Tag: michele ferrara

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Free Astronomy Magazine – January-February 2025 Issue Available For Reading And Download

IC 2163 and NGC 2207

Above: IC 2163 and NGC 2207 from combined Hubble and Webb data, processed by Joseph DePasquale (STScI). From the website: These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes using Hubble's WFPC2 and Webb's MIRI instruments. See webbtelescope.org for more info.

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (January-February 2025) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Arabic at www.astropublishing.com (and facebook).

The January-February 2025 cover. Click to go to the issue.

I mentioned to our fearless leader Michele that issues with new content and issues with curated content remind me of a comment by the great jazz/fusion guitarist Steve Khan. Issues with new content are like albums with new music, where you're trying to expand repertoire and introduce new themes. Issues made of content from other sources are like albums of standards, where you're specifically trying to develop your improvisational skills In this case, it's all about curation, framing, and presentation, which is excellent in this issue (I have no doubt that the exobiological/technosignature bent of articles over the past few years will not end, perhaps with a focus on the nonsensical New Jersey drone reports from this month).

I'm also very happy to see the recent increase in the number of international conferences and symposia being included in issues (not at all unfamiliar to readers of The Reflector or Amateur Astronomy Magazine).

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Free Astronomy Magazine – September-October 2024 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Above: One doesn't need a complete Dyson Sphere to collect Dyson-level solar energy. In the above, a Dyson Swarm would work just fine (and it has a nice Utility Fog-ish thing going on). From wikipedia.

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (September-October 2024) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Arabic at www.astropublishing.com (and facebook).

"We're reporting on Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Hubble, and Webb."

"Hubble is off!"

"Then we'll report on Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, and Webb."

A poor take on a Monty Python skit

I would have found a way to pay for the JWST cost overruns myself at this point. Speaking of costs (free magazine or not), I note that the number of events (and advertisers) have nudged upward as of late, with notable events including:

The original article for this issue is a deep-dive into the findings, and possible relevance, of the work published in the article “Dyson sphere candidates from Gaia DR3, 2MASS, and WISE.” A notable remark by our fearless leader Michele lies in the sentence:

"Today, we know that the growing efficiency of technologies, the miniaturization of components, and the development of nanotechnologies allow for increasing energy savings."

www.astropublishing.com/5FAM2024/

When considering with the amount of accessible solar energy we currently do NOT use…

"A total of 173,000 terawatts (trillions of watts) of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That’s more than 10,000 times the world’s total energy use."

phys.org/news/2011-10-vast-amounts-solar-energy-earth.html

It's quite an exercise to think of what a civilization might be trying to accomplish by harnessing the entirety of a star's output that hitherto unknown physics might not somehow make easier.

Browser-readable version (and PDF download): www.astropublishing.com/5FAM2024/

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Free Astronomy Magazine – And Aurora! – July-August 2024 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Above: The Sun, putting on another show the morning after (11 May 2024) from downtown Rochester.

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (July-August 2024) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Arabic at www.astropublishing.com (and facebook).

Browser-readable version (and PDF download): www.astropublishing.com/4FAM2024/

The amazing aurora from May 10/11 of this year (didn't you hear? earthsky.org/earth/auroras-last-night-extreme-solar-storm-wow-millions-may-10-11-12-2024/) was perfectly timed to coax an informative article for this issue about when and how often the Sun might be far less benign. Since the solar events of 1859, we've gone even farther down some "War Of The Worlds"-esque path, where our technology has become simultaneously more complex (computation) yet more fragile (one good solar storm = kaput). Whereas the Carrington Event lit some telegraph lines and made for some great press the days and weeks after, a similar (or worse) event might risk knocking out every satellite we have in orbit and a whole lot of transformers on the ground, setting us back decades and sending us back as far as our own natures might permit.

With that said, I'm very pleased that Michele chose to replace one of his much better aurora pics from the original draft with one that I took (that I only sent along to show him that we had a display here as well).

That story – The Mrs. and I snuck out after the kids were asleep on May 10th in hopes of finding a quiet clearing along the southern edge of Lake Ontario. Try as we might, every festival that could have been going on was going on. 45 minutes of driving later, we head back to the house having not seen much of anything on the road anyway. I park and go to the deck for one random look and, good heavens, aurora! We're minutes from major retailers, lit parking lots, neighbors who have complicated my observing attempts for years, and the show was amazing. Grabbed the camera and tripod, set to long exposure, and just hung out for another hour. Was, by far, the best show I've ever seen the Sun put on. Click either below for a larger view.

Dazed and tired from the night before, we're making our morning rounds on the 11th when the Sun put on another impressive show from the comfort of our sunroof – in this case a gorgeous halo.

Morning solar halo, with random bird for unusable scale.

Made up, a bit, for missing the total solar eclipse around here.