(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
1 IAA lecture via Zoom, 7 October, 19.30, by Nick Howes, FRAS, FBIS: "How do you solve a problem like Debris-ahh?
This highly topical talk by well-known space guru Nick Howes will look at the ever-increasing problem of space debris, and what can and should be done about it. Also available on YouTube
SYNOPSIS:
Public awareness of the clutter and rubbish humankind is littering our planet and oceans with has never been higher. David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg have firmly established the need to change our behaviour to avoid a catastrophe. But, whilst many companies and consumers are changing their behaviour to avoid plastic waste, a far bigger threat is looming, and one that will be much harder to solve. Currently over 130 million pieces of debris orbit our planet, ranging from microscopic to the size of a bus.
These are all in an uncontrollable set of orbits, many of the debris objects are smaller than a few cm, and as such, cannot be tracked. Yet, travelling at around 17,000 mph, pieces the size of a pea, could devastate a spacecraft, kill an astronaut, or astro-tourist and create a knock on effect, creating more and more debris, known as the Kessler Syndrome, famously seen in the Hollywood Movie "Gravity".
The impact of this would be devastating to global climate monitoring, defence, navigation, shipping and pretty much every part of our lives. With the launch of the so called "mega" constellations, adding tens of thousands of new satellites, we are at a crisis tipping point.
Nick will explain the issues, and possible ways to stop this from happening.
Biography:
Nick is lead analyst (space R&D) at multinational company BMT. A STEM ambassador for 10+ years, Nick has delivered 400 talks in 3 continents on many aspects of astronomy and space
Previously deputy director of Kielder Observatory, Nick worked closely with STEM organisations, delivering multiple events for persons aged 5 to 80, helped Wiltshire Cubs develop their astronomy badge program, and regularly broadcasts on various UK radio stations.
Nick has written for ESA on Mars Express, Herschel and Venus Express, helped develop the SKA telescope's public outreach website, and helped ESA find their 'lost' Herschel Telescope.
Nick was pro-am programme manager for the twin 2metre Faulkes Telescopes, mentoring students and co-discovering multiple objects, earning an award from the UK's most popular children's TV STEM programme.
He writes for many magazines and websites, including all major UK and US astronomy magazines, and for NASA's main and Blueshift websites, and appeared on the BBC Sky at Night several times.
He worked on the IAU project "Touching Space", delivering astronomy to blind and disabled youth, and developed the MARS MEDIAN methane sensor mission.
His award-winning astronomy imaging has appeared in National Geographic, The Times, Universe Today, Space.com, Financial Times and Discovery Channel Science, multiple books, peer reviewed journals, and even JPL
Nick has 400+ NASA ADS citations for comet and asteroid observations, and led a team creating the World's largest ground-based composite Moon image, supported by Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke.
In 2019, Nick worked with NASA's GSFC on a memorial to FIDO Tecwyn Roberts, and was invited by John Mather, PI of the JWST to Goddard for helping to prevent financial cancellation of the JWST.
This lecture is an IAA event for World Space Week.
Try and log in just before 7.30 to be on the safe side. Also available on YouTube.
2. Mars brilliant as it nears opposition, and close pass by the Moon, Oct 2/3
Mars is now as bright as Jupiter as it gets closer to Earth. It reaches opposition on 13 October, but will actually be closest to Earth on 6 October, at a distance of about 62 million km, because of the ellipticity of its orbit. The greatest apparent diameter will be 22.6" The South Polar Cap is shrinking in Martian Spring, but is still readily visible in any reasonable telescope.
The just past-full Moon will pass closely to the South of it on the night of 2.3 October; they will be closest (about 1º) just before dawn
On Oct. 6, Mars will come within 38,568,816 miles (62,070,493 km) of Earth at 1418 GMT. At that moment, it will take a light beam 3 m 27s to travel between Earth and Mars. It won't get any closer until Sept. 11, 2035, when the planet will be 35.4 million miles (56.9 million km) away.
3. World Space Week, 4-10 October
World Space Week is an UN-declared celebration of space held annually, every October 4 to 10. These events are organized by institutions around the world, including space agencies, aerospace companies, astronomy clubs and museums. The 2020 World Space Week edition is dedicated to satellites under the theme "Satellites improve life". This is an important opportunity for our community to discuss the benefits of satellites to society and highlight the negative impact satellites constellations may have on astronomical observations and the pristine appearance of the night sky when observed from a dark region.
You can join the UN-endorsed "Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society" Online Workshop, from 5 - 9, October 2020. One day of the workshop will be dedicated to the impact of satellite constellations on astronomy and the recommendations for regulations. Registration is required.
You can also access the "Impact of Satellite Constellations on Optical Astronomy and Recommendations Toward Mitigations" reports:
Main report: https://noirlab.edu/public/products/techdocs/techdoc003/
Appendices (with all of the working group reports): https://noirlab.edu/public/products/techdocs/techdoc004/
And Press Conference video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCyE8BNYIKM&feature=youtu.be
You can read the IAU Statment on the Impact of Satellite Constellations and our IAU Theme here, and we encourage everyone to join the discussions.
Discover more about World Space Week 2020 at https://www.worldspaceweek.org/world-space-week-highlights/
4. Nobel Prize for Physics does to three Black Hole scientists https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/black-hole-scientists-win-nobel-prize-in-physics1/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=today-in-science&utm_content=link&utm_term=2020-10-06_featured-this-week&spMailingID=68979364&spUserID=NDcyNjA3Njk3NzkzS0&spJobID=1980765177&spReportId=MTk4MDc2NTE3NwS2
5. ISS The ISS continues its series of evening passes until October 6, and then commences a new series of morning passes on 23 October. Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
6.TEASER – update – an answer is within someone's grasp
Here's another to occupy your grey matter until things get back to 'normal'; it is of course astronomical:
Q. What's the connection between Bono & The Edge and 2090?
CLARIFICATION: In case of confusion, 2090 is the year 2090.
And as an extra clue, it's September 2090. And an extra extra clue – it applies to Ireland. John O'Neill has got very close, but hasn't crossed the finishing line yet! Can anyone leap-frog him with the answer?
7. JUPITER and SATURN.
The two largest planets in the solar system are currently quite close together, low in the south around midnight. They are currently about 8º apart, They both resumed prograde motion in September, but will remain about 8º apart until mid-October when faster moving Jupiter starts to catch up with Saturn. By the end of October they are only 5º apart, and they will then slowly but inexorably get ever closer until 21 December, when they will be just over 6 arcminutes apart – 1/5 of the diameter of the Moon! More on that later.
8. REGULAR FORTNIGHTLY SPACE and ASTRONOMY WEBINAR, October 13
They will be approximately 40 minutes long, every second Tuesday, at 7.30 p.m., covering whatever is topical in space and astronomy. The next one will be on Tuesday 13 October: youtube.com/spacestorelive
It's a Zoom webinar, and will be Live streamed to YouTube SpaceStore Live! Channel and Live streamed to Facebook Live. I'll post any last minute news via Twitter.
9. Davagh Dark Sky Park and Observatory opens to public, Saturday, October 17
Because of restrictions on numbers, you have to pre-book for admission to the actual building to see the telescopes, exhibition and interactive stuff. See https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/things-to-do/star-gazing/davagh-dark-sky-observatory , and https://www.facebook.com/omdarksky/
Or Tel: 03000 132 132
10. Orionid meteors peak on October 21, producing up to 20 or so meteors every hour,
11. Paul Evans has produced another excellent 'Lockdown Video guide to the sky:
12. October 31: Crew-1 Crew Dragon mission to the ISS, carrying Nasa astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi aboard a Falcon 9 rocket (5.47am EDT) from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
13. Mayo Dark Sky Festival, via Zoom. 31 October. More details later
14. National Astronomy Week, 14 – 22 November.
National Astronomy Week (NAW) will be held in the UK from Saturday 14 November to Sunday 22 November, to celebrate the close approach of Mars. Amateur and professional astronomers will be holding observing events during the week. Seen through a telescope magnifying about 100 times, Mars will appear as a pale orange disc, with its markings clearly visible, at a distance of 80 million km.
Although Mars is at its closest to Earth a month earlier, by November it is well up in the sky during the early evening, allowing younger schoolchildren an opportunity to get a good view of the planet. It will not be as close again until 2033. As well as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon will be on show during National Astronomy Week. Details of observing events will be posted on the NAW website.
15. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer - Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001090120.htm
Congrats to Turlough Downes of DCU for this amazing result! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005112118.htm
HST captures a supernova fading into oblivion https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001113516.htm
COSMOLOGY
Einstein's Relativity confirmed yet again, and to a very high degree of accuracy https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001113616.htm
Total amount of matter in the universe measured https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928125046.htm
EARTH & MOON
https://climatenewsnetwork.net/antarcticas-ice-loss-could-soon-be-irreversible/
Greenland's catastrophic ice loss https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-gb/DisplayMessage?ws_popup=true&ws_suite=true
EXOLIFE
EXOPLANETS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/scientists-discover-24-planets-with-conditions-even-more-suitable-for-life-than-earth/ar-BB19HZlb?ocid=msedgdhp And https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005005919.htm Let's hope any advanced life there does a better job than we're doing on Planet Earth!
CHEOPS reveals one of the most extreme exoplanets https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928090502.htm
SOLAR SYSTEM
How TNO Arrokoth got flattened https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005170843.htm
The Solar system has a second alignment plane https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200929123458.htm
Ceres has salty water https://www.facebook.com/29589997195/posts/10157569879387196/?sfnsn=scwspmo&extid=rt15yOQylf2VU14X
Close binary TNO discovered https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928152857.htm
SPACE
Radiation levels on the Moon https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200926145212.htm
16. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://documents.irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc
If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
No comments:
Post a Comment