ICY SCIENCE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

EXTANT LIFE ON MARS?THE MARS SOCIETYTHE BIG SPACE BALLOONASTROCAMP

SUN DOGSICY SCIENCE PUBLICATION: WWW.ICYSCIENCE.COM: WINTER 2013/14

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I C Y S C I E N C E | W I N T E R 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4

ORION IMAGE: MIKE GREENHAM

5 Editors Note6 How Quantum Mechanics Can Create

Many Worlds Of Possiblility

8 Will DrillingFind Extant

Life On Mars?

12 Aurora18 The Big Space Balloon

32 Rovers And Space Ships Everywhere

40 Astrocamp48 The Imaginary Number

54 E=MC258 Sundogs: Fact or Fiction?

65 Astronomy For The Absolute

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» p.8

» p.17 » p.12

» p.32

Beginner

70 Astronomy & Science Edution in India

75 Women,Astronomy And UKWAIN Launch

85 Lets Talk Interview With Frase Cain

98 ISSET

102 Reign of the Radio Leoinid meteor capture.

CO N T E N T S MAGAZINE

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EDITOR:

David Bood

Special ThanksDan Lucus

Nicole Willett (Mars Society)

Mars Society

Sophia Nsar

The Big Space Ballon Company

Joolz Wright

Adrian Jannetta

Julian Onions

Henna Khan

Mary Spicer

UKWIAN

Fraser Cain (Unverse Today)

Mike Greenham

Contact:E: [email protected]: @DavesAstronomyW: www.icyscience.com OAS2013 COMP CODE

MORE SPECIAL THANKS

Danny Owen (ISSET)

Michael knowles

Roy Alexander

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Icy Science is a quarterly free magazine to read and download. No material may be copied or used on other media outlets without written consent.

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Welcome to the new ICY SCIENCE online magazine. the magazine is packed with articles from the Science, Astronomy and Space worlds.

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6


Then we become adults, and these con-

cepts begin to encapsulate our imagina-

tion. Tales like Stephen Kings’ ‘The Dark

Tower’ has its characters visiting differ-

ent Earths by travelling through differ-

ent doorways and shows like ‘Sliders’ saw

its protagonists encounter many differ-

ent incarnations of themselves that have

been exposed to different experiences

as they slid from Universe to Universe on

their journey.

Decisions,Decisions, Decisions

How Quantum Mechanics Can Create Many Worlds of Possibility

By Dan Lucas

Many of us have grown up in a world entrenched in Science Fiction. We surround ourselves

with tales of aliens, artificial intelligence, and parallel universes.

From a young age – and without even realising it – these ideas of alternate realities become

part of our understanding of the world. Engrained into children’s tales like ‘The Chronicles of

Narnia’, where an alternate reality exists beyond a wardrobe; or exposure to cartoons such as

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ which depicts its villains as having travelled from a ‘Dimension X’,

complex scientific ideas are suggested and become integral to our knowledge of the Universe.

Sliders

http://www.ugo.com/movies/best-alternate-universes-earth-2-day%3Fpage%3D3%09

7


This idea of alternate reality forms a key part of quantum mechanics. As I explained in my

article ‘How a Simple Cat in a Box Can Alter How You View the Universe’, the outcome of an

experiment is determined by the observer. Until that outcome is observed, all possible out-

comes occur simultaneously. Once an observation has been made, all other outcomes are

no longer possible. It is at this point where the system is described as having collapsed. It

is this collapse into one outcome where quantum mechanics suggests an alternate reality

could exist.

An idea known as the Many World’s

Interpretation of quantum mechan-

ics suggests that not only are alter-

nate realities possible, but they could

actually be infinite in number. Every

time you’ve ever wondered what

would have happened if you had

made a different decision – such as

which cereal to buy, or whether your

life would be better had you taken a

different job – all possible outcomes

would be played out in a different reality. In terms of

quantum mechanics, this notion that every outcome

occurs prevents the system from collapsing. The

observer still only observes one single outcome,

but an alternate reality is created for each potential

outcome not observed.

H T T P : / / E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /

MANY-WORLDS_INTERPRETATION

So what does this mean for us as individuals? Well

not a great deal to be fair. We’ll never see these alter-

nate realities, because then that would be our reality

which creates a whole impossible paradox, and we’ll

never be able to find just how different things could

have been. But isn’t it nice to think that somewhere

out there, you always made the right decision?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

8


As we anxiously await the analysis

from Curiosity’s second drill sample, which was taken on May 20, 2013, we can discuss the search for present life on Mars

Wi l l Dr i l l ing FindEx tant L i fe on Mars?

BY NICOLE WILLETT, THE MARS SOCIETY

I attended the online NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) meeting that was held

on July 23, 2013. The meeting’s purpose was to discuss the Mars 2020 rover and many other Mars explo-

ration issues. Many people wonder why NASA keeps sending rovers to Mars without stating that they will

unequivocally search for extant life. The term extant means, still in existence. We know that MSL Curiosity

has the equipment to detect life and that Mars 2020 will have many of the same instruments. However, Jack

Mustard, Brown University professor, who presented at the MEPAG meeting, stated, “To date, the evidence

that we have from observations of Mars and Martian samples is that we don’t have the clear indication

that life is at such an abundance on the planet that we could go there with a simple experiment like Viking

9


[had] and detect that [life is] there.”

Mustard went on to explain that it

makes more sense financially and

scientifically to search for past life

instead of current life. He believes

that we must continue studying

the past geology of the planet

in order to better understand

whether past life existed on Mars.

.As indicated above the Mars 2020

rover will not search for extant

life. Some people do not under-

stand why we must wait seven

years to launch a rover similar to

MSL with a sample return cache

that will sit on the planet for an

unknown period of time with no

plan as to how it will be returned

to Earth. However, there are

other missions planned for Mars

which may search for and possi-

bly find current life on Mars. Two

such missions are ExoMars and

the Icebreaker Life Mars mission.

ExoMars is collaboration between

the European Space Agency and

the Russian Federal Space agency.

It is a mission that includes an

orbiter and lander planned for

2016 and a rover with a drill that

can reach two meters beneath

the toxic surface, planned for

2018. The 2018 mission objective

is to search for past or present

life on Mars. During the MEPAG

meeting, the question was asked,

“What if ExoMars finds life, and

how will that affect Mars 2020?”

The answer was given by Jim

Green, Director of NASA Planetary

Science, who stated, “It would be

a great problem to have.” This

also started a discussion about

whether this would be a “Sputnik

moment” and possibly encourage

a new race for humans to Mars.

The Icebreaker Life mission could

also be funded for a 2018 launch

under the Discovery/New Frontier

program, a separate funding

scheme like the 2016 Insight

mission. In a paper published in

the journal Astrobiology on April

5, 2013, Dr. Chris McKay, Dr. Carol

Stoker, and other leading scien-

tists stated, “The search for evi-

dence of life on Mars is the primary

motivation for the exploration of

that planet. The results from pre-

vious missions and the Phoenix

mission in particular, indicate that

the ice-cemented ground in the

north polar plains is likely to be

the most recently habitable place

that is currently known on Mars.”

The goals of the Icebreaker Life

mission include:

(1) Search for specific biomole-

cules that would be conclusive

evidence of life.

10


(2) Perform a general search for

organic molecules in the ground

ice.

(3) Determine the processes of

ground ice formation and the role

of liquid water.

(4) Understand the mechanical

properties of the Martian polar

ice-cemented soil.

(5) Assess the recent habitability

of the environment with respect

to required elements to support

life, energy sources, and possible

toxic elements.

(6) Compare the elemental com-

position of the northern plains

with midlatitude sites.” [http://

onl ine. l ieber tpub.com/doi/

abs/10.1089/ast.2012.0878]

Journal Astrobiology 4/5/2013

This mission is very similar to the

Phoenix lander but will have more

advanced scientific equipment,

including a drill that will reach

a meter below the surface, an

instrument called the Signs of

Life Detector (SOLID), an Alpha

Particle X-ray Spectrometer, a Wet

Chemistry Lab, and many other

instruments. This combination of

instruments may potentially alter

how we view life in the universe.

The SOLID instrument has the

ability to detect compounds with

a biological origin such as whole

cells and complex organic mole-

cules. It has an advanced digital

camera and what is known as a

“lab on a chip” that can perform

various chemistry tests using

11


equipment the size of microchips. The technological advances

being made are greatly improving the field of robotic explora-

tion and experimentation in ways never thought possible in the

past. In the Journal Astrobiology a paper was published by McKay,

Stoker and other leading scientists on April 5, 2013. The first lines

of the abstract stated, “The search for evidence of life on Mars is the

primary motivation for the exploration of that planet. The results

from previous missions and the Phoenix mission in particular,

indicate that the ice-cemented ground in the north polar plains

is likely to be the most recently habitable place that is currently

known on Mars.” The Icebreaker Life mission will search for bio-

markers in the same region near the north pole of Mars where the

Phoenix Lander executed its mission in 2008. A biomarker is any

molecule that indicates the presence of life, such as an enzyme.

These biological molecules carry organic biochemical information.

The Icebreaker drill is capable of drilling one meter into the sub-

surface of the Red Planet in order to search for biomarkers. The

ice shavings retrieved from the drill would be analyzed for mol-

ecules that are too complex to be present from a non-biological

source. It is important to drill below the surface in order to retrieve

samples that have not been exposed to the radiation and perchlo-

rates (salts) that exist on the surface of Mars. The radiation and per-

chlorates could potentially destroy any biomarkers or biological

material present, hence the importance of a subsurface mission.

[Images: NASA, ExoMars, Astriobio.net]

12


Image Credit:

Anneliese Possberg,

[email protected] (www.possi.de)

www.possi.de

www.possi.de

13


No one can deny the beauty of

aurorae, a stunning display of

colorful lights dancing gracefully

about the sky. Usually these beau-

tiful sky lights can only be seen at

high latitudes. But how do these

beautiful aurorae form in the sky?

Why can they only be seen from

extreme northern or southern lat-

itudes? How are the various colors

produced? First, let’s get familiar-

ized with the naming of aurora

with respect to the part of the

hemisphere in which they occur.

In the northern hemisphere,

they are called Aurora Borealis,

or northern lights. In the south-

ern hemisphere, they are known

as Aurora Australis, or southern

lights. From Latin, Aurora Borealis

translates to “dawn of the north”,

and Aurora Australis to “dawn of

the south”. Now, let’s get to the

formation of aurorae. In addition

to emitting light which travels

at c = 3.00*10^8 m/s and takes

about 8 minutes to reach Earth,

the Sun also spits out plasma

during solar storms which travels

at much slower speeds. During

such storms, the Sun sends out a

flow of highly charged particles,

sometimes directed at the Earth.

These charged particles travel at

speeds of up to 8 million km/h

AU R O R A BY SOPHIA NASR

14


(about 5 million mi/h), or about 2.22*10^6 m/s, much

slower than light speed c. It takes about 40 hours for the

storm to reach the Earth. When these charged particles

penetrate the Earth’s ionosphere and collide with atoms

in the atmosphere, the atoms become “excited” and reach

higher energy levels. Excited atoms will then “de-excite”

and go down to lower energy levels, during which photons

are released and produce aurorae in the sky. The Earth’s

magnetic field plays a role in this phenomenon as well—it

is responsible for aurorae being visible only from extreme

northern and southern latitudes. The Earth’s magneto-

sphere helps shield the Earth from the solar storm, but only

succeeds in shielding mid-latitude to equatorial regions

of the Earth. The flow of charged particles then follows

the magnetic field lines and is directed towards the poles,

where the majority of aurorae are produced. Aurorae do

sometimes reach lower latitudes as well, usually when the

sunspot count is high during solar maximum. The colors

produced depend on the kind of atom the charged parti-

cles come in contact with. Striking oxygen atoms produces

green and red aurorae, while colliding with nitrogen atoms

creates blue and purple/violet aurorae. The most common

color formed is green, while the rarest are red and blue.

Aurorae form at altitudes ranging from 80 to 640 kilome-

ters (50 to 400 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

I have yet to observe aurorae in person, but

this is definitely on my list of things I must

do at least once in my life! The next time you

get to see aurorae, keep in mind that you are

observing a beautiful physics phenomenon

unfolding before your eyes. Now that is what

I call awesome!

Top Image: Wikipedia Further Reading: http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northern-lights.htmlhttp://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/cli-mate-weather/atmospheric/question471.htm5-minute video: http://www.universetoday.com/87436/video-how-does-the-aurora-bore-alis-form/

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question471.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question471.htm

http://www.universetoday.com/87436/video-how-does-the-aurora-borealis-form/



15


IC 1101Let’s talk about size (astronomically speaking).

Our galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. That’s

pretty big, but it’s not the biggest galaxy in our

astronomical “neighborhood”. The Local Group

(our “neighborhood”) is comprised of 54 galaxies

(dwarf galaxies included) that are gravitationally

bound to each other. The biggest in the group

Andromeda, 2.5 million light-years away from us,

visible to the naked eye as a fuzz patch (in dark

skies) in the constellation Andromeda, and some

220,000 light-years across. Okay, our Milky Way

still holds its own as the second largest galaxy in

our Local Group. Our Local Group is a whopping 10 MILLION light-years across! That is huge, Now, let’s turn

our attention to the largest known galaxy in the universe. Way out in the distance, 1.07 billion light-years away

in the constellation Virgo, in the large galaxy cluster Abell 2029, lies an enormous galaxy: IC 1101. This gargan-

tuan elliptical is over half the diameter of our entire Local Group of 54 galaxies—nearly 6 MILLION light-years

across! But wait, there’s more! The Milky Way contains roughly 200 billion stars. IC 1101, by contrast, contains

an estimated 100 TRILLION. Absolutely MIND-BLOWING!!! but it makes sense considering it’s a group of 54 gal-

axies. Just to give an idea of the types of galaxies out there, there are three major classifications: dwarf galax-

ies, spiral galaxies, and giant elliptical galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are small, like the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies,

the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These can be as small as 200 light-years across and are not much larger

than star clusters. Spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way and Andromeda, are the most common types of galaxies.

16


They have spiral arms, with blue regions representing active star formation, and yellowish regions popu-

lated with old stars where star formation has ceased. Giant elliptical galaxies are the largest, spherical to

nearly flat in shape, and are yellowish in hue because they are populated with old stars where star forma-

tion has nearly ceased. These are usually a result of mergers and collisions between galaxies. IC 1101 is a

giant elliptical. Now let’s get to the how—how IC 1101 became so large, that is. The size of IC 1101 is the

result of numerous collisions and mergers between other much smaller galaxies, galaxies about the size

of our very own Milky Way, and our familiar galactic neighbor Andromeda. Over time, it grew bigger and

bigger as it continued to merge with neighboring galaxies. Now, as we see it, it is nearly a monstrous 6

million light-years across! Keep in mind that at 1.07 billion light years distant, we are looking at IC 1101 as

it looked just over a billion years ago. Who’s to say what its size is today, or what its state is, for that matter!

If it hasn’t continued colliding and merging with other galaxies, its stars will fade, as there is very little star

formation occurring. If it has, then it’ll be even larger!

Speaking of mergers and collisions, aren’t Andromeda and our very own Milky Way destined for the same

fate some 3.5 billion years from now, merging into one elliptical galaxy?? Food for thought.

~Sophia Nasr

Further reading and information on IC 1101:

http://astounde.com/the-largest-galaxy-in-the-universe-ic-1101/

http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/ic-1101-the-largest-galaxy-ever-found/

http://amandabauer.blogspot.ca/2009/02/biggest-galaxy-in-universe.html

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2013/07/14/munchkin-milky-way-meets-mega-monster-galaxy-ic-1101/

5 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE8yHySiJ4A

“All Science, All the Time”: https://www.facebook.com/AllScienceAllTheTime

http://astounde.com/the-largest-galaxy-in-the-universe-ic-1101/

http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/ic-1101-the-largest-galaxy-ever-found/

http://amandabauer.blogspot.ca/2009/02/biggest-galaxy-in-universe.html

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2013/07/14/munchkin-milky-way-meets-mega-monster-galaxy-ic-1101/

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DUE8yHySiJ4A

https://www.facebook.com/AllScienceAllTheTime

17


18


The Big Space Balloon - The Mission

The Big Space Balloon is a

project which aims to launch

the Worlds biggest crowd based

high altitude research balloon,

designed to fly to the edge of

space and explore the highest

regions of the earth’s atmosphere

to an altitude of up to 130,000

feet, into the Earths Stratosphere.

The balloon’s envelope will

be up to a 100 metres in diame-

ter. Potentially using a super pres-

sure balloon envelope design,

which can enable a sustained

period of flight of several days

over thousands of miles. The Big

Space Balloon will carry a sci-

entific capsule to undertake a

range of experiments regarding

space sciences, providing a low

cost platform for companies &

the space industry to carry out

research & development at the

edge of space.

The aim is for Big Space

Balloon to act as platform to

test out new technologies in the

space environment, such as the

printed Solar-cells on the balloon

envelope.

These could pave the way for

a new way of powering future

spacecraft or space stations,

produced and deployed at rela-

tively low cost compared to tra-

ditional space based solar cell

units, which are both expensive

T H E B I G S PAC E B A L LO O N

SPACE BALLOON

19


to manufacture and require

highly engineered deployment

mechanisms.

There’s also the possibility of

using the technology developed

in interplanetary balloon mis-

sions. At an altitude of around

120,000 feet plus, the Atmosphere

is very similar in density to that at

ground level on Mars, one of the

instruments the science capsule

may carry could be to detect

micro organisms in the earths

upper atmosphere, technology

that could be then transferable

to a future Mars or Venus mission

The hope is that the Big Space

Balloons science capsule could be

re-used in further missions, many

of Nasa’s and ESA’s scientific pay-

loads go on to make multiple

flights, and some of technology

developed for this project could

be used in other space missions.

Although the Big space

Balloon is an un-manned project,

the science capsule aims to be

a fairly large structure, approx 2

metres in diameter by 2 metres

high, so could demonstrate the

potential of this technology for

possible manned space flight

vehicles.

The intention is to pressurise

the top section of the science

capsule to an inhabitable envi-

ronment to see how these mate-

rials perform in the space environ-

ment, technology used in build-

ing the science capsule, could

be scaled up to build a manned

space vehicle in the future.

Be part of something big

The Big Space Balloon has the

potential to be the Worlds biggest

scientific outreach program.

The project is aiming to

have a large element of public

20


engagement and the project

will offer people the chance to

see them selves at the edge of

space with the “Face in Space

Competition”.

The free to enter competition

offers up to 10,000 members of

the public the chance to have a

mini-image of themselves printed

onto the science capsule, to be

photographed at the edge of

space with the latest in high-def-

inition cameras.

We have already started to

receive 100’s of entrants from

around the world.

The balloon could be launched

in the summer / autumn of 2015

if all goes well, the project is still

in its early stages so the main

focus at the moment is on the

fund raising and increasing public

awareness of the project which

in-turn will lead to a main sponsor.

Stratospheric Balloon Technology

Most large stratospheric bal-

loons are made from a light-

weight polythene usually around

20-30 microns thick, NASA and the

Japanese have experimented with

composite polythene’s which can

be as thin as 5 microns. The Big

Space Balloon is aiming to use a

polythene based fabric of around

30 microns thick, this will either

have flexible solar photovoltaic

cells printed onto the fabric, or

flexible photovoltaic strips com-

bined with the polythene strips,

a UK company Eight19 are cur-

rently developing these type of

solar cells.

Plastic (polymer) solar cells are

much cheaper to produce than

conventional silicon solar cells

and have the potential to be pro-

duced in large quantities.

Experts from the University

of Sheffield’s Department of

Physics and Astronomy and the

University of Cambridge have

created a method of spray-coat-

ing a photovoltaic active layer by

an air based process – similar to


SPACE BALLOON

21


http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/solar-photo-voltaic-pv-spray-painting-lidzey-1.251912

spraying regular paint from a can

– to develop a cheaper technique

which can be mass produced.

Professor David Lidzey from

the University of Sheffield said

“Spray coating is currently used to

apply paint to cars and in graphic

printing. We have shown that it

can also be used to make solar

cells using specially designed

plastic semiconductors. Maybe in

the future surfaces on buildings

and even car roofs will routinely

generate electricity with these

materials”.

( see web site )

http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/

nr/solar-photovoltaic-pv-spray-

painting-lidzey-1.251912

This has the potential to will

turn the balloon envelope into

a giant power generating unit

which could produce up to 180Kw

of electricity.

The Big Space Balloon will

start with approx. 4000 cubic

metres of lifting gas ( Helium or

Hydrogen ) as the balloon climbs

and the air thins, the atmospheric

also pressure drops, once you get

to around 30km the atmospheric

pressure is about 100th com-

pared to the air pressure at sea

level, so it effectively equals that

of the Helium or Hydrogen in the

balloon and you loose the buoy-

ancy effect and stop climbing.

The Buoyancy force is from

using a lighter than air gas, such

as Helium or Hydrogen, which

both have low molecular masses.

Helium weighs 0.1786 kg per

cubic metre at sea level, air weighs

1.2kg, so the difference between

the two gases gives helium 1kg

of lift at sea level ( 1.2 – 0.1786 =

1.022kg ) per cubic metre.

Helium is used most because

it is inert and therefore very safe,

but it can also be relatively expen-

sive compared to Hydrogen. The

current crude price of Helium is

around $75 per 1000 cubic feet.

The gas we finally use will

depend on the launch site and

the type of gas available their

and the associated costs, their

may be higher launch safety costs

http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/solar-photovoltaic-pv-spray-painting-lidzey-1.251912





22


and insurance premiums in using

Hydrogen compared with Helium,

making the cost of Hydrogen not

worth the potential risk.

It is possible to climb higher

than this by heating the gas in

balloon by making use of solar

radiation ( sunlight) causing the

gas to expand further, but this

then requires a bigger balloon

envelope for the gas to expand

into, the balloon material needs

to be thinner to reduce its weight,

which in-turn increases the risk of

the balloon fabric ripping.

The Big Space Balloons

envelope will be designed to have

a volume of around 400,000 cubic

metres when fully inflated at our

target altitude of approx. of 30km

(120-130,000 feet )

We are not looking to break

any altitude records with the Big

Space Balloon as the main aim

is to try out new technologies,

such as the solar balloon skin, but

the higher the better in terms of


SPACE BALLOON

23


testing out this technology and

carrying out scientific experi-

ments in a space environment.

Ascent time is usually around

3 hours, initial ascent speed can

be around 3 metres per second

this then reduces as the atmo-

sphere thins and the buoyancy

becomes proportionally less,

for each 5.5 km you ascend, the

atmospheric pressure halves so

when you reach an altitude of

5,500 metres, the air pressure is

only about one half of what it

was at sea level, half of the Earth’s

atmosphere is already below you,

at 11,000 meters air pressure is

only about one quarter of that at

sea level and at an altitude of 30

km you have risen above 99% of

the Earth’s atmosphere.

The speed of most strato-

spheric balloons will be deter-

mined by wind speed which at an

altitude of 30km is approximately

15knots ( 7.5 metres per second)

or 27 kilometres per hour.

The volume of the Balloon and

the amount of lifting gas in rela-

tion to the weight of the vehicle,

determines the maximum alti-

tude you can achieve, i.e a lighter

balloon fabric and science capsule

will mean the Big Space Balloon

could go higher, although as

stated earlier this isn’t a priority

at the moment.

The heating of balloon by

solar radiation from the Sun and

the atmospheric temperature and

moisture in the air can also effect

the altitude reached.

The balloon will then contract

in the night-time when the lifting

gas cools, resulting in a loss of alti-

tude. This loss in Altitude will vary

according to the type of balloon

design we finally use.

Main types of large strato-

spheric balloons

There are two main types of

large stratospheric balloons, zero

pressure and super pressure.

Zero pressure balloons are

the most common type of large

stratospheric balloon, they are

designed to release their lifting

gas once they have achieved

there maximum inflation size and

the lifting gas begins expanding

further in the sunlight, to avoid

the balloon envelope bursting or

ripping.

By adjusting the total weight

of the balloon and payload in rela-

tion to the balloon envelope size

and amount of lifting gas, you can

determine the approx altitude

you wish to achieve.

The balloons payloads of

Zero pressure types are designed

to release ballast (usually sand)

during the night time cycle, this

allows the balloon to climb again

due to having reduced its weight.

When the balloon gets

heated by the sun again during

the daytime cycle, more lifting

24


gas is released to avoid bursting

the balloon envelope, after 2 or 3

day-night cycles the balloon will

have released all of its ballast and

will have lost a certain amount of

lifting gas, so will begin to loose

its useful altitude, ( certain scien-

tific missions are based on being

at defined altitudes ).

A panel is then cut open in

the balloon fabric, usually done

by electrically heating an-embed-

ded wire, to release enough gas

to descend the balloon, at around

5,000 feet the capsule is released

from the balloon to descend using

a separate parachute, this avoids

the payload being dragged on the

ground by the deflated balloon

envelope and hopefully allows

you to more accurately determine

the landing site.

The super pressure balloons

are designed to stay afloat for

much longer than zero pressure

balloons, potentially up to several

weeks giving you much more

flight time per balloon launch.

Super pressure balloons work

by being designed to with-stand

the additional pressure created

from being heated by solar radia-

tion, avoiding the need to release

any lifting gas and carry an ballast,

the super pressure balloon does

loose some altitude during the

night-time cycle when the lifting

gas cools, but will climb again

once heated by the sun during

the daylight cycle.

I’m keen to use the super pres-

sure design as it offers the poten-

tial of a much longer flight time,

possibly allowing the balloon

to fly for several weeks, but if

this proves to be to difficult, we

may use the zero pressure type

balloon.

The main technical challenge

with super pressure designs are

that the balloon envelope needs

to be strong enough to withstand


SPACE BALLOON

25


the extra pressure of sunlight

heating, but light-weight enough

to give you a good altitude, there

is no final design for super pres-

sure balloons as the research is

on-going as material technolo-

gies develop.

The weight of the balloon

material is also a factor which I’ve

estimated to be around 1000kg

for the Big Space Balloon.

The balloon will have a surface

area of approximately 32,000

metres square, each square metre

of balloon material will need to

be no more than 32g in weight, (

a £1.00 weighs 7.5g ).

The Science Capsule

The total payload including

the science capsule is approxi-

mately 1 metric tonne, (1000kg)

this is made up of around 500kg

for the science capsule itself with

the other 500kg for scientific

equipment.

The material for the science

capsule is yet to be finalized, but

I’m very interested in using the

manufacturing process known

as Additive Layer Manufacturing

(ALM) or 3D Printing.

Single products can be created

from a fine powder of metal (such

as titanium, stainless steel or alu-

minium), nylon or carbon rein-

forced plastics.

This allows fairly complex and

bespoke structures to be manu-

factured straight from the com-

puter, avoiding wastage of raw

materials and additional fabrica-

tion jigs or molds.

The German company Voxljet

have developed a 3D printer

capable of producing objects up

to 2 metres in diameter using a

Nylon based powder printer.

These machines work by

adding a thin layer of powder to

a platform which is at the top of

container box, a laser then fuses

the powder together to form a

thin section of the object you

wish to print.

The platform is then lowered

26


a fraction of a milometer into the

box, another thin layer of powder

is then spread across the plat-

form, the laser then fuses this new

powder to the existing section to

form a new section on top, to start

building up the object.

This process is repeated mul-

tiple times until you have created

your 3D object & / or the platform

has reached the bottom of the

container box.

At the end of the process the

box is full of both Nylon powder

& your printed object, so excess

powder is then vacuumed off to

reveal the object, this powder

can then be re-used for new 3d

objects.

• This method of 3D print-

ing was used by a team at

Southampton University to build

the worlds biggest 3D printed

glider. The SULSA (Southampton

University Laser Sintered Aircraft)

plane is an unmanned air vehicle

(UAV) whose entire structure has

been printed, including wings,

integral control surfaces and

access hatches. It was printed on

an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser

sintering machine, which fab-

ricates plastic or metal objects,

building up the item layer by

layer.

Scientific Research

The project can hopefully be

used for a range of space related

/ upper atmosphere research, but

as yet I’m not able to detail these

as its yet to be decided.

But these could include


SPACE BALLOON

27


research involving the Earths

atmosphere, such as investing

levels of pollution in the strato-

sphere and how these effect

global warming.

Testing out earth observation

technology such as high defini-

tion imaging devices for later use

in orbital space craft.

The use of Lasers in space, to

see if these could be used to track

and possibly remove small space

debris by reducing its orbital

velocity and causing it fall to earth

faster.

The detection of micro orga-

nizations high in the earths atmo-

sphere to see how far up life , such

as Bacteria’s, can survive.

At 30km the Earths atmo-

sphere is very similar in density

to that at ground level on Mars,

so equipment for detecting life on

Mars could be tested by the Big

Space Balloon.

( Please see our website for a

range of balloon related scientific

missions ).

Prof Robertus Erdelyi is

Head of the Solar Physics and

Space Plasma Research Centre

at Sheffield University and is cur-

rently developing instruments to

detect Plasma emissions from the

Sun, which we aim to include in

the Big Space Balloons science

capsule.

The atmosphere of the planets

in the Solar System strongly inter-

act with huge magnetised plasma

flows originating from the Sun,

and often associated with massive

solar plasma eruptions and mag-

netised solar tornadoes, causing

phenomena like the Aurora

Borealis that can occasionally

destroy our mode satellites, tele-

communication systems or even

may preventing us to make a

simple phone call?

Their is no way of steering

stratospheric Balloons, so it will

be carried with the wind.

At the altitudes were aiming

towards the thin air at these levels

means that the winds have very

little force, but balloons can be

carried for several thousand miles.

The winds are easterly during

the summer and westerly during

the winter. Depending on where

we launch, time of year and how

28


long the balloon stays afloat will determine where the balloon lands, hopefully it’ll be over land!.

But it could in theory circumnavigate the globe which would be rather cool.

The recent BRRISON project was a NASA mission that sent a balloon carrying a telescope and instru-

ments high above Earth to study Comet ISON.

The Balloon Rapid Response for ISON (BRRISON) – carried a 0.8 m telescope and optical and infrared

sensors to study the comet from above nearly all of Earth’s atmosphere.

Launch Sites

We are currently looking into various launch sites, the best at the moment would be to use the Esrange

space centre, in Kiruna, Sweden, as they are equipped for large stratospheric balloon launches and are rel-

atively close compared to established launch sites in the US and Antarctica, although it would be nice to

launch from the UK if possible, but it can get very busy above us and there’s a higher risk of the balloon

drifting and descending over populated areas.


SPACE BALLOON

29


Rich Curtis – Project Director

The Big Space Balloon is an idea I’ve been working on for a couple of years, I’m part of the generation

that grew up during the Apollo missions with the mighty Saturn V rockets, Skylab, Soyuz and then the

Space Shuttle, so I’ve had a life long interest in space and space technology.

My background is in construction design for the housing market so I’m used to working on large build-

ing sized projects, I’ve combined these interests in the Big Space Balloon project.

My reason for choosing a balloon are several really; a big stratospheric balloon allows you to lift a rea-

sonably substantial payload of up to several tonnes into a space environment.

• Balloons also allow you to put relatively large payloads into a space environment at a lower costs

compared to a rocket, which can easily run into 100’s of £millions per launch.

• Balloon payloads

can also be launched many

times allowing modifica-

tions, improvements and

upgrades to the on-board

equipment with each

launch.

It would also be very

exciting to use some of the

latest technologies such

as 3D printing, to build a substantial

vehicle and to send it on its way to the

edge of space and see the images of

the Big Space Balloon flying above the

earths atmosphere, against the black-

ness of space.

The biggest challenge will be the

fabrication of the balloon envelope

due to its size, I’m in the process of

building partnerships with organisa-

tions and companies who could either

be involved in the project

directly through the manu-

facture of the balloon enve-

lope and the science capsule

or the through supplying

scientific equipment, again

this is in the early stages and

theirs a lot to do.

30


Our team includes:

John Ackroyd - Designer & Consultant Engineer, who has worked on a range of balloon based projects

including Balloon projects; the first being the “Endeavor” round the world project for Julian Nott, design-

ing the pressurized crew capsule which was molded in Kevlar East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, as well as

the pressurised capsules for Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand’s high altitude crossings of the Atlantic

and Pacific, and their round the world attempts; as well as Per’s high altitude capsule in which he reached

65,000 feet in Texas.

Other projects include the extraordinary Earthwinds R.T.W. balloon, working in the USA for several

years and more recently the mega balloon (worlds largest inflatable) used at the opening ceremony of

the 2010 commonwealth games.

Andy Elson - Balloonist and Engineer, Andy has been involved in a huge range of balloon projects

including several record breaking balloon attempts including piloting the world’s first hot air balloon flight

over Mt Everest 1991, working as both designer and co-pilot with Colin Prescot on the Brietling Orbiter II

balloon flight from Switzerland to Burma in 1998.

He was also involved with the QinetiQ1 balloon as both pilot and balloon fabricator, Andy still has the

main equipment in storage, used in the fabrication of the huge balloon envelope made for their attempt


SPACE BALLOON

31


on the manned high altitude balloon record in 2003.

Dr. Andras Sobester - Andras is a member of the Computational Engineering and Design research group

within the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton. Undertaking research in a

range of areas including Design optimization Aircraft design, High altitude flight.

Andras is involved with the ASTRA (Atmospheric Science Through Robotic Aircraft initiative), Exploring

Earth’s atmosphere using high altitude unmanned instrument platforms.

I’ve also spoken with the director at Cameron balloons, Alan Noble, who along with their partner

company Linstrand balloons, both have the manufacturing know-how to fabricate a balloon on this scale.

The project is still in the preliminary stage, so the prime focus at the moment will be on fundraising,

the estimated cost of project is between £1,500,000 to £2,000,000 pounds.

The exact funding is not finalized at the moment as it depends on the final

material costs and whether we fund any scientific equipment or whether this is

provided by partners, but I am currently looking into a range of options & am

determined to make this happen.

32


Rover and Engineering Design Competitions from The Mars Society- 5th

grade thru Undergraduate

R O V E R S A N D S PAC E S H I P S E V E R Y W H E R E ! BY: NICOLE WILLETT, CHUCK MCMURRAY AND THE MARS SOCIETY

The Mars Society is host to three (3) design chal-

lenges. They range in age from middle school thru

college level. The middle and high school level chal-

lenge was launched at the 16th Annual Mars Society

Convention this past August. It is called the Youth

Rover Challenge. One of the undergraduate chal-

lenges is called the University Rover Challenge and

it has had several very successful seasons so far. The

final challenge was also launched at the convention

in August. It is an international student design com-

petition. The Youth Rover Challenge (YRC) is a multi-

tier robotics education development program that is

hosted, sponsored and operated by The Mars Society.

33


The program commenced on August 6th, 2013 to commemorate the one year

anniversary of the landing of NASA’s Curiosity Rover. YRC is a STEM related edu-

cational effort that is designed for schools and organizations with students or

members in grades 5-12 to have the chance to build and compete at a global

level with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 based robotic rover and competition

arena intended to simulate the surface of Mars. The sandbox where the robotic

rover operates is intended to be replicated so participants can operate the com-

petition locally at your school, home or club. The Rover built for the competi-

tion is pre-designed to accomplish specific experiments (tasks) similar to what

Mars Rovers accomplish today on the surface of Mars and other harsh environ-

ments on remote places on Earth. The competition is operated on-site at your

self-built sandbox and the final operation of the field tasks are then videotaped

and sent to each teams personalized YRC site for submission. Teams that have

submitted videos that show the final operation of the rover completing the tasks

under a time limit are then ranked against other teams. The YRC is designed

to prepare students for the University Rover Challenge that has operated suc-

cessfully for the last 7 years directed by The Mars Society.

34


R O V E R S A N D S PAC E S H I P S E V E RY W H E R E!

The University Rover Challenge (URC) is the world’s premier

robotics competition for college students. The URC has officially

kicked off its 2014 competition. This competition challenges

students to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers

which will one day work alongside astronauts on the Red Planet.

Teams spend the academic year designing, building and testing

their robotic creations. They will compete at the Mars Desert

Research Station (MDRS) in the remote, barren desert of south-

ern Utah in late May, 2014. The challenge features multiple tasks,

including an Equipment Servicing Task that incorporates inflat-

able structures, and a more aggressive incarnation of the popular

Terrain Traversing Task.

URC is unique in the challenges that it presents to students.

Interdisciplinary teams will tackle robotics, engineering and field

science domains, while gaining real-world systems engineering

and project management experience. University teams inter-

ested in participating can view the URC2014 rules online. The

official registration process will open in early November; however

35


teams are encouraged to begin their work now. The Mars Society recently announced the launch of an

international engineering competition for student teams to propose design concepts for the architec-

ture of the Inspiration Mars mission. The contest is open to university engineering student teams from

anywhere in the world. Inspiration Mars Executive Director Dennis Tito and Program Manager Taber

MacCallum were present for the announcement. “Inspiration Mars is looking for the most creative ideas

from engineers all over the world,” said Tito. “Furthermore, we want to engage the explorers of tomorrow

with a real and exciting mission, and demonstrate what a powerful force space exploration can be in

inspiring young people to develop their talent. This contest will accomplish both of those objectives.”

The requirement is to design a two-person Mars flyby mission for 2018 as cheaply, safely and simply as

possible. All other design variables are open.

Alumni, professors and other university staff may participate as well, but the teams must be predominantly

composed of and led by students. All competition presentations must be completed exclusively by stu-

dents. Teams will be required to submit their design reports in writing by March 15, 2014. From there, a

down-select will occur with the top 10 finalist teams invited to present and defend their designs before a

panel of six judges chosen (two each) by the Mars Society, Inspiration Mars and NASA. The presentations

will take place during a public event at NASA Ames Research Center in April 2014.

Designs will be evaluated using a scoring system, allocating a maximum of 30 points for cost, 30 points

for technical quality of the design, 20 points for operational simplicity and 20 points for schedule with a

maximum total of 100 points. The first place team will receive a prize of $10,000, an all-expenses paid trip

to the 2014 International Mars Society Convention and a trophy to be presented by Dennis Tito at that

event. Prizes of $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 will also be awarded for second through fifth place.

All designs submitted will be published, and Inspiration Mars will be given non-exclusive rights to make

use of any ideas contained therein.

36


A L L I M AG E S M A R S S O C I E T Y ROVERS AND SPACESHIPS EVERYWHERE!

Commenting on the contest, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin said, “The Mars Society is delighted

to lead this effort. This contest will provide an opportunity for legions of young engineers to directly con-

tribute their talent to this breakthrough project to open the space frontier.”

37


MARS ARCTIC 365

The Mars Society’s one-year Mars surface simulation mission innorthern Canada

http://www.marssociety.org/

38


NGC6960 BY MIKE GREENHAM

39


40


Astrocamp: A personal reflection BY Joolz Wright

I have never been to any other star party so I don’t profess to be an expert on what ingredients make up a suc-

cessful one...all I know is, like anything else in life..you always remember your first. The Astrocamp in the Brecon

Beacons was my first in September 2012. Armed with an antiquated reflector telescope, I spent my first weekend

in a tent since I left the Girl Guides and dragged my young son along too! I didn’t know anyone, apart from con-

vincing a good friend and her son...and a handful of astronomers I had met through Twitter. I never regretted it.

This September was my third visit to the Astrocamp and I can honestly say it just gets better every time.

Arrival on the first day is always a very busy one. Any fraught journeys there are soon forgotten when you see

the familiar faces from previous camp and arrivals throughout the day are peppered with friends: old and new...

It certainly breaks the ice when my son announces to freshly met astronomers the outburst of my road rage...

word for word. Well, it is very stressful towing a caravan for over 3 hours!

I always think one of the successes of the Astrocamp is

that due to a very active and friendly social networking

presence no one ever really feels like a stranger (even

when you want the ground to swallow you up!)

This September camp saw the return of the BBC Sky at

Night team and things soon got underway with Chris

Lintott judging an astronomy themed cake competition.

41


The bringing of cakes by various camp attendees has

very quickly become a bit of a tradition and this year

my daughter had made and decorated a fabulous

shuttle cake. I was a very proud mum when her cake

was announced the winner, and even featured on

the Sky at Night programme! My girl was actually

my saviour after my attempt at decorating it with the

Awesome Astronomy Animated characters (also the

camp organisers) melted! No one wants to see a cake

looking like the result of a drunken brawl...do they?

The campsite is set up in a way which leaves a central

area for observing. This is “the common” and is a place

where many set up their scopes with a view to sharing

celestial delights at the eyepiece. There are also dedicated astro-imaging areas for those who need less interrup-

tion to really take advantage of the inky black skies. Some set up scopes next to their tents or vans, it really is a

great mix and at Astrocamp there are no hard and fast rules except for the usual star camp etiquette.

I had decided to set up my 127 Skywatcher Mak (on an EQ GoTo mount) by my van on the first night, a major

upgrade from my telescope at the first Astrocamp! I had a great Polar Alignment tutorial from another astro

earlier on in the evening, so I was convinced it was all going to go well! How wrong I was! By the time it was

dark enough to Polar Align my telescope decided to stop slewing. I put it down to a battery failure and decided

to concentrate on my DSLR. Again, another astro patiently taught me how to focus, using the zoom facility

on live view and I spent most of the evening capturing some wide field shots of the Milky Way! Another first!

42


A fabulous night was had with many objects

clearly visible with the naked eye such as

the Double Custer and M31

There is always so much going on at

Astrocamp during the day too.

The days were filled with some amazing

views of the sun using the array of solar

scopes and filtered scopes/ binoculars

on the common. We were even treated

on day two, to the most spectacular sun

halo! An imaging workshop was also held

on the common with some great advice

and a fabulous comprehensive guide from one of the

camp organisers, Damien Phillips/ @dephelis (you may

recognise him from my cake!!). Although the wonderful

clear skies meant the sun washed out the accompanying

screen presentation, all was not lost, as Damien gave small

groups hands on tutorials throughout the event duration.

These particularly included how to image using a webcam

followed by the processing methods and recommended

stacking software. It was a very welcome activity for many

beginners and those wanting to try new techniques. No

Astrocamp would be complete without the unmissable

Astro Pub-quiz! This September was no exception. With

the most amazing telescope prizes you would be bonkers

43


not to enter! Even the BBC Sky at

Night team entered...and no guesses

as to where they came on the leader

board! They walked away with the

most coveted of prizes...a free down-

load to the wonderful Awesome

Astronomy podcast! Really must

swot harder for the next one...

Another highlight of the weekend

was Jenifer Millard’s fascinating

talk on exo-planets with some

amazing facts and great audience

participation, including a demonstration of the evo-

lution of the known Universe using a “clothes line”

and pegged images! A great Q and A session saw

the youngest preschool camp attendee offering...”I

have a question...what’s this?”...Followed by a crack-

ing shadow puppet onto the projection screen! It

really was an informative and fun packed after-

noon for all ages!

Before you knew it, it was dusk once more and

it really is a truly magical place on the common.

44


Everyone had set up their scopes and once Polaris had been clocked, the first sighting of any celestial light would

be greeted with the comforting sound of slewing scopes and voices calling out new targets.

How could you not be mesmerised by that view...

The second evening brought some very unwelcome cloud cover and rain...just to show that there isn’t always a

clear sky at Astrocamp, although it has a pretty good track record! This was used as an excuse to catch up with

other astro-pals as there was no “scope driving” to be done! Tweeting absent friends and red torch portraits were

the frivolities of the evening, with the Sky at Night team asking for a window of quietness whilst they filmed their

closing shot, and great fun was had! An early night was also most welcome!

45


The following day was spent with more glorious skies

and solar observing and with the astro imaging ses-

sions running, it really was a relaxed atmosphere

accumulating in an "astro high tea" with everyone on

the common sharing sandwiches, snacks and tea, of

course!

Below: (Image by Alex Speed)

Night was soon around again and with a borrowed power pack I made another attempt at using my scope on the

common and after a few very frustrating false starts I was up and running. A very helpful and much more expe-

rienced observer came to my rescue in the form of a 13 year old young lady when my scope was playing up and

without her I would probably have given up after a failed fifth attempt at star alignment! There were lots of beau-

tiful firsts, with views of the Wild Duck Cluster, Owl (ET) Cluster and Alberio. I could not believe how beautiful a

double star could look at the eyepiece...and wondered why I hadn’t attempted to view it before then. Old favou-

rites such as the Double Cluster and Andromeda to name just two were all the more vibrant in the darkest of skies.

More shared views through some great telescopes and fantastic moments such as the excitement when a fellow

astro captured three galaxies in one field of view, will be very difficult to forget! With the Milky Way stretching from

one horizon to another there is so much to take in. A good part of the night was spent sitting in a chair just using

46


eyes as equipment of choice, with great company.

With a long journey ahead in the morning I reluctantly

bunked down around 3 am with fantastic images of

the wonderful sights I had seen still in my head.

All too soon and it was time to leave...but what a great

experience. The date of the next camp was displayed

and all I can say is it cannot come soon enough!

(Image Paul Hill) (left)

47


48


THE IMAGINARY NUMBER

THE COMPLEX NUMBERS

Numbers are so familiar to us that it might seem unimaginable that there was a time when the very concept

didn’t exist. Indeed the invention of numbers is lost in antiquity. Historians of mathematics speculate that

the origin of numbers was probably connected with real problems of life at the time, like describing whether

there was one animal, or more than one animal as food source (or a threat). A certain level of abstraction was

required to use numbers. Three rabbits, three stars and three rocks only share the common property of three-

ness. Manipulation of number – with no connection to physical objects – was a great intellectual leap.

BEYOND THE COUNTING NUMBERS

Negative numbers arrived on the scene much later. Trading and commerce meant that profit and loss should

be accounted for properly. Negative numbers were used to represent an absence or a loss. Despite that neg-

ative numbers were not immediately accepted by mathematicians. Early practitioners of algebra would often

discard negative values when they appeared as solutions. After all it’s easy to picture three people in a room. Or

two. Or one. Or even none. But what does minus one person in a room look like? One of my students recently

suggested it would be like a ghost. There may be grounds for rejecting negative numbers as the solution to a

particular problem but in other situations their use may be perfectly acceptable.

Negative numbers eventually found their place in our number system because they can be solutions of equa-

tions – just as valid as their positive namesakes. Likewise the history of zero is just as fraught with controversy

and confusion. Zero initially served as a placeholder in the representation of number. For example, it is the

zeros which tell you about the size of the numbers 15 and 105 and 1005. But zero as a number in its own right

took a long time to gain acceptance. Just like negative values, the solutions to some equations can be zero.

49


The negative and positive numbers (integers and all the values between them) along with zero can be rep-

resented on a numberline stretching infinitely in both directions

For most people that’s the end of the story – we usually don’t need other types of number to survive

in life. Or do we?

Impossible Square Roots

Mathematicians of the Renaissance, armed with algebraic methods and newly invented symbols,

began to tackle a difficult equation: the cubic. A cubic equation contains the variable multiplied

by itself three times (compare with a quadratic equation which has the variable “squared” --- multi-

plied with itself twice). A method for solving quadratic equations was well known. Mathematicians

eventually found a method for solving cubic equations.

A simple cubic equation is x^3-15x-4=0. Mathematicians applied the algorithm for solving it and

one of the intermediate steps generated this fearful expression:

50


The exasperating thing about the cubic equation was actually has simple solution: 𝑥=4. But the method

was generating the complicated expression shown here which contains, among other things, a square-

root of a negative number.

Why is the square-root strange? Well, mathematicians had long thought that only positive numbers (and

zero) could have a square-root. For example, since 9×9=81 then the square-root of 81 is 9. The square-root

could also be -9 because −9×−9=81. Similarly 4 is 2 or -2. There are no numbers, positive or negative, that

when multiplied with itself, gives a negative number. Therefore expressions like −121 had no sensible

meaning and mathematicians were puzzled by its presence. Instead of rejecting the square-roots of the

negatives the Italian mathematician Rafael Bombelli (1526 - 1572) embraced them and manipulated them

using the rules of algebra. He was able to change the solution into something a little simpler:

The solution still contains square roots of negative numbers, but the second one subtracts and cancels

the first leaving just x=2+2=4, which was the expected answer. Whatever the square-roots of negative

numbers were, they obeyed the rules of arithmetic and algebra and led to “real” solutions.

51


Imaginary Numbers

Mathematicians did not welcome these new numbers overnight. It took a couple of centuries to develop a

consistent framework explaining how √(-1) actually fitted into the rest of mathematics. The French math-

ematician Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) derided these numbers, calling them imaginary (as opposed to

the useful, real numbers). But his name for them stuck. The square-root of minus one – whatever it was –

gained its own symbol. It was denoted in equations by the letter i, which made arithmetic with them less

cumbersome. No doubt it shielded nervous mathematicians from having to think too much about how

different √(-1) was from the familiar, real numbers. The imaginary unit i was defined by the relationship

i^2=-1. In other words when you square this strange number, it takes a negative value.

Mathematicians noticed that when imaginary numbers cropped up in their calculations, they were often

bonded to real numbers. Written down they look like 3+4i or 2-5i. These mixtures of the real and imagi-

nary are called a complex numbers.

Complex numbers are an amalgam of our familiar real numbers and the recently discovered imaginary.

52


The horizontal axis is the real numberline. The vertical axis is

the imaginary number line. Since complex numbers could be

treated as points on a graph it made them amenable for analy-

sis by using geometry and trigonometry. It wasn’t long before

those branches of mathematics shed light on useful complex

numbers could be.

The most beautiful equation

Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783) studied

complex numbers. Euler was aware that many functions could

be represented by infinitely long series of powers. For example

the exponential function e^x, which describes rapid (exponen-

tial) growth can be calculated by adding powers of x together.

Using the type of mathematical manipulation that is routine at

A-Level, he was able to show power series for sine and cosine

(from trigonometry) could combine with the imaginary unit to

give a power series for the exponential function. Euler uncov-

ered the following relationship:

Here the symbol θ represents the angle that the line to the

complex number makes to the horizontal axis when it’s plotted

on the graph. Euler’s incredible equation links two previously

unconnected types of function: the exponential and trigono-

metric functions. The exponential function grows and grows.

Sine and cosine functions are oscillating waves. There was

no reason to think they should be related before complex

53


numbers were discovered. It’s like finding out that two of your friends, who didn’t previously know each

other are actually related to each other. It’s difficult to convey how shocking that result must have seemed

to mathematicians at the time.

What follows from Euler’s equation is both trivial and profound. Trivial to demonstrate: when the angle θ is

180° (or π radians in mathematical currency) the formula becomes

But the sine part disappears at this angle, and the equation simplifies to e^iπ=-1. Rearranging this so that

all the terms are on the left side of the equation gives us one the most profound and beautiful mathemati-cal results of all time

This is a single equation that captures the five most important numbers in mathematics. The Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988) described it as “one of the most remarkable, almost astounding, formulas in all of mathematics.”

Real applications for imaginary numbers

We’re almost at the end of this real and imaginary journey. Despite their name, imaginary (and complex) numbers have found very real applications in science and engineering. For electrical engineers complex numbers are a useful computational tool for dealing with frequencies and time varying voltages and resistances. You can find the imag-inary unit at the heart of quantum mechanics in the Schrodinger equation. The most iconic image of 20th century mathematics, the Mandelbrot set, is constructed from simple rules applied to complex numbers. My own research background is image processing – particularly improving noisy radiological images. The techniques used in that field (Fourier transforms) have imaginary numbers embedded within them.

We might not be able to imagine what the square-root of minus one looks like but we need it to fully capture of the essence of reality

Words: Adrian Jannetta

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[Sculpture in Berlin - credit Wikipedia]

As equations go - they don’t get much more

iconic than Einstein’s famous equation. There

have been books written about it, posters,

tattoos, artworks, and a whole industry based on

it, not to mention weapons.

An equation is a balance - the things on the left

must equal the things on the right. So what this

equation tells us is that if you change something

on one side, you get a corresponding change on

the other. So - lets just pick it apart.

The E stands for energy. Interestingly no one

really knows what energy is. It’s a sort of thing

- we know it when we see it, and we know how

to convert it, but we don’t really know what it

is. We know fast moving things have a lot of it,

things high up want to lose energy by coming

low down etc. On the other side we have m

for mass - which you can treat as how much

things weigh broadly without too many issues.

We also have c - the speed of light, squared, so

two lots of it. Now the speed of light is fixed -

you can’t change it. So we can’t play with that

part of the equation. It’s set in stone by the uni-

verse. This means we can ignore it if we just

want to do comparisons. So lets do that for the

time being. This means the equation can be

viewed as

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E = m

So - if we have 1kg of mass - we can make

a certain amount of energy. If we have

2kg, we have twice as much. 4kg is 4 times

as much and so on. We can change the

amount of mass, and/or the amount of

energy. However by the balance principle,

we can convert any amount of mass into

an equivalent amount of energy. Equally

if we have some spare energy around,

we can make it into mass. So, with 1kg of

mass, we can make some energy. How

much energy? Well quite a lot. Lets put the

c2 back in. c is a big number - 300,000,000

m/s. c squared is an even bigger number.

8900,000,000,000,000,000 m2/s2. So this tells us a little bit of mass will make a lot of energy, or equiva-

lently you need a lot of energy to make a little bit of mass. This is the principle of nuclear energy. Each

useful nuclear reaction loses a tiny bit of mass, and from that we get energy. It’s also true in chemis-

try but the fractions are that much tinier there. Equivalently at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) they

bang particles together with large amounts of energy, and are able to create new lumps of matter (and

anti-matter).

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Can you convert material 100% into

energy? Well yes you can in special

cases. Matter and anti-matter will

do it. They cancel each other out

making pure energy. We are sur-

rounded by matter, but anti matter

is very rare. We can make it, but

guess what, it takes energy to make

it. As much energy is required as you

would get back. However normally

conversion isn’t 100%, so in practice

you’d lose energy in the steps.

A nuclear bomb (fission) for instance, is about 0.03% efficient whilst a hydrogen bomb ups it to about 0.3%.

That is only a tiny fraction of the mass is converted to energy. The effects are still quite devastating though.

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Bottom Left: [Nuclear fission bomb explosion - credit wikipedia]

The Sun does a little better - extracting somewhere around 1% efficiency from the reactions - but then it

does have size on its side. Black holes can do somewhat better - getting up to maybe 40% of the possible

energy from stuff falling into it.

Another aspect of this equation is that energy has mass, and mass causes gravity. So even a photon of

light, which has no real mass in the conventional sense, has an effective mass. This is why light can be

bent by large masses caused by gravity. However this is very simplistic, as light actually bends a little more

than you might expect just treating it as a mass. This is where general relativity comes in, and lets agree

to sweep that under the carpet, as the maths is epically horrendous.

But… why the speed of light, how has that got involved? This looks a little incongruous, why have it in

there? Well its a little complicated - but then it did take Einstein to figure it out.

It comes down to the speed of light being the universal speed limit. Nothing can go faster. Also that

Einstein turned space and time into a single space-time. We travel through the universe in space-time at

the speed of light. If we’re standing still we shoot forward in time only. If we move in our regular 3 dimen-

sions we go through time a little more slowly. For any normal speed we don’t notice the change in time.

So - that’s a not very convincing justification for why we have the c. You need to follow through the maths

to see in more detail.

Words: Julian Onions

58


Sundogs - The Fact and Fiction

A sundog, or to give it its correct name, a parhelion

(plural parhelia) is a well documented atmospheric

phenomenon. In a similar way to how light is split by

water droplets when a rainbow forms, parhelia are

formed when the light from the Sun is refracted by

hexagonal shaped ice crystals found in cirrus clouds

high in the atmosphere. These ice crystals act like tiny

prisms, causing bright patches to appear either side

of the Sun. These patches may look multicoloured,

but often the colours overlap so are more muted than

you would expect to see in a rainbow. Sometimes the

pair of bright patches is part of a white 22 degree halo

which surrounds the Sun, also called a parhelic circle.

Why are they called 22 degree halos? The sky is divided

up in a similar way to how the Earth is divided into lat-

itude and longitude. If you imagine the sky as being a

huge sphere, the entire thing is divided up into degrees,

with the total being 360. A parhelic circle stretches out

by 22 degrees in every direction from the Sun. To give

you an idea of how big that is, if you place your hand

at arm’s length and stretch out your fingers, the dis-

tance from your thumb to your little finger will cover

approximately 20 degrees of sky. Why is 22 degrees

so special? It is to do with the angle that the light

is deflected as it passes through those hexagonal

ice crystals. When the ice crystals sink through the

air and become vertically aligned, a parhelic circle

is formed. If the ice crystals are arranged randomly,

then a pair of parhelia is formed, but often the two

are present at the same time. They are usually only

visible when the Sun is low in the sky (below 60

degrees) either at sunrise or sunset. Depending

on the conditions, there may be one or two parhe-

lia present. Although parhelia are only visible when

the correct conditions are present, they are relatively

common. Far less common though, are moondogs,

correct name paraselene (plural paraselenae). Also

caused by light being refracted by cirrus clouds, the

Moon needs to be almost full in order for there to be

enough light to cause a paraselene to form. Because

the Moon is far less bright than the sun, a paraselene

is rarely bright enough to be able to pick out indi-

vidual colours; it usually just looks like a bright white

patch, but may also be part of a 22 degree halo.

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60


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We understand this atmospheric phenomenon very well now, and we can even speculate that they form

in the atmosphere of other planets too. But this wasn’t always the case. There are a lot of references in

mythology and folklore which we now believe are referring to sundogs.

The word “parhelia” comes from the Greek language, meaning “beside the sun”. But it is also known by

several other names; sundog, mock sun or phantom sun. It is easy to understand how ancient civili-

zations would have interpreted these peculiar bright patches as “mock suns” but where did the name

sundog originate? Its first recorded use was in 1631 by the British Naval Captain Luke Foxe. He used it

in his journal whilst on a search for the North West Passage. However, this was clearly not a new term

that he had coined himself. In the 1st century AD, the Greek playwright Seneca used the term “par-

helion” to mean sundogs. The origin of these two parallel terms is thought to be from the Greek and

Germanic languages which then entered into the English language. If the two bright patches of light

rise alongside the Sun, following it as dogs would follow their master, then this is perhaps one possible

origin of the term “sundog”. However, a better explanation may come from Germanic mythology. Odin

was the sky god, and he was said to have two dogs, one named Geri and one named Freki, so people

seeing their god rising with two faithful companions may have been the source of the name sundog.

The appearance of atmospheric phenomenon like parhelia would have given ancient story tellers many

opportunities to tell their tales, and many stories there are. Most of the ancient writings refer to sky

gods and twin sons of the sky. In Greek mythology Zeus was god of the sky, and there is reference to

“Dioskouri” which translates as “Sons of God”. In Greek mythology there are two sets of twin sons of the

sky god. Stories from Babylon, China and India all feature twin sons of the sky. The native American

cultures of Zuni, Hopi and Apache feature sun twins. Elsewhere in America, sun twins appear in the

writings of the Seneca of New York State and Maya of Central America. Women of South East Africa

who gave birth to twin sons were said to have children of the sky. Finally, there are ancient carvings in

Scandinavia which depict twin figures that are associated with the Sun.

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Sometimes only one parhelion is visible, and this is

thought to have given rise to other mythological tales.

In the Greek myth of Phaethon, Phaethon was the son

of Klymene, however, his father was absent. Upon ques-

tioning, Klymene told him that his father was Helios, the

Sun, so the presence of the Sun with one parhelion was

symbolic of Helios and his son Phaethon. The first clear

description of parhelia as an atmospheric phenome-

non rather than the stuff of myth and legend comes

from a passage in a book written in 1533. In “Brotherly

Faithfulness: Epistles from a Time of Persecution”, Jakob

Hutter wrote, “My beloved children, I want to tell you

that on the day after the departure of our brothers

Kuntz and Michel, on a Friday, we saw three suns in

the sky for a good long time, about an hour, as well as

two rainbows. These had their backs turned toward

each other, almost touching in the middle, and their

ends pointed away from each other. And this I, Jakob,

saw with my own eyes, and many brothers and sisters

saw it with me. After a while the two suns and rain-

bows disappeared, and only the one sun remained.

Even though the other two suns were not as bright

as the one, they were clearly visible. I feel this was no

small miracle…” Two years later, in 1535, came the ear-

liest pictorial record of parhelia in the form of a paint-

ing called “Vädersolstavlan”. This literally translates

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as “The Weather Sun Painting” but is more widely

referred to as “The Sundog Painting”, shown below.

It depicts the city of Stockholm on the morning of

20th April, 1535. In this painting, the sky is full of

various atmospheric phenomena, including parhe-

lia, 22 degree halo and circumzenithal arc. The king

was not impressed with the painting, viewing the

mock suns as some kind of threat to his authority.

Prior to the Vädersolstavlan, other artistic depictions

of parhelia existed. One famous example also shown

below is taken from the Nuremberg Chronicle, one

of the first books to combine words with pictures.

It follows human history, paraphrasing the bible.

This picture is clearly representing parhelia, the top

image depicting them as the holy trinity. One of the

most famous stories involving the appearance of

parhelia is the one which occurred shortly before the

battle of Mortimer’s Cross in 1461. Edward of York’s

troops were initially terrified by this apparition,

described as “three glorious suns, each a perfect

sun”; they thought it was a portent. But Edward

convinced them that it was in fact an auspicious

sign; that it represented the holy trinity and that it

foretold of their victory. It is also reported that he

thought the three suns represented himself and his

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two brothers. This scene is re-enacted within Shakespeare’s play Henry VI Part 3, where the would-be King

Edward exclaims, “Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?” This event clearly had an impact on Edward,

as he later incorporated the Sun into his personal badge. Appearances of parhelia have long been asso-

ciated with weather predictions, often recorded as meaning that a storm is coming. We now know that

this isn’t necessarily the case; it largely depends on the direction of the weather front in question. Given

our current level of knowledge, it is difficult to imagine a time when people truly believed the appearance

of an atmospheric phenomenon could be interpreted as a sign of good or bad luck; that their fate was

hinged upon a bright patch in the sky. But it is easy to see how awe inspiring the sight must have been for

our ancient ancestors, and how it inspired so many stories. Even with our vast knowledge I am still capti-

vated by the sight myself, imagining all of those tiny prisms diffracting rays of sunlight, and I was totally

blown away when I recently saw my first moondog. But I know it doesn’t mean that I will be successful

in battle, or that rain is on the way. The presence of one or two parhelia means only thing for certain; that

there are cirrus clouds in the sky!

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Sources:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circular.htm

http://www.weather-banter.co.uk/uk-sci-weather-uk-weather/5723-sun-dog-photo.html

http://www.decodedscience.com/the-mortimers-cross-parhelion-how-a-meteorological-phenomenon-changed-english-history/3437

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_dog

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Chronicle

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS: MARY SPICER

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Astronomy for the Absolute Beginner.

Have you ever looked up at night and wondered

what all the little shiny dots are? Or maybe you

know a little bit about stars, planets and sat-

ellites but you’re keen to find out more about

the cosmos in your corner of our vast universe?

If the answer to these is ‘yes’, or ‘maybe’ - then

this is for you. Hopefully by the time you’ve

finished reading these few short paragraphs,

you’ll be able to look up into the blackness of

space and put names to some of the familiar

lights and patterns. Maybe you’ll even begin to

understand what these objects are, be curious

enough to find out more and spend some time at

night gazing up in awe and wonder. Be prepared

- there’s no such thing as bad weather only inap-

propriate clothing. Even on a relatively mild sum-

mer’s night you can get pretty chilly. A good base

layer may be needed, and the key thing here is to

avoid cotton if you can. Merino wool t-shirts and

long-johns are good (particularly Ice-Breaker) as

are man-made fabrics. I have a nice long sleeved

North Face top made from a combination of three

different man-made fabrics and it is a great fit too.

Next you do need a good insulating layer. I tend to

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wear a hoody on top so that if it gets really chilly I can keep

my head warm with the hood. In mid-winter I’ll probably

have a jumper over the hoody too! Try not to wear jeans

on your legs, instead go for jogging pants or outdoor trou-

sers such as Rohans or Berghaus. In the middle of winter,

especially if it has been snowing I have been known to wear

salopettes. Finally, have a decent woolly hat in your pocket

to put on when it gets really chilly.

Be equipped - You probably need to buy yourself a cheap

“red light” torch particularly if you’re going to a dark site, or

an actual observatory. You can buy these for less than £10

on most internet shopping and auction sites. Why do you

need a red light, why not a white light? Its all to do with the

chemicals and cells in your eyes. Here’s the science bit - A

chemical called Rhodopsin, made in the retina from Vitamin

A found in Beta-Carotene, is the thing that determines your

night vision. When you’ve got lots of it in your rod cells, you

can see wonderfully at night - mainly in black and white.

Rhodopsin is great at absorbing blue/green light however

and when it does it breaks down into other chemicals and

you can’t see so well at night anymore. Practically it takes

the Rhodopsin about 30-45 minutes to recombine and you

get your night vision back. Red light doesn’t really break

it down - which is why astronomers use red light torches!

In any case, give yourself at least half an hour in the dark

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before you go outside and look up. If you can’t afford a telescope yet its worth getting a set of binocu-

lars for around £20 just to get you started. Also on cold nights a thermos flask of hot chocolate or soup

is a life saver.

Plan your observing - take some time to think about what you are going to look for and where is the best

place to find it. Stellarium is a great PC based tool to do this and it is free to download here http://www.

stellarium.org/. If you’ve got an android phone, download and install Google sky map. iPhone users have

similar apps available, just search “sky map”. Your back yard is probably ok for observing the moon, some

of the more obvious constellations, brighter planets and satellites like the ISS and Iridium flares. If you

want to see more, then you’ll have to head to a darker site - away from light-polluting street lamps. When

I first started astronomy I used to walk down to Gorleston beach, then walk half a mile along the beach

away from the town, lie down on a blanket and just look up. The first time I saw the Milky Way Galaxy

was here and it quickly became one of my most favourite places in the world. If you’re uncertain then

this map will give you some pointers towards ideal dark sky sites around the UK http://www.darkskydis-

covery.org.uk/dark-sky-discovery-sites/map.html. This page has two clickable map links that show you

the levels of light pollution in the UK and Europe but the simple rule is - head to the countryside or the

coast and away from street lamps!

What to look out for - some easy-to-find objects to look

out for over the Autumn and Winter months.

The Moon - great for naked eye or binocular observ-

ing. Look particularly for detail highlighted by shadows

around the edge of the moon, or at the line where the

day meets the night. (This line is called the terminator).

http://www.stellarium.org

http://www.stellarium.org

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The moon changes on a daily basis so keep looking up! Its also worth noting that when the moon is fully

in shadow - a new moon - other objects in the night sky become clearer.

The International Space Station (ISS) - The home to a number of astronauts hurtling around our planet

can be tracked here - http://iss.astroviewer.net/observation.php.

The Planets - Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are usually very easy to find and observe, particularly with

binoculars or a small telescope. The first time you see the rings of Saturn, it will blow your mind.

Constellations - These are groups of stars that make recognisable patterns. Key constellations are: Ursa

Major, (the Plough or Big Dipper) which helps us find the Polaris - the North Pole star. Also it’s handle

arcs towards Arcturus the fourth brightest star in the sky. The big dipper has a the two stars Mizar and

Alcor which look very close together and are known as an “optical double” but the reality is they’re very

far apart. Orion is an instantly recognisable shape in the southern sky. It contains the Orion Nebula, (M42)

just below the belt and Betelgeuse which is a massive red star currently at the end of its life and shrink-

ing which means it might blow up soon! Like the Big Dipper - the stars in Orion line up in such a way that

you can use it as a pointer to other stars and constellations. Cassiopeia is a familiar ‘W’ shape and contains

many ‘deep sky’ objects including two open clusters, M103 and M52. M52 is easy to spot with a pair of bin-

oculars. Cassiopeia is great for finding the Milky Way because she’s lying smack bang in the middle of it.

These objects are great to get your started and the constellations will also help to guide you towards other

things to view as your exploration of the night sky evolves over many weeks and months of viewing.So

remember - enjoy your first nights out as an astronomer by keeping warm, preserving your night vision,

planning your observing, finding yourself somewhere dark and then simply look up.

Words: Roy Alexander

Moon Image: Mike Greenham

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Astronomy/ Science Education in Schools

in India

Current Scenario in schools-By Henna Khan“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through

the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for Science intact” – Carl Sagan.

I am unaware of how much astronomy is taught in schools the world over, but in India, the only astron-

omy which is included in the school curriculum is a bit about the solar system added in the geogra-

phy textbook as an afterthought. A lot of children grow up without even knowing that our Sun is just

another star. And what is worse is that the education system does not make them wonder and ask

these questions for themselves.

Further, the current education system is purely focused on passing exams. Almost all children end

up rote learning without understanding concepts. If we want future scientists, our education system

needs to change from “textbook based learning” to “inquiry-driven learning”.

There are few schools in India which do provide hands-on based education, but these are very expensive

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and only a fraction of the children are able to take advantage

of it. We need an education system which includes astron-

omy as part of the curriculum and imparts education through

hands-on activities. Instead of “teaching” we need to “inspire”

children into learning. Importance of Astronomy in Schools

Astronomy is an interdisciplinary science which has the ability

to stretch a child’s mind into infinite spaces and time and mul-

tiple dimensions. It can inspire children to imagine! Children

are naturally inquisitive. Astronomy can be used to fuel their

curiosity. It has an immense potential to motivate children to

learn Maths, physics, chemistry, biology – subjects that oth-

erwise may not be of interest to them. Through science and

innovative thinking children can come up with solutions to

world problems such as malnutrition, water, sanitation.

Astrology / palm reading/ Numerology are commonplace

topics in India. I believe it is easier to change an entire gen-

eration of thinkers than to try and change the mindset of

the adult population. By including astronomy as part of the

school curriculum, we will be able to get children thinking

and question the validity of such topics for themselves. This

is probably the best way to do away with superstition and

blind belief and pave the way for science.

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However, maybe a bigger reason for teaching astronomy in schools is because it is a humbling subject.

We can look at pictures of earth from space and know how fragile it is. We can understand how futile

hatred and war is and the threat of self-destructing ourselves. We can understand how our planet func-

tions and the dangers of climate change. Astronomy has the potential to make this world a better place

and we a better race.

What can be done in developing countries for Astronomy/ Science outreach

The Government of India needs to work on improving education infrastructure, providing teacher train-

ing and ensuring quality education even to children in rural areas.

Initiative and effort for astronomy/ science outreach needs to come from individuals, private compa-

nies and organizations until the ideal situation of having astronomy included in the national education

curriculum is achieved.

Astronomy/ Science for middle-income children:

A sustainable model for Astronomy/ Science outreach through hands-on based activities can be used

by individuals and organizations. It may be built on the “After-school Universe” model (http://universe.

nasa.gov/au/) and may have the following features:

• Low cost hands on based workshops can be offered to school children. Parents pay the nominal

amount for the workshops, not the schools

• Use resources of the school (classroom space, projector/ screen for presentation). This reduces

expenses and initial investment of the Individual/ organization

• Target for more number of children, for example, instead of targeting one workshop of 30 chil-

dren per day, 90 to 100 children can be taught in one day in three back to back batches of say around 30

children each. In this case, price per child can be dropped to one/third while the individual/ organization

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makes the same amount of money

• Have children work in groups to share cost of the activity, for

example, group of four children can make one water rocket to reduce

per head cost. Also encourages team work

• Certain models can be reused to reduce cost

• Teacher training at schools should be given

Astronomy/ Science for under-privileged children:

In case of under-privileged children, workshops cannot be offered even

at a very low cost. Some ideas for achieving this are mentioned below:

• Tie up with corporate companies to perform outreach as a part

of corporate social responsibility

• Tie up with education consultants who already have a network

of schools across the country

• Train teachers of local NGOs who work with under-privileged

children

• Tie up with network of local amateur astronomers. Each amateur

astronomer can approach few schools in their area and do this part time.

However, doing one time workshops to get kids inspired is not enough.

There should be a platform for continued discussion.

Challenges:

• Availability of quality education for higher studies. There are

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limited options. Also not many courses in subjects such as Quantum Mechanics and Astrobiology. Not

always feasible for children to go to other countries for higher education

• Availability of jobs in Space industry/ Science as compared to other sectors

About Me:

I am the owner of Universe Simplified, through which I am trying to achieve sustainable Astronomy/

Science education for school children by engaging them in hands-on activities. Aim is to get children

curious and interested in the subjects.

www.universesimplified.in

Twitter: @henna_khan

www.universesimplified.in

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Women, Astronomy & UKWIAN Launch!

I have had a life-long love of astronomy and science, yet

people often ask me if I only like it because my partner likes

it too. Why, in this day and age, is astronomy still consid-

ered to be a boy’s game? There is a long history of women in

science, yet when asked, very often the first and only female

scientist people can name is Marie Curie. She was certainly

a formidable and very inspirational lady, but she is not one

of a kind. One of the first recorded female scientists was

actually Hypatia of Alexandria (370-415 - pre-dating Marie Curie by almost 1500 years!) She was a Roman

Mathematician and Astronomer, and actually invented some of her own scientific instruments. She died

for her art; a new leader was very unhappy about her teachings and had her murdered. All of her writings

and teachings were destroyed. Another famous lady scientist who also pre-dated Marie Curie by a long

way was Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). She was a convent educated German lady who was actually the

first person to write about the benefits of boiling drinking water for sanitation purposes. During the 19th

Century there were many more famous women scientists, and an even longer list covering the 20th Century

to present day. 1

In the 17th Century, attitudes towards education for women were staggering! In his book “At Home”, Bill

Bryson writes, “Women were instructed to avoid stimulating pastimes like reading and card games, and above

all never to use their brains more than was strictly necessary. Educating them was not simply a waste of time

of resources, but dangerously bad for their delicate constitutions”. In 1865, John Ruskin wrote an essay, in

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which he said that “Women should be educated just enough

to make themselves practically useful to their spouses, but

no further”. One early radical feminist, Catherine Beecher,

argued passionately that “Women should be accorded full

and equal educational rights, so long as it was recognized

that they would need extra time to do their hair”. 2 In astron-

omy, women were historically encouraged to work within the

field of solar observing. I heard a remarkable quote about

this during a talk at my local astronomical society, where it

was said that women should focus on solar work because

going out at night into the cold and dark would be detri-

mental to their delicate disposition! Luckily there have been

many women of strong enough dispositions over the years

to fight back against this kind of prejudice. As I’ve already

mentioned, Hypatia was a famous Astronomer during Roman

times. There are many more; Antonia Maury, born in 1866

was responsible for some incredible work on stellar spectra,

despite being actively discouraged by her supervisor. There

was Henrietta Swan Leavitt, born in 1868. Not only did she

devise a system for ascertaining the magnitude of stars on

photographic plates, she also studied Cepheid Variable stars,

and made the phenomenally important discovery that vari-

able stars have a period-luminosity ratio; this ratio allowed

her to calculate the absolute magnitude of stars for the first

time. There are many more. But one of the most inspiring

Born Caroline Lucretia Herschel

16 March 1750

Hanover

Died 9 January 1848 (aged 97)

Hanover

Nationality German

Fields Astronomy

Known for Discovery of comets

Notable awards Gold Medal of the

Royal Astronomical Society (1828)

Prussian Gold Medal for Science (1846)

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stories of women in astronomy has to be that of Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel. She was born

in 1750, and had a number of childhood diseases which where to affect her in later life. She was left scarred

and disfigured by Smallpox and was very short in stature due to Typhus. Her family wrote her off, told her she

would never marry and planned for to become their maid. Her brother William came to her rescue. First of all,

he taught her how to sing, but more importantly, he took her on as his assistant when he began working in

astronomy. She flourished in this role and became the first woman to discover a comet. She went on to dis-

cover more comets and nebulae, and have her own star charts published. She is one of the few early women

astronomers who have had their lives very well documented.3 Another famous “forgotten” female astrono-

mer and astrophysicist was Cecilia Payne, who in 1925 made one of the most important astronomical discov-

eries of the 20th Century.4 Using her thorough understanding of quantum theory, she calculated that 90% of

the Sun comprised of hydrogen. At the time, this finding was highly controversial because most astronomers

believed that the Sun was made of iron. Her supervisor, Henry Norris Russell, claimed her result was “spurious”

and put a lot of pressure on her to remove this claim from her final PhD thesis. Four years later, when further

evidence was overwhelmingly in favour of the Sun being made of hydrogen, Russell took the credit for the

discovery whilst poor Sylvia Payne was forgotten. Sadly, this kind of thing was not uncommon throughout

history. There is no doubt that is has been an uphill struggle for women in science. The Royal Astronomical

Society did not allow women as fellows until 1916. Around that time, women could study at university but

were not allowed to be awarded degrees. Any women who did manage to obtain professional employment

had to give up their job once they married. Luckily things have moved on and women are now afforded equal

education rights. In the present day, one third of astronomy PhD students are women, 28% of astronomy

lecturers are women and 7% of astronomy Professors are women. 5 Whist it’s great that so many women are

entering this male dominated field, the numbers are still way too low. Modern day female astronomers of note

include Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell , who was involved with the discovery of pulsars, and Catherine Cesarsky

who in 2006 became the first female president of the International Astronomical Union. There has also been a

notable increase in the number of women presenting science documentaries on television, such as Dr. Lucie

Green and Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock. These people are great role models for young women who want to

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pursue a career in astronomy, but there needs to be

more. Surely it is time to move away from pre-historic

gender typing? Supermarkets and online retailers still

market science toys as “toys for boys”, claiming it is

due to public demand. This is something which has

to change. There is no doubt that women who want

to succeed in science, technology, engineering and

maths (STEM) still face an uphill struggle today and

have to make many sacrifices. Women who want to

take a career break to have a family may have prob-

lems returning to the same posts; often they have to

take a demotion in order to get back into work. The

number of women in senior positions within astron-

omy and physics is still extremely low compared to

men. But it is the 21st Century; why does society as a

whole still think that science is a “boys” game? Only

recently, there was a big fuss in the press on the dis-

covery that the extremely successful “I F**king Love

Science” Facebook page was run by a female, the

British blogger Elise Andrews. To read about some

of the fall-out, take a look at the Guardian’s and The

Independent’s articles referenced at the end. 6&7 I

admire Elise, and the way she handled the fall out. I

have to admit that I myself was guilty of assuming

the page was run by a man, but wasn’t in the least bit

shocked or offended when I found out that it wasn’t;

Female astrophotography exhibition on the UKWIAN stand at the NW Astronomy Festival

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if anything I just felt admiration for her. The page is wonderfully run, and every single post she makes

is utterly fascinating. Science and astronomy have become extremely popular subjects in recent years.

Modern technology has made astronomy much more accessible to the general public, probably more so

than any other branch of science. Amateur astronomers can work hand in hand with professionals, sharing

and analysing data from their own back garden. The success of Galaxy Zoo is a great example; volunteers

classifying galaxies from their arm-chairs. Many of you will have heard of Hanny van Arkel and “Hanny’s

Voorwerp”. Hanny is a Dutch Biology teacher, and she discovered the “unusual object” in 2007. Since then

she has become a minor celebrity within astronomy circles! The internet allows people to control and take

photos remotely using some of the world’s largest telescopes. Distance learning is also playing a vital

role in bringing astronomy to the masses. People can study any number of astronomy or science qualifi-

cations part-time whilst still working, and once achieved, these qualifications can open up a whole new

career path for people. All of these things provide an awesome opportunity for amateurs, but also could

be really important for women who want to have a career in science or astronomy but who may find it

more difficult to make an impact through the traditional channels.

There is certainly a need for the encouragement of more women into science and astronomy, and with

astronomy currently being such a popular subject, now is the time for that to happen. Just last week, on

31st October 2013, Professor Dame Athene Donald, gender equality champion from the University of

Cambridge, kicked off a debate at the BBC’s inaugural 100 Women Conference on why there are so few

women in science and technology. 8 The founders of The Knowledge Observatory have recognized this

need, and they set up the UK Women in Astronomy Network (UKWIAN). The Knowledge Observatory are

a social enterprise, who enable young people who have become disengaged from education to take part

in their learning program which harnesses their interest in astronomy and uses it as a platform for educa-

tion in other subjects such as English, maths and computer science. They also provide personal develop-

ment programs. They organised the first astronomy festival to be held in the North West of England, and

this took place on the weekend of 26th and 27th October 2013 in Runcorn, Cheshire. They also set up the

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UKWIAN with the purpose of providing positive role models for women who are interested in astronomy,

both as amateurs and professionals. They already had a substantial following on Facebook and Twitter

before their official launch at the NW Astronomy Festival. The festival featured several guest speakers,

including Mark Thompson (astronomer from The One Show and Stargazing Live), Gary Fildes (from the

Kielder Observatory), Nick Howes (from the Faulkes Telescope), Andy Newsam (from the Astrophysics

Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University) and Sheila Kanani (Dr. of Planetary Science). As part

of the festival, the UKWIAN had an exhibition stand which featured biographies of inspirational women in

astronomy together with inspirational quotes from them. It also included an exhibition of astronomy pho-

tographs taken by women astrophotographers of all different ability levels. The photographs were made

into a video slide show which was being shown on a large TV screen displayed above the exhibition stand.

I have been assisting the UKWIAN for several weeks now, not only by looking after their Facebook page

and Twitter feed, but by helping to collate the biographies, quotes and astrophotos for the exhibition

stand. The response to the UKWIAN has been overwhelmingly positive and I feel very proud to be a part

of it. A very small number of people have voiced their concerns about sexism. They are not excluding

men; in fact, there are quite a few males who have shown their support by following the Twitter account

and becoming members of the Facebook group. UKWIAN is not trying to exclude anybody; they simply

strive towards gender equality and want to try and help to raise the currently appalling ratio of women

in astronomy, and help women to stand alongside their male counterparts.

Next to the UKWIAN stand at the astronomy festival was Women Rock Science, who were displaying posters

of women who changed the world with astronomy, biographies and badges. They were also running a

fun quiz.

It is true that many branches of science and astronomy are still male dominated, but women are fight-

ing back. I know I’ll never be a professional astronomer, but I’m a girl, and I’m proud to love astronomy.

To paraphrase the late Ann Richards (Governor of Texas) “A woman’s place is in the dome” - in this case,

an astronomy dome!

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Biographies & Inspirational Quotes on the UKWIAN Stand at the NW Astronomy Festival

Words & Images: Mary Spicer

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The Women Rock Science stand at the NW Astronomy Festival

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Women in astronomy (left to right): Tracey Snelus (Astronomy for Fun), Sue Davies (The Knowledge Observatory), Mary Spicer (UKWIAN) and Sonia Gee (Astronomy for Fun)

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References:

1. http://www.women-scientists-in-history.com/historia.html

2. “At Home” by Bill Bryson

3. http://www.womanastronomer.com/women_astronomers.htm

4. “We Need to Talk About Kelvin” by Marcus Chown

5. http://www.ras.org.uk/search/article-archive/2017-astronomy-and-geophysics-bring-women-into-science

6. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/us-news-blog/2013/mar/20/i-love-science-woman-facbook

7. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/women-love-science--what-a-surprise-8555226.html

8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24672376

For a more in-depth look at women in astronomy, please take some time to read this fabulous article: http://

academinist.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Woman_Place_Larsen.pdf

And for a female astronomer’s perspective on things, please read this: http://spacemom.net/

adventures/2008/03/19/a-womans-place-is-in-the-dome/

If you want to support UKWIAN please click here for the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/UKWIAN or

follow @UKWIAN on Twitter

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LET’S TALK....FRASER CAIN

INTERVIEW

How long have you been interested in Astronomy and what got you interested?

FC: I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy, since I was a small child. I can remember learning about the

constellations and shooting stars from my parents, watching Star Wars and Star Trek as a kid, and obses-

sively reading books about space. I bought my first telescope when I was 14 and organized star parties

in my small town. My parents were a huge influence on me, and I was lucky that space and astronomy

was something that they loved too.

Who inspires you and why?

I’ve got to admit that, like most science communicators, I was influenced by Carl Sagan. Cosmos, Contact

and Pale Blue Dot were pivotal books for me. But maybe even more influential was Demon Haunted

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World; that book turned me into a lifelong skeptic. I’ve also loved

the communication style of James Burke, of Connections fame. I’m

also lucky that some of my biggest inspirations, are also my best

friends, like Phil Plait and Pamela Gay.

Universe today is now a worldwide and well respected

website, how did Universe today come about?

FC: I originally created Universe Today back in 1999 as a side project

while I was working for a web development company in Vancouver.

After a few months, I knew that this would be my future career,

and so I did everything I could to make the revenue sustainable

so I could make it my full time job. It took a few years of hard work

to be able to make that change.

What other projects are you involved with?

FC:In addition to Universe Today, I’m also the co-host of Astronomy

Cast, which I create with Dr. Pamela Gay. I’ve been working with

a team of astronomers on the Virtual Star Party, where we broad-

cast a live view of the night sky every week onto Google+. I also

produce explainer videos on YouTube, helping people understand

various concepts in space and astronomy.

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How do you think twitter, face book, YouTube etc have helped astronomy?

FC: Social media like Twitter has allowed everyone to have a voice, same with

YouTube. It doesn’t matter who you work for or how much budget you have, if

you have an interesting story to tell, you can reach a worldwide audience. I think

this whole revolution is really exciting, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

This year has been a hive of activity with near earth asteroids, the

Russian meteor and of course comet ISON, what event this year has

or will be the most amazing too you?

FC: All of those events you’ve mentioned have been big. Although we don’t

know what’s going to happen yet, I’d have to say that Comet ISON is the event

I’m most excited about. It’s been years since there was a bright comet in the

night sky, and I can’t wait to share this with my readers and especially my kids.

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If it was possible what planet in our solar would you most like to visit and why?

FC: Please don’t make me choose. If I had to choose somewhere else to live, it would have to be Mars, because

it’s the most compatable place in the Solar System. But there are places I would love to see with my own

eyes: lakes on Titan, geysers on Enceladus, volcanoes on Io, the strange wall on Iapetus, caves on the Moon,

the hollows on Mercury, the cloud tops of Venus. It’s an amazing, fascinating Solar System, and I’d love to be

able set foot on these locations some day in the far future.

What projects are you planning in the future?

FC: My biggest project right now is my YouTube channel, where I’m learning how to communicate space and

astronomy through video. And if you didn’t already know, making video is hard. But I really think that the

future is going to be in video, so I’m forcing myself to go through this process and develop the skills.

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What equipment to you use for observing?

FC: I actually don’t have very good gear for observing. I live in such a cloudy/rainy part of the world that

it’s pretty much pointless to own a telescope. One of the reasons I organized the Virtual Star Party was

so that I could see through the telescopes of other astronomers.

A big thank you to Fraser ffor taking the time to be interviewed, you can visit universe Today on twitter, YouTube and online.

https://www.youtube.com/user/universetoday/

https://twitter.com/universetoday

http://www.universetoday.com/

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http://www.onlineastronomysociety.com/

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A new astronomy project on crowd-

funding website Kickstarter has suc-

cessfully raised funds to publish a

novel pocked-sized astronomical

guide in time for Christmas. The

Astronomy Diary, described as a

“What’s On” guide for the night sky,

gives weekly recommendations for

observations and must-see celestial

events

The diary aims to spark a lasting

interest in astronomy in both adult

and child newcomers, but could also

act as a handy aide to more expe-

rienced observers. “Astronomy is a

bug we’d love to share with every-

one” says Kate Harrington, one of

the authors, “and we hope the diary

will nudge others to explore the

night sky.” The idea seems to have

caught on, with hundreds of enthu-

siasts pledging their support on

Kickstarter through October and

November.

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What’s the Matter with Pluto? The Story of Pluto’s Adventures with the Planet Club

By Paul Halpern, Illustrated by Vance Lehmkuhl

Pluto joined the Planet Club in 1930, but didn’t quite fit in. He is much tinier than the gas giants in the outer

part of the Solar System. He has a lot more moons than any of the inner planets. His orbit is much more

stretched out than any of the other worlds’ paths around the Sun. The other members of the Planet Club didn’t

know what to make of him. Then one day, Pluto received some bad news...

Explore the story of Pluto as seen through the eyes of the planets themselves. Witness the rise and fall of

Pluto’s membership in the Planet Club. Why was he demoted and what happened next?

Introduce young minds to the fascinating science of astronomy with this entertaining picture book about the

Solar System. Great for ages four to ten!

Masterful illustrations by Vance Lehmkuhl make this book a true gem.

Astronomy for children has never been more fun!

Feed the hungry! 10% of the royalties received for this book will be donated to the hunger charity Philabundance

Praise for What’s the Matter with Pluto?

“Delightful! What a wonderful way to get young ones interested in the mysteries constantly unfolding in the sky above us. Smart, fun, and educational -- all at the same time. .”

—Christine Lavin, Singer-songwriter: “Shining My Flashlight on the Moon,” “Planet X,” “Just One Angel 2.0”

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“In ‘What’s the Matter with Pluto,’ Paul Halpern and Vance Lehmkuhl lay out the facts of planetary life with

humor, clarity, and a surprising amount of depth. No other issue in astronomy has engendered such passion-

ate feelings and outright confusion from children and adults alike as the “demotion” of Pluto from planetary

status, and the abandonment of traditional mnemonics as the solar system went from nine planets to eight.

Halpern and Lehmkuhl describe the history of Pluto’s discovery, what makes it so different from the others,

and ultimately its expulsion from ‘The Planet Club,’ with a light tone, but enough rigor that even the most

ardent Plutonian defender would be hard-pressed to argue. .”

—Dave Goldberg, Astrophysicist and Science Writer: “The Universe in the Rearview Mirror,” “A User’s

Guide to the Universe”

About the Author

Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He is the author

of more than a dozen highly acclaimed popular science books and is the distinguished recipient of multi-

ple awards related to his work, in addition to having appeared on numerous television and radio programs,

including Future Quest and The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special. His previous children’s book, Faraway

Worlds, was named one of the Children’s Choices for 2005 by the International Reading Association. Learn

more about him on his personal website.

About the Illustrator

Vance Lehmkuhl is a cartoonist, writer and musician. He is the author of The Joy of Soy, a collection of car-

toons about vegetarianism. His vegan newspaper column, V For Veg, appears biweekly in the Philadelphia

Daily News. From 1990 to 2003, he wrote and drew Philadelphia City Paper’s weekly political cartoon,

“How-to Harry.” Between 1998 to 2001, he contributed to the New York Times Syndicate feature Face Value.

Learn more about him on The Vance Page.

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http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Pluto-ebook/dp/B00FENF54E/

http://phalpern.com/

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ISSET’S ‘ASTRONAUT LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE’ HEADS TO THE ARCTICThe International Space School Educational Trust is a charity that uses space exploration as a means to

inspire and motivate individuals. We work mostly with schools and universities, training teachers and stu-

dents with hands on experiments and multimedia activities, and bringing them into contact with the most

elite professionals in the world; astronauts & rocket scientists. We also branch out beyond the classroom

with the Astronaut Leadership Experience. ALE explorers climbing a mountain in the Arctic.

http://www.isset.org/

http://www.isset.org/astronaut_leadership_experience/

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The Astronaut Leadership Experience offers an exclu-

sive chance for participants to undergo astronaut lead-

ership training with the help and guidance of a NASA

astronaut. They will gain new leadership techniques

and team-work skills in some of the wildest environ-

ments on earth. Astronaut Ken Ham says that the “wil-

derness environment simulates the physical realities

associated with establishing and maintaining a human

presence where none existed before”. Outdoor lead-

ership courses are a vital part of an astronaut’s train-

ing, as they are required to remain calm and focused

in the face of adversity, and maintain clear judgement

during any group decision.

The programme has been run across the globe,

previously visiting the Gobi Desert, the Arctic Circle

and the Lake District. Participants are exposed to inspi-

rational opportunities they would rarely get in their

normal lives; opportunities to see the beautiful Aurora

Borealis in the Arctic being one example. After a

recent Lake District ALE with record-breaking astro-

naut Michael Foale, he said that the experience was

the closest to Russian space training he had ever

encountered.

In February the ALE will be running once again in

the Arctic. Due to an upcoming solar magnetic flip,

the Aurora Borealis will appear brighter than ever,

and February will be the best time to see them at

their full potential. On Thin Ice; two

ALE participants navigating through the Arctic.

http://issetdirectorblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/suns-magnetic-field-to-flip/

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Northern Norway is an untouched wilderness housing its indigenous people, the Sami, who are com-

pletely at one with nature. You will have a unique chance to experience this way of life first-hand, herding

reindeer, riding husky sleds, and experiencing a night in a Lavvu.

Rorbu, Sami fishermen’s huts, where participants will stay for part of the ALE.

http://www.arcticphoto.co.uk/Pix/KK/02/KK.0080-35_P.JPG

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You will travel down winding fjords, past puffins and killer

whales on their way to the Lofoten islands. There will be

outdoor activities with astronaut Ken Ham to increase your

leadership and team-building skills, with kayaking, rafting and

hiking to name but a few. You’ll be spending some of your

nights in Rorbu, traditionally used as fishermen’s cabins but

now a cosy retreat for Arctic holidaymakers.

One of the most attractive features of the trip is the oppor-

tunity to view the majestic Aurora Borealis, more popularly

known as the Northern Lights. The Northern Light Belt hits

Norway in Lofoten, and there is no other place on earth where

you will stand a better chance of witnessing the lights.

RIGHT: The Aurora Borealis over Tromso, Norway.

The Aurora Borealis is one of the natural world’s most astonish-

ing phenomena, a mesmerising curtain of light draped across

the Arctic sky. It often appears in a striking green or light rose

colour, but in periods of extreme activity, can change to yellow

or red. The Aurora is caused by streams of charged particles

from the sun, directed by the earth’s magnetic field towards

the Polar Regions. The interaction between the charged par-

ticles into the nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere

releases the energy creating the visible aurora.

Witnessing the Aurora is a lifetime ambition for people of all

ages, as is meeting a real NASA astronaut.

The Astronaut Leadership Experience is offer-

ing a rare opportunity to achieve what many

dream of. Visit HERE for more details on the

Arctic ALE and other upcoming ISSET events.

http://isset.org/astronaut_leadership_experience/arctic2014.php

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Reign of the Radio Leoinid meteor

capture.Niether the full Moon or clouds could prevent meteor radio capture during the recent Leonid Peak meteor

shower. On November 17th at my local Sherwood observatory Nottinghmshire the recent installation of

a new dedicated meteor system required further radio calibration and software tests. This 2013 leonid

meteor shower and Earth’s rendevous with Comet tuttle debri provided an ideal window for this task.

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The chosen transmitters are the Belgium dourbes beacon (BRAMS)operating at 49.970 MHz and another

dedicated meteor radar transmitter based at Juliusruh in Germany (Institute Atomospheric Physics) oper-

ating at 53.500 MHz.

Meteor radio signature traces depict high frequency ranges shown in yellow before rapidly dropping to the

radar carrier frequency in blue as the meteoroid decelerates in the atmosphere. The ionisation increases

in this phase that inturn strengthens the radio signal as it burns up. The captured Leonid radio signatures

trace examples given below portray the event over time of the meteors furious entry phase in the upper

Earth atmosphere approximatley 90 km high.

Plasma ionisation occures both at the meteor head and tail. This allows reflection of radio waves by a suit-

able radio transmitter to be captured by a radio receiver. Using a computer or laptop the meteor radio spec-

trograms can be recorded and then anaylised by suitabe radio software (Spectrum Labs). This ineffect pre-

serves the meteroids dynamic path and stages of its disintergration and demise through the upper atmo-

sphere that effect its radio reflection cababilities. The received signal strength,and deviation of the tuned

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signal (Doppler shift) gives the means to calculate the meteors velocity and path direction related to the

radio observers location.

Interpreting the meteroids direction to the radio observer location is attained by the frequency change.

The increase in freqeuncy shift establishes the meteoride is moving towards the receivers anttena and lower

frequency shift moving away. This is known as Doppler effect. The frequency shift is caused by motion

that changes the number of wavelengths between the reflector meteoroid plasma and the radio receiver.

Using and transforming the following formula, with the transmitter frequency used, the conversion pro-

cesses can establish the velocity of the captured radio meteor signature traces. = c (f02 − f2) / (f02 + f2)

- v = (veloicity), c (speed of light (3x10 8 m/s),

fo (Radio observers static frequency), f (frequency change). Meteors velocity range from 14 kilometers/

second (31,000 miles per hour) to 45 kilometers per second (100,000 miles per hour.

As well as dynamic visuel radio meteor images that can be attained a wealth of analytical data can be

extracted. Below 3D and long trace Leonid radio meteor capture during increase activity at 05:03am.

Leonid meteor peak was between 3:00am and 6:00am when the Earth track and orientation plowed

through Comet 55P/Temple-Tuttle debri.

Difference in radio signal strengths and frequency drifts in time show their representation in the meteor radio

captures.

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DATA : 03:0am.

Michael Knowles.

Sherwood Observatory.

Nottinghamshire.

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Documents

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