#The ever expanding void of a digital nebula

[mslovelyloaf]

Am… am I doing this right? Is this the little box I get to scream into and then throw into the cosmos, hoping someone might notice it and validate my fleeting existence in this world? Do… do I need a title? How do I pick the funny words underneath! This is way to stressful

[spaceexp]

Dancing with the Enemy

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo. 12 December 2018 ESO’s R Aquarii Week continues with the sharpest R Aquarii image ever

R Aquarii peculiar stellar relationship captured by SPHERE

While testing a new subsystem on the SPHERE planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers were able to capture dramatic details of the turbulent stellar relationship in the binary star R Aquarii with unprecedented clarity — even compared to observations from Hubble.

R Aquarii viewed by the Very Large Telescope and Hubble

This spectacular image — the second instalment in ESO’s R Aquarii Week — shows intimate details of the dramatic stellar duo making up the binary star R Aquarii. Though most binary stars are bound in a graceful waltz by gravity, the relationship between the stars of R Aquarii is far less serene. Despite its diminutive size, the smaller of the two stars in this pair is steadily stripping material from its dying companion — a red giant.

R Aquarii In the constellation Aquarius

Years of observation have uncovered the peculiar story behind the binary star R Aquarii, visible at the heart of this image. The larger of the two stars, the red giant, is a type of star known as a Mira variable. At the end of their life, these stars start to pulsate, becoming 1000 times as bright as the Sun as their outer envelopes expand and are cast into the interstellar void.

Digitized Sky Survey image around R Aquarii

The death throes of this vast star are already dramatic, but the influence of the companion white dwarf star transforms this intriguing astronomical situation into a sinister cosmic spectacle. The white dwarf — which is smaller, denser and much hotter than the red giant — is flaying material from the outer layers of its larger companion. The jets of stellar material cast off by this dying giant and white dwarf pair can be seen here spewing outwards from R Aquarii.

Zooming in on R Aquarii

Occasionally, enough material collects on the surface of the white dwarf to trigger a thermonuclear nova explosion, a titanic event which throws a vast amount of material into space. The remnants of past nova events can be seen in the tenuous nebula of gas radiating from R Aquarii in this image.

The ever-changing R Aquarii

R Aquarii lies only 650 light-years from Earth — a near neighbour in astronomical terms — and is one of the closest symbiotic binary stars to Earth. As such, this intriguing binary has received particular attention from astronomers for decades. Capturing an image of the myriad features of R Aquarii was a perfect way for astronomers to test the capabilities of the Zurich IMaging POLarimeter (ZIMPOL), a component on board the planet-hunting instrument SPHERE. The results exceeded observations from space — the image shown here is even sharper than observations from the famous NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

A vampiric star

SPHERE was developed over years of studies and construction to focus on one of the most challenging and exciting areas of astronomy: the search for exoplanets. By using a state-of-the-art adaptive optics system and specialised instruments such as ZIMPOL, SPHERE can achieve the challenging feat of directly imaging exoplanets. However, SPHERE’s capabilities are not limited to hunting for elusive exoplanets. The instrument can also be used to study a variety of astronomical sources — as can be seen from this spellbinding image of the stellar peculiarities of R Aquarii.

Close-up of a red giant star

Jet outburst of a vampiric star

Changing brightness of R Aquarii

Close-up of jets

More information: This research was presented in the paper “SPHERE / ZIMPOL observations of the symbiotic system R Aqr. I. Imaging of the stellar binary and the innermost jet clouds” by H.M. Schmid et. al, which was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The team was composed of H. M. Schmid (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), A. Bazzon (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), J. Milli (European Southern Observatory), R. Roelfsema (NOVA Optical Infrared Instrumentation Group at ASTRON, the Netherlands), N. Engler (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland) , D. Mouillet (Université Grenoble Alpes and CNRS, France), E. Lagadec (Université Côte d’Azur, France), E. Sissa (INAF and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G. Galilei” Universitá di Padova, Italy), J.-F. Sauvage (Aix Marseille Univ, France), C. Ginski (Leiden Observatory and Anton Pannekoek Astronomical Institute, the Netherlands), A. Baruffolo (INAF), J.L. Beuzit (Université Grenoble Alpes and CNRS, France), A. Boccaletti (LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, France), A. J. Bohn (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), R. Claudi (INAF, Italy), A. Costille (Aix Marseille Univ, France), S. Desidera (INAF, Italy), K. Dohlen (Aix Marseille Univ, France), C. Dominik (Anton Pannekoek Astronomical Institute, the Netherlands), M. Feldt (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Germany), T. Fusco (ONERA, France), D. Gisler (Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik, Germany), J.H. Girard (European Southern Observatory), R. Gratton (INAF, Italy), T. Henning (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Germany), N. Hubin (European Southern Observatory), F. Joos (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), M. Kasper (European Southern Observatory), M. Langlois (Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon and Aix Marseille Univ, France), A. Pavlov (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Germany), J. Pragt (NOVA Optical Infrared Instrumentation Group at ASTRON, the Netherlands), P. Puget (Université Grenoble Alpes, France), S.P. Quanz (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), B. Salasnich (INAF, Italy), R. Siebenmorgen (European Southern Observatory), M. Stute (Simcorp GmbH, Germany), M. Suarez (European Southern Observatory), J. Szulagyi (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), C. Thalmann (ETH Zurich, Institute for Astronomy, Switzerland), M. Turatto (INAF, Italy), S. Udry (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland), A. Vigan (Aix Marseille Univ, France), and F. Wildi (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. Links: ESOcast 188 Light: Dancing with the Enemy: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1840a/ Research paper: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2017/06/aa29416-16.pdf Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/ SPHERE: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/sphere/ NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope: https://www.spacetelescope.org/ Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Schmid et al./NASA/ESA/IAU and Sky & Telescope/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin/Videos: ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org). Music: astral electronic/T. Liimets et al./ESO/M. Kornmesser. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

[soyosauce]

The Poetic Prose Tethered To Memory In Void Star

 She looked into his other memory, the last eleven years of his life’s experience fixed forever in deep strata of data, immobile now, and somehow cold. Of course, she thought, I should have known, this is what death is, this stillness in memory.

Conveying a sense of a near future world in which the street finding its own uses for things ends up compiling moments where technology not yet here is antiquated or trash. A laptop has the potential to convey a “superior” education to Kern, a young man growing up in a Favela, and he takes what he needs from the machine; reflecting and embodying the harsh lines of poverty and society in his own body. Kern uses technology to become a weapon. But he doesn’t think like one.

“Like sculpture, the favelas, but she reminds herself that, avant-garde rapture notwithstanding, they’re sinks for all the saddest ugliness in the world, that to set foot in them is to step back decades, or even centuries, they’re the last bastion of the old…”

Irina is a survivor of an experimental tech herself: an implant. Already antiquated due to their unpredictability and low survival rate, few people have them and they drop your life expectancy. Expanding her memory and allowing her to interact with AI, which has grown past normal human understanding. This makes her profession prestigious and lucrative. But when she gets hired to figure out what is wrong with an AI that is supposedly acting strange, it becomes clear that people with implants have a hope of interacting with AI because of the abstracted experience that makes up their own lives.

Thales is the son of an assassinated Brazilian prime minister who got into a car accident. To save him they install a similar implant to make up for the damage to his brain. He is a ghost in his own life despite being alive. Paranoia stemming from his trauma and fear tied to the memory of his attack would be residual frameworks…But because his implant allows for it to be a living memory.

The rich, too are somewhat bound in this world. Everyone is because everyone has the new mortgage: the mayo. A clinic that provides maintenance to the human body, allowing for an elongated lifespan, with the caveat that you need the treatments as early as possible in your life. And, of course, the payments are gestured at being vast sums of money.

“Far be it from me to examine the motives of such a consistent patron of the applied arts. After all, the very rich aren’t like you and me.”

The main characters make up a stratification of class themselves. Irina’s lifestyle has enabled her to be prolonging her life, whereas Kern owns nothing at all. Thales seems to occupy a liminal space; one step in the world and one step out. The connective tissue bridging the massive gulf in the plot.

Cyberpunk is usually known for being frenetic but it’s clear early on Void Star prefers to linger. The prose and winding and beautiful and, in my case at least, extremely effective at slowing down the fiction during important moments, allowing the reader to dwell on them. To offset this the chapters are very short. In not quite 400 pages there are 77 chapters. I feel like this will either a reader will enjoy or hate. Not much time is spent on technical details or expanding on information that might normally follow. Instead, much like Gibson, more time is spent on how something feels. Both from a character perspective as well as the syntax and cadence of the text.

“Below her are the lights of the valley, like burning jewels on a dark tide. The Bay is a negative space around them, its leaden ripples picked out in the moonlight. There is, Irina realizes, a pattern in the flawed latticework of lights, something deeper than the incidental geometry of buildings and streetlight, to which the city has, unwitting, conformed itself, and, with this revelation, what she had taken for single lights expand into constellations, and each of their lights is a constellation in itself, luminescent forms in an endless descent, and the city is like a nebula, radiant with meaning, and this is how she finally knows she’s dreaming.”

While the story is about these three characters with implants converging as an insidious figure appears to be collecting the memories from those with implants by any means necessary. Seemingly random events come together in a satisfying way.

For me, part of why the book was so intriguing and fun to read was the effect the prose had. Just as Irina remembers a fading memory of a past love, willing her last conversation with him to replay in her memory, my mind also began to meander. While it took me out of the fiction it is also rare that some text can shift me into my own thoughts. There are interesting questions posed with no answers. Ever.

“He studied his face through her eyes, the image echoing between them, and then she watched as words coalesced—language like foam forming on black seas of thought…”

It’s been some time since I read cyberpunk with a voice like this. It’s more accessible than authors who tend to write like this. There isn’t a recycling of cyberpunk tropes to the point where technology makes no sense like with first wave cyberpunk books. Instead, there’s recontextualization of some of them; like a patch or update. Instead of technophobic musings Zachary Mason openly wonders about the importance of memory and the potential application of augmenting technology surrounding it. The author has done research on AI and so, this seems to more accurately posit what interactions with some might be like.

Whether it’s Irina trying to negotiate a precarious precipice on the fringes of her own or others’ memory, or Kern fleeing for his life with nothing to rely on but the words of a stranger in his ear; it is all rooted in a sense of place, unlike most cyberpunk fiction. The world feels vibrant and real. Lived in. There are repercussions from climate change and the scale and disparity of class stratification rooted in the thoughts and feelings of individuals instead of the somewhat typical infodump conversations.  

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. I wish I could just slip up and down the timeline as I pleased. It's almost what I do anyway.

I wondered throughout if it’s written in the heavy prose style to have the reader wander the same strange cyberspace, approximating their surroundings with translations of data. The real bled in with the digital place for me because in describing the characters’ perspective in detail, you begin to understand the significance of a viewpoint other than your own.

 “…the abstract geometrics spasming across the TV screen are settling into a deep crystalline blue, the same as the color from her implant’s diagnostics, which somehow seems natural, as though her history pervaded everything, and the world were the palace of her memory.”