News from your Planetarium

By Pam Eastlick

Hello everyone! We’ll have a waxing crescent Moon in our early evening skies this week but its light shouldn’t keep you from finding something glorious in the eastern sky although the pesky clouds of rainy season could be a problem.

There are other clouds in our summer sky besides those rain clouds. To find them, just motor to your favorite dark spot on the island and face east at about 8:00 p.m. If there aren’t too many rain clouds in that direction, you’ll see a band of clouds that doesn’t appear to move. Those clouds are far beyond the reach of earthly wind. They are the uncountable stars of our galactic home, the Milky Way. If you’re facing east, to your right you’ll see a giant fish hook in the sky. That’s the tail of Scorpius the Scorpion. The center of our galaxy is between the hook in the Scorpion’s tail and the spout of the teapot in Sagittarius.

Though you feel absolutely stationary as you lie in your lounge chair contemplating the galactic wonders, you are actually traveling in several different directions at once at incredible speed. If you contemplate the starry wonders for more than a few minutes, you’ll notice something interesting. If you find a star near the eastern horizon and look at it later, you’ll see that it’s higher in the sky. The star isn’t moving; you are, at 1006 mph as the Earth spins.

Next, look at your watch and note the exact time. Find the Scorpion’s tail in the southeastern sky and notice where it is in relation to the horizon or a coconut tree or some other landmark. Then next week, go back to the same spot at the same time and look for the Scorpion’s tail. It won’t be in the same place because your sky view has shifted. Earth, the giant spaceship we all ride, has traveled a significant distance in its orbit. As you sit there in your lounge chair, you are also travelling at 66,000 mph as the Earth goes around the Sun. Spaceship Earth travels significantly faster than most of the spaceships we’ve launched into space. As you absorb that incredible speed, you should also realize that you’re riding a much larger merry-go-round than Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Our galaxy is huge; so big that it’s hard to grasp the size. Like all spiral galaxies, the Milky Way is a flatted disc of stars. It’s about 100 light years thick out here in the galactic suburbs and it’s about 100,000 light years across. It has the same proportions as a CD with a slightly bulging center. The Sun is located about halfway out on one of the spiral arms and the galactic center, there off the Scorpion’s tail, is about 25,000 light years away.

The Earth orbits the Sun because it has to; if it didn’t endlessly fall around the Sun, the Sun’s gravity would pull it in. The same is true of the Sun. Our Sun and all the other stars in the galaxy endlessly fall around the galactic center. The closer you are to a gravity mass, the faster you must go. Mercury orbits the Sun at over 100,000 mph and stars close to the galactic center must whirl around it at incredible speed. But hey, we’re way out here in the suburbs so how fast can the Sun go? The Sun orbits the galactic center at almost 500,000 mph. And we’re being dragged along for the ride. Have a great trip!

And speaking of great trips, I’m in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the 21^st meeting of the International Planetarium Society so the UOG Planetarium will be closed until 6 August. I hope to see all of you at a Planetarium show soon!

PREDICTING THE FUTURE REDEUX

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone! Last week I wrote about predicting the future and I’d like to continue that theme this week, but instead of telling you about predictions made by scientists, I’d like to tell you about some predictions I made.

Several years ago, I wrote two Planetarium shows that I featured in the public shows we had last weekend. I called them “Back to the Future”. The first show was produced with the help of a group of kids from George Washington High School and it’s called “Saturday Night in Armstrong City”. In it, we join a group of high school seniors from Edwin Aldrin High School on their senior class trip. The year is 2040 and Edwin Aldrin High is located on the Moon.

In the second show, some people try to sell you a tour that you’ll take next year, but next year isn’t 2013, it’s 2080 and they’re trying to sell you a tour of the solar system. The name of that show is “Your Grandchildren’s Vacation” and now you know why I called the two of them “Back to the Future”.

In “Saturday Night in Armstrong City”, the kids tell us that their colony is possible because they melt ice that’s found at the Moon’s north pole and pipe the steam to the colony. Now obviously that’s science fiction because there is no colony on the Moon and no water, right?

Well according to a recent study by researchers from Brown University, there is water inside the Moon, so much, in fact, that in some places it rivals the amount of water found within Earth. The scientists studied the Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts and discovered that the amount of water in volcanic rocks on the Moon is 100 times higher than previous studies suggested.

This puts a new twist on the origin of the water ice detected in craters at the lunar poles by several recent NASA missions. That ice has been attributed to comet and meteor impacts, but this study suggests that it’s also possible that some of the ice could have come from water released by volcanic eruptions. So, it looks like I was right when I predicted there’s water on the Moon.

In “Your Grandchildren’s Vacation”, one of the tours is a two-week trip to Mercury and a flyby of Venus. In the narration I say “Night on Venus is blacker than anywhere in the solar system, but the lightning can be quite intense”.

Now, the “night on Venus” part is certainly true because Venus is always covered with dense clouds and you could never see the stars at night, but when I wrote that show, there was absolutely no evidence for lightning on Venus.

UCLA researchers have recently discovered that even though the atmospheres of Venus and Earth are astoundingly different, very similar mechanisms produce lightning on both planets. Early missions, like the Russian Venera probes, and the US Galileo spacecraft, all recorded optical and electromagnetic waves on Venus that could be produced by lightning. Yet the differences in the two atmospheres implied that lightning on Venus would be unlikely.

The Venus Express spacecraft built by the European Space Agency has a magnetometer and this instrument has been able to unambiguously confirm the occurrence of lightning on Venus. The scientists used 3.5 years of Venus Express data to discover that the number of lightning bolts and their strength is very similar for Earth and Venus. They also discovered that lightning on Venus happens more frequently during the day than it does at night and it occurs more frequently close to the equator when the solar input is the strongest.

You know, it’s really nice when your predictions come true!

Artist’s concept of lightning on Venus. (Credit: ESA)

PREDICTING THE FUTURE

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

So, let’s see a show of hands. How many of you read your horoscope every day and genuinely believe it will predict the kind of day you’ll have? I do an activity where I take the daily horoscope predictions from a couple days before, remove all references that would peg each prediction to a certain sign and type them up at random on a sheet of paper. Then I ask my audience to remember ‘day before yesterday’ and pick their horoscope for that day from the list. Strangely enough, the number of correct answers is almost always less than the number that would be predicted by random chance.

I’ve also made an interesting observation. The number of people that believed strongly in the ability of other people to predict the future dropped dramatically after 9-11 and as near as I can tell, the numbers still haven’t recovered. I guess the general consensus is that if you couldn’t predict that (and no one did) you aren’t worth your salt as a prognosticator!

I ran across two very interesting items in the ‘climate’ file that were both published in reputable scientific journals last February. They both involve predicting the future, something scientists aren’t generally noted for. Let’s see what they had to say 5 months ago.

In a paper appearing Feb. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a 12-member research team warned that drought, the build-up of combustible fuel, the spread of fire-prone species and increased tree death from insects and heat are creating the ideal conditions for “a perfect storm” of wildfires all across the American West.

Wildfires have been debated for years as either a destructive force of nature that should be eradicated or a natural force that keep ecosystems healthy. For nearly 100 years, U.S. Forest Service policy has been to suppress all wildfires, but in recent years, local forest managers have been given more latitude to evaluate which fires to suppress, while ensuring public safety.

According to the researchers, our suppression of wildfires during the 20^th century has caused a massive buildup of dead trees and that climate change and this increase in fuel will cause burning levels will be higher than at any time over the past 3,000 years. And as long as all that fuel is out there, the West will continue to burn.

Of course it isn’t just lots of fuel but higher temperatures and drought. Also last February, a different group of scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory showed that previously rare high summertime temperatures are already occurring more frequently in the mainland U.S. Their climate models project that previously rare, extremely hot summer temperatures will occur in well more than 50 percent of summers by mid-century throughout the lower 48 states.

The team first compared the period 1975-2000 to the preceding 25 years, and found that average summer temperatures that were rare in the earlier period occurred more often in the later period. Then they assessed the present period and found summer temperatures that were extreme during 1950-1979 occurred much more often in the 21^st century. A second statistical analysis showed that this increase is unlikely to be caused by regular weather variations like El Ninos or La Ninas.

They predict that the south, southwest and northeast will have the largest increases in the frequency of unusually hot summers. The increase in extremes in the southwest and northeast is explained mainly by the current and predicted increase in carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of human-caused climate change. The researchers say that what was historically a one in 20-year occurrence will now occur with at least a 70 percent chance every year.

So, has anyone been following the news? Colorado Springs? How hot is it on the East coast? Apparently it IS possible to predict the future!

News from your Planetarium

By Pam Eastlick

Greetings Everyone,

Well, here I am with a very busy week almost over and congratulating myself on getting a lot accomplished when I get two e-mails that both feature variations on “Why didn’t I get my monthly Planetarium update?”

That’s when I realized that I’d never sent it! I am SO sorry. I had it in the back of my head that I’d done it when, in fact, I had not. I shall do my best not to let it happen again!

There are some cool things happening in the sky this month and of course, next week is public Planetarium shows. Keep reading and I’ll tell you all about it!

1. Go Planetary!

2. This month’s public Planetarium shows “Back to the Future”.

3. Join me for an awesome adventure in November.

Pam (And I’ll try to do better next month!)

1. Go Planetary

If you want to see Mercury in the early evening sky, you need to look fast because this coming week is your last chance to see it for a while.

Mercury will pass between the Earth and the Sun later in the month and in August, it will become a ‘morning star’. Just go outside around 7:30 p.m.

and look about a fist-width above the position of the setting Sun.

We have two other planets in our early evening sky. To find Mars, just measure five fist-widths up from the western horizon and a couple of fist-widths to the left. That bright red star isn’t a star . . . .

And if you look straight up at around 7:30 p.m. this weekend, you’ll see another bright red star. That one IS a star, it’s Arcturus, the fourth brightest star. Draw a line from Mars to Arcturus and if you’re still facing west, to the left of the line you’ll see two more bright stars.

The one on the right isn’t a star, it’s Saturn and you’ve just found 3 of the 6 visible planets.

To see two more just get up before dawn (around 5 a.m.) any morning this month and face east where the Sun will rise. That incredibly bright star is NOT a star, it’s Venus and if you look tomorrow, you’ll see that the upside-down vee of the head of Taurus the Bull is wearing Venus like a diadem. The bright red star very close to Venus is Aldebaran, the eye of the Bull.

That really bright star just above Venus and to the left also isn’t a star, it’s Jupiter! Look tonight and look tomorrow morning and you’ll see five of the six planets you can see without a telescope or binoculars.

And how do you see the sixth one? Look down! Go planetary this weekend!

2. Planetarium Public shows

Back to the Future

12, 13 and 14 July 2012

6:30 Saturday Night in Armstrong City

7:00 Your Grandchildren’s Vacation

Since it’s summer, we’re going to take a couple of trips in the Planetarium next week. Our first excursion at 6:30 p.m. will be to accompany some graduating seniors from Aldrin High School on their senior class trip. Sound kind of boring? Well, maybe not because the year is

2040 and Aldrin High is located on the Moon.

Then at 7:00 p.m. some people are going to try to sell you a tour but they’re not taking you to Cocos Island. The year is 2080 and these people want to take you on a grand tour of the solar system. It’s called “Your Grandchildren’s Vacation”. Join us next weekend for these wonderful previews of life in the future. The doors open at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!

3. Contemplating Cairns

And for a different preview of life in a more immediate future, don’t forget to visit www.latitude13adventures.com to learn all about that awesome trip to Cairns Australia in November for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a solar eclipse in a wildlife dome with lots of Aussie critters. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope some of you can join me!

FINDING THE LOST

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone! I thought I dip into the archeology/anthropology file and feature two tales of lost civilizations. We’re using new technology to find them and we’ve discovered one beneath the trees and possibly another beneath the ocean. Read on!

Although they certainly didn’t predict the end of the world (really!), the Maya civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula was definitely advanced. Now researchers from the University of Central Florida have done a four-day flyover of the thick jungles of Belize and discovered astounding things.

They used NASA-developed LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipment aboard a small plane to bounce laser beams to sensors on the ground. This method penetrates the thick jungle and produces images of ancient buildings and environmental modifications like canals. The researchers examined the area around the Maya city of Caracol.

The NASA technology aboard the Cessna saw beyond the rainforest and detected thousands of new structures, 11 new causeways, tens of thousands of agricultural terraces and many hidden caves — results beyond anyone’s imagination. The data also confirm the size of the city which spread over 68 square miles and corroborate the previous estimates for the area’s population (at least 115,000 people in A.D. 650).

The researchers have discovered that the Mayans had an astoundingly complex and ecologically sound civilization. LiDAR has enabled them to view Caracol’s entire landscape in 3-D, which offers new clues to the understanding of how the Maya built such a huge empire and what may have caused its destruction.

More information about the Caracol Archaeological Project can be found at www.caracol.org

This LiDAR image shows the density of terracing in the Ceiba terminus area. (Credit: Caracol Archaeological Project)

But under the jungle isn’t the only place ancient civilizations can hide.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham in England say that a once fertile landmass now submerged beneath the Persian Gulf may have been home to some of the earliest human populations outside Africa. Humans may have lived in the area for over 100,000 years before it was swallowed up by the Indian Ocean some 8,000 years ago.

In recent years, archaeologists have turned up evidence of a wave of human settlements along the shores of the Gulf dating from about 7,500 years ago. Where there were only scattered hunting camps, over 60 larger settlements appeared in a very short time. These settlements featured well-built, permanent stone houses, long-distance trade networks, elaborately decorated pottery, domesticated animals, and even evidence for one of the world’s oldest boats. Archaeologists have been mystified by this sudden appearance of advanced civilization and they think the land of the ‘missing civilization’ may now lie beneath the Persian Gulf.

They consider it no coincidence that the founding of such remarkably well-developed communities along the shoreline corresponds with the flooding of the Persian Gulf basin around 8,000 years ago. The new colonists may have come from the heart of the Gulf, displaced by rising water levels that plunged the once fertile landscape beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Historical sea level data show that, prior to the flood, the Gulf basin would have been above water beginning about 75,000 years ago. And even though it was surrounded by deserts, it would have had fresh water supplied by the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. At its peak, the exposed basin would have been about the size of Great Britain.

And it would have also supplied a wonderful basis for the story of the Flood (and Atlantis?). Maybe they’ll invent something like LiDar for underwater!