The planets may get top billing in the solar system, but  they are far outnumbered by the moons. There are hundreds, and they come  in all kinds of varieties, like a cosmic tray of assorted chocolates.  Our own moon is a barren, rocky world coated with craters. Enceladus, of Saturn, and Europa, of Jupiter, are frozen , shrouded in a thick layer of ice with a liquid-ocean center. Io, another moon of Jupiter, is molten , its surface constantly redrawn by flowing lava.

Astronomers have observed these and other moons for centuries ,  first with homemade telescopes and now with million-dollar spacecraft.  Many moons are well studied, their features documented in astounding detail . They feel as familiar as the planets they orbit. But there is still more to discover.

The full article is available on / Полная статья доступна по ссылке / L'article au complet est disponible sur le lien https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/neptune-moon-hippocamp/583147/

In late 2015, in the Chilean desert, astronomers pointed a  telescope at a faint, nearby star known as a red dwarf. Amid the star’s  dim infrared glow, they spotted periodic dips, a telltale sign that  something was passing in front of it, blocking its light every so often.  Last summer, the astronomers concluded the mysterious dimming came from three Earth-sized planets—and that  they were orbiting in the star’s temperate zone, where temperatures are  not too hot, and not too cold, but just right for liquid water, and  maybe even life.

This was an important find. Scientists for years had focused on stars like our sun in their search for potentially habitable planets outside our solar  system. Red dwarfs, smaller and cooler than the sun, were thought to  create inhospitable conditions. They’re also harder to see, detectable  by infrared rather than visible light. But the astronomers aimed  hundreds of hours worth of observations at this dwarf, known as  TRAPPIST-1 anyway, using ground-based telescopes around the world and  NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

The full article is available on / L'article au complet est disponible sur/ Полная статья доступна по ссылке https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/02/seven-exoplanets/517446/

Asgardia poses a unique opportunity to test and implement innovative approaches to evergreen problems faced by democratic regimes. Many examples of systemic, endemic corruption exist in contemporary Western societies; indeed, there are likely none which are truly free of it. Any attempt to correct these corrupt practices are unlikely to succeed in an entrenched system; this is doubly true if the person attempting to bring these to light is not a member of the professional group, but a layperson who's been harmed by them. I am such a person; over the course of several decades I have been tormented by the actions of the police and Courts of Canada -- not a nation that one readily associates with deeply entrenched corruption. But, while this experience has been undoubtedly painful and costly in so many ways, it has led me to consider the issue deeply, and to formulate this possible solution which I present for your consideration for implementation in Asgardian society.

In the Constitution of Asgardia, the Supreme Values of the society are listed, which include (e) human dignity, human rights and freedoms, and the harmonious development of individuals; (g) supremacy of Asgardia’s laws; (i) community and mutual support; (k) peace, tranquility, safety, security, respect, and confidence; (l) morality, fairness, and freedom; and (m) harmonious existence of individuals, society, and the nation. All of these Ideals are undermined by institutionalized corruption, which is a failure of the practices of professionalism.

It's worth considering what constitutes a profession (as opposed to, say, a trade). Generally, professions require many years of advanced education, in order to properly understand the complex issues dealt with by engineers, doctors, lawyers and so on. This complexity has resulted in the systems of professional discipline, in which alleged infractions of professional practice are judged by designated, senior members of the profession. This internalized administration of justice is justified because the complex issues faced by a professional can only be fully understood by someone with the same or greater professional training. This is a great power, and it must be balanced with a great responsibility: the interests of society must always reign above those of the professional society or of its members.

The temptation to cut corners on the social obligation is surely great, and likely to increase with time. Given that all professionals are human, it's probably inevitable that the ideals will slip over time. This is particularly true of law enforcement and the legal profession: for the practitioners of these, it's easy to justify shortcuts in order to catch criminals; and, for the professional disciplinarians, it's surely easier to give the benefit of the doubt to their colleagues over people saddled with the burden of criminal accusations. But what of the cases in which hasty, sloppy or simply misguided work place an innocent person, or even a victim of the crime, in the crosshairs of the law? In that case, the entirely justified protests of abridged rights will go ignored and unheard, piling injustice on injustice. This is unimaginably corrosive to the well being of the unfortunate target, who sees no path to redemption and faces a vastly increased risk of suicide or other disastrous and permanent outcomes. What can be done to help these people?

These people face a different sort of problem than one for which professional discipline was designed to handle. The existing system was meant to handle complex, technical questions that can only be properly understood by trained professionals of the domain in question. But here, we face something else entirely: it's an issue of basic fairness, caused by the failure of professionalism. These issues, by definition, can be understood by anyone, and that's the core of my proposal.

I suggest adding a Metaprofessional Council: its job is to enforce professionalism about professionalism. In cases where the professional discipline system fails, the aggrieved party can bring their complaint for consideration by the Council. This Council is composed not only of representatives of all professions, but also of lay citizens; it is concerned not with technicalities but basic fairness and the duty of all professionals to society above themselves and their professional group. The Council decisions can affirm, or override, the contested professional discipline decision. Perhaps it can also specify some form of compensation, both to help the harmed party and to provide motivation for the professional discipline groups to do their job well and avoid these events.

Tangentially, it's also worth considering the mental and emotional stress caused by unjust application of the State's force. The harmed party is unlikely to be able to clearly elucidate the situation, due to confusion at a complex system that they don't understand but which seems intent on causing them harm. Therefore, it's probably necessary to have trained intake workers with strong interpersonal skills and a good understanding of stress on the human mind.

Magnetic north has never  sat still. In the last hundred years or so, the direction in which our  compasses steadfastly point has lumbered ever northward, driven by Earth 's churning liquid outer core some 1,800 miles beneath the surface. Yet in recent years, scientists noticed something  unusual: Magnetic north's routine plod has shifted into high gear,  sending it galloping across the Northern Hemisphere—and no one can  entirely explain why.

The changes have been so  large that scientists began working on an emergency update for the World  Magnetic Model, the mathematical system that lays the foundations for  navigation, from cell phones and ships to commercial airlines. But then  the U.S. government shut down, placing the model's official release on  hold, as Nature News first reported earlier this year.

Now, the wait for a new north is over. The World Magnetic Model update was officially released on Monday, and magnetic north can again be precisely located for people around the world.

Questions still likely  abound: Why is magnetic north changing so fast? What were the impacts of  the update's delay? Was there really a geologic reason Google maps sent  me off course? We've got you covered.

What is magnetic north?

Magnetic north is one of three “north poles” on our globe. First,  there's true north, which is the northern end of the axis on which our  planet turns.

But our planet's  protective magnetic bubble, or magnetosphere, isn't perfectly aligned  with this spin. Instead, the dynamo of Earth's core creates a magnetic  field that is slightly tilted from the planet's rotational axis. The  northern end of this planet-size bar magnet is what's known as  geomagnetic north—a point sitting off the northwest coast of Greenland that's changed position little over the last century.

Then there's magnetic  north, what your compass locates, which is defined as the point at which  magnetic field lines point vertically down. Unlike geomagnetic north,  this position is more susceptible to the surges and flows in the swirl  of liquid iron in the core. These currents tug on the magnetic field,  sending magnetic north hopping across the globe.

“The north magnetic pole is quite a sensitive place,” says Phil Livermore , a geophysicist at the University of Leeds.

What is the World Magnetic Model?

James Clark Ross first located magnetic north in 1831 in the scattered islands of Canada's Nunavut territory. Since  then, the pole has largely marched north, traversing hundreds of miles  over the last several decades. (Curiously, its polar opposite, magnetic  south, has moved little during this time.)

To keep up with all these changes, the U.S. National Oceanic and  Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey developed  what eventually became known as the World Magnetic Model, “so they would  all be on the same map, essentially,” says Ciaran Beggan , a geophysicist with the BGS.

The model is updated every five years, with the last update in 2015.  Between each update, scientists check the model's accuracy against data  from ground magnetic observatories and the European Space Agency's Swarm mission —a  trio of magnetic-field mapping satellites that zip around Earth 15 to  16 times each day. Until now, this seemed sufficient to keep up with  magnetic north's march toward Siberia.

In the mid 1900s, the north magnetic pole was lumbering along at less  than a hundred feet each day, adding up to less than seven miles of  difference each year. But in the '90s, this started to change. By the  early aughts, magnetic north was chugging along at some 34 miles each year .

“Things are acting very strangely at high latitude,” says Livermore,  who notes that this increase seemed to coincide with a strengthening jet  in the planet's liquid outer core. Though the events could be linked,  it's not yet possible to say for sure.

By early 2018, scientists realized that the model would soon exceed  the acceptable limits for magnetic-based navigation. Something had to be  done before the model's next regular update, slated for 2020.

What caused all this weirdness?

Interest in these unexpected jolts is about more than mapping. The  dance of Earth's magnetic field lines presents one of the few windows  scientists have to processes that happen thousands of miles below your  feet.

At the 2018 American Geophysical Union fall meeting ,  Livermore presented what he calls a magnetic field “tug-of-war” that  may offer an explanation for the recent odd behavior. The north magnetic  pole seems to be controlled by two patches of magnetic field, he  explains, one under northern Canada and one under Siberia. Historically,  the one under northern Canada seems to have been stronger, keeping the  magnetic pole in its clutches. But recently, that seems to have changed.

“The Siberian patch looks like it's winning the battle,” he says.  “It's sort of pulling the magnetic field all the way across to its side  of the geographic pole.”

his  may be a result of a jet within the core smearing and thus weakening  the magnetic field under Canada, he says. The jet's increase in speed  seems to have coincided with the last few decades of the magnetic pole  zipping north. But he cautions about jumping to any definite  conclusions.

What's next for magnetic north?

It's tough to predict what will happen to the magnetic north pole—or  whether it's even going to maintain its speed as it staggers toward  Siberia, notes Robyn Fiori ,  a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada. The only thing that  seems certain about magnetic north is its unpredictability.

Rocks hold geologic maps of even weirder movements of the magnetic  poles, suggesting that in the last 20 million years, magnetic north and  south have flipped places multiple times. This seems to happen roughly  every 200,000 to 300,000 years. The exact causes behind these reversals remains uncertain. But the latest movement shouldn't have you in knots about an imminent flip.

“There's no indication that there's a reversal,” Beggan says. “And  even if there was a reversal, geological records show these things tend  to take a few thousand years, at the very least.” ( What really happens when the magnetic field flips? Here's what we know. )

Models of magnetic north suggest that this latest leap isn't even the strangest thing the pole  has done in more recent history, Fiori adds. Before 1900, its wanderings  likely once had a lot more wiggle and may include several hairpin turns  in northern Canada that could have sent the pole on a brief southward  stint.

“It all has to do with changes in the fluid motion of that outer  core,” she says. It's therefore hard to say if magnetic north's newfound  speed is the new normal.

“We know that the pole now is moving faster than it has for decades,  but how often does that happen in the long historical record?” inquires Geoff Reeves , a space scientist at Los Alamos National Lab.

“We don't have any idea. What we know is what it's doing now is different, and that's always exciting scientifically.”

How often are we told not to share our passwords?

Well, customers of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX wish its founder,  Gerald Cotten, had ignored this advice. Cotten, who reportedly died in  December 2018, took with him a costly piece of information — the  password to access the customers’ digital currency, which is being held  in cold storage.

Cold storage is where a holder of crypto assets — in this case, the  exchange — keeps the coins offline, or not on a computer or server.  While cold storage mitigates the risk of a hack, access to the coins  often requires passwords and encrypted codes for the devices that are  holding the cryptocurrency.

And now the debacle has hit the courts.

According to a report by CoinDesk , Cotten’s widow Jennifer Robertson, in an affidavit, said it  appears a significant portion of the cryptocurrency was in fact held in  cold storage and the deceased Cotten was the sole holder of access to  the coins, which included around 26,000 bitcoin.

“The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the Companies’  business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key.  Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find  them written down anywhere,” said Robertson.

According to the affidavit, the exchange also held around 11,000 Bitcoin Cash, and more than 400,000 Ether.   All told, the value of the digital assets is around $190 million.

One hope for disgruntled customers is that some coins were being held on  other exchanges, and Jesse Powell, the founder of the Kraken exchange  has said his company would willingly hand over the private information  to access these funds if asked.

“We have thousands of wallet addresses known to belong to  @QuadrigaCoinEx and are investigating the bizarre and, frankly,  unbelievable story of the founder’s death and lost keys. I’m not  normally calling for subpoenas but if @rcmpgrcpolice are looking in to  this, contact @krakenfx,” he tweeted.

But a message posted on QuadrigaCX’s website suggests efforts to recover funds have been futile, so far.

“For the past weeks, we have worked extensively to address our liquidity  issues, which include attempting to locate and secure our very  significant cryptocurrency reserves held in cold wallets. Unfortunately,  these efforts have not been successful. Further updates will be issued  after the hearing,” the company said.

One course of action the company is considering is the sale of its  operating platform to meet some of its obligations, the affidavit  states.From here, Quadriga is hoping the court will schedule a Feb. 5  hearing to confirm a stay of proceedings in an attempt to pre-empt the  filing of lawsuits, according to CoinDesk.

Scientists have spotted repeated blasts of radio signals coming from deep in space.

The breakthrough is only the second time scientists have seen such a  repeating radio burst. It both deepens the mystery and offers a  potential opportunity to finally understand what might be throwing out  the burst from a galaxy billions of light years away

Fast radio bursts have been speculated to be the result of everything  from exploding stars to transmissions from aliens. But they have  remained entirely mysterious, with little evidence at all of where they  might be coming from

The flashes only last for a milisecond but they are flung out with the same amount of energy the sun takes 12 months to produce.

Probably most exciting of the new bursts is one that scientists saw  repeat six times, apparently from the same location. Of the more than 60  fast radio bursts detected so far, only one of them has ever repeated.

Until now, there was only one known repeating FRB. Knowing that there  is another suggests that there could be more out there. And with more  repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to  understand these cosmic puzzles—where they’re from and what causes  them,” said Ingrid Stairs, a member of the CHIME team and an  astrophysicist at UBC.

Seeing two repeating signals probably means that there exists – and that  humanity will probably find – a "substantial population" of repeating  signals, the researchers write in one of the two papers published in Nature .

Having two sets of repeating bursts could also allow scientists to  understand what distinguishes them from single bursts, helping them  understand more about their source and watch for future blasts.

In all the researchers spotted some 13 of the bursts in just a three  week period, offering a vast new trove of data for the scientists  hunting for their source. Together they could offer some evidence of the  extreme or unusual environment they are coming from – or the mysterious  technology that some claim alien civilisations could be launching them  into space with.

Whatever the source of these radio waves is, it’s interesting to see how  wide a range of frequencies it can produce. There are some models where  intrinsically the source can’t produce anything below a certain  frequency,” says team member Arun Naidu of McGill University.

The blasts were discovered by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping  Experiment in British Columbia. Some scientists had worried that the  range of frequencies it can pick up would be too low for it to receive  the FRBs – but it found far more than expected, and scientists expect it  to identify even more.

Of the 13 new blasts that were picked up, at least seven of them were  recorded at 400 MHz – the lowest frequency of any yet discovered. That  suggests there might be even more of them, too low to be picked up by  CHIME.

“[We now know] the sources can produce low-frequency radio waves and  those low-frequency waves can escape their environment, and are not too  scattered to be detected by the time they reach the Earth. That tells us  something about the environments and the sources. We haven’t solved the  problem, but it’s several more pieces in the puzzle,” says Tom  Landecker, a CHIME team member from the National Research Council of  Canada.

Je suis chef analyste en sécurité de l'information à CBC / RadioCanada à Montréal

Je suis également humaniste, militant progressiste en faveur de la protection de la vie privée et de la démocratie, cofondateur d'un organisme à but non lucratif nommé Crypto.Québec, auteur du livre "On vous voit" et donneur d'organe. J'ai été candidat politique pour un petit parti politique à deux reprises.

Je suis également, avant toute chose, geek, et passionné d'astronomie.

For a long time the values of United-World have been mine. I deeply believe we are in a time when Humanity is assembling, after a long period of war(s), to face common challenges. At at least we should do.

We can easily think of the energy, ressources and ecology challenges.

Sub-jacent to this are, off course, the challenges of leaving together while coming from totally different cultures, and ways of life. But I deeply believe we should at least try.

I may also precise I sure don't believe in a perfect world where everybody loves everyone etc . There will always be huge differences, and impossibilities, big problems.  But a part of our life should tend to this collective effort, together, in an unperfect but yet Union.

I want to thank Asgaard Space Nation to give us this opportunity.

One Unity, One Humanity,

Raphael C.

Hello All,

I find this Voting Survey on the Asgardia Blog :

https://asgardia.space/en/forum/forum/elections-159/topic/lower-the-voting-age-to-16-21882/

I believe 16 is old enough ;) if you do too ( and even if you do not ), go raise your opinion

Nicolas

Hello,

If you have ideas, or questions, about Asgardia in Montreal, you can contact me at : Nicolas.Savoini@mayors.asgardia.space

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Si vous avez des idées, ou des questions, pour Asgardia sur Montreal, contactez moi a Nicolas.Savoini@mayors.asgardia.space

Ce sont nos décisions d'aujourd'hui, qui réalisont nos rêves de demain!

Ensemble, soyons novateurs en t'en que Québécois, Canadiens en prennant acte dans l'opportunité extraordinaire qu'est Asgardia, la Première nation spatiale de tout les temps !!

Transcendons vers l'espace, notre patrimoine culturel. Soyons Fiers et sa mise en lumière le meilleur de notre humanité! Votez Jessica, c'est vous donnez le choix d' une voix bien chez vous au sein d'Asgardia. Ensemble, faisons un pas vers l'avenir.

Hi everyone!
I am truly proud to be a new Asgardian.
This is me when I was young well... a glitchy and colorful version.
I can't wait to explore and share you my world and my own aspect of everything.
P e a c e <3