Category Geology

It’s time for a star party

The sky and the flock of stars that flicker endlessly have always been an inspiration for mankind. Some 400 years ago, on a starry night, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei aimed his telescope towards the sky. That was just the beginning of modern astronomy. Stargazing is the start of an incredible journey towards exploring the cosmos, which will help you learn more about the universe we are living in.

Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you…" sang Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin in the song "Yellow" which was part of their debut album "Parachutes". Legend has it that the inspiration for the song came when Martin and his bandmates were asked to look at the stars. The band had just finished recording the song "Shiver" and was taking a break when the song's co-producer Ken Nelson asked them to look at the stars. A melody popped into Martin's head. And "Yellow" was born.

The sky and the gaggle of stars that flicker endlessly have always been an inspiration for mankind. It is our window to space and every cosmic body out there. The quest to explore the stellar world dates back centuries.

The start of modern astronomy

Some 400 years ago, on a starry, starry night, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei aimed his telescope towards the sky. He was the first to use the earliest version of the telescope, his own version of the "spyglass" (a device used to see far away objects) to observe celestial bodies.

He documented what he saw and made discoveries that changed how we perceived the Cosmos. Observing the night sky, he found out that the Moon had mountains and pits, and that Jupiter had moons. That was just the start of modern astronomy.

The compelling need to watch the Moon or the many astral bodies in a star-spangled sky has no rhyme or reason. So if you like the sky and stars, read on.

The art of stargazing

Stargazing is just the start of an incredible journey towards exploring the cosmos, which will help you learn more about the universe we are living in. Every astronomer started off as an enthusiastic stargazer.

Stargazing or amateur astronomy is the practice of watching the stars and other celestial bodies. It can be a rewarding hobby that lets you disconnect from the chores of your routine life and connect with the vast universe.

The first thing to ensure is that you have a clear, dark sky. without light pollution. It is difficult to enjoy the sky and stars if you live in a well-lit area, where light is directed towards the sky. Once you get a clear, dark sky, just look up and befriend the sky.

Observing the sky

You do not need expensive telescopes to see the celestial bodies. All you need to do is look up. The naked eye can guide you well enough. What you might need though is a sky map that can help you identify the many stars and constellations (groups of stars that look like patterns).

Once you correctly identify a star or a constellation, your journey gets more exciting. As many as 88 constellations cover the sky. Try to make out easily recognisable star patterns or constellations such as the Orion, Cassiopeia, Big Dipper/Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Pegasus and Taunus.

Did you know that some planets are visible to the naked eye? Planets thus visible are Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter.

The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius. But how do you know if you are looking at a planet or a star? Stars have their own light, whilst planets do not. Planets only reflect the light from the Sun and do not twinkle.

Befriend the sky

What you see in the sky, depends on where you are located on Earth. As Earth orbits the Sun, the stars also shift. Once you have understood this, you will know that even as the stars shift as our planet moves, they tend to return to the same spot in the sky every year. Have a journal and make a note of everything you observe in the sky.

One way to get better at spotting the stars and learning about them is to join star parties or go to your nearest observatory. Star parties are events where stargazers join to watch the stars and the sky using telescopes. You can look at the skies using a telescope in observatories as well. You can also join local astronomy clubs. Your school might even have one. If not why don't you take an initiative to start one? Alternatively, you can download mobile applications that help you identify the stars and planets.

As you progress, you can invest in a decent pair of astronomical binoculars that will help you see the celestial bodies up close. For instance, many craters on the moon that you have seen only in pictures become crystal clear as you peer through the binoculars.

Did you know that there is even a global movement to protect the dark sky? So what are you waiting for? The sky is calling. And you must go.

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What’s a binary star system?

When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other. It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

Did you know that the light that we observe coming from a star in the sky may not be produced by a single star? That the light emanating from the single point may actually be light coming out from two or even more stars that are orbiting together? These are called multiple-star systems.

The most common star system that you come across will be a binary star system that comprises two stars. When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other.

Did you know that most stars are in binary systems? It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

While the brighter star is called the primary star, the dimmer one is called the secondary. If the stars are of equal brightness, then the discoverer gets to decide on the designation.

Binary stars are very important from an astronomic point of view as they help in understanding stellar evolution. They help determine the masses and luminosities of stars.

But how are these binary stars formed? The most common way of formation of a binary star system is by a process called fragmentation.

According to this, the gas and dust cloud which collapses to form a star splits into two or more stars due to their instability or cooling/heating effects.

These fragments or stars then evolve separately and form the binary star system. But there are rare incidents when a massive star captures a passing one, as the star travels through the galaxy and thereby creates a new binary pair.

Binary pairs can be classified based on a number of factors. One such classification is on how they are observed viz. visual binaries.

They are called visual binaries when the two stars have a wide separation when viewed through a telescope.

The first binary stars to be ever spotted were visual binaries. In 1617, at the behest of a scientist, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei used his telescope to focus on a star at the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, a constellation.

It was discovered that this wasn’t a single star, but two stars which later turned out to be six. Sir William Herschel, who is known for cataloguing 700 pairs of stars, used the term binary for the first time in 1802 to refer to the double stars.

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Sci-fi novels that shaped reality

Science fiction (sci-fi) and scientific innovation have been intertwined since the creation of this genre. Here are five marvellous inventions that were inspired by sci-fi.

The Taser

The Taser stun gun is a hand-held electrical non-lethal weapon used by police and law enforcement officers around the world. Invented by Jack Cover, an American aerospace scientist in the 1960s-70s, this device takes inspiration from English writer Victor Appleton’s young adult sci-fi novel ‘Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911)’. The purpose of creating this device was to provide an alternative to the firearms that the air marshals were supposed to carry and use in case of a hijack. This invention was a solution to the concern that firing a gun on a plane could damage important and sophisticated machinery or pierce the fuselage.

Cover’s invention pays homage to Appleton’s book, and its name TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. The scientist is said to have added the ‘A’ to make the word easier to pronounce.

Liquid-fuelled rockets

The idea of rockets, space travel, and exploration might not sound exceptionally futuristic today, but for 16-year-old Robert H. Goddard coming across this idea for the first time in English novelist H.G. Wells’s ‘The War of the Worlds’ (1898) was something right out of a dream. The famed father of rocketry invented and launched the world’s first liquid-fuelled rocket in 1926, making space travel a reality. A few years after this momentous event, the NASA physicist penned a letter to Wells elaborating on the “deep impression” his novel made on the American inventor and motivated him to take this journey “aiming at the stars” both literally and figuratively.

World Wide Web

Millions of people across the globe use the World Wide Web every day. They access it through computers, phones and other digital devices. From ordering food to sharing one’s location or some news and pictures with others, we use the Web all the time.

The first proposal for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Talking about the motivation behind this invention, the English computer scientist said, “I believe If you connect people up and you take away the national boundaries and you just leave humanity connected, it will naturally become better.” He also credited Arthur C. Clarke’s short story ‘Dial F’ for Frankenstein as the inspiration behind the World Wide Web. Acknowledging the impact of his story on Berners-Lee, the English sci-fi writer declared, “I guess I am the godfather of the World Wide Web.”

Humanoid robots ASTRO BOY

Japan’s Tomotaka Takahashi is one of the world’s leading new-generation robot scientists. In 2013, his humanoid robot named Kirobo became the world’s first talking robot sent into space to keep astronauts company. Talking about his passion for robotics in an interview, Takahashi said “When I was about six, I started reading the manga comic ‘Astro Boy’ after finding it lying around at home. My dream, from that moment on, was to become a robot scientist. I made my first robot around the same time, from a soapbox and duct tape complete with a robot face.” Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Astro Boy’ is a manga series that ran from 1952 to 1968. It chronicles the adventures of the titular humanoid. The Japanese scientist also admitted that his 13-inch-tall robot Kirobo’s design and colour palette are heavily inspired by the friendly manga character.

Helicopter

Since the beginning of time, the idea of flying from one place to another in little time has been a fascinating topic. The helicopter is one of the many inventions that aimed to accomplish this. Russian-American aviator Igor Sikorsky is credited with inventing the modern helicopter. As a child, his parents exposed him to the technical drawings of da Vinci and encouraged him to pursue science. As a curious kid growing up in Russia, he was fascinated by Jules Verne’s 1886 novel ‘Robur the Conqueror (which is also known as The Chipper of the Clouds)’. This book’s description of a flying machine called the ‘Albatross’ inspired Sikorsky’s design of the helicopter. Starting test flights in 1939, Sikorsky’s aircraft was ready for larger production by 1942.

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What was the Mercury space capsule project?

On June 11, 1963, the Mercury space capsule was patented and assigned to NASA. The patent was received less than a month after the last flight of Project Mercury had been carried out.

Receiving a patent generally signals a major milestone. As an exclusive right granted for an invention, be it a product or a process, it usually denotes a new way of doing something, thereby becoming important. In the case of the Mercury space capsule, however, the patent came closer to the end.

Project Mercury was conceived as a NASA programme to put the first American astronauts in space. Named after a Roman god who was very fast, the project notched up many successes. At the centre of this success was the Mercury space capsule.

“Space capsule”

The principal designer of the Mercury spacecraft was Maxime Faget, a mechanical engineer who also contributed to the designs of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. Faget, along with Andre Meyer, Robert Chilton, Willard Blanchard Jr., Alan Kehlet, Jerome Hammack and Caldwell Johnson filed for a patent titled “Space capsule” on October 16, 1959.

In this patent application, they described their invention relating to space vehicles as a “manned capsule configuration capable of being launched into orbital flight and returned to the Earth’s surface.”

Additionally, it was capable of providing “protection for its occupant from the deleterious effects of large pressure differentials, high temperatures, micrometeorite collisions, high level acoustical noise, and severe inertial and impact loads.”

Not cosy

It did all that, but the capsule was a rather small one, with room for just one astronaut. What’s more, this astronaut had to stay seated throughout the flight. While there was very little room for even the single seated astronaut to make any movements, it was argued that not much was required as the pilot would only need to move his arms and head, and was to never leave the spacecraft during flight.

Following uncrewed flights and those with primates as part of Project Mercury, the first crewed flight took place on May 5, 1961. Alan Shepard made the first crewed Mercury flight in a capsule that he named Freedom 7. The 15-minute flight that went into space and came back down made him the first American in space.

Between 1961 and 1963, there were six successful flights as part of Project Mercury that showed that Americans could fly in space. While two of these flights were suborbital flights (reached space and came right back down), the other four made it into orbit and circled our Earth.

Every time the Mercury spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, the blunt end came in first to not only slow down the spacecraft, but also shed the heat caused by friction with the air during the descent. With layers of heat resistant ablative resins coating the curved heat shield, it charred away to minimise structural heating, preventing damage to the spacecraft, and of course, protecting the crewman.

The last of the six successful crewed Mercury Project spaceflight took place on May 15, 1963. Each of these flights lasted from 15 minutes to 34 hours, with most lasting less than nine hours.

Just a formality

This meant that by the time the patent for the Mercury capsule was awarded on June 11, 1963, it had already been put to use multiple times successfully, with each of the successes celebrated by an entire country. The patent, which was assigned to NASA, was merely a formality.

In fact, NASA retired the Mercury capsule in the same week in which the patent was awarded. The first manned space vehicle of the U.S. was retired with honours of course, having been central to a project that came at the height of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

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What is the streak of light that shoots across the night sky called?

During Earth’s journey around the Sun, there are times when its orbit crosses the orbit of a comet. It is when the planet moves through the comet debris trail that we witness meteor showers. The showers are named after the star or constellation which is close to where the meteors appear to radiate in the sky.

All of us may have seen streaks of light zip through the sky. We call them shooting stars and we also wish upon them. Well, what are these shooting stars? What are these streams of light?

Consider the objects in space. These are lumps of rock or objects in space with sizes ranging from grains to small asteroids. A small piece of a comet or asteroid is called a meteoroid.

Meteoroid

These meteoroids can be considered as space rocks. They orbit the sun and when they enter Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed, they burn because of frictional heating, causing the light. These rays of light are referred to as meteors.

When many meteors appear at once, we call it a meteor shower. During a meteor shower, a number of meteors can be seen radiating or originating from a point in the night sky.

But where do these meteoroids come from? How does Earth come across these? During Earth’s journey around the Sun, there are times when its orbit crosses the orbit of a comet. It is when the planet moves through the comet debris trail that we witness meteor showers.

The meteor showers are named after the star or constellation which is close to where the meteors appear to radiate in the sky.

The Perseids meteor shower is the most famous meteor shower and they peak around August 12 every year.

Other notable meteor showers include the Leonids, Aquarids and Orionids and Taurids.

Now what happens when meteoroid survives the journey through the Earth’s atmosphere and hits the ground? In that case, it becomes a meteorite.

Did you know that more than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth?

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What does a dust devil sound like on Mars?

Mars rover’s microphone captures ten seconds of rumbling noise created by dust devil on the Red Planet. It’s the same microphone that provided the first sounds of Martian wind in 2021.

What does a dust devil sound like on Mars? A NASA rover by chance had its microphone on when a whirling tower of red dust passed directly overhead, recording the racket.

It’s about 10 seconds of not only rumbling gusts of up to 40 kph, but the pinging of hundreds of dust particles against the rover Perseverance. Scientists released the first-of-its-kind audio. It sounds strikingly similar to dust devils on Earth, although quieter since Mars’ thin atmosphere makes for more muted sounds and less forceful wind, according to the researchers.

The dust devil came and went over Perseverance quickly last year, thus the short length of the audio, said the University of Toulouse’s Naomi Murdoch, lead author of the study appearing in Nature Communications.

At the same time, the navigation camera on the parked rover captured images, while its weather-monitoring instrument collected data.

“It was fully caught red-handed by Persy,” said co-author German Martinez of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

Photographed for decades at Mars but never heard until now, dust devils are common at the red planet.

This one was in the average range: at least 400 feet (118 metres) tall and 80 feet (25 metres) across, travelling at 16 feet (5 metres) per second.

The microphone picked up 308 dust pings as the dust devil whipped by, said Murdoch, who helped build it.

Given that the rover’s SuperCam microphone is turned on for less than three minutes every few days, Murdoch said it was “definitely luck” that the dust devil appeared when it did on Sept. 27, 2021. She estimates there was just a 1-in-200 chance of capturing dust-devil audio. Of the 84 minutes collected in its first year, there’s “only one dust devil recording,” she wrote in an email from France.

WHAT IS A DUST DEVIL?

  • Common across Mars, dust devils are short-lived whirlwinds loaded with dust that form when there is a major difference between ground and air temperatures.
  • They are a common feature in the Jezero crater, where the Perseverance rover has been operational since February 2021 – but it had never before managed to record audio of one of them.
  • By chance on September 27, 2021, a dust devil 118 metres high and 25 metres wide passed directly over the rover.
  • This time, the microphone on the rover’s SuperCam managed to catch the muffled, whirring sounds.

Sounds…so far

  • The same microphone on Perseverance’s mast provided the first sounds from Mars namely the Martian wind soon after the rover landed in February 2021.
  • It followed up with audio of the rover driving around and its companion helicopter, little Ingenuity, flying nearby, as well as the crackle of the rover’s rock-zapping lasers, the main reason for the microphone.

ROCK SAMPLES

On the prowl for rocks that might contain signs of ancient microbial life, Perseverance has collected 18 samples so far at Jezero Crater, once the scene of a river delta. NASA plans to return these samples to Earth a decade from now. Its helicopter Ingenuity has logged 36 flights, the longest lasting almost three minutes.

CAN ACOUSTIC DATA SOLVE THE MARTIAN MYSTERY?

  • These recordings allow scientists to study the Martian wind, atmospheric turbulence and now dust movement as never before.
  • The impact of the dust-made “tac tac tac sounds will let researchers count the number of particles to study the whirlwind’s structure and behaviour.
  • It could also help solve a mystery that has puzzled scientists. On some parts of Mars, whirlwinds pass by sucking up dust, cleaning the solar panels of rovers along the way.
  • Understanding why this happens could help scientists build a model to predict where the whirlwinds might strike next.
  • It could even shed light on the great dust storms that sweep across the planet, famously depicted in the 2015 science-fiction film “The Martian”.

Picture Credit : Google