Red Square Post

Happy May Day! - I hope it was candy in the bag on your doorstep this morning. Today the focus is two unique celestial bodies, the Red Rectangle Nebula and the Red Square Nebula.

From NASA:

"So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts. About 2,300 light-years away toward the fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Red Rectangle nebula should be transformed into a glorious planetary nebula as its cool central star becomes a hot white dwarf over the next few thousand years."

NASA again:

"What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be imbedded in a nebula with just such a shape."

Some strange information in the Red Sqaure Wikipedia article suggests that the nebula is lucky, and that a competing team named after the Red Square will earn its blessing. Knock on wood.

The Shape of Things

In 1785, William Herschel drew the Milky Way as he thought it might appear - a brilliant, amorphous collection of stars extending roughly outward from our own sun. He came to this shape by measuring the individual distance of each star from the Earth. His resulting picture explained little.

Upon release of the Earth from the center of things, these data begin to draw something with a recognizable shape. Two centuries after Herschel's drawing, it was known not only the shape of our galaxy, but also the shape of countless others. Few resemble Herschel's drawing.

The band of stars named the Milky Way is not scattered aimlessly around a vaguely central Earth. Humans walk within a massive disc, and it appears from Earth as a cross-section.  Much like a wide band of humans, in such number to fill the frame of vision - standing within the crowd, one might consider others in terms of relative distance, with higher importance to those in proximity: those with discernible detail and more immediate effect on the environment of the observer.

Like continents and constellations, The Milky Way is essentially frozen in time to human observers. Humans are moving swiftly about, however, and the shape shifts with the population, much faster than both mountains and the weather. It is the shape of Earth in human passage.

Herschel's drawing from Harvard, diagram from Arizona State, and the crowd from WYES.

Amicable Numbers

It's been busy everywhere, and Seattle too. The drought ends with more to come.




I often work events at Town Hall Seattle, and recently they (much like Northern Virginia Family Service in the NPR report) received a nomination for a grant. Partners in Preservation is sponsoring a month-long daily voting contest to award money to perishing Seattle landmarks. Lots of good institutions are participating, and I encourage everyone to vote.

Below is Town Hall's appeal.

February NVJs

After The Commercial Break

 

I'll be teaching cartooning at the Jefferson Community Center in Beacon Hill throughout spring quarter.  Interested kids can take a look at the flyer to learn more.

Limited Unlimitedness

It shows us that at any given temperature there is an ultimate limit to the sensitivity of any detector or or amplifier. This limit is caused by the random motion of the atoms and electrons that make up the apparatus itself.

Omni, March 1979

Can't Sleep Until I Have Them All