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New York City's Coronavirus Essential Workers Are Overwhelmingly People Of Color
"We're telling you that no one should be out here because it's dangerous, but we're sending you out there and we're not giving out any masks."
by Kadia Goba
Updated on April 22, 2020, 3:46 pmPosted on April 21, 2020, 7:41 pm
David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
Javier Camillo, an MTA bus driver, has his temperature taken before starting his shift at the West Farms Bus Depot in New York City, April 10.
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For one essential worker, there's a specific time when coronavirus-related anxiety is at its highest: the moment she pulls into a crowded bus stop.
Forcing people to enter the rear doors helps a little to ease the tension for the Brooklyn bus operator who is still working during the pandemic. But now that the Metropolitan Transit Authority has restricted passengers from sitting in seats closest to the driver, the bus seems even more packed.
"I'm more concerned about my son than myself, of course, because he has an underlying health issue as well," she told BuzzFeed News to explain why they decided to buy their own masks and cleaning products a month before the MTA began distributing them to workers. The New York Times reported some MTA employees were reprimanded for using precautionary measures themselves.
"It was every man for himself," she said and added that once the MTA began to distribute masks, it only provided one per employee. "I'm very nervous. I think I got more serious about the situation with the passing of coworkers."
As of Monday, 71 MTA employees have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The first MTA death occurred on March 26, a day before transit union officials negotiated a deal with the MTA to provide masks to workers, according to Jim Gannon, a spokesperson for transit union workers. Bus operators — whom the city considers essential workers — account for at least 20 of those deaths.
An MTA spokesperson said the agency had given out 1 million masks and 3 million pairs of gloves, "including masks to all employees days before the CDC changed course and recommended it. We are doing everything possible to protect our customers and employees, frontline heroes moving the doctors, nurses, first responders, pharmacy and grocery workers, transit colleagues and other essential workers who are saving lives every day."
The bus driver, who declined to be named for fear of losing her job, is one of hundreds of thousands of Brooklynites still working essential jobs, even as the borough is hit hard by the coronavirus. Twenty-eight percent of New York City's essential workers live in Brooklyn — the most in any borough — and the vast majority of them are people of color. In Brooklyn, the number of deaths outpaced those in Queens on Sunday. Brooklyn has more than 2,606 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 865 "probable" COVID-19 deaths, according to NYC data released April 19.
"It's not a secret and it's very clear. … We divided the city at the beginning of the coronavirus into essential employees and nonessential employees and that term was used all over the city," Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told BuzzFeed News during a phone interview last week. "I heard it. I said, 'This is coded language.'"
Black, Hispanic, and Asian people make up more than 70% of the city's essential workers, including transit, childcare, health care, cleaning service, and postal employees. More than 40% of transit workers are black and 60% of frontline cleaning workers are Hispanic, according to a report released in March by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office. In addition to racial data on frontline workers, Stringer, who is running for New York City mayor, offered solutions to protect those people, including free protective gear, hazard pay, and guaranteed health care.
Bloomberg / Getty Images
An MTA employee wears a protective mask at a bus hub in the Bronx, New York, April 2.
"Black and brown people went to service this city and then went home and spread the virus among their citizens," Adams told BuzzFeed News. "Just look at the numbers."
Adams said he personally has lost five close friends in the span of a week. "The impact is very real, and you become almost even afraid to pick up your phone," Adams told BuzzFeed News, saying he was haunted by the words "Did you hear…"
The same racial divide is consistent in Milwaukee, Chicago, New Orleans, and other major cities and experts say the disparity adds to the outsize number of COVID-19 cases throughout black and Latino communities.
"Essential workers are absolutely more vulnerable," Mary Osirim, provost and professor of sociology at Bryn Mawr College, told BuzzFeed News. "While there are certain professionals that are of every ethnicity and race in the country, it is also the case that many on the front lines are low-wage … low-status workers and they're often very disproportionately African American and Latinx."
And many lack access to basic protective gear as they continue to go to work. Adams, who is also running for New York City mayor, began addressing that problem on March 25, when he held a press conference in front of a Brooklyn MTA bus depot and demanded, "Give us the goddamn masks."
"Yes, we're telling you that people should be 6 feet apart from each other. Yes, we're telling you that everyone should shelter in place," he told BuzzFeed News during a phone interview. "Yes, we're telling you that no one should be out here because it's dangerous, but we're sending you out there and we're not giving out any masks, coverings, gloves, or anything else while you service the city and service the country."
Andrew Kelly / Reuters
An MTA worker wipes down a turnstile in the subway in New York City, New York, March 10, 2020.
Employees at the US Postal Service have similar concerns, especially mail carriers who interact with close to 1,000 New Yorkers every day at work. African Americans make up 21% of postal employees and 13% of the US population.
One USPS worker in Brooklyn told BuzzFeed News they now have a ritual when they get home from work: "I immediately remove my shoes, my postal pants…I take off my jacket, my sweater and coat and I leave everything in my room in a corner. When I had Lysol I would spray everything down."
The USPS worker is practicing social distancing inside their home as well, so as not to infect vulnerable loved ones — hugs and kisses are replaced with a distant "hi."
The same USPS employee told BuzzFeed News that protective supplies, including gloves, began to dwindle as early as March 1. More pressing is the lack of communication from management amid a public health crisis, they said.
"We started hearing [from coworkers] 'at this particular post office, this person is infected,' but [management] wasn't saying anything. I noticed a clerk went out sick," they said, adding that two more followed within the same week.
There's signage posted about proper hygiene, but no one from management had personally spoken to staff at this particular Brooklyn branch as of late March. "We're finding out things on our own, like 'Why is this person not here? Why do we have this skeleton crew?'" At a separate Brooklyn USPS location, employees said management gathers employees for updates on COVID-19 but not on a daily basis.
"They'll call everyone around the desk and basically read off what they have."
Approximately 1,000 of the 630,000 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 "with some deaths," USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer told BuzzFeed News in a statement.
One USPS employee contrasted the coronavirus response with the 2001 anthrax scare, when letters carrying spores that caused the infectious disease were mailed to news outlets and elected officials, resulting in five deaths and 17 injuries.
"[In 2001], they were on top of it. We got all of this information. We got flu shots," one employee said. "But this time, no one is saying anything to us."
Adams also pointed out that while the CDC specified susceptible communities, there is no government plan to protect the most vulnerable. Black people are at greater risk of illnesses that can lead to more severe cases of COVID-19, including diabetes and heart disease. Adams himself reversed his diabetes diagnosis by exercising and changing his eating habits in 2018.
"There was not one plan that was rolled out that said 'let's go after the people who we know if they get it, they may die from it,'" Adams said. "Our plan was an intervention, not prevention. If you look at over 60, preexisting conditions, diabetes, respiratory issues, that's [the New York City Housing Authority]. That's why I was at NYCHA handing out masks and information to NYCHA residents."
Experts have said there's an information gap for some black and non-English-speaking New Yorkers on the front lines because of inconsistent work hours and differences in the way people consume news. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $10 million campaign aimed to inform communities hardest hit by the disease that will include robocalls and flyers directly to homes. The campaign will run in 15 languages and follows an $8 million effort launched early March which ran ads in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Experts also suggested targeting social media as a part of city-sponsored ad campaigns to counter the misinformation circulating among younger audiences and New Yorkers who speak languages other than English.
"Everybody don't wake up in the morning and run and get the New York Times and listen to Trump, Cuomo, and the mayor's briefings," Adams told BuzzFeed News. "We're talking in echo chambers. You know who we're talking to? We're talking to the 30% who can telecommute."
Apr. 22, 2020, at 15:46 PM
This story was updated with a statement from an MTA spokesperson.
If you're someone who is seeing the impact of the coronavirus firsthand, we'd like to hear from you. Reach out to us via one of our tip line channels.
Why The Coronavirus Is Killing Black Americans At Outsize Rates Across The US Dan Vergano · April 10, 2020
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Weighed In On Why So Many Black Americans Are Dying Of COVID-19 Julia Reinstein · April 8, 2020
Doctors Want The Government To Give More Racial Data About Who Is Dying And Sick From The Coronavirus Nidhi Prakash · April 6, 2020
Kadia Goba
Contact Kadia Goba at kadia.goba@buzzfeed.com.


First and foremost, we ask that you please read our explanatory blog post that describes the meaning of #bossbabesatx and why we have chosen that name.
All of our profits go toward supporting women in the community (through promotion, consultations, free workshops, recruitment), as well as our management costs and event costs. Our sixth meet will be on Sunday, October 25, 2015 at Empire Control Room.
Doors at 6 PM — We will have nametags available for those who would like to wear their careers on their bosoms. Please use this time to sign up for Babe Announcements, if you are interested. Babe Announcements is an open-mic hour, where 50 babes have one minute to speak their truth, voice their passions, announce their businesses, request/give things to the community, etc.
Babe Announcements at 7 PM — Babes with things to say will have one minute to jump on an open mic and announce their projects and passions, possible collaborations, etc.
Questions about procedures? Go here.


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As the world marked International Youth Day on Friday, August 12, a Non-governmental organisation, Value Female Network (VFN) held an Intergenerational dialogue towards eradicating the illegal practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Osun State and Nigeria at large.
NEWS BOOM reports that among stakeholders who attended the dialogue held at VFN House, Oke-Fia area, Agric junction in Osogbo on Friday are representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Osun State Government, other Non-Governmental Organisations, National Human Rights Commission, market women, youths, religious leaders among others.
They all have advocated against FGM and other harmful traditional practices that could hinder the progress of youths.
They warned against illegal and harmful practices such as FGM all forms of Gender Based Violence, rape and deprivation of human liberty and freedom saying that these inhuman acts deprive young people from reaching their potentials in life.
In their respective remarks at a programme, the representatives of these security agencies and other organisations, while addressing the theme of this year's IYD: "Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating A World For All Ages," called on governments, parents and guardians to pay more attention to young people and provide platforms for them to thrive.
Members of the National Youth Service Corps, undergraduates of the tertiary institutions, students of Secondary Schools, sexual and reproductive health experts, market women, medical practitioners, religious leaders among others also pledged their commitments to tackling the menaces highlighted.
VFN develops capacity of girls on digital, life skills, SRHR on Girl Child Day
Speaking, the Executive Director of VFN, Dr Costly Aderibigbe-Saba, urged youths not to allow injustices and discrimination around to corrupt them adding that the programme was organised to celebrate Nigerian youths and also create a discourse on the need for stakeholders to shun FGM and other harmful practices.
Students at the dialogue
Aderibigbe-Saba, who is also the Executive Secretary of the Global Youth Consortium on FGM, urged the Federal Government to encourage Intergenerational dialogues and discussions to further intensify the fight against FGM and to also help birth SRHR service providers of different age ranges.
Addressing participants on the dangers of FGM, the first speaker, Zainab Agbolade, urged stakeholders to step down the training in their various localities and organisations stressing that FGM is deadly and inimical to the well-being of girls and women.
Handling the second speech session on the topic: "Strategies to Combat Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Barriers Among Adolescents and Young People," Mr Ademola, the Executive Director of VARCE, urged parents to be cognisance of puberty changes of their girl child and also make their adolescents available to for sexual health services.
Similarly, a SRHR expert and Osun State Family Planning Co-ordinator from the State Ministry of Health, Mrs Ololade Margret Abata said there are sexual reproductive health facilities at the ministry and urged parents and guardians to avail their adolescents the opportunity in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy, criminal abortion and infections that may result to infertility in the future.
Participants at the dialogue
Abata said, "The adolescents are very key to us because they are our future and we are trying our best to provide the best of services for them. So, the sexual reproductive health of the adolescents is necessary and I want to tell adolescents that they are welcome at all our facilities. We have trained providers that will provide sexual reproductive health services that they need. I also want to charge our parents at home to make sure that their girls make themselves available for these services.
"We know that there is a lot of information these adolescents gather from the internet but they need to have the accurate information from us. Their parents should be very friendly with them and get to know what they are passing through, so many time we do judge them, we don't need to. Adolescents are very important aspect of the society, we are looking at them as our future and the best we can do is to make themselves readily available. We have our trained providers at the facilities and we want them to make themselves available and get adequate sexual information and services fork them. A lot of things that surround them psychologically, medically and their health are very key to us.
"The government is providing materials needed for them. Some of them will go on and commit criminal abortion, which is not acceptable and we are losing lives. Day in, day out, many adolescents are losing their lives and the impacts of these criminal abortion and unwanted pregnancy will bring infections and at the end of the day, they will be experiencing infertility. So, we want to protect them and our future. So, our parents and guardians should encourage their adolescents to visit our facilities and take up the sexual reproductive services that are readily available."
In his remarks, Dr Oyetunde Olasunboye from the State Ministry of Health said all hands must be on deck to eliminate FGM.
While commending VFN for organising the dialogue to commemorate 2022 IYD, Oyetunde said, "It's a laudable programme and it's about ending FGM in the country, especially in Osun State. All hands must be on deck to achieve this mission. FGM is not supposed to be encouraged by anyone. There is a law against it already and we are working towards eradicating the menace of FGM so that it can be a thing of the past in our state. The government is doing everything possible. We are putting every framework together to ensure that this particular law if enforced, to ensure that there is a drastic reduction and elimination of this act. Many agencies and NGOs, like VFN, are already collaborating with government to ensure that we get results. Various traditional rulers are already aware and they are working on how to eliminate this particular practice. we are hoping that by the next survey, the current survey that out Osun State as one of the states that have high rate of FGM would have reduced drastically.
VFN team
"The youths are getting much more active in various aspects of the society. Gone are the days when the youths are complacent and waiting for something to fall from heaven. Everybody is now demanding for accountability and the youths are now active and making efforts to be part of governance."
The Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, warned residents of the state against acts capable of exposing youths to dangers and said that perpetrators of FGM and other illegal practices would be arrested and prosecuted according to the law.
In the same vein, the Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Osun State Command, Mrs Atanda Olabisi urged survivors to report cases of assaults, rape, violence and other harmful and illegal practices like FGM to the civil defence for action.
She said, "Stigma, family bonds society discrimination and self shame are reasons why people find it difficult to report GBV or pull out of the court proceedings and also to protect the offender because he/she is a family member and opt out for alternative dispute resolution. I want to urge survivors to brace up and expose their abusers."
An officer of the National Human Rights Commission in the state, Mrs Jane Agbakwuru-Nzenwa, warned warned parents and guardians against domestic violence and all forms of human rights abuses adding that the commission would not spare culprits.
A participant, Ola Oluwanifemi, a student of Our Lady & St Francis Catholic College, Osogbo, urged Nigerian youths to shun rape, thuggery, prostitution, gangsterism and other behaviours capable of making them lose focus in life.
Security agents and other stakeholders at the dialogue
Speaking, Olufunmike Oyekunle, the project coordinator for the IYD said, "We held an Intergenerational dialogue with various stakeholders in Osun State against Female Genital Mutilation and other harmful practices. We have people from the State Ministries of Education, Health, Information, young people, students of Secondary Schools, Universities, the Police, Civil Defence. It was an engaging and interesting dialogue. We hope that the fight against FGM would continue and by 2030, we would have eliminated FGM in Nigeria and world at large. We expect that everyone who attended this event would go back to their local environments, communities and organisations to advocate against FGM because we believe that these are the people that will have influence on the society and together, we can solidarise from all generations to tackle FGM."
Why Brain Drain Continue to Hit FCT Health Sector
Why Brain Drain Continue to Hit FCT Health Sector By Ene Adebayo It is widely believed that the health sector of every nation is the bedrock of the economic development but the unending flock to foreign countries by Nigerian medical personnel in search of greener pasture has proven that Nigeria is not on the route […]

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You are here: Home / Gardening / Types of Tobacco
Types of Tobacco
January 6, 2023 By Lars Drecker 3 Comments
Tobacco and tradition are synonymous in the United States, particularly its southeastern reaches. One of the many crops native exclusively to our shores, tobacco was once widely grown and widely exported, American tobacco being a gold standard among connoisseurs abroad. That said, its wide production stateside has become a shadow of itself; almost a mere memory. Obviously there are plenty of reasons for this. The crop is one of the hardest on the soil, and consumer demand has plummeted amidst a growing number of health concerns and directly antagonistic government initiatives. Despite all this, tobacco's mystique remains as potent as its connection to our past.
Thanks to the latter, more modern phenomena, I myself have never had much knowledge of the plant, beyond that Sir Walter Raleigh comes in a tin. That changed when I began chatting with a neighbor who had grown up cutting tobacco in the old tobacco belt, a treasure trove of the sorts of knowledge that, once common, have become increasingly rare.
Air Cured
The first types of tobacco found on the market are air-cured tobaccos, which encompass both burly and cigar variants. Air-cured tobaccos are barn-dried for 6-8 weeks in rows hung all the way to the ceiling. The different heights of the leaves on the tobacco stalk correspond with different grades of tobacco (this is also true for flue- and fire-cured): flyings (aka. trash, the lowest and most withered leaves), lugs (second from bottom), leaf (second from top) and tips (the uppermost row). Not all stalks have all five grades, however, some top out at three or so. As the name implies, air-cured tobacco tends to be light and airy, with both high sugar content and high nicotine.
Fire Cured
Next is fire-cured tobacco. These leaves are hung in barns over smoldering fires, for up to ten weeks. The result? Thicker tobaccos like pipe and chewing tobacco. While the nicotine content in such tobaccos remains high, the sugars trend toward the other end of the spectrum.
Flue Cured
Does this sound like fire cured? If so, you're not far off. As its name implies, flue cured is cured by fire (or in the modern day–heat, simply without the smoke). Flue cured tobacco was traditionally dried in barns with exterior heat boxes (termed oasts), and flues running within. As the heat was slowly increased over the course of a week, it cured the tobacco without ever exposing the leaves to smoke. Nowadays, flue cured tobacco relies heavily on gas-powered heating system, though the principle remains the same.
Sun Cured
Last but not least comes one of the oldest methods on the books. Sun cured tobacco is so rare in the US, I actually had to dig into it a bit myself. A method primarily used in the Mediterranean regions, sun curing tobacco really is as simple as it sounds: leave the leaves out in the hot sun until they are dry and withered. Low in nicotine and sugar, this sort of tobacco is especially fragrant, and is commonly used in pipe tobacco blends for this reason.
I hesitate to include this here, as fermented tobacco is actually subjected to a whole extra step rather than simply cured differently, but its hard to say when else I'd discuss it. What this essentially entails is pressurizing cured tobacco (sometimes with sugar, sometimes with steam, and sometimes just with…well…pressure) in a press or with weights for long periods of time. This results in extremely strong, flavorful tobacco.
Filed Under: Gardening, Skills Tagged With: Carieties, Curing, Drying, Fermenting, Grades, History, Homestead, Homesteader, Homesteading, Skills, Strains, Tobacco, Types
Cecil Ferguson says
Air cured- hang in the barn from top row to bottom row isn't what makes the different grades. Each stalk has different grades. Sometimes you may have three grades on a stalk others may have up to five grades. I worked tobacco in the 60s and early 70s . It is hard work. That's how we made a little difference in our way of life.
Rickety Rick says
tes, you are exactly correct. I grew up on a farm that grew tobacco and we would also sell the different leaves to certain people who would want it for, cigs, chew, cigars and even seasoning.
Lars Drecker says
Thank you both for the correction! Sloppy writing on my part. I have updated the text accordingly!


I think that if you can go through a black hole without getting ripped apart, you would be spit out of a white hole in a new universe. Please email me back and tell me if that is a good thought.
This is quite an interesting thought; unfortunately, I cannot give a very definitive response. However, I'll do my best to ramble on some about it.
The trick with black holes is that we do not and cannot know what is going on inside the black hole's event horizon, or the point at which gravity is so strong that light cannot escape. At some point deep inside the black hole, the laws of physics as we know them must break down. So what does that mean?
Some people have suggested, like you, that the center of a black hole (also called a singularity) may open a tear in the fabric of space and time, creating a wormhole to other parts of the universe, or perhaps other universes. The main problem with this idea is that we don't yet have a good theory for this and can't test the idea. We don't know if other universes may exist, or if it is even possible to find out. So we have left the bounds of science and entered into pure speculation.
The only firm thing I can say is that, to date, no astronomer has ever found a "white hole," or an object spewing out matter. This doesn't mean that they don't exist, but they must be rare if we haven't found them yet.
I am currently sitting in the Dallas airport, waiting for a flight to Santiago and a two night observing run at the Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. Due to the travel, my blogging will likely be off and on for the next few days.
It should come as little surprise, but a scientific panel has concluded that the Earth is in no danger from Venusian germs riding back to Earth and harming Earth-based life.
Venus is a hellish place. The average temperature is nearly 750 degrees Celsius (roughly 1350 degrees Fahrenheit) -- hot enough to melt tin, lead, aluminum, zinc, and plutonium, among other things! Venus's clouds are made of sulfuric acid. It is not surprising that we don't expect to find anything living there!
So, why spend money on a study? As we begin to explore the planets around us (notably Mars), there is a tiny, tiny chance that we could find life, and that this life could prove harmful to life on Earth. The cost of repairing any damage from that mistake is many times more than the costs of studies to show how to prevent that problem. Also, by beginning with worlds where there is almost certainly no life, scientists have many chances to avoid overlooking some potential danger. For example, there are parts of Venus's atmosphere where conditions are not quite so inhospitable. Could there be germs floating aroung the clouds there? This is very, very unlikely. But it reminds us to worry about germs that may be floating around the atmosphere in Mars -- so even if astronauts just fly over Mars in an airplane, we know to worry about their safety and possible contamination.
If my rusty German isn't failing me, the headline means approximately "Spitzer is the tops!"
The Spitzer Space Telescope is a telescope launched in August 2003. It is slowly drifting away from Earth (on purpose!) and taking cool pictures of the Universe in infrared light.
Currently, my office mates are busy writing proposals to use this telescope over the next year. A telescope proposal is a tricky thing to write, especially for a telescope like Spitzer or the Hubble, where many more people want to use the telescope than time is available. Only once a year can scientists propose to use these telescopes, so you have to think ahead and try and make your science sound more interesting than the next person's science.
So, for the past few weeks, my friends have been pouring over lists of interesting targets, trying to calculate exactly how much time they would need to get their desired science complete. The deadline is tomorrow at 1pm local time, and I suspect that they will not get much sleep tonight. Today I've been trying to stay out of their hair as much as possible.
I can relax this time. The science I am currently doing doesn't gain a lot of knowledge from the infrared light, so it is not a good use of my time to write such a proposal. But I'll keep my fingers crossed for my friends' projects!
The human brain excels at pattern recognition. This is what allows us to make a face out of dark and light patches on the moon, to find butterflies in ink blots, or to see bunny rabbits in the clouds.
In memory of the martyring of St. Valentine, below are some pictures of hearts mankind has found in the heavens. Click on each picture to go to a web page with more information. Happy Valentine's Day!
If you are up nice and early in the morning, why not try and find a nova with your naked eye? All you need is a dark sky, a view of the east, a lot of patience, and some star maps. An article on the nova can be found at Sky and Telescope.
A "nova" is a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf. "Huh?" you say? Okay. Let's back up a bit.
White dwarfs are the "ashes" of a dead star. A star burns all of its fuel, changing it from hydrogen into helium and then on into carbon and oxygen. All that is left is a glowing ember abouth the size of the Earth.
Many stars have companion stars. If the two stars are close enough, the gravity of the white dwarf can pull some gas from the surface of the companion star onto its own surface. After enough gas has built up, it gets hot enough to start fusion, and BOOM! Just like a hydrogen bomb, the gas rapidly ignites, fuses into helium, and creates an explosion.
While these explosions are big, they are MUCH smaller than supernovae, in which an entire star is ripped apart by a powerful explosion. In novae, the white dwarf survives. After the explosion settles down, it begins to steal more gas from the neighboring star, and the cycle starts again.
The currently-visible nova (with the exciting name RS Ophiuchui), last was visible in 1985, and before that in 1967.
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy is an ambitious project. This is an infrared telescope mounted in a modified Boeing 747 airplane. It has been under construction for several years and cost nearly $600 million, but it is finally about finished.
Infrared light, or what most of us would call "heat," allows astronomers to look through clouds of dust in our galaxy, exploring star birth that has been invisible. Infrared light also allows astronomers to look for evidence of planets around other stars. The problem is that most infrared light from space does not reach Earth's surface. So in order to see infrared objects, astronomers need to get above much of the atmosphere. That can be done with satellites, like the Spitzer Space Telescope, or with airplanes.
So, after a lot of time and money, SOFIA is just about ready to fly. So why has NASA zeroed out the budget starting in 2007? Without (promised) money, SOFIA will not be able to operate, and $600 million of equipment, not to mention a world-class telescope, will sit in storage, doing nobody any good. Yes, SOFIA has had problems and cost overruns. And yes, money is tight. But it seems wasteful not to try.
SOFIA is not dead yet; it will have a performance review soon and could easily see its funding restored. Let's hope all goes well!
A fellow postdoc, Michael Cushing, is giving this week's colloquium on his research, brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are "failed stars," stars that do not have enough mass to keep nuclear fusion going in their cores.
One interesting fact about low-mass stars (red dwarfs) and brown dwarfs is that they are all about the same size as the planet Jupiter. This is due to a property of matter at very high pressures, like you find at the centers of these planets/stars called "degeneracy."
This neat fact inspired the following two artistic renditions comparing our sun, a red dwarf, two brown dwarfs, and the planet Jupiter. This art is from Dr. Robert Hunt at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center in Pasadena, CA.
The first picture is what each of these objects look like in optical light. From left to right, we see the Sun, a red dwarf, a hot brown dwarf, a cool brown dwarf, and Jupiter. Jupiter is only visible due to light reflected from the sun, while the brown dwarfs glow feebly due to heat left over from their formation. The red dwarf and the sun produce their own light by nuclear fusion in their cores.
The second picture is what these objects look like in infrared light. In the infrared, even Jupiter glows due to heat left over from its formation five billion years ago. The sun is blue because it is "hot" for an infrared object. The red dwarf and hot brown dwarf are colored yellowish because they emit most of their light in the infrared, like our yellow sun emits most of its light in the optical. The cool brown dwarf is blue but hard to see, because most of its infrared light is absorbed by methane gas in its atmosphere. Finally, Jupiter is a rainbow of colors, as it has lots of different chemicals and clouds that have their own unique infrared characteristics.
It's everyone's favorite, the Orion Nebula, as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Orion Nebula is a stellar nusery, where thousands of young stars have just been born, and many more are still forming, hidden behind copious amounts of dust and gas. Clicking on the picture will take you to a web site with discussions about the image, the science behind it, and lots of versions of this picture.
Today I gave one of two lunchtime talks for Steward Obervatory's weekly Journal Club.
Journal Club is fairly common among astronomy institutions. It consist of a student or faculty member talking about a paper that has been published in one of our journals. Sometimes the paper is a obviously an important development in a certain field. Sometimes it has some neat pictures to look at. And some times the paper is poorly written and fun to talk about.
Today I spoke about a paper that was not overly important, but contained a mysterious result. Some collaborators of mine looked at some cool white dwarfs (the remains of dead stars) with the Spitzer Space Telescope, and found that many of them are fainter than expected in infrared light. The really interesting thing is, there is no good explanation for this faintness!
So, I learned something cool, I got to talk to my colleagues about it, and I learned some tricks for PowerPoint. Not too bad for a half-day's work!