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Royal Commission for AlUla, SETI Institute Collaborate to Develop AlUla Manara Observatory

The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
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Royal Commission for AlUla, SETI Institute Collaborate to Develop AlUla Manara Observatory

The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
The Royal Commission for AlUla logo

The Royal Commission for AlUla has signed a cooperation agreement with SETI Institute to support the development of the AlUla Manara Observatory, which will act as a leading global center for innovation and excellence in space and astronomy sciences.

The agreement seeks to boost AlUla's status as a leading world destination for star and astronomy exploration tourism.

The collaboration will make AlUla Manara a hub for scientific advancement through joint research projects and initiatives for the growing astro-tourism sector in AlUla, and will provide educational opportunities to develop skills needed to work at the observatory, including supporting research and development programs with the latest systems and equipment. These advancements will enable scientists to conduct comprehensive space surveys and analyze data to identify new stars, planets, and comets.

Supervisor of the AlUla Manara program Eng. Nayef Al-Malik said that the collaboration strengthens AlUla’s role as a vital center for the exchange of science and knowledge.

He said that SETI Institute is one of the world’s leading organizations in research and scientific exploration, equipped with decades of technical expertise and knowledge in space and astronomy.

Al-Malik pointed out that the institute will support the development of data analysis systems for a range of telescopes planned for the observatory.

The observatory's educational centers will enhance local capabilities in space sciences using virtual reality. Furthermore, the awareness center will offer visitors to the observatory the chance to get familiarized with astronomy, in line with the commission’s vision to establish AlUla as a knowledge-sharing global center for research, innovation.

SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond stressed that the institute’s mission is to share the results of its research with the world, noting that the collaboration with the Royal Commission for AlUla opens new horizons for advancing space sciences, education, and technology development.

"We envision the AlUla Manara Observatory as a beacon of discovery, equipped with advanced and modern telescopes to detect new planets and stars, pushing astronomical research to further frontiers,” Senior Planetary Astronomer and Director of Citizen Science at the institute Frank Marchis said.

He also said that their initiative in astronomical sciences will invite the community and tourists to “stargaze, explore AlUla’s rich scientific heritage, foster international collaboration, and revive humanity's deep connection with the universe.”

The AlUla Manara Observatory is set to open in several phases over the coming years, and carry out continuous research, collaboration, and educational initiatives.

AlUla Manara Observatory, currently under development, is located near the Gharameel area, in AlUla, which is one of the top 10% global locations with clear, dark skies.

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Italy Oyster Farmers Dream of Pearls from Warming Mediterranean 

A pearl oyster called Pinctada radiata is shown next to a farming site in the gulf of poets at La Spezia, Italy, August 29, 2024. (Paolo Varrella/Handout via Reuters) 
A pearl oyster called Pinctada radiata is shown next to a farming site in the gulf of poets at La Spezia, Italy, August 29, 2024. (Paolo Varrella/Handout via Reuters) 
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Italy Oyster Farmers Dream of Pearls from Warming Mediterranean 

A pearl oyster called Pinctada radiata is shown next to a farming site in the gulf of poets at La Spezia, Italy, August 29, 2024. (Paolo Varrella/Handout via Reuters) 
A pearl oyster called Pinctada radiata is shown next to a farming site in the gulf of poets at La Spezia, Italy, August 29, 2024. (Paolo Varrella/Handout via Reuters) 

Pearls may soon be cultivated in European seas for the first time ever, as Italian oyster farmers seek to exploit an unexpected opportunity offered by the rapidly warming Mediterranean.

In late 2023, the first specimens of Pinctada radiata, a pearl oyster native to the Red Sea, were spotted in the Gulf of Poets, a popular tourist area around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Genoa on Italy's north-western coast.

Less than a year later, they are proliferating in what have always been some of the Mediterranean's coldest waters, more normally associated with other types of oyster used for food rather than jewellery.

"We are looking into the possibility of producing cultivated pearls here," said Paolo Varrella, the head of a cooperative that has been breeding food oysters in the area since 2011.

The group has already made contact with pearl oyster farmers in Mexico to get tips on production techniques, Varrella said.

"The Pinctada radiata has been reported in the Ionian Sea around the island of Sicily since the 1970s, but only in the last decade has it moved north" to the cooler Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas that lap the western Italian mainland, said Salvatore Giacobbe, professor of ecology at the University of Messina.

It is the latest in a succession of alien warm-water species to enter the Mediterranean as it heats up due to climate change.

Manuela Falautano, a scientist at the Italian environmental research and protection institute ISPRA, said this trend had seen "an exponential increase" in the last decade.

Some of these species are aggressive and disrupt delicate ecosystems. In a few cases, such the spotted puffer fish and the scorpion fish, they are also dangerous to humans.

The 2.5 million square kilometer (970,000 square mile) expanse of water that separates southern Europe from Africa and the Middle East is heating up faster than the average of the world's seas, Falautano said.

BIG MONEY

Pearl production, more readily associated with Polynesian atolls than the northern Mediterranean, has an annual global turnover of 11 billion dollars, and Italian oyster farmers are keen to cash in.

Adriano Genisi, a pearl importer for more than 30 years, said the Radiata may produce gems similar to Japan's renowned "Akoya" pearls which have a diameter of 5-9 millimeters and a white color with shades of grey, pink and green.

If all goes well the first pearls could be harvested in about a year, he said.

The rising temperature of the Mediterranean is also blamed for an increase in violent storms such as the one that sank the luxury yacht of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch off Sicily last month, killing six passengers and the boat's cook.

Franco Reseghetti, a researcher at Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, said measurements taken in the Tyrrhenian in December at depths of between 300 and 800 meters showed the highest temperatures since 2013, and he expected to see a further increase this year.

"The huge amount of energy behind this heating can act as a fuel for devastating atmospheric phenomena" such as the violent storm which appeared to have sunk the yacht off Sicily, Reseghetti said.