“With the possible exception of biology, planets are among the most complex things in the universe,” says Nicolas Cowan, Canada Research Chair in Planetary Climate. “They’re much more complicated and have more moving parts than stars or black holes.”
As announced earlier this summer, the Canadian Space Agency will contribute to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariel space telescope mission that will launch in 2029. Nicolas Cowan, Associate Professor in the departments of Physics and of Earth & Planetary Sciences at McGill, has been appointed co-Principal Investigator of the Ariel mission, and will join ESA’s Ariel Science Team.
The first astronomy mission of its kind, Ariel (atmospheric remote-sensing infrared exoplanet large-survey) will study the atmospheres of a large and diverse sample of exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars in the Galaxy. It will allow scientists to study the chemical composition and temperature of exoplanet atmospheres to better understand planet formation and atmospheric phenomena. Ariel will study approximately a thousand such planets, measuring the molecules, clouds, winds and thermal structure of their atmospheres.
“I am stoked that Canada and Canadian scientists will be part of this mission because this is the obvious next big thing happening for exoplanets,” says Cowan, Canada Research Chair in Planetary Climate. Up to 12 Canadian astronomers will also gain privileged access to Ariel’s data.
How planets work
“With the possible exception of biology, planets are among the most complex things in the universe,” says Cowan. “They’re much more complicated and have more moving parts than stars or black holes.”
“We can ask simple questions like how do clouds form on this planet? Why is it windier or cloudier on this planet than on that planet? Why did this planet end up with water at the surface and the other one didn’t? Why does this planet have an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and this other planet is all nitrogen? But the complexity means that we can’t predict it from one planet to the next,” he says. “Most of our research is trying to figure out the underlying principles of how planets work.”
Being able to study multiple planets at the same time, Ariel scientists hope to be able to plot patterns among planets with similar atmospheres.
“Really, it’s trying to understand planets in a statistical sense,” says Cowan. “If I look at hundreds and hundreds of a certain kind of planet, can I detect trends?”
Canadian cryoharnesses and science
Canada will contribute crucial electrical cables known as cryoharnesses. These cables will connect the telescope’s complex detector arrays to the spacecraft’s computer, transmitting the signal through a wide range of temperatures (from -230 °C to 20 °C) without transmitting too much heat.
“It sounds kind of trivial, but, actually, it is not at all obvious how to make a cable that will conduct an electrical signal from one end of the telescope to the other without conducting heat,” says Cowan. “Because the telescope is observing thermal wavelengths, the colder we keep it, the better the images.”
Design of experiment
Cowan and the other scientists on the Ariel team are now in the design of experiment phase of the mission which will set the scientific agenda.
“What planets do we want to study? How will we choose them? What kind of observations will we try to make?” Cowan says. “Do we want to pick fewer planets and get really good observations of all of them? Or do we want to spread ourselves out more and study 2,000 planets but with less complete observations? These are the questions we are grappling with now.”
As well, Cowan says there is a lot of “precursor science” to be done – setting a more complete target list before the mission and building tools that will be used to analyze the data when it starts coming in.
Avid outdoor enthusiast
Cowan comes by his love of exoplanets through his love of his home planet. An avid surfer, skier, rock climber, hiker, and cyclist, Cowan is always looking for another adventure.
He’s biked across Canada, and through Cuba, Turkey, Alaska, England and Croatia – mostly on a Mikado De Champlain touring bike that he bought in 2000. Lovingly christened The Millenium Faclon, Cowan’s bike had a tiny model of Hans Solo’s iconic spaceship affixed to the handlebars.
While doing his BSc in Physics at McGill, Cowan joined —and later became president— of the University’s Outings Club (now called the Outdoors Club).
“Toward the end of my undergrad career at McGill, I was basically doing physics kind of grudgingly. But I met a lot of people in the Outings Club who were studying rivers and rocks and doing things that sounded cool,” he says.
“It was then I started getting interested in astrophysics. I wanted to study planets too – it just wouldn’t be this planet.”
“This was the compromise I came up with. I was doing physics but applied to other planets because I love living on this one. I like all the cool things on it – the processes, the water, the rocks, the ice, the snow,” says Cowan. “It’s fun to imagine that on another world where the snow might be made out of salt and the clouds are made out of rock, and everything is slightly different.”
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.
