Three New Brunswickers are enjoying an astronomical surprise: an asteroid has been named after them.
It’s called Mipach — using the first two letters from the names of Saint Johners Mike Powell, Paul Owen and Chris Curwin.
“I saw the email and the other two guys hadn’t seen it yet. So I was frantically on the phone and messaging them back and forth, getting them to take a look. So it was just overwhelming,” Curwin said.
The asteroid is 6.37 kilometres in diameter and resides in the main belt, between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter, he said. It was discovered in 1991.
A screenshot of the orbit viewer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology showing Mipach (20020) as of Nov. 17, 2023. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Owen said when Curwin told him and Powell about Mipach, he thought it was a joke at first. But after he processed the information, he said he was stunned.
“I’m still letting it sink in. So I guess … I haven’t absorbed it all yet,” Owen said.
The process of naming minor planets, which includes asteroids and comets, is done by a working group within the International Astronomical Union called Small Bodies Nomenclature.
Gareth Williams, an astronomer based in Massachusetts and the secretary of the working group, said about every three weeks more names are revealed, and it is the working group’s job to approve those names.
Chris Curwin said he’s always been interested in astronomy, ever since he was a kid. (Paul Owen)
He said names for these minor planets are generally suggested by those credited with the discovery of the object.
Then, the 11 voting members in the group will approve or deny the suggestion.
But sometimes, those names are suggested by outside sources, as in the case of Mipach, which Williams said was suggested by Canadian astronomer Peter Jedicke, who proposed a number of names, primarily after Canadian amateur astronomers.
The names of minor planets are given for identification purposes, said Williams, not commemoration. But he said he’s heard from amateur astronomers who are very happy to have their name attached to a minor planet.
Gareth Williams, the secretary of the International Astronomical Union said names for minor planets are suggested by whoever is credited with their discovery. (Zoom/CBC)
Williams said that amateur astronomers are people who work in the field, usually in an unpaid capacity, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unprofessional.
“Amateur has a negative connotation, except in astronomy, where good amateurs can produce better results than some professionals,” he said.
Live — from Saint John
A bulletin from the International Astronomical Union mentions the three amateur astronomers and their program, the Sunday Night Astronomy Show, broadcast live from the Saint John Astronomy Club on Rogers TV and YouTube.
Curwin said the program started as a way to share lives views of the night sky, but in the last three years there have only been four clear Sunday nights, so the group quickly realized that wasn’t going to work.
So they started talking about telescopes and getting into astronomy as a hobby and it grew from there.
Curwin said he’s always been interested in astronomy, starting when he was s a kid, lying on the grass, looking at the stars. He remembers using a telescope one night to gaze at the Andromeda Galaxy, but when he looked around, nobody else was there to experience it, which made him want to share it.
“It’s that whole thing —is to try to think of the fact that that’s how tiny we really are in this whole vast scheme of things, you know, we live 100 years and it takes, you know, Pluto 250 years to orbit around the sun once,” he said.
Paul Owen said he never imagined he’d be part of an asteroid’s name. (Paul Owen)
Owen has long been involved with showing off “night sky treasures,” and served with the New Brunswick chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada up until this year, where he would host people for a weekend in the park to admire the sky.
But he said he never would have imagined being one-third of an asteroid’s namesake.
“We did the show and we didn’t even know how that would go. It’s just something that we do because we’re all passionate about astronomy,” said Owen.
“So it’s kind of morphed into what it is and and to receive this designation because of it, it’s certainly an honour.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
