Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Into the Dark Universe: scientists celebrate launch of Euclid satellite

On Saturday, July 1, the European Space Agency launched its Euclid satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Twelve years in the making, the Euclid mission will construct a 3D map of the Universe by observing billions of galaxies, across more than a third of the sky.

The goals: to understand the physical laws of the Universe and to explain how the Universe originated and what it is made of.

The satellite will spend more than 6 years in space to accomplish the mission and see more than 2,000 scientists involved in some part of analyzing the data it sends back to Earth. This group includes Canadians from many leading astronomy research groups across the country.

Canadian organizations involved in the Euclid mission include the University of Waterloo, the University of British Columbia, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, the Canadian Space Agency and many others. 

“Euclid will provide a huge step forward in our understanding of the components of our universe that do not interact with light. Using observations that are not limited by our atmosphere, Euclid will examine the pattern of galaxies in the Universe and the observed shapes of those galaxies to study the exact way that the Universe is expanding, and what structures are growing within it.” said University of Waterloo Professor Will Percival, one of four scientists coordinating the primary science on the mission. “It’s been a long journey since we sketched out the initial requirements for the mission, and we’ve got a long way still to go to analyse the data, but it’s incredibly exciting to have reached this point.”

Each country that participates in a large, complex mission like Euclid will traditionally offer some sort of contribution to the preparations. For example, hardware for the satellite itself, expertise in the form of specialized engineers or, as in Canada’s case, data.

Canada’s contribution to Euclid came from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), located atop the summit of Mauna Kea, a 4,200-metre, dormant volcano located on the island of Hawaii. CFHT contributed data related to 1 of the 2 principal scientific groups within the Euclid mission – those who are studying dark matter using a process called gravitational lensing.

“Canada has provided data from ground-based telescopes that is critical to the success of the Euclid mission. Canadians were at the forefront of a collaboration using Hawaii-based telescopes to cover the northern sky in many filters, including data from CFHT as well as from the Subaru telescope through the Waterloo-Hawaii-IfA G-band Survey (WHIGS),” said Mike Hudson of the University of Waterloo, “In return, 25 Canadians joined the Euclid Consortium: a win-win for science.”

Euclid’s goal is to determine the properties of dark energy and dark matter on universal scales. It will take images in optical and near-infrared light; these images will eventually cover more than 1/3 of the extragalactic sky outside the Milky Way and depict billions of cosmic targets out to a distance where light has taken up to 10 billion years to reach us.

Euclid’s image quality will be at least 4 times sharper than that achieved by ground-based sky surveys. In addition, Euclid will perform near-infrared spectroscopy of hundreds of millions of galaxies and stars over the same sky. This will allow scientists to investigate the chemical and kinematical properties of many targets in detail.

Euclid will build up a large archive of unique data, unprecedented by volume for a space-based mission, enabling research over all disciplines in astronomy.

The Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC), operated out of the NRC’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, will archive the data from Euclid and make it accessible to astronomers for data-intensive astrophysical research and publications. The CADC will also provide colour information, since Euclid will be producing images in, essentially, black and white. Determining the colour of a galaxy reveals how far away it is, which will turn a 2D map of the dark matter into a 3D map.

"The Euclid images will be beautiful to look at, above and beyond the considerable scientific value of the data. I'm looking forward to seeing them," said Stephen Gwyn, Science Data Specialist at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.

"Euclid was built to understand the dark Universe, but to do that it gathers a huge amount of information about the bright Universe!  That means that even if we make a list of what we expect to learn, there are going to be additional discoveries that weren't even thought about. To me, that's the most exciting thing about Euclid,” said Professor Douglas Scott from the University of British Columbia. 

The first images from the Euclid mission are expected in approximately 2 months.

WatSPEED to hold tech and business event for senior executives

WatSPEED, the University of Waterloo’s corporate and executive education arm, will host a one-day forum for senior business leaders focused on how to stand out in the ever-evolving world of technology and business. 

“Technology is no longer just an enabler of business strategy; as it continues to disrupt the business landscape, technology often is the strategy, making it crucial for executives to stay ahead of the technology curve,” said Sanjeev Gill, Associate Vice-President of Innovation at Waterloo and Executive Director of WatSPEED. "This event ensures that senior leaders will have a better understanding of emerging technologies impacting business and strategies for navigating the perils and opportunities they offer.” 

Featuring keynotes by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Dave McKay, President and CEO of RBC, as well as thought-provoking panels and interactive sessions, forum attendees will hear from business luminaries as they reveal the latest trends and share expert perspectives on the future of technology. 

The Forum will also bring together some of the brightest minds from the University of Waterloo to share research insights and their direct application to the business world.  

“This fusion of academia and industry will provide unique insights and strategies to help senior executives stay at the forefront of technological innovation,” said Gill. “Technologies impacting every business that executives need to grasp will be covered including generative AI, cybersecurity and cryptography, sustainability and clean tech, and more.” 

To register for the Tech Horizons Executive Forum please visit the website.

Understanding Canada's National Adaptation Strategy

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Waterloo Climate Institute website.

Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) provides a framework to move the country toward a climate-resilient future. The strategy lays out a critical foundation for Canada’s adaptation efforts but experts agree that this is only the first step, and that the success of the strategy will be measured by how we implement and carry out the adaptation plan. To better understand the strategy and its potential impact, the University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute hosted a webinar that brought together several of Canada’s leading adaptation experts who participated in its development.

In a virtual panel format, our experts shared thought provoking reflections and raised critical questions about the NAS and what is needed to meet its goals and support adaptation measures in Canada.

Ryan Ness, Adaptation Research Director of the Canadian Climate Institute, moderated the discussion, bringing his expertise as a member of the NAS’ advisory table on resilient national built-environments. Panelists included Sarah Burch, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, Executive Director of the Waterloo Climate Institute and co-chair of the Strong and Resilient Economy Advisory Table for the NAS; Joanna Eyquem, Managing Director, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure, of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, and advisory committee member for the Resilient Natural and Built Infrastructure Advisory Table for the NAS; Sherilee Harper, Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and co-chair of the Government of Canada's Health and Wellbeing Advisory Table for the NAS; and Graeme Reed, Strategic Advisor with the Assembly of First Nations and a co-chair of the Thriving Natural Environment Advisory Table for the NAS. 

Our panelists brought a range of expertise to the conversation, highlighting different perspectives on the potential impact of the strategy and its effectiveness in response to the following overarching discussion questions:

1. Does the economy need to change incrementally to respond to climate change or is there a need for a complete transformation? 
2. Does adaptation advance Canada’s other priorities? Is it an avenue for improving health and wellbeing, and making advances in social equity and justice?
3. Are our institutions set up to address the problems that we are identifying? 
4. Where can multiple objectives be achieved within our existing systems and institutional frameworks, and when does realizing societal gain require unpacking the role that those systems have? 

Read the rest of the article on the Waterloo Climate Institute website.