EXTANT LIFE ON MARS?THE MARS SOCIETY

ICY SCIENCE PUBLICATION: WWW.ICYSCIENCE.COM: WINTER 2013/14

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CONTENTSICY SCIENCE: DIGITAL MAGAZINE QTR 1 2014

6 One Year Mission to the ISS13 IT’S FIBONACCI’S BIT - SEEDING THE UNIVERSE WITH 0 AND 1

22 F = MA28 KNOWLEDGE OBSERVATORY STARGAZING LIVE EVENT

43 Comet Ison’s Demise44 Origin of Life On Earth62 Climate Change - A Global Catastrophe or a Figment of our Imagination?66Antarctica73 My Favorite Motions

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83 MarsExplorationRoverOpportunity Celebrates 10 Years Work-ing on Mars90 OurReturntotheMoon98 Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawai

102 In the News

top image provided by Caroline Scott

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Special ThanksCian O’ReganT: @irishspaceblog

W: irishspaceblog.blogspot.ie

Anthony RyanT: @AntRyanET

W: AntRya.nET

Julian OnionsT: @julianonions

W: http://ou-know.blogspot.co.uk/

Knowledge ObservatoryT: @KnowledgeObsAst

W: http://www.theknowledgeobservatory.co.uk/

Henna KhanT: @henna_khan

W: https://www.facebook.com/UniverseSimplified

Dan Lucus

T: @dan__lucas

John GarrettW: www.temeculavalleyastronomers.com

Denise Hemphill aka Zantippy SkiphopT: @ZantippySkiphop

Caroline Scott

T: Astro_Caz

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Contact:E: dbood@icyscience.com

TWITTER: @DavesAstronomyW: www.icyscience.com

WELCOME to another Icy Science magaizine.

This quarter we are packed with Astronomy, Space and

plenty of Science. Form a look at our origins to climate

change. We have another look at numbers and a look

at the last year on he ISS. From the cold of space to the

freezingcoldofAntarctica. We visit a Stargazing Live

event with the Knowledge Observatory and a look at

humankinds retun to the moon.

NEXT EDITION MAY 2014

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ONE YEAR MISSION TO THE ISS

In March 2015, one astronaut and one cosmonaut will launch from Ka-zakhstan to spend one year living and working in space aboard the Inter-nationalSpaceStation.

NASAastronautScottKellyandRussianFederalSpaceAgencycosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, will launch atop a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan along with fellow cosmonaut Gen-nady Padalka, scheduled for March 2015. Kelly and Kornienko will live aboardtheorbitingcomplexforoneyear,beforereturningtoEarthin2016.

Kornienko and Kelly will spend one year living on

the International Space Station in 2015

TheoneyearmissionwillallowscientiststoseehowthehumanbodywilladapttothemicrogravitylivingandworkingconditionsfoundaboardtheISS,aswellasexaminingthepsychologicaleffectsoflivingofftheplanetforoneyear.ThescientificcommunitywillalsobecarefullywatchinghowKellyandKornienkore-adapttolifebackonEarthafterspendingayearinlow-Earthorbit.Changesinvisionarejustoneofthemanysideeffectsthathavebeenobservedinsomeastronautsreturningfromlong-duration

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spaceflights,andresearcherswanttolearnmoreaboutitsrootcausesanddevelop countermeasures to minimize this risk.

The duo will also have to combat bone and muscle loss (which happens to everyastronautwhentheyflyinspaceforseveralmonths)byexercisingfor2.5hourseachday,usingthestation’streadmills,bikemachineknownasCEVIS(standsforCycleErgometerwithVibrationIsolationandStabilizationSystem)andaweightsmachinecalledARED(standsforAdvancedResistiveEx-erciseDevice).Forasixmonthmission,astronautscanloseupto15%musclevolume.

Justincaseyouwerewondering,thiswillnotbethefirsttimehumanbeings will be sent into orbit for a year-long mission. In 1994, cosmonaut Valeri Polyakovspentover437dayslivingaboardtheRussianspacestationMir,beforereturningtoEarthin1995.Despitesufferingfromacleardeclineinmoraleforthefirsttwomonthsofhismission,Polyakovwasabletoregainhispre-flightmoodfortherestofthemission.

ScottKellywithRobonaut2duringExpedition26

UponreturningtoEarthinhisSoyuzcapsuleafterasuccessfulmission,Polyakovdecidedhewouldratherwalkthesmalldistancefromhisspacecrafttoanearbyrecliningchair,demonstratingthathumanswouldbeabletowalkonthesurfaceofMarsafterseveralweightlessmonthsintransitfromEarth.Thisextra-longdurationmissionshowedthatthehumanbodycoulddealwiththestrainsandstressesoflivinginspaceforsuchanextendedperiodoftime.However,KellyandKornienkowillbethefirstspacefarerstospendayearliv-ingontheInternationalSpaceStation.

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I feel we need to know more about what

happens to the body and what happens to the mind when you stay in space for a long time, so I think that now is a good time and I think we should do it.

DOUG WHEELOCK SAYS

I think the greatest chal-lenge will be managing the physiology &

psychology of isolation, emotion, & senses... it is critical to stay in the mo-ment

RecentlyIbeganaskingastronautswhohavespenttimeliv-ing and working aboard the ISS about the one year mission, and what they thought the biggest challenges will be for Kelly and Kornienko.

ESAastronautandExpedition26/27FlightEngineerPaoloNespoli, who spent six months living on the ISS in 2010 & 2011,toldmethatnowisagoodtimetoanattemptamission of this nature:

also asked Doug Wheelock, who, like Nespoli, lived aboard theISSalongsideScottKelly,abouthisthoughtsontheup-coming mission, and what challenges would be faced by the one year crew. He went on to say that the biggest obstacles wouldbedealingwiththementalstressesoflivingofftheplanetforsuchalongtime:

Finally,IrecentlyspokewithExpedition35/36FlightEngi-neerChrisCassidy,whoreturnedfromtheInternationalSpaceStationbackinSeptember2013,abouthisthoughtson the one year mission:

“In my experience on coming home day, as we were closing the hatch I thought to myself “What would I think if I was halfway done right now? How would I feel? What would I need? To be honest I felt a little accumulative fatigue- when you’re living at your workplace, and you can’t shut the door to work and go home in the evening and kick back and watch Monday Night Football- you’re there all the time and it eventually catches up to you”.

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Cassidy,whocompletedatotalofthreespacewalks,orEVAs,duringhismostrecentflight,alsohadafew

ideasregardinghowthecrewdoesn’tbecomefatiguedwiththeheavyworkloadthatcomeswithliving

aboardtheorbitingoutpost,suggestingalongerweekendfromtimetotimeinthesecondhalfofthemission:

“I think my recommendation would be in months 7 through 12, the second half of the year is to have a three day weekend every month because you really need a good recharge. Sunday is a really good day to have a recharge, and to have an extra Sunday thrown in the mix every now and then would go a long way”.

Allinall,itappearsthateveryoneinscienceandspaceexplorationfieldsareconfidentabouttheoneyear

mission. Both Kelly and Kornienko have lived aboard the ISS before, so it’s fair to say that we have a very

experienced crew on our hands, logging a total of 356 days in space between them.

It is hoped that data recorded from this 2015 mission will assist teams on the ground in their understand-

ingoftheeffectsoflongtermsweightlessnessonthebody,andwhatitmaybelikeforhumansiftheywere

sentonamissiontoMarsinthefuture.AfterKellyandKornienkoreturntoEarthin2016,wewillnodoubt,

beonesmallstepclosertothehumanexplorationoftheRedPlanet.

GODSPEED........

Words: Cian O’Regan

Images: Wikipedia & NASA

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Binocular Astronomy, 2nd Edition

BinocularAstronomy,2ndEditiongoesfardeeperthansimilarbooksintothevaryingopticalcharacteris-

ticsofbinoculars,givingnewcomersandadvancedastronomerstheinformationneededtomakeinformed

choicesonpurchasingapair.Italsocoversrelevantaspectsofthephysiologyofbinocular(asin“botheyes”)

observation.Thefirsteditionofthisbookwaspraisedforitssuggestedobjectsforobservationandespe-

ciallyforthefinderchartsforeachobject.Inthissecondedition,thissectionisexpandedinthreeways.

Therearenewobjects,moreinformationoneachobject,andare-organizationoftheobjectsforbinocu-

larsforeasierselection.

BinocularAstronomy,2ndEditionputsanemphasisonunderstandingbinocularsandtheiruse.Theaddi-

tionalcontentreflectsthelatestdevelopmentsintechnology,newtestingtechniques,andpracticalideas

forbinocularuse.Italsorespondstothesubstantiallypositivereviewsofthefirstedition,andisnoweven

bettersuitedtoitstargetreadership.

ItisavailableinprintandKindleeditions.

Springer:http://www.springer.com/astronomy/popular+astronomy/book/978-1-4614-7466-1

AmazonUKPrint:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1846283086/1944

AmazonUKKindle:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00EITWQE2/1944

AmazonUSAPrint:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00EITWQE2/tonkinsastronomy

AmazonUSAKindle:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00EITWQE2/tonkinsastronomy

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Image Credit: Ant

Ryan

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Abstract.JohnWheelersuggestedthatinformationisfundamentaltophysics,resultingintheverynatureofwhatweobserve.However,anyinformationthatpassesbeyondaneventhorizonbecomesempiricallylost. What happens to it? Here, I explore the fundamentals of how infor-mationisexchangedinreality,howitchanges,andanypotentialforittobedestroyed.RemarkablytheFibonaccisequence,appearingsoofteninnature, is revealed from this voyage, bringing with it possible answers to Wheeler’squestion.

Wheeler’s 0’s and 1’s

John Wheeler suggested that everything we observe in the known Universe

(theit)islessfundamentalthantheinformationthatproducesit(thebit);bit

short for Binary Digit, in turn owing to the Binary code used to store informa-

tionincomputing.IaskcouldtheUniversehaveabase2systemwith0and

1atitsfoundation.

Wheeler was also known for popularising the term ‘Black Hole’, which is a

greatplaceforQuantumGravitytoemergeandinformationtohide.Isuggest

inthisessaythatthefoundationsforrealitybeginwithemergenceof0and

1dimensionalityatasingularityresultingintheUniverseweliveinandin

whichinformationisprocessed.

IT’S FIBONACCI’S BIT - SEEDING THE UNIVERSE WITH 0 AND 1

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Fibonacci’s 0 and 1’s

Bydefinition,thefirsttwonumbersintheFibonaccisequenceare0and1,andeachsubsequentnumber

is the sum of the previous two.

ThesequenceFnofFibonaccinumbersisdefinedbytherecurrencerelation:

Fn=Fn-1+Fn-2with seed values

F0 = 0, F1 = 1BoththeFibonaccisequenceandWheeler’sfoundationalquestionrelyupon0and1.DespiteWheeler’s

0and1beingmainlysymbolic,thebasicideaof0andsomethingasalternativeanswerstoyes/noques-

tionslendstoinformation.Likewise,Fibonaccibeginswithsomethingandnothing.

FibonaccinumbersoccurinmathematicsasthesumsofshallowdiagonalsinPascal’striangle,theycan

befoundindifferentwaysinthesequenceofbinarystrings,andarerelatedtotheGoldenratio.Every

secondFibonaccinumberisthelargestnumberinaPythagoreantriple.Allpositiveintegerscanbe

writtenasasumofFibonaccinumbers.Fibonaccisequencesappearinbiologicalsettings,intwoconsec-

utiveFibonaccinumbers,suchasbranchingintrees[1],arrangementofleavesonastem,thefruitletsof

apineapple[2],thefloweringofartichoke,anuncurlingfernandthearrangementofapinecone[3].The

Fibonaccinumbersarealsofoundinthefamilytreeofhoneybees[4].

Perhapsitisn’ttoomuchofaleapoffaithtoincludereality’srelationshipwithinformation,“ItfromBit”,

asanotherofFibonacci’sattributes.

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ThelinkbetweenFibonacciandWheelermayseemspeculativehoweverIwillshowalogicalrelationship

whichtheFibonaccisequencehaswithbothinformationandreality.

Athoughtexperiment:DescentintoaBlackHole(andbackout)

Interaction,observationandbeingobserved,iskeytoallofphysics,andinformationisattheheartofthis.

Normal4-dimensionalspace-timecomprises3spatialdimensionswhichallowthepassageofinforma-

tion,astimepasses,betweenseparatepointsinspace-time.Thatis,aparticle,forinstance,canobserve,

inwardlyreceivinginformation3-dimensionally,whileoutwardlyrevealinginformation3-dimensionally.

Usingthistrainofthought,ataBlackHole’seventhorizon,informationisnotsofreeinallspatialdirec-

tions–nopathwaysleadoutwards.Informationcanbereceived3-dimensionallyfromoutside,butno

informationfrominsidetheblackholecanbereceived.Likewiseattheeventhorizoninformationcan

be revealed 3-dimensionally towards the singularity, but nothing can be revealed outwards away from

theblackhole,becausenopathwayspointoutwards.Theonlydirectionwhereinformationcanbeboth

received and revealed is 2-dimensionally across this 2-dimensional horizon.

OnceinsidetheBlackHole,pathwaystendtowardsgreaterandgreaterspaghettification,beforethe

0-dimensionalspaceisreachedatthesingularity,atsomecriticalpoint,informationcanonlyberevealed

1-dimensionally.Finallyatthesingularityitself,informationcanonlybereceivedfromthatpoint

1-dimensionally.

Atthesingularityinformationcannotbereceivednorrevealedbecausethereare,bydefinition,0-dimen-

sionsofspaceatthatuniquepoint.Hence,wecanenvisageinformationhavingdiscreteandlimitedenvi-

ronmentsforitspassage.0and1emergeasdimensionalitiesconcernedwiththesingularityitself–quite

binary, and, as we know, the seed values for Fibonacci.

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Figure 1 shows that as we descend into a Black

Hole,different“altitudes”presentinforma-

tionwithuniqueprocessinglimitations,tothe

order,3,2,1,1,0dimensionsrespectively;this

matches the Fibonacci sequence.

Figure1.Howinformationisexchangedfollow-

ing the Fibonacci sequence when moving into

and “out” of a Black Hole.

WeknowthattheFibonaccisequencecontinues

past 0:

-3,2,-1,1,0,1,1,2,3[5]

At the singularity, knowing that no pathways

move outwards from anywhere beyond the

event horizon, we imagine what becomes of

anyattemptforinformationtoescape.Thisis

whereFibonaccireallyassistsinexplanation.

Thesequenceitselfallows-1+1=0,asimple

quantumfluctuationakintoavacuum.Iwould

suggestthatthisiswhatnakedsingularitiesdo.

In larger supermassive black holes with the

presence of an event horizon, this takes the

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sequencenearlyfullcircletohave2,-1,1,0,1,1,2,3dimensionalarenasforinformationtoexchange.

Theyareallunique,forexamplethepositivesequence2representstheeventhorizonwhenheading

intotheblackhole,thenegativesequence2,istheresultofbuildingneweventhorizon–conserving

dimensionalitywhenthesequencefollowsthroughtothispoint.Thefinalpart-3-dimensions,againcon-

servesdimensionalitybygivingtheUniverseoutsidetheBlackHoleinformation,confirmingthatabitof

3-dimensional space has fallen in, so the Universe gets -3 back out.

Entropy

TheUniverseseemstowantinformationtofallintoaBlackHole;entropyisperhapsthedrivingforcefor

this.

Asimplexisthesmallestconvexsetcontainingn+1vertexforn-dimensions,suchasa2-dimensionaltri-

anglecontaining3vertices.Ipositutilisingn+1toexploreentropy,asarepresentativeoftherespective

dimensionality’s order.

Ifweassignthen-dimensionaln-simplex,thenthenumberofverticesn+1increaseswith“decay”from

VFnVFn-1+VFn-2workingbackwardsthroughFibonacci’ssequence.Inotherwords,asinformation

falls into a Black Hole, its entropy increases more than the decrease in entropy for the outside Universe.

Table1showsanincreaseindisordermovingfromVFnVFn-1+VFn-2Thisisalwaysanincreaseof1for

thepositiveFibonaccisequence.HoweveronceFn=-1becomespartofthevertexresultthesimplerela-

tionshipislost.

Tocontinuetoachievethe+1decayresults,wemustreachastrangeconclusionthatdimensionswith

negativeFibonaccinumbersgiveasimplexvertexnumberof0,i.e.themeanofthepositiveandnegative

vertexnumbers.Ifweconsiderjustthenegativedimensionswithnegativevertexsimplexnumbers,

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wegetareductioninentropy,whichwe’dexpectmathematically.Thiswouldresultina-1change,orfall

in entropy.

Assumingpositivesimplexnumbersbasedonanaxiomthatdimensionscan’tbenegative,thenentropy

increasewouldbelarge.However,ifwetakethemeanofboththeseresults,weincreaseentropyby+1as

before.

Iwouldsuggestthatinrealterms,consideringnegativedimensionstoexistonlyasquantumfluctuations

ofasingularity(0-dimension),whichwouldthennaturallyfavourpositivedimensionalityasymmetrically,

producinganaturalarrowoftime.However,alltheseoutcomes,once0-dimensionalityisreached(and

exceeded)givethreestrangelydiversequantumlikeresults,suchas:

i) Thesingularitydoesnotreleaseinformationatall,becausecontinuingonFibonacci’ssequence

results in an entropy decrease.

ii) Thesingularitycanreleasethesameamountofinformationthatitreceives,asentropycontinues

to increase as previously.

iii) Thesingularityiscapableofreleasingvastamountsofinformation.ThiswouldoccuriftheBlack

Holewaslosingalotofmass,whichbringsustoHawkingRadiation.

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HawkingRadiation

Thepresenceof-1dimensionalityevokesthepossibilityofHawkingRadiation,wheretheBlackHolecan

losemassandaccordingtothisapproach,information.Forthenegativedimensionality,itisonlywhen

weconsiderboththepositiveandnegativesimplexvertexnumbersthatweachieveincreaseinentropy

consistentwiththatofthepositivepartofthesequence.DecayfromFn=0+1-1wouldseemingly

resultinannihilationbackto0,but+1alsohasthecapabilitytodecayto0+1.

Noticetherepeatingnatureofthe-1,1,0,1,1partofthesequence,whichallowsBlackHoleswithout

the2-dimensionaleventhorizon(nakedsingularities)toveryquicklylosemass.Theotherrouteinvolving

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2-dimensionalityretainstheself-replicating+1.LargerBlackHolesshouldloselessmass,asthereisless

chancetolose1andmaintain-1(HawkingRadiation)themore2-dimensionalityithas.

However,wheninformationescapesinthismanner,itshouldmeanthatitisconserved,albeitunrecogni-

sable from before it was massively altered inside the Black Hole.

Fn=2dimensionalityinthenegativesequencedecaystoFn=-3and5,butthesimplexvertexproduct

VFnincreasesfrom3to6(anatypicalincreaseof+3),notfollowingthesimple+1patternforthemean.The

lower result is an entropy decrease of 1, while the upper result would increase entropy by VFn = 7, result-

ing in loss of mass from the Black Hole. Hence, it seems decay onward to 5-dimensions isn’t favoured either

symmetricallyorasymmetrically,giving3-dimensionalityalimitinourrealityandininformationexchange.

Conclusion

Fibonacci,ItandBitappearequallyfundamental,asthesequencegivesinformationtorealityonhowinfor-

mationcanbeexchanged-asortof“chickenandegg”relationship.

Dimensionality number is conserved during “decay”, adhering to the reversal of the Fibonacci sequence,

whileshowinganincreaseinentropyvian-simplexvertexnumber.Thismeansthatinformationisalsocon-

served,butleftmuchlessordered,whenenteringaBlackHole.At0-dimensionsinformationcan’tbepro-

cessed.Butthesequence10,1reproduces1,sothatinformationisneverdestroyed.

Utilisingthisapproachtounderstandinformation’srelationshipwithrealityhasshownpotentialtohelpin

ourfurtherunderstandingoftheasymmetryoftime.

AnyinformationremaininginsidetheBlackholeisnotdestroyedandtheoriginaldimensionalityisalways

conservedbyfollowingtheFibonaccisequence;itmayjustbeinsomeinstancesthatitmaytakeaninfinite

amountoftimeforinformationtoescape.

Thissystemalsolendsitselftoaspatially3-dimensionalUniverseemergingfrom0-dimensionailty,because

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informationexchangeislimitedto0,1,1,and2-dimensionailtywithinaBlackHole,whichishiddenfromthe

3-dimensionality outside. In this respect Black Holes are analogies to the holographic principle in reverse.

References

[1]Douady,S;Couder,Y(1996),“PhyllotaxisasaDynamicalSelfOrganizingProcess”(PDF),Journalof

TheoreticalBiology178(178):255–74,doi:10.1006/jtbi.1996.0026

[2]Jones,Judy;Wilson,William(2006),“Science”,AnIncompleteEducation,BallantineBooks,p.544,ISBN

978-0-7394-7582-9

[3]Brousseau,A(1969),“FibonacciStatisticsinConifers”,FibonacciQuarterly(7):525–32

[4]TheFibonacciNumbersandtheAncestryofBees

[5]Knuth,Donald(2008-12-11),“NegafibonacciNumbersandtheHyperbolicPlane”

WORDS:ANTHONYRYAN

Science Fiction & Fact Writer. Atheist. Would be

Physicist; did wrong degree. Quantum Gravity.

Animal Loving. Vegetarian. Fan of #DrWho #GoT

et al.

UK · AntRya.nET

FOLLOW ANTHONY ON TWITTER

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F = maThisisperhapsthesecondmosticonicequationinphysics,afterE=mc2whichprettymucheveryonehas

heard of, this is the next most likely one you’ll have heard of.

It’s famously embodied as Newton’s second law. However it’s really not an obvious law at all.

Soletsstartbydefiningterms-wehave:

● F-theforce,basicallyyoucanthinkofthisashowhardyouhavetopushsomething.Thestandard

unit of force is the newton - appropriately enough.

● m-themass-massisatrickything,asitcansortofmeantwothings.Youcangetawaywiththinking

of it as the weight of something and whilst not precise, it will do for most everyday cases.

● a-acceleration-andthistellsyouhowquicklyyougetquicker(orslower),

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So-thisissayingthatforce,massandaccelerationareallintimatelyrelated.Anequationisabalance,

so if you add something to one side you have to balance it on the other side, or if there is more than one

thingonasideyoucantradeoneoffattheexpenseoftheother.

So lets say we have a mass of 1kg, around about a bag of sugar. What does this formula tell you about

things?Itsaysifyougiveitapush,itwillaccelerate.Ifitsstandingstillitwillstarttomove.Nowthisisall

well and good, but it doesn’t meet with our everyday experience.

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Place a bag of sugar on the table, and gently push it. The sugar starts to move, BUT crucially when you stop

pushing it, it generally stops moving. Now if F=ma is true, this shouldn’t happen. We should give it a push,

anditwillstarttoaccelerate,sayfrom0m/sto1m/sto2m/s.Ifwepushitharder,wemightgetitto3m/s,

butitwillstillstopinshortorder.

SothislooksmuchmorelikeF=mv-(visvelocity-orspeedineverydaylanguage)theharderyoupushsome-

thing the faster it goes, and it you keep pushing with the same force, it will keep going at the same speed.

Thatisn’twhatNewtonsaidthough,accordingtohimaquickpushwillsetsomethinginmotion,anditwill

movealonghappilyforeverafter.Infactthisishisfirstlaw,whichroughlytranslates(partially)assomething

at rest will stay at rest unless you give it a push.

Oureverydayexperienceiscloudedbyahiddenforce,theforceoffriction.Thisisaforcethatresistsmotion.

Itcanbefrictionbetweenabagofsugarandatable,awheelandtheroad,oranaircraftandtheair.All

theseacttoresistthemotion.Inaperfectvacuum,sayoutinspace,thisisallsomucheasiertosee.Give

anastronautapush,andhewillkeepmoving,whichisbothwonderfullyliberating(Iimagine)andapain

intheneckafterawhile.

Soanyway,ittookinsighttoseethatrealequationisF=maandnotF=mv,andtothendoexperimentswhere

frictionisfactoredouttoproveit.

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Givenwe’vegottheequation,wecanseelotsofthings.Inacar,ifyouwanttoplayfirstawayfromthetraffic

lights(whichisgettingbetteracceleration)youcandotwothings.Youcangiveitabiggerpush,withalarger

engine. Otherwise you can reduce the mass, make it out of lightweight materials. Of course, a bigger engine

isoftenheavier,soyougetmoreforce,butmoremass.Thisisevenmorecrucialinthingslikeaircraft,where

you’rewantingtocounteracttheforceofgravitytoo.

NowthisREALLYcomesintoitsownwhenyouconsiderarocket.Itstrueformostpoweredthings,buteven

more so for rockets. Most of a rockets weight is its fuel. However as the rocket launches it burns up its fuel.

Soassumingtheenginesgenerateaconstantthrust(force)thingsaregoingtochange.

Letsassumetherocket isgenerating1newtonof thrust,and

weighs one kg. We can work out how fast it will accelerate

F = m * a

1 = 1 * a

solve for a - well it has to be 1. So this rocket will accelerate at 1

m/s/s.However,ashorttimelater,itmayhaveburnt½akilogram

offuel.Sonowtherocketweight½akg.Sonowit’s

1=½*a

solvefora-itsnow2m/s/s.Whenit’sburned¾ofakilogramof

fuel, its now

1 = ¼ * a

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solvefora,andnowitsacceleratingat4m/s/s.Sothisiswhyit’scalledrocketscience!It’sacontinuingvari-

ableequation,whichneedscalculustosolveitfully.

However what’s true of a rocket is also true of anything that moves. So your car takes more force to move

when it’s full of petrol, or when it is full of passengers, or full of luggage, or even just yourself if you’ve put

on some pounds over Christmas.

Words: Julian Onions

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BBC Stargazing LIVE event

Our 2014 Stargazing LIVE event, which took place on January 11th 2014 at The Heath Business and Technical

Park,wasa12hourdayandeveningextravaganzaofstargazing!

TKO Ambassadors Jacqueline Lightfoot

and Emma Doward, the welcoming face

ofourevents,worktirelesslyatthefront

of house.

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Our‘AstronomyforEveryone’programmewasdesignedspecificallytoengagethelocalcommunityinHalton

andmoreparticularlyfamiliesandcompletebeginnerstogivethemtheopportunitytoexplore,investigate

andhaveagoatwhathasbecomeahugelypopularactivity.

Publicityandmarketing

It was, without doubt, challenging to deliver an event so early in January, with schools, businesses and the

general public focusing on Christmas. In the weeks leading up to the event many places were closed, just at

thetimewhenwewouldnormallybepromotingandmakingcontactwiththosewewishedtoengage.

We did have the advantage of the publicity generated by both being accepted as part of the BBC Stargazing

LIVE events around the country and the screening of the Stargazing LIVE shows, now hugely popular with the

general public.

WehittheshopstheweekendafterNewYearkindlysupportedbyKarlClawley,themanageroftheRuncorn

Shopping Centre and we spent 2 days with our telescopes, planisphere’s, books and our fabulous TKO Ambassadors

John Liggins and Emma Doward.

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The tremendous interest and excitement shown by the children and adults alike made it a very reward-

ing weekend. We lost count of the number of people who exclaimed that they had ‘bought a telescope

recentlyorhadoneintheloftbuthadnoideahowtouseit’or‘Ihavealwayswantedtoknowwhatto

look for, I would love to learn more’. All those that we spoke to expressed delight in having the oppor-

tunity to learn and to experience observing the sky with help from astronomers.

AndrewwasabletopromotethedayonhismonthlyAstronomyshowonHaltonCommunityRadio,a

showwithworldwidelisteners!Wehanddelivered500flyerstolocalschools,groups,libraries,shops

andbusinessesandagainworkedTwitterandFacebookhard,tospreadtheword.

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WehadalsoinvitedBrowniepacksfromRuncorntoattend,providingachancetogaintheirStargazingbadge.They

enthusiasticallytookuptheopportunityandawellorganisedcrowdof30inthemorningand25intheafternoon

livenedupourdayimmensely!

Dear Sue

Can you give our thanks to all those who were involved in organising and present-ing the event today. We took a group of 8 Brownies this morning and had a great time. It was both educational and fun. Everyone was so helpful and engaged with the Brownies really well. There were plenty of activities to do. We loved the planetarium particularly and covered so much of the stargazers badge work just at that one ‘experience’

Thank you again

Barn Owl with 7th Runcorn Brownies

On the day

Ourprogrammeforthedayincludedshortpresentationsof20–25minutesonsubjectschosenfortheirappealtoa

wideaudienceofadultsandchildren.Wewantedtoencourageasmanypeopleaspossibletoenjoythepresentations,

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nottobeintimidatedandfeelthattheywere‘highbrowandtooacademic’.

Just to say that I thought it was great to see so many families and individuals at the stargazing event

onSaturday.ConsideringthatthiswasthefirstsucheventinRuncorn,Ithoughttheturnoutwas

prettygood.

I was very happy to be able to support the event, and it goes without saying I’m more than happy

to support any future such events. Anything that helps to inspire & enthuse kids, and raise their life

opportunities&expectationsisagoodthing!Email-DrPaulSapple

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Thepresentations,givenbyourownAndrewDavies,AdeleHortonandNeilPhillipsonfrom

Astronomia, Dr Paul Sapple from the University of Liverpool and Gerard Gilligan from the

Liverpool Astronomical Society, were an overwhelming success. With a full house and groups

ofchildrensittingonthefloor,theonlymistakewemadewasunderestimatingthetimings

of each session. We had deliberately kept sessions short to maintain interest but neither pre-

sentersnoraudiencewantedtostopandbytheafternoonsessionswewereoverrunningby

anhour.Mindyouno-onewascomplaining!

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In addition to the presentations we had an events hall full of activities.

Stacey Haberghan, Dr Jon Marchant

andtheteamfromtheNationalSchools

Observatory at Liverpool John Moores

and from the Ogden Trust, had a won-

derfularrayofactivitiesandhandson

science.With theMoonsaicactivity,

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celebrity match-up quiz, Liverpool Telescope, other wavelengths, spectroscopes and lamps, plasma ball and

thescaleofthesolarsystemactivity.Adultsandchildrenwerefascinatedbythedisplaysandexperiments

and all delighted by the chance to have a go.

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

MissMolyneuxandtheBalshawScienceAmbassadorsandEmperorscaptivatedchildrenandadultsalike,

withflyingteabags,edibleconstellations,strawrocketsandballoonkebabs,theirskillandpassionalwaysa

hugehitwiththeaudience!

The planetarium was so incredibly popular that Paul and Alan from STFC ran 11 full capacity sessions

from10.00amuntil8.30pm!Suchstaminaandpatienceandsomanydelightedvisitors!

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Our own amazing TKO ambassadors Jonathen and John were the perfect double act in our beginner’s corner.

Offeringhelp,adviceandanopportunitytohaveagowithawidevarietyoftelescopesandprovidinguseful

tipsandhintsandlessonsonusingaplanisphere,theyhadapermanentcrowdofattentivelearners.

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

Adele and Neil from Astronomia had a varied selec-

tionofbeginnertelescopesandbinocularsanda

superb range of books and astronomy resources.

There was plenty of sound advice for those seeking

tobuytheirfirsttelescopeandhelpforthosewho

werejuststartingtheirjourneyintothefascinating

world of astronomy.

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Weweresoincrediblyluckythatbylunchtime,the

skies cleared and the sun shone so that Neil’s solar

observingpresentationwasdeliveredoutsidewith

the solar scope. So popular was the session that

Neil was press ganged into doing it all again later

intheafternoon!

paulatancock‏@paulatan1972Jan11

@KnowledgeObsHadagreatdaytoday,found

outlotsofinterestingfacts!Manythanks

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Our own Knowledge Observatory stand had

informationaboutourastronomycourseand

the family club we hoped to start. We spoke to

many people who were so keen to get going that

wemaynotbeabletodelaythestartuntilafter

Easter.Wehavemorethanenoughapplications

tostartatleastonelocalcourseafterEasterand

ahugelyenthusiasticgroupofpeopletobegina

family astronomy club. We are thrilled with such

interestandwillinvestigatepotentialvenuesfor

boththecourseandtheclubinacentralRuncorn

location.

Inaddition,wehadprovidedsomeofourastron-

omy teaching resources and material, quizzes,

wordsearch,puzzles,gamesandactivities.The

1000piecejigsawprovedtoodifficultforeven

the most accomplished puzzlers so we shall

investinafewlesscomplexoptionsforthenext

event!

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In the evening

Wehadkepttheeveningsessionflexiblewithpresentationsandactivitiesonhandshouldtheweathernot

be kind enough to allow night sky observing. Incredibly, the sky stayed clear through the whole evening

and the quadrangle provided an excellent place to set up all the telescopes and we were delighted with

theminimallightpollutiondespitebeingintown.

We had asked visitors to bring their own telescopes and our team helped to set them up and provided

adviceandassistanceingettingthebestoutofthem.Iwasexhilaratingtohearthe‘Oohs’and‘Aahs’as

manyvisitorswereabletoseeJupiterthroughtheirowntelescopesfortheveryfirsttime.

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Liveobservingwithagroupoffascinatedbeginnersisfantasticallyrewarding.Thequestionscomethickand

fastanddespitehavingadvertisedfinishingat10.00pmthescopeswerestilluplongafter11.00pm!Wewere

joinedbytwolocalPoliceofficers,nowconvertstoastronomyandwhohavesignedupforanewlocalclub!

We had over 350 local people through the door

and the feedback has been staggering. We

have,withoutdoubt,hadasignificantimpact

on the uptake of astronomy in our community.

And the good news?

‘We are doing it all again on Saturday the 8th

MarchforNationalAstronomyWeek’

‘Just wanted to say a huge thank you for today’s

event, it was absolutely brilliant from start to

finish. My family and I learned a lot (the pre-

sentations were fantastic - please pass on our

thanks to the other speakers), and seeing the

bands on Jupiter through one of the tele-

scopes was just wonderful! We got home and

have spent the last hour or so wrapped up in

the garden checking out Jupiter’s moons, the

Orion nebula, the Seven Sisters cluster, and the

Moon with our 15x70 binoculars... I think we

may be adding a telescope fairly soon! Thanks

again for an inspiring day.’ (email Michaela)

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Comet Ison’s Demise.The Comet Ison fever reined right up to its torn demise on the morning of November 28th 2013. I

imaged the Sun’s Orb breaking the horizon over the sea surf at the volcanic Island of Fuerteventura

NorthcoastofCorralejo.MyeffortstocaptureanimageoraglimpseofcometIsonsurvivaland

patharoundtheSunwasnottobe.TheSun’sgravitationalforcesandpullprovedtoomuchfor

Ison to defy and hold together to give us the comet of the century.

We can only wait for another comet to encoun-

ter our domain and give us a chance of viewing

an awesome spectacle in the future.

SherwoodObservatoryNottinghamshire.

Images taken in prder from the top

07:29:52

07:30:00

07:30:28

Words & Images:

Michael Knowles.

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Origin of Life on EarthLife is: “A self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution”

– Gerald Joyce, NASA scientist, 1994

Therearethreepossibilitieswithregardstotheoriginoflife:

1. Life arose from non-life through natural processes on Earth

2. Life arose elsewhere in the Universe and was transported to earth

3. LifearoseonEarththroughsupernaturalintervention

Thisarticleexploresthepossibilityandevidenceforthetantalizingideathatlifearoseandevolvedfromnon-

life and through natural processes.

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Building blocks of life:

The most basic building block of life is a chemical element. There

are 6 elements which play a central role in the fundamental struc-

ture of all life on Earth. These are Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen,

Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulphur.

Elements come together to form molecules wherein the atoms are

held together by chemical bonds. Carbon element is considered

as the back bone of all life on earth as it can easily bind with other

atoms to form molecules. This is why we are called carbon based

life. Some examples of molecules are amino acids and sugars.

Whensimplermoleculesattachtoeachothertoformlongchains,

more complex molecules are formed. Amino acids form proteins

while nucleic acids form DNA.

All life on earth is made up of cells. These are microscopic struc-

tureswhichallowforchemicalreactionsbetweenmoleculesto

occurforthefunctioningoflife.

ImageSource:http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/jamieprouty/502/

webquest/intro.html

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Therearethreemajorfunctionalpartsinacell:

1. Energy system - This consists of proteins which provide energy

throughmolecularchemicalreactionstoperformfunctionsoflife.

2. InformationSystem(DNA)-This isthegeneticcodewhich

allowscellstogrowandtoreproduce.Thisinformationistransferred

fromonegenerationtothenext.

3. Membrane-Amembraneenclosesallthechemicalreactions

of molecules within a cell. It is made from structures called lipids.

Requirementforlifetoarise:

1. Rawmaterialforlife–Elements

Theelementshydrogenandheliumwereformedatthetimeofthe

Big Bang, when the universe was created. All heavier elements are

created inside the core of massive stars through the process of nuclear

fusion. When these stars die in a supernova, they seed clouds of gas

and dust with these heavier elements, which in turn collapse to form

new stars and planets.

2. Water

For simple molecules to come together to form more complex mol-

ecules, we need a liquid to help them move around, such as water.

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3. Energy source

Life needs an energy source for metabolism.

The story of Origin of life

Study of zircon grains in Western Australia suggests

that water was present as early as 4.4 billion years

back on Earth.

The story of Origin of life

Study of zircon grains in Western Australia suggests

that water was present as early as 4.4 billion years

back on Earth.

Amino Acids to form Proteins:

There are three possible sources for organic molecules

such as amino acids:

1. Urey-MillerExperiment–Thishasbeenoneof

the earliest experiments conducted to test the idea

that sun-lightdriven chemical reactionsonprimi-

tiveEarthmighthaveproducedthebuildingblocks

oflife.Intheexperimentaflaskofwaterwasheated

to produce water vapour. The water vapour was then

passedthroughanotherflaskwhichcontainedgases

Urey-MillerExperiment–

Image Source

http://digitaljournal.com/image/43968

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

tosimulatetheprimitiveatmosphereofEarth.Electric

sparks were provided across the chamber to provide

energyforthechemicalreactions.Afteraboutaweek

of this experiment, it was found that amino acids and

organic molecules had formed in the container.

2. PolycyclicAromaticHydrocarbons(PAHs)–These

molecules are found in interstellar medium, in comets

and in meteorites and could be the basis of the earliest

form of life on Earth.

3. Comets/ Meteorites – Murchison meteorite

which fell in Australia in 1969 has been found to be rich

in organic molecules. Over 14,000 molecular compounds

and 70 amino acids have been found in the meteorite.

It is possible that these building blocks of life arose on

some other parent body and were transported to Earth

from elsewhere

Murchison meteoriteImage Source:http://en.wik ipedia .o r g / w i k i /Murchison_meteorite

NucleicAcidstoformDNA/RNA:AmoreprimitiveformofDNA(Dioxyribonucleicacid)istheRNA(Ribonucleicacid).RNAcanselfassemble

intoribozymeswhichcancarryoutchemicalreactionsincludingselfreplication.

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

AmoreprimitiveformofDNA(Dioxyribonucleicacid)istheRNA(Ribonucleicacid).RNAcanselfassemble

intoribozymeswhichcancarryoutchemicalreactionsincludingselfreplication.

RNA as a predecessor to DNA.

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Difference_DNA_RNA-EN.svg

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

RNAismuchsimplertomanufacturethanDNAasitonlyhas

asinglestrand.Itispossiblethatthefirstlifeonearthwas

RNAbasedwhichlaterevolvedintoDNAbasedlife.Whatwe

wouldliketoknowishowthefirstself-replicatingstrandsof

RNAcameabout.

Experiments show that several silicate minerals can act as cat-

alysts to enable complex, organic material to self assemble.

Theseinorganicmoleculeshaveaparticularmineralstructure

andtheoldestzircongrainsconfirmthatthesewereabun-

dantly available on Earth about 4.4 bn years back. Moreover,

these silicate minerals contain layers of molecules to which

organicmoleculescaneasilyattachto.Whenorganicmole-

culesattachtothemineralsurfaceinthisway,theycanbe

forced into such close proximity that they react with each

other to form long chains of molecules.

Laboratoryexperimentshaveconfirmedthatnaturalpro-

cessessuchasthiscaneasilymanufacturestrandsofRNAup

toafewdozenbasesinlength.Scientistshavediscoveredan

RNAstrandonly5baseslongwhichcanactasaribozyme.

In this way it is possible that simple ribozymes could have

been formed, which then acted as a catalyst for forming more

complexself–replicatingRNAmolecules.

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MembranesFormoleculessuchasaminoacidsandnucleicacidstoformproteinsandDNArespectively,itwasrequiredfor

themoleculestobeconcentratedtogetherforextendedperiodsoftimeandalsotobeprotectedbyharmful

ultravioletradiationfromtheSun.

Someofthepossiblelocationswheremoleculescouldhavebeenconcentratedforchemicalreactionstotake

place are deep sea vents, impact craters, beaches, and volcanic hot springs.

ButevenifwehavethesimplemoleculescomingtogethertoformproteinsandDNA/RNA,westillneeda

structuretoholdthesemoleculestogethertoenablechemicalreactions.Elsethemoleculeswilljustdissipate

The third important structure of a cell is a membrane.

This is formed by lipids. Lipids have a head and a tail

structure.Theheadisattractedtowaterwhereasthe

tail is repulsed by water. When lipids are put in water,

they spontaneously form an enclosed membrane, trap-

ping organic molecules within it to facilitate chemical

reactions

Image: Lipids forming Cell Membranes

Source: http://www.autismcoach.com/product_p/

ar-001.htm

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

Lipidshaveamazingproperties.Theycanselectivelyallowcertainmoleculestopassthroughthem.Theycan

also store energy in the form of electrical voltages across their surfaces which can be discharged to facilitate

reactionsinsidethem.Insomecasestheycangrowsobiginsizethattheybecomeunstableandsplit into

smaller spheres.

Thisishowthefirstcrudeproto-cellscouldhavebeenformedonEarthwithsimplestrandsofRNAbeing

trapped within a lipid pre-cell.

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ProtocellwithsmallRNAstrandstrappedinsideamembrane.

ImageSource:http://universe-review.ca/F11-monocell.htm

Severalproto-cellsofvariousmolecularchemicalcombinationscouldhavebeen

formed.Evolutionensuredthattheoneswhichadaptedbesttotheirenviron-

ment replicated faster while others perished. The ones which survived eventu-

ally evolved into DNA based life.

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Evidence: In order to reconstruct the story of the origin of life we study the geological records

ofEarth.However,norocksfromthefirsthalfbillionyearsafterearth’sformation

have survived. What we know comes from limited geological clues and laboratory

experiments.

Three lines of fossil evidence suggest that life arose quite early on earth, earlier

than 3.5 billion years back.

1. Stromatolites–Thesearerockswhichhaveadistinctstructuredlayer.They

are formed in shallow waters by the trapping and binding of sedimentary grains

by mats of microorganisms. The oldest stromatolites which imply fossil remnants

of early life are about 3.5 billion years old. However, this line of evidence has been

undersomecontroversyasgeologicalprocessesofsedimentationcanalsomimic

their layering.

Source: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life

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2. Microfossils

MicrofossilsfromtheApexChert,arockformationinAustraliahavinganageof3.5bnyrs

Source:http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/2005/02/seeking-lifes-earthly-cradle

Morerigoroustestsneedtobeperformedonmicrofossilsbeforeanydefinitiveconclusionismadetowards

evidenceofearlylifeonearthasmentionedinarticlebelow.

Articlelink:http://phys.org/news/2011-03-overturns-oldest-evidence-life-earth.html

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3. ChemicalSignature/IsotopesTherearetwocommonlyoccurringcarbonisotopes–carbon-12andcarbon-13.Lifepreferstousethelighterisotopeof

carbonwhichiscarbon-12.Inorganiccarbonsamplealwayscontainsasmallproportionofcarbon-13.

OnanislandoffthecoastofGreenland,rocksabout3.8bnyearsoldwithlowercarbon-13isotopehavebeenfoundsug-

gestingabiologicalorigin.Howevertheserockshavebeensubjectedtohighpressureandheat.Sothislineofevidence

alone is not conclusive.

While each line of evidence individually is subject to controversy, all three put together give us important clues about the

origin of life on earth.

References:

1. AstrobiologycourseonCoursea.org(https://www.coursera.org/course/astrobio)

2. Book:LifeintheUniversebyJ.Bennett,S.Shostak(http://www.amazon.com/Life-Universe-Edition-Jeffrey-Bennett/

dp/0321687671)

WORDS: HENNA KHAN

Mumbai, India

Owner at Universe Simplified - info@universesimplified.com -http://www.universesimplified.com/

Astronomy/ Science Educator, Skeptic, Travel Freak, Proponent of Disrupt Education

58

I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4 IMAGE: ORION BY MARY SPICER

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CLIMATE CHANGE?

Image: NASA

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Climate Change - A Global Catastrophe or a Figment of our Imagination?

Climate change is a natural phenomena. Like many pro-

cesses on Earth it is cyclical. It has been occurring for

millionsofyearsandwillcontinuetodosoformillions

more.HurrahIheartheskepticscryout.Finallyascien-

tificpiecesupportingourpositionpublicly.Butholdon,

Donald Trump shouldn’t crack open his champagne just

yet.

The debates surrounding climate change are based

around whether or not we are having an impact on the

climate and whether or not we should act. Most skep-

ticsagreethatclimatechange ishappening,however

they argue that it is purely natural and our lifestyles have

had no impact on global warming or our climate whatso-

ever. Supporters however, argue that, although a naturally

occurringprocess,ourCO2emissionsaredramatically

increasing the rate at which global warming is occurring.

Theypointtorisingoceantemperatures,meltingicecaps,

andincreasinglyirraticweatherpatternsasevidence-all

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ofwhichskepticsdenyasconcreteandargueinconclusiveresultswhichcanbeinterpretedinanynumber

of ways. Unfortunately for them however, this just isn’t the case. In 1988 an Intergovernmental Panel on

ClimateChange(IPCC)wasestablishedwiththeaimofindependentlyreviewingallevidencepertainingto

climatechangeinordertoadviseonwhataction,ifany,wasneeded.Sowheredotheystand?Well,they

haveconcludedwithgreaterthan90%probabilitythatmostoftheobservedwarmingsincethemid-20th

Centuryisduetohumanactivity.Theirprojectionssuggestthatwarmingoverthe21stCenturywasata

more rapid rate than at any point over at least the last 10,000 years.

SoifitisobvioustoScientiststhatsomethingishappeningasaresultofhumanactivity,whyisthereeven

needforadebate?Iftheevidenceissoclear,howcantherebeskeptics?Theanswertothatofcourseis

simpleenough...Money!

It would be very cynical of me to point out that the majority of the argument against climate change comes

frommulti-billiondollarglobalcorporationshellbentonprofiteeringatanycost,butcouldthatberight?

Couldtheseskepticsbefightingapropagandawartokeeptheirbankaccountshealthyatthecostofthe

natural world?

In its simplest form, the debate on climate change can be summarised as follows:-

• Therearetwopossiblescenarios,eitherouractionsareincreasingglobalwarmingandwreaking

havoconourclimate,orwearehavingnoadditionalimpact.Thismeansthatglobalwarmingiseithertrue,

or it is false.

• For each scenario there are two out outcomes. Either we act, or we don’t act on climate change.

The table below outlines the consequences of each outcome in each scenario in order to highlight what I

believe to be the fundamental reasoning behind the need for a debate on climate change.

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I C Y S C I E N C E | Q T R 1 2 0 1 4

TRUE FALSE

ACT Cost outweighed by benefit

Life carries on

Cost - global depression, soc ia l/economic/pol it ica l systems all fail

DON’T ACT Global Catastrophe - sea level rises, temperature rises, atmospheric changes, pollu-tion, breakdown of economy etc.

Life carries on

As you can see, the consequences of making the wrong decision could be catastrophic. If we don’t act and

our theories are correct, it could be the end of life as we know it. However, if we act when there was no

needwecouldtriggerrecessiononanunprecedentedscalewithglobalramifications.

Obviouslythere’severychancewecouldmakethecorrectdecision,butclearlyforsome,thefinancialcost

ofgettingitwrongisjusttoohighapricetopayforthecontinuedfutureofhumanity.

WORDS:DANLUCUS

DanisaregularwriteronICyScience,youcanfindDanonTwitter@dan__lucas

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nternationalSpaceStationastronautAndreKuiperscapturedspectacularaurorablazingoverAntarctica

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nternationalSpaceStationastronautAndreKuiperscapturedspectacularaurorablazingoverAntarctica

AntarcticaAntarcticaistheearth’smostsoutherlycontinent. It isacold,

windy and a dry wilderness. Despite its remote and challenging

conditionslifehasevolvedhere.Theregionisafundamentalpart

of our planets climate and eco system.

Antarcticahassomeofthebiggestseasonalchangesontheplanet.

The coastal regions in summer can hover around freezing while

the interior can drop to -20 ° C. Limited plant life will grow during

thesummermonths;howeverwinterbringsharshbittercold.

The coldest surface temperatures have been recorded here with

a staggering -89.2 ° C.

So how does Antarctica differ from the Arctic?

Thearcticismostlyfrozenseasurroundedbylandit isasemi

enclosedsea.Antarcticaislandsurroundedbysea.

ArcticAntarctica

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WildlifeThere isquiteadiverse selectionofwild-

life.Limitedbutstillabletogrowareafew

planets,whichsomeflower.Themostwell

known wildlife is of course the Penguin. The

penguin is one of the few creatures that can

live, breed and survive the cold harsh condi-

tions.Therearethreespeciesofbirdsthat

breed in theAntarctic.Otherwildlife that

make their home here or at least for some

part of the year include, whales, Colossal

Squids, fur seals,

Otherorganisms that live in theAntarctic

region are fungi, mosses, liverworts, algae,

bacteria and phytoplankton.

Climate& Temperature

Summer: The summer months are December

toFeb/March,therearetemperaturevari-

ations across the continent, generally on

coastal areas the temperatures are around

freezingandcansometimesbepositive.The

interiorhoweverismuchcolder;thisisdue

Above: Image from http://www.asoc.org/issues-and-advocacy/antarctic-wildlife-conservation

Below: Orca (Killer Whales)

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to itselevation,higher latitudeanddistancefrom

the sea. Temperatures in the interior never really get

above -20 °C.

Winter: Coastal regions can range between -10 and

-30°C,theseaaroundthecontinentfreezesadding

and increased land mass. The interior can fall below

-60 °C, with the coldest temperature recorded at the

RussianstationVostokin1983at-89.2°C.

Antarcticahasjusttwoseasons.BecausetheEarth

inspaceistiltedwhichneverchanges,duringthe

summertheAntarcticisbathedinsunlight,however

in winter the reverse happens and it is in constant

darkness.

DidyouknowAntarcticaisadesert?

Despiteitsbrightwhiteappearancethereisverylittle

snowfallinAntarctica.Whatsnowhasfallenbecomes

layered and forms ice sheets.

Snow mainly falls in the coastal regions with limited

snow in the interior However in recent years snow fall

has increased and this can be down to global warming

of the planet.

Aurora australis lights up the winter sky at the South Pole Station, Antarctica.

Image Source: http://icestories.explor-atorium.edu/dispatches/

Below: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/fea-tures/contenthandler.cfm?id=2504

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WindsAntarcticawindscanbemoderatehowevergales

and hurricane winds do happen, the winds distrib-

uteanysnowfallwhichoveraperiodoftimeadds

to the ice sheets.

Sea IceThe sea ice plays an important role in the global

climate system and eco system. Sea ice is seasonal

and occurs mostly during the cold dark winter

season,theicesignificantlyexpandstheareasland

mass.BoththearcticandAntarcticseaicedrives

theverticaloceancirculationsystem,whichredis-

tributes heat between the equator and the poles.

This movement carries nutrients around the seas

and oceans.

Sea ice modulates exchanges of heat, moisture and

gases between the atmosphere and the ocean.

The ice itself is less salty than the sea water, salt

or brine creates tubes in the underside of the ice,

thebrinefiltersdownintothesea,thesaltwater

sinkscreatingacirculation.Algaegrowinthebrine

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tubes. Krill feed

Climate Change Recentlya researchshipgotstuck in the

Antarcticseaice,despitereportsthatthick

ice formed around the ship this is actually

untrue. The ship got stuck in area where

thefloatingseaicewasmoredenselypop-

ulated;thismadeitmoredifficultforthe

ship to navigate through.

Climate and climate change, are complex in

Antarctica,geologicallytheregionhastwo

distinctiveregions,EastAntarcticaandwest

Antarctica.SeparatedbytheTransAntarctic

Mountains but connected by the vast ice

sheet. The vast expanse makes climate

changelessuniformthanthatoftheArctic,

whereclimatechangeeffectscanbeseen

moredramatically.Theinterior icesheets

and glaciers over the past decades have

shownsignificanticeloss,thisismainlyin

westAntarctic.HoweverintheRossSeaarea

therehasbeenincreasedseaice.TheRoss

seeissituatedinWestAntarcticaborder-

ingtheTransAntarcticMountains.Possible

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causescouldbethemeltingicesheets;freshwaterflowingintotheseaareaisdilutingthesaltyseawater,

whenseaicefreezesthesaltisrejectedintheformofbrine.Bydilutingtheseawateritraisesthefreezingtem-

perature.Aswenowwaternonsaltywaterfreezesat0°whilesaltywaterstartstofreezeat-1.9°C.(NOAA)

IncreasedsnowfallhasbeenrecordedinAntarcticaespeciallyinEastAntarctica.Snowfalliscontributedby

warmertemperatures,increasedairhumiditycausesprecipitationandifconditionsandtemperaturesareright,

we have snowfall.

Below Image of a formed Brine Tube, formed in the sea ice.

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MyFavoriteMotionsI’manobserverofEarth’sorbit,myfavoritemotion.Idothisbyobservingwherethesunandmoonrise

andsetthroughouttheyear,whetherthehornsofacrescentmoontilthighorlow,orhowhightheeclip-

ticis.Trackingthesemotionshaspaidoffatleasttwice:Onceitmademerealizethatapartiallunareclipse

would peak while the moon sets behind a high ridgeline I live under, and at 4:40 am the following morning,

I took this picture from my yard:

Perhaps I guessed and got lucky.

Regardless,understandingEarth’sorbit

offersuseful tools of prediction,but

moreimportant(thesecondpayoff),it

pulled me into studying climate science.

Understanding Earth’s orbit is as much

a subject for climatologists as it is for

astronomers.Inastronomy,detections

of exoplanets, for example, must be cor-

rectedforEarth’smotion.Inclimatology,

past climate change must be interpreted with regard to Earth’s changing orbit. The orbit parameters of interest

aretilt,eccentricity,andprecession.Duetotugsfromthesun,moon,andotherplanets,theseparameterschange

onscalesofthousandsofyears,comparableinscaletomajorshiftsinEarth’sclimate.

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Figure1:Orbitalparamterstilt,

eccentricity, and precession

(Nottoscale).

Changes to Earth’s orbit alter

thedistributionofsunlightbetweenthenorthernandsouthernhemispheres.Understandingtheeffectof

subtleshiftsinthisenergydistributiongivescluestohowsensitiveEarth’sclimateistosmall,gradualchanges.

Tilt is easy for anyone to observe, as it is primary driver of seasons and of the changes of the sun and moon.

Forclimate,thedegreeoftiltdetermineshowextremethedifferencebetweenseasonscanbe.Forexample,

inFigure2,thetwoworldsmayhavethesamesunandthesameorbit,butwouldhavedrasticallydifferent

seasonsbecauseofthedifferencesintilt:

Figure:Right-EarthtodaywithahypotheticalEarthhavinga90degreetilt(nottoscale)

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Suchadifferenceinseasoncouldalsoresultindras-

ticallydifferentglobalclimates,whereoneishabit-

able by humans and the other isn’t.

Eccentricity is less obvious to the casual observer but

easy to observe with a telescope suitable for solar

observations(thatis,hasapropersolarfilter).Ifyou

observe the sun in January, it will appear larger than

thesameobservationinJuly(seeFigure3).

Whiletiltandeccentricityarediscernablefromshort-

termobservations,precession requires long term

Figure 2 Above : Earth today with a hypothetical Earth having a 90 degree tilt (not to scale)

Figure 3: Apparent difference in the size of the sun at aphelion and perihelion (orbit is not to scale)

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observations.Astronomers knowprecessionas the

changeinorientationoftheEarth’srotationalaxis.It

makes our star charts go out of date every 25 years

andhasmovedboundariesoftheconstellationssothat

theynolongerfollowthecurrentlinesofdeclination

and right ascension.

I’veobserveddiscrepanciesinthecycleattributedto

precession, and so I speculate their is common confu-

sion over the concept. This is not surprising, for “pre-

cession”hasdifferentmeaningsdependingonwhether

one is an astronomer or a climatologist. When people

say precession occurs on a cycle of 26,000 years, they

probablymeanastronomicalprocession;iftheysaya

cycle of 19,000 to 23,000, then they’re probably refer-

ingtoclimaticprecession.

Sowhatisprecession?Itisthecounter-motionyouget

whenyoutrytochangetherotationalaxisofagyro-

scope. Earth is the gyroscope whose axis currently

points toward Polaris. Earth’s equator is the wheel of

thegyroscope.Thegravitationaltugsofthesunand

moon are trying to pull the equator into line with their

orbits. As a result, Earth’s pole follows a circular path

thatrepeatsroughlyevery26,000years(seeFigure4).

Whereas astronomical precession is Earth’s moving axis

ofrotation,climaticprecessioncombinesthemoving

Figure 4: Precession of Earth’s rotational axis (not to scale)

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axis with the changing eccentricity of Earth’s orbit.

As shown in Figure 5, Earth’s orbit is an ellipse, not a true circle, and so the amount of solar energy Earth

receives varies throughout the year.

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Currently, Earth’s perihelion occurs near the northern hemisphere’s winter and the southern hemisphere’s

summer.Thus,thesouthernhemisphereinsummergetsalittlemoresolarenergythanthenorthernhemi-

spheregetsinitssummerandthereversehappensinWinter.Northernhemispherewintersgetalittlemore

solarenergythansouthernhemispherewinters.Notethatthepointsofsolsticearedeterminedbythe

directionofthetilt,andperihelionandaphelionaredeterminedbyeccentricity.Thesolsticesdonothave

to occur near perihelion and aphelion.

Now,considerprecession.PrecessiondeterminestheplacementofseasonsinrelationtoEarth’sorbit.Figure

6showstheseasonsasquartersectionsofEarth’sorbit:

Figure6:Earth’sseasonsshownasa4-colorring(nottoscale)

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Thesolstice is thepointwereEarth’saxispoints

toward or away from the sun (toward or away

dependingonwhichhemisphereyou’rein).Nowif

thisdirectionoftiltchanges(precesses),thepoints

ofsolsticeandequinoxmoveasshowninFirgure7:

Figure7Right:Precessionmovessolsticesandequi-

noxes clockwise.

Asthesolsticesandequinoxesmarktheseasons,the

seasonsmove,rotatingclockwise.Figure8shows

theseasons,equinoxes,andsolsticesrotatedclock-

wise. Imagine precession as all of these orbit ele-

mentsrotatingclockwise,foracompleteloopevery

26,000 years.

Figure 8: Seasons shown as a 4-color ring moving clockwise with precession

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Nowifclimaticprecessionconsideredthemovementoftheaxisonly,earth’ssolsticeswouldrealignwith

Earth’ssemimajoraxisevery26,000years.However,thisdoesn’thappenbecausetheorientationofthe

semimajoraxisisalsomoving,butincounterclockwisedirection.Gravitationaltugsfromotherplanets,pri-

marilyJupiter,changethedegreeofeccentricityandrotatethesemimajoraxis.Giventime,theseopposite

motionsmoveaphelionfromthesouthernhemisphere’ssummertothenorthernhemisphere’ssummer

and back again at cycles that vary from 19,000 to 23,000 years.

Figure9:Seasonsmovingclockwisewithsemimajoraxismovingcounter-clockwiseinduceaclimaticpre-

cession cylee that varies between 19,000 and 23,000 years.

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Thisisisclimaticprecession,anditislinkedtomajorshiftsinEarth’sclimatefromglacialtowarminterglacial

states. An area of intense study is understanding how this happened to the Eemian period 125,000 years ago,

andhowittriggeredthemostrecentdeglaciationstartingabout21,000yearsago.

And this only scratches a surface of this topic. The forces changing the orbit do vary, and that’s why preces-

sionvariesfrom19-23,000years.Itwouldtakesophisticatedcalculationsbeyondmyabilitiestodescribethe

exactmotions,butitisnotdifficulttoappreciatetheeffectandunderstandhowthedatacanbeusedinpub-

lished climate science.

Effortstolinkorbitandclimatehavealonghistory.Inthe1840s,JosephAdhemarproposedthattheice-sheet

inAntarcticacouldbelinkedtothesouthernhemispherewinteroccurringataphelion:a“smaller”sunresult-

ing in less sunlight which could sustain colder temperatures.

Inthe1870s,JamesCrollofferedanalternativehypothesis:BecauseEarthtravelsmoreslowlyasitapproaches

aphelion, the southern winter was longer by 8 days than the northern winter, thus the southern hemisphere

spendsmoretimefartherfromthesun.

Inthe1930s,MilutinMilankovitchturnedtheideaaroundbysuggestingthatorbitalparameterscreatingcool

summersandwarmwintersathighnorthernlatitudesmayexplaintheriseandfalloficesheets.Thistheoryis

currentlyheldbyclimatologists.Butthesolarenergychangesandthetimingofthesechangesisasmallpartof

theclimatepicture.Theseenergychangesalonearenotenoughtoexplaintheshiftsinclimateoverthepast

millionyears.Calculatingorbitalchangesgivesclimatologistsanestimateofhowmuchenergywasintheorig-

inalpush,buttherestofthemomentumcamefromEarthitself.Changingthedistributionofsunlightchanges

thedistributionoficesheets,whichcandisturbthemotionofoceancurrents,whichcanaltertheamountof

CO2theoceansabsorb,whichcanleadtoincreasesinatmosphericCO2,whichinturnmagnifytheinitialpush.

TheEarth’sresponsestotheinitialpushisgreatlysimplifiedhere.Fullcoverageisanon-goingtopicinseveral

professionaljournals,whereclimatologistsaddressnumerousquestionsyettobeanswered,suchaswhy

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some interglacials vary in dura-

tion,whysomearewarmerthan

others, and why orbital changes

sometimesfailtotriggerglobal

climate change. Though there are

questions,therearealsoenough

answers to know how Earth

can react to a change in energy,

whether that change is from orbit

or CO2. I invite anyone interested

in Earth’s orbit to discover what

this topic shares with climate

science,tobetterunderstandthe

basis for climate forecasts, and to

betterevaluatethenecessitypol-

iciesneededtoanticipatethese

forecasts.

Some recom-mended links from Skeptical

Science on climate science history and orbit:

History of Climate Science: www.skepticalscience.com/history-cli-mate-science.html

History of Climate Science – Interactive Timeline: www.skepticalscience.com/cshistory.php

Milankovitch Cycles: www.Milankovitch.html

The Last Interglacial (first of a 5-part series): www.skepticalscience.com/LIG1-0706.html

WORDS & IMAGES JOHN GARRETT

John Garrett is an illustrator who draws for Skeptical Science www.SkepticalScience.com and promotes astronomy through the Temecula Valley Astronomers

(www.temeculavalleyastronomers.com).

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Mars Exploration RoverOpportunity Celebrates 10 Years Working on Mars

By:NicoleWillett,EducationDirector,

The Mars Society

With all of the hype surrounding the Mars

ScienceLaboratory(MSL)Curiosity,itiseasy

forthepublictoforgettheMarsExploration

Rovers(MER)SpiritandOpportunity.The

twin rovers were each launched by a Delta

II Heavy Lifter rocket in the summer of

2003.TheOpportunityRoverlandedusing

the airbag method in Meridiani Planum

onJanuary25,2004threeweeksafterthe

SpiritRoverlanded.Thisveryindustrious

rover was planned for only a 90 day surface

missionandhasnowgone39timespastits

planned mission. On January 25, 2014 the

Opportunity rover completed 10 full Earth

years on Mars. The two rovers have made

many wonderful discoveries and they paved

the way for Curiosity. Each rover has a dis-

tinctpersonalityandeachhaveencountered

theirownchallenges.SadlyfortheMERteam,althoughSpirit

also far exceeded its mission, the last contact with Spirit was

in 2010. In honor of Opportunity and her twin, Spirit, a new

museumexhibithasopenedattheSmithsonianInstitution.

Huge wall size panoramas of Mars give visitors a sense that they

are on the surface of the planet. The exhibit also has a full scale

model of the rover as its centerpiece. The name of the exhibit

is“SpiritandOpportunity:10YearsRovingAcrossMars”The

museumofficialsstatedthatthepurposeoftheexhibit isto

combineartandscienceinamultimediaexperiencethatvisi-

torswillbeimmersedin.(Space.com)

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Ten years ago Opportunity bounced to a stop and landed in Eagle Crater. The landing site was named Challenger Memorial

StadiuminhonoroftheastronautswhoperishedintheSpaceShuttleChallengerdisasterin1986.EagleCraterisasmall

craterwithalayeredoutcroppingofgeologicalfeatures.Thiswasaserendipitousplaceforalanding,somestatingitas

an astronomical “hole-in-one”.

In keeping with NASA’s “follow the water” goal on Mars, the JPL website states the following:

“UnderstandingthehistoryofwateronMarsisimportanttomeetingthefoursciencegoalsofNASA’slong-termMars

ExplorationProgram:

• Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars

• Characterize the Climate of Mars

• Characterize the Geology of Mars

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•PrepareforHumanExploration”

To accomplish these goals, Opportunity carries a plethora of

scientificinstrumentsandcameras.Therovercarriesapan-

oramic camera, a hazard camera, and a microscopic imager.

Italsohostsasuiteofspectrometers(aninstrumentthatuti-

lizestheelectromagneticspectrumtoanalyzedata),anda

rockabrasiontool(RAT).Manyoftheseinstrumentsareat

theendofaroboticarmthatextendstosampleandanalyze

the rocks, soils, and minerals.

Images: Top Opportunity Image-NASA.gov

Left:JellyDonutImage-NASA.gov

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As the rover traverses the many craters on Mars and stops and

analyzes each area, she has made many discoveries. A major dis-

coveryatthelandingsite,asstatedbyNASAscientists,isthatthe

areawasatonetimesoakedwithwater.Thiswasdetermined

by the vast number of spherules found at the site that were later

determinedtobehematite. Thespheruleswerenicknamed

“blueberries”duetotheirshapeanddistribution.Also,inthe

falsecolorimagestheyappearedtobeabluishhue.Hematite

is found on Earth and is known to be formed in the presence

ofwateroveralongperiodoftime.Itisamineralformofiron

oxide.ThiswasamajordiscoveryfortheMERteam.

AnunexpecteddiscoverywasHeatShieldRock.ThisisaMartian

meteorite discovered near the heat shield that had fallen to the

groundaftertheroverlanded.Thiswillalwaysbeknownasthe

firstdiscoveryofameteoriteonanotherplanet.Themeteor-

itewasprettyeasytospotagainstthebackgroundofMartian

soilandrocks.The“weathering”onameteoriteisquitedistinct

comparedtoanyindigenousmatter.

Ironically the mission has been extended so long, in part due to

the weather on Mars. The rover’s power source is in the form

ofsolarpanels.ThesurfaceofMarsiscoveredinfinedustand

isverywindy. Severaltimesoverthecourseofthemission,

the solar panels have been covered in dust. The weather on

Marsoftenincludesdustdevils. Thesedustdevilshavebeen

responsible for clearing the dust covered solar panels, thereby,

Squyres speaking at the Mars Society 16th Annual Conven-tion-The Mars Society

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rejuvenatingthepowertotherover.Thiswasanunexpectedandhappyeventfortheteam.

Opportunityhasalsomadeastronomicalobservations.Theseincludethetransitsofbothnaturalsatellites,

Phobos and Deimos, across the face of the Sun. The rover’s cameras have also photographed the Earth,

whichappearsasanindistinctbrightobjectintheMartiansky.Thisremindsusofhowsmallwereallyare.

Some of the major craters that Opportunity has visited include, Endurance Crater, Erebus Crater, Victoria

Crater, and Endeavour Crater. More recently at Endeavour Crater, Opportunity discovered a bright vein of

gypsum.Thishasbeennicknamed“HomestakeVein”.Theidentificationofthissubstanceismorestrong

evidence of water on Mars in the past. Another recent discovery, in September 2012, at Endeavour Crater

isaverydenseaccumulationofspherulesthataredifferentthanthehematitespherulespreviouslydis-

covered.Itisstatedthatthespherulesinquestionhaveasoftmiddleandcrunchyouterlayer.Theyare

stillbeinginvestigatedastowhattheircompositionis.Opportunityhasenduredaharshclimateandsur-

vived,perhapsthrived.WhenIaskedDr.SteveSquyres,NASA’sPrincipalInvestigatoroftheMERmission,

aboutthehealthofOpportunityatthe16thAnnualMarsSocietyConventioninAugust2013,hestatedthat

withtheexceptionofafewminorissues,theoverallhealthisgoodandthateachdaywithOpportunity

isagift.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbr9CEjI6c)Thecreditforthismustbegiventothehun-

dredsorthousandsofpassionatescientistswhodesigned,developed,andimplementedthismission.The

OpportunityRoverismanagedbyateamattheJetPropulsionLaboratoryinPasadena,Ca.OnJanuary16,

2014,NASAheldaspecialeventtocelebratethe10yearanniversaryoftheMarsExplorationRovers(MER)

SpiritandOpportunity.ThoughwehadourlastcommunicationwithSpiritinMarch2010,Opportunityis

stillrovinganddiscovering.Squyres,spokeattheeventheldatCalTechandrevealedthelatestbignews

was that a jelly-donut-like rock seemed to have appeared out of nowhere near the rover. Squyres described

the rock as white around the edges with a dark red-center which has the size and appearance of a jelly-

donut. He stated that his team was very surprised and when they did the preliminary analysis they dis-

covereditwascomposedofsulfur,magnesium,andmanganese.Theyarediscussingthepossibilitiesof

howtherockarrivednexttotherover,twoleadingtheoriesarethatitwasflungfromunderthewheelof

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the rover or that it is a piece of impact ejecta from a nearby meteorite impact. A third possibility may be

that a dust devil carried it across the landscape and it landed by the rover. More detailed analysis of the

rockisaheadfortheMERteam.ThereismoretobeholdfromOpportunityinthefuture,staytuned……

Blueberries on Mars-Astrobio.net

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Brian B Ritchie

“This is my first RGB Jupiter, done with the C8 and ZWO ASI120MM and the Baader filter wheel at f.15. Seeing was a bit mushy. Also the colours seem a bit off. Otherwise I’m quite happy for a first attempt”.

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OurReturntotheMoonThelanderofChang’e3tookapanoramicshotofMareImbrium,theSeaofRains,withthelittlerover,Yutu,

offonanearlyjaunt.Photocredit:CNSAandKenKremer.

China’sChang’e3lunarmissionlandedonthemoonthispastDecember,2013.Thisisverylikelythefirst

stepinhumankind’scontinualactivepresenceonthesurfaceofthemoon.MareImbrium,thelandingspot,is

the largest basin on near side of the moon, just to the south and west of the north pole at 44 degrees North.

China’sfirsttwomoonmissions,Chang’e1andChang’e2,orbitedthemoontodeterminethebestterrain

and elements of interest for a landing area. Based on that data, and the data collected by the orbiters of

othercountries,MareImbriumwaschosenovertheoriginaltargetareaofSinusIridum(BayofRainbows).

Thelandingspotisanareaoflavaflowsthataredarkerthansomeflowsnearby,andthismaybeoneofthe

primereasonsthisareawaschosen.Thedarkerlavarockonthemoonisrichintitanium,whichisassoci-

atedwithhelium-3,apotentialfusionenergysource.

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Photo credit: Lick Observatory

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Lunar map showing relative amounts of titanium dioxide. Photo credit: CNSA/CLEP

It’s estimated that the moon is so rich in helium-3, it could potentially be the Earth’s mining site for our future

energy needs. The distribution of titanium dioxide (highest in the red areas on the map) is considered a good proxy

for the distribution of helium-3, since titanium dioxide traps helium-3 blown in with solar winds. This helium-3 has

been blown onto the moon and captured by the titanium dioxide for billions of years, so there is likely enough

helium-3 to fuel the Earth for a very long time, if the fusion technology becomes practical. Research into fusion

has advanced recently, with successful fusions of deuterium--helium-3, and of helium-3 with itself. There are still

some problems in building practical fusion reactors, but countries like China, and private enterprises, are actively

considering how to mine the moon’s helium-3 and bring it to Earth, to be ready to profit once the practical tech-

nology is in place.

There may also be a lot of water ice between rock and dust particles away from the poles, due to the presence

of helium-3. It’s been recently shown by astromaterials scientist Hope Ishii and her colleagues that particles in

Earth’s plasmasphere capture helium-3 from the solar wind, and this helium joins with oxygen in the particles to

form miniscule water amounts between the particles. If this is happening on the moon, the particles would look

dry to our eye but the water could possibly be extracted for use.

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Water forming in particles of interplanetary

dust. Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory. (Right)

The poles are the most interesting spot for future

prospectors, because of the huge amounts of

water ice there. A lot of the technology being

developed right now by space entrepreneurs is

focused on the kind of support needed to build

infrastructure which will be needed for mining

water ice and for habitation on the moon. This

is going to happen, and soon - while the main

mission of Chang’e 3 is for doing scientific

research, the landing marks the beginning of

what will probably become a continual human

and machine presence on the moon. The experi-

ence of Chang’e 3’s soft landing and of the proven

ability for the robots to mostly survive the lunar

night are two of the biggest feats sought by com-

mercial companies. It’s possible that the color

camera on the lander did not survive the lunar

night, but lessons from failures are also valuable

to engineers. The data from the mission will be

used by private enterprises to help them decide

the best places and methods for mining, and

many have already booked support services with

The lander of mission Chang’e 3. Photo credit: CASC/China Ministry of Defense (Below)

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commercial spaceflight companies. Within the next few decades, humans, their robots, and their needed

infrastructure will begin to have a steady presence on the lunar surface.

China’s Chang’e 3 mission arrived on the moon on December 14, 2013. Chang’e 3 is the landing stage of

China’s multi-stage moon mission, and includes an instrumented lander and rover. Both the lander and

rover have tested and used some of the equipment, and then hibernated for their first two-week long lunar

night. Once the sun returned they got back to work, and according to the Chinese press things seemed

to be working fine. On January 24, 2014 the lander powered down to hibernate for the second lunar

night phase, but before the rover could do the same, something went wrong in communication with the

Chinese scientists, and so its instruments and solar panels couldn’t be protected before the night came

with its -180 C temperature. It had been hoped that the Yutu rover would provide ground-truth for data

collected by the orbiters of China and other countries, but if Yutu doesn’t survive the night, this will need

to wait for Yutu’s backup rover in the Chang’e 4 mission, which will be launched in 2015.

The Yutu rover has these mineral and rock analyzing instruments: Ground Penetrating Radar, Panoramic

Camera, Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, and Visible/near-Infrared Imager. These are some of the same

kind of instruments aboard the Curiosity rover, which is studying the geology in its own area on Mars.

Hopefully the Chang’e 4 rover will get to use these instruments much more than Yutu did!

Yutu rover. Photo credit: CNSA/CCTV

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Photo of Earth, taken by the

Chang’e 3 lander. This is the

first picture of Earth taken

from the moon in almost 40

years. Photo credit: Chinese

Academy of Sciences.

A photo of Earth’s plasmasphere, taken with

the camera on the Chang’e 3 lander’s Lunar

Ultraviolet Telescope. Photo credit: Chinese

Academy of Sciences.

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On board the working lander is the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope which will be used to study the Earth’s plas-

masphere.ChinaiscooperatingwiththeInternationalLunarObservatoryAssociationtoshareaccessto

theChinesetelescopeinexchangefortimeontheILOA’stelescope,theInternationalLunarObservatory.A

smallversionoftheILO,theILO-X,willbelaunchedaboardtheMoonExpressinauguralflighttothemoon

in 2015. The larger 2-meter ILO-1 will be delivered by Moon Express to the moon’s south pole in 2017. The

ILOA will use China’s Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope for a program they call Galaxy, Astronomical Imaging for

Global21stCenturyEducation.TheILOA’sownILO-1isplannedtobethestartofalunarbaseforresearch,

prospecting,andfuturehumanhabitation.SofartheplansfortheILOincludetheGalaxyFirstLightImaging

program, and access for professional and amateur astronomers on a commercial basis. The smaller ILO-X

willbeaccessibleontheinternetandavailableforcitizenscienceprojects.Sowiththemutual,andinpart

open-accessuseofthesetelescopes,westillhavethekindofcooperationthatseesthemoonasbelonging

to all humans, even in this new phase of big commercial interest in the moon. Private enterprise is helping

nationstomovepastafewproprietarybarriers.Thismaybesimplyintheslipstreamofthedriveforprofits

since private companies are taking advantage of the lack of rules for themselves that keep countries from

claiming parts of the moon.

An artist concept of the

InternationalLunarObservatory,

shown after landing near the

moon’s south pole in 2017 by the

MoonExpressspacecraft.Photo

credit:ILOA/MoonExpress

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Bye, Yutu. Photo credit: China News.

com/Xinhua

WORDS; DENISE HEMPHILL

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Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii

onightisthefinalof6nightsatMaunaKeaObservatories,where

I have been an observer on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

(JCMT)atMaunaKeaObservatories.MaunaKeahastheworld’s

largest observatory with a number of telescopes operated by

variouscountriesandoperatinginvariouswavebands.JCMTis

a submillimetre-wavelength telescope run by the UK. It has a 15

metre primary mirror and is the largest submillimetre telescope in

the world.

ObserversfromtheUKcancometoJCMTforscientificresearch,

and are joined by Hawaii-based telescope operators who know how

torunthetelescopeandhowtofixitifanythinggoeswrong.The

telescopeislocatedatanaltitudeof4092metres,andthereare

accommodationfacilitiesalittlefurtherdownthemountainatHale

Pohaku(HP)at2804metresaltitude.Becauseofthehighaltitude

and the health concerns that come with it, observers are required

toacclimatisefor24hoursatHPbeforetravellingtothesummit

to work on the telescopes. This is where all astronomers from the

varioustelescopessleepduringtheirstay;therearelodgeswith

bedrooms and a main facility with a cafeteria and pool tables, ping

pong, dart boards etc.

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Onatypicalnight,staffforeachtelescopewillmeettohave

dinner at around 5pm at HP then travel up to the summit

of the mountain. We then work throughout the night and

come back at around 8am to have breakfast and then go to

sleep.SinceJCMTisnotanopticaltelescope,sunrisedoes

notaffectus.However,submillimetretelescopesareheavily

affectedbyprecipitation,andcannotoperatewhenthislevel

is too high. Last night it snowed heavily at the summit and all

telescopes were closed for the night. I have included some

photosfromtheselastfewnights–Ihopeyouenjoythem.

CarolineScott

CarolineScottisafinalyearAstrophysicsPhDstudentat

Imperial College London, and is currently doing a Pre-

doctoral Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for

AstrophysicsandaResearchFellowshipatHarvard’sInstitute

ofAppliedComputationalScience.Twitter:Astro_Caz

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IN THE NEWSESA/NASAthespacecraftRosettawokeupafter957daysin

hibernation.Earthgotitsfirstcommunicationwhicharrived

attheESAoperationscentreinDamstadt,Germanyat19:18

localtime.Thesignalwasalsoreceivedbygroundstations

at the Goldstone,calif and Camberra,australia part of NASA’s

Deep Space Network.

The spacecraft is heading towards comet67P/

Churyumov-Gerasmonko.

Supernova, cigar galaxy

A supernova was discovered in M82 also

known as the cigar galaxy. It is 12 million

light years from Earth. It is the closest star

explosion detected in more than 20 years.

Discovered by a team led my Steve Fossey at

the University of London Observatory. The

team included stuedents, Ben Cooke, Tom

Wright,MatthewWildeandGuyPpollock.

SpaceX On Jan 6 2014 SpaceX sucessfully lunched

the THAICOM 6 satellite. The launch could

be seen live on the interenet.

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ScienceScience daily reports that deaths in Penguin chicks is directly relted to climate change. Chicks are dying from

the worlds largest Magellanic penguin colony. Heavy rains, food shortage all a result from climate change

arecontributingtothechecksdeaths.

SOURCEUNIVERSITYOFWASHINGTON

TheBBCreportedthatNeanderthalsgaveusdiseasegenes.Neanderthalsareourclosestextinctrelatives.

FoundinsouthwesterntocentralAsiaandEurope.Itisthoughtthatmodernhumanshavearound2.5%

Neanderthal DNA.

From Icy Science comes out monthly micro digital

magazineLOOKUPINWONDERaguidetothe

night sky, ISS monthly update and something for

the kds.

WWW.ICYSCIENCE.COM

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