Behold: ribbons of shocked interstellar gas at the outer edge of an expanding stellar explosion that would have been clearly visible to our ancestors during the late Stone Age 20,000 years ago. To wit:

The featured image was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope and is a closeup of the outer edge of a supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop or Veil Nebula. The filamentary shock front is moving toward the top of the frame at about 170 kilometres per second, while glowing in light emitted by atoms of excited hydrogen gas. The distances to stars thought to be interacting with the Cygnus Loop have recently been found by the Gaia mission to be about 2,400 light years distant. The whole Cygnus Loop spans six full Moons across the sky, corresponding to about 130 light years, and parts can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).

(Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Blair; Acknowledgement: Leo Shatz)

apod

This afternoon.

Further to the proposed discontinuation of Bus Eireann routes from Dublin to Cork, Limerick and Galway….

“The blame for this lies squarely with the National Transport Authority (NTA) which has, over the years, flooded the market with privately held operating licenses and strangled the national carrier.

Bus Eireann, unlike other operators, has continued to supply much needed services during the current Covid-19 crisis and the NTA needs to recognise this and provide funding so that these services continue to provide safe and accessible transport for all its passengers.

The threat to some of the most strategic bus transport routes in the country is short sighted, flawed and a kick in the teeth for workers and passengers.”

SIPTU Sector Organiser, John Murphy,

SIPTU condemns decision to discontinue vital Bus Eireann Expressway routes (Medium)

RollingNews

Former Junior Finance Minister Michael D’Arcy who is resigning his Seanad seat to become the Chief Executive of a lobbying group for the funds sector, the Irish Association of Investment Management (IAIM)

This afternoon.

[Sinn Féin President] Ms [Mary Lou] McDonald, referring to Mr D’Arcy leaving the Seanad for a “big job”, asked what it says to families and businesses who are relying on the Government to stand up for them, to go and bat for them.

She said the Tánaiste welcomed the new job of Mr D’Arcy, while other ministers have concerns and wanted to know what action the Taoiseach proposed to take.

Mr Martin replied:

“I believe there should be an effective cooling-off period and I am not happy or in any way comfortable with people taking up a position who have been in office particularly in the area where they had responsibility.”

Taoiseach ‘not comfortable’ with D’Arcy appointment (RTÉ)

Yesterday: Mr D’Arcy Takes A Job

RollingNews

This morning/afternoon.

North Great Georges Street, Dublin.

Senator David Norris steps is presented with the Vanguard Award from the GAZE international LGBT Film Festival 2020.

The award, presented by Sarah Williams (above left) Chair of GAZE (LGBT) Film Festival and Brendan Byrne (above right), Lead Of Accenture Ireland’s LGBTQ+ Network, is to mark Senator Norris’ “unending contribution and legacy to the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Ireland”.

GAZE 2020 runs until Sunday.

Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

Behold:  the fast approaching bird of prey in your rear view mirror that is the BMW M1000RR – the first dedicated ‘M’ bike from BMW’s motorsports division, based on the already fairly nippy S1000RR.

The ‘M’, as you’d expect, denotes a fully-optimised, 212bhp track-scorching tune-up with upgraded Mahle pistons, adapted combustion chambers, increased engine compression, downforce enhancing aerodynamics, an aluminium chassis, and carbon wheels.

Skree.

hiconsumption

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