All posts by Cathy Palmer-Lister

Astronomy News

COMET ATLAS IS BRIGHTENING FASTER THAN EXPECTED

From Space Weather.com — CPL

COMET ATLAS IS BRIGHTENING FASTER THAN EXPECTED: Get ready for a wild ride. Comet ATLAS (C2019 Y4) is plunging toward the sun and, if it doesn’t fly apart first, it could become one of the brightest comets in years.

“Comet ATLAS continues to brighten much faster than expected,” says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “Some predictions for its peak brightness now border on the absurd.”


Above: Comet Atlas (upper left) glides by spiral galaxy M81 on March 18th. Credit: Rolando Ligustri [more]

The comet was discovered in December 2019 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Hawaii. Astronomers quickly realized it might be special. On May 31, 2020, Comet ATLAS will pass deep inside the orbit of Mercury only 0.25 AU from the sun. If it can survive the blast furnace of solar heating, it could put on a good show.

However, no one expected the show to start this soon. More than 2 months before perihelion (closest approach to the sun), Comet ATLAS is already “heating up.” The worldwide Comet Observation Database shows it jumping from magnitude +17 in early February to +8 in mid-March–a 4000-fold increase in brightness. It could become visible to the naked eye in early April.

“Right now the comet is releasing huge amounts of its frozen volatiles (gases),” says Battams. “That’s why it’s brightening so fast.”

Can ATLAS sustain this crazy pace? If it has a big nucleus w ith large stores of frozen gas, then yes; we could get a very bright comet. Otherwise, Comet ATLAS might run out of gas, crumbling and fading as it approaches the sun.
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Current best estimates of the comet’s peak brightness in May range from magnitude +1 to -5. If Comet ATLAS hits the high end of that range, a bit brighter than Venus, it could become visible in broad daylight.

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) performed that very trick 13 years ago. On Jan. 13, 2007, it swooped past the sun shining at magnitude -5. The absurdly-bright comet was visible at high noon with its tail jutting across blue sky:


Above: Comet McNaught in broad daylight on Jan. 13, 2007. Photo credit: Peter Rosen. [more]

Battams is not optimistic, though: “My personal intuition is that Comet ATLAS is over-achieving, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it fade rapidly and possibly even disintegrate before reaching the sun,” he says.

Come to think of it, that would be a good show, too. Fortunately, NASA has spacecraft with cameras that specialize in seeing things close to the sun.

“The Heliospheric Imager on NASA’s STEREO spacecraft will get a great view of ATLAS from mid-May through early June,” says Battams. “The camera is very sensitive, so we might be able to observe ATLAS’s tail interacting with the solar wind and outflows–as well as any potential breakup events.”

Stay tuned!

Fandom

From Locus: Various event cancellations

So far, Nebula Awards and CoNZealand are still on, but many large events have been cancelled.

COVID-19 SF Event Cancellations

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Numerous upcoming conventions and literary events have been postponed or canceled as part of efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes respiratory illness COVID-19. The situation remains in flux as the full extent of the pandemic remains to be seen. We will update this story and our convention listing with further information about cancellations and postponements as it becomes available.

  • Emerald City Comic Con, scheduled for March 14-20, 2020 in Seattle WA, is attempting to secure new dates for the summer.
  • The 41st International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, scheduled to run March 18–21, 2020 in Orlando FL, has been canceled.
  • The Spectrum Awards ceremony was to be held at Planet Comicon Kansas City, March 20-22, 2020 in Kansas City MO, which has now been canceled.
  • MidSouthCon 38, scheduled for March 20-22, 2020 in Memphis TN, has been postponed to 2021.
  • The Outer Dark Symposium, originally to be held March 27-28, 2020 in Conley GA, has been postponed until August 14-15, 2020.
  • The Bologna Book Fair, first scheduled for March 30 – April 2, 2020 in Bologna, Italy, later announced a postponement to May 4-7, 2020, and then canceled entirely. The next event will be held April 12-15, 2021.
  • The annual Williamson Lectureship, planned for April 2-4, 2020 in Portales NM, has been postponed, likely to September 2020.
  • Norwescon 43 in Seattle WA, scheduled April 9-12, 2020 has been cancelled.
  • The 36th L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future workshops, and the gala event scheduled for April 3, 2020 in Hollywood CA, will be postponed until later this year.
  • StokerCon 2020 in Scarborough, UK, planned for April 16-19, 2020, is “exploring all options to postpone the convention until later in the year.”
  • Swancon, scheduled for April 25-27, 2020 in Perth, Australia, has been canceled.
  • The Edgar Awards banquet and symposium, planned for April 30, 2020 in New York, has been cancelled.
  • The Bay Area Book Festival, scheduled for May 2-3, 2020 in Berkeley CA, is skipping this year, and will next be held May 1-2, 2021.

Smaller events have also been canceled, like March “SF by the Bay” programs at the San Francisco Public Library, the March Writers with Drinks reading in San Francisco, and the March Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading in New York, though the latter is providing a livestream of readings by Daniel Braum and Robert Levy on March 18, 2020 at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Many events (mostly those planned for later in the year) are still scheduled, including Book Expo in New York (May 27-29, 2020); the SFWA Nebula Conference in Woodland Hills CA (May 28-31, 2020); the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA (June 26-28, 2020); and CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention in Wellington, New Zealand (July 29 – August 2, 2020).

We will update as new information comes to light. If you have information about cancellations, please write to locus@locusmag.com.

Astronomy News

New projects broaden the search for alien signals from space

1 Comment
New projects broaden the search for alien signals from space
A longer list of Earth-like planets, eavesdropping on radio waves and looking for laser light shows: All raise the chances of detecting E.T.

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By Tom Siegfried, Knowable Magazine,  |  Published: Thursday, March 5, 2020
RELATED TOPICS: EXOPLANETS | ALIEN LIFE
alienlife1600x600
Jupiter’s smallest Galilean moon, Europa, could sport the water, chemistry, and energy needed to form life. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI

Estimating the chance of getting a message from life beyond Earth, say within the next decade, isn’t easy. Even the best experts are reluctant to offer precise odds.

“Anybody who gave you a figure would be talking about religion, not science,” says Jill Tarter, the astronomer who has spent most of her life pursuing the quest to find signals from alien life.

And even if you did get an estimate for that probability, it wouldn’t mean much. (After all, the San Francisco 49ers had a 95 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl with under 8 minutes to go in the game — and still lost.)

READ MORE

MonSFFA Field Trip

MonSFFA meeting is cancelled

All MonSFFA events are cancelled until further notice.

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When Montreal cancels hockey, can Armageddon be far behind?

Obituary

Max von Sydow 1929-2020

Max von Sydow, Star of ‘The Seventh Seal’ and ‘The Exorcist,’ Dies at 90

Although generally associated with his venerable performances in “serious” films, von Sydow periodically ventured into sillier fare, where he enjoyed playing against audience expectations. That included turns as Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980) and as a sinister beer maker in the lowbrow Bob and Doug McKenzie comedy Strange Brew (1983).

It is important to note that any man-made drug effects are rare to happen but still you should be aware never to excess more than one dosage within 24hours as this may affect your safety. viagra tadalafil The food must be low in fat and cholesterol has been shown to improve erectile function as well as relieve pain and swelling of the generic prescription viagra without lips and face. These capsules restore cialis without prescription overnight unica-web.com hormonal balance, stimulate organs and finally improve area of focus that enhances the flow of energy. All the cost of the ads and hiring representatives goes from levitra tabs the pocket of the patients. More recently, von Sydow played explorer Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and the Three-Eyed Raven on HBO’s Game of Thrones — for which he received an Emmy nomination — and filmed Thomas Vinterberg’s Kursk (2018).

READ MORE

MonSFFA Website

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Street closures affecting our meeting

Ville-marie and Turcot the focus of road closures

From the Montreal Gazette.

Work on the Ville-marie Tunnel and the Turcot Interchange will force motorists to look for detours if they’re heading through downtown this weekend.

A three-year construction project that began last August on the Ville-marie and Viger tunnels will force the complete closure of westbound Route 136/Highway 720, also known as the Ville-marie, between Exit 5 (Robert-bourassa Blvd./highway 10 East/champlain Bridge/victoria Bridge) and the Turcot Interchange from 11:59 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

The work on Route 136/Highway 720 is taking place overnight and weekends.

As a result of the closure this weekend, access from Route 136/ Highway 720 to westbound Highway 20 (Lachine/honoré-mercier Bridge/dorval) and to northbound Highway 15 (Décarie) will be closed.

As well, entrances to the 720 from St-antoine St. E. and from Viger and Hôtel-de-ville Aves. will be closed, as will the entrances from Fort St. and from Lucien-l’allier St.

Detours to northbound Highway 15 will be available via Renélévesque Blvd. W. or St-antoine W. to Atwater Ave.

As well, the entrance to eastbound Route 136/Highway 720 towards downtown from southbound Highway 15 will be closed from 11:59 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

And access to Highway 20 W from northbound Highway 15 will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday.

Also around the Turcot, Stjacques St. W. from De Courcelle St./glen Rd. to Décarie Blvd. and the Mcgill University Health Centre campus will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

Around Nuns’ Island, Exit 5 on eastbound Highway 10 (Bonaventure) will be closed on Saturday, between 6 a.m. and midnight.

In the West Island, the Île-auxtortes bridge between Senneville and Vaudreuil-dorion will be reduced to two lanes in either direction between 9 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday. Traffic will flow in the reverse direction in one eastbound lane during that time.

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Dinosaurs

New species of tyrannosaurus discovered in Alberta

Thanatotheristes — meaning “reaper of death” — is the first tyrannosaur species identified in Canada in 50 years

Canadian Geographic Magazine

An artist’s rendering of how Thanatotheristes might have looked when it ruled the Alberta wilderness 79 million years ago. (Illustration: Julius Csotonyi)

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By Meral Jamal, February 19, 2020

Paleontologists at the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum have discovered a new species of predatory dinosaur in Alberta.

Called Thanatotheristes, which means “reaper of death,” the 79-million-year-old fossil is the oldest known tyrannosaur from North America and the first tyrannosaur species identified in Canada in 50 years.

Jared Voris, study lead author and a PhD student under University of Calgary professor Darla Zelenitsky, says he identified the new species because of unique features such as the ridges along its jawline.

The fragmentary fossil that Voris studied consisted of parts of a skull and jaw bones that were originally found by John and Sandra De Groot in 2010 about 200 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

“They’re vertical ridges that run the whole length of the jaw that we have, and there’s only a single row of them,” says Voris.

What makes these ridges unique is that only one other group of tyrannosaurs have similar ridges, but they weren’t in North America at the time, Voris adds.

Thanatotheristes

A closeup rendering of Thanatotheristes’ head, showing the vertical jaw ridges that helped scientists confirm it as a new species of tyrannosaur. (Illustration: Julius Csotonyi)

According to Zelenitsky, the discovery of this species tells us a lot about the ecosystem of the time as well. She says the differences in size, shape and other physical features among tyrannosaurs may be a result of adaptations to different geographical regions and environments, available prey and hunting strategies.

Alberta in the time of Thanatotheristes would likely have had a subtropical, temperate climate, similar to Louisiana today.

“This discovery is significant in that it adds to what we know about this poorly-known ecosystem in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta,” says Zelenitsky.

In this lush, biodiverse environment, Thanatotheristes would have been the apex predator, says Caleb Brown, study co-author and a curator at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

“It would have been the big carnivore at the time. It would have fed on things like duck-billed dinosaurs and horn dinosaurs,” he says.

Darla Zelenitsky and Jared Voris with Thanatotheristes
University of Calgary professor Darla Zelenitsky and PhD student Jared Voris with fossil fragments of Thanatotheristes. (Photo: Royal Tyrrell Museum)

Citizen scientists essential to further discoveries

According to Brown, the most intriguing thing about the research is what more could have been known about Thanatotheristes had the fossils been better preserved.

“The specimen De Groot found obviously came from a skull that would have been completely put together at some point,” he says.

“What intrigues me is what would have happened if the specimen was found 20, 50 or 100 years ago. How much more complete would it have been, and how much more of the animal would we have known?”

Zelenitsky says the only way to know more is to keep looking.

“The issue is that a lot of these animals or species just aren’t preserved or haven’t been found yet by a paleontologist,” she says.

Brown agrees, adding that ordinary citizens can contribute by keeping an eye out for what they think could be fossils.

“A lot of our really important scientific discoveries in the last several decades have been made by members of the public and this is no exception,” he says.

“For every paleontologist, there are millions of people around, walking their dog, going for hikes, fishing in the river. If you find something you think is interesting, it probably is, so take a picture and report that to a museum because you might end up finding a new species of dinosaur like John De Groot.”

Awards

2019 Stoker Awards Final Ballot

2019 Stoker Awards Final Ballot

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The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the final ballot for the 2019 Bram Stoker Awards:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

  • “Magic, Madness, and Women Who Creep: The Power of Individuality in the Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman”, Gwendolyn Kiste (Vastarien Spring ’19)
  • “Slasher Films Made Me Gay: The Queer Appeal and Subtext of the Genre”, Vince A. Liaguno (Ginger Nuts of Horror 9/1/2019)
  • “The Evil Aging Women of American Horror Story“, Karen J. Renner (Elder Horror: Essays on Film’s Frightening Images of Aging)
  • “Film’s First Lycanthrope: 1913’s The Werewolf“, Kelly Robinson (Scary Monsters Fall ’19)
  • “Lord Byron’s Whipping Boy: Dr. John William Polidori and the 200th Anniversary of The Vampyre“, Valerie E. Weich (Famous Monsters of Filmland 10/19)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

  • Doctor Sleep
  • The Lighthouse
  • Midsommar
  • Stranger Things, “The Battle of Starcourt”
  • Us

Winners will be honored at a gala during StokerCon UK, to be held April 16-19, 2020 at the Royal and Grand Hotels in Scarborough, UK. For more information, see the Stoker Awards website.

Astronomy News

BETELGEUSE IS BRIGHTENING AGAIN

Call off the supernova watch. Betelgeuse is brightening again.

 

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Space Weather News for Feb. 24, 2020
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.comBETELGEUSE IS BRIGHTENING AGAIN: Call off  the supernova watch. Betelgeuse is brightening again. New data from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) shows that the unstable red supergiant is bouncing back from its unprecedented decline. The mystery of Betelgeuse’s behavior is not yet solved, however. Get the full story on Spaceweather.com.

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  Above: Betelgeuse photographed by Brian Ottum of Animas, New Mexico. [more]