GRB-LOCATOR-ARRAY
EXPLORING THE REAL-TIME DISTRIBUTION OF GRBS, 2017
FIONA MCDONALD, DAVID MURPHY, NEIL SMYTH, BRIAN MURPHY, DANIEL VAGG, JOHN QUINN & ANTONIO MARTIN-CARRILLO (IE & ES)
This piece was created created in conjunction with researchers at CONNECT, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications and AMBER, a Science Foundation Ireland-funded centre that provides a partnership between leading researchers in materials science and industry.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. In a few seconds, they can release three times as much energy as the Sun will in its entire billion-year lifetime. A GRB aimed at the Earth could deplete the ozone layer, cause acid rain and initiate a round of global cooling from as far as 6,500 light years away. Such a disaster may have been responsible for the mass die-off of 70% of marine creatures that thrived during the Ordovician period, 488 to 433 million years ago.
The collaborative project GRB-Locator-Arrayexplores real-time data from the Gamma-Ray Coordinate Network, which records the distribution of GRB locations detected by the spacecraft Integral, Fermi and Swift, and the real-time light curve data from Swift. This data is tracked in real time, but as GRBs have travelled billions of light years from distant galaxies before they are detected by the spacecraft, in some ways, the exhibit lets us look into the past. Thus, through a series of interventions exploring data-driven sculpture, data sonification, LoRaWan technology and augmented reality the GRB-Locator-Array allows viewers to contemplate space-time, distance and our place in the multiverse.
BIO
Fiona McDonald is an artist-in-residence with the High Energy Astrophysics Group at UCD and visiting lecturer on the Interaction Design MA, NCAD, Dublin. Her works look at live networks and explore the idea of making these communication/data systems tangible or physical.
David Murphy is a PhD researcher in the UCD Space Science Group and is the systems engineer for EIRSAT-1 — Ireland’s first satellite.
Antonio Martin-Carrillo is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at UCD School of Physics. His research involves the study of transient sources such as GRBs and pulsars using ground-based and space telescopes in optical, X-rays and gamma-rays.
Neil Smyth is an artist and researcher at CONNECT in Trinity College Dublin. His work explores ways of representing and communicating Internet of Things data through auditory and audiovisual displays.
Brian Murphy is working on CONNECT’s Pervasive Nation IoT network at Trinity College Dublin.
Daniel Vagg is systems architect for Parameter Space Limited, UCD.
John Quinn is an Associate Professor at UCD School of Physics.
CONNECT is the world-leading Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications. CONNECT is funded under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres Programme and is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund. It engages with over 35 companies including large multinationals, SMEs and start-ups. CONNECT brings together world-class expertise from ten Irish academic institutes to create a one-stop-shop for telecommunications research, development and innovation.
AMBER (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research) is a Science Foundation Ireland-funded centre that provides a partnership between leading researchers in materials science and industry. AMBER researchers work with materials that will transform everyday products of the future, from mobile phones to knee implants, batteries to beer bottles. AMBER is jointly hosted in Trinity College Dublin by CRANN and the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, in collaboration with University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.