has lister ever passed an officer's exam? on what day and what ship did they find kryten? and so on and so forth), growing more and more agitated and focused, determination so passionate it's almost angry. at last, he takes a deep breath, clenches fists, and says "now, i did notice this ship's crew lacks a usual, i'd say indespensable member, namely one arnold judas rimmer. where, pray tell, did you put the bugger?"

"arnold died in 3,002,386 from a vending machine related incident, arnold," says holly.

ace's face falls, and he laughs like someone died. "ah, of course it's like that, of course. it's always like that. well, good chat, gentlemen, thank you for humoring me." he gets up, even though it obvious his legs are weak.

noticing his distress at the information, kryten hurries to clarify, "it was the second one, though! the first one died a few months before that!"

ace falls back into the chair. "what do you *mean* the second one?!"

"the one my nanobots ressurected!" kryten clarifies with mostly pride, partially guilt.

"what smegging nanobots? what on io has happened here?" ace rimmer has to forcibly hold his horses, pulling a palm down his face. "no, forget it, doesn't matter, not right now. the other one, the first one — how did *he* die?"

"well, physically it was the cadmium 2 leak in 2181" holly helpfully explains. ace rimmer makes a dying groan. "but his hologram form was destroyed by an escaped knight from an AR camelot game."

the man perks up. "was me — well no, not exactly me, but — ugh, was ace rimmer there?.."

they confirm that yes, even though he left soon after. rimmer goes slack in his chair and puts a hand over his eyes. "so this is it?" he whispers. "so many years, and... this is it. i'm here. i can't believe it."

after a minute in weird silence, he gets up and staggers out.

lister's a few paces down the corridor, having been unsettled by the exhange and made the decision to leave.

rimmer calls out to him, loudly, with intense gravitas, "lister!"

"rimmer," he responds, shocked and disbeliving, eyes open.

"lister!" he exclaims urgently, desperately.

"you're my rimmer, aren't ya," lister states a question, incredulous.

"of course i'm yours, you stupid git!" rimmer cries out and lunges at him, crushing him in a hug. "you gimboid, you imbecile, you smeg for brains smeghead," he chatters on, out of breath, cradling him.

"i've missed ya," lister sobs. rimmer doesn’t manage to respond, only hugs him even harder.

(rimmer didn’t want to throw himself at the guy until he'd made sure it's *his* guy, didn't want to make himself vulnerable only to later make a fool of himself; too many times he let himself hope and get drunk on that hope and then had his stupid heart broken by some tiny little thing being off, inviting a flood of other little things, suddenly finding himself in an embrace with a stranger wearing his best friend's face. he just couldn't bear it anymore, not again. he needed to make sure first.)

however, this headcanon poses a problem of reconciling this with late series rimmer claiming to have saved red dwarf from the corrosive virus back then. because if our rimmer only returned during the 9 year gap (closer to end of it), he couldn't have been there at the end of s8, right?

to which i propose this: the alternative ending to "only the young" is canon, and it was nanobot rimmer who saved (or rather tried to save) the day; then he was killed by a rouge vending machine. they couldn't bring him back as a hologram though, because the holo-suite was heavily damaged by the corrosion virus and they didn't have the intricate spare parts needed to fix it. so, his memory disk stayed unused, carefully kept in the hopes of someday fixing the holo-suite (never found a suitable derelict though, not with their shit luck). then our rimmer came along, learned of the entire situation, fixed the suite using details taken from wildfire, and asked holly to merge the info from this disc onto his (because for smeg's sake, it's at least 1 year out of those hellish 9 that he can remember having spent home; he can Not pass it up). the merge was successful, but majorly jittered his vibes (since he remembered two different versions of being 32, and in one of them lister was 8 years older than in the other, and he became aware that in the same year as he was 32 for the second time he also was 40 and in another universe) and gave him lifelong memory issues. he's still happy as a clam about the result, though!

that's why other's disagree when he claims having saved the day back then — he figures that if he has that guy's memories, he *is* that guy, because that's how holograms work, but others want to argue that the alive nanobot rimmer technically wasn't exactly him; you Don't wanna be there for all of the smeg-throwing that occurs during the argument.

it all could be a fake episode (or maybe a fake two-episode special), where the first half's main gag/storyline would be lister slowly growing convinced that ace is actually evil and is in the process of brewing some Sinister Plans, and the second would be about rimmer going peculiar from the merge and randomly glitching between various remembered stages of his life (thinking he's still ace and this is isn't his lister; thinking he's nanobot rimmer and wondering what happened to the crew; a throwback to an early episode or two; thinking he's a fresh hopeful enlist on red dwarf [kinda painful in a hindsight way, but also pathetic and hilarious]; thinking he's a small child [very silly and funny, mostly cute even if a bit weird because that's a grown man's body, also an epic Rimmer Trauma Lore moment as usual]; etc), to the point that lister worries they've smegging broken him and he'll never be alright, only for him to finally cope and appear sane, only to reveal last second that parts of his memory are still kinda jumbled.

i'd call that fake episode:

"H Stands For Home"

and i imagine a scene from the second half:

rimmer sees the destroyed holo-suite (god, i really can't leave you bastards alone even for a day, let alone a decade), and finds the memory disc for the other him (wait, what is this? i clearly remember taking mine with me when i left...), and gets filled in on the whole nanobots, ressurected rimmer, corrosive virus debacle (he needs to sit down.)

naturally, he decides to fix the hologram-projecting hardware (obvious turn of events) and merge the discs' data together (man, what??)

he pops out, promises to be back in a jiffie, and returns from the hangar with a bunch of circut boards, unconneted wires and the likes, immediately getting to work

"whatcha doing?" lister asks, clearly entertained but also genuinely curious

"having a smegging picnic, what does it look like?!"

"...can you fix it, though?"

"i've serviced my own ship for a decade straight, i've prevented all kinds of disasters on dozens of red dwarves, i've saved countless city-states from technological ruin, of course i'm perfectly capable of fixing this ship's holo-suite!" (this very moment, he connects something wrong and gets a shower of sparkles right to his face, which startles him and causes him to bang his head rather hard against an open latch)

when lister's done laughing, he asks "where on smeg did you even get the details? i've meant to patch it up all these years, but just... never could find 'em." (here his voice voice grows distant and sad; he had lost rimmer *twice* in one year, and it was just unfair. it just hurt.)

"good ol' baby racehorse wildfire," rimmer slaps one of the circuit boards with pride; something falls off of it. "presume it got the upgrade sometime since the original ace kicked the bucket; something needs to keep all of us holograms going."

"wait, you tore these from your ship?"

"what, was i supposed to pull them out of my arse?" rimmer is getting annoyed by the pointless conversation

"it's just... how will ya fly it, then?"

"it's still perfectly spaceworthy, i'll let you know!" rimmer preens. "sure, no more having my arse fall asleep after one week straight in the cockpit, hauling vaccine to pluto or some such (would not recommend), but i can still give it a good run as long as my lightbee's got charge! not all that different from our other off-the-ship missions — now what are you, stupid?"

"you won't be able to travel for long," lister clarifies apprehensively. "you won't be able to have your... space smeg adventure. you won't be ace."

rimmer looks up at him like he's crazy. "of course i won't be ace." he gets up, walks weirdly close to lister. "i'm not leaving. what — what did you think this was? that i'd spent all these years looking for you, for this dimension, only to have some tea and smeg right back off?!"

"...i don't know what i thought," lister admits, half-laughing and weirdly upset and relieved.

rimmer gripes him by the shoulders very, very hard. "i'm not leaving. never."

also, he wears his hair in the classic long and free ace style until the proper Reunion, then as soon as he fixes the holo-suite and hookes his projection to red dwarf he asks holly to chop it all off (he wanted to do that immediately after confirming that this is his home universe, but he was still connected to wildfire's holo-hardware and the ship's ai wouldn't let him bc ouughhh houghhh ace but your hair is So Beautiful, i simply Can Not); between the two points, he wore a tight neat ponytail to keep all his golden locks out of his smegging face, and he looked Hot doing it

***

and another thought, that isn't directly connected to this imaginary two-episode special, but still has to do with rimmer, lister, and the 9 years gap:

(though i'm not sure if it's canon to my personal headcanonverse [...i'm not even sure i've got a personal headcanonverse here. i love the idea of them getting together in early series when he's still soft-light, or later when he's hard-light and they can touch, or after the reunion, or post-tpl; too many possibilities!] because i feel like it gets rimmer off the hook of his internalized homophobia way too easy, but anyway, just imagine.)

it's rimmer's ace years, and it's not only beautiful young birds throwing themselves at him for his sexy heroics, but beautiful young studs as well; he switches many a dimension, and what happens in a reality stays in that reality, right?; he meets many a lister, some of them openly queer, some of them in a relationship (past or ongoing) with their rimmer; he sleeps the night away with some of them. long story short, 9 years of both excessive human attention and crushing loneliness are ample time to confront one's sexuality. he's still got his hangups though, so in his mind "i am gay" and "lister is my best ever friend whom i miss terribly" don't quite cross together, not immediately.

either way, he finally gets back, they have their happy reunion, and then rimmer learns while he was off adventuring, lister had a wife and a child and loved her deeply and then she died; obviously, lister still needs some space to process all that. rimmer will talk to him about his soul-search some other time (no, he doesn't feel like he'd been replaced, he's not jealous, jeez!). lister just needs some time to move on, yea? and then it'll all be back to how it used to be, just the four of them.

and then s9 happens, and lister is obsessed with getting kochanski back, and rimmer feels as insecure as in s1 but ten times worse — there's the woman who'd been by lister's side for the last decade, there's his wife, there's the love of his life, and there's, well, just some guy. there's rimmer.

he longs desperately to be the most important person in lister's life, but he just isn't, and that's driving him mad. that's what (partially, together with all his lifetime-accumulated trauma) fuels his tpl insistence that nobody aboard red dwarf (read: lister) likes him: he knows lister doesn't love him back, and that is killing him.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Radiant Stars at the Heart of a Cosmic Rose

Dark Energy Camera captures most detailed image of the resplendent Rosette Nebula and the star cluster fueling its glow

Cradled within the fiery petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster which it nurtured. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant hues of red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its excavated core. This image, captured by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera, is being released in celebration of NOIRLab’s fifth anniversary.

Around 5000 light-years away, the Rosette Nebula appears to be blooming right out the interstellar medium. Every detail of this cosmic flower, from its glowing central cavity to its shadowy filaments and globulettes, is captured in this image by the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

Located in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), the Rosette Nebula spans 1.3 degrees of sky, roughly the width of an index finger held out at arm’s length. For comparison, the well-known Orion Nebula, located in the constellation Orion just below the hunter’s belt, spans one degree of sky. Although the Rosette Nebula has a diameter of 130 light-years — more than five times as large as the Orion Nebula — their apparent sizes are similar because the former is four times as distant.

As prominent as the nebula’s ‘petals’ is the conspicuous absence of gas at its center. The culprits responsible for excavating this hollow core are the most massive stars of NGC 2244 — the open star cluster nurtured by the nebula. This cluster was born around two million years ago after the nebula’s gasses coalesced into clumps brought together by their mutual gravity. Eventually, some clumps grew to be massive stars that produce stellar winds powerful enough to bore a hole in the nebula’s heart. 

NGC 2244’s massive stars also emit ultraviolet radiation, which ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas and lights up the nebula in an array of brilliant colors. The billowing red clouds are regions of H-alpha emission, resulting from highly energized hydrogen atoms emitting red light. Along the walls of the central cavity, closer to the massive central stars, the radiation is energetic enough to ionize a heavier atom like oxygen, which glows in shades of gold and yellow. Finally, along the edges of the flower’s petals are wispy tendrils of deep pink glowing from the light emitted by ionized silicon.

The Rosette Nebula’s bright and glowing features are certainly striking; but its dark and shadowy features also command attention. Around the nebula’s excavated nucleus is a string of dark clouds dubbed ‘elephant trunks,’ so-named because of their trunk-like pillars. These structures are opaque because they contain obscuring dust, and they line the border between the hot shell of ionized hydrogen and the surrounding environment of cooler hydrogen. As the shell expands outwards it encounters cold and clumpy gas that resists its push. This creates the long and extended trunks whose lengths point like fingers towards the central cluster.

One of these dark features is the Wrench Trunk, its claw-like head seen towards the upper right of the central cluster. Unlike the prototypical Pillars of Creation trunks which stand like straight columns, the Wrench’s ‘handle’ has an unusual spiral shape which traces the magnetic field of the nebula.

Less obvious but equally interesting are the dark globulettes. Sometimes round and sometimes teardrop-shaped, these diminutive blobs of dust are smaller than the better known globules at only a few times more massive than Jupiter. A string of them can be seen near the Wrench Trunk, but hundreds more dot the entire Rosette Nebula. These globulettes may host brown dwarfs and planets within them. 

Like all roses, the Rosette Nebula will not last forever, for the same stars it birthed will also bring about its death. In roughly 10 million years the radiation from the hot, young stars of the NGC 2244 cluster will have dissipated the nebula. By then the rosette will no longer be, and its massive stars will be left without their parent cloud.

This huge 377-megapixel image is being released in celebration of NOIRLab’s fifth anniversary. On 1 October 2019 NOIRLab’s five programs — Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the Community Science and Data Center, the International Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Vera C. Rubin Observatory — were brought together under one organization. In the years since, NOIRLab’s world-class telescopes have contributed to many discoveries and countless press releases, and produced an impressive collection of stunning astronomical images showcasing our diverse and colorful Universe.

TOP IMAGE: Cradled within the fiery petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster which it nurtured. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant hues of red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its excavated core. This image, captured by 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, is being released in celebration of NOIRLab’s fifth anniversary.Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

LOWER IMAGE: This excerpt shows some of the interesting features of the Rosette Nebula. The dashed circle highlights the nebula's central star cluster, NGC 2244. The hazy smudge at the center of NGC 2244 is the young stellar object (YSO), Rosette HH1 (1). YSOs are stars in their early stage of evolution, before they become main-sequence stars, that often exhibit characteristics such as jets, bipolar outflows, protoplanetary discs, and other indicators of a new star being born. Around the nebula’s excavated nucleus is a string of dark clouds dubbed ‘elephant trunks,’ so-named because of their trunk-like pillars (2, 4) One of these dark features is the Wrench Trunk (3). Unlike the prototypical Pillars of Creation trunks which stand like straight columns, the Wrench’s ‘handle’ has an unusual spiral shape which traces the magnetic field of the nebula. This image was captured with the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

[ddagent]

Not feeling my best today (it feels like flu, for some reason) but I did manage to write a few words. Here is Angel!Crowley and Demon!Aziraphale:

“Angel.” The pirate crew atop the deck of the Stargazer had frozen. Crowley, still wearing his shackles from his earlier imprisonment, twisted to catch his first glimpse of the Demon Aziraphale for the first time in close to a decade. His breeches were far too tight. And the neckline of the shirt he wore billowed in the morning breeze. Blond curls lent to his angelic appearance – the pierced ear and sword jutting from his hip suggested he was nothing more than a rake. Novels and ballads would be written about the pirate with the face of an angel and the heart of a devil who would lead men to their graves and women to his bed – or the other way, as Aziraphale was so inclined. He approached Crowley carefully, an eyebrow lifted in amusement. “The Angel of the Eastern Gate. About to walk the plank.” He sighed and threw up both his hands. “What are you even doing here? I thought you were opening an observatory in London.”

[postambientlux]

BEST AMBIENT OF 2023

BEST AMBIENT ALBUMS of 2023 curated by @holsgr

50 : Linus Alberg - Elements

49 : Laurel Halo - Atlas

48 : Alex Smalley - Moments at the Re​-​engage

47 : Pepo Galán - Family Harmony

46 : Oval - Romantiq

45 : Lunar Corp - Tourism

44 : Henrik Lindstrand - Klangland

43 : Memory Scale - And All Things Begin to Drift

42 : Elskavon - Origins

41 : Bruno Sanfilippo - Ver Sacrum

40 : André 3000 - New Blue Sun

39 : Eluvium - (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality

38 : Martin Kohlstedt - Feld

37 : Loris S. Sarid - A Tiny Reminder

36 : Subheim - Raeon

35 : Claire M Singer - Saor

34 : Faten Kanaan - Afterpoem

33 : Matt Elliott - The End of Days

32 : Gunn Truscinski Nace - Glass Band

31 : Bill Seaman, Tim Diagram & Stephen Spera - The World Was Turning Before

30 : Yosuke Tokunaga - 8 Quadrants

29 : Deepriver - Volume One

28 : Ali Sethi & Nicolas Jaar - Intiha

27 : Maps And Diagrams - A Study of Ends or Purpose

26 : Tim Hecker - No Highs

25 : Tobias Preisig - Closer

24 : Maxime Dangles - Les Délivrés

23 : Graham Lambkin - Aphorisms

22 : Loscil & Lawrence English - Colours Of Air

21 : Hania Rani - Ghosts

20 : Chaz Knapp & Mariel Roberts - Setting Fire to These Dark Times

19 : Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani - Les Égarés

18 : Grotta Veterano & Music For Sleep - Endless Vacation

17 : Cicada - 棲居在溪源之上 (Seeking the Sources of Streams)

16 : Takashi Kokubo & Andrea Esperti - Music For A Cosmic Garden

15 : Oneohtrix Point Never - Again

14: Raphael Rogiński - Talàn

13 : Lucy Liyou - Dog Dreams (개꿈)

12 : Greg Foat & Gigi Masin - Dolphin

11 : Mette Henriette - Drifting

10 : Marine Eyes & IKSRE - Nurture

9 : Awakened Souls - Unlikely Places

8 : Lemon Quartet - ArtsFest

7 : Zander Raymond - Secrets From A Squirrel

6 : Purelink - Signs

5 : Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada

4 : Matthew Halsall - An Ever Changing View

3 : Lia Kohl - The Ceiling Reposes

2 : Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective - *1

1 : Canaan Balsam - Eternity Lies Within Or Nowhere

BEST AMBIENT EP's OF 2023

10 : KMRU & Abul Mogard - Drawing Water

9 : Hannes Kretzer - Species

8 : Billow Observatory - Calque

7 : Alex Smalley & Lucia Adam - Shapes

6 : Max Ananyev - Scenery

5 : Ben Zucker - After Along the Way

4 : Ideophone - April

3 : James Osland - Sharing Time With You Has Been My Biggest Joy

2 : Jeremixyz - xyz

1 : Lake Haze - Pure Movements

[zipzapzopzoop]

I Tried it at Home

Chapter 3: Ground Control to Major Tom

Thursday, December 14th, 2034 - 6:03PM

A 60 million year old dinosaur was not the first thing to come crashing through the Robinsons’ dining room window... Neither was Art’s UFO either, to be fair.

It was just the most notable. 

Wilber had been booting up a game of chargeball when a massive crash shook the entire house. Carl came down the travel tube not 30 seconds later, wearing a heart-patterned apron from helping Franny recook dinner after burning the first one.

“Wilbur, what did you do?!” “Why do you think I did something?”

Before Carl could respond, Cornelius’s voice sounded over the observatory’s intercom.

“Robinsons, we need urgent medical attention in the dining room! All hands on deck, we have an emergency!”

A quick exchanged glance and both boy and robot made a break for the travel tube.

Wilbur and Carl rushed in with the rest of the family to find Art’s UFO crashed into the floor of the dining room. It was scratched and dented, and its glass dome shattered, sending smoke billowing into the house. The hot spacecraft mixed with the cold wind outside felt odd. A frightening mix of heat and frost.

Cornelius quickly took charge.

“Mom! Dad! I want you and the kids somewhere safe! Fritz, I need a fire extinguisher! Carl, lift what you can! We need to find Art! Gaston-”

But Gaston wasn’t listening. Neither was Franny. When Cornelius looked over, they were both digging through the wreckage, lifting and throwing heavy pieces of metal with incredible ease. They were getting scraped and burned, yelping out in pain, but neither of them cared. They were just dead set on finding their brother.

“Art!” Franny cried, straining to pry open a piece of scrap metal. “Rghhh- help me!”

Gaston rushed over and helped her lift it and throw it aside. The other Robinsons quickly took initiative and joined in to help. “Art! Where are you!?” Gaston shouted, squeezing himself into the cockpit of the spaceship and coughing on the smoke.

Carl rushed around and opened windows, letting out the smoke so everyone could breathe safely. Cornelius felt a tap and looked over to see Uncle Joe holding up a fire extinguisher for him. “Thank you,” Cornelius nodded and hurried to put out any remaining flames. He suddenly caught sight of his son digging in the rubble.

“Wilbur! I want you outside where it’s safe!” Wilbur only shook his head. “No, dad. This is my family, too. I need to help!”

Despite everything, pride bloomed in Cornelius’s chest for his son.

Carl began to throw broken pieces outside the already broken window so they could navigate better. Some of the metal plates were so hot, they hissed when landing in the snow. Laszlo lifted pieces off the top of the ship and helped Carl throw them outside. His helmet wasn’t strong enough to lift massive pieces, but he did everything he could to stop debris from falling on the others. Billie used her tools to take some pieces apart. She removed the golden door from its hinges and moved to throw it out. To her surprise, even Frankie and his band were helping lift smaller pieces of rubble and using their small sizes to squeeze inside the ship in search of Art.

“I can’t find him! Where is he?!” Franny shouted, her voice overflowing with panic.

“I don’t know… I don’t know!” Gaston didn’t sound much better.

Very few times had Wilbur ever heard his mother and uncle sound like that. His mother- the strongest, smartest person he knew, and Uncle Gaston- bold, fearless Gaston. 

Suddenly… beeping.

A small broken beeping.

One by one, the Robinsons paused their search and went quiet. Where..?

Slowly, a familiar broad silhouette stepped through the snow and stood in the broken window. Ragged and scraped up… but alive.

He smiled through his pain and held up his cracked phone, still beeping.

“...has it been thirty minutes?”

“Art!” Franny and Gaston cried in unison, dropping everything and rushing over to their brother.

They barrelled into him so quick, the trio toppled back into the snow.

“What happened?!” “Are you okay!?” “Did you manage the double safety back roll?” “Gaston!”

“...Sorry.”

Art laughed and squeezed the other two close in a big hug. “I came in far too quickly and the blizzard weakened my visibility!”

Franny and Gaston both scrubbed away tears and clung to their elder brother like their lives depended on it. Art saw and blinked away a few of his own. “Hey now, you know I’d never leave you both.”

The rest of the Robinsons excitedly climbed from the rubble and rushed over to join the Famaguccis. Even the frogs croaked with joy and hopped up onto the trio. 

Art looked up at the mess his UFO made in the dining room and winced.

“About that…” Wilbur laughed and elbowed Carl. “You know, normally we’d be eating right now but we had to start over on dinner. Carl, you saved the day by burning the pasta!”

“What!?” Gaston squawked.

“You BURNT the PASTA?!”

[boyakishantrinity]

Slugterra next chapter.

Me at school. So post later, here next piece.

Nothing. The awkward silence of nothing, staring up at the curved rooftop, stars studding the inner part of the observatory. Body aching from the chaos that’d been the last week. Curling her hand, blood rushing outwards through her limbs in a controlled burst. Moving slowly, blood obeying her command as her body slowly burned at the liquid. The dull thudding in her ears, the pumping through her body as she stared at the roof.

“… Can’t sleep?”

His voice called out. Cloaked in shadows, dark fur quills covering his body, eyes a dull colour. Hardly a shade or a shape, billowing a fine mist as he scratched the side of his neck. Freaky was one word to describe him, silent, invisible, something that pricked the ends of her neck if it weren’t for the soothing sound and actions he showed in spite of this danger.

“…”

Nothing. She replied nothing. Hairs with soft curls, red growing thicker, richer, a strong set of keratin, the man yawned. Blood caking through the insides, a fleshier bloodier filled set of keratin.

“… Y’know, it took us a few hours to acclimate.”

Himself and her, the two siblings. It’d been freaky the first time they’d showed up, it’d been freakier still when they were two opposites. Trotting his way, edging the shadow, his other half snoozing above, tent pitched in the air as she lay there.

“… A few hours?”

Blinking. The squelching sensation of thin blood washed over her pupils, shivers sent down her spine, arms pin pricked as the wolf yawned. Shifting its pelt, teeth shining in the waxing gibbous, pale whites stained red and pink. Snorting as he leaned forward.

“Mmmm…”

Freaky. Human voice easily flowing from the animal, yawning, eyes dull as it spoke. Continuing to talk to her with mild disinterest.

“… Most folk would take a few weeks to reach this stage.”

Standing straight, shifting his body, legs crossing one over the other, relaxing, half fat, half muscle. Slumping fur onto the ground, shed keratin puffing into mist, constantly degenerating, she’d barely explained how or why but today she’d have to explain it.

“… This stage?”

Linking forward, blood pressing through veins, pumping muscles as she winced. Shivers sent along the spine, hairs kept straight, a deeper chuckle sending trembles down her back. Forcing her to freeze, sneezing, before he looked at her.

“… Aye.”

Nodding, the animal formed human nodding as he let out slow breaths. A full blown psychopath, a complete lack of a moral compass, collar round his neck. Letting out a second yawn as he looked into her eyes.

“Most people can barely…”

Pausing. Hesitating, looking up, seeming to have a vacant stare for a moment, before he found his words.

“… acclimate to the sensations of… vampirism.”

Each pause, he seemed to be… well. Not cautious, he didn’t have a reason to be cautious, rather. Hesitant, taking his time, choosing his words wisely, content in a strange way. Almost lazy, as if he had been slowing his everything on purpose.

“… So?”

Head faintly jostling, hands pressed against the couch, staring at the wolf as his back foot scratched against the animal’s neck. Shifting, frames separating, animation pieces, pure blank model, 3D render maps, her head arched as he pulled his leg back. Shaking his head, before the pieces fluttered in glitch like sparks.

“… Nothing really… just…”

Pausing. Toes rising and falling one after the other. Neck leaning back and forth, lights turned off, moonlight hardly coming in, slugs slumped across the base before he seemed to give. Shrug.

“Peculiar I guess.”

Shaking off the dust. Black stained fur, snorting, nostrils flaring as he let loose another yawn. Snout dropped to his paws as they slapped against the floor. Childish. Strangely so, shivers no longer tingling down her spine, head slowly tilting before the dog stood up.

“… Right, enough sentimental. Off ta bed.”

Jumping, his body flinching, red, yellow and blue, blue and yellow mashing more so it was more like red green and blue. Glitching, three of him nudging one after the other, mixing to form an inverted form, rolling onto the ground as a human. Jeans and shirt bound on their body, before trotting over to her side.

“… Hey-”

“Shhhhh.”

Biting the blanket, tossing it onto her swung body, man licking her face as he bapped her confused face. Staring, left staring at the sudden movement, opening her eyes to see the sun beginning to rise.

[13melekradyo]

13 Nisan 2024 tarihli program kaydı.

Güncel drone/ambient kayıtlarından bir seçki // A selection of recent drone/ambient recordings. Download.

01 – Point Of Memory – Carried By Ravens 02 – Nicol Eltzroth Rosendorf – Wave Offering 03 – EUS – Umbral 04 – Billow Observatory – Chasing Ghosts 05 – Meg Mulhearn – Snowdrop 06 – JWPaton – Gardeners Of The Apocalypse (excerpt) 07 – Daryl Groetsch – Above The Shore 08 – Annie Aries – Abyss 09 – MINING – Petrichor 10 – Kristen Gallerneaux – Domes

[mit]

The first asteroid sample returned to Earth

Richard Binzel describes how asteroid dirt and dust delivered by OSIRIS-Rex, with help from MIT, may reveal clues to the solar system’s origins.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News

On Sunday morning, a capsule the size of a mini-fridge dropped from the skies over western Utah, carrying a first-of-its-kind package: about 250 grams of dirt and dust plucked from the surface of an asteroid. As a candy-stripedparachute billowed open to slow its freefall, the capsule plummeted down to the sand, slightly ahead of schedule.

The special delivery came courtesy of OSIRIS-REx, the first NASA mission to travel to an asteroid and return a sample of its contents to Earth. Launched in 2016, the mission’s target was Bennu, a “near-Earth” asteroid that is thought to have formed during the solar system’s first 10 million years. The asteroid is made mostly of carbon and minerals, and has not been altered much since it formed. Samples from its surface could therefore offer valuable clues about the kinds of minerals and materials that first came together to shape the early solar system.

OSIRIS-REx journeyed for over two years to reach Bennu, where it then spent another two years circling and measuring its surface, looking for a spot to pick a sample. Among the suite of instruments aboard the spacecraft was an MIT-student-designed experiment, REXIS (the Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer). The shoebox-sized instrument was the work of more than 100 MIT students, who designed the instrument to map the asteroid’s surface material in X-rays, to help determine where the spacecraft should take a sample. REXIS is a joint project between the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), the Harvard College Observatory, the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

On Sunday, OSIRIS-REx released the capsule to fall through the Earth’s atmosphere, as the spacecraft itself set off on a new course to the asteroid Apophis. The capsule has been transported to Houston’s Johnson Space Center, where Bennu’s dust will be examined and distributed to researchers around the world for further study. The sample’s successful return is a huge milestone for the mission’s members, including MIT’s Richard Binzel, a leading expert in the study of asteroids, and a professor post-tenure in EAPS and AeroAstro. As an OSIRIS-REx co-investigator, Binzel helped lead the development of REXIS and its integration with the spacecraft. MIT News checked in with Binzel for his first reactions following the capsule’s landing and recovery, and what he hopes we might learn from the asteroid’s dust.

Q: First off: What a landing! As someone who’s studied asteroids in depth, and from afar, what was it like for you to see a sample of this asteroid, returned to Earth?

A: I was holding my breath just like everyone else! The parachute opening was a huge exhale, and the soft landing was a release of joy on behalf of the entire team. You work with these people for so long, you become like family, so you feel everything together. Kind of like watching your kid finishing off their balance beam routine and sticking the landing. While I wasn’t at the landing site, many of us were “together” online watching the timeline and all the procedures. What a journey it has been, more than two decades in the making, starting with our telescopic identification of Bennu as a scientifically rich and easily accessible sampling target, and then with the many evolving designs of the mission. MIT student involvement with the REXIS instrument began in 2010. It took six years to reach the launch pad and now, finally, we are seeing the mission literally come full circle in returning the sample to the Earth.

Q: The instruments aboard OSIRIS-REx made measurements of the asteroid while in orbit. What did those measurements in space reveal about the asteroid? And what more do you hope scientists can uncover, now that a sample is back on Earth?

A: Spacecraft instruments, no matter technologically advanced, cannot accomplish nearly as much as the power of laboratories on Earth. Our instruments aboard OSIRIS-REx told us that Bennu is carbon-rich, likely containing some of the earliest chemical records of the ingredients that made the Earth and even life itself. But how do we know that the spacecraft instruments making measurements while flying above the surface are fully correct in what they reveal and how we interpret the data? We can only be sure by securing the “ground truth” provided through actual samples being brought into Earth’s laboratories. The laboratory analysis of these samples, confirming our preliminary findings, will verify our ability to interpret data about asteroids from both telescopes and orbiting spacecraft. Then the laboratory analysis will take us to even greater depths about the chemistry, conditions, and processes for how our own planetary system came to be.

Q: Let’s give a shoutout to all the students who helped to put an instrument aboard the mission. Going forward, how might this asteroid sample — and the spacecraft’s continued trajectory — relate to the work at MIT?

A: It’s a reminder that the sky is no limit for what we do at MIT. MIT’s REXIS instrument represents MIT’s motto, “mens et manus” [“mind and hand”], extended hundreds of millions of miles out in to space, with actual hardware the students both designed and built, that was flown farther into space than any other MIT student project has gone before. I feel it is simply a privilege to have engaged so many students in learning and experiencing the depth of hard work, teamwork, and dedication that it takes to be successful in space exploration.

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