#alex cherney

[yorkcalling]

EP Review: Alex Cherney And The Brothers Nylon - Thieves

New York State, USA-based singer songwriter Alex Cherney first came to our attention in the 2021 thanks to his single release Dream Life. Continue reading EP Review: Alex Cherney And The Brothers Nylon – Thieves

[snuh]

Alex Cherney: Red Aurora Over Australia

[nofatclips]

The Moment She Knew by Nosound from the live album Teide 2390

[back-to-the-stars-again]

Aurora Australis above the Ocean, Victoria, Australia.

Credit: Alex Cherney

[huzunlupalyacocuk]

Astronom Alex Cherney'nin Güney Avustralya'da bir yıllık çalışma ve 30 saatlik pozun sonucunda hazırladığı video...  🌍🌌

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Comet Lemmon, Small Magellanic Cloud and globular cluster 47 Tucanae

Image/Video Credit: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

[scifigeneration]

Half the matter in the universe was missing – we found it hiding in the cosmos

by J. Xavier Prochaska and Jean-Pierre Macquart

Diligence, technological progress and a little luck have together solved a 20 year mystery of the cosmos. CSIRO/Alex Cherney, CC BY-ND

In the late 1990s, cosmologists made a prediction about how much ordinary matter there should be in the universe. About 5%, they estimated, should be regular stuff with the rest a mixture of dark matter and dark energy. But when cosmologists counted up everything they could see or measure at the time, they came up short. By a lot.

The sum of all the ordinary matter that cosmologists measured only added up to about half of the 5% what was supposed to be in the universe.

This is known as the “missing baryon problem” and for over 20 years, cosmologists like us looked hard for this matter without success.

It took the discovery of a new celestial phenomenon and entirely new telescope technology, but earlier this year, our team finally found the missing matter.

Origin of the problem

Baryon is a classification for types of particles – sort of an umbrella term – that encompasses protons and neutrons, the building blocks of all the ordinary matter in the universe. Everything on the periodic table and pretty much anything that you think of as “stuff” is made of baryons.

Since the late 1970s, cosmologists have suspected that dark matter – an as of yet unknown type of matter that must exist to explain the gravitational patterns in space – makes up most of the matter of the universe with the rest being baryonic matter, but they didn’t know the exact ratios. In 1997, three scientists from the University of California, San Diego, used the ratio of heavy hydrogen nuclei – hydrogen with an extra neutron – to normal hydrogen to estimate that baryons should make up about 5% of the mass-energy budget of the universe.

Yet while the ink was still drying on the publication, another trio of cosmologists raised a bright red flag. They reported that a direct measure of baryons in our present universe – determined through a census of stars, galaxies, and the gas within and around them – added up to only half of the predicted 5%.

This sparked the missing baryon problem. Provided the law of nature held that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, there were two possible explanations: Either the matter didn’t exist and the math was wrong, or, the matter was out there hiding somewhere.

Remnants of the conditions in the early universe, like cosmic microwave background radiation, gave scientists a precise measure of the unverse’s mass in baryons. NASA

Unsuccessful search

Astronomers across the globe took up the search and the first clue came a year later from theoretical cosmologists. Their computer simulations predicted that the majority of the missing matter was hiding in a low-density, million-degree hot plasma that permeated the universe. This was termed the “warm-hot intergalactic medium” and nicknamed “the WHIM.” The WHIM, if it existed, would solve the missing baryon problem but at the time there was no way to confirm its existence.

In 2001, another piece of evidence in favor of the WHIM emerged. A second team confirmed the initial prediction of baryons making up 5% of the universe by looking at tiny temperature fluctuations in the universe’s cosmic microwave background – essentially the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. With two separate confirmations of this number, the math had to be right and the WHIM seemed to be the answer. Now cosmologists just had to find this invisible plasma.

Over the past 20 years, we and many other teams of cosmologists and astronomers have brought nearly all of the Earth’s greatest observatories to the hunt. There were some false alarms and tentative detections of warm-hot gas, but one of our teams eventually linked those to gas around galaxies. If the WHIM existed, it was too faint and diffuse to detect.

The red circle marks the exact spot that produced a fast radio burst in a galaxy billions of light-years away. J. Xavier Prochaska (UC Santa Cruz), Jay Chittidi (Maria Mitchell Observatory) and Alexandra Mannings (UC Santa Cruz), CC BY-ND

An unexpected solution in fast radio bursts

In 2007, an entirely unanticipated opportunity appeared. Duncan Lorimer, an astronomer at the University of West Virginia, reported the serendipitous discovery of a cosmological phenomenon known as a fast radio burst (FRB). FRBs are extremely brief, highly energetic pulses of radio emissions. Cosmologists and astronomers still don’t know what creates them, but they seem to come from galaxies far, far away.

As these bursts of radiation traverse the universe and pass through gasses and the theorized WHIM, they undergo something called dispersion.

The initial mysterious cause of these FRBs lasts for less a thousandth of a second and all the wavelengths start out in a tight clump. If someone was lucky enough – or unlucky enough – to be near the spot where an FRB was produced, all the wavelengths would hit them simultaneously.

But when radio waves pass through matter, they are briefly slowed down. The longer the wavelength, the more a radio wave “feels” the matter. Think of it like wind resistance. A bigger car feels more wind resistance than a smaller car.

The “wind resistance” effect on radio waves is incredibly small, but space is big. By the time an FRB has traveled millions or billions of light-years to reach Earth, dispersion has slowed the longer wavelengths so much that they arrive nearly a second later than the shorter wavelengths.

Fast radio bursts originate from galaxies millions and billions of light-years away and that distance is one of the reasons we can use them to find the missing baryons. ICRAR, CC BY-SA

Therein lay the potential of FRBs to weigh the universe’s baryons, an opportunity we recognized on the spot. By measuring the spread of different wavelengths within one FRB, we could calculate exactly how much matter – how many baryons – the radio waves passed through on their way to Earth.

At this point we were so close, but there was one final piece of information we needed. To precisely measure the baryon density, we needed to know where in the sky an FRB came from. If we knew the source galaxy, we would know how far the radio waves traveled. With that and the amount of dispersion they experienced, perhaps we could calculate how much matter they passed through on the way to Earth?

Unfortunately, the telescopes in 2007 weren’t good enough to pinpoint exactly which galaxy – and therefore how far away – an FRB came from.

We knew what information would allow us to solve the problem, now we just had to wait for technology to develop enough to give us that data.

Technical innovation

It was 11 years until we were able to place – or localize – our first FRB. In August 2018, our collaborative project called CRAFT began using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in the outback of Western Australia to look for FRBs. This new telescope – which is run by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO – can watch huge portions of the sky, about 60 times the size of a full Moon, and it can simultaneously detect FRBs and pinpoint where in the sky they come from.

ASKAP captured its first FRB one month later. Once we knew the precise part of the sky the radio waves came from, we quickly used the Keck telescope in Hawaii to identify which galaxy the FRB came from and how far away that galaxy was. The first FRB we detected came from a galaxy named DES J214425.25–405400.81 that is about 4 billion light-years away from Earth, in case you were wondering.

The technology and technique worked. We had measured the dispersion from an FRB and knew where it came from. But we needed to catch a few more of them in order to attain a statistically significant count of the baryons. So we waited and hoped space would send us some more FRBs.

By mid-July 2019, we had detected five more events – enough to perform the first search for the missing matter. Using the dispersion measures of these six FRBs, we were able to make a rough calculation of how much matter the radio waves passed through before reaching earth.

We were overcome by both amazement and reassurance the moment we saw the data fall right on the curve predicted by the 5% estimate. We had detected the missing baryons in full, solving this cosmological riddle and putting to rest two decades of searching.

Sketch of the dispersion measure relation measured from FRBs (points) compared to the prediction from cosmology (black curve). The excellent correspondence confirms the detection of all the missing matter. Hannah Bish (University of Washington), CC BY-ND

This result, however, is only the first step. We were able to estimate the amount of baryons, but with only six data points, we can’t yet build a comprehensive map of the missing baryons. We have proof the WHIM likely exists and have confirmed how much there is, but we don’t know exactly how it is distributed. It is believed to be part of a vast filamentary network of gas that connects galaxies termed “the cosmic web,” but with about 100 fast radio bursts cosmologists could start building an accurate map of this web.

This article was updated to indicate that Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, operates the new telescope.

About The Authors:

J. Xavier Prochaska is a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Jean-Pierre Macquart is Associate Professor of Astrophysics at Curtin University

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[sciencealert]

To celebrate the 2019 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Australia's CSIRO has lit up the radio antennas of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder in a glorious rainbow. It's just so beautiful! 😭😍🌈 📷: Alex Cherney/CSIRO https://ift.tt/2VmoxR7

[apod]

2019 February 8

Moon, Four Planets, and Emu Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

Explanation: A luminous Milky Way falls toward the horizon in this deep skyscape, starting at the top of the frame from the stars of the Southern Cross and the dark Coalsack Nebula. Captured in the dark predawn of February 2nd from Central Victoria, Australia, planet Earth, the 26 day old waning crescent Moon still shines brightly near the horizon. The second and third brightest celestial beacons are Venus and Jupiter along the lower part of the Milky Way's central bulge. Almost in line with the brighter planets and Moon, Saturn is the pinprick of light just visible below and right of the lunar glow. Australia's first astronomers saw the elongated, bulging shape of the familiar Milky Way as a great celestial Emu. The Moon and planets could almost be the Emu's eggs on this starry night.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190208.html

[starwalkapp]

APOD: 2019 February 8 - Moon, Four Planets, and Emu⠀ ⠀ Explanation: A luminous Milky Way falls toward the horizon in this deep skyscape, starting at the top of the frame from the stars of the Southern Cross and the dark Coalsack Nebula. Captured in the dark predawn of February 2nd from Central Victoria, Australia, planet Earth, the 26 day old waning crescent Moon still shines brightly near the horizon. The second and third brightest celestial beacons are Venus and Jupiter along the lower part of the Milky Way's central bulge. Almost in line with the brighter planets and Moon, Saturn is the pinprick of light just visible below and right of the lunar glow. Australia's first astronomers saw the elongated, bulging shape of the familiar Milky Way as a great celestial Emu. The Moon and planets could almost be the Emu's eggs on this starry night.⠀ ⠀ Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)⠀ Text Credit: NASA APOD: https://go.nasa.gov/2TEBll5 via Instagram http://bit.ly/2BwCe8y

[yorkcalling]

Discovery: Alex Cherney

Alex Chaney is an indie pop artist based in New York State, USA. In his music, he channels classic song writing styles inspired by The Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Bob Marley, bringing them right up to date. His latest is called Dream Life. (more…)

[snuh]

Alex Cherney: Red Aurora Over Australia

[uzaydanhaberler]

AY, DÖRT GEZEGEN VE DEVEKUŞU

Karenin tepesinde Güney Haçı'nın yıldızları ve karanlık Kömür Çuvalı Nebulası'ndan başlayan bu derin gök manzarasında parlak bir Samanyolu ufka doğru iniyor. 2 Şubat'ta Avustralya, Central Victoria'da şafaktan önceki karanlıkta yakalanan 26 günlük Ay hâlâ ufkun yakınlarında ışıldıyor. Gökteki ikinci ve üçüncü en parlak ışıklarsa Samanyolu'nun merkezi şişkinliğinin alt kısmındaki Venüs ve Jüpiter. Daha parlak gezegenler ve Ay'la neredeyse aynı hizada olan Satürn ise Ay'ın parıltısının sağ altında ancak görülebilen ışık noktacığı. Avustralya'nın ilk astronomları Samanyolu'nun uzun şişkin şeklini gökteki büyük bir emuya* benzetmişlerdi. Bu yıldızlı gecede Ay ve gezegenler de sanki emunun yumurtaları gibi görünüyorlar.

Emu: Avustralya'ya özgü devekuşu benzeri bir tür büyük ve uçamayan kuş türü.

Görsel & Telif: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

[superangel]

tepako starlight,

alex cherney

[spaceexp]

With this incredible image, you can picture the orbital plane of the solar system and Earth's place within it. Photo by Alex Cherney and Terrastro

via reddit

[fumpkins]

One step closer to exploring the beginning of the universe: Designs completed for the world's biggest telescope

Published February 26, 2019 07: 42: 06

Photo: The Murchison is one of the most radio-quiet places on earth with a legislated quiet zone of 260km. (Supplied: ASKAP, Alex Cherney)

Researchers and engineers are one step closer to structure the world’s biggest radio telescope in Western Australia’s rugged, “radio quiet” Murchison area.

The Square Kilometre Variety (SKA) is a worldwide, multi-billion dollar job, which, when constructed, will check out the universe in unmatched information, eavesdroping on the development of the stars and galaxies.

The SKA Facilities Australia Consortium, led by the CSIRO, has actually ended up and validated the facilities designs for the center, the most considerable turning point in the job to date.

The group’s director Antony Schinckel stated facilities is the foundation of the job and includes whatever from supercomputing centers to roadways, supply of water and power, whatever that is required to host the instrument at the CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO).

“It is an extremely important part of the base of a telescope,” he stated.

“Especially in a remote website, they cannot exist there without all of the facilities.

“You have to remember we are going to a website where there is absolutely nothing existing now.”

He stated it took the group 5 years to surface the designs, prior to they were authorized late in 2015.

Photo: This picture shows what the Murchison Square Kilometre Array will look like when built. (Supplied: CSIRO)

What is the SKA?

The SKA is a cooperation in between 12 member nations and will be integrated in 2 areas — Western Australia and South Africa.

It is not a single telescope, however a collection of 132,000 low-frequency SKA antennas, called a range, topped cross countries that is 10 times more delicate and hundreds of times much faster at mapping the sky than today’s finest radio astronomy centers.

When constructed, it will be the world’s biggest public science information job and will create information at more than 10 times today’s worldwide web traffic.

However most notably, it will be effective sufficient to spot really faint radio signals from when the very first galaxies and stars began forming 13 billion years earlier.

Mr Schinckel stated it is one of the world’s biggest mega science tasks.

“The SKA is one of those top four observatories for the next many decades,” he stated.

“Hosting it in Australia and of course some of it is being hosted in South Africa, it is an extraordinary coup for our nations.

“Definitely in Australia it is one of the initially genuine mega science tasks.”

Photo: Western Australia’s rugged, dry, red Murchison region will soon be home to cutting edge technology. (Chris Lewis )

Why Western Australia?

The Murchison, 400 kilometres north east of Geraldton, is popular for its dry, pastoral landscapes and is successfully in the middle of no place, eliminated from civilisation — that makes it one of the most radio quiet put on earth.

In 2015, it acquired global attention when a small radio telescope at the MRO detected the first ever signal from the very first stars to have actually emerged about 180 million years after the Huge Bang.

Mr Schinckel stated the website was perfect due to the fact that it was up until now from commercial and population centres — the source of a lot radio frequency disturbance.

“Much like optical astronomy now where you cannot see the stars very well from the city because of the light pollution,” he stated.

“Radio astronomy is likewise truly affected by all the radio contamination around cities so our smart phones, our fridges, our vehicles, our computer systems create lots of sound.

“So we have actually got to go as far as we can from male made radio disturbance and this website in the Murchison is one of the outright finest in the world.”

Researchers conquer obstacles with high tech style

Mr Schinckel stated while the place is perfect, it is likewise the root of the job’s obstacles.

Photo: The team also had to design a supercomputing facility, which will look like this once constructed. (Supplied: CSIRO)

“We are getting away from all the man-made radio interference in the cities but with all our own equipment we are installing at the site, we generate a lot more radio noise,” he stated.

“So we have to make certain our own telescope cannot see the sound that we are producing with our own electronic devices.

“An actually huge difficulty is to guard the structures for example, so that the devices inside them, the sound that they create cannot enter the telescope.

“Doing that in a place that is as hot as the Murchison in the summer, you are getting up well into the mid forty degrees is really a big engineering challenge and of course you’ve got to do it all as affordably and sustainably as possible as well.”

The group had to take a look at cutting edge methods of ensuring that all the devices that gave off RFI was inside the protected structure and anything that wasn’t within, consisting of air-conditioners, pumps, and lights were as radio-quiet as possible.

“All of those things generate radio frequency noise,” he stated.

“It is a matter of putting in lots of constant steel carrying out skins, doors that have unique seals on them which contain the sound inside the structure.

“By include here I do not imply simply decreasing the levels of sound by aspects of 10s or perhaps a hundred.

“It is reducing the levels of this radio noise by factors of billions, so it is extremely difficult to get it exactly right and a really big engineering and then construction challenge, it is not just a matter of designing it but building it correctly as well.”

There are 12 global engineering consortia each creating particular aspects of the SKA, comprised of 500 engineers in 20 nations.

When all the style bundles are completed and authorized, a vital style evaluation for the whole job will occur prior to building begins, which is anticipated to remain in 2020.

“One of the exciting things as we move into construction in 2020 and 2021 and following years there are some real opportunities there for Australian industries to be involved,” Mr Schinckel stated.

Subjects:

science-and-technology,

astronomy-space,

telescopes,

the-universe,

galaxies,

earth-sciences,

regional-development,

community-and-society,

regional,

space-exploration,

australia,

wa,

geraldton-6530

New post published on: https://livescience.tech/2019/02/26/one-step-closer-to-exploring-the-beginning-of-the-universe-designs-completed-for-the-worlds-biggest-telescope/