Above: Domaine du Météore ("Meteor Domain" Winery) in the department (a term used here to define a governmental region) of Hérault in the south of France, the bucolic post-aftermath of what is believed to be one of a number of impact craters in the region. Photo by Frank Brenker, Goethe University Frankfurt.
This issue features a tale of astronomical history (and maybe resolution with recent scientific work) that you can experience for yourself beyond simply taking the photons in (a rarity in astronomy). Discussing what is quite arguably an impact crater put to excellent, excellent use in France, one take-away from this cover story about Le Clot Crater is the reminder of how weather and plate tectonics work to slowly but surely reshape Earth's surface (check out the moon in binoculars for the alternative). This discovery of a more recent impact and its current use are both nice catches (both by the Earth and by the scientists who recognized the oddity of the topography and geology of the area).
Besides the usual excellent original work by our leader Michele Ferrara, this issue is a clear indicator (at least, to the tastes of Michele in selecting content to feature and present) of the way in which the James Webb Space Telescope has made a massive impression (no pun intended) on the work other organizations are writing up and highlighting for public consumption. Much, much more featuring to follow (how does one keep track of all this stuff?!).
Above: In this mosaic image stretching 340 light-years across, Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) displays the Tarantula Nebula star-forming region in a new light, including tens of thousands of never-before-seen young stars that were previously shrouded in cosmic dust. From webbtelescope.org.
The magazine closes out the year with a curated selection of articles from NOIRLab, NASA, CSA, ESA, the Jeddah Astronomy Society, ALMA, and the IAC. Original content for the first issue of 2023 is already in the works, with specific hope that the search for life doesn't come up with anything too exciting before then to cause dramatic rewrites.
Above: "How did you do it? How did you evolve, how did you survive this technological adolescence without destroying yourself?" Jodie Foster as Eleanor Arroway, Contact (1997).
We return to our astro-centric selection of excellent articles and original content with a perspective on climate change that, I think, cuts down the less-spoken middle of the debate. Yes, climate change is real. Yes, the climate has changed many, many, many times in Earth's history. Yes, it isn't affecting major economies fast enough yet for the developed world to propose an Apollo-like approach to solve the problem (Because we haven't! Go look). Yes, the overall increase and wild swings in damaging weather patterns we're experiencing as of late will most likely continue for years and decades to come. Yes, it was "-0 F" this morning according to my Apple Watch. Yes, you should wonder where the energy is coming from to push that much cold air down from the north to make such an event occur several years in a row. Yes, the trend is for the coastal areas to suffer considerable economic hardships that tax dollars and massive spending projects are going to try to resolve/mitigate whether any individual taxpayer likes it or not (and not just because the U.S. Department of Defense itself is planning how to deal with this issue and the instabilities therein. See climateandsecurity.org and Tackling The Climate Crisis for sample examples).
Like the frog from low-boil, we will adjust slowly and reactively as our species is want to do, complaining about the inconvenience all the way, adjusting to the new normal with some of the frog historians remembering the good olde days of pleasant soaks.
That said, Earth doesn't much care. The damage is only to our current comfort level and standing as the self-appointed shepherds of life currently sharing the planet with us. It should make us collectively disappointed that the civilizations who considered the seventh generation were nearly eradicated by the civilizations more concerned about progress for the 1/7th generation, but this post is being written on an Apple product that stopped being the "newest" and "best-ever" such product only five years ago despite the last model being fully-capable of performing the tasks needed to draft and post.
Alternative take – "The planet is fine…" George Carlin, Earth Day (Getty Images). The important other half of that quote continues on youtube or at, for instance, American Digest in its transcribed entirety.
The issue (climate change) is made more pressing now that I consider it as a parent, knowing the generational solutions, whatever they are, are going to burden my kids and alter the world they're going to inherit in ways that no one yet knows how to prepare them for – and that includes knowing they (in particular) may not directly experience the changes in detrimental ways as they grow up simply because of the otherwise idyllic, seasonally-varied, and fresh water-engorged location we now finds ourselves in (although, yearly news cycle after yearly news cycle, we've been happy each of the last five years that we didn't buy the lakefront house and the accompanying exorbitant insurance policy).
Michele's take is well worth the read – as is the rest of the issue.
