'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Could the Hubble Space Telescope soon have a rival?
The Canadian Space Agency and researchers at the University of Toronto are part of the international team effort by NASA that built a new kind of astronomical telescope known as a “SuperBIT,” which is carried by balloons.
SuperBIT stands for “Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope,” and will fly above 99.5 per cent of the Earth’s atmosphere -- carried by helium balloons roughly the size of a football stadium, according to the Royal Astronomical Society in the U.K.
The telescope is set to make its operational debut in April 2022, according a news release, and is thought to be capable of taking high-resolution images rivalling those of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Test runs in 2019 showed remarkable stability, resulting in images that are extremely clear and sharp.
NASA developed the “superpressure” balloons to be able to contain helium for months, as previous experiments show that regular balloons could only stay aloft for a few days – not long enough for experiments.
SuperBIT is schedule to launch from Wanaka, New Zealand. It will be carried by seasonal winds, circumnavigate the Earth several times, imaging the sky all night and then using solar panels to recharge its batteries during the day.
With a budget for construction and operation for the first telescope set at US$5 million, SuperBIT cost almost 1,000 times less than a similar satellite, as using balloons is cheaper than rocket fuel and require less downtime for upgrades or mechanical fixes -- as the payload returns to Earth.
The SuperBIT will continue to be upgradable and can have new instruments installed for every flight.
Longer term, the Hubble Space Telescope will not be repaired again when it inevitably fails, the release says.
For 20 years after that, the European Space Agency and NASA missions will enable imaging only at infrared wavelengths, like the James Webb Space Telescope due to launch this fall, or a single optical band, like the Euclid observatory due to launch next year.
By then, SuperBIT will be the only facility in the world capable of high-resolution multicolour optical and ultraviolet observations, and the cost makes it possible to have a fleet of space telescopes on offer time to astronomers around the world.
The goal for the 2022 flight is to measure the properties of dark matter particles. Although dark matter is invisible, astronomers map the way it bends rays of light, a technique known as gravitational lensing and SuperBIT will test whether dark matter slows down during collisions.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.