Behold: NGC 3199, aka the Banana nebula – a glowing cosmic cloud in the southern constellation of Carina, 12,000 light years away. To wit:

The nebula is about 75 light-years across in this narrowband, false-colour view. Though the deep image reveals a more or less complete bubble shape, it does look very lopsided with a much brighter edge along the top [the ‘banana’]. Near the centre is a Wolf-Rayet star, a massive, hot, short-lived star that generates an intense stellar wind. In fact, Wolf-Rayet stars are known to create nebulae with interesting shapes as their powerful winds sweep up surrounding interstellar material. In this case, the bright edge was thought to indicate a bow shock produced as the star plowed through a uniform medium, like a boat through water. But measurements have shown the star is not really moving directly toward the bright edge. So a more likely explanation is that the material surrounding the star is not uniform, but clumped and denser near the bright edge of windblown NGC 3199.

(Image: Mike Selby and Roberto Colombari

apod

Last night.

Tuam campaigner Breeda Murphy, adoptee and activist Eunan Duffy and lawyer Frank Brehhany, whose father was a Tuam adoptee, discuss the Gardaí appeal to anyone who was the victim of a criminal act in a Mother-and-Baby Home to contact them.

Last week, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris (top right) said there are allegations within the report of the Mother and Baby Home Commission that suggests there was ‘serious criminality’  that could have criminal justice outcomes.

We look at the options open to survivors.

This is the 17th in a series of shows with Breeda, Eunan and Frank looking at all aspects of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation report. They can be viewed here.

Boreholes drilled into the frozen surface of the polar regions (to retrieve ice cores for research) can be up to 3.5km deep.

Dropping a chunk of ice into one of these echoey vertical tunnels makes for very pleasing sounds indeed (best heard with the sound up or headphones on).

kottke

This afternoon.

The Seanad.

During a debate on Ireland’s mandatory hotel quarantine system, Leader of the Seanad, Regina Doherty, of Fine Gael claimed the country was “dragged kicking and screaming by populism to mandatory hotel quarantining“.

Via RTÉ:

Senator Doherty added that “we left the doors open and the windows open to Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom whilst picking on other countries”.

She said that she believed that the number of exemptions had surpassed the number of rules.

“We have more holes in the system that we have [than] in a bloody block of swiss cheese“, she told the Seanad.

Ms Doherty called on Government to let the legislation underpinning the quarantine system lapse in June, when it is due to do so, and not renew it.

Seanad hears criticism of mandatory hotel quarantine system (RTÉ)

Previously: Trop Sévère

RollingNews

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi – O Death

The Great Beyond.

A bona fide star of the flourishing Americana scene, Rhiannon Giddens (top) has teamed up with Italian jazz virtuoso Francesco Turrisi on the album They’re Calling Me Home, which is already being hailed as a masterpiece.

The new single is their take on the folk standard O Death, with an incredible video produced and directed by Irish crankie roll artist Maeve Clancy, whose unfurled watercolour tapestry complements the music perfectly.

The Director of Photography is Seán Molloy.

Enjoy!

Nick says: See you on the other side.

Rhiannon Giddens

Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

This afternoon.

Further to dismay over the purchase of entire housing estates by real estate investment trusts or REITs.

Via The Ditch:

…While a TD for Dublin North in 2008, Darragh O’Brien declared in the Dáil register of interests holdings in a Standard Life Assurance savings policy. The policy later promised returns to holders through investments in REITs, which were introduced to Ireland in 2013 through legislation brought by finance minister Michael Noonan…

…O’Brien further declared he was a landlord from 2007-2015. He found himself in possession of not one, but two houses, so chose to rent one out, starting in the heady, pre-crash era.

O’Brien along with his wife bought a family home in 2007, but decided against selling his former residence – a two-bed apartment in Malahide.

O’Brien rented the property first to a family member from 2007 and later to other private tenants, before finally selling the property at 11 Castle Heath, Swords Road, Malahide. He sold it for €290,000 in March 2015.

Meanwhile…

…O’Brien’s government and party colleague Robert Troy is another landlord with a serious property portfolio. And he knows how to protect his interests.

In 2019 he took an unsuccessful Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) case against a tenant renting from him a €1,250 per month one-bed flat in Phibsborough, Dublin 7. Troy had let the flat to small business owner Paul McGahan. The flat is “a tiny little thing” according to McGahan: “You wouldn’t fit two people into this place,” he said…

Fianna Fáil ministers, the REITs and the housing crisis (The Ditch)

RollingNews

Broadsheet.ie