Impact on Jupiter

Hi

Breaking Astronomical news, the above picture is the latest image of an impact on Jupiter. As yet it is I think unclear whether it was a comet or asteroid that caused the impact. Although comets striking Jupiter have occurred before, just over fifteen years ago a comet named shoe-maker Levi 9 came too close Jupiter. Jupiter’s colossal gravitational pull tore the comet into several small chunks. Each one then over the course of 24 hours plummeted into the Jovian clouds. Although the Comet fragments were completely obliterated in the atmosphere, they did leave dark markings (Scars of the impact). Similar to the dark mark you can see above. Incidentally each of these dark markings caused by the shoemaker impact was the size of the Earth. Which is another reason why we should all be thankful of Jupiter’s presence, because if it wasn’t there that comet could quite possible have hit the Earth! Causing Apocalyptic damage.
15 years later it seems another piece of space debris as hit the king of the planets. This impact occurred in Jupiter’s South Polar Region, which rather confusingly in this image taken by an Amateur in Australia, appears to be where the North Pole would be. I’m not an expert on optics but this is I am told is due to the mirror in the telescope which flips the image so it appears upside down. Or the correct way if you are a sleeping bat.

Anyway as more information on this impact unfolds it tells us one thing, the solar system is constantly evolving and constantly active!

Kyle

Messenger and Mercury

Hi

A couple of months ago the NASA Space probe Messenger made another fly-by of its target planet Mercury. Messenger is the only mission after the Mariner probe in the late seventies to visit Mercury. However Messenger is different. It is designed to go into orbit around Mercury, and run a complete mapping of the planet. Whereas the Mariner probe simply flew past taking some quick snaps as it went. The mapping aspect of Messenger’s mission should begin in 2011, but until then Messenger must make several fly-bys of Mercury, so it will be capable of getting into the correct orbit. And it is one of these build up fly-bys that happened a couple of months ago. During this Fly-by Messenger revealed previously unseen parts of the Mercury surface and, made a few surprised discoveries. But first here is a brief run down of are present knowledge of Mercury.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun that much is certain. There was a brief stint in the early 20th Century, when people believed there was a planet closer in called Vulcan, but that that was later disproved. Mercury is officially the closest planet to the Sun.
Mercury is also known to be very very hot, with the dayside of the planet reaching temperature as high as 167 Degrees Celsius. Mercury as no atmosphere to speak of, except a very tenuous cloud of trace gases known as an exosphere. The exosphere contains trace amounts of elements such as Calcium, Oxygen and Potassium. Know doubt the remains of countless Comet impacts billions of years ago. Added to this there is a large amount of Hydrogen and Solar particles, certainly the by products of the constant stream of Solar wind hitting the planet.
The surface of Mercury is best described as ancient, with no current geological activity occurring today. Dead in other words .The main surface feature seen is impact craters. Most billions of years old, caused by the impact of Asteroids and Comets at the end of the late heavy bombardment, (Final stage of main solar system formation). And it is one of these impact craters that holds the title of largest crater in the solar system. It is called the Caloris Basin and has as a diameter of over 1500Km! So large was this impact that it forced up the surrounding are to form a mountain range 2 Km high. Other crater features on Mercury are called chain cratering. Chain cratering is formed when a planets gravity rips apart an object say an Asteroid or comet, and the subsequent fragments impact the planet or it's moon, like a chain of bullets from a machine gun. As seen right. This is seen on many planets and moons including mars and Jupiter's moon Calisto.
Mercury is very special terrestrial planet, because besides Earth it is the only other with a magnetic field. The magnetic field is small at only 1.1% that of the earth's, but even that is too much as Mercury is predicted to be completely solid. And therefore incapable of having a molten magnetic field generating core, like the earth.
It is at this point that we return to messenger, after messenger made it's fly-by scientists analysing the data made tantalising discoveries, that may challenge are knowledge of Mercury. And perhaps more intriguingly pose new questions. Messenger imaged previously unseen parts of Mercury with it's cameras and sensors and, found near the poles and around other deep craters large amounts of Water present in the exosphere. Now this was completely unexpected. And scientists now believe this might mean that at the bottom of these craters, some of which are in permanent darkness there might be water ice mixed in with the soil. Not a ice cap worth but more than a trace! This Ice may have arrived from impacting comets, the like of which created the Caloris Basin. As well as this Messenger provided visual evidence on the previously unseen far side of Mercury, of supposed volcanic activity! Which may indicate recent geological activity and, perhaps a still molten core which could finally put to the rest the source of the unexplained magnetic field.
Of course Messenger is an on going mission and it's discoveries are far from over, so if your interested check out there homepage below. I'm sure however that after Messenger is finished Mercury might prove to be not so dead after all!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/

Kyle

Voyage of Discovery

Hi

The Voyager space craft need know introduction. These twin 700Kg probes were the first ever to visit all four gas giants and, are as of 2009 the most distant Human objects ever built. They are currently at a distance of 10.095 Billion miles from the Sun, on the very edge of the Solar System itself. Approaching the Heliopause and interstellar space. The Heliopause is the region marked out by the solar wind, and is essentially a bubble encompassing the solar system. Of course the History of the Voyager probes is a long and illustrious one.
Launched in 1977 the voyager probes were heading for the outer planets thanks to Newtonian mechanics. It had been calculated that a space probe with conventional rocket fuel could go no further than Jupiter. So a new method was needed if Voyager stood any chance of getting to the furthest reaches of the Solar System. Enter Gravity assist. Gravity assist is a convenient way of getting between planets with out the need for massive fuel stores. It works something like this, if you fly past a planet e.g. Jupiter at the correct angle the planets gravity takes the space robe and, shoots it off in a different direction with an increased burst of speed. Also conveniently at the time of the voyager launch in the seventies, all four gas giants were in a rare 150 year planetary alignment. Which meant that by using gravity assist if the space craft got the correct trajectory as it left each planet, it would be shot of for an encounter with the next planet out and so on.
So with a viable way to get to the outer planets voyager was off!
Voyager 1 reached it's first Gas giant target of Jupiter in march 1979. 2 years after launch. Voyager's closest approach was at a distance of 217,000 miles. Voyagers pass revealed incredible detail about Jupiter it's moons and atmosphere. Among many discoveries Voyager imaged very faint rings around Jupiter. Imaged with unparalleled detail the atmosphere of Jupiter. And perhaps most importantly showed that the four galleon satellites were far from dull! Io was shown to be more active than Earth with many sulphurous volcanoes. And Europa was discovered to have a entire water ice covering, which perhaps covers a warm liquid water ocean! which maybe could have black smokers (volcanic vents), that provide home to microbial life! A lot of speculation there but it's not completely impossible. After the huge success of the first fly by the stage was set for Saturn.
The gravity assist with Jupiter was successful and in February of 1980. 3years after launch Voyager arrived at Saturn. This time Voyagers closest approach was from 77,000 miles. At this distance Voyager unveiled complex structures in Saturn's expansive rings, analysed the Saturnian atmosphere. And again showed that Saturn's moons were surprisingly active. Titan was unique in that it was proved to be the only moon with an atmosphere. And Enceladus had Ice geysers ,that were and still are so prolific they contribute to the ring system around Saturn!
The next fly by was with the planet Uranus (No puns!). Voyager passed Uranus in January 1986, at a distance of 81,000 km. Sadly Uranus was fairly bland and there was little to see in it's Methane clouds. This was a major disappointment for the mission scientists. But Neptune was still to go.
The Final planet in Voyagers mission was Neptune, which was passed in August 1989. Nearly 20 years after the original launch. In contrast to Uranus Neptune was much more interesting. Like Jupiter Neptune was discovered to have a great dark spot and, the fastest winds in the solar system clocked at nearly 1000 mph! Also Neptune's largest moon Triton was imaged with Nitrogen geysers miles high! Such was the frigid temp of this moon, that Nitrogen which makes up the gas of are atmosphere on Earth is frozen solid ice.
Voyager now passed all the planets and with no possibility of reaching Pluto drifted of into interstellar space. It's last image of the solar system was a sort of “Family portrait” ( to right)taken in 1990, with all the planets visible and Earth less than a pixel across!
So that was a brief history of the Voyager probes and there amazing journey to the very edge of the Solar system. The voyager probes now at the very limits of communication with earth, will continue to drift into the void of interstellar space in silence. And in roughly a few million years it is believed they will pass some of the nearest stars!
Thanks for reading.

Kyle

Sky at night tribute

Hi

It has been a reasonably long length of time since my last post, so here is a new one for anybody interested. The Sky at night is to anybody interested in Astronomy a crucial part of it's fabric. So here is a brief tribute to the Sky at night TV show.
Just briefly I will give the programs history. The Sky at night started in the Summer of 1957, months before the first ever satellite Sputnik went up. So the program is in fact older than the space age. Over it's 50 year run the sky at night as covered many famous astronomical events, from the first satellite,to the first man on the moon, the launch of Hubble and the rather disappointing total solar eclipse from England. Added to this the entire 50 years as been presented by one man. The world famous Sir Patrick Moore.
Now over this time The sky at night as had many notable guests. From Carl Sagan to Fred Hoyle of steady state theory fame. Added to this there have been some recent regulars, including Dr Brian May (From Queen). And more recently Chris Lintott, who started to assist Patrick Moore in presenting as his mobility deteriorated. Just to shamelessly name drop again I am very pleased to have met Chris Lintott and, hear a talk he gave last year.
As part of the shows appeal is it's content, which due to Astronomies always progressing nature as never stagnated. As well as covering the new events in Astronomy such as space probe launches and, new scientific discoveries the Sky at night as covered the more theory based aspects of the subject. Such as Special/General Relativity,the Big Bang and Cosmic microwave background (CMB).
The Sky at night as also influenced many young people to get into Astronomy. Me for a start I used to watch it as a kid and, found it fascinating! And that is what I think is part of it's appeal. Patrick's endless enthusiasm/knowledge of the subject coupled with the amazingness (not a word but never mind) of the subject. Certainly have and will continue to make The Sky at night a huge success!
So that is my brief tribute to the Sky at night.

Kyle

Harriot Who?

Hi

This is a part historical part astronomical blog post. This is going to be about Thomas Harriot, someone who is not very well known. Don't feel bad, to be honest I never heard of him until a couple of months ago. Anyway Thomas Harriot is a very or rather should be a very famous name in Astronomy. Just to name drop slightly, I was also very privileged a few months ago to hear a lecture on this man by Alan Chapman. Alan is also not widely known but to anyone interested in Astronomy he is a common name and, rightly so as he is one of the best public speakers I have ever heard! Drifting slightly now so back to Harriot.
Now as I have mentioned Thomas Harriot is not well known, so I am sorry if some details are a bit vague but I will do my best. So He was born around 1560 and died on the 2nd of July 1621. He was a Astronomer, Mathematician,ethnographer and Translator.
Thomas's early life is a bit sketchy, but what Historians do know is he was educated at Oxford university. And was the son of a pretty well of family. He left University in his early twenties and, was almost immediately hired by Sir Walter Raleigh. As a mathematics tutor. Of course Sir Walter is famous as a explorer and favourite of Queen Elizabeth. After this Sir Walter took Harriot into his Entourage, which with him being a favourite of the Queen meant Harriot rapidly built his social standing and wealth.
In 1585 to 1586 Harriot set of on a voyage with Sir Walter to the Americas. This was really like a gap year and considered very fashionable for any young nobleman. Harriot's role on the voyage was to be a navigator and Science advisor. Harriot landed in Roanoke Island of the cost of North Carolina and, quickly encountered some Native American tribes. Who he communicated with and quickly learnt there language Algonquian and, subsequently acted as an interpretor between the two parties. Harriot returned in 1586 and established himself with another wealthy aristocrat.
Sorry if you are getting bored but the Astronomy is coming. I promise. Anyway the Aristocrat Harriot became friends with was the Earl of Northumberland. Another favourite of the Queen and drowning in money. Because the Earl was a favourite of the Queen and very rich, He was like most wealthy people prone to new and expensive technology. And this is how we believe Harriot was introduced to the Telescope, a new invention form Renaissance Europe originally designed to view distant ships.
The interesting thing and the reason Harriot should be world famous, is because of what he did with this Telescope. On July 26th 1609 Harriot took his primitive 2 or 3 inch telescope and, looked at the moon with it. This was the first ever Astronomical observation with a Telescope made crucially six months before Galileo. Over the next few months and years Harriot looked at a myriad of Astronomical objects and, advanced the optics of Telescopes. While recording all this in his journals.
Now the thing many of you may be asking is why nobody every heard of Harriot, yet heard of Galileo. Well the answer is quite simple, Harriot had no reason to shout about his discoveries. He was a wealthy respected lord with high social connections he had nothing to gain. Whereas Galileo was out for fame,wealth and money to provide for his illegitimate children. Plus to assure his future.
Harriot died in 1621 a fabulously wealthy man, with a sea of amazing yet unrecognised scientific discoveries. These discoveries were finally brought to light in the early 20th Century. Along with Harriot's Journals which dates testified Harriot was the first ever Human to make observations with a Telescope. Thus assuring his place in History.
Thanks for reading.

Kyle

Kepler

Hi

As I'm sure you are aware Kepler NASA's planet finding space observatory as recently been launched. And as now opened it's mirror shield to get it's first look at what it will be observing. As seen above.
Kepler as I have said is a NASA mission, that is designed to search for extrasolar planets. And maybe just maybe find something the size of the earth. To do this Kepler will sit and stare at patch of roughly 100,000 stars , in the constellation of Cygnus. Kepler will watch these stars light output and wait for the tell tale light dip that tells us a planet is transiting the star. Hopefully at the end of it's estimated 2 year mission, there won't be 300 planets known to us like now but nearer a 1000!
The discovery of planets outside are solar system (hence the name extrasolar) is a reasonably recent discovery. The first extrasolar planet was discovered in 1995, orbiting around the star 51pegasis. It is a large planet roughly 3 times the size of Jupiter (largest in solar system). And is also oddly very close to it's parent star and, therefore very hot it is classed as a hot Jupiter. 51Peg was discovered using the wobble method. The wobble method is a method of finding planets without being able to see the planet directly. What happens is as the planet orbits the star it's gravity tugs at the star causing it to wobble. It is only a very slight wobble, which tells you why we have mainly discovered large planets, the bigger the planet the bigger the wobble. From this indirect means planet hunters can infer the size of the planet and how close it orbits.
Kepler however is using a different method the transit method. With the transit method as well as being able to detect the planet, find it's size and orbital distance. You are able to see what chemicals constitute the planetary atmosphere, by checking the spectra of the light given of by the star. If you already know what is in the stars atmosphere you can infer that what shouldn't be there is from the planet.
This method however does have a draw back for Kepler. Because Kepler is observing these stars face on (from are point of view). Any planets that orbit over the pole will be invisible to it's instruments. However with a 100,000 star field this seems to be compensated for.
The holy grail of planet hunting is not finding hot jupiters, but finding a earth like planet. As yet we have not achieved this goal, we have come close Glise 5981 as a trio of planets 1 five times the size of Earth. Although with Kepler it might be possible to find planets slightly bigger than Earth. The true achievement of finding a planet the same size as Earth with an atmosphere breathable, water oceans and life will have to wait. But when it does I don't think I will be exaggerating when I say it will be one of the greatest discoveries in Astronomy. It will show us are planet is not unique but part of a bigger picture and, if this planet as life on it will show us we are not alone in the Universe!

Thanks for reading

Kyle

Roving Mars

Hi

The subject of this post really doesn't need an introduction, it is of course the world famous Mars exploration rovers. Spirit and Opportunity.
I'm sure you are all familiar with the rovers, but for the benefit of those who don't I will give a quick overview. Spirit and Opportunity were the follow ons from the successful Mars pathfinder mission. They were launched in 2003 and arrived at Mars in 2004. There mission was to search for interesting Geological features that indicate past water on Mars, they had an expected 90 days to do this (a little out)!
The Twin spacecraft are roughly the size of a small golf cart and cost roughly 820 million US dollars to build and launch! To complete their surface mission the rovers were given all the equipment a Human geologist would want. They therefore have a microscope, a tool for cutting rocks, a instrument that analyses the chemicals of soil,panoramic cameras and many more with very long anagrams. In short seeing as we are unable to put a human geologist on Mars, these rovers provide the next best thing.
After there 18 month journey the rovers were ready to land. This is a dangerous process and as been rightly called the seven minutes of Terror. The rovers entered the atmosphere separately landing on different sides of the planet. As they entered the heat shield protected the craft from breaking up. Then a few miles above the surface the parachutes opened slowing the craft further. Finally a few hundred feet above the surface the air bags inflated and the rover was dropped! I find this hard to believe a incredibly expensive rover just dropped, all it had to cushion the blow was a layer of air bags. Both rovers sustained about 10 bounces on the surface before finally coming to rest. They had landed the surface mission could begin.
Hopefully you should be able to see a map showing where the rovers landed. The colours indicate height. After setting of spirit and opportunity were intended to drive roughly 1 km in there 90 days. Now as I am sure you know they exceeded that and are currently entering there 5 year!
The rest of my post is going to be on the lifetime of these remarkable rovers. At writing 17.4.09 the rovers are currently working well, there have been one or two failures due to wear and tear ( Wheel jams) but overall they are both still working. Opportunity is currently heading for a massive crater a couple of miles away from it's current location and, Spirit is just reawakening from a survived Martian winter.
At the moment there is no indication that they will fail any time soon so Long live spirit and opportunity. I wish I could provide more info on the surface mission but the blog doesn't have enough space. If you want more information check out this website.

http://http//marsrover.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Kyle

Moon Hoax (Not what you think)

Hi

I suspect that when you read that title you assumed I had finally gone completely insane and, now believed as some do that man never went to the moon. Let me first assure you that I DO BELIEVE MAN WENT TO THE MOON. The product of this post is going to be on why some people still believe it was all a hoax.
Now as I'm sure you are aware it as been roughly 40 years since man last went to the moon. And at writing 13th April 2009, we have yet to return or get anywhere close to getting back there. We are currently sat in Low earth orbit , with the international space station.
I am going a little of track so back to the moon, Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the moon. With a crew of Neil Armstrong, Edwin Buzz Aldrin and the one everyone forgets Michael Collins. Buzz and Neil landed in the sea of tranquillity spending, a few hours looking round taking pictures and famously planting the American flag.
The planting of the American flag was the first thing the skeptics jumped on, why was it blowing? The moon doesn't have a breeze they yelled loudly to anyone listening. The thing they neglected to realise was that to stop the flag flopping limply, spoiling the patriotic moment. NASA had attached a Aluminium pole along the top of the flag, to keep it up. However when whichever one (hard to tell in spacesuit) forced the shaft of the flag into the hard Luna rock, He twisted the shaft thus moving the supporting pole around causing the flag to move. And of course with no atmosphere and therefore no drag the flag moved for ages, as if being blown by a breeze. The skeptics also failed to note that when the astronauts moved past the flag, after the vibrations had dissipated there was no movement. As you would expect with the wind on earth.
Much to your relief I am not going to go through every single thing that “ Proves” we never went to the moon. If I did you would be reading this for years! What I am going to write about is why people want to believe they never went. Of course I'm sure the hoaxists will say “We only want you to see the truth.” But why can't they accept we went. The evidence is overwhelming! I do however sort of understand why they think it. If you look back through History you will see next to every great historical achievement, a line of hecklers shouting about how there lying. It surely happened when people crossed the Atlantic to America and, it will doubtless happen when we eventually go to Mars. Every great event as a cause for disbelief.
The one thing I genuinely can't get however is why these people would not want to believe it. Surely it is amazing to everyone to know that humankind as gone to a different world!, in the sixties of all years. A time when computing power was pretty much zero. It must make you proud to be a human, to know that when we put are minds to it we can accomplish incredible things. For instance at the start of the space race 1957, nobody could have possibly imagined we would have men walking on the moon in 12 years.
I think that is a nice way to end this post, following this I am no longer going to attempt to convince these people. As Gene Cernan says “The truth needs no defence”. However I for one can't wait to later this year when the Lunar reconnaissance orbiter goes up. With this probe with it's high res camera, it should be capable of seeing the lunar rovers, accent stages and maybe even the footprints. Which of course will be exciting!

How low will the Sun go?

Hi

The Sun is of course the central star in are solar system, the life force without it's light there would be no life on earth. And the Sun is currently in Solar minimum.

Now the Sun is a massive subject and I am incapable of summing up it's entirety in a single post, so this post is going to be on the solar cycle and, the current and unusual solar minimum it is in.

The Sun goes in solar cycles over a period of 11 years. In a solar cycle there is a minimum and a maximum, we are currently in a minimum. The solar cycle is basically a measure of sunspots and solar activity. At solar minimum there is very few sunspots and at maximum there is loads. For earth at least solar maximum is a serious worry, because when at maximum the Sun is more likely to produce a CME (Coronal mass ejection). A CME occurs when the Sun releases a chunk of solar material and high energy particles, this material then speeds away from the sun and can on occasion come to the earth. When it comes to the earth it is worrying for many, the astronauts for instance on the space station don't want to be around when this comes. Without the protective atmosphere of earth, the radiation isn't dispersed and " Scrambles your DNA" giving you cancer or other nasty diseases. The high energy radiation will also nock satellites out which is problamatic for GPS.

After a solar maximum the new solar cycle starts. Astronomers on earth know when this as happened because the first sunspot of the new solar cycle as a different polarity to that of the cycle before. Which means if the previous cycle polarity was north the next cycles would be south. The polarities switch because every 11 years with the solar cycle the magnetic field of the entire Sun switches, meaning the north becomes the south and vice versa. Sorry if that wasn't well exsplained but it's hard to find the words. This effect also happens with the Earth over a much longer time scale, so at some point the magnetic field of the Earth will also switch!
Solar cycles come and go. The new solar cycle started at the start of 2009 late 2008. And are usually pretty uniform at maximum there is a lot of flares and sunspots. And at minimum there is very few yet still some sunspots. Now that is what makes the current solar cycle interesting. As you can see in the image above there is not one sunspot to be seen. Why this as happened is not fully understood but it does have effects on earth. The Aurora which is caused by the magnetic field of the Sun is one effect. Because with no sunspots which are affected by the magnetic field. It is unlikely there will be large amounts of Aurora activity. there is no reason to be worried however as it is highly improbable that the Sun's energy output will decrease. It does however mean that Solar observers will have little to look at in the immediate future!

Kyle

10 Things

Hi

In the world today there are many lists. 10o films to see before you die, Ten things to do before you die, top 10 songs, best restaurants and the list goes on and on. But to my knowledge there are no top tens of the best astromical sights. So below is my top ten of the things I love and, hate about Astronomy.

I'll start with the good things

1 Total solar eclipse

2 First view of Saturn through a telescope

3 A good comet

4 Giving Astromical based talks

5 The sky at night ( TV Show)

6 The fantastic pictures

7 New disoveries

8 Going to lectures

9 Seeing the Andromeda Galaxy

10 The moon Landings (Long time ago now)

The things I hate

1 BEING CONFUSED WITH BLOODY ASTROLOGERS

2 Light polloution (Even in the middle of no where)

3 Skeptics who say we didn't go to the moon!

4 Cold nights observing

5 Wasting my money on a bad telescope

6 People who assume it's just a science/hobby for old men with beards (I don't have a beard!)

7 Exspensive equipment (sadly turns some people away from the subject)

8 Names of constellations and identifiying them (took me ages to learn some of them)

9 Lack of astromical funding in England (compared with NASA)

10 Not returning to the moon......

That is my list, I'm sure you will have different ideas and will disagree with others so leave your lists below. I look forward to reading them.

PS The picture isn't mine courtesy of Internet.

Kyle

New pictures of Deimos

Hi

I thought I'd post this as I am now quite interested in Phobos and Deimos, after doing a talk on them late last year.

Well as I am sure you are aware Mars as 2 tiny moons Phobos and Deimos. Which are almost certainly captured astroids ( A hole different story). Previously there as not been many images of Deimos, due to it's small size 15 kilometers across. Until now!

Recently the Mars reconnaissance orbiter which is really the spy satellite of the martian system,if it was in orbit around earth it would be classed as a spy satellite, because of it's high resolution camera HIRISE. As made several close fly by passes of the moon and, revealed previously unseen detail as seen above using that camera. Personally I wish I had these images when doing my talk!

In the image you can see that Deimos looks quite similar to Phobos having the same brown pink hue, irregular shape and quite heavily cratered surface.

Discovery of moons. The moons were discovered in 1877 by the American Astronomer Asaph hall. The moons were also predicted in several books including Gulliver's travels.

I hope that as informed you if you were interested.

Kyle