Nod…

ESA put out a major release today showing the first results from the spectrographs on Herschel. The release includes data on the Orion star formation region, on nearby and distant galaxies, on a massive star about to become a supernova and on a comet in our own solar system. The latter set of data was taken with HIFI before the technical fault that has left it shut down, awaiting a restart early next year.

These spectroscopic observations show the huge potential of Herschel to show us the physical and chemical processes going on inside dusty objects, be they star formation regions in our own galaxy, or in luminous interacting galaxies like Arp220 and Mrk231. My own research interests are more focussed on the distant luminous objects, and the data shown here from two archetypical ULIRGs (Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies) are really spectacular. Never before have we seen the rich range of spectral lines that PACS and SPIRE have revealed in these objects.

PACS also holds out the hope of examining the velocity structure of some of these lines. This is particularly interesting in Mrk231 which hosts not only a massive burst of star formation but also a supermassive black hole powering a hugely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). The relationship between galaxy interactions and mergers in triggering both starbursts and AGNs is a hot topic, and Mrk231 makes an ideal testbed.

Finally, for sheer spectral richness and complexity, the PACS spectrum of the massive star VYCMa takes some beating. There’s a huge amount of physics and chemistry in this spectrum of a star deep into its old age and soon to become a supernova. Unfortunately this isn’t my area, so hopefully someone will add comments describing what the data means for this object.

For more information and coverage of these results see the ESA web release, BBC News Online, and the SPIRE website at Cardiff University.

OK, so it turns out I lied about not posting today. It’s not because I’m a dishonest professor, though. It’s just that I couldn’t resist drawing your attention to the new results that have just been released by the European Space Agency. To whet your appetite, have a shufty at this exquisite far infrared spectrum of the star VY Canis Majoris taken using the SPIRE instrument for which Cardiff is the lead institute.

VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant, an enormous evolved star located in the constellation Canis Major. With a radius 2600 times that of the Sun, it is the largest known star and it is also one of the most luminous stars known. It is located about 4900 light years away from Earth, has a luminosity in excess of 100,000  solar luminosities, and a mass in the range 30-40 solar masses.

The shell of gas it has ejected displays a complex structure, the so-created circumstellar envelope is among the most remarkable chemical laboratories known in the universe, creating a rich set of organic and inorganic molecules and dust species. Through stellar winds, these inorganic and organic compounds are injected into the interstellar medium, from which new stars orbited by new planets may form. Most of the carbon supporting life on planet Earth was probably made by this kind of evolved star. VY CMa is close to the end of its life and could explode as a supernova at any time.

Spectroscopic results may be a bit less photogenic than pretty pictures, but they often yield much more physically relevant information than simple images. As I’ve mentioned before, it is in spectroscopy where we find the difference between astronomy and astrophysics (or, less politely, between stamp collecting and science).  In this case the spectrum gives a detailed breakdown of the chemical mixture present in the matter ejected by this star.

You can find other stunning examples of Herschel’s infrared spectroscopic capabilities here and you can read more about the involvement of Cardiff astronomers in these stunning new science results on our own pages here.

There’s also a story on the BBC Website.

The spire, north transept & choir of the Cathedral under construction, looking at the east arch from Worcester Street, Christchurch. 1880.

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On Wednesday this week and next week you can get an insight into the workings of a space mission. BBC radio 4 are broadcasting a two episode series called The Herschel Space Telescope about the development and launch of the satellite. Many of those responsible for Herschel and the SPIRE instrument will be featured, possibly even me.

The first show is at 11am on Wednesday 18 November, and the second show a week later. Hopefully those who miss it because they’re at work (like me!) will be able to catch it on Listen Again.

For more information see the BBC webpages for the show.

I wrote these when I was in my 20’s and I was into Springsteen. I later updated them with the “Sampson and Delilah” and the “Vampire”verse- I couldn’t resist trying to find a rhyming scheme for “Deliliah” and there are just too few uses of vampires in music lyrics. There is a piano part that goes with these. Of all the songs I’ve written this is probably my favorite.

Any buyers?

IN THIS LAND (Copyright 2004)

You know I have this crazy dream

We meet so secret and sweet

We hide in The Crowd where we can’t be found

With the Legions of Defeat

You in your napalm sweater

Me in my gasoline jeans

We’ll burn This Town to the ground tonight

And find Refuge in the Heat

In this land

Where nothing is sacred man

In this land

We can live like Bonny and Clyde

But leave our guns and our gangs behind us

We’ll park our car on Nowhere St.

No lawman will ever find us

We won’t need no telephone lines

Or contracts that may bind us

We’ll shoot Silver Bullets between our teeth

And Run naked down a back water beach

In this land

We won’t let ‘em run us down

In this land

Someday, I may, come home to be

Your Sampson, and you my Delilah

You pledge your love eternally

Then smile at me all the time while ya’

Plan to steal my secret powers from me

But all the time, I would still try ta’

Find you, my love, and take your hand

And run away with you into the Desert Sand

IN this land

Betray me not, cause I’m your man

In this land

( In This Land, Con’t)

To keep our love forever I’ll be

Your sweet and secret Vampire

I’ll marry you in a Gothic Church

Then turn you at the top of the spire

Immortally, we’d see the world at night

Free from the False Fruits of man’s fires

When the world of man was finally done

We’d walk hand-in-hand into the Morning Sun

In the land

Nothing lasts forever man

In this land

joseph beuys

“possibilities relating to the embellishment of a city: conserve//displace//modify//transform//suppress”:

toronto: st. james cathedral

dismantle the spire.
bring all 305 ft of it to street level
so it stands beside the aromatic gardens. the grass will deaden the bells– their contact with grass
will make their brass sound
solid when hit.

Oh the tangled web we weave…

This comes after Shelbourne Development Group Inc. was sued in August for $4.9 million on unpaid loans.

Now, the Spire developer is suing, “alleging that the bank intentionally charged too much interest in two loans related to the project,” as this Crain’s article states.

Mi tiro per il naso, fuori. Perché la bellezza che vedo negli altri e che a volte mi fa annichilire, in realtà è la più grande risorsa. E non è lei che mi prende a schiaffi, non l’ha mai fatto e lo so bene. Nell’impatto violento con certa insicurezza quella bellezza non caccia, ma tiene con sé.
Ah, il titolo non c’entra, fatta salva la comicità bellezzona de La ricerca del partner e le nuove frontiere del sesso su Digiland.

 

Grazia del colpo
Grazie del corpo
Corpo della grazia
(Corpo della Grazia?)
Colpo della grazia
Grazia del corpo
Grazie del colpo

Tracciando linee di confine perdiamo la visione dell’insieme.
Quella che sembra un’esperienza diretta è già essa frutto di una costruzione che riconduce all’assegnazione di confini: i nomi sovrapposti alla realtà.
E il presente è l’unico tempo che conosciamo davvero, in the end.
 

Volevo riuscire a stare dritta quando sarei dovuta cadere, tendere verso l’alto mentre venivo attratta verso il basso, rimanere in equilibrio formando angoli impossibili. 
      (Clown girl, Monica Drake)

Lo voglio ancora.

I wanna live here….check it out.

www.thechicagospire.com

Nod…

Nod…

Nod…

Fed: “Non so…fanno tutti un sacco di domande…”
ms: “Però lui non può dare nessuna risposta, quantomeno non inscatolata secondo gli schemi…”
Fed: “Allora, perché siamo qui?”
ms: “Le metafore. Io sono qui per le metafore.”

(Si spalanca il vissuto di un cartone animato; un po’.)

 

Nod…

Nod…

Hay que empezar hablando de sitios que hay que visitar en Dublin, como no podría ser de otra forma, por O’Connell st.

O’Connell st (Sráid Uí Chonaill, en Irlandés) es la calle más importante de Dublin, por ella circulan al día miles de personas y vehículos. Anteriormente era conocida como Sackville st hasta que en 1924 el ayuntamiento de Dublin decide cambiarle el nombre y rendirle tributo a uno de los lideres históricos más importantes de Irlanda, Daniel O’Connell. Daniel, también conocido como El Libertador, luchó por la independencia de Irlanda frente al Reino Unido y por la emancipación católica. Como curiosidad os cuento que O’Connell murió en Génova a los 71 años cuando iba de peregrinación a Roma y su último deseo fue que enterraran su corazón en Roma, y su cuerpo en el cementerio de Glasnevin, aquí en Dublin.

La calle O’Connell está plagada de estatuas y monumentos, algunos de ellos:

• Parnell Monument: Monumento dedicado a Charles Stewart Parnell, fundador del Partido Parlamentario Irlandés y una de las figuras más importantes de la Irlanda del siglo XIX.

Parnell monument

• The Spire: Situado en el centro de la calle, la aguja es la escultura (porque es una escultura) más alta del mundo, con 120 metros de altitud.

The Spire

• O’Connell Monument: Dedicado a Daniel O’Connell.

O'Connell Monument

• Estatua de James Joyce: Aunque no está en O’Connell st propiamente dicho (está en North Earl st) esta estatua del famoso escritor irlandés es bastante conocida. Además, parece que está mirando directamente a The Spire.

Estatua de James Joyce

O’Connell st está repleta de tiendas y sitios para comer en plan McDonals y esas cosas, además cuenta con una oficina de atención al ciudadano que es bastante útil si acabas de llegar a la ciudad y no sabes qué hacer. Es una zona turística muy concurrida y es bastante cara, pero no por ello deja de ser una visita obligada en Dublin.

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