We take a look at the Venus transit next Tuesday, a rare rabbit, water in our solar system, creative noise, a dinosaur with tiny arms, a Dragon spacecraft update and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.
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Venus Transit
YouTube channels : extractorrr | ScienceAtNASA
- Last time on SciByte
- Egyptian Astronomy & Smog | SciByte 45 – Venus Transit Upcoming on June 5th / 6th [May 8, 2012]
- Meteorites & Lasers | SciByte 38 – Venus Transit [March 20, 2012]
- Curiosity Rover | SciByte 22 – Science Calender [November 22, 2011]
- The low down
- On June 5 (June 6 in Australia and Asia), Venus will pass between the Earth and Sun… an event which only happens about twice and century and won’t happen again until the year 2117!
- The transit this year will last about 6.5 hours and will be visible from more than half of the Earth’s surface
- Between each occurrence is happens at uneven occurrences at 121.5, then 8 then 105.5, then 8 years again. So only four times every 243 years and only in early Dec or early June
- The next pair of Venus transits occur over a century from now on 2117 Dec 11 and 2125 Dec 08
- How to find the when and where
- Find your Local transit times
- Transit of Venus NASA/SunEarthDay Webcast information
- The Sun will set while the transit is still in progress from most of North America, the Caribbean, and northwest South America
- It will also already be in progress at sunrise for observers in central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and eastern Africa
- No portion of the transit will be visible from Portugal or southern Spain, western Africa, and the southeastern 2/3 of South America
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Due to its delicate instruments the Hubble Space Telescope can not look directly at the sun, astronomers however are planning on using the event to get science
- Astronomers are planning to point the telescope at the Earth’s moon, using it as a mirror to capture reflected sunlight
- IMAGE : Hubble image of moon, preparing for the transit Credit: NASA/ESA/D. Ehrenreich
- They will then isolate the small fraction of the light that passes through Venus’s atmosphere, to view the fingerprints of the planet’s atmospheric makeup
- The technique of viewing atmospheric filtered light is already being used to sample the atmospheres of giant planets outside our solar system passing in front of their stars
- Since astronomers already know the chemical makeup of Venus’s atmosphere they can test whether this technique will have a chance of detecting the very faint fingerprints of an Earth-like planet
- Hubble will view the transit in a range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light.
use an arsenal of Hubble instruments, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, Wide Field Camera 3, and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, to view the transit in a range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. During the transit, Hubble will snap images and perform spectroscopy, dividing the sunlight into its constituent colors, which could yield information about the makeup of Venus’s atmosphere. - Hubble will need to be locked onto the same location on the moon for more than seven hours, roughly 40 minutes of each 96-minute orbit of Hubble around the Earth before, during, and after the transit
- Such long observation are needed because astronomers are looking for extremely faint spectral signatures
- Only 1/100,000th of the sunlight will filter through Venus’s atmosphere and be reflected off the moon.
- Since the next shot at this observational opportunity is in 105 years astronomers have had to carefully plan how the study would be carried out
- * Of Note*
- During this transit, our sun will be displaying sunspots, which will allow comparing changing light patterns of suspected exoplanets with those that occur much closer to home
- Both direct and indirect data taken from this transit can be used to calibrate and infer what kind of data we could get from exoplanet observations
- Multimedia
- YouTube VIDEO : Transit of Venus – June 8th, 2004 | SLOOHSpaceCamera
- YouTube VIDEO : Fiske Planetarium: Using Binoculars to Safely View Eclipses | extractorrr
- YouTube VIDEO : ScienceCasts: The 2012 Transit of Venus | SciencAtNASA
- YouTube VIDEO : the Transit of Venus | transitvenus
- YouTube VIDEO : Transit of Venus Part One | SunEarthDay
- YouTube VIDEO : Transit of Venus Part Two | SunEarthDay
- YouTube VIDEO : Predicting a Transit of Venus: The Two-Minute Explanation… | transitvenus
- YouTube VIDEO : Fiske Planetarium: 2012 Solar Eclipse & Venus Transit | extractorrr
- YouTube VIDEO : NE Live – Transit of Venus Promo for Sun-Earth Day 2012 | SunEarthDay
- Social Media
- Sun-Earth Day (NASA) @SunEarthDay
- Further Reading / In the News
- TransitOfVenus.org
- Transit of Venus | SunEarthDay.NASA.gov
- Transit of Venus blog | blogs.ESA.int
- Evening star goes black in rare celestial event | ScienceNews.org
- Scientists to Watch Historic Venus Transit of the Sun from Alaska | Space.com
- Sun Earth Day
- Astronomer urges researchers everywhere to study Venus transit | Phys.org
- Venus Transit — There’s an App for That! | UniverseToday.com
- Hubble to Use Moon as Mirror to See Venus Transit | NASA.gov
- Hubble to Use Moon as Mirror to See Venus Transit | hubblesite.org
- Using the Moon as a mirror — Hubble to watch transit of Venus in reflected light | SpaceTelescope.org
- Transit of Venus Promotional Materials | SunEarthDay.nasa.gov
- 2012 Venus Transit – The Countdown Is On! | UniverseToday.com
- 2012 Venus Transit – The Countdown Is On! | UniverseToday.com
- The transit of Venus | Phys.org
— NEWS BYTE—
Rare Rabbit
Credit: UnivDeleware Channel | Credit: Kyle McCarthy / World Wide Fund for Nature Japan
- The low down
- A research group with the University of Delaware had cameras set up in Sumatra looking for medium- and small-sized wild cats, such as leopards
- Inside their camera trap data they found captured images of, one of the world’s rarest species, a rabbit captured on film only three other times
- Significance
- The Sumatran striped rabbit, Nesolagus netscheri, was first photographed in Kerinci Seblat National Park in 1998 and has rarely been seen since.
- They have captured 10 photographs on two occasions from areas 2,591 ft [790 meters] apart
- The images that the group found of the rabbit constitutes the most data that anybody has compiled on these rabbits ever
- Of Note
- While the group plans on continuing their study of small cats, they are now including the rabbit in their focus
- They have also reached out to the other groups on the island with photo traps (20–30 people) to increase coverage of the island
- Multimedia
- YouTube | Rare Rabbit Captured on Camera | UnivDelaware
- Further Reading / In the News
- Researchers film rare striped rabbit in Sumatra | phys.org
- Extremely Rare Sumatran Striped Rabbit Captured on Camera | Sci-News.com
- Using camera trap photos and direct sightings to identify possible refugia for the Vulnerable Sumatran striped rabbit Nesolagus netscheri | Oryx Journal
—TWO-BYTE NEWS—
Water in our solar system
Credit: Kevin Hand (JPL/Caltech), Jack Cook (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Howard Perlman (USGS)
- Last time on SciByte
- SciByte 42 – World Climate & Light Pollution [April 17, 2012]
- The low down
- If all the water on the surface of the Earth was in a ball, the radius of this ball would be only about 435 mi[700km]
- Based on the Galileo probe data from 1995 to 2003, Europa possesses a deep, global ocean of liquid water beneath a layer of surface ice
- The subsurface ocean of Europa and ice layer could range from 50–105 miles [80–170 kilometers]
- If all the water on Europa was gathered into a ball, the radius would be 545 miles [877km] making it about 2–3 times the volume of Earth’s oceans
- Multimedia
- APOD: 2012 May 24 – All the Water on Europa
- APOD: 2012 May 15 – All the Water on Planet Earth
Creative Noise
- The low down
- A professor of business administration at the University of Illinois has been studying how the level of ambient noise affects consumer sales
- The research has shown that a moderate level of noise not only enhances creative problem-solving but also leads to a greater adoption of innovative products in certain settings
- Significance
- The study shows that noise levels equivalent to a passenger car traveling on a highway, about 70 decibels, enhances performance on creative tasks
- Researchers also studied how a high level of noise, equivalent to traffic noise on a major road, 85 decibels, hurts creativity by reducing information processing.
- The 70 decibel level is enough of a distraction that it helps you with abstract out-of-the-box thinking, allowing for increased creativity
- A very high level of noise becomes a distraction that affects the thought process
- Further Reading / In the News
- Scientists Say Ambient Noise Affects Creativity | sci-news.com
- Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition | Journal of Consumer Research
Dinosaur with tiny arms
- The low down
- Argentinian expert have discovered the near-complete remains of a new species of Jurassic-era dinosaur that stood on its rear legs and had tiny arms
- The creature at 20 feet [6 meter] long looks like a smaller scale Tyrannosaurus rex, with smaller arms
- The Eoabelisaurus mefi, is the oldest known member of the Abelisauri lineage by more than 40 million years
- Multimedia
- IMAGE : Handout drawing silhouette of “Eoabelisaurus mefi”
- Further Reading / In the News
- Dinosaur with tiny arms unearthed in Argentina | phys.org
–SPACECRAFT UPDATE–
Dragon Spacecraft
YouTube Channels : NASATelevision |
- Last time on SciByte
- SpaceX & Easter Island | SciByte 47 – VenSpaceX – Dragon shipment to ISS [May 22, 2012]
- The low down
- Tuesday, 22 : Dragon launched
- Friday, May 25 : Dragon docked with the station
- Saturday, May 26 : The hatch between the Dragon and the station was opened
- Memorial Day on the Space Station was used to start unloading the 1,014 pounds [460 kg] of cargo in the Dragon spacecraft
- Unpacking will take about 25 hours
- Thurs, May 31 : Dragon will detach and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast for retrieval
- * Of Note*
- SpaceX holds a contract with NASA to make 12 more summilar supply runs the first one launching as early as September
- @ElonMusk “The President just called to say congrats. Caller ID was blocked, so at first I thought it was a telemarketer :)” post
- YouTube Video’s
- SpaceX Capsule Grappled, Berthed to ISS | NASATelevision
- –> grabbed
- –> lining it up
- –> capture
- Space Station Crew Welcomes World’s First Commercial Cargo Craft | ReelNASA
- Images
- International Space Station in 1999
- Last view of the space station from a space shuttle, Atlantis in July 2011
- Shace Shuttle Atlantis attached to the Space Station in May 2011
- Social Media
- SpaceX @SpaceX
- Elon Musk @elonmusk
- Further Reading / In the News
- Docked Dragon viewed from the Cupola Observation Dome aboard ISS. NASA TV
- Dragon grappled with Earth backdrop. NASA TV
- Enter the Dragon: Astronauts Open 1st Private Capsule at Space Station | Space.com
- SpaceX capsule has ‘new car’ smell, astronauts say (Update) | phys.org
- Astronauts enter world’s 1st private supply ship | phys.org
- Dragon makes history with space station docking | phys.org
- Astronauts capture SpaceX’s Dragon for station dock | phys.org
- Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st (Update 2) | phys.org
- SpaceX readies space station rendezvous | phys.org
- Spot the New Space Era as ISS & Dragon Streak Across the Sky – This Week Only ! | UniverseToday.com
- Private Dragon Spacecraft Is ‘Golden Spike’ of Final Frontier, Astronaut Says | Space.com
- Astronauts to Spend Memorial Day Unpacking Private Space Capsule | Space.com
- SpaceX’s No. 1 Rule for Naming Private Spaceship Parts: Be Cool | Space.com
–SCIENCE CALENDAR–
Looking back
- June 02,1889 : 123 years ago : Hydroelectricity : A hydroelectric power plant generated alternating current electricity which was for the first time made available to consumers at a significant distance from its origin. A 13 mile power line linked the Willamette Falls Electric Co. power plant to Portland, Ore. Two 300 h.p. Stilwell & Bierce waterwheels together drove a single phase, 720 kilowatt generator. It was not the first hydroelectric power plant, for one had been demonstrated in Appleton, Wisc., 30 Sep 1882 with a small dynamo. Rather, it is the use of alternating current that is significant, for this makes possible long-distance transmission that overcomes the problems of direct current. AC generators driven by steam power had been in use elsewhere since 1886.
- June 01, 1947 : 65 years ago : Photosensitive glass : The development of photosensitive glass was announced publicly in Corning, N.Y. It had first been made by the Corning Glass Works in Nov 1937. The glass is crystal clear, but exposure to ultraviolet light followed by heat treatment forms submicroscopic metal particles creating an image within the glass. This is believed to be the most durable form of photographic medium, and to be as permanent as the glass itself.
–Looking up this week–
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Spot the Dragon spacecraft attached to the Space Station!
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Keep an eye out for …
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Wed, May 30 : Saturn and Spica are to the left of the Moon in the evening, with Saturn being the higher of the two
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Thurs, May 31 : Tonight Saturn, Spica and the Moon will form a line with Saturn being the highest, the straightness of the time depends on where you live. Each within a few degrees of each other, or about a finger’s width held at arm’s length
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Fri, June 1 : Between 10–11 the Summer Triangle is in the East. Vega, brightest star in the eastern sky, is in the top corner. Deneb is the brightest star to Vega’s lower left. Altair is farther to Vega’s lower right.
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Mon, June 4 : A partial lunar eclipse will take place just before Sunrise, with Earth’s shadow covering about a third of the Moon
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Tues, June 5 : Venus Transit
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Further Reading and Resources
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More on what’s in the sky this week
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Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org