CME to arrive here June 10th

Space Weather News for June 8, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

HARD RADIATION STORM: A powerful explosion on the sun today peppered Earth and nearby spacecraft with “hard” protons. The radiation storm fogged satellite cameras for hours. Following close behind, a CME is heading for Earth, and its arrival on June 10th could spark G2-class geomagnetic storms. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong solar flares are underway

Above: Today’s M9.7-class solar flare recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

CLUB FIELD TRIP TO BIODOME IS THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 8!

The club will embark upon its 2024 field trip this Saturday afternoon, June 8! We will be visiting the Montreal Biodôme, an exhibition encapsulating five distinct ecosystems of the Americas, including Canada’s Laurentian Maple Forest, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Coastal Labrador. Join us as we view the many plants and animals of these natural environments!

As this is an outside-of-meeting excursion, online participants please note that our usual ZOOM-chat will not be possible. No ZOOM component will be incorporated into this event. We are looking at putting together a photo album of our visit to post on the club’s Website at a later date, for the benefit of our out-of-town members and other ZOOMers.

MonSFFen are asked to meet-up in the Biodôme’s main-entrance lobby between noon and 12:30PM—don’t be late!—with the intention of entering the exhibition together at 1:00PM, or possibly 1:30PM—the number of people allowed in at one time is controlled, so we aim to enter as a group during the same time block.

Tickets are $17.50/adult (price for Montreal-island and -area residents); discounts are available for students, seniors, and children. Each club member is responsible for their own transportation to and from the Biodôme, and for their own admission charge.

The Biodôme (4777 avenue Pierre-De Coubertin) is located at the base of the Olympic Stadium in the city’s East End (Metro Viau). Paid parking is available for anyone driving in; parking lot is located close by at 3000 rue Viau. Street parking in the area is also an option, but of course is subject to availability.

Visit the “Espace pour la vie” Website, Biodôme section, for more information: www.espacepourlavie.ca

**************************************

On June 6, 1944, Canadian forces were among the Allied armies that stormed the beaches of Normandy (France) in an ultimately successful bid to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe and defeat Adolph Hitler’s Germany.

Many did not return.

Others bore the battle scars, both physical and psychological, of that  day for the rest of their lives. Only a few remain with us, still, 80 years on.

We salute them all.

Lest We Forget

 

Zines to share + article on Quebec SF

  • Lots of zines came in while I was away.  I also received a couple of interesting links to click. This one was sent to me from Heath, editor of de Profundis.
Hannah Allen-Shim takes us on a tour of Quebec’s science fiction and fantasy scene, from its beginnings in the 1970s to its expansion and diversification in recent years.

https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/collection/familiar-and-unknown-worlds-quebec-science-fiction-fantasy/

  • I received this message from Ahrvid in Sweden:

Hi! Yes, I’m from Sweden. Sure you can post my zine whereever you want. I try to cover som interesting history material in every issue. I gsther you’re from Canada? In #120 I wrote about the Swedish-Canadian sf fan Nils Helmer Frome who did one of the earliest Canadian fanzines, perhaps the very first, and corresponded with HPLovecraft. It can be found here: https://fanac.org/fanzines/Intermission/Intermission120.pdf Best, –Ahrvid — ahrvid@hotmail.com//Follow @SFJournalen tweets for sf news//2024 firar Fantastiknovelltävlingen kvartseklet! https://www.freelists.org/post/skriva


Added today at https://efanzines.com are:

Octothorpe #109 a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty

Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #4 and #5

Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – May 2024

Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #70

Opuntia #572, edited by Dale Speirs


Bill

Eight new issues in the last six days!

Now at https://efanzines.com:

Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #47

Leigh Edmonds’ Ornithopter Mk.III

John Purcell’s new fanzine, Intermezzo #1

Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #7 & #8

Christopher J. Garcia’s Exhibition Hall #30

Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #71

Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #457


Bill

 

The mysterious pairs of planets we still can’t explain

The mysterious pairs of planets we still can’t explain

By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson The Orion Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (Credit: Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson)
Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson (Credit: Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson)

We thought we broadly understood how planets and stars form. But the discovery of dozens of pairs of young planets in a nearby nebula threatens to turn that on its head.

They are worlds that simply defy explanation. Drifting through the Orion Nebula – an enormous cloud of dust and gas relatively close by in our galaxy – are what appears to be dozens of Jupiter-sized planets that don’t conform to the conventional understanding of how planetary systems form. Rather than being bound to a star like the Earth is in our own Solar System, these planets are free-floating through space in pairs. Astronomers who spotted them with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could only scratch their heads in awe at the discovery.

“These things shouldn’t exist,” says Simon Portegies Zwart, an astrophysicist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “They go against everything we have learned about star and planet formation.”

In the subsequent months, efforts have been made to try and explain what’s going on. These planets, called Jupiter Mass Binary Objects, or Jumbos, still cannot be fully explained. But we are getting closer to an answer – with crucial observations on the horizon that may solve the mystery once and for all.

Locus Forthcoming Books: JUNE

Locus Forthcoming Books: JUNE 2024 

  • CHAZ BRENCHLEY • Rowany De Vere • NewCon Press UK, Jun 2024 (tp, hc, eb)
  • TOBIAS S. BUCKELL & DAVID KLE¬CHA • The Runes of Engagements • Tachyon Publications, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • M.R. CAREY • Echo of Worlds • Orbit US/Redhook, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • VAJRA CHANDRASEKERA • Rakesfall • Tordotcom, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • LINDSAY ELLIS • Apostles of Mercy • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • LINDSAY ELLIS • Apostles of Mercy • St. Martin’s, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • JOANNE HARRIS • The Moonlight Market • Orion UK/Gollancz, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • KEVIN HEARNE • The Hermit Next Door • Subterranean Press, Jun 2024 (na, hc, eb)
  • ALLAN KASTER, ED. • The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 8 • AudioText/Infinivox, Jun 2024 (an, tp, eb)
  • MERCEDES LACKEY & LARRY DIXON • Gryphon’s Valor • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • MERCEDES LACKEY & LARRY DIXON • Gryphon’s Valor • Astra House/DAW, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • SHARON LEE & STEVE MILLER • Ribbon Dance • Baen, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • YOON HA LEE • Moonstorm • Rebellion/Solaris UK, Jun 2024 (ya, tp, eb)
  • YOON HA LEE • Moonstorm • Penguin Random House/Delacorte, Jun 2024 (ya, hc, eb)
  • PREMEE MOHAMED • We Speak Through the Mountain • ECW Press, Jun 2024 (na, tp, eb)
  • TIM PRATT • The Knife and the Serpent • Angry Robot UK, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • LILITH SAINTCROW • The Fall of Waterstone • Orbit UK, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • LILITH SAINTCROW • The Fall of Waterstone • Orbit US, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • JODI TAYLOR • Killing Time • Headline UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Alien Clay • Orbit US/Redhook, Jun 2024 (1st US, hc, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Service Model • Tordotcom, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • PAUL TREMBLAY • Horror Movie • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (c, hc, eb)
  • PAUL TREMBLAY • Horror Movie • HarperCollins/Morrow, Jun 2024 (c, hc, eb)