• Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles

    Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles / News / June 14, 2025 /

    There are a pair of asset bundles for game developers on Gumroad from Leartes, the Summertime Unreal Engine Assets Bundle and the Summertime Unity Assets Bundle. Make sure you use code S60 at checkout to drop the price from to ! As you can see from the video below with assets running in the Godot game engine, the assets can easily be exported to other game enginesand there are a number of handy guides below.
    Summertime Unreal Asset Bundle Contents:
    Environments:

    Dark Medieval Environment Megapack
    Modular English Mansion Environment
    Demonic Village Environment
    Stylized Wild West Environment
    Haunted Prison Environment
    Medieval Village Environment
    Forgotten Echoes Environment
    Desert Planet Environment
    Fire Watch Tower Environment
    Medieval Russian Village Environment
    Oriental Building Environment
    Horror MansionMadrid Street Environment
    Bowling Alley
    Stylized Countryside
    English Cottage Interior
    Stylized Eastern Province Environment

    Tools and Other Assets:

    Ultimate Lighting and Camera ToolUltimate Level Art Tool
    Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon
    Cosmos One month Subscription
    SFX Character Movement
    SFX Cyberpunk Guns
    Cosmos Rocket PluginVFX Explosion
    VFX Blood
    SUV 04
    SUV 01 Driveable / Animated / Realistic

    Summer Time Unity Asset Bundle Contents:
    Environments:

    Dark Medieval Village Environment MegapackModular English Mansion Environment
    Demonic Village Environment
    Medieval Village Environment / Camelot
    Fire Watch Tower Environment
    Abandoned Horror Mansion Interior
    Bowling Alley Environment
    Stylized Countryside
    Spanish Cottage Environment
    Chinese Alley Environment
    Tortuga Lighthouse Island
    Ramen Restaurant Environment
    Stylized Lowpoly Cyberpunk City
    Stylized Japanese Shrine Environment
    French Quarter Street Environment
    Will’s Room Environment
    Witch Village Environment
    Office Corridor Environment
    Neptune’s Roman Bath
    Vintage Bar Interior Environment

    Tools and Other Assets:

    Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon
    Cosmos One month Subscription
    SFX Character Movement
    SFX Cyberpunk Guns

    If you are looking at using the Unreal or Unity assets in another game engine, be sure to check out the following conversion guides:
    You can learn more about the Unity and Unreal Engine asset bundles in the video below. Once again, be sure to use the code S60 at checkout. Using links on this page helps support GFS
    #two #unreal #ampamp #unity #asset
    Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles
    Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles / News / June 14, 2025 / There are a pair of asset bundles for game developers on Gumroad from Leartes, the Summertime Unreal Engine Assets Bundle and the Summertime Unity Assets Bundle. Make sure you use code S60 at checkout to drop the price from to ! As you can see from the video below with assets running in the Godot game engine, the assets can easily be exported to other game enginesand there are a number of handy guides below. Summertime Unreal Asset Bundle Contents: Environments: Dark Medieval Environment Megapack Modular English Mansion Environment Demonic Village Environment Stylized Wild West Environment Haunted Prison Environment Medieval Village Environment Forgotten Echoes Environment Desert Planet Environment Fire Watch Tower Environment Medieval Russian Village Environment Oriental Building Environment Horror MansionMadrid Street Environment Bowling Alley Stylized Countryside English Cottage Interior Stylized Eastern Province Environment Tools and Other Assets: Ultimate Lighting and Camera ToolUltimate Level Art Tool Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon Cosmos One month Subscription SFX Character Movement SFX Cyberpunk Guns Cosmos Rocket PluginVFX Explosion VFX Blood SUV 04 SUV 01 Driveable / Animated / Realistic Summer Time Unity Asset Bundle Contents: Environments: Dark Medieval Village Environment MegapackModular English Mansion Environment Demonic Village Environment Medieval Village Environment / Camelot Fire Watch Tower Environment Abandoned Horror Mansion Interior Bowling Alley Environment Stylized Countryside Spanish Cottage Environment Chinese Alley Environment Tortuga Lighthouse Island Ramen Restaurant Environment Stylized Lowpoly Cyberpunk City Stylized Japanese Shrine Environment French Quarter Street Environment Will’s Room Environment Witch Village Environment Office Corridor Environment Neptune’s Roman Bath Vintage Bar Interior Environment Tools and Other Assets: Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon Cosmos One month Subscription SFX Character Movement SFX Cyberpunk Guns If you are looking at using the Unreal or Unity assets in another game engine, be sure to check out the following conversion guides: You can learn more about the Unity and Unreal Engine asset bundles in the video below. Once again, be sure to use the code S60 at checkout. Using links on this page helps support GFS #two #unreal #ampamp #unity #asset
    GAMEFROMSCRATCH.COM
    Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles
    Two Unreal & Unity Asset Bundles / News / June 14, 2025 / There are a pair of asset bundles for game developers on Gumroad from Leartes, the Summertime Unreal Engine Assets Bundle and the Summertime Unity Assets Bundle. Make sure you use code S60 at checkout to drop the price from $99 to $39! As you can see from the video below with assets running in the Godot game engine, the assets can easily be exported to other game engines (especially from the Unreal Engine bundle) and there are a number of handy guides below. Summertime Unreal Asset Bundle Contents: Environments: Dark Medieval Environment Megapack Modular English Mansion Environment Demonic Village Environment Stylized Wild West Environment Haunted Prison Environment Medieval Village Environment Forgotten Echoes Environment Desert Planet Environment Fire Watch Tower Environment Medieval Russian Village Environment Oriental Building Environment Horror Mansion (Abandoned Grand Mansion, Exterior + Interior, Modular) Madrid Street Environment Bowling Alley Stylized Countryside English Cottage Interior Stylized Eastern Province Environment Tools and Other Assets: Ultimate Lighting and Camera Tool (ULCT, Unreal Engine Plugin) Ultimate Level Art Tool Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon Cosmos One month Subscription SFX Character Movement SFX Cyberpunk Guns Cosmos Rocket Plugin (Drag and Drop to Unreal Engine Plugin) VFX Explosion VFX Blood SUV 04 SUV 01 Driveable / Animated / Realistic Summer Time Unity Asset Bundle Contents: Environments: Dark Medieval Village Environment Megapack (Modular with Full Interiors) Modular English Mansion Environment Demonic Village Environment Medieval Village Environment / Camelot Fire Watch Tower Environment Abandoned Horror Mansion Interior Bowling Alley Environment Stylized Countryside Spanish Cottage Environment Chinese Alley Environment Tortuga Lighthouse Island Ramen Restaurant Environment Stylized Lowpoly Cyberpunk City Stylized Japanese Shrine Environment French Quarter Street Environment Will’s Room Environment Witch Village Environment Office Corridor Environment Neptune’s Roman Bath Vintage Bar Interior Environment Tools and Other Assets: Cosmos 50% Discount Coupon Cosmos One month Subscription SFX Character Movement SFX Cyberpunk Guns If you are looking at using the Unreal or Unity assets in another game engine, be sure to check out the following conversion guides: You can learn more about the Unity and Unreal Engine asset bundles in the video below. Once again, be sure to use the code S60 at checkout. Using links on this page helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!)
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  • How a planetarium show discovered a spiral at the edge of our solar system

    If you’ve ever flown through outer space, at least while watching a documentary or a science fiction film, you’ve seen how artists turn astronomical findings into stunning visuals. But in the process of visualizing data for their latest planetarium show, a production team at New York’s American Museum of Natural History made a surprising discovery of their own: a trillion-and-a-half mile long spiral of material drifting along the edge of our solar system.

    “So this is a really fun thing that happened,” says Jackie Faherty, the museum’s senior scientist.

    Last winter, Faherty and her colleagues were beneath the dome of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, fine-tuning a scene that featured the Oort cloud, the big, thick bubble surrounding our Sun and planets that’s filled with ice and rock and other remnants from the solar system’s infancy. The Oort cloud begins far beyond Neptune, around one and a half light years from the Sun. It has never been directly observed; its existence is inferred from the behavior of long-period comets entering the inner solar system. The cloud is so expansive that the Voyager spacecraft, our most distant probes, would need another 250 years just to reach its inner boundary; to reach the other side, they would need about 30,000 years. 

    The 30-minute show, Encounters in the Milky Way, narrated by Pedro Pascal, guides audiences on a trip through the galaxy across billions of years. For a section about our nascent solar system, the writing team decided “there’s going to be a fly-by” of the Oort cloud, Faherty says. “But what does our Oort cloud look like?” 

    To find out, the museum consulted astronomers and turned to David Nesvorný, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. He provided his model of the millions of particles believed to make up the Oort cloud, based on extensive observational data.

    “Everybody said, go talk to Nesvorný. He’s got the best model,” says Faherty. And “everybody told us, ‘There’s structure in the model,’ so we were kind of set up to look for stuff,” she says. 

    The museum’s technical team began using Nesvorný’s model to simulate how the cloud evolved over time. Later, as the team projected versions of the fly-by scene into the dome, with the camera looking back at the Oort cloud, they saw a familiar shape, one that appears in galaxies, Saturn’s rings, and disks around young stars.

    “We’re flying away from the Oort cloud and out pops this spiral, a spiral shape to the outside of our solar system,” Faherty marveled. “A huge structure, millions and millions of particles.”

    She emailed Nesvorný to ask for “more particles,” with a render of the scene attached. “We noticed the spiral of course,” she wrote. “And then he writes me back: ‘what are you talking about, a spiral?’” 

    While fine-tuning a simulation of the Oort cloud, a vast expanse of ice material leftover from the birth of our Sun, the ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ production team noticed a very clear shape: a structure made of billions of comets and shaped like a spiral-armed galaxy, seen here in a scene from the final Space ShowMore simulations ensued, this time on Pleiades, a powerful NASA supercomputer. In high-performance computer simulations spanning 4.6 billion years, starting from the Solar System’s earliest days, the researchers visualized how the initial icy and rocky ingredients of the Oort cloud began circling the Sun, in the elliptical orbits that are thought to give the cloud its rough disc shape. The simulations also incorporated the physics of the Sun’s gravitational pull, the influences from our Milky Way galaxy, and the movements of the comets themselves. 

    In each simulation, the spiral persisted.

    “No one has ever seen the Oort structure like that before,” says Faherty. Nesvorný “has a great quote about this: ‘The math was all there. We just needed the visuals.’” 

    An illustration of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud in relation to our solar system.As the Oort cloud grew with the early solar system, Nesvorný and his colleagues hypothesize that the galactic tide, or the gravitational force from the Milky Way, disrupted the orbits of some comets. Although the Sun pulls these objects inward, the galaxy’s gravity appears to have twisted part of the Oort cloud outward, forming a spiral tilted roughly 30 degrees from the plane of the solar system.

    “As the galactic tide acts to decouple bodies from the scattered disk it creates a spiral structure in physical space that is roughly 15,000 astronomical units in length,” or around 1.4 trillion miles from one end to the other, the researchers write in a paper that was published in March in the Astrophysical Journal. “The spiral is long-lived and persists in the inner Oort Cloud to the present time.”

    “The physics makes sense,” says Faherty. “Scientists, we’re amazing at what we do, but it doesn’t mean we can see everything right away.”

    It helped that the team behind the space show was primed to look for something, says Carter Emmart, the museum’s director of astrovisualization and director of Encounters. Astronomers had described Nesvorný’s model as having “a structure,” which intrigued the team’s artists. “We were also looking for structure so that it wouldn’t just be sort of like a big blob,” he says. “Other models were also revealing this—but they just hadn’t been visualized.”

    The museum’s attempts to simulate nature date back to its first habitat dioramas in the early 1900s, which brought visitors to places that hadn’t yet been captured by color photos, TV, or the web. The planetarium, a night sky simulator for generations of would-be scientists and astronauts, got its start after financier Charles Hayden bought the museum its first Zeiss projector. The planetarium now boasts one of the world’s few Zeiss Mark IX systems.

    Still, these days the star projector is rarely used, Emmart says, now that fulldome laser projectors can turn the old static starfield into 3D video running at 60 frames per second. The Hayden boasts six custom-built Christie projectors, part of what the museum’s former president called “the most advanced planetarium ever attempted.”

     In about 1.3 million years, the star system Gliese 710 is set to pass directly through our Oort Cloud, an event visualized in a dramatic scene in ‘Encounters in the Milky Way.’ During its flyby, our systems will swap icy comets, flinging some out on new paths.Emmart recalls how in 1998, when he and other museum leaders were imagining the future of space shows at the Hayden—now with the help of digital projectors and computer graphics—there were questions over how much space they could try to show.

    “We’re talking about these astronomical data sets we could plot to make the galaxy and the stars,” he says. “Of course, we knew that we would have this star projector, but we really wanted to emphasize astrophysics with this dome video system. I was drawing pictures of this just to get our heads around it and noting the tip of the solar system to the Milky Way is about 60 degrees. And I said, what are we gonna do when we get outside the Milky Way?’

    “ThenNeil Degrasse Tyson “goes, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, Carter, we have enough to do. And just plotting the Milky Way, that’s hard enough.’ And I said, ‘well, when we exit the Milky Way and we don’t see any other galaxies, that’s sort of like astronomy in 1920—we thought maybe the entire universe is just a Milky Way.'”

    “And that kind of led to a chaotic discussion about, well, what other data sets are there for this?” Emmart adds.

    The museum worked with astronomer Brent Tully, who had mapped 3500 galaxies beyond the Milky Way, in collaboration with the National Center for Super Computing Applications. “That was it,” he says, “and that seemed fantastical.”

    By the time the first planetarium show opened at the museum’s new Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000, Tully had broadened his survey “to an amazing” 30,000 galaxies. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey followed—it’s now at data release 18—with six million galaxies.

    To build the map of the universe that underlies Encounters, the team also relied on data from the European Space Agency’s space observatory, Gaia. Launched in 2013 and powered down in March of this year, Gaia brought an unprecedented precision to our astronomical map, plotting the distance between 1.7 billion stars. To visualize and render the simulated data, Jon Parker, the museum’s lead technical director, relied on Houdini, a 3D animation tool by Toronto-based SideFX.

    The goal is immersion, “whether it’s in front of the buffalo downstairs, and seeing what those herds were like before we decimated them, to coming in this room and being teleported to space, with an accurate foundation in the science,” Emmart says. “But the art is important, because the art is the way to the soul.” 

    The museum, he adds, is “a testament to wonder. And I think wonder is a gateway to inspiration, and inspiration is a gateway to motivation.”

    Three-D visuals aren’t just powerful tools for communicating science, but increasingly crucial for science itself. Software like OpenSpace, an open source simulation tool developed by the museum, along with the growing availability of high-performance computing, are making it easier to build highly detailed visuals of ever larger and more complex collections of data.

    “Anytime we look, literally, from a different angle at catalogs of astronomical positions, simulations, or exploring the phase space of a complex data set, there is great potential to discover something new,” says Brian R. Kent, an astronomer and director of science communications at National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “There is also a wealth of astronomics tatical data in archives that can be reanalyzed in new ways, leading to new discoveries.”

    As the instruments grow in size and sophistication, so does the data, and the challenge of understanding it. Like all scientists, astronomers are facing a deluge of data, ranging from gamma rays and X-rays to ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio bands.

    Our Oort cloud, a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the solar system and extends one-and-a-half light years in every direction, is shown in this scene from ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ along with the Oort clouds of neighboring stars. The more massive the star, the larger its Oort cloud“New facilities like the Next Generation Very Large Array here at NRAO or the Vera Rubin Observatory and LSST survey project will generate large volumes of data, so astronomers have to get creative with how to analyze it,” says Kent. 

    More data—and new instruments—will also be needed to prove the spiral itself is actually there: there’s still no known way to even observe the Oort cloud. 

    Instead, the paper notes, the structure will have to be measured from “detection of a large number of objects” in the radius of the inner Oort cloud or from “thermal emission from small particles in the Oort spiral.” 

    The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a powerful, U.S.-funded telescope that recently began operation in Chile, could possibly observe individual icy bodies within the cloud. But researchers expect the telescope will likely discover only dozens of these objects, maybe hundreds, not enough to meaningfully visualize any shapes in the Oort cloud. 

    For us, here and now, the 1.4 trillion mile-long spiral will remain confined to the inside of a dark dome across the street from Central Park.
    #how #planetarium #show #discovered #spiral
    How a planetarium show discovered a spiral at the edge of our solar system
    If you’ve ever flown through outer space, at least while watching a documentary or a science fiction film, you’ve seen how artists turn astronomical findings into stunning visuals. But in the process of visualizing data for their latest planetarium show, a production team at New York’s American Museum of Natural History made a surprising discovery of their own: a trillion-and-a-half mile long spiral of material drifting along the edge of our solar system. “So this is a really fun thing that happened,” says Jackie Faherty, the museum’s senior scientist. Last winter, Faherty and her colleagues were beneath the dome of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, fine-tuning a scene that featured the Oort cloud, the big, thick bubble surrounding our Sun and planets that’s filled with ice and rock and other remnants from the solar system’s infancy. The Oort cloud begins far beyond Neptune, around one and a half light years from the Sun. It has never been directly observed; its existence is inferred from the behavior of long-period comets entering the inner solar system. The cloud is so expansive that the Voyager spacecraft, our most distant probes, would need another 250 years just to reach its inner boundary; to reach the other side, they would need about 30,000 years.  The 30-minute show, Encounters in the Milky Way, narrated by Pedro Pascal, guides audiences on a trip through the galaxy across billions of years. For a section about our nascent solar system, the writing team decided “there’s going to be a fly-by” of the Oort cloud, Faherty says. “But what does our Oort cloud look like?”  To find out, the museum consulted astronomers and turned to David Nesvorný, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. He provided his model of the millions of particles believed to make up the Oort cloud, based on extensive observational data. “Everybody said, go talk to Nesvorný. He’s got the best model,” says Faherty. And “everybody told us, ‘There’s structure in the model,’ so we were kind of set up to look for stuff,” she says.  The museum’s technical team began using Nesvorný’s model to simulate how the cloud evolved over time. Later, as the team projected versions of the fly-by scene into the dome, with the camera looking back at the Oort cloud, they saw a familiar shape, one that appears in galaxies, Saturn’s rings, and disks around young stars. “We’re flying away from the Oort cloud and out pops this spiral, a spiral shape to the outside of our solar system,” Faherty marveled. “A huge structure, millions and millions of particles.” She emailed Nesvorný to ask for “more particles,” with a render of the scene attached. “We noticed the spiral of course,” she wrote. “And then he writes me back: ‘what are you talking about, a spiral?’”  While fine-tuning a simulation of the Oort cloud, a vast expanse of ice material leftover from the birth of our Sun, the ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ production team noticed a very clear shape: a structure made of billions of comets and shaped like a spiral-armed galaxy, seen here in a scene from the final Space ShowMore simulations ensued, this time on Pleiades, a powerful NASA supercomputer. In high-performance computer simulations spanning 4.6 billion years, starting from the Solar System’s earliest days, the researchers visualized how the initial icy and rocky ingredients of the Oort cloud began circling the Sun, in the elliptical orbits that are thought to give the cloud its rough disc shape. The simulations also incorporated the physics of the Sun’s gravitational pull, the influences from our Milky Way galaxy, and the movements of the comets themselves.  In each simulation, the spiral persisted. “No one has ever seen the Oort structure like that before,” says Faherty. Nesvorný “has a great quote about this: ‘The math was all there. We just needed the visuals.’”  An illustration of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud in relation to our solar system.As the Oort cloud grew with the early solar system, Nesvorný and his colleagues hypothesize that the galactic tide, or the gravitational force from the Milky Way, disrupted the orbits of some comets. Although the Sun pulls these objects inward, the galaxy’s gravity appears to have twisted part of the Oort cloud outward, forming a spiral tilted roughly 30 degrees from the plane of the solar system. “As the galactic tide acts to decouple bodies from the scattered disk it creates a spiral structure in physical space that is roughly 15,000 astronomical units in length,” or around 1.4 trillion miles from one end to the other, the researchers write in a paper that was published in March in the Astrophysical Journal. “The spiral is long-lived and persists in the inner Oort Cloud to the present time.” “The physics makes sense,” says Faherty. “Scientists, we’re amazing at what we do, but it doesn’t mean we can see everything right away.” It helped that the team behind the space show was primed to look for something, says Carter Emmart, the museum’s director of astrovisualization and director of Encounters. Astronomers had described Nesvorný’s model as having “a structure,” which intrigued the team’s artists. “We were also looking for structure so that it wouldn’t just be sort of like a big blob,” he says. “Other models were also revealing this—but they just hadn’t been visualized.” The museum’s attempts to simulate nature date back to its first habitat dioramas in the early 1900s, which brought visitors to places that hadn’t yet been captured by color photos, TV, or the web. The planetarium, a night sky simulator for generations of would-be scientists and astronauts, got its start after financier Charles Hayden bought the museum its first Zeiss projector. The planetarium now boasts one of the world’s few Zeiss Mark IX systems. Still, these days the star projector is rarely used, Emmart says, now that fulldome laser projectors can turn the old static starfield into 3D video running at 60 frames per second. The Hayden boasts six custom-built Christie projectors, part of what the museum’s former president called “the most advanced planetarium ever attempted.”  In about 1.3 million years, the star system Gliese 710 is set to pass directly through our Oort Cloud, an event visualized in a dramatic scene in ‘Encounters in the Milky Way.’ During its flyby, our systems will swap icy comets, flinging some out on new paths.Emmart recalls how in 1998, when he and other museum leaders were imagining the future of space shows at the Hayden—now with the help of digital projectors and computer graphics—there were questions over how much space they could try to show. “We’re talking about these astronomical data sets we could plot to make the galaxy and the stars,” he says. “Of course, we knew that we would have this star projector, but we really wanted to emphasize astrophysics with this dome video system. I was drawing pictures of this just to get our heads around it and noting the tip of the solar system to the Milky Way is about 60 degrees. And I said, what are we gonna do when we get outside the Milky Way?’ “ThenNeil Degrasse Tyson “goes, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, Carter, we have enough to do. And just plotting the Milky Way, that’s hard enough.’ And I said, ‘well, when we exit the Milky Way and we don’t see any other galaxies, that’s sort of like astronomy in 1920—we thought maybe the entire universe is just a Milky Way.'” “And that kind of led to a chaotic discussion about, well, what other data sets are there for this?” Emmart adds. The museum worked with astronomer Brent Tully, who had mapped 3500 galaxies beyond the Milky Way, in collaboration with the National Center for Super Computing Applications. “That was it,” he says, “and that seemed fantastical.” By the time the first planetarium show opened at the museum’s new Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000, Tully had broadened his survey “to an amazing” 30,000 galaxies. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey followed—it’s now at data release 18—with six million galaxies. To build the map of the universe that underlies Encounters, the team also relied on data from the European Space Agency’s space observatory, Gaia. Launched in 2013 and powered down in March of this year, Gaia brought an unprecedented precision to our astronomical map, plotting the distance between 1.7 billion stars. To visualize and render the simulated data, Jon Parker, the museum’s lead technical director, relied on Houdini, a 3D animation tool by Toronto-based SideFX. The goal is immersion, “whether it’s in front of the buffalo downstairs, and seeing what those herds were like before we decimated them, to coming in this room and being teleported to space, with an accurate foundation in the science,” Emmart says. “But the art is important, because the art is the way to the soul.”  The museum, he adds, is “a testament to wonder. And I think wonder is a gateway to inspiration, and inspiration is a gateway to motivation.” Three-D visuals aren’t just powerful tools for communicating science, but increasingly crucial for science itself. Software like OpenSpace, an open source simulation tool developed by the museum, along with the growing availability of high-performance computing, are making it easier to build highly detailed visuals of ever larger and more complex collections of data. “Anytime we look, literally, from a different angle at catalogs of astronomical positions, simulations, or exploring the phase space of a complex data set, there is great potential to discover something new,” says Brian R. Kent, an astronomer and director of science communications at National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “There is also a wealth of astronomics tatical data in archives that can be reanalyzed in new ways, leading to new discoveries.” As the instruments grow in size and sophistication, so does the data, and the challenge of understanding it. Like all scientists, astronomers are facing a deluge of data, ranging from gamma rays and X-rays to ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio bands. Our Oort cloud, a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the solar system and extends one-and-a-half light years in every direction, is shown in this scene from ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ along with the Oort clouds of neighboring stars. The more massive the star, the larger its Oort cloud“New facilities like the Next Generation Very Large Array here at NRAO or the Vera Rubin Observatory and LSST survey project will generate large volumes of data, so astronomers have to get creative with how to analyze it,” says Kent.  More data—and new instruments—will also be needed to prove the spiral itself is actually there: there’s still no known way to even observe the Oort cloud.  Instead, the paper notes, the structure will have to be measured from “detection of a large number of objects” in the radius of the inner Oort cloud or from “thermal emission from small particles in the Oort spiral.”  The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a powerful, U.S.-funded telescope that recently began operation in Chile, could possibly observe individual icy bodies within the cloud. But researchers expect the telescope will likely discover only dozens of these objects, maybe hundreds, not enough to meaningfully visualize any shapes in the Oort cloud.  For us, here and now, the 1.4 trillion mile-long spiral will remain confined to the inside of a dark dome across the street from Central Park. #how #planetarium #show #discovered #spiral
    WWW.FASTCOMPANY.COM
    How a planetarium show discovered a spiral at the edge of our solar system
    If you’ve ever flown through outer space, at least while watching a documentary or a science fiction film, you’ve seen how artists turn astronomical findings into stunning visuals. But in the process of visualizing data for their latest planetarium show, a production team at New York’s American Museum of Natural History made a surprising discovery of their own: a trillion-and-a-half mile long spiral of material drifting along the edge of our solar system. “So this is a really fun thing that happened,” says Jackie Faherty, the museum’s senior scientist. Last winter, Faherty and her colleagues were beneath the dome of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, fine-tuning a scene that featured the Oort cloud, the big, thick bubble surrounding our Sun and planets that’s filled with ice and rock and other remnants from the solar system’s infancy. The Oort cloud begins far beyond Neptune, around one and a half light years from the Sun. It has never been directly observed; its existence is inferred from the behavior of long-period comets entering the inner solar system. The cloud is so expansive that the Voyager spacecraft, our most distant probes, would need another 250 years just to reach its inner boundary; to reach the other side, they would need about 30,000 years.  The 30-minute show, Encounters in the Milky Way, narrated by Pedro Pascal, guides audiences on a trip through the galaxy across billions of years. For a section about our nascent solar system, the writing team decided “there’s going to be a fly-by” of the Oort cloud, Faherty says. “But what does our Oort cloud look like?”  To find out, the museum consulted astronomers and turned to David Nesvorný, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. He provided his model of the millions of particles believed to make up the Oort cloud, based on extensive observational data. “Everybody said, go talk to Nesvorný. He’s got the best model,” says Faherty. And “everybody told us, ‘There’s structure in the model,’ so we were kind of set up to look for stuff,” she says.  The museum’s technical team began using Nesvorný’s model to simulate how the cloud evolved over time. Later, as the team projected versions of the fly-by scene into the dome, with the camera looking back at the Oort cloud, they saw a familiar shape, one that appears in galaxies, Saturn’s rings, and disks around young stars. “We’re flying away from the Oort cloud and out pops this spiral, a spiral shape to the outside of our solar system,” Faherty marveled. “A huge structure, millions and millions of particles.” She emailed Nesvorný to ask for “more particles,” with a render of the scene attached. “We noticed the spiral of course,” she wrote. “And then he writes me back: ‘what are you talking about, a spiral?’”  While fine-tuning a simulation of the Oort cloud, a vast expanse of ice material leftover from the birth of our Sun, the ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ production team noticed a very clear shape: a structure made of billions of comets and shaped like a spiral-armed galaxy, seen here in a scene from the final Space Show (curving, dusty S-shape behind the Sun) [Image: © AMNH] More simulations ensued, this time on Pleiades, a powerful NASA supercomputer. In high-performance computer simulations spanning 4.6 billion years, starting from the Solar System’s earliest days, the researchers visualized how the initial icy and rocky ingredients of the Oort cloud began circling the Sun, in the elliptical orbits that are thought to give the cloud its rough disc shape. The simulations also incorporated the physics of the Sun’s gravitational pull, the influences from our Milky Way galaxy, and the movements of the comets themselves.  In each simulation, the spiral persisted. “No one has ever seen the Oort structure like that before,” says Faherty. Nesvorný “has a great quote about this: ‘The math was all there. We just needed the visuals.’”  An illustration of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud in relation to our solar system. [Image: NASA] As the Oort cloud grew with the early solar system, Nesvorný and his colleagues hypothesize that the galactic tide, or the gravitational force from the Milky Way, disrupted the orbits of some comets. Although the Sun pulls these objects inward, the galaxy’s gravity appears to have twisted part of the Oort cloud outward, forming a spiral tilted roughly 30 degrees from the plane of the solar system. “As the galactic tide acts to decouple bodies from the scattered disk it creates a spiral structure in physical space that is roughly 15,000 astronomical units in length,” or around 1.4 trillion miles from one end to the other, the researchers write in a paper that was published in March in the Astrophysical Journal. “The spiral is long-lived and persists in the inner Oort Cloud to the present time.” “The physics makes sense,” says Faherty. “Scientists, we’re amazing at what we do, but it doesn’t mean we can see everything right away.” It helped that the team behind the space show was primed to look for something, says Carter Emmart, the museum’s director of astrovisualization and director of Encounters. Astronomers had described Nesvorný’s model as having “a structure,” which intrigued the team’s artists. “We were also looking for structure so that it wouldn’t just be sort of like a big blob,” he says. “Other models were also revealing this—but they just hadn’t been visualized.” The museum’s attempts to simulate nature date back to its first habitat dioramas in the early 1900s, which brought visitors to places that hadn’t yet been captured by color photos, TV, or the web. The planetarium, a night sky simulator for generations of would-be scientists and astronauts, got its start after financier Charles Hayden bought the museum its first Zeiss projector. The planetarium now boasts one of the world’s few Zeiss Mark IX systems. Still, these days the star projector is rarely used, Emmart says, now that fulldome laser projectors can turn the old static starfield into 3D video running at 60 frames per second. The Hayden boasts six custom-built Christie projectors, part of what the museum’s former president called “the most advanced planetarium ever attempted.”  In about 1.3 million years, the star system Gliese 710 is set to pass directly through our Oort Cloud, an event visualized in a dramatic scene in ‘Encounters in the Milky Way.’ During its flyby, our systems will swap icy comets, flinging some out on new paths. [Image: © AMNH] Emmart recalls how in 1998, when he and other museum leaders were imagining the future of space shows at the Hayden—now with the help of digital projectors and computer graphics—there were questions over how much space they could try to show. “We’re talking about these astronomical data sets we could plot to make the galaxy and the stars,” he says. “Of course, we knew that we would have this star projector, but we really wanted to emphasize astrophysics with this dome video system. I was drawing pictures of this just to get our heads around it and noting the tip of the solar system to the Milky Way is about 60 degrees. And I said, what are we gonna do when we get outside the Milky Way?’ “Then [planetarium’s director] Neil Degrasse Tyson “goes, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, Carter, we have enough to do. And just plotting the Milky Way, that’s hard enough.’ And I said, ‘well, when we exit the Milky Way and we don’t see any other galaxies, that’s sort of like astronomy in 1920—we thought maybe the entire universe is just a Milky Way.'” “And that kind of led to a chaotic discussion about, well, what other data sets are there for this?” Emmart adds. The museum worked with astronomer Brent Tully, who had mapped 3500 galaxies beyond the Milky Way, in collaboration with the National Center for Super Computing Applications. “That was it,” he says, “and that seemed fantastical.” By the time the first planetarium show opened at the museum’s new Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000, Tully had broadened his survey “to an amazing” 30,000 galaxies. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey followed—it’s now at data release 18—with six million galaxies. To build the map of the universe that underlies Encounters, the team also relied on data from the European Space Agency’s space observatory, Gaia. Launched in 2013 and powered down in March of this year, Gaia brought an unprecedented precision to our astronomical map, plotting the distance between 1.7 billion stars. To visualize and render the simulated data, Jon Parker, the museum’s lead technical director, relied on Houdini, a 3D animation tool by Toronto-based SideFX. The goal is immersion, “whether it’s in front of the buffalo downstairs, and seeing what those herds were like before we decimated them, to coming in this room and being teleported to space, with an accurate foundation in the science,” Emmart says. “But the art is important, because the art is the way to the soul.”  The museum, he adds, is “a testament to wonder. And I think wonder is a gateway to inspiration, and inspiration is a gateway to motivation.” Three-D visuals aren’t just powerful tools for communicating science, but increasingly crucial for science itself. Software like OpenSpace, an open source simulation tool developed by the museum, along with the growing availability of high-performance computing, are making it easier to build highly detailed visuals of ever larger and more complex collections of data. “Anytime we look, literally, from a different angle at catalogs of astronomical positions, simulations, or exploring the phase space of a complex data set, there is great potential to discover something new,” says Brian R. Kent, an astronomer and director of science communications at National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “There is also a wealth of astronomics tatical data in archives that can be reanalyzed in new ways, leading to new discoveries.” As the instruments grow in size and sophistication, so does the data, and the challenge of understanding it. Like all scientists, astronomers are facing a deluge of data, ranging from gamma rays and X-rays to ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio bands. Our Oort cloud (center), a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the solar system and extends one-and-a-half light years in every direction, is shown in this scene from ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’ along with the Oort clouds of neighboring stars. The more massive the star, the larger its Oort cloud [Image: © AMNH ] “New facilities like the Next Generation Very Large Array here at NRAO or the Vera Rubin Observatory and LSST survey project will generate large volumes of data, so astronomers have to get creative with how to analyze it,” says Kent.  More data—and new instruments—will also be needed to prove the spiral itself is actually there: there’s still no known way to even observe the Oort cloud.  Instead, the paper notes, the structure will have to be measured from “detection of a large number of objects” in the radius of the inner Oort cloud or from “thermal emission from small particles in the Oort spiral.”  The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a powerful, U.S.-funded telescope that recently began operation in Chile, could possibly observe individual icy bodies within the cloud. But researchers expect the telescope will likely discover only dozens of these objects, maybe hundreds, not enough to meaningfully visualize any shapes in the Oort cloud.  For us, here and now, the 1.4 trillion mile-long spiral will remain confined to the inside of a dark dome across the street from Central Park.
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  • The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign, According to an Astrologer

    If, like me, you’re slightly addicted to your astrology app and love checking your daily horoscope, you may have wondered just how much stock you should put into it. Allow me to tell you that it may be more revealing than you think. Sure, your zodiac sign can give you guidance on when to make a big move or when to save a certain conversation for a better, star-blessed date. But, did you know it can also help you decorate? That’s right. Your astrological sign can give you insight into what no-regret color you should choose for your kitchen, living room, bedroom or if you *actually* should go all in on maximalism. To answer all your decorating questions, we sat down with astrologer Sam Manzella to chat about the impact astrology can have on how you decorate your home and to find out what she thinks are the best paint colors for each astrology sign.Want even more astrology content? Check out these stories.Meet Our AstrologerSam Manzella is a Brooklyn-based astrologer and multi-award winning journalist. She practices a Hellenistic tradition, working from ancient frameworks, including the Whole Sign house system, sect, and traditional rulerships. Additionally, her practice is based around the planetary rulers that were visible to the naked eye in the age before telescopes, also called the seven core planets, meaning that the outer planets of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto won't be making an appearance in this article. The Signs, Their Rulers, and Their Color FamiliesLet’s start with the basics: There are 12 signs in Western astrology. You’ve probably heard of them—think Aries, Cancer, Libra, etc. While most modern mainstream astrology focuses heavily on the signs, it’s actually their relationship to the planets that has the biggest impact on your day-to-day. “In astrology, planets, not zodiac signs, are the main players,” says Sam. This more nuanced and wholistic approach to astrology uses planets to determine what will happen, while signs only dictate the how. “Pop astrology often relies too heavily on zodiac sign archetypes, in my opinion,” says Sam. “Place a planet in a specific sign? Now we’re cooking, baby.”When it comes to matching up planets and colors, millennia of traditional associations guide the way. Sam’s color coordination is based on two works: The Complete Picatrix, a Medieval text on astrological magic, and Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, a traditional astrology manual written by storied astrologer Chris Brennan. Below, we’ll break down the seven core planets, the signs that correspond with them, and their traditional color associations.MarsSigns: Aries, ScorpioColor Associations: Strong, aged shades of red and rust. VenusSigns: Taurus, LibraColor Associations: Sumptuous natural shades, such as greens, pinks, whites, and pastels.MercurySigns: Gemini, VirgoColor Associations: Orange is a good color for Mercury, but mixes of patterns and colors also works well for these Mercurial signs. SunSigns: LeoColor Associations: Classic sunny shades, such as golds and yellows. MoonSigns: CancerColor Associations: Silvery shades and crisp whites. JupiterSigns: Sagittarius, Pisces. Color Associations: A mix of royally influenced shades, such as purples, blues, and yellows. SaturnSigns: Capricorn, AquariusColor Associations: Dark and moody shades, such as browns, blacks, and grays. How Can You Use Astrology to Help You Decorate? The best place to start is at the very beginning. Sam’s advice? Call your mom. “I highly recommend calculating your full birth chart—to do so, you’ll need the exact date, time, and location of your birth.” This will give you the proper framework from which you can build your astrologically inspired home. Once you have your complete birth chart, look at your various planetary alignments. While your sun sign can tell you a lot about who you are, it’s actually your Venus placement that Sam recommends consulting. “This planet governs art, beauty, and romance—if it’s sweet, enjoyable, or aesthetically pleasing, then it probably falls under Venus’s purview. Whatever zodiac sign this planet occupies in your birth chart can tell you a lot about the vibes, color palettes, and visual aesthetics you gravitate toward.” Not sure you have all the information you need for a full birth chart? No worries, we’ve pulled together the best paint color for you based on your zodiac sign and planetary ruler below. If you want to dive a little deeper, Sam recommends checking out the planetary placement in your Fourth House. “The Fourth House represents our home and family life. Whatever planet rules this house, and its placement by zodiac sign, reflects the energy that feels like home to you.”The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign:
    #best #paint #colors #every #zodiac
    The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign, According to an Astrologer
    If, like me, you’re slightly addicted to your astrology app and love checking your daily horoscope, you may have wondered just how much stock you should put into it. Allow me to tell you that it may be more revealing than you think. Sure, your zodiac sign can give you guidance on when to make a big move or when to save a certain conversation for a better, star-blessed date. But, did you know it can also help you decorate? That’s right. Your astrological sign can give you insight into what no-regret color you should choose for your kitchen, living room, bedroom or if you *actually* should go all in on maximalism. To answer all your decorating questions, we sat down with astrologer Sam Manzella to chat about the impact astrology can have on how you decorate your home and to find out what she thinks are the best paint colors for each astrology sign.Want even more astrology content? Check out these stories.Meet Our AstrologerSam Manzella is a Brooklyn-based astrologer and multi-award winning journalist. She practices a Hellenistic tradition, working from ancient frameworks, including the Whole Sign house system, sect, and traditional rulerships. Additionally, her practice is based around the planetary rulers that were visible to the naked eye in the age before telescopes, also called the seven core planets, meaning that the outer planets of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto won't be making an appearance in this article. The Signs, Their Rulers, and Their Color FamiliesLet’s start with the basics: There are 12 signs in Western astrology. You’ve probably heard of them—think Aries, Cancer, Libra, etc. While most modern mainstream astrology focuses heavily on the signs, it’s actually their relationship to the planets that has the biggest impact on your day-to-day. “In astrology, planets, not zodiac signs, are the main players,” says Sam. This more nuanced and wholistic approach to astrology uses planets to determine what will happen, while signs only dictate the how. “Pop astrology often relies too heavily on zodiac sign archetypes, in my opinion,” says Sam. “Place a planet in a specific sign? Now we’re cooking, baby.”When it comes to matching up planets and colors, millennia of traditional associations guide the way. Sam’s color coordination is based on two works: The Complete Picatrix, a Medieval text on astrological magic, and Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, a traditional astrology manual written by storied astrologer Chris Brennan. Below, we’ll break down the seven core planets, the signs that correspond with them, and their traditional color associations.MarsSigns: Aries, ScorpioColor Associations: Strong, aged shades of red and rust. VenusSigns: Taurus, LibraColor Associations: Sumptuous natural shades, such as greens, pinks, whites, and pastels.MercurySigns: Gemini, VirgoColor Associations: Orange is a good color for Mercury, but mixes of patterns and colors also works well for these Mercurial signs. SunSigns: LeoColor Associations: Classic sunny shades, such as golds and yellows. MoonSigns: CancerColor Associations: Silvery shades and crisp whites. JupiterSigns: Sagittarius, Pisces. Color Associations: A mix of royally influenced shades, such as purples, blues, and yellows. SaturnSigns: Capricorn, AquariusColor Associations: Dark and moody shades, such as browns, blacks, and grays. How Can You Use Astrology to Help You Decorate? The best place to start is at the very beginning. Sam’s advice? Call your mom. “I highly recommend calculating your full birth chart—to do so, you’ll need the exact date, time, and location of your birth.” This will give you the proper framework from which you can build your astrologically inspired home. Once you have your complete birth chart, look at your various planetary alignments. While your sun sign can tell you a lot about who you are, it’s actually your Venus placement that Sam recommends consulting. “This planet governs art, beauty, and romance—if it’s sweet, enjoyable, or aesthetically pleasing, then it probably falls under Venus’s purview. Whatever zodiac sign this planet occupies in your birth chart can tell you a lot about the vibes, color palettes, and visual aesthetics you gravitate toward.” Not sure you have all the information you need for a full birth chart? No worries, we’ve pulled together the best paint color for you based on your zodiac sign and planetary ruler below. If you want to dive a little deeper, Sam recommends checking out the planetary placement in your Fourth House. “The Fourth House represents our home and family life. Whatever planet rules this house, and its placement by zodiac sign, reflects the energy that feels like home to you.”The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign: #best #paint #colors #every #zodiac
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    The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign, According to an Astrologer
    If, like me, you’re slightly addicted to your astrology app and love checking your daily horoscope, you may have wondered just how much stock you should put into it. Allow me to tell you that it may be more revealing than you think. Sure, your zodiac sign can give you guidance on when to make a big move or when to save a certain conversation for a better, star-blessed date. But, did you know it can also help you decorate? That’s right. Your astrological sign can give you insight into what no-regret color you should choose for your kitchen, living room, bedroom or if you *actually* should go all in on maximalism (looking at you, Virgo). To answer all your decorating questions, we sat down with astrologer Sam Manzella to chat about the impact astrology can have on how you decorate your home and to find out what she thinks are the best paint colors for each astrology sign.Want even more astrology content? Check out these stories.Meet Our AstrologerSam Manzella is a Brooklyn-based astrologer and multi-award winning journalist. She practices a Hellenistic tradition, working from ancient frameworks, including the Whole Sign house system, sect, and traditional rulerships. Additionally, her practice is based around the planetary rulers that were visible to the naked eye in the age before telescopes, also called the seven core planets, meaning that the outer planets of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto won't be making an appearance in this article. The Signs, Their Rulers, and Their Color FamiliesLet’s start with the basics: There are 12 signs in Western astrology. You’ve probably heard of them—think Aries, Cancer, Libra, etc. While most modern mainstream astrology focuses heavily on the signs, it’s actually their relationship to the planets that has the biggest impact on your day-to-day. “In astrology, planets, not zodiac signs, are the main players,” says Sam. This more nuanced and wholistic approach to astrology uses planets to determine what will happen, while signs only dictate the how. “Pop astrology often relies too heavily on zodiac sign archetypes, in my opinion,” says Sam. “Place a planet in a specific sign? Now we’re cooking, baby.”When it comes to matching up planets and colors, millennia of traditional associations guide the way. Sam’s color coordination is based on two works: The Complete Picatrix, a Medieval text on astrological magic, and Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, a traditional astrology manual written by storied astrologer Chris Brennan. Below, we’ll break down the seven core planets, the signs that correspond with them, and their traditional color associations.MarsSigns: Aries, ScorpioColor Associations: Strong, aged shades of red and rust. VenusSigns: Taurus, LibraColor Associations: Sumptuous natural shades, such as greens, pinks, whites, and pastels.MercurySigns: Gemini, VirgoColor Associations: Orange is a good color for Mercury, but mixes of patterns and colors also works well for these Mercurial signs. SunSigns: LeoColor Associations: Classic sunny shades, such as golds and yellows. MoonSigns: CancerColor Associations: Silvery shades and crisp whites. JupiterSigns: Sagittarius, Pisces. Color Associations: A mix of royally influenced shades, such as purples, blues, and yellows. SaturnSigns: Capricorn, AquariusColor Associations: Dark and moody shades, such as browns, blacks, and grays. How Can You Use Astrology to Help You Decorate? The best place to start is at the very beginning. Sam’s advice? Call your mom. “I highly recommend calculating your full birth chart—to do so, you’ll need the exact date, time, and location of your birth.” This will give you the proper framework from which you can build your astrologically inspired home. Once you have your complete birth chart, look at your various planetary alignments. While your sun sign can tell you a lot about who you are, it’s actually your Venus placement that Sam recommends consulting. “This planet governs art, beauty, and romance—if it’s sweet, enjoyable, or aesthetically pleasing, then it probably falls under Venus’s purview. Whatever zodiac sign this planet occupies in your birth chart can tell you a lot about the vibes, color palettes, and visual aesthetics you gravitate toward.” Not sure you have all the information you need for a full birth chart? No worries, we’ve pulled together the best paint color for you based on your zodiac sign and planetary ruler below. If you want to dive a little deeper, Sam recommends checking out the planetary placement in your Fourth House. “The Fourth House represents our home and family life. Whatever planet rules this house, and its placement by zodiac sign, reflects the energy that feels like home to you.”The Best Paint Colors for Every Zodiac Sign:
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  • This Harlem Brownstone Takes Design Notes From Italy

    Because the Verganis love color, Menino used a lot of it, carefully, so as never to overwhelm the Harlem-meets-Milan aesthetic. A deep orange paints an accent wall in the primary bedroom, color-matched by a painterly wallcovering opposite it. The sleek muted green-and-blue kitchen is Menino’s homage to Carlo Scarpa, while the jewel box guest bedroom-cum-library sports a more verdant forest hue on its bespoke Murphy bed with a desk and built-in bookcases. An ombré teal powder room with a sculptural sink is another moment of joyful experiment but the living room—decorated with a custom sectional and vintage seating around a tiered marble cocktail table by Menino—is largely neutral.A vintage kilim rug is underfoot in the serene living room where the custom Italian-made sofa gathers with a custom marble cocktail table and vintage chairs by Jorge Zalszupin and Carlos Motta in front of new bespoke steel-framed doors to the terraced garden.
    The living room’s relaxed and sun-filled vibe makes it one of the most-used rooms in the house as well as the perfect space for a striking tree branch sculpture by local artist Jannette Jwahir Hawkins, says Miriam, who worked with art advisor Aurore Vullierme to source such contemporary pieces. With Miriam’s plans to grow the family’s collection over time, Menino left a few walls blank here and chose their subtle gray hue specifically to be an optimal background to future artwork.Though the brownstone is certainly a family abode, it is also a natural venue for the Verganis’ love of entertaining, whether a soiree that extends indoors and out across the garden level or an intimate gathering at the dining table with Miriam’s “unbelievable tiramisu,” as Menino describes it. Flowing, relaxing, and luxurious rooms facilitate daily life and such occasions with equal ease. “We were excited to work with someone who would understand our design vision and had a deep knowledge of our culture,” says Miriam of Menino. “But we also wanted this house to reflect our story: how we moved here at a young age and made our life in New York.”A sculpture by Jannette Jwahir Hawkins stands adjacent the existing fireplace mantel, decorated with an artwork by Faustine Badrichani and a ceramic vase by Marion Naufal.
    Menino Design Studio specified Tiger Onyx for the home’s statement-making custom bar and matching wall cladding behind it.
    A custom Affreschi & Affreschi wallcovering adds color and texture to the primary bedroom, where the bespoke bed wears Parachute linens. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair.
    A painting by Ernest Crichlow hangs on a Benjamin Moore orange–painted brick wall in the primary bedroom, which features an existing fireplace mantel with vases by Marion Naufal. Sculptureby Victoire d’Harcourt. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair.
    Menino Design Studio created a floating Azul Cielo marble sink for the Roman clay–clad primary bath, where the tub is by Produits Neptune with Hotbath fixtures.
    The office is decorated with a desk by Hugo Besnier, chair by Cultivation Objects, pendant by Pablo Designs, and a vintage Gregori Warchavchik magazine rack. The mural-like wallpaper is by Affreschi & Affreschi, made with a custom blue. Photograph by Coreen Simpson.
    #this #harlem #brownstone #takes #design
    This Harlem Brownstone Takes Design Notes From Italy
    Because the Verganis love color, Menino used a lot of it, carefully, so as never to overwhelm the Harlem-meets-Milan aesthetic. A deep orange paints an accent wall in the primary bedroom, color-matched by a painterly wallcovering opposite it. The sleek muted green-and-blue kitchen is Menino’s homage to Carlo Scarpa, while the jewel box guest bedroom-cum-library sports a more verdant forest hue on its bespoke Murphy bed with a desk and built-in bookcases. An ombré teal powder room with a sculptural sink is another moment of joyful experiment but the living room—decorated with a custom sectional and vintage seating around a tiered marble cocktail table by Menino—is largely neutral.A vintage kilim rug is underfoot in the serene living room where the custom Italian-made sofa gathers with a custom marble cocktail table and vintage chairs by Jorge Zalszupin and Carlos Motta in front of new bespoke steel-framed doors to the terraced garden. The living room’s relaxed and sun-filled vibe makes it one of the most-used rooms in the house as well as the perfect space for a striking tree branch sculpture by local artist Jannette Jwahir Hawkins, says Miriam, who worked with art advisor Aurore Vullierme to source such contemporary pieces. With Miriam’s plans to grow the family’s collection over time, Menino left a few walls blank here and chose their subtle gray hue specifically to be an optimal background to future artwork.Though the brownstone is certainly a family abode, it is also a natural venue for the Verganis’ love of entertaining, whether a soiree that extends indoors and out across the garden level or an intimate gathering at the dining table with Miriam’s “unbelievable tiramisu,” as Menino describes it. Flowing, relaxing, and luxurious rooms facilitate daily life and such occasions with equal ease. “We were excited to work with someone who would understand our design vision and had a deep knowledge of our culture,” says Miriam of Menino. “But we also wanted this house to reflect our story: how we moved here at a young age and made our life in New York.”A sculpture by Jannette Jwahir Hawkins stands adjacent the existing fireplace mantel, decorated with an artwork by Faustine Badrichani and a ceramic vase by Marion Naufal. Menino Design Studio specified Tiger Onyx for the home’s statement-making custom bar and matching wall cladding behind it. A custom Affreschi & Affreschi wallcovering adds color and texture to the primary bedroom, where the bespoke bed wears Parachute linens. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. A painting by Ernest Crichlow hangs on a Benjamin Moore orange–painted brick wall in the primary bedroom, which features an existing fireplace mantel with vases by Marion Naufal. Sculptureby Victoire d’Harcourt. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. Menino Design Studio created a floating Azul Cielo marble sink for the Roman clay–clad primary bath, where the tub is by Produits Neptune with Hotbath fixtures. The office is decorated with a desk by Hugo Besnier, chair by Cultivation Objects, pendant by Pablo Designs, and a vintage Gregori Warchavchik magazine rack. The mural-like wallpaper is by Affreschi & Affreschi, made with a custom blue. Photograph by Coreen Simpson. #this #harlem #brownstone #takes #design
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    This Harlem Brownstone Takes Design Notes From Italy
    Because the Verganis love color, Menino used a lot of it, carefully, so as never to overwhelm the Harlem-meets-Milan aesthetic. A deep orange paints an accent wall in the primary bedroom, color-matched by a painterly wallcovering opposite it. The sleek muted green-and-blue kitchen is Menino’s homage to Carlo Scarpa, while the jewel box guest bedroom-cum-library sports a more verdant forest hue on its bespoke Murphy bed with a desk and built-in bookcases. An ombré teal powder room with a sculptural sink is another moment of joyful experiment but the living room—decorated with a custom sectional and vintage seating around a tiered marble cocktail table by Menino—is largely neutral.A vintage kilim rug is underfoot in the serene living room where the custom Italian-made sofa gathers with a custom marble cocktail table and vintage chairs by Jorge Zalszupin and Carlos Motta in front of new bespoke steel-framed doors to the terraced garden. The living room’s relaxed and sun-filled vibe makes it one of the most-used rooms in the house as well as the perfect space for a striking tree branch sculpture by local artist Jannette Jwahir Hawkins, says Miriam, who worked with art advisor Aurore Vullierme to source such contemporary pieces. With Miriam’s plans to grow the family’s collection over time, Menino left a few walls blank here and chose their subtle gray hue specifically to be an optimal background to future artwork.Though the brownstone is certainly a family abode, it is also a natural venue for the Verganis’ love of entertaining, whether a soiree that extends indoors and out across the garden level or an intimate gathering at the dining table with Miriam’s “unbelievable tiramisu,” as Menino describes it. Flowing, relaxing, and luxurious rooms facilitate daily life and such occasions with equal ease. “We were excited to work with someone who would understand our design vision and had a deep knowledge of our culture,” says Miriam of Menino. “But we also wanted this house to reflect our story: how we moved here at a young age and made our life in New York.”A sculpture by Jannette Jwahir Hawkins stands adjacent the existing fireplace mantel, decorated with an artwork by Faustine Badrichani and a ceramic vase by Marion Naufal. Menino Design Studio specified Tiger Onyx for the home’s statement-making custom bar and matching wall cladding behind it. A custom Affreschi & Affreschi wallcovering adds color and texture to the primary bedroom, where the bespoke bed wears Parachute linens. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. A painting by Ernest Crichlow hangs on a Benjamin Moore orange–painted brick wall in the primary bedroom, which features an existing fireplace mantel with vases by Marion Naufal. Sculpture (on side table) by Victoire d’Harcourt. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. Menino Design Studio created a floating Azul Cielo marble sink for the Roman clay–clad primary bath, where the tub is by Produits Neptune with Hotbath fixtures. The office is decorated with a desk by Hugo Besnier, chair by Cultivation Objects, pendant by Pablo Designs, and a vintage Gregori Warchavchik magazine rack. The mural-like wallpaper is by Affreschi & Affreschi, made with a custom blue. Photograph by Coreen Simpson.
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  • Scientists have discovered a new dwarf planet in our solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune

    Astronomers have announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet in our solar system, named 2017 OF201. Located far beyond Neptune, it orbits the sun every 25,000 years.
    #scientists #have #discovered #new #dwarf
    Scientists have discovered a new dwarf planet in our solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune
    Astronomers have announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet in our solar system, named 2017 OF201. Located far beyond Neptune, it orbits the sun every 25,000 years. #scientists #have #discovered #new #dwarf
    WWW.LIVESCIENCE.COM
    Scientists have discovered a new dwarf planet in our solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune
    Astronomers have announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet in our solar system, named 2017 OF201. Located far beyond Neptune, it orbits the sun every 25,000 years.
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  • Our Solar System May Have a New Dwarf Planet Orbiting Even Farther Than Pluto

    So many unexplored secrets still lie at the outskirts of our solar system, where a potential candidate for a new dwarf planet lies. Although space beyond Neptune was thought to be mostly devoid of large objects, researchers are beginning to rethink this assumption after coming across an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object, called 2017 OF201. According to a recently published arXiv pre-print, 2017 OF201 could soon join the ranks of Pluto and other dwarf planets in the solar system. The behavior of its extremely large orbit has piqued the interest of astronomers, who now believe there may be plenty more objects just like it drifting through this remote part of space. Where are Dwarf Planets Located?Composite image showing the five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union, plus the newly
    discovered trans-Neptunian object 2017 OF201.The Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system past Neptune’s orbit, is likely home to hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of icy objects that vary in shape and size. Over 2,000 trans-Neptunian objectshave been observed here, but scientists believe that this figure doesn’t even scratch the surface of this area’s extraterrestrial riches. The most famous resident of the Kuiper Belt, without a doubt, is Pluto. Other dwarf planets have also been found in the area, such as Eris, Haumea, and Makemake. But why do Pluto and its fellow dwarf planets not enjoy the same status as the solar system’s eight regular planets? To officially be considered a planet, an object must follow three rules set by the International Astronomical Union in 2006: It must orbit a host star, be mostly round, and be large enough to clear away objects of a similar size near its orbit. Dwarf planets like Pluto follow the first two rules, but they cannot “clear the neighborhood” near their orbits. The Extreme Orbit of 2017 OF201Scientists have been eager to uncover more TNOs in the Kuiper Belt, which is what led to the discovery of 2017 OF201. The object was identified based on bright spots in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Assessing exposures over seven years, the researchers were led to 2017 OF201, which is one of the most distant visible objects in our solar system at this point. The most significant aspect of 2017 OF201 appears to be its extreme orbit. “The object’s aphelion — the farthest point on the orbit from the Sun — is more than 1600 times that of the Earth’s orbit,” said author Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, in a press statement. “Meanwhile, its perihelion — the closest point on its orbit to the Sun — is 44.5 times that of the Earth’s orbit, similar to Pluto's orbit.”The researchers estimate the object’s diameter to be 700 km, “which would make it the second largest known object in a wide orbit," according to the statement. Pluto’s diameter, for reference, is 2,377 km. Mysteries of the Kuiper BeltThe object’s orbit, which takes around 25,000 years to complete, may be the result of an encounter with a larger planet that sent it far into space. The object also doesn’t show signs of clustering in a specific orientation, something commonly observed with other TNOs. Clustering has often been referenced as indirect evidence for the existence of a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer solar system. But since 2017 OF201 doesn’t follow the same pattern as other TNOs, it may stand against this hypothesis. The researchers hope to gather more details on 2017 OF201 in future observations. The excitement doesn't stop at this object, since its discovery hints at an abundance of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt, still waiting to be observed.“2017 OF201 spends only 1 percent of its orbital time close enough to us to be detectable. The presence of this single object suggests that there could be another hundred or so other objects with similar orbit and size; they are just too far away to be detectable now,” said Cheng in a press release. “Even though advances in telescopes have enabled us to explore distant parts of the universe, there is still a great deal to discover about our own solar system.”Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Earth and Planetary Astrophysics. Discovery of a dwarf planet candidate in an extremely wide orbit: 2017 OF201NASA. Kuiper Belt FactsNASA. Dwarf PlanetsJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
    #our #solar #system #have #new
    Our Solar System May Have a New Dwarf Planet Orbiting Even Farther Than Pluto
    So many unexplored secrets still lie at the outskirts of our solar system, where a potential candidate for a new dwarf planet lies. Although space beyond Neptune was thought to be mostly devoid of large objects, researchers are beginning to rethink this assumption after coming across an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object, called 2017 OF201. According to a recently published arXiv pre-print, 2017 OF201 could soon join the ranks of Pluto and other dwarf planets in the solar system. The behavior of its extremely large orbit has piqued the interest of astronomers, who now believe there may be plenty more objects just like it drifting through this remote part of space. Where are Dwarf Planets Located?Composite image showing the five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union, plus the newly discovered trans-Neptunian object 2017 OF201.The Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system past Neptune’s orbit, is likely home to hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of icy objects that vary in shape and size. Over 2,000 trans-Neptunian objectshave been observed here, but scientists believe that this figure doesn’t even scratch the surface of this area’s extraterrestrial riches. The most famous resident of the Kuiper Belt, without a doubt, is Pluto. Other dwarf planets have also been found in the area, such as Eris, Haumea, and Makemake. But why do Pluto and its fellow dwarf planets not enjoy the same status as the solar system’s eight regular planets? To officially be considered a planet, an object must follow three rules set by the International Astronomical Union in 2006: It must orbit a host star, be mostly round, and be large enough to clear away objects of a similar size near its orbit. Dwarf planets like Pluto follow the first two rules, but they cannot “clear the neighborhood” near their orbits. The Extreme Orbit of 2017 OF201Scientists have been eager to uncover more TNOs in the Kuiper Belt, which is what led to the discovery of 2017 OF201. The object was identified based on bright spots in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Assessing exposures over seven years, the researchers were led to 2017 OF201, which is one of the most distant visible objects in our solar system at this point. The most significant aspect of 2017 OF201 appears to be its extreme orbit. “The object’s aphelion — the farthest point on the orbit from the Sun — is more than 1600 times that of the Earth’s orbit,” said author Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, in a press statement. “Meanwhile, its perihelion — the closest point on its orbit to the Sun — is 44.5 times that of the Earth’s orbit, similar to Pluto's orbit.”The researchers estimate the object’s diameter to be 700 km, “which would make it the second largest known object in a wide orbit," according to the statement. Pluto’s diameter, for reference, is 2,377 km. Mysteries of the Kuiper BeltThe object’s orbit, which takes around 25,000 years to complete, may be the result of an encounter with a larger planet that sent it far into space. The object also doesn’t show signs of clustering in a specific orientation, something commonly observed with other TNOs. Clustering has often been referenced as indirect evidence for the existence of a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer solar system. But since 2017 OF201 doesn’t follow the same pattern as other TNOs, it may stand against this hypothesis. The researchers hope to gather more details on 2017 OF201 in future observations. The excitement doesn't stop at this object, since its discovery hints at an abundance of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt, still waiting to be observed.“2017 OF201 spends only 1 percent of its orbital time close enough to us to be detectable. The presence of this single object suggests that there could be another hundred or so other objects with similar orbit and size; they are just too far away to be detectable now,” said Cheng in a press release. “Even though advances in telescopes have enabled us to explore distant parts of the universe, there is still a great deal to discover about our own solar system.”Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Earth and Planetary Astrophysics. Discovery of a dwarf planet candidate in an extremely wide orbit: 2017 OF201NASA. Kuiper Belt FactsNASA. Dwarf PlanetsJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine. #our #solar #system #have #new
    WWW.DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
    Our Solar System May Have a New Dwarf Planet Orbiting Even Farther Than Pluto
    So many unexplored secrets still lie at the outskirts of our solar system, where a potential candidate for a new dwarf planet lies. Although space beyond Neptune was thought to be mostly devoid of large objects, researchers are beginning to rethink this assumption after coming across an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object, called 2017 OF201. According to a recently published arXiv pre-print, 2017 OF201 could soon join the ranks of Pluto and other dwarf planets in the solar system. The behavior of its extremely large orbit has piqued the interest of astronomers, who now believe there may be plenty more objects just like it drifting through this remote part of space. Where are Dwarf Planets Located?Composite image showing the five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union, plus the newly discovered trans-Neptunian object 2017 OF201. (Image Courtesy of: NASA/JPL Caltech; Sihao Cheng et al.)The Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system past Neptune’s orbit, is likely home to hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of icy objects that vary in shape and size. Over 2,000 trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) have been observed here, but scientists believe that this figure doesn’t even scratch the surface of this area’s extraterrestrial riches. The most famous resident of the Kuiper Belt, without a doubt, is Pluto. Other dwarf planets have also been found in the area, such as Eris, Haumea, and Makemake. But why do Pluto and its fellow dwarf planets not enjoy the same status as the solar system’s eight regular planets? To officially be considered a planet, an object must follow three rules set by the International Astronomical Union in 2006: It must orbit a host star (like the Sun), be mostly round, and be large enough to clear away objects of a similar size near its orbit (in other words, it has to be “gravitationally dominant”). Dwarf planets like Pluto follow the first two rules, but they cannot “clear the neighborhood” near their orbits. The Extreme Orbit of 2017 OF201Scientists have been eager to uncover more TNOs in the Kuiper Belt, which is what led to the discovery of 2017 OF201. The object was identified based on bright spots in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Assessing exposures over seven years, the researchers were led to 2017 OF201, which is one of the most distant visible objects in our solar system at this point. The most significant aspect of 2017 OF201 appears to be its extreme orbit. “The object’s aphelion — the farthest point on the orbit from the Sun — is more than 1600 times that of the Earth’s orbit,” said author Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, in a press statement. “Meanwhile, its perihelion — the closest point on its orbit to the Sun — is 44.5 times that of the Earth’s orbit, similar to Pluto's orbit.”The researchers estimate the object’s diameter to be 700 km [about 435 miles], “which would make it the second largest known object in a wide orbit," according to the statement. Pluto’s diameter, for reference, is 2,377 km [about 1477 miles]. Mysteries of the Kuiper BeltThe object’s orbit, which takes around 25,000 years to complete, may be the result of an encounter with a larger planet that sent it far into space. The object also doesn’t show signs of clustering in a specific orientation, something commonly observed with other TNOs. Clustering has often been referenced as indirect evidence for the existence of a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer solar system (called Planet Nine or Planet X). But since 2017 OF201 doesn’t follow the same pattern as other TNOs, it may stand against this hypothesis. The researchers hope to gather more details on 2017 OF201 in future observations. The excitement doesn't stop at this object, since its discovery hints at an abundance of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt, still waiting to be observed.“2017 OF201 spends only 1 percent of its orbital time close enough to us to be detectable. The presence of this single object suggests that there could be another hundred or so other objects with similar orbit and size; they are just too far away to be detectable now,” said Cheng in a press release. “Even though advances in telescopes have enabled us to explore distant parts of the universe, there is still a great deal to discover about our own solar system.”Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Earth and Planetary Astrophysics. Discovery of a dwarf planet candidate in an extremely wide orbit: 2017 OF201NASA. Kuiper Belt FactsNASA. Dwarf PlanetsJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
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  • The Download: meet Cathy Tie, and Anthropic’s new AI models

    This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Meet Cathy Tie, Bride of “China’s Frankenstein” Since the Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison in 2022, he has sought to make a scientific comeback and to repair his reputation after a three-year incarceration for illegally creating the world’s first gene-edited children. One area of visible success on his come-back trail has been his X.com account. Over the past few years, his account has evolved from sharing mundane images of his daily life to spreading outrageous, antagonistic messages. This has left observers unsure what to take seriously.Last month, in reply to MIT Technology Review’s questions about who was responsible for the account’s transformation into a font of clever memes, He emailed us back: “It’s thanks to Cathy Tie.”Tie is no stranger to the public spotlight. A former Thiel fellow, she is a partner in a project which promised to create glow-in-the-dark pets. Over the past several weeks, though, the Canadian entrepreneur has started to get more and more attention as the new wife to He Jiankui. Read the full story.
    —Caiwei Chen & Antonio Regalado
    Anthropic’s new hybrid AI model can work on tasks autonomously for hours at a time Anthropic has announced two new AI models that it claims represent a major step toward making AI agents truly useful. AI agents trained on Claude Opus 4, the company’s most powerful model to date, raise the bar for what such systems are capable of by tackling difficult tasks over extended periods of time and responding more usefully to user instructions, the company says. They’ve achieved some impressive results: Opus 4 created a guide for the video game Pokémon Red while playing it for more than 24 hours straight. The company’s previously most powerful model was capable of playing for just 45 minutes. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad. This week, two new leaders at the US Food and Drug Administration announced plans to limit access to covid vaccines, arguing that there is not much evidence to support the value of annual shots in healthy people. New vaccines will be made available only to the people who are most vulnerable—namely, those over 65 and others with conditions that make them more susceptible to severe disease. The plans have been met with fear and anger in some quarters. But they weren’t all that shocking to me. In the UK, where I live, covid boosters have been offered only to vulnerable groups for a while now. And the immunologists I spoke to agree: The plans make sense. Read the full story.

    —Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Thousands of Americans are facing extreme weather But help from the federal government may never arrive.+ States struck by tornadoes and floods are begging the Trump administration for aid.2 Spain’s grid operator has accused power plants of not doing their job It claims they failed to control the system’s voltage shortly before the blackout.+ Did solar power cause Spain’s blackout?3 Google is facing a DoJ probe over its AI chatbot deal It will probe whether Google’s deal with Character.AI gives it an unfair advantage.+ It may not lead to enforcement action, though.4 DOGE isn’t bad news for everyone These smaller US government IT contractors say it’s good for business—for now.+ It appears that DOGE used a Meta AI model to review staff emails, not Grok.+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex.5 Google’s new shopping tool adds breasts to minorsTry it On distorts uploaded photos to clothing models’ proportions, even when they’re children.+ It feels like this could have easily been avoided.+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots.6 Apple is reportedly planning a smart glasses product launchBy the end of next year.+ It’s playing catchup with Meta and Google, among others.+ What’s next for smart glasses.7 What it’s like to live in Elon Musk’s corner of TexasComplete with an ugly bust and furious locals.+ West Lake Hills residents are pushing back against his giant fences.8 Our solar system may contain a hidden ninth planetA possible dwarf planet has been spotted orbiting beyond Neptune.9 Wikipedia does swag now How else will you let everyone know you love the open web?10 One of the last good apps is shutting down Mozilla is closing Pocket, its article-saving app, and the internet is worse for it.+ Parent company Mozilla said the way people use the web has changed.Quote of the day
    “This is like the Mount Everest of corruption.” —Senator Jeff Merkley protests outside Donald Trump’s exclusive dinner for the highest-paying customers of his personal cryptocurrency, the New York Times reports. One more thing
    The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility. What happened?On April 3, 2010, Steve Jobs debuted the iPad. What for most people was basically a more convenient form factor was something far more consequential for non-speakers: a life-­changing revolution in access to a portable, powerful communication device for just a few hundred dollars. But a piece of hardware, however impressively designed and engineered, is only as valuable as what a person can do with it. After the iPad’s release, the flood of new, easy-to-use augmentative and alternative communication apps that users were in desperate need of never came.Today, there are only around half a dozen apps, each retailing for to that ask users to select from menus of crudely drawn icons to produce text and synthesized speech. It’s a depressingly slow pace of development for such an essential human function. Read the full story.—Julie Kim We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day.+ Dive into the physics behind the delicate frills of Tête de Moine cheese shavings.+ Our capacity to feel moved by music is at least partly inherited, apparently.+ Kermit the frog has delivered a moving commencement address at the University of Maryland.+ It’s a question as old as time: are clowns sexy?
    #download #meet #cathy #tie #anthropics
    The Download: meet Cathy Tie, and Anthropic’s new AI models
    This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Meet Cathy Tie, Bride of “China’s Frankenstein” Since the Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison in 2022, he has sought to make a scientific comeback and to repair his reputation after a three-year incarceration for illegally creating the world’s first gene-edited children. One area of visible success on his come-back trail has been his X.com account. Over the past few years, his account has evolved from sharing mundane images of his daily life to spreading outrageous, antagonistic messages. This has left observers unsure what to take seriously.Last month, in reply to MIT Technology Review’s questions about who was responsible for the account’s transformation into a font of clever memes, He emailed us back: “It’s thanks to Cathy Tie.”Tie is no stranger to the public spotlight. A former Thiel fellow, she is a partner in a project which promised to create glow-in-the-dark pets. Over the past several weeks, though, the Canadian entrepreneur has started to get more and more attention as the new wife to He Jiankui. Read the full story. —Caiwei Chen & Antonio Regalado Anthropic’s new hybrid AI model can work on tasks autonomously for hours at a time Anthropic has announced two new AI models that it claims represent a major step toward making AI agents truly useful. AI agents trained on Claude Opus 4, the company’s most powerful model to date, raise the bar for what such systems are capable of by tackling difficult tasks over extended periods of time and responding more usefully to user instructions, the company says. They’ve achieved some impressive results: Opus 4 created a guide for the video game Pokémon Red while playing it for more than 24 hours straight. The company’s previously most powerful model was capable of playing for just 45 minutes. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad. This week, two new leaders at the US Food and Drug Administration announced plans to limit access to covid vaccines, arguing that there is not much evidence to support the value of annual shots in healthy people. New vaccines will be made available only to the people who are most vulnerable—namely, those over 65 and others with conditions that make them more susceptible to severe disease. The plans have been met with fear and anger in some quarters. But they weren’t all that shocking to me. In the UK, where I live, covid boosters have been offered only to vulnerable groups for a while now. And the immunologists I spoke to agree: The plans make sense. Read the full story. —Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Thousands of Americans are facing extreme weather But help from the federal government may never arrive.+ States struck by tornadoes and floods are begging the Trump administration for aid.2 Spain’s grid operator has accused power plants of not doing their job It claims they failed to control the system’s voltage shortly before the blackout.+ Did solar power cause Spain’s blackout?3 Google is facing a DoJ probe over its AI chatbot deal It will probe whether Google’s deal with Character.AI gives it an unfair advantage.+ It may not lead to enforcement action, though.4 DOGE isn’t bad news for everyone These smaller US government IT contractors say it’s good for business—for now.+ It appears that DOGE used a Meta AI model to review staff emails, not Grok.+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex.5 Google’s new shopping tool adds breasts to minorsTry it On distorts uploaded photos to clothing models’ proportions, even when they’re children.+ It feels like this could have easily been avoided.+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots.6 Apple is reportedly planning a smart glasses product launchBy the end of next year.+ It’s playing catchup with Meta and Google, among others.+ What’s next for smart glasses.7 What it’s like to live in Elon Musk’s corner of TexasComplete with an ugly bust and furious locals.+ West Lake Hills residents are pushing back against his giant fences.8 Our solar system may contain a hidden ninth planetA possible dwarf planet has been spotted orbiting beyond Neptune.9 Wikipedia does swag now How else will you let everyone know you love the open web?10 One of the last good apps is shutting down Mozilla is closing Pocket, its article-saving app, and the internet is worse for it.+ Parent company Mozilla said the way people use the web has changed.Quote of the day “This is like the Mount Everest of corruption.” —Senator Jeff Merkley protests outside Donald Trump’s exclusive dinner for the highest-paying customers of his personal cryptocurrency, the New York Times reports. One more thing The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility. What happened?On April 3, 2010, Steve Jobs debuted the iPad. What for most people was basically a more convenient form factor was something far more consequential for non-speakers: a life-­changing revolution in access to a portable, powerful communication device for just a few hundred dollars. But a piece of hardware, however impressively designed and engineered, is only as valuable as what a person can do with it. After the iPad’s release, the flood of new, easy-to-use augmentative and alternative communication apps that users were in desperate need of never came.Today, there are only around half a dozen apps, each retailing for to that ask users to select from menus of crudely drawn icons to produce text and synthesized speech. It’s a depressingly slow pace of development for such an essential human function. Read the full story.—Julie Kim We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day.+ Dive into the physics behind the delicate frills of Tête de Moine cheese shavings.+ Our capacity to feel moved by music is at least partly inherited, apparently.+ Kermit the frog has delivered a moving commencement address at the University of Maryland.+ It’s a question as old as time: are clowns sexy? 🤡 #download #meet #cathy #tie #anthropics
    WWW.TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM
    The Download: meet Cathy Tie, and Anthropic’s new AI models
    This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Meet Cathy Tie, Bride of “China’s Frankenstein” Since the Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison in 2022, he has sought to make a scientific comeback and to repair his reputation after a three-year incarceration for illegally creating the world’s first gene-edited children. One area of visible success on his come-back trail has been his X.com account. Over the past few years, his account has evolved from sharing mundane images of his daily life to spreading outrageous, antagonistic messages. This has left observers unsure what to take seriously.Last month, in reply to MIT Technology Review’s questions about who was responsible for the account’s transformation into a font of clever memes, He emailed us back: “It’s thanks to Cathy Tie.”Tie is no stranger to the public spotlight. A former Thiel fellow, she is a partner in a project which promised to create glow-in-the-dark pets. Over the past several weeks, though, the Canadian entrepreneur has started to get more and more attention as the new wife to He Jiankui. Read the full story. —Caiwei Chen & Antonio Regalado Anthropic’s new hybrid AI model can work on tasks autonomously for hours at a time Anthropic has announced two new AI models that it claims represent a major step toward making AI agents truly useful. AI agents trained on Claude Opus 4, the company’s most powerful model to date, raise the bar for what such systems are capable of by tackling difficult tasks over extended periods of time and responding more usefully to user instructions, the company says. They’ve achieved some impressive results: Opus 4 created a guide for the video game Pokémon Red while playing it for more than 24 hours straight. The company’s previously most powerful model was capable of playing for just 45 minutes. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad. This week, two new leaders at the US Food and Drug Administration announced plans to limit access to covid vaccines, arguing that there is not much evidence to support the value of annual shots in healthy people. New vaccines will be made available only to the people who are most vulnerable—namely, those over 65 and others with conditions that make them more susceptible to severe disease. The plans have been met with fear and anger in some quarters. But they weren’t all that shocking to me. In the UK, where I live, covid boosters have been offered only to vulnerable groups for a while now. And the immunologists I spoke to agree: The plans make sense. Read the full story. —Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Thousands of Americans are facing extreme weather But help from the federal government may never arrive. (Slate $)+ States struck by tornadoes and floods are begging the Trump administration for aid. (Scientific American $)2 Spain’s grid operator has accused power plants of not doing their job It claims they failed to control the system’s voltage shortly before the blackout. (FT $)+ Did solar power cause Spain’s blackout? (MIT Technology Review)3 Google is facing a DoJ probe over its AI chatbot deal It will probe whether Google’s deal with Character.AI gives it an unfair advantage. (Bloomberg $)+ It may not lead to enforcement action, though. (Reuters) 4 DOGE isn’t bad news for everyone These smaller US government IT contractors say it’s good for business—for now. (WSJ $)+ It appears that DOGE used a Meta AI model to review staff emails, not Grok. (Wired $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)5 Google’s new shopping tool adds breasts to minorsTry it On distorts uploaded photos to clothing models’ proportions, even when they’re children. (The Atlantic $)+ It feels like this could have easily been avoided. (Axios)+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots. (MIT Technology Review)6 Apple is reportedly planning a smart glasses product launchBy the end of next year. (Bloomberg $) + It’s playing catchup with Meta and Google, among others. (Engadget)+ What’s next for smart glasses. (MIT Technology Review) 7 What it’s like to live in Elon Musk’s corner of TexasComplete with an ugly bust and furious locals. (The Guardian) + West Lake Hills residents are pushing back against his giant fences. (Architectural Digest $)8 Our solar system may contain a hidden ninth planetA possible dwarf planet has been spotted orbiting beyond Neptune. (New Scientist $) 9 Wikipedia does swag now How else will you let everyone know you love the open web? (Fast Company $)10 One of the last good apps is shutting down Mozilla is closing Pocket, its article-saving app, and the internet is worse for it. (404 Media)+ Parent company Mozilla said the way people use the web has changed. (The Verge)Quote of the day “This is like the Mount Everest of corruption.” —Senator Jeff Merkley protests outside Donald Trump’s exclusive dinner for the highest-paying customers of his personal cryptocurrency, the New York Times reports. One more thing The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility. What happened?On April 3, 2010, Steve Jobs debuted the iPad. What for most people was basically a more convenient form factor was something far more consequential for non-speakers: a life-­changing revolution in access to a portable, powerful communication device for just a few hundred dollars. But a piece of hardware, however impressively designed and engineered, is only as valuable as what a person can do with it. After the iPad’s release, the flood of new, easy-to-use augmentative and alternative communication apps that users were in desperate need of never came.Today, there are only around half a dozen apps, each retailing for $200 to $300, that ask users to select from menus of crudely drawn icons to produce text and synthesized speech. It’s a depressingly slow pace of development for such an essential human function. Read the full story.—Julie Kim We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Dive into the physics behind the delicate frills of Tête de Moine cheese shavings.+ Our capacity to feel moved by music is at least partly inherited, apparently.+ Kermit the frog has delivered a moving commencement address at the University of Maryland.+ It’s a question as old as time: are clowns sexy? 🤡
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  • Colorful RTX 5080 DOOM Edition, Neptune Liquid-Cooled RTX 5090 & DDR5 Memory, Monster 3200W PSU With 8x 16-Pin Connectors & BTF Connector GPU Pictured

    Colorful has gone all out, showcasing impressive themed RTX 5090/5080 GPUs, monstrous PSUs up to 3200W & the latest BTF designs at Computex.
    Colorful Unveils plethora of Products at Computex, Including Doom-Themed RTX 5080 GPU, 3200W PSU, Liquid-Cooled DDR5 Memory & BTF Designs
    DOOM: The Dark Ages is taking the spotlight on many booths, as that is one game that GPU makers are using as the theme of some of their new limited-edition models.
    Colorful is also making one of those in a brand-new design, which uses an acrylic shroud with a foggy finish that is colored green and houses the Slayer logo in the middle fin. This is a high-end 3-slot design with triple-fan cooling and is going to come in RTX 5080 GPU flavors.

    2 of 9

    Even the heatsink underneath the shroud is colored green, and on the back, you get a full-coverage backplate with a circular cut-out for higher airflow and the Dark Ages cover photo engraved on the entirety of the backplate. The card uses a single 16-pin connector and will be a limited edition model with a premium price point.

    2 of 9

    Colorful is also expanding into the BTF ecosystem with new products that include GPUs, motherboards, and PSUs. An iGame Ultra RTX 5070 Ti GPU was showcased, which uses modular BTF connectors, one with the standard BTF to 16-pin and the other with a BTF to BTF connector. Both connectors are rated at up to 600W and easily swap into place. The 16-pin connector is also angled, making it easier to avoid any unwanted bends in the cable.

    2 of 9

    The BTF PSU also replaces the 24-pin ATX connection and uses a specialized BTF connector that can be connected to a compatible BTF motherboard, such as the one from the iGame Ultra series. It is still an early design for the DIY market, but Colorful is shipping such systems pre-built within the Asian marketplace.
    One of these systems is the iGame Neptune design, which makes use of a full-on aluminum build and houses some impressive components. One of these is the GeForce RTX 5090 Neptune, which is an AIO-cooled design with a 360mm radiator and uses some sleek silver-aluminum and blue hints on the shroud. The system will also feature Neptune-branded DDR5 memory, which runs at really fast speeds and also comes with liquid-cooling, delivering better thermal capabilities than air-cooled designs.

    2 of 9

    For power delivery, Colorful's sister brand has developed a powerful 3200W solution, which is rated at 80 Plus Titanium and makes use of the latest ATX 3.1 / PCIe 5.1 standards.

    2 of 9

    This comes with eight 16-pinpower connectors and is built using the latest components as displayed below:

    And lastly, Colorful is also rolling out two brand-new Mini PCs, including one that will feature AMD's Ryzen AI MAX "Strix Halo" APUs and a smaller "Colorful SMART" solution that makes use of the Ryzen 200 and Ryzen AI 300 APUs.

    2 of 9

    That's all from Colorful, and it goes off to show how big the company really is and how many product lineups they are involved in. You can expect more details, such as pricing, in the coming months, so stay tuned.

    Deal of the Day
    #colorful #rtx #doom #edition #neptune
    Colorful RTX 5080 DOOM Edition, Neptune Liquid-Cooled RTX 5090 & DDR5 Memory, Monster 3200W PSU With 8x 16-Pin Connectors & BTF Connector GPU Pictured
    Colorful has gone all out, showcasing impressive themed RTX 5090/5080 GPUs, monstrous PSUs up to 3200W & the latest BTF designs at Computex. Colorful Unveils plethora of Products at Computex, Including Doom-Themed RTX 5080 GPU, 3200W PSU, Liquid-Cooled DDR5 Memory & BTF Designs DOOM: The Dark Ages is taking the spotlight on many booths, as that is one game that GPU makers are using as the theme of some of their new limited-edition models. Colorful is also making one of those in a brand-new design, which uses an acrylic shroud with a foggy finish that is colored green and houses the Slayer logo in the middle fin. This is a high-end 3-slot design with triple-fan cooling and is going to come in RTX 5080 GPU flavors. 2 of 9 Even the heatsink underneath the shroud is colored green, and on the back, you get a full-coverage backplate with a circular cut-out for higher airflow and the Dark Ages cover photo engraved on the entirety of the backplate. The card uses a single 16-pin connector and will be a limited edition model with a premium price point. 2 of 9 Colorful is also expanding into the BTF ecosystem with new products that include GPUs, motherboards, and PSUs. An iGame Ultra RTX 5070 Ti GPU was showcased, which uses modular BTF connectors, one with the standard BTF to 16-pin and the other with a BTF to BTF connector. Both connectors are rated at up to 600W and easily swap into place. The 16-pin connector is also angled, making it easier to avoid any unwanted bends in the cable. 2 of 9 The BTF PSU also replaces the 24-pin ATX connection and uses a specialized BTF connector that can be connected to a compatible BTF motherboard, such as the one from the iGame Ultra series. It is still an early design for the DIY market, but Colorful is shipping such systems pre-built within the Asian marketplace. One of these systems is the iGame Neptune design, which makes use of a full-on aluminum build and houses some impressive components. One of these is the GeForce RTX 5090 Neptune, which is an AIO-cooled design with a 360mm radiator and uses some sleek silver-aluminum and blue hints on the shroud. The system will also feature Neptune-branded DDR5 memory, which runs at really fast speeds and also comes with liquid-cooling, delivering better thermal capabilities than air-cooled designs. 2 of 9 For power delivery, Colorful's sister brand has developed a powerful 3200W solution, which is rated at 80 Plus Titanium and makes use of the latest ATX 3.1 / PCIe 5.1 standards. 2 of 9 This comes with eight 16-pinpower connectors and is built using the latest components as displayed below: And lastly, Colorful is also rolling out two brand-new Mini PCs, including one that will feature AMD's Ryzen AI MAX "Strix Halo" APUs and a smaller "Colorful SMART" solution that makes use of the Ryzen 200 and Ryzen AI 300 APUs. 2 of 9 That's all from Colorful, and it goes off to show how big the company really is and how many product lineups they are involved in. You can expect more details, such as pricing, in the coming months, so stay tuned. Deal of the Day #colorful #rtx #doom #edition #neptune
    WCCFTECH.COM
    Colorful RTX 5080 DOOM Edition, Neptune Liquid-Cooled RTX 5090 & DDR5 Memory, Monster 3200W PSU With 8x 16-Pin Connectors & BTF Connector GPU Pictured
    Colorful has gone all out, showcasing impressive themed RTX 5090/5080 GPUs, monstrous PSUs up to 3200W & the latest BTF designs at Computex. Colorful Unveils plethora of Products at Computex, Including Doom-Themed RTX 5080 GPU, 3200W PSU, Liquid-Cooled DDR5 Memory & BTF Designs DOOM: The Dark Ages is taking the spotlight on many booths, as that is one game that GPU makers are using as the theme of some of their new limited-edition models. Colorful is also making one of those in a brand-new design, which uses an acrylic shroud with a foggy finish that is colored green and houses the Slayer logo in the middle fin. This is a high-end 3-slot design with triple-fan cooling and is going to come in RTX 5080 GPU flavors. 2 of 9 Even the heatsink underneath the shroud is colored green, and on the back, you get a full-coverage backplate with a circular cut-out for higher airflow and the Dark Ages cover photo engraved on the entirety of the backplate. The card uses a single 16-pin connector and will be a limited edition model with a premium price point. 2 of 9 Colorful is also expanding into the BTF ecosystem with new products that include GPUs, motherboards, and PSUs. An iGame Ultra RTX 5070 Ti GPU was showcased, which uses modular BTF connectors, one with the standard BTF to 16-pin and the other with a BTF to BTF connector. Both connectors are rated at up to 600W and easily swap into place. The 16-pin connector is also angled, making it easier to avoid any unwanted bends in the cable. 2 of 9 The BTF PSU also replaces the 24-pin ATX connection and uses a specialized BTF connector that can be connected to a compatible BTF motherboard, such as the one from the iGame Ultra series. It is still an early design for the DIY market, but Colorful is shipping such systems pre-built within the Asian marketplace. One of these systems is the iGame Neptune design, which makes use of a full-on aluminum build and houses some impressive components. One of these is the GeForce RTX 5090 Neptune, which is an AIO-cooled design with a 360mm radiator and uses some sleek silver-aluminum and blue hints on the shroud. The system will also feature Neptune-branded DDR5 memory, which runs at really fast speeds and also comes with liquid-cooling, delivering better thermal capabilities than air-cooled designs. 2 of 9 For power delivery, Colorful's sister brand has developed a powerful 3200W solution, which is rated at 80 Plus Titanium and makes use of the latest ATX 3.1 / PCIe 5.1 standards. 2 of 9 This comes with eight 16-pin (12V-2x6) power connectors and is built using the latest components as displayed below: And lastly, Colorful is also rolling out two brand-new Mini PCs, including one that will feature AMD's Ryzen AI MAX "Strix Halo" APUs and a smaller "Colorful SMART" solution that makes use of the Ryzen 200 and Ryzen AI 300 APUs. 2 of 9 That's all from Colorful, and it goes off to show how big the company really is and how many product lineups they are involved in. You can expect more details, such as pricing, in the coming months, so stay tuned. Deal of the Day
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  • New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system

    The orbits of a potential dwarf planet called 2017 OF201 and the dwarf planet SednaTony Dunn
    A potential dwarf planet has been discovered in the outer reaches of our solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune. Its presence there challenges the existence of a hypothetical body known as Planet 9 or Planet X.
    Sihao Cheng at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and his colleagues first detected the object, known as 2017 OF201, as a bright spot in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile.
    Advertisement
    2017 OF201 is about 700 kilometres across – big enough to qualify as a dwarf planet like Pluto, which has a diameter about three times as big. The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical unitsaway from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is.
    Because 2017 OF201’s average orbit around the sun is greater than that of Neptune, it is what’s known as a trans-Neptunian object. It passes through the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy objects in the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.
    The researchers looked back over 19 observations, taken over seven years by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, to determine that the closest 2017 OF201 gets to the sun – its perihelion – is 44.5 AU, which is similar to Pluto’s orbit. The furthest it gets from the sun is 1600 AU, way outside the solar system.

    Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month.

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    This far-flung orbit may be the result of an encounter with a giant planet, which ejected the candidate dwarf planet out of the solar system, say the researchers.
    “It’s a really cool discovery,” says Kevin Napier at the University of Michigan. The object would go so far outside the solar system that it could be interacting with other stars in the galaxy just as strongly as it interacts with some of the planets in our solar system, he says.
    The orbits of many extreme TNOs seem to cluster in a specific orientation. This has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system contains a ninth planet hidden in the Oort cloud, a vast cloud of icy rocks encircling the solar system. The idea is that Planet 9’s gravity pushes the TNOs into their specific orbits.
    But the orbit of 2017 OF201 doesn’t fit this pattern. “This object is definitely an outlier to the observed clustering,” says team member Eritas Yang at Princeton University.

    Cheng and his colleagues also modelled simulations of the object’s orbit, and how it might interact with Planet 9. “In the one with Planet X, the object gets ejected after a couple of hundred million years, and without Planet X, it stays,” says Napier. “Certainly, this is not evidence in favour of Planet 9.”
    But until there is more data, the case isn’t closed, says Cheng. “I hope Planet 9 still exists, because that’ll be more interesting.”
    The candidate dwarf planet takes roughly 25,000 years to complete an orbit, which means it spends only about 1 per cent of its time close enough to Earth for us to detect it. “These things are really hard to find because they’re faint, and their orbits are so long and skinny that you can only see them when they’re really close to the sun, and then they immediately head right back out and they’re invisible to us again,” says Napier.
    That means there might be hundreds of such objects out there. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, due to go online later this year, will look deeper into space and will potentially detect many more objects like this, which should tell us more about them – and whether Planet 9 actually exists.
    Reference:arXiv DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2505.15806
    Topics:planets
    #new #dwarf #planet #spotted #edge
    New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system
    The orbits of a potential dwarf planet called 2017 OF201 and the dwarf planet SednaTony Dunn A potential dwarf planet has been discovered in the outer reaches of our solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune. Its presence there challenges the existence of a hypothetical body known as Planet 9 or Planet X. Sihao Cheng at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and his colleagues first detected the object, known as 2017 OF201, as a bright spot in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile. Advertisement 2017 OF201 is about 700 kilometres across – big enough to qualify as a dwarf planet like Pluto, which has a diameter about three times as big. The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical unitsaway from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is. Because 2017 OF201’s average orbit around the sun is greater than that of Neptune, it is what’s known as a trans-Neptunian object. It passes through the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy objects in the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune. The researchers looked back over 19 observations, taken over seven years by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, to determine that the closest 2017 OF201 gets to the sun – its perihelion – is 44.5 AU, which is similar to Pluto’s orbit. The furthest it gets from the sun is 1600 AU, way outside the solar system. Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month. Sign up to newsletter This far-flung orbit may be the result of an encounter with a giant planet, which ejected the candidate dwarf planet out of the solar system, say the researchers. “It’s a really cool discovery,” says Kevin Napier at the University of Michigan. The object would go so far outside the solar system that it could be interacting with other stars in the galaxy just as strongly as it interacts with some of the planets in our solar system, he says. The orbits of many extreme TNOs seem to cluster in a specific orientation. This has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system contains a ninth planet hidden in the Oort cloud, a vast cloud of icy rocks encircling the solar system. The idea is that Planet 9’s gravity pushes the TNOs into their specific orbits. But the orbit of 2017 OF201 doesn’t fit this pattern. “This object is definitely an outlier to the observed clustering,” says team member Eritas Yang at Princeton University. Cheng and his colleagues also modelled simulations of the object’s orbit, and how it might interact with Planet 9. “In the one with Planet X, the object gets ejected after a couple of hundred million years, and without Planet X, it stays,” says Napier. “Certainly, this is not evidence in favour of Planet 9.” But until there is more data, the case isn’t closed, says Cheng. “I hope Planet 9 still exists, because that’ll be more interesting.” The candidate dwarf planet takes roughly 25,000 years to complete an orbit, which means it spends only about 1 per cent of its time close enough to Earth for us to detect it. “These things are really hard to find because they’re faint, and their orbits are so long and skinny that you can only see them when they’re really close to the sun, and then they immediately head right back out and they’re invisible to us again,” says Napier. That means there might be hundreds of such objects out there. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, due to go online later this year, will look deeper into space and will potentially detect many more objects like this, which should tell us more about them – and whether Planet 9 actually exists. Reference:arXiv DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2505.15806 Topics:planets #new #dwarf #planet #spotted #edge
    WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM
    New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system
    The orbits of a potential dwarf planet called 2017 OF201 and the dwarf planet SednaTony Dunn A potential dwarf planet has been discovered in the outer reaches of our solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune. Its presence there challenges the existence of a hypothetical body known as Planet 9 or Planet X. Sihao Cheng at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and his colleagues first detected the object, known as 2017 OF201, as a bright spot in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile. Advertisement 2017 OF201 is about 700 kilometres across – big enough to qualify as a dwarf planet like Pluto, which has a diameter about three times as big. The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical units (AU) away from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is. Because 2017 OF201’s average orbit around the sun is greater than that of Neptune, it is what’s known as a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It passes through the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy objects in the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune. The researchers looked back over 19 observations, taken over seven years by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, to determine that the closest 2017 OF201 gets to the sun – its perihelion – is 44.5 AU, which is similar to Pluto’s orbit. The furthest it gets from the sun is 1600 AU, way outside the solar system. Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month. Sign up to newsletter This far-flung orbit may be the result of an encounter with a giant planet, which ejected the candidate dwarf planet out of the solar system, say the researchers. “It’s a really cool discovery,” says Kevin Napier at the University of Michigan. The object would go so far outside the solar system that it could be interacting with other stars in the galaxy just as strongly as it interacts with some of the planets in our solar system, he says. The orbits of many extreme TNOs seem to cluster in a specific orientation. This has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system contains a ninth planet hidden in the Oort cloud, a vast cloud of icy rocks encircling the solar system. The idea is that Planet 9’s gravity pushes the TNOs into their specific orbits. But the orbit of 2017 OF201 doesn’t fit this pattern. “This object is definitely an outlier to the observed clustering,” says team member Eritas Yang at Princeton University. Cheng and his colleagues also modelled simulations of the object’s orbit, and how it might interact with Planet 9. “In the one with Planet X, the object gets ejected after a couple of hundred million years, and without Planet X, it stays,” says Napier. “Certainly, this is not evidence in favour of Planet 9.” But until there is more data, the case isn’t closed, says Cheng. “I hope Planet 9 still exists, because that’ll be more interesting.” The candidate dwarf planet takes roughly 25,000 years to complete an orbit, which means it spends only about 1 per cent of its time close enough to Earth for us to detect it. “These things are really hard to find because they’re faint, and their orbits are so long and skinny that you can only see them when they’re really close to the sun, and then they immediately head right back out and they’re invisible to us again,” says Napier. That means there might be hundreds of such objects out there. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, due to go online later this year, will look deeper into space and will potentially detect many more objects like this, which should tell us more about them – and whether Planet 9 actually exists. Reference:arXiv DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2505.15806 Topics:planets
    0 Комментарии 0 Поделились 0 предпросмотр
  • Saturn Has 274 Known Moons—Thanks in Large Part to This Astronomer

    May 22, 20255 min readHow One Astronomer Helped to Discover Nearly 200 Moons of SaturnScientific American spoke with the astronomer who has contributed to the discovery of two thirds of Saturn’s known moonsBy Meghan Bartels edited by Lee Billings NASA, ESA, John T. Clarke, Zolt G. LevayA mere decade ago, astronomers knew of just 62 moons around Saturn. Today the ringed planet boasts a staggering 274 official satellites. That’s more than any other world in the solar system—and far too many for most people to keep track of. Astronomer Edward Ashton is no exception, even though he has helped to discover 192 of them—he thinks that’s the total, anyway, after pausing to do some mental math.Ashton is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. He fell into hunting for Saturn’s moons in 2018, when his then academic adviser suggested the project for his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. It has been a fruitful search. Most recently, in March, Ashton and his colleagues announced a batch of 128 newfound Saturnian satellites.Scientific American spoke with Ashton about the science of discovering so many relatively tiny moons—most of them just a few kilometers wide—using vast amounts of data gathered by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located in Hawaii.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.How have you found these moons?To detect the moons, we use a technique known as shifting and stacking. We take 44 sequential images of the same patch of sky over a three-hour period because, in that time frame, the moons move relative to the stars at a rate similar to Saturn. If we just stack the images normally, then the moon appears as a streak across the images, and that dilutes the signal of the moon.So what we do is: we shift the images relative to one another at multiple different rates near that of Saturn, and then we basically blink between the different shift rates. If the shift rate is not quite at the rate of the moon, then it’s going to be slightly elongated. As you get closer to the rate of the moon, then it slowly combines into a dot. And then, as you get faster than the moon’s rate, it expands again. So basically, we look at the images and then quickly blink through the different rates, and you can see the moon coalescing.That’s for a single night. But just seeing an object moving at a Saturn-like rate near Saturn doesn’t guarantee that it is a moon. It’s highly likely that the object is a moon, but that hasn’t been confirmed. So what we need to do is track the objects to show that they are in orbit around the planet. To do that, we repeat theprocess multiple times over many months and years.Why did this happen now? Did you need new techniques and observatories to do this work?The technique and the technology have been there for a while—the same technique has been used to find moons of Neptune and Uranus. But the sky area around those planets where moons can exist is a lot smaller, so it takes less time to search through the data. One of the reasons why this hadn’t been done for Saturn is because it’s very time-consuming.Why do those other planets have less space where moons could be than Saturn does?Those planets are less massive, so the stable orbits that moons can have are smaller.I had been wondering if this technique works for other planets, and clearly the answer is yes. But do you think there are other moons that have yet to be found around Saturn or other planets with the method?We did find moon candidates around Saturn that we weren’t able to track long enough to be able to confirm them. So if you redo this technique again, you will be able to find more moons around Saturn, but this is a case of diminishing returns. If you use a larger telescope, then you’d be able to see fainter moons, so you’d be able to find more.At the moment, if you use the same technique for Jupiter, you will be able to find fainter moons. The problem is: the amount of sky that moons of Jupiter can occupy is significantly larger thanSaturn, so the method is even more time-consuming for Jupiter. And Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn and the other planets, so there’s a lot of scattered light that makes it harder to see the moons.So it’s even harder to find satellites around Jupiter, and as you mentioned, other groups have already done this work for Uranus and Neptune. Does that mean we’re sort of “maxed out” on moons until we have better observations?Yeah, you probably have to wait until better technology comes along.Is there something being built or planned right now that could be that “better technology”?There currently are telescopes that can see deeper, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. The problem is: JWST’s field of view is very small, so you have to do quite a few observations to be able to cover the required area. But there is a telescope that’s set to launch pretty soon, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, that has quite a large field of view. So that’ll be a good telescope to use for hunting more moons.What do we know about these new moons?You basically can only get the moons’ orbits and approximate sizes. But if you look at the distribution of the orbits, you can understand a bit more about the history of the system. Moons that are sort of clumped together in orbital space are most likely the result of a collision, so you can see what moons come from the same parent object.Is seeing so many moons around Saturn unusual?What’s unusual is how many there are. It appears that the planets have more or less equal numbers of the larger moons. But when you get down to the smaller ones that we’re discovering, Saturn seems to shoot up in terms of the numbers. So that’s quite interesting. This could just be because there was a recent collision within the Saturnian system that produced a large number of fragments.Do you get to name them all? Do you have to name them all?I guess I don’t have to. Some of these new moons, they’ve been linked back to observations by a different group from more than 10 years ago. That’s maybe 20 to 30 of them. For the rest, we get full discovery credit, which, I think, means we get the right to name them. But they can’t be named just yet; first, they’re just given a number when they have a high-precision orbit, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take.Do you have more moon-hunting observations to analyze?No, I’m taking a little break from moons! I’ve got other projects to work on, relating to trans-Neptunian objects. They’re quite far away. They’re hard to see. There are some mysteries about them at the moment. It’s interesting to understand their structure and how it relates to planet formation.
    #saturn #has #known #moonsthanks #large
    Saturn Has 274 Known Moons—Thanks in Large Part to This Astronomer
    May 22, 20255 min readHow One Astronomer Helped to Discover Nearly 200 Moons of SaturnScientific American spoke with the astronomer who has contributed to the discovery of two thirds of Saturn’s known moonsBy Meghan Bartels edited by Lee Billings NASA, ESA, John T. Clarke, Zolt G. LevayA mere decade ago, astronomers knew of just 62 moons around Saturn. Today the ringed planet boasts a staggering 274 official satellites. That’s more than any other world in the solar system—and far too many for most people to keep track of. Astronomer Edward Ashton is no exception, even though he has helped to discover 192 of them—he thinks that’s the total, anyway, after pausing to do some mental math.Ashton is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. He fell into hunting for Saturn’s moons in 2018, when his then academic adviser suggested the project for his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. It has been a fruitful search. Most recently, in March, Ashton and his colleagues announced a batch of 128 newfound Saturnian satellites.Scientific American spoke with Ashton about the science of discovering so many relatively tiny moons—most of them just a few kilometers wide—using vast amounts of data gathered by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located in Hawaii.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.How have you found these moons?To detect the moons, we use a technique known as shifting and stacking. We take 44 sequential images of the same patch of sky over a three-hour period because, in that time frame, the moons move relative to the stars at a rate similar to Saturn. If we just stack the images normally, then the moon appears as a streak across the images, and that dilutes the signal of the moon.So what we do is: we shift the images relative to one another at multiple different rates near that of Saturn, and then we basically blink between the different shift rates. If the shift rate is not quite at the rate of the moon, then it’s going to be slightly elongated. As you get closer to the rate of the moon, then it slowly combines into a dot. And then, as you get faster than the moon’s rate, it expands again. So basically, we look at the images and then quickly blink through the different rates, and you can see the moon coalescing.That’s for a single night. But just seeing an object moving at a Saturn-like rate near Saturn doesn’t guarantee that it is a moon. It’s highly likely that the object is a moon, but that hasn’t been confirmed. So what we need to do is track the objects to show that they are in orbit around the planet. To do that, we repeat theprocess multiple times over many months and years.Why did this happen now? Did you need new techniques and observatories to do this work?The technique and the technology have been there for a while—the same technique has been used to find moons of Neptune and Uranus. But the sky area around those planets where moons can exist is a lot smaller, so it takes less time to search through the data. One of the reasons why this hadn’t been done for Saturn is because it’s very time-consuming.Why do those other planets have less space where moons could be than Saturn does?Those planets are less massive, so the stable orbits that moons can have are smaller.I had been wondering if this technique works for other planets, and clearly the answer is yes. But do you think there are other moons that have yet to be found around Saturn or other planets with the method?We did find moon candidates around Saturn that we weren’t able to track long enough to be able to confirm them. So if you redo this technique again, you will be able to find more moons around Saturn, but this is a case of diminishing returns. If you use a larger telescope, then you’d be able to see fainter moons, so you’d be able to find more.At the moment, if you use the same technique for Jupiter, you will be able to find fainter moons. The problem is: the amount of sky that moons of Jupiter can occupy is significantly larger thanSaturn, so the method is even more time-consuming for Jupiter. And Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn and the other planets, so there’s a lot of scattered light that makes it harder to see the moons.So it’s even harder to find satellites around Jupiter, and as you mentioned, other groups have already done this work for Uranus and Neptune. Does that mean we’re sort of “maxed out” on moons until we have better observations?Yeah, you probably have to wait until better technology comes along.Is there something being built or planned right now that could be that “better technology”?There currently are telescopes that can see deeper, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. The problem is: JWST’s field of view is very small, so you have to do quite a few observations to be able to cover the required area. But there is a telescope that’s set to launch pretty soon, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, that has quite a large field of view. So that’ll be a good telescope to use for hunting more moons.What do we know about these new moons?You basically can only get the moons’ orbits and approximate sizes. But if you look at the distribution of the orbits, you can understand a bit more about the history of the system. Moons that are sort of clumped together in orbital space are most likely the result of a collision, so you can see what moons come from the same parent object.Is seeing so many moons around Saturn unusual?What’s unusual is how many there are. It appears that the planets have more or less equal numbers of the larger moons. But when you get down to the smaller ones that we’re discovering, Saturn seems to shoot up in terms of the numbers. So that’s quite interesting. This could just be because there was a recent collision within the Saturnian system that produced a large number of fragments.Do you get to name them all? Do you have to name them all?I guess I don’t have to. Some of these new moons, they’ve been linked back to observations by a different group from more than 10 years ago. That’s maybe 20 to 30 of them. For the rest, we get full discovery credit, which, I think, means we get the right to name them. But they can’t be named just yet; first, they’re just given a number when they have a high-precision orbit, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take.Do you have more moon-hunting observations to analyze?No, I’m taking a little break from moons! I’ve got other projects to work on, relating to trans-Neptunian objects. They’re quite far away. They’re hard to see. There are some mysteries about them at the moment. It’s interesting to understand their structure and how it relates to planet formation. #saturn #has #known #moonsthanks #large
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    Saturn Has 274 Known Moons—Thanks in Large Part to This Astronomer
    May 22, 20255 min readHow One Astronomer Helped to Discover Nearly 200 Moons of SaturnScientific American spoke with the astronomer who has contributed to the discovery of two thirds of Saturn’s known moonsBy Meghan Bartels edited by Lee Billings NASA, ESA, John T. Clarke (Boston University), Zolt G. Levay (STScI)A mere decade ago, astronomers knew of just 62 moons around Saturn. Today the ringed planet boasts a staggering 274 official satellites. That’s more than any other world in the solar system—and far too many for most people to keep track of. Astronomer Edward Ashton is no exception, even though he has helped to discover 192 of them—he thinks that’s the total, anyway, after pausing to do some mental math.Ashton is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. He fell into hunting for Saturn’s moons in 2018, when his then academic adviser suggested the project for his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. It has been a fruitful search. Most recently, in March, Ashton and his colleagues announced a batch of 128 newfound Saturnian satellites.Scientific American spoke with Ashton about the science of discovering so many relatively tiny moons—most of them just a few kilometers wide—using vast amounts of data gathered by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), located in Hawaii.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]How have you found these moons?To detect the moons, we use a technique known as shifting and stacking. We take 44 sequential images of the same patch of sky over a three-hour period because, in that time frame, the moons move relative to the stars at a rate similar to Saturn. If we just stack the images normally, then the moon appears as a streak across the images, and that dilutes the signal of the moon.So what we do is: we shift the images relative to one another at multiple different rates near that of Saturn, and then we basically blink between the different shift rates. If the shift rate is not quite at the rate of the moon, then it’s going to be slightly elongated. As you get closer to the rate of the moon, then it slowly combines into a dot. And then, as you get faster than the moon’s rate, it expands again. So basically, we look at the images and then quickly blink through the different rates, and you can see the moon coalescing.That’s for a single night. But just seeing an object moving at a Saturn-like rate near Saturn doesn’t guarantee that it is a moon. It’s highly likely that the object is a moon, but that hasn’t been confirmed. So what we need to do is track the objects to show that they are in orbit around the planet. To do that, we repeat the [shift and stack] process multiple times over many months and years.Why did this happen now? Did you need new techniques and observatories to do this work?The technique and the technology have been there for a while—the same technique has been used to find moons of Neptune and Uranus. But the sky area around those planets where moons can exist is a lot smaller, so it takes less time to search through the data. One of the reasons why this hadn’t been done for Saturn is because it’s very time-consuming.Why do those other planets have less space where moons could be than Saturn does?Those planets are less massive, so the stable orbits that moons can have are smaller.I had been wondering if this technique works for other planets, and clearly the answer is yes. But do you think there are other moons that have yet to be found around Saturn or other planets with the method?We did find moon candidates around Saturn that we weren’t able to track long enough to be able to confirm them. So if you redo this technique again, you will be able to find more moons around Saturn, but this is a case of diminishing returns. If you use a larger telescope [than the CFHT], then you’d be able to see fainter moons, so you’d be able to find more.At the moment, if you use the same technique for Jupiter, you will be able to find fainter moons. The problem is: the amount of sky that moons of Jupiter can occupy is significantly larger than [the amount of sky that can be occupied by moons of] Saturn, so the method is even more time-consuming for Jupiter. And Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn and the other planets, so there’s a lot of scattered light that makes it harder to see the moons.So it’s even harder to find satellites around Jupiter, and as you mentioned, other groups have already done this work for Uranus and Neptune. Does that mean we’re sort of “maxed out” on moons until we have better observations?Yeah, you probably have to wait until better technology comes along.Is there something being built or planned right now that could be that “better technology”?There currently are telescopes that can see deeper [than the CFHT], such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The problem is: JWST’s field of view is very small, so you have to do quite a few observations to be able to cover the required area. But there is a telescope that’s set to launch pretty soon, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, that has quite a large field of view. So that’ll be a good telescope to use for hunting more moons.What do we know about these new moons?You basically can only get the moons’ orbits and approximate sizes. But if you look at the distribution of the orbits, you can understand a bit more about the history of the system. Moons that are sort of clumped together in orbital space are most likely the result of a collision, so you can see what moons come from the same parent object.Is seeing so many moons around Saturn unusual?What’s unusual is how many there are. It appears that the planets have more or less equal numbers of the larger moons. But when you get down to the smaller ones that we’re discovering, Saturn seems to shoot up in terms of the numbers. So that’s quite interesting. This could just be because there was a recent collision within the Saturnian system that produced a large number of fragments.Do you get to name them all? Do you have to name them all?I guess I don’t have to. Some of these new moons, they’ve been linked back to observations by a different group from more than 10 years ago. That’s maybe 20 to 30 of them. For the rest, we get full discovery credit, which, I think, means we get the right to name them. But they can’t be named just yet; first, they’re just given a number when they have a high-precision orbit, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take.Do you have more moon-hunting observations to analyze?No, I’m taking a little break from moons! I’ve got other projects to work on, relating to trans-Neptunian objects. They’re quite far away. They’re hard to see. There are some mysteries about them at the moment. It’s interesting to understand their structure and how it relates to planet formation.
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