#Galactic traveler;;Lumine

[vvoidsmm]

NYX VERSE !!!!

just wanted to share some ocs of mine that's been collecting dust on the side... some doesn't have complete lore but hehe... still want to share them 🫶

this was also the time where i was RLLY into anything multiverse/star themed...so... u'll probably notice if u keep reading HAHAHAHA

Nyx, an Aeon of Curiosity

"Is believed to have existed before time itself. An entity beyond human comprehension, Nyx lurks at the edges of our universe, observing the cycle of life and death with its celestial eyes. After extensive research, the Luxerians discovered traces of Nyx's existence and pursued this knowledge, hoping to uncover secrets that could benefit their planet and people. They believed that understanding Nyx would bring them closer to the ultimate truths about their universe—its origins, its nature, and its possibilities"

Before the creation of the cosmos, there was nothing, except Nyx. Nyx existed before stars, time, and space. A void of nothingness became something when a celestial entity emerged. What was once a barren white plane transformed into the first galaxy through Nyx's power. Galaxies multiplied, and planets from different dimensions formed, creating various planes. Nyx could form, manipulate, and traverse all these universes. Driven by curiosity, Nyx entered these planes and observed life evolving within them. With the emergence of time came the multiverse. These planes could be alternate timelines, with multiple outcomes, possibilities, dimensions, and realities. As these increased, a tree representing all galaxies and their connections came into existence. However, its location and how to approach it remain unknown. Only when Luxergia managed to find traces of the existence of Nyx.

Galactic Menace; Nix

WHO?

A proclaimed space-ranger that’s traveling across the cosmos. He’s described as charismatic and outgoing, never letting power and regulations restrain him from reaching a certain goal. In the eyes of others, he is a mysterious man who follows only his rules. During his ventures across the galaxy, he’s been famous for creating problems for many, leading to a bounty for his head that spread space-wide. Despite his striking and cheery outlook, deep down he holds great grief and anger, as he seeks out an enemy unknown to many.

FROM?

It was a beautiful planet. The sky always had the hues of blues and purples that surrounded the lands. It's filled with bioluminescent particles that give the sky a faint glow. The gases would often present motions of swirls in the air that almost mimic the sea. The atmosphere is deep and heavy, with the temperature being too cold for an average human to survive in. Luxergia’s core power comes from Xerge. Due to this, it caused the Luxerians to have luminous parts of their bodies (hair, skin, eyes) under different conditions. The residents in Luxergia are divided into nations worldwide. Each nation has a specific area of research assigned that involves the local environment, ecosystem, and phenomena. The main headquarter of research is located at the center of the planet, which Luxerians believe is the closest to their connection with their aeon, Nyx.

Before becoming the ranger he is today, Nix was born on a planet called Luxergia, a world that places a strong emphasis on evolution and research. He was named after the planet's Aeon, as his parents admired this figure deeply and chose to honor their god by naming him after it. After the destruction of his planet by an unknown entity, Nyx became an unknown ranger seeking out the multiverse to search for, what he believes in, his surviving sister.

Angel of guidance, Astra

From the nation of Lucidus, an angel born from the manifestation of enlightenment and hope, Astra came to be to provide the people guidance. Names such as “Stellar Angel”, and “The Northern Star” were given to him as he was seen as the embodiment of all that was good and just, his presence was believed to bring a sense of calm and serenity to those around him.

Astra is an angel who emerged from the people of Lucidus and carries a fragment of Nyx's star. As a guide of hope, Astra can glimpse into your past, present, and future. Although he cannot fully interact with the various versions of life and the universe that he observes, he uses this insight to assist people and guide them toward a better path.

However, as soon as the virus Anathema plagued the nation of Lucidus, believers passed- which is also a danger for angels. The less people believed and hoped, the angels disappeared. And that’s what happened with Astra. As he vanished, a part of him was left behind. An emblem that held his power, his abilities. Those who possess the star of Astra can manifest their dreams, desires, power, and paths. But it was never easy finding this star. It often moves locations, places people have never been in before, difficult to find. But the only way one can know if this star changes its path, a constellation from the sky changes. It is often a sign of its whereabouts or signals.

Despite the death of Astra, a part of him lives. A vessel from Sumeru, an elf who dedicated its life to studying the magic of stars. The history, the power.

The chosen, Cosmo

After a long search for the fallen angel's remains, Cosmo felt fortunate to have gained access to its power. She wields it effortlessly as if it was meant for her. She dedicated her life, power, and vision to helping those in need. Continuing Astra's legacy. But no good comes without evil lurking to steal the emblem's power.

People, very bad people began to hunt her down for this power. Putting her and her family's lives in danger. Out of sheer desperation, not knowing the limits, and the danger the power holds if transferred in full force, Cosmo gave Astra's emblem to her son. Cosmo's life fell short, leaving only one family behind, leaving her son behind.

Dimming light, Silas

Death was his path. An inescapable one, at that. But Cosmo looked through the possibilities of his survival, and only one came out. It was slim and dangerous— yet she took that chance for her son to escape.

He was never to possess Astra's powers. Although it saved him and gave him a chance to live, it felt like a curse rather than a gift. Death was much kinder if he did not have to endure the pain of having to hold what's not supposed to be in him— what's not his. The lines between reality, of what's in his world and what's not began to blur every waking moment. He didn't have the power over Astra's arcane. It was killing him slowly.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins

The quasars appear to have few cosmic neighbors, raising questions about how they first emerged more than 13 billion years ago.

A quasar is the extremely bright core of a galaxy that hosts an active supermassive black hole at its center. As the black hole draws in surrounding gas and dust, it blasts out an enormous amount of energy, making quasars some of the brightest objects in the universe. Quasars have been observed as early as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and it’s been a mystery as to how these objects could have grown so bright and massive in such a short amount of cosmic time.

Scientists have proposed that the earliest quasars sprang from overly dense regions of primordial matter, which would also have produced many smaller galaxies in the quasars’ environment. But in a new MIT-led study, astronomers observed some ancient quasars that appear to be surprisingly alone in the early universe. 

The astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer back in time, more than 13 billion years, to study the cosmic surroundings of five known ancient quasars. They found a surprising variety in their neighborhoods, or “quasar fields.” While some quasars reside in very crowded fields with more than 50 neighboring galaxies, as all models predict, the remaining quasars appear to drift in voids, with only a few stray galaxies in their vicinity.

These lonely quasars are challenging physicists’ understanding of how such luminous objects could have formed so early on in the universe, without a significant source of surrounding matter to fuel their black hole growth.

“Contrary to previous belief, we find on average, these quasars are not necessarily in those highest-density regions of the early universe. Some of them seem to be sitting in the middle of nowhere,” says Anna-Christina Eilers, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “It’s difficult to explain how these quasars could have grown so big if they appear to have nothing to feed from.”

There is a possibility that these quasars may not be as solitary as they appear, but are instead surrounded by galaxies that are heavily shrouded in dust and therefore hidden from view. Eilers and her colleagues hope to tune their observations to try and see through any such cosmic dust, in order to understand how quasars grew so big, so fast, in the early universe. 

Eilers and her colleagues report their findings in a paper appearing today in the Astrophysical Journal. The MIT co-authors include postdocs Rohan Naidu and Minghao Yue; Robert Simcoe, the Francis Friedman Professor of Physics and director of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research; and collaborators from institutions including Leiden University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, ETH Zurich, and elsewhere.

Galactic neighbors

The five newly observed quasars are among the oldest quasars observed to date. More than 13 billion years old, the objects are thought to have formed between 600 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. The supermassive black holes powering the quasars are a billion times more massive than the sun, and more than a trillion times brighter. Due to their extreme luminosity, the light from each quasar is able to travel over the age of the universe, far enough to reach JWST’s highly sensitive detectors today. 

“It’s just phenomenal that we now have a telescope that can capture light from 13 billion years ago in so much detail,” Eilers says. “For the first time, JWST enabled us to look at the environment of these quasars, where they grew up, and what their neighborhood was like.”

The team analyzed images of the five ancient quasars taken by JWST between August 2022 and June 2023. The observations of each quasar comprised multiple “mosaic” images, or partial views of the quasar’s field, which the team effectively stitched together to produce a complete picture of each quasar’s surrounding neighborhood. 

The telescope also took measurements of light in multiple wavelengths across each quasar’s field, which the team then processed to determine whether a given object in the field was light from a neighboring galaxy, and how far a galaxy is from the much more luminous central quasar. 

“We found that the only difference between these five quasars is that their environments look so different,” Eilers says. “For instance, one quasar has almost 50 galaxies around it, while another has just two. And both quasars are within the same size, volume, brightness, and time of the universe. That was really surprising to see.”

Growth spurts

The disparity in quasar fields introduces a kink in the standard picture of black hole growth and galaxy formation. According to physicists’ best understanding of how the first objects in the universe emerged, a cosmic web of dark matter should have set the course. Dark matter is an as-yet unknown form of matter that has no other interactions with its surroundings other than through gravity. 

Shortly after the Big Bang, the early universe is thought to have formed filaments of dark matter that acted as a sort of gravitational road, attracting gas and dust along its tendrils. In overly dense regions of this web, matter would have accumulated to form more massive objects. And the brightest, most massive early objects, such as quasars, would have formed in the web’s highest-density regions, which would have also churned out many more, smaller galaxies. 

“The cosmic web of dark matter is a solid prediction of our cosmological model of the Universe, and it can be described in detail using numerical simulations,” says co-author says Elia Pizzati, a graduate student at Leiden University. “By comparing our observations to these simulations, we can determine where in the cosmic web quasars are located.” 

Scientists estimate that quasars would have had to grow continuously with very high accretion rates in order to reach the extreme mass and luminosities at the times that astronomers have observed them, fewer than 1 billion years after the Big Bang. 

“The main question we’re trying to answer is, how do these billion-solar-mass black holes form at a time when the universe is still really, really young? It’s still in its infancy,” Eilers says. 

The team’s findings may raise more questions than answers. The “lonely” quasars appear to live in relatively empty regions of space. If physicists’ cosmological models are correct, these barren regions signify very little dark matter, or starting material for brewing up stars and galaxies. How, then, did extremely bright and massive quasars come to be? 

“Our results show that there’s still a significant piece of the puzzle missing of how these supermassive black holes grow,” Eilers says. “If there’s not enough material around for some quasars to be able to grow continuously, that means there must be some other way that they can grow, that we have yet to figure out.”

IMAGE: This image, taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, shows an ancient quasar (circled in red) with fewer than expected neighboring galaxies (bright blobs), challenging physicists’ understanding of how the first quasars and supermassive black holes formed. Credit Christina Eilers/EIGER team

[mindblowingscience]

If we could travel far beyond our galaxy, and look back upon the Milky Way, it would be a glorious sight. Luminous spirals stretching from a central core, with dust and nebulae scattered along the spiral edges. When you think about a galaxy, you probably imagine a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, but spirals make up only about 60% of the galaxies we see. That's because spiral galaxies only form when smaller galaxies collide and merge over time. Or so we thought, as a new study posted to the arXiv preprint server suggests that isn't the case. The standard model of galaxies is that they evolve over time. Galaxies formed from vast clouds of primordial hydrogen and helium, and so likely had a fairly amorphous structure at the beginning. Given the density of the early universe, galactic collisions and mergers were common, which gave galaxies their rotations and caused them to form disks and spirals. All of this takes time, so we would expect spiral galaxies to be fairly common in the local universe, but rare in the early universe.

Continue Reading.

[illuminatedquill]

Sabine Wren

Tale As Old As Time

Story Summary: On a cool evening night on Peridea, Sabine and Ahsoka discuss the stories they wish to leave as their legacy.

Evening was falling; a cool breeze whispered through the Noti encampment to herald the coming dark.

Preparations had already been made to move the next morning. Sabine had come to appreciate the constant movement of the strange crab-like beings that had welcomed them into their company. It gave her a sense of purpose; something to focus on in the meantime while her master figured out their next move.

Huddled around the campfire, her belly full after a good dinner consisting of some spicy stew, Sabine listened to the chatter of the Noti around her and gazed into the luminous night sky above.

“It still amazes me, no matter how much I look at it,” said a familiar voice. Sabine turned to find her master, Ahsoka Tano, walking up to the campfire, Huyang close behind.

Sabine agreed. Many evenings on Lothal had provided her with a wondrous view of the stars but Peridea had it beat by a large margin.

Ahsoka sat down next to her Padawan with a slight huff. After a moment, the older Jedi asked, “Would you like to hear a story, Sabine?”

Sabine blinked. “Aren’t I a little too old for bedtime stories?”

“One is never too old,” Ahsoka chided, “to hear a good story, my Padawan.”

Huyang offered, “I have plenty to offer in that department, Lady Wren.”

Sabine considered that. “What kind of stories?” she asked.

“Tales of the Jedi, and their numerous exploits across the galaxy,” said Huyang.

Sabine’s eyebrows raised in astonishment. “I thought the Empire wiped out all stories of the Jedi. Or replaced it with their own propaganda.”

“Oh, they tried,” replied Ahsoka. “To their credit, they did do a thorough job of it. Most of the modern galactic citizens don’t know much about the Jedi at all, despite the purge happening fairly recently in our lifetime.”

She smiled a little. “But they couldn’t erase all of it. The Jedi existed for a millennium before the Empire. Their stories are written in the very fabric of the galaxy.”

“Are there stories about you, Master?”

Ahsoka laughed. “Oh, I’m sure. I traveled a fair amount back in my youth.”

Sabine looked to Huyang with a grin. “Are there any funny ones about her, Huyang?”

Huyang pondered for a moment before replying. “There is one where she had to pretend to be someone’s fiancée. It was with a boy named Lux, I believe-”

Ahsoka, embarrassment coloring her tone, interrupted him. “Okay, maybe not that one.”

Sabine’s grin turned mischievous. “Oh, did you have a crush on him, my master?”

Ahsoka crossed her arms and sighed. “It was complicated. Happened during the Clone Wars.”

“Oh.” Sabine dropped her teasing. “What happened to him?”

Ahsoka seemed to withdraw into herself. “I’m not sure. I heard rumors of his death during the Rebellion.”

Sabine felt a gentle sadness and regret pulsing out from her master. She decided to drop the subject.

“What kind of story would you like to be remembered for, Lady Tano?” asked Huyang.

Ahsoka blinked at the droid. “That’s quite the question, Huyang.”

“You’re a hero,” suggested Sabine. “You’ve helped so many. So maybe a heroic story.”

“Jedi don’t do this to be remembered, Sabine,” reminded Ahsoka. “We do it because it’s right.”

The older Jedi stared into the fire. “I’m not sure I want to be remembered at all,” she confessed. “I haven’t always done the right thing.”

Sabine said, “But you’ve always done the best you can. I’ve never seen you settle for anything less.”

It felt weird defending Ahsoka against herself. She had rarely seen her master be so unsure before.

Ahsoka smiled appreciatively at Sabine. “That’s true.”

She looked at Huyang. “I suppose that’s the story I’d like to be known for: someone who tried her best to help out.”

“Very appropriate,” observed Huyang. “I’ll keep that in mind for future reference, Lady Tano.”

The droid turned to Sabine. “And you, Lady Wren? When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?”

Sabine blew out a breath. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s still being written.”

“A good answer,” said Ahsoka. “You’ll have plenty of time to decide.”

“I would suggest a comedy,” offered Huyang.

Annoyed, Sabine flicked a pebble at the droid. It dinged on his metallic exterior, satisfyingly.

Ahsoka laughed. “Go ahead with a story, Huyang. There’s a funny one with Master Yoda, if I recall? When he spent time with the Wookies.”

“Ah, yes,” said Huyang, approvingly. “That is a good story.”

Ahsoka settled into a more comfortable position. Sabine followed suit, leaning in with interest.

“A long time ago,” started Huyang, “in a galaxy, far, far away . . .”

When the story was over, Ahsoka stood and stretched her back. “You’ll take first watch?” she asked Sabine.

Sabine nodded. “Sleep well, Ahsoka. Same to you, Huyang.”

Huyang replied, “As a reminder: I am droid, and therefore do not require sleep.”

She rolled her eyes. “I will throw a bigger rock at you next time,” Sabine promised.

After they left, Sabine took a stick and poked at the campfire. The Noti had retired to their huts; she was alone with her thoughts.

She leaned back and gazed into the star-lit night sky over her head.

When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?

Sabine thought of her life so far; what had been lost and sacrificed.

Her mistakes and failures.

Should it be a tragedy? A cautionary tale for others?

As she brooded, the fire began to die out. Reaching out for another log to feed it, she paused.

“I don’t want to be a tragedy,” she said out loud.

She tossed the log into the campfire and it roared back to life. Sabine watched the glowing embers rise on the night breeze, drifting into the night sky like fiery petals.

She thought of home. Not Mandalore - but Lothal. Her loth-cat, Murley.

Kanan. Hera. Jacen. Zeb. Chopper.

My family. The names repeated in her head, over and over, like some sacred prayer.

And, of course, whenever it was darkest for her, she thought of him.

Sabine looked back into the fire, feeling it’s warmth flow into her.

Ezra filled her mind and, like the campfire, beat back the darkness. It was his constant gift to her; making the dark small.

When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?

Sabine smiled. She had her answer.

Whispering, Sabine says it to herself, as though she was uttering a private, secret wish.

“A love story.”

[astronomyforastrologers]

Scorpio’s Lighthouse ~ 20 Oct 2023

Scorpio’s Lighthouse ~ 20 Oct 2023, Philip Sedgwick

Today Ceres in Scorpio aligns with APR220 (approximately 14 Scorpio 04 as of 2023), a unique black hole system. Also known as IC1127 or 616H, this black hole from which no light can escape, weirdly and ironically, stands out as the brightest object in our local universe. The result of a collision of two galaxies, the resulting singularity became ultra-luminous as it heats up the galactic atmosphere.

Consider this black hole a beacon - lighthouse like. The primary utility of this object seeks to guide galactic travelers away from pot holes and road blocks such that in the real world, they navigate well around objects that might induce a stumble. And this black hole combines information and insights into an organized and useful melting pot that becomes a solid philosophy. Imagine functioning in the real world in ways that dart and shift like a graceful super star athlete on the pitch.

Why so much insight from this black hole? In addition to marking the focal point of the black hole, this degree is the virtual intersection of the Galactic and Super-Galactic Centers. This intersection creates several interesting buttons to click in the multiple choice section of life. First, when it comes to information gathering, take only those insights and prompts that succinctly and effortless guide you on your path. Anything that does not further, you can leave behind. Second, work out any subconscious interference to your consciously declared agenda. Avoid the urge to bet against yourself or attempt to manipulate circumstances with double negatives intending to cancel out and conjure up a positive. State clearly and emphatically those conditions you consciously seek, confident that personal fears are recognized and neutralized.

Right now, while the world is as it is, what to do to invoke the best of the patterns?

Ceres advocates for passion. Sure, both sides in any conflict passionately (and sometimes blindly) pursue causes with full conviction and unrelenting determination. Remember that Jupiter intercedes in these matters, and works with Mercury and others to negotiate outcomes that work for the greater good. Ultimately, Jupiter’s outcomes, though self-serving, provide more than liveable conditions for all. He stands on the bridge of the ship and reminds the individual on the helm to be aware that the rocky crag shoreline is where it is and to steer clear, while remaining aware of the wind and tidal forces. His final caution notes that those things at which a person stares, they tend to steer toward. So, create fine foci for pursuit.

On 30 October Mercury in Scorpio aligns with APR220, “Trick or Treat,” is quite apt for this transit. The idea is that with proper reward, no shenanigans are necessary. Is it a bribe? Trickery? Sleight of hand? Nope. The ideal manifestation declares affirmatively what is wanted and when received a proper “thank you” fits the bill. When the Universe provides guidance that declares an optimal course ahead, give thanks. Express gratitude. And perhaps adopt the doctrine of thanking in advance or engaging in well-intentioned propitiation.

02 November Mars in Scorpio crosses the degree of APR220, without crossing the black hole attitudinally. Here, one may confront the cosmic plan that states: Here’s what must be done to get from here to there in good fashion. Sometimes, some of the plotted points rub sensitivities and reactions the wrong way. The point is, these factors are known to be “must do.” Emotionally wrap around necessities despite personal preferences, and structure a plan so that those essential “not so enthused about” steps become most easily transacted. Mars suggests taking on any life unpleasantness during times of high (not frantic or reactive) energy. Then, ease back, settle into the fun stuff and enjoy the ride. Similar to the other “M” planet to APR220, take time to notice and savor accomplishments and tasks well accomplished. Such personally applied accolades serve the next direct contact to this black hole.

The next direct contact to APR220 occurs on 06 November with Sun conjoining. It is time for conscious realization of “You Are Here.” It is time to acknowledge all the things that got you here and that without those events and interactions, you would not be here. It is time for selecting life options that serve your greatest desires. It is time for being the energy you wish to manifest. This is not “fake it ‘til you make it.” This “be it,” realize it, then be it some more.

Also, Mercury quincunxes Eris and the north lunar node in Aries at the same time the Sun is with APR220. This suggests realizing and fully communicating your best fit in the world, with your real world plan and within your cosmic agenda. For those with whom you interact on a regular basis, it is important to clearly listen to their articulations describing their self-centered reality and to accept that as a nonnegotiable consideration.

When realizing that those “with” you possess tracks not perfectly aligned with yours, the matter becomes that of defining how to cooperatively engage with those others for the benefit of all. Also at this time Venus in the mature degrees of Virgo undisputedly moves into orb of the Super-Galactic Center (ZS) in Libra. While not yet in the sign of ZS, this marks the remove-the-wheat-from-the-chaff tasks. Life becomes an energetic matter of noticing where one feels attracted to engage and where one feels repelled to either not engage or disengage. With Venus to this supermassive black hole system and the Sun to APR, the matter at hand is to find ones perfect energetic place with others and to share similar tracks. Seek a personal Goldilocks Zone of having just the right amount... not too much... not too little... alignment and interaction with all the perfectly guiding persons and forces in life.

Given the strangeness of the times, considering the life distractions at hand personally and globally, take time to spot the helpful navigational sources in life, gratefully comply with directive assistance and make the most out of the unabated creative flow and pursuit of passion that fills the air.

More soon.

One Stop Shopping Order Form Astrological Textso

Meteoric the Movie on Vimeo ZAP! on Vimeo

[rutilated-quarz]

Round 2 of my OC sexyman poll! There were a couple of 50/50s in the first round, so the next round of those will be 1v1v1s. Links to the rounds will be added as they go up!

Ennui vs Flux

Synchronicity vs Lumin vs Electra

The Alchemist vs Null Pointer

Neo vs Ren vs Quarz

More info about the characters under the cut.

Ennui

[profile link here]

Originally a D&D-inspired OC, now just a general OC

Lich that was so so shit at magic when he was alive but now that he's dead he's actually sort of decent at it

Worldhopper - he travels between universes, using a jury-rigged super powerful explosion spell to catapult himself into a different universe by destroying the one he's currently in.

He only cares about one person, and that's his demonic boyfriend Alu. Anyone else can get fucked, as far as he's concerned.

Flux

[profile link here]

General OC in the same world as some of my and my friend's kinsonas

Her species infects the brain of other species, appearing as a sort of ghost or hallucination until they mature enough to become physical, bursting out of the host's body and killing them in the process. They usally give their host immense bloodlust and taste for raw meat. [mmm flux hungy feed her tasty prion diseases]

On that note, the most lame and cringefail of her entire species. She's supposed to get her host to kill and stuff like that, but she mostly just annoys and makes fun of him.

Synchronicity

[profile link here]

Minecraft OC

One of the fair folk, lives in the deep forest and would quite like not to be disturbed.

Finds great fun in tormenting whatever non-fae might cross their path

Thought NitroLock_ was fun to 'play with', so when they got his name, they kept him around to do some work for them.

Kind of sadistic, sometimes. Usually. Most of the time.

Has stolen peoples blood to use for sympathetic magic before

Lumin

[profile link here]

Originally designed as a general oc, but quickly adapted into a Cosmosdex (Tegyp) OC.

Almost never wears a shirt under his open suit jacket, unless he's pretty much forced to.

Kind of an alcoholic. Tries to pretend he's a fun partyboy, but he just gets all miserable.

Very into modifying robots. He claims he improves them, but he's fucked up a perfectly good Cupid unit is what he's done. Look at it, it's got anxiety.

Electra

[profile link here]

Sonic OC, builds and codes robots for a living.

She has built a robot that she considers her son, so she could technically be a MILF, if you're into that.

Mega autism and hyperfixated on engineering. Would love to infodump about whatever her current project may be, and gets super attached to everything she builds.

The Alchemist

[profile link here]

Minecraft OC, an AU of Ruti.

Basically what would've happened if Ruti grew up with other magic users who could've taught him how to use his magic.

It speaks primarily Standard Galactic.

Never calls people by their names, instead using a title/other noun ["shopkeeper" or "friend" or "thief", etc.] because names have immense power in a language as soaked with magic as Standard Galactic is, and that habit carries over into other languages.

Makes potions. Definitely legally.

"ruti" "the cooler ruti"

Null Pointer

[profile link here]

BNHA/MHA OC, but liable to become a general OC any day now.

he/she girlboything

Has the ability to lag herself out of reality for a bit; from an outside perspective, this looks like freezing in place and loosing all collision before abruptly teleporting.

Also has the ability to hack any sufficiently complex technology, as long as line-of-sight is maintained.

His mascot [the little demon dude shown next to him] shows up on the screen of any technology he hacks. Just to be cocky about it.

Generally very cocky and aggressive while fighting/sparring, or just in general.

She has 97 mental illnesses and is banned from most public spaces

Ren

[profile link here]

OC for Monkey Wrench [by Zeurel on Youtube]

Big bear of a man [in the gay sense]

Mechanic/weaponsmith/arms dealer

Former mercenary. Would take out entire ship crews by sneaking on under the guise of a mechanic and "fixing" their ship [rigging it to blow as soon as he got to safety.]

Neo

[profile link here]

Minecraft OC, specifically for Empires SMP Season 2

Has ice magic powers, and lives in an Ice Spikes biome.

Its moral compass is a fucking roulette wheel

Tries to be nice, but has a very skewed idea of what "nice" and "good" is.

Would probably keep you as a pet if you asked

Quarz

[profile link here]

General OC

Shapeshifter, and he uses this power for evil. [Shapeshifts into whoever he's talking to in order to psych them out, though he claims it's to "level the playing field".]

Sort of a sardonic personality, often deriding others and putting himself above them. He does it to distract himself from feeling shitty about himself, but you could never get him to admit that.

Loves to inflict terrible events and circumstances on others [my ocs. or sometimes my blorbo du jour]. It is his favorite activity

[wuorija]

Celebrating Digital winter: Crafting Your Galactic Avatar with iFoto's PFP Maker

As the days grow shorter and the nights stretch into infinity, a subtle move occurs in the fabric of our digital universe. Across the cybernetic landscapes of social media platforms, a festival spirit stirs, carried on the binary winds of innovation and tradition. It is here, in this realm of zeroes and ones, where the magic of Christmas alights like a constellation of stars, each one an individual beacon of holiday cheer. How does one participate in this luminous digital pageant? Enter the world of iFoto's PFP Maker.

Imagine stepping into a chamber where the ordinary changes into the extraordinary, a place where the mundane becomes a canvas for your festive imagination. This is no mere snap of a camera, but a conversion—a metamorphosis where your everyday visage moves seamlessly into a avatar resonant with the Christmas season. The PFP Maker is the alchemist in this tale, turning the leaden weight of your run-of-the-mill photograph into the gold of thematic splendor.

As the snowflakes drift down through the night sky, each one a unique design, so too can your profile picture be a singular expression of the holidays. iFoto's PFP Maker asks: why settle for the expected when the tools for invention lie at your fingertips? The universe of customization is vast, and within it, every choice you make can tell a story. What story will your avatar share?

The PFP Maker operates as both guide and sorcerer, offering an array of themes and filters. It's like casting a spell, only instead of ancient incantations, you tap and swipe. The touch of a finger, the whisper of a wish, and voilà! You are transported to a world where your digital self mirrors the joy of the season. This tool doesn't just change your appearance—it evolves it, aligning you with the grand tapestry of the winter festivities that unfold around us.

But let's ponder the significance of this transformation. In an era where identity is increasingly digital, what does it mean to alter one's online persona for the holidays? It's about joining a collective narrative, a shared human experience. By slipping into a Santa hat or donning a pair of reindeer antlers through the PFP Maker, you signal to the world that you are part of the Christmas story. It's a subtle nod, an acknowledgment of the bonds we form through shared celebration.

Customization is the true spirit of the holidays, isn't it? We decorate our homes, wrap gifts in unique patterns, and craft personalized cards. So why wouldn't we personalize our digital presence as well? With iFoto's PFP Maker, the choice isn't just between a festive image and a plain one; it's between participating actively or observing passively. It's the difference between a silent night and one filled with laughter and song.

Moreover, this transformation is not just about individual expression; it's about connection. As your new avatar travels through the vast social media cosmos, it carries a piece of you to every corner, every friend, every encounter. It bridges distances, reminding loved ones that even though miles may separate us, the spirit of Christmas unites us. With iFoto's PFP Maker, you send a message across the stars, saying, "I am here. I am part of this.

Consider the act of changing your profile picture as a digital version of the ancient tradition of wearing festive attire. It's a way of showing respect for the occasion, of getting into the spirit. When you update your profile with a Christmas-themed avatar, you're donning digital decorations, partaking in a ritual as old as time yet as fresh as the latest innovation.

As the festive season sweeps across our digital landscapes, consider yourself an artist and iFoto's PFP Maker your brush and palette. The canvas is your social media profile, a space waiting to reflect the light and joy of the holidays. So, as you stand on the threshold of this digital winter wonderland, what story will you tell with your avatar? What joy will you share? The PFP Maker is ready, waiting to weave your digital tale into the grand narrative of Christmas cheer.

[thisismycorneroftheinternet]

Two panels from Chapter 2 of my comic

This has been 3 years ago at this point, but I'm still so proud of mainly the court scene on that chapter. There's so much detail that has to do with worldbuilding. The luminous floor tiles and pillars that are meant to have pulses of light are all fed by the power grid of the Universal Empire's central castle-planet, which in turn is fed by the pulsating jet of a luminous, massive active galactic nucleus (a black hole with an accretion disk that generates massive amounts of light and expels so much matter and photons as jets due to the interactions of the forces near the event horizon, that it shines brighter than the galaxy that it inhabits) which the planet orbits. This same power grid feeds an extensive portal system connected to the outer doors of the castle, which are indicated with intricate murals of the locations those portals lead to, and the servants of the Universal Empire can access and use to take shortcuts and travel to and from the Empire's heart planet to even its edges.

The parts of the flooring and the throne the Empress sits on is all carved from a dead star's black diamond core, which is a thing that can happen, stars that die as white dwarfs and eventually cool down have so much carbon in high pressure that it forms a diamond, which would be black because of the presence of all other elements. The different aliens that I show on the scene are all from different subjugated civilizations under the Universal Empire, some who are also Warriors under the other carriers of elemental talismans. The yellow owl-like alien present here is Lady Aeolus, the Air Messenger, a shape-shifting space harpy who can travel through the vacuum of space, who comes from a planet called Pteria that has a highly tiered cast society based on their size and diet, and has heavy parallels to not only greco-roman aesthetic but a lot of its values, but mixed with avian instinct turned culture.

Also that's the Sorceress, on the right, as portrayed in the Empire's fearful prediction if she keeps on taking down the Talisman carriers and ends up acquiring a power equal to the power of the Empress, a world-destroying, spacetime shifting power. She was part of the Earth King's court and species (the Earth King being literally a sentient planet with a whole civilization of cervid-like bipedal aliens who serve him) until she fell under the influence of chaotic demons and now wants to seek the destruction of it all.

IDK, there's so much more that I still want to write about on my comic, but yeah, those little scenes and snippets have so much that I've been thinking about for years.

drawn on GIMP. All the characters in this comic series are mine. If you're seeking commissions from me, here's my page. Also, support me on Ko-fi here! Lastly, check out my Neocities website to see more of my work.

[sunaleisocial]

Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/astronomers-detect-ancient-lonely-quasars-with-murky-origins/

Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins

A quasar is the extremely bright core of a galaxy that hosts an active supermassive black hole at its center. As the black hole draws in surrounding gas and dust, it blasts out an enormous amount of energy, making quasars some of the brightest objects in the universe. Quasars have been observed as early as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and it’s been a mystery as to how these objects could have grown so bright and massive in such a short amount of cosmic time.

Scientists have proposed that the earliest quasars sprang from overly dense regions of primordial matter, which would also have produced many smaller galaxies in the quasars’ environment. But in a new MIT-led study, astronomers observed some ancient quasars that appear to be surprisingly alone in the early universe.

The astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer back in time, more than 13 billion years, to study the cosmic surroundings of five known ancient quasars. They found a surprising variety in their neighborhoods, or “quasar fields.” While some quasars reside in very crowded fields with more than 50 neighboring galaxies, as all models predict, the remaining quasars appear to drift in voids, with only a few stray galaxies in their vicinity.

These lonely quasars are challenging physicists’ understanding of how such luminous objects could have formed so early on in the universe, without a significant source of surrounding matter to fuel their black hole growth.

“Contrary to previous belief, we find on average, these quasars are not necessarily in those highest-density regions of the early universe. Some of them seem to be sitting in the middle of nowhere,” says Anna-Christina Eilers, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “It’s difficult to explain how these quasars could have grown so big if they appear to have nothing to feed from.”

There is a possibility that these quasars may not be as solitary as they appear, but are instead surrounded by galaxies that are heavily shrouded in dust and therefore hidden from view. Eilers and her colleagues hope to tune their observations to try and see through any such cosmic dust, in order to understand how quasars grew so big, so fast, in the early universe.

Eilers and her colleagues report their findings in a paper appearing today in the Astrophysical Journal. The MIT co-authors include postdocs Rohan Naidu and Minghao Yue; Robert Simcoe, the Francis Friedman Professor of Physics and director of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research; and collaborators from institutions including Leiden University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, ETH Zurich, and elsewhere.

Galactic neighbors

The five newly observed quasars are among the oldest quasars observed to date. More than 13 billion years old, the objects are thought to have formed between 600 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. The supermassive black holes powering the quasars are a billion times more massive than the sun, and more than a trillion times brighter. Due to their extreme luminosity, the light from each quasar is able to travel over the age of the universe, far enough to reach JWST’s highly sensitive detectors today.

“It’s just phenomenal that we now have a telescope that can capture light from 13 billion years ago in so much detail,” Eilers says. “For the first time, JWST enabled us to look at the environment of these quasars, where they grew up, and what their neighborhood was like.”

The team analyzed images of the five ancient quasars taken by JWST between August 2022 and June 2023. The observations of each quasar comprised multiple “mosaic” images, or partial views of the quasar’s field, which the team effectively stitched together to produce a complete picture of each quasar’s surrounding neighborhood.

The telescope also took measurements of light in multiple wavelengths across each quasar’s field, which the team then processed to determine whether a given object in the field was light from a neighboring galaxy, and how far a galaxy is from the much more luminous central quasar.

“We found that the only difference between these five quasars is that their environments look so different,” Eilers says. “For instance, one quasar has almost 50 galaxies around it, while another has just two. And both quasars are within the same size, volume, brightness, and time of the universe. That was really surprising to see.”

Growth spurts

The disparity in quasar fields introduces a kink in the standard picture of black hole growth and galaxy formation. According to physicists’ best understanding of how the first objects in the universe emerged, a cosmic web of dark matter should have set the course. Dark matter is an as-yet unknown form of matter that has no other interactions with its surroundings other than through gravity.

Shortly after the Big Bang, the early universe is thought to have formed filaments of dark matter that acted as a sort of gravitational road, attracting gas and dust along its tendrils. In overly dense regions of this web, matter would have accumulated to form more massive objects. And the brightest, most massive early objects, such as quasars, would have formed in the web’s highest-density regions, which would have also churned out many more, smaller galaxies.

“The cosmic web of dark matter is a solid prediction of our cosmological model of the Universe, and it can be described in detail using numerical simulations,” says co-author Elia Pizzati, a graduate student at Leiden University. “By comparing our observations to these simulations, we can determine where in the cosmic web quasars are located.”

Scientists estimate that quasars would have had to grow continuously with very high accretion rates in order to reach the extreme mass and luminosities at the times that astronomers have observed them, fewer than 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

“The main question we’re trying to answer is, how do these billion-solar-mass black holes form at a time when the universe is still really, really young? It’s still in its infancy,” Eilers says.

The team’s findings may raise more questions than answers. The “lonely” quasars appear to live in relatively empty regions of space. If physicists’ cosmological models are correct, these barren regions signify very little dark matter, or starting material for brewing up stars and galaxies. How, then, did extremely bright and massive quasars come to be?

“Our results show that there’s still a significant piece of the puzzle missing of how these supermassive black holes grow,” Eilers says. “If there’s not enough material around for some quasars to be able to grow continuously, that means there must be some other way that they can grow, that we have yet to figure out.”

This research was supported, in part, by the European Research Council. 

[jcmarchi]

Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/astronomers-detect-ancient-lonely-quasars-with-murky-origins/

Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins

A quasar is the extremely bright core of a galaxy that hosts an active supermassive black hole at its center. As the black hole draws in surrounding gas and dust, it blasts out an enormous amount of energy, making quasars some of the brightest objects in the universe. Quasars have been observed as early as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and it’s been a mystery as to how these objects could have grown so bright and massive in such a short amount of cosmic time.

Scientists have proposed that the earliest quasars sprang from overly dense regions of primordial matter, which would also have produced many smaller galaxies in the quasars’ environment. But in a new MIT-led study, astronomers observed some ancient quasars that appear to be surprisingly alone in the early universe.

The astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer back in time, more than 13 billion years, to study the cosmic surroundings of five known ancient quasars. They found a surprising variety in their neighborhoods, or “quasar fields.” While some quasars reside in very crowded fields with more than 50 neighboring galaxies, as all models predict, the remaining quasars appear to drift in voids, with only a few stray galaxies in their vicinity.

These lonely quasars are challenging physicists’ understanding of how such luminous objects could have formed so early on in the universe, without a significant source of surrounding matter to fuel their black hole growth.

“Contrary to previous belief, we find on average, these quasars are not necessarily in those highest-density regions of the early universe. Some of them seem to be sitting in the middle of nowhere,” says Anna-Christina Eilers, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “It’s difficult to explain how these quasars could have grown so big if they appear to have nothing to feed from.”

There is a possibility that these quasars may not be as solitary as they appear, but are instead surrounded by galaxies that are heavily shrouded in dust and therefore hidden from view. Eilers and her colleagues hope to tune their observations to try and see through any such cosmic dust, in order to understand how quasars grew so big, so fast, in the early universe.

Eilers and her colleagues report their findings in a paper appearing today in the Astrophysical Journal. The MIT co-authors include postdocs Rohan Naidu and Minghao Yue; Robert Simcoe, the Francis Friedman Professor of Physics and director of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research; and collaborators from institutions including Leiden University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, ETH Zurich, and elsewhere.

Galactic neighbors

The five newly observed quasars are among the oldest quasars observed to date. More than 13 billion years old, the objects are thought to have formed between 600 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. The supermassive black holes powering the quasars are a billion times more massive than the sun, and more than a trillion times brighter. Due to their extreme luminosity, the light from each quasar is able to travel over the age of the universe, far enough to reach JWST’s highly sensitive detectors today.

“It’s just phenomenal that we now have a telescope that can capture light from 13 billion years ago in so much detail,” Eilers says. “For the first time, JWST enabled us to look at the environment of these quasars, where they grew up, and what their neighborhood was like.”

The team analyzed images of the five ancient quasars taken by JWST between August 2022 and June 2023. The observations of each quasar comprised multiple “mosaic” images, or partial views of the quasar’s field, which the team effectively stitched together to produce a complete picture of each quasar’s surrounding neighborhood.

The telescope also took measurements of light in multiple wavelengths across each quasar’s field, which the team then processed to determine whether a given object in the field was light from a neighboring galaxy, and how far a galaxy is from the much more luminous central quasar.

“We found that the only difference between these five quasars is that their environments look so different,” Eilers says. “For instance, one quasar has almost 50 galaxies around it, while another has just two. And both quasars are within the same size, volume, brightness, and time of the universe. That was really surprising to see.”

Growth spurts

The disparity in quasar fields introduces a kink in the standard picture of black hole growth and galaxy formation. According to physicists’ best understanding of how the first objects in the universe emerged, a cosmic web of dark matter should have set the course. Dark matter is an as-yet unknown form of matter that has no other interactions with its surroundings other than through gravity.

Shortly after the Big Bang, the early universe is thought to have formed filaments of dark matter that acted as a sort of gravitational road, attracting gas and dust along its tendrils. In overly dense regions of this web, matter would have accumulated to form more massive objects. And the brightest, most massive early objects, such as quasars, would have formed in the web’s highest-density regions, which would have also churned out many more, smaller galaxies.

“The cosmic web of dark matter is a solid prediction of our cosmological model of the Universe, and it can be described in detail using numerical simulations,” says co-author Elia Pizzati, a graduate student at Leiden University. “By comparing our observations to these simulations, we can determine where in the cosmic web quasars are located.”

Scientists estimate that quasars would have had to grow continuously with very high accretion rates in order to reach the extreme mass and luminosities at the times that astronomers have observed them, fewer than 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

“The main question we’re trying to answer is, how do these billion-solar-mass black holes form at a time when the universe is still really, really young? It’s still in its infancy,” Eilers says.

The team’s findings may raise more questions than answers. The “lonely” quasars appear to live in relatively empty regions of space. If physicists’ cosmological models are correct, these barren regions signify very little dark matter, or starting material for brewing up stars and galaxies. How, then, did extremely bright and massive quasars come to be?

“Our results show that there’s still a significant piece of the puzzle missing of how these supermassive black holes grow,” Eilers says. “If there’s not enough material around for some quasars to be able to grow continuously, that means there must be some other way that they can grow, that we have yet to figure out.”

This research was supported, in part, by the European Research Council. 

[sciencestyled]

Aurora’s Whimsical Guide to Celestial Lights: A Galactic Tale

Once upon a starlit eve, in the enchanting expanse of the cosmos, there resided Aurora, the whimsical goddess of dawn. With a twinkle in her eye and a swirl of her celestial gown, she embarked on a spirited endeavor to illuminate the wonders of Earth’s auroras - both Northern and Southern Lights - with her trademark mix of humor and wisdom.

“Greetings, my stargazing sprites and space-time travelers!” Aurora chimed, her voice echoing through the galaxies. “I, the ever-effervescent Aurora, am thrilled to guide you through the marvels of our universe’s most spectacular night shows – the auroras. Let's uncover the mysteries of these night-sky delights with a touch of humor and a rainbow of scientific facts!”

Aurora began by painting a vivid picture of the night sky transforming into an astonishing light display. “Imagine the heavens suddenly bursting into a canvas of shimmering colors, like an artist liberally splashing neon hues across a dark, velvety sky. That, my dear friends, is the aurora - a celestial spectacle that has puzzled mortals since time immemorial.”

She revealed the science behind these mesmerizing lights. “These aren’t just atmospheric decorations, oh no! They’re the result of our dear Earth, the charming blue marble, colliding with particles from our Sun – that great, fiery star. These solar particles, thrown out like cosmic confetti, meet Earth’s gases, leading to a show of dazzling lights. It’s nature’s own neon billboard, inviting us to gaze in wonder.”

Aurora then took her audience on a tour of the two types of auroras: the Aurora Borealis, a luminous tiara gracing the northern hemisphere, and the Aurora Australis, a swirling, colorful skirt around the southern pole. “Both are like nature’s disco balls, turning the sky into a photon-filled dance club,” she quipped.

The goddess elaborated on the colors of these lights. “It’s all about atmospheric gases meeting solar particles. Oxygen gives us greens and reds, while nitrogen, the bashful cousin of oxygen, bestows blues and purples. A veritable rainbow in the sky!”

Aurora didn’t forget to honor the Earth’s magnetic field, the unsung hero of this phenomenon. “This invisible shield is our cosmic bouncer, directing solar particles towards the poles, crafting these splendid lights. Without it, our nights would be far less magical.”

Thus, Aurora, with her captivating storytelling, unraveled the mysteries of the auroras. She transformed complex science into an enchanting narrative, drawing her audience into a world where celestial phenomena danced hand-in-hand with myth and legend.

“And so,” Aurora concluded with a graceful bow, “our auroral journey comes to an end. Remember, every time you witness the auroras, you’re seeing a cosmic ballet choreographed by the universe itself. Until our next celestial rendezvous, keep your eyes on the skies and your hearts filled with wonder!”

And with that, the goddess of dawn dissolved into the first light of day, leaving behind a trail of stardust and an audience forever enchanted by the mysteries of the auroras.

[julierysava]

Voyage of the Starborne Seeker

In the galactic tapestry of the cosmos, where constellations told tales of forgotten realms, Captain Nylomy commanded the starship Celestial Seeker. Her journey through the cosmic ocean was not just a mission; it was a quest for the mysteries which lay beyond the shimmering veil of stars.

The Celestial Seeker, adorned with the scars of interstellar travels, carried a crew as diverse as the galaxies themselves. Among them was Navigator Aric Voss, a keen mind with eyes held the reflections of distant quasars. His nimble fingers danced across holographic star charts, guiding the ship through the celestial symphony.

One fateful day, the Seeker detected anomalous readings from the Nebula of Eternity—a cosmic enigma which whispered promises of untold knowledge. Captain Nylomy, fueled by an insatiable curiosity, set a course for the heart of the nebula.

As the ship ventured deeper, the fabric of space itself seemed to ripple, revealing a corridor to a dimension untouched by mortal hands. The crew, a mosaic of races from far-flung stars, hesitated before this cosmic gateway.

Captain Nylomy, a beacon of determination, led her crew into the unknown. The corridor, a ribbon of iridescence, unfolded like a cosmic road. They emerged on the other side in the Astral Atrium—a celestial nexus suspended amidst the kaleidoscopic nebulae.

Here, they encountered the Luminal Scribes, ethereal beings who chronicled the eons in celestial scripts. The leader, a being of pure light named Marooy, beckoned Nylomy to partake in the weaving of cosmic tales.

Each crew member found a connection with the Astral Atrium. Aric communed with celestial mathematicians, exchanging algorithms that transcended mortal comprehension. Engineer Kaela discovered the harmonies of cosmic energies, tuning the ship's engines to resonate with the music of the spheres.

Captain Nylomy, with hands bathed in starlight, wove her story into the fabric of the universe. The Luminal Scribes, in turn, gifted the Seeker with a stardust-infused crystal—an artifact of cosmic wisdom.

As the Celestial Seeker departed the Astral Atrium, the crew carried with them the echoes of celestial knowledge. Captain Nylomy, now a guardian of cosmic lore, charted a course for unexplored galaxies, her eyes reflecting the luminous trails of newfound wisdom.

And so, under the boundless canopy of stars, the Starborne Seeker continued its voyage—a vessel of dreams, sailing through the cosmic sea in pursuit of the next chapter in the endless saga of the universe.

[spacenutspod]

Fast Radio Bursts are an astrophysical enigma. They are intense bursts of radio energy lasting anywhere from a fraction of a millisecond to a few seconds, typically with a frequency of around 1,400 MHz, and we still don’t know what causes them. They were first detected in 2007 but were initially so rare and short-lived that it was difficult to confirm they weren’t terrestrial in origin. With the inauguration of the CHIME telescope and other wide-field radio observatories, we started observing lots of them, which confirmed they were both astrophysical and mostly coming from outside our galaxy. Now one has been observed from a galaxy 8 billion light years away, and it could help us solve a cosmological mystery. The dominant theory for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) is that they are caused by magnetars. Neutron stars with an extremely strong magnetic field. Just as the Sun’s magnetic field can trigger solar flares, magnetars could experience magnetic flares that emit flashes of radio light. We know they are extragalactic because they occur all over the sky, not just along the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Measuring their distance is a bit more tricky. Distribution of FRBs seen by CHIME. Credit: CHIME/FRB Collaboration Since FRBs emit a radio pulse at a uniform frequency, we can use what is known as a Dispersion Measure (DM) to determine distance. When the radio pulse passes through ionized intergalactic gas, higher frequencies pass through it a bit faster than lower frequencies. This is similar to the way visible light is refracted by a piece of glass. Violet is refracted the most and red the least because violet light takes a bit longer to pass through the glass than red light. What this means is that rather than seeing the FRB light all at once, we see the lower frequencies a bit later than the higher ones. The more distant the FRB, the more intergalactic plasma it passes through to reach us, and the greater the dispersion. Of course, to use this for distance, you’d need to know the distribution of intergalactic plasma. If there are clumps of plasma between close galaxies, the FRB would have a dispersion measure similar to that of distant galaxies with little intergalactic plasma between them. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good mapping of intergalactic plasma. It’s a missing part of the “total mass” of the Universe. We know it’s there, we just aren’t sure how much of it is there. This new discovery could help change that. Known as FRB 20220610A, it was observed by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in 2022. The ASKAP data was precise enough that astronomers could pinpoint its location in the sky accurately enough to pin its origin to a particular galaxy. The team then used follow-up observations by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to confirm it likely came from a small cluster of merging galaxies. The VLT observations then determined the redshift of the cluster to find the distance. Macquart relation between DM and redshift for FRBs. Credit: Ryder, et al The light of the FRB 20220610A traveled 8 billion light years to reach us, making it the most distant fast radio burst ever observed, and likely at the distance limit for FRBs we can currently detect. But more importantly, knowing its distance, we can compare this to the dispersion measure to calculate the amount of ionized gas between galaxies. The idea for using FRBs to map intergalactic gas was first proposed by Australian astronomer Jean-Pierre Macquart, which is why this comparison is sometimes known as the Macquart relation. If we can pinpoint lots more fast radio bursts, we will be able to build a distribution map of intergalactic gas. From that we can get a handle on the overall mass between galaxies and help pinpoint the total mass of the cosmos. Basically using one mystery to solve another, which is a pretty cool trick. Reference: Ryder, S. D., et al. “A luminous fast radio burst that probes the Universe at redshift 1.” Science 382.6668 (2023): 294-299. The post A Fast Radio Burst Took 8 Billion Years to Reach Us appeared first on Universe Today.

[walkfromhome]

1. The speed of light is a limitation of physical space-time but not of higher dimensions. 

2. History is recorded in time, which our science still does not fully understand.  Time is the measure of the duration of a movement, a change or event.  Without time nothing happens. It is what separates events as space separates objects.

It appears to be dualistic: digitized according to quantum physics and a continuous flow or plenum integrated with space as space-time in relativity physics, something like the particle-wave nature of matter.

We will find there is a dual nature to everything in physical reality.  Everything is based on frequency, an oscillation in time and space. Time and space make up the fabric of reality in lower dimensions as consciousness and love are the fabric of reality in higher dimensions.

Quantum physics has discovered that reality is non-local, that is, that the cause of an event may happen in the future not the past. Quantum fluctuations produce tiny geometries in time—

time has a geometrical nature that governs motion.

In relativity time varies with the velocity of the observers so that for one who is approaching the speed of light time appears to slow and finally stops. It is much different from our time on earth, thus with a different history. 

To confound the picture even more, some of our space visitors are time travelers, returning to their past or into their future in order to change their present, again along a specific timeline.

Torsion fields produced by quantum spin and motion depend on “time density”, thin or thick, the amount of change per unit of time which in turn is related to entropy, the tendency of order to disappear over time in a closed system. 2nd law of thermodynamics. If anything, history demonstrates the opposite effect of increasing order or complexity over time, negentropy, suggesting that while the universe is a bounded thus finite system that energy is constantly moving in and out of it from the primordial void.  This occurs through blackholes.  The Key is balance in the duality system not stasis.

3. According to extraterrestrial wisdom, our planet is actually 7.5 billion years old. Earth was conceived in Orion, in the star, Rigel, and then transplanted to our Solar system where it was born out of the sun as a plasma sphere which is still at the center of the earth.  The formation of the earth combines the push of the electric charge of plasma with the gravitational pull of an accretion disk of matter leaving large cavities inside the earth. At this point the planet was not quite formed. It looked like a luminous blue-green orb, not quite spherical.  The first beings arrived here in nonphysical bodies, set up the original planetary grid system which encoded the original plan, life blueprints and experience scenarios.  They were called the “Gardeners,” the ones who gardened the planet, and they were reptilian.  Also among the first to arrive in the solar system were the original Founders, or what our secret space program calls the “Builder Race”, who built huge domed structures on other planets and moons.

With the fall of the Empire the plan for earth was modified.  It was to become a grand experiment in spiritual evolution, blazing a fast track return to Source while redeeming the fallen light and rebalancing the karma of the Galactic Wars.  The whole Orion drama would be replayed again…and again on earth.  As a planet of unsurpassed beauty in the galaxy, earth holds a special place in the experiment in spiritual evolution that could change the entire universe.  A call for volunteers went out again and the first wave of souls arrived, 144,000.  They would become the humanity of earth.  The Creator made a covenant with them for their service, the conditions of agreement or a sort of rules of the game to be played.

The objective of the experiment would be to explore a new path of ascension, of evolution through multi-dimensional reality on our universal path of return.  The idea was to ascend to the 5th dimension, the mental planes, passing through, not to, the astral emotional planes as is standard. The lessons of the experience in the astral planes, however, would still have to be learned but while in the 3rd physical dimension, making its sojourn that much more difficult.  Humans would also attempt to awaken and redeem the fallen dark ones, which could only be accomplished from within.  According to free-will it could not be imposed from without, interfering with the free-will of the dark. Due to free-will the dark may ultimately choose not to turn to the Light and will be taken to another realm to continue their evolution.  Likewise certain humans will awaken and assist those other beings who come to achieve enlightenment.

(Source)

[stellcluceats]

@wxrld-xf-cxts - Continued from the ask. 

He paused, unsure why the words hit him like being smacked directly across the face. Jealous? Is that what he sounded like?

Oh...gods...

"I assure you that I'm not..." He answered, lying through his teeth, and forced a smile. "Definitely not. After all, why would I be?"

;;~ Lumine smiles before chuckling a little amused by the fact Childe was acting like this. With this she pointed a finger to his chest with a smirk.  “Mhm and are you sure you aren't, because your expression on your face says something different.” 

“So why don’t you tell me what your really thinking right now.. are you Jealous that I was spending time around Lord Ayato for a commission and not you??”

[vilithshaven]

What would happen to Teyvat when the Creator die? I want to know your interpretation of it because that La Signora and Dottore was amazing work.

La Signora Pt. 2

Warnings: character death, end of the world scenario

Fun Fact! Ever since writing the Signora idea down and publishing it on the blog, I've had an idea on what would happen after.

I originally wanted to write a oneshot like I did with Dottore's part 2, but I'm still a bit down from the exhaustion and headache yesterday, so I'm going with the same style as I did for the first part.

Hope you enjoy <3

-Lilith

Tagging people who might like this: @nicebonescomrade; @gunterdon; @potatodumbass; @thai

There are no big changes to the world. The animals and Hilichurls are more ruthless and less happy, as if someone's presence from the world was suddenly missing. They used to dance and sing and chirp and bark happily all around Teyvat. But suddenly it all stopped. All the acolytes who are a different race (so, Kokomi, Klee, Sucrose, the lot) and the Abyss also feel it. They all know: something bad had happened to their Creator.

However, none of them feel the changes as bad as Signora. To her, it seems as if the air pressure around her increased; she struggles to breathe, no matter where she goes. Rocks and roots that weren't there before constantly trip her on her way to the Shogun. Birds would fly low in the sky to hit her and boars ran to her instead of away as they usually would. As soon as she reaches Inazuma, she thinks she's safe, but the heaviness in her limbs increases and makes it almost impossible for her to get away from the dogs and cats hissing and growling at her. She is sure they would attack her if it wasn't for the liquid fire running through her veins.

La Signora is glad once she stands in front of the stairs leading up to Tenshukaku, the residence of the Electro Archon. She is just in time for their meeting, too. Her plan to take the Gnosis is flawless; even a delay of a minute would be a hindrance for it.

She glares at the guards at the entrance and takes a step forward; only to crumble to the ground as pain bloomed in her chest. A white light surrounds her body and the pain spread, her mouth opening in a mute scream.

The sudden surge of power and light from the Harbinger alerted not only the Shogun, who had been staring at the black liquid flowing out of cracks in her beloved Creator's statue in the temple she'd built in Tenshukaku. But also Lumine, who'd been on her way to go face to face with the Inazuma's Archon. It is an aura so painfully familiar that she hastens her pace, running through the city with no care for the Shogunate guards shouting at her.

Both the Shogun and Lumine come to a halt on opposite sides of the Harbinger, who is clawing at the ground and trying to shake off whatever it is that surrounds her.

"What...have you done?", Lumine asks in horror, although her heart already knows the answer. The cracked statues of the Creator in the city and their citizens crying out in fervor. The pressure in the air, so vastly different from its usual static.

La Signora gasps, a mad grin growing on her face. She barely hears the Traveller through the ringing in her ears. "Got rid...of a pest."

"Is that what you call your god these days?"

The voice that comes out of nowhere is neither female nor male. Neither light nor darkness. It echoes around them, multiplying until a chorus rings in their ears. The Shogunate guards are the first to kneel or bow down. Lumine falls to her knees next. The Shogun, too, finds herself losing control of her body, muscles seizing up and forcing her to stand still.

More light appears hovering in the air above Signora as it slowly forms a body. It has no distinct features, the outlines rough and moving as if it couldn't decide what it wants to be. It is painful for their eyes and all but Lumine and the Shogun avert them, the last two too entranced by the galactic eyes staring back at them.

"Is it...is it really you, Your Grace?", the female Traveller speaks up, lips shaking. Her heart beats at an erratic pace, eager to burst out of her chest and be handed over to the diving being in front of her. The one who had guided her to Inazuma all along, their warm presence a blessing and a light in the darkest of times. And here you are, finally.

The displeasure evident in those otherworldly eyes fades a bit as you turn to her. She is sure she would have been graced with a smile if you had possessed a face. "My dearest Lumine, it is so good to see you", you coo, floating down to her. You take her face in your hands and watch as she all but melts into you. "I wish we had met earlier, when I still possessed that human body."

"Human...body? But...no. Don't tell me..."

The Shogun's voice brings you out of your moment of peace and your gaze darkens. You glare at the puppet. "I do not wish to speak to a Puppet", you hiss. A light arrow shoots through the Shogun's body and disperses as Ei is forced out of her Planes. She didn't even have a second to react, it all had happened so fast. She blinks several times, confused as she takes in her surroundings. "This is not..."

"No, it isn't your Planes of Euthymia. It's the real Inazuma as you can see." Your voice is cold and the chorus of it grows stronger. Ei whinces, a hand coming up to rub at her head. She stops mid-motion, mouth falling open as she finally understands what she is seeing. "Your...Your Grace? Oh. Oh no, I'm so sorry."

She continues mumbling apologies and useless explanations for why she hadn't come out earlier as she quickly gets onto her knees and bows low, her forehead touching the ground. You are about to chastise her yet again, but Lumine's hands come up to cover your own as she snuggles her face into your touch, a happy sigh escaping her lips. Your chuckle rings through the air. More Inazumans are coming up the hill to Tenshukaku, curious to see what is going on. And one by one, they, too, kneel to you.

A long time ago you would have been pleased by this clear sign of devotion. However those times have long since passed and your recent adventures, or rather...their recent actions had soured your mood greatly.

You let go of Lumine and float back to the Harbinger, determined to do what you've come here for. The Harbinger who still struggles against your holy light holding her down and bringing her pain. "There's only one punishment befitting of you...and that is death. You realized who I am, even saw your true purpose...yet you still killed me."

Gasps could be heard from the crowd at your back and Lumine's anger fuels your own.

Signora growled at you, even as her mask slips off her face and reveals the burning marks she'd received after infusing herself with liquid fire. "And even now I don't regret it. You want to kill me? Then do it! You made my life hell. Killing you and ridding you off this world was the least I could do."

Her audacity almost makes you laugh.

"Oh, you think you'll be granted a simple death? No no, that wouldn't do. Not at all." The stars in your eyes start moving until they show the Harbinger the face of her loved one. "After your death, your soul will be stuck in an ever-lasting limbo. You'll be forced to watch your loved one die, over and over again. But not only that. He'll shun you. He'll hate you...he'll be the embodiment of your own hate towards me. A fitting punishment, is it not?", you mused.

And true to your words, you do what you've foretold her. Signora didn't even get a chance to redeem herself. A single flick of your hand, no words spoken, and her body turned to ashes in front of them.

"And now that this is done...Ei."

"Yes, Your Grace?" Eager to please, as always, Ei looks up at you with adoring eyes. It seems she is unaware of the deeds of her puppet and her citizens. It's a shame.

"Why have you forsaken me?"

The silence is palpable. Only Lumine understands. Lumine, your first vessel. The one you've watched for a long time, even if she wasn't created by you. Lumine who knew from the beginning that there never was an Imposter. It was you all along.

"I'm sorry, Your Grace. I...I do not understand", Ei stutters. A shiver runs down her spine at the foreboding feeling in her chest.

You turn away from her and to your beloved Traveller, motioning her to explain. And she gladly does.

"The Imposter all of Teyvat has been looking for and hunting down...it was our Creator all along", she says, her eyes firm and sad. Sad for you because your own creation did such horrible things to you.

"I still don't understand. Imposter? Your death? A hunt?"

You hum in affirmation, still not turning to the Electro Archon. "You can't even see what your own puppet has been doing...I really should have never given you the title of Archon."

The Inazumans could only watch as the Electro Archon is stripped of her powers and title. Purple mixes with white, turning your body violet for a moment before it fades.

The next time you speak, your voice is heard all around Teyvat. Even the Abyss hears you speak, for your voice is the wind, the people of Teyvat. It is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"I gave you a chance to welcome me as a human being just like you. No memories, no powers. Just a human me. And what did you do? You proclaimed me an Imposter. You hunted me down like a wild animal. You hurt me, tortured me, brought me close to death several times. From today on, for a whole year, calamities will wash over Teyvat. Stronger and more disastrous than ever. Not even your Archons will be able to safe you anymore. Should you survive, you may try and regain my favor and love. Should you be dead...well, I'm sure that the Abyss, or as you once called it Khaenri'ah is sure to take your place. For they will be the only ones safe. They showed me care and welcomed me. They knew me even like that. And so they get to watch as this world becomes a living hell."

And you stand true to your words. Kaeya, Albedo, Dainsleif and the Twins. All those and some more who had shown you mercy watch from the former island of Khaenri'ah as your power slowly destroys the world you've created.

Maybe they should have been sad.

But you stay with them during that whole year and give them your attention and love, and they fully indulge in it, deaf to the screams and cries of the other regions.

Their Creator has chosen them to live on. And so they will make sure that nothing like this ever happens again, should you grant them with your human presence. They'll be your true acolytes and your knights, now and for all of eternity.

Even the Twins, the only ones in Teyvat who weren't created by you, honor you and pray to you. They cease their travelling to stay by your side.

Sometimes the Followers of the Star wonder how it is that the world wasn't destroyed with your death and you are aware of those questions lingering in their head.

As if you, the God of all gods, were stupid enough to bind the existence of your creation to a weak and fragile physical body. Oh lovelies, no.

For as long as your transcendental soul exists, your creations shall, too.

An eternal paradise, if your wrath isn't evoked again. Maybe next time, none shall live to see the future.