Webcast of Briefing on Discovery of First Habitable Exoplanet

9/30/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Exoplanets • 3 comments

The planetary orbits of the Gliese 581 system compared to those of our
own solar system. Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.

Steven Vogt and Paul Butler lead a team that discovered the first potentially inhabitable exoplanet.

Steven Vogt of UC Santa Cruz and UC Observatories and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington join NSF's Lisa-Joy Zgorski to announce the discovery of the first exoplanet that has the potential to support life.

Credit: National Science Foundation

More info:
"The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1M⊕ Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M3V Star Glie" (pdf) - full paper published on APJ
Newly discovered planet may be first truly habitable exoplanet - University of California - Santa Cruz
Earth-Like Planet Can Sustain Life - Discovery News
What is an exoplanet?

Wish John Dobson a happy 95

8/02/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Astronomy, John Dobson • 50 comments

John Dobson

John Dobson is arguably one the most influential personalities in amateur astronomy in the last couple of decades. He has almost single-handedly revolutionized backyard astronomy by bringing it out to the street, making it possible for everyone to enjoy the beauty of the Universe!

As an amateur astronomer his contributions to the world of amateur astronomy are immense. He is most notable for being the promoter of a design for large, portable, low-cost Newtonian reflecting telescopes that bears his name, the Dobsonian telescope - a telescope that brought amateur astronomy to a whole new level.

On September 14 2010, John is turning 95 and here's your chance to send birthday wishes to him!

How to send the birthday messages:
1) Email your message to wishdobson95@gmail.com.
2) Leave your message as a comment to this article.

Make sure to include your name and location (city, country)

Do you have any photos taken with John Dobson? We would like to make a community album for him as well. Email your photos to wishdobson95@gmail.com please include: when and where was the photo taken.

The birthday wishes will be put together by Thilina Heenatigala (Astronomers Without Borders) and these will be presented to John Dobson by Donna Smith (Sidewalk Astronomers).

Let's get together and wish John Dobson many more healthy orbits around the Sun!

John Dobson in January 2010

Some links:
A Brief Biography of John Dobson
Articles by John Dobson
Articles About John Dobson
Official John Dobson page on Facebook

A Sidewalk Astronomer - a DVD featuring John Dobson
The Moon is New - science fiction book by John Dobson
John Dobson's 90th Birthday - a commemorative Book
Beyond Space and Time - book by John Dobson

Image credit: Louisville Astronomical Society.

Report: "A Match Under Starlight"

7/28/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Astronomy, Outreach, UNAWE • No comments

Beginning of July 2010 concluded one of the most exciting sporting event - FIFA2010. While many football fans around the world celebrated the victories and the losing, Astronomers Without Border's National Coordinator for Iraq - Azhy Hasan came up with the idea to celebrate the World Cup with a touch of astronomy and peace - "A Match Under Starlight".

Amateur Astronomers Association of Kurdistan celebrated the event by gathering a youth group to play a football match which was followed by an observation session. Players enjoyed beautiful views of Saturn and medals for participating in the match. Azhy who organized this event took the extra effort to show the unity of other AWB member countries by displaying the national flags and playing the national anthems. You can see some unforgettable photos and a video of the event here.

Group from Iraq says "YES TO PEACE"

This wonderful event was also celebrated by UNAWE - Romania. With the collaboration of “Angela Gheorghiu” School from Adjud, Vrancea, UNAWE Romania, organized a football game with 23 children aged between 5 and 9. All the children were awarded with a "Stellar Football Player" diploma for their enthusiasm and spirit. You can see this wonderful effort in a report with photos put together by Catalina Movileanu of UNAWE - Romania here.

kids with national flags pinned to shirts playing football

Another event to celebrate the project was organized by “Rudolf Walter” foundation – Timisoara branch, the Astronomical Observatory of Timisoara, and the “Antares” astro-club of Timisoara. Kids at the “Rudolf Walther” foundation (a model institution where disadvantaged kids are educated and cared for) got to play football which was followed by 3-D projections and captivating talks. The kids got a special treat as well, Andrei Juravle – owner of astrovest.ro – donated a telescope. You can read a report of this event with photos put together by Virgiliu Pop of Romanian Space Agency here.

Virgiliu Pop kicking off the match

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this wonderful project highlighting world peace and the joy of togetherness. We hope you will join us in future events.

Credit: The beautiful poster of the project was designed by Azhy Hasan.

Totality and Victory

7/12/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Online, Outreach, Solar Eclipse • 9 comments

Total Solar Eclipse of 11 July 2010

FIFA 2010 World Champions - Spain

Above two images definitely sums up everything happened yesterday - Sunday 11 July 2010 - and it was one of those days you completely rely on technology and be thankful about it. Being able to watch two amazing events, FIFA 2010 Finals and the Total Solar Eclipse via internet simultaneously and share it with others was a great experience.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, blocking its rays and casting a shadow. The eclipse took place on the 11 July 2010 followed an 11,000km (6.900-mile) path over the South Pacific. The longest time of eclipse - five minutes and 20 seconds - was over the sea.

It's reported that some 5000 astronomers were spread out across the atolls of French Polynesia catch this spectacular solar eclipse. And few among this group took the extra effort to web-stream the Eclipse online for the rest of the world to watch!

As an effort to expand their outreach, I contacted few eclipse chasers, researched more and compiled a list of web-streams to one place, so everyone can easily access. This effort was publicized via Facebook, Twitter and other email groups. Should note that many of my twitter and facebook friends did a great job by sharing it with more people.

The first live web stream came via a group from Wakayama University at Hao (French Polynesia). Below are some screen captures from their web stream.

Few minutes into the Totality it got clouded and Wakayama web-stream went off line. Then a group called Shelios started a web-stream. Below are some screen captures from their web-stream.

During the 5-hour event, sky watchers spent as much as 4 minutes completely enveloped in the Moon's shadow watching in awe as the solar corona revealed itself to the human eye.

As soon as the eclipse ended, photos started pouring in, and it was a well treat for everyone. Below are some of the best images available up to now ( 5:30UT 12 July 2010). Enjoy!

Photo by Donald Gardner (Atoll de Hao, French Polynesia)

Photo by Constantinos Emmanouilidis (Mangaia, Cook Islands)

Photo by AFP (Martin Bernetti)

Photo by Bill Kramer (Paul Gauguin - South of Tahiti)

Photo by Alson Wong (Paul Gauguin - South of Tahiti)

Photo by Stefan Krause from El Calafate-Argentina

Shelios expedition crew after the Eclipse and celebrating the Spain victory

It was a fantastic Sunday with the Total Solar Eclipse and the FIFA 2010 finals. If you missed the eclipse live feed, check the below video complied by Reuters.

First video from Reuters

Image: above images are copyrighted by the respective photographer.

Blind Date With An Asteroid

7/11/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In ESA, Spacecraft • No comments

Asteroid Lutetia, seen from Rosetta's OSIRIS imaging system.
(click on the image for a High-Res)

We know how blind dates are, always not sure of what to expect! This was how exactly felt by ESA scientists and rest of the world watching the live web cast of ESA's Rosetta spacecraft's flyby of 21 Lutetia; the largest asteroid ever to visited by a satellite.

After weeks of maneuvers and optical observations, Rosetta is perfectly lined up to skim by the asteroid only 3,162 km (2,000 miles) away. ESA hosted a live web cast at 16:00 GMT on July 10 which was followed by many around the world.

I managed to watch the live web feed while Tweeting (@ThilinaH) and sharing updates on Facebook as well. It was a great experience and below are some stunning images of the Asteroid Lutetia.

At a distance of 36000km the OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera (NAC)
took this image catching the planet Saturn in the background.
(click on the image for a High-Res)

Approach images of Asteroid Lutetia. The first image was
taken at 06:18 (about 9.5 hours before closest approach,
510000 kms from the asteroid), the last one at 14:15 (about
1.5 hours before closest approach, 81000 km from the asteroid.).
The resolution changes from 9.6 km/px to 1.5 km/px.
(click on the image for a High-Res)

an animation of the approach
(click on the image for a High-Res)

Zoom in on a possible landslide and boulders at the highest resolution.
(click on the image for a High-Res)

Rosetta took multiple images of asteroid Lutetia during the fly-by.
Shown here is the final sequence of images before closest approach
(CA): CA-8, CA-4:40, CA-2, CA-1:50.
(click on the image for a High-Res)

Farewell Lutetia.

(click on the image for a High-Res)

Rosetta will continue on to its primary target, comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will rendezvous with the comet in 2014 and accompany the comet for months, mapping it and studying it. Then in November 2014, Rosetta will deploy Philae to land on the comet nucleus.

Rosetta's route through the inner Solar System.

Rosetta orbiting the comet with Philae in view in this artist's impression.

Until then the ESA scientists will spend time getting to know this newly found friend (then stranger), analyzing data.

You can watch the replay of the web cast at: http://bit.ly/liverosetta

Credit: ESA 2010 - MPS for OSIRIS Team, MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA. Astrium.

Watch Live Webcast of ESA's Rosetta Flyby of Asteroid Lutetia - 10 July 2010

7/10/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Asteroid, ESA, Online, Spacecraft • No comments

On 10 July, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft will fly past 21 Lutetia, the largest asteroid ever visited by a satellite. After weeks of manoeuvres and a challenging optical navigation campaign, Rosetta is perfectly lined up to skim by at 3162 km (2000 miles). This event will be live webcasted by ESA at 16:00 GMT (above).

Rosetta is expected to pass Lutetia at a relative speed of 54 000 km/hr, when both are located some 454 million km from Earth. As Lutetia is a major scientific target of Rosetta's mission, most of the orbiter and lander instruments will be on for flyby, studying the asteroid's surface, dust environment, exosphere, magnetic field, mass and density.

The OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) camera system is expected to obtain visible-spectrum images before and at closest approach.

Rosetta launched in 2004, is on its way to a 2014 rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

For a complete time-line of events and more information can be found at ESA web page.

21 Lutetia asteroid

Source: ESA

Watch Live - Total Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010

7/09/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In Online, Solar Eclipse • 80 comments

A spectacular total solar eclipse will occur on July 11, 2010 over the ancient statues of Easter Island, where those lucky enough to have made it to the Pacific will witness the last total eclipse to occur until November 2012.

But some of the Eclipse Chasers/Groups are taking the extra effort to web-stream the Eclipse online for the rest of the world to watch!

Below you can find a list of links to the website where you can watch the stream. If you know more web-streams, please email to thilina.heenatigala@yahoo.com

DATE: 11 July 2010
TIME:
(P1) Partial begin 17:09:41 UT
(U1) Total begin 18:15:15 UT
Greatest eclipse 19:34:38 UT
(U4) Total end 20:51:42 UT
(P4) Partial end 21:57:16 UT

Starting time of solar eclipse around the world in their local times:

1. India – Sun 23:45
2. Adelaide – Mon 03:45
3. Amsterdam – Sun 20:15
4. Bangkok – Mon 01:15
5. Beijing – Mon 02:15
6. Boston – Sun 14:15
7. Brisbane – Mon 04:15
8. Dubai – Sun 22:15
9. Frankfurt – Sun 20:15
10. Hong Kong – Mon 02:15
11. London – Sun 19:15
12. Mexico City – Sun 13:15
13. New York – Sun 14:15
14. Paris – Sun 20:15
15. Riyadh – Sun 21:15
16. Tokyo – Mon 03:15
17. Zurich – Sun 20:15

Web streams:

LIVE! ELIPSE 2010

Shelios Association/Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's Ciclope Group

Mision Eclipse (Spanish)

Exploratorium

Shelios 2010

Saros.org

MiC Paris (Japanese)

Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010

A total solar eclipse will occur on July 11, 2010. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible over a region thousands of miles wide.

The path of the Moon's umbral shadow crosses the South Pacific Ocean where it makes no landfall except for Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua). The path of totality ends just after reaching southern Chile and Argentina. The Moon's penumbral shadow produces a partial eclipse visible from a much larger region covering the South Pacific and southern South America.

You can also join via Facebook event. Enjoy and share with your friends!

Source: NASA GSFC(images/data)/Wiki(data)

Completing 24 orbits around the Sun

4/22/2010 • by Thilina Heenatigala • In GAM, Sri Lanka, UNAWE • 7 comments

Last Sunday 18th of April, I celebrated completing my 24th orbit around the Sun. It’s pretty amazing to think that I have traveled so much across the Space.

Rather than celebrating it in a very contemporary way, I thought of doing something I always wanted to do, but never got around it.

In Sri Lanka we have lot orphanages, most of them are filled with kids. Some of these kids never seen their parents or some were abandoned or some lost, which ever way they ended up at an orphanage, and they hardly get anything we have in our day-to-day lives.

For my birthday I decided to spend some time with the kids at this orphanage (girls’ home) near my place. With my family, few relatives and close astronomy friends we spent a whole day with the kids enjoying the beauty of the Universe. We did give them lunch, but I guess the better food is the food for the brain - knowledge.

Below are some unforgettable moments from the day.

The day started with a lecture "Universe and Everything in it". It was interesting to see the reactions of the kids when they started realizing how small we are and how big is the Universe.

Using Earth Ball to demonstrate day-night, why it's round, why someone from south or sides never falls off was fun. Many thanks to Carolina Ödman from UNAWE for sending the Earth Ball.

Explaining Solar System

Small exhibition set-up

while I was giving the talk, my friends were preparing the next activity

next activity was Solar System scale model

we asked kids to guess where would be the planets be if we put the whole solar system inside the orphanage land

kids were marking the positions of the planets

more planets to mark

all were surprised to see the real positions of the planets!

and then it was the lunch time

after lunch, kids playing around and of course now they have more questions than they had before

:-)

next activity was the "Egg Rocket". Here I'm giving a brief introduction to Rockets and the activity

kids were divided into 5 groups for the activity

they had to build a rocket model with the egg inside, egg is the Astronaut!

hard at work! very focused!

thinking how to save the astronaut or rather "Eggonaut"

this is my dad giving some tips, guess he knows enough astronomy by now :-)

after building the rocket, all of them were dropped from a height of one floor.

Guess it's R.I.P. for that "Eggonaut"

anxiously waiting till we check the next one

time for the GAM birthday cake. my dad made this (yes, our family has been doing bridal, weddings, cakes, etc... for twenty years - which explains one of my hobbies - fashion designing)

they sang "happy birthday" in both Sinhalese and English, how nice :-)

then we made a banner with hand prints, it was way too fun and kids loved it.

:-)

middle logo is the "Universe Awareness" logo

lots of hands!

as the final activity, we did a "Water Rocket" demonstration

launch was delayed due to some technical difficulties

and up it goes

the kids with the banner we all made which hangs in my room now

it was a day to remember

I want to thank my family who helped with the preparation and friends – Laika, Pinky, Abi, Desh who helped on the day with the activities.

I hope my little contribution would at least make few kids interested in Science. Astronomy is a multifaceted as a brilliant-cut diamond, an infinite font of ideas and imagination. So much to learn and so much to learn of. Through this beautiful subject we can make a better place and help to understand our Universe as a whole and at the same time improving life here on Earth.