The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA, looks like a monumental piece of modern art. A great white, inverted-V like concrete structure rises 110 feet up towards the sky from which a shaft slants two hundred feet to the ground. At the top of the tower is a 3-mirror heliostat which collects the sun’s light and directs it down the diagonal tunnel which continues for another three hundred feet into the mountain, forming an underground tunnel. At the base of the tunnel is a 34-inch parabolic mirror that captures the image of the sun. Built in 1962, it is the world's largest solar instrument as well as the largest unobstructed aperture optical telescope, with a diameter of 1.6 meters. Although designed to study the sun, it is so sensitive that it can even observe bright stars in the night.

Aerial view of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.

In addition to the primary mirror, there are also an East- and West-auxiliary telescope which are completely independent of the main telescope and are equipped with their own heliostats and mirrors. Instruments inside the underground facility include a dual grating spectrograph capable of extended wavelength coverage (0.3-12 microns), a 1-meter Fourier Transform Spectrometer for both solar and laboratory analysis, a high-dispersion stellar spectrometer, and bunch of other detectors.
The telescope’s observation room and instruments are located underground to avoid the temperature fluctuations that occur aboveground. The heliostat that is exposed at the top of the tower is protected by a steel jacket and a cooling system.
The McMath-Pierce Telescope is used to study the structure of sunspots, as well as sunspot spectra. Important discoveries made with this telescope include the presence of water and isotopic helium in the sun, solar emission lines at 12 microns, first measurement of Kilogauss magnetic fields outside sunspots and the very weak intra-network fields, first high resolution images at 1.6 and 10 microns, as well as detection of a natural maser in the Martian atmosphere.
The telescope is named after astronomers Robert McMath and Keith Pierce. At its dedication in 1962, Dr. Waterman read a letter from President Kennedy which began:
“The great new solar telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona is a source of pride to the nation. The largest instrument for solar research in the world, it presents American astronomers with a unique tool for investigating the nearest of the stars, our sun. This project is of exceptional interest to all our citizens...”

Heliostat of McMath Pierce Solar Telescope on Kitt Peak at Sunset.

Interior view looking up the tunnel of the The National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope on Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Source : Gad Guide , 25th Dec 2015

Scientists catch new 'baby' planet in the act of formation

Scientists scanning the galaxy have spotted big planets and small ones, rocky planets and gassy planets, freezing planets and hellishly hot ones. Now astronomers have strong new evidence of yet another kind of world: a baby planet in the very act of formation.

It's the first time researchers have definitively identified a juvenile planet. This one, named LkCa 15 b, has been caught gobbling dust and super-heated gas, a meal that will help it bulk up. Pictures of the new baby show that, just like many human newborns, it's reddish in color.

"The ultimate question we all want to answer is, how common are Earth-like planets and how are they formed?" said Stanford University astronomer Kate Follette, an author of a new study in this week's Nature describing the planet. "This is a step along the way."

LkCa 15 b and its star lie about 470 light-years from our own solar system in the constellation Taurus. Previous research suggested there might be an embryonic world in this particular spot in the galaxy. So University of Arizona astronomer Stephanie Sallum and her colleagues trained some of the world's biggest and most sophisticated telescopes on this potential planetary nursery.

Using a telescope in the high desert of Chile, the scientists found super-heated hydrogen gas – a "smoking gun" for the presence of a young planet, said Rice University astronomer Andrea Isella, who was not involved with the research. A telescope on an Arizona mountaintop revealed traces of one or two additional planets, also young, orbiting the same star as LkCa 15 b.

Past research by University of Texas, Austin astronomer Adam Kraus suggested there might be a baby planet in this very place, and Kraus, who was not involved with this week's study, said the new findings "remove any doubt" about the presence of one youngster – the planet the study calls LkCa 15 b. He thinks a three-planet system is plausible, but he'd like to see more data confirming three planets rather than just one. Sallum said other evidence points to multiple planets as the most likely explanation.

Whatever the tally of planets-in-the-making, there's solid evidence for LkCa 15 b, which is 2 million years old at most – a mere toddler compared with our solar system. Our solar system is aged 4.6 billion years old – "boring middle age," Kraus joked. With the help of fresh young worlds like LkCa 15 b, scientists will be that much closer to understanding how planets are born and how they grow.



Source: 13MAZ, 18th Nov 2015

Astronomers Gain First Insight into Planet Formation

For the first time, a team of astronomers and astrophysics have witnessed the planet formation of two or three small planets orbiting around sun-like star at a distance of about 430 light-years away from Earth. Witnessing the planet formation will help scientists to know how planets look like in their formative years. The findings of the study have been published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Till now, about 1,900 planets have been found orbiting small starts in the outer space and the mature planets have been discovered only when they pass in front of the stars they orbit causing the light to dim. The team of astronomers used their powerful telescope in Arizona towards the young star, LkCa 15, and the relatively empty space around them, the disk cavity, to gain clear insight about their formation. Astronomers have taken the first images of the planet still in formation around a star LkCa 15, which is 2 million year old.

For the first time, scientists have also found the chemical footprints of superheated hydrogen gas streaming from the dust disk onto the planet. Stephanie Sallum, a University of Arizona astronomy graduate student, said “This young system provides the first opportunity to study planet formation and disk–planet interactions directly”. Zhaohuan Zhu, Princeton University astrophysicist, said that the new study will help scientists modify their previous theories on planet formation.



Source: West Texas News , 20th Nov 2015

Russia and Iran Space Cooperation

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in charge of the
defense and space industry is currently on a visit to Tehran.

Iran and Russia have reached agreement on expanding cooperation in space research, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told upon the end of talks with the Iranian Vice President in charge of science and technologies, Sorena Sattari.

“Russia and Iran have fair prospects for cooperation in the studies of outer space,” he said. “For instance, some of their programs envision cooperation in the field of remote sounding of the Earth’s crust,” he said.

“Many people using cell phones are unaware of the fact the Russian GLONASS system is used alongside others in the positioning process,” Rogozin said. “More than 2.5 billion phones and other gadgets receive the signals from our system.”

“Iran is a big country with lengthy borders and, quite naturally, the Iranians find it important to know and to see from space what is happening on their territory and in the areas adjoining it, while our satellite system will enable them to do this,” Rogozin said.

“Russia is the world leader in terms of satellite launch services at present,” he said. “We’ve done test launches of a very powerful launch vehicle, the Angara, which may become the main type of rockets taking payloads into orbit. But we don’t plan to stop at that.”

“The launching of other countries’ satellites makes up only 4% to 5% of the entire market of space services that Russia could offer worldwide,” Rogozin said. “And recall we have the areas of cooperation with Iran as promising as satellite-assisted navigation and mapping. Russia and Iran have a good groundwork for acting together in this aspect.”

In the course of Rogozin’s visit to Tehran, the Russian-Iranian high-level commission co-chaired by Rogozin and Sattari had its third session. It was set up earlier this year when the Moscow International Aerospace Show MAKS’2015 was underway.

The commission is called upon to promote and coordinate Russian-Iranian cooperation in research and technologies having priority for the two countries’ economies, the social sector, sciences, and innovations.



Source : Brics Via TASS , 11th Nov 2015

‘Govt not biased towards funding of space science’

The budgets for space missions are not very high and scientists from other branches must not make a hue and cry out of it, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) AS Kiran Kumar has said.

Kumar rubbished the allegations made by senior scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee CNR Rao that the government is biased towards funding of space and nuclear sciences and ignores basic sciences.

“It would be wrong to say that government funding for developing space technology is higher. Even today, the yearly budget allotted is around Rs 4,000 crore, which is not a substantial amount, considering the number and scale of missions undertaken,” Kiran Kumar told Sakal Times.

Rao, who was in Pune for the annual meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences earlier this month, had said the government must urgently look into funding  researchers studying basic sciences.

“The future of these researchers will be bleak unless there is government backing. They will have to stop their research as they will be worrying if their project will survive the following year or not,” Rao had said during the meeting.

At present, about 0.8 - 0.9 per cent of the GDP is alloted for scientific research. Further, nearly 25 - 30 per cent budget was slashed by the NDA government, leaving many projects in the lurch.

However, the ISRO chief claimed that the space agency was making bigger contributions than other scientific institutions.

“Our work is open for public review and there has been bigger contributions for society as a whole,” added Kiran Kumar.

Director General of Science and Technology Park, Rajendra Jagdale, however, said that he was against complete dependency on the Centre for funding and some onus of supporting science research also lies with the State government.

“It is not necessary that one must completely depend upon the Centre for funds for doing research. Even state governments must chip in and share the financial burden,” Jagdale said.

He also voiced his concerns about the gap between the Central government’s vision towards making the country an innovation hub and the financial allocation. He lamented that the government was indulging more in rhetorics and less action was visible.

“Make in India, NITI Ayog and several other rhetoric announcements made by Modi have not reflected in the process of boosting education and research in the country,” he said.




Source : Sakal Times , 18th Nov 2015

Manned mission not priority: ISRO chief - Bhubaneshwar

The much-publicized manned space mission is not a priority for Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), chairman A S Kiran Kumar said here on Saturday.

"Our priority is to build capacity for new (satellite) launches," Kumar said while interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of KIIT University convocation.

The ISRO chief, who is also secretary, department of space, said the agency is planning to increase the frequency of new satellite launches to 10 to 12 per year against present one to six. From December to March, there would be at least one launch every month, he said.

Kumar said it would be a difficult task to give any timeline for human spaceflight programme. But it is very much part of the ISRO's future agenda. The agency is in the stage of 'critical technology development' for the human spaceflight mission, he said.

"The crew module re-entry exercise was done last year. Activities such as development of environment control system, maintenance of oxygen and carbon dioxide and contingencies such as extricating the astronauts in case such a need arises are on. These are critical technology requirement activities in the research and development, he said.

The ISRO chairman said the future of the manned programme would depend on government clearance. "Lots of investment is required for it," he said.

Kumar said space tourism as a concept is catching up fast globally. Just like the sequence of development in shipping and aircraft industries, space tourism and space adventure would be natural development process in the future space technology. One of the key ISRO activities would be to help industries build up the capacity for space tourism, he said.



Source: TOI, 8th Nov 2015

NASA Hiring New Astronauts For The First Time In Four Years

If one of your dreams is to become an astronaut, you might be in luck - NASA is accepting applications for future astronauts to join the 47-man astronaut team between December 2015 and February 2016.

NASA says the nearing return of astronauts to American soil, as well as the possibility of a mission voyage to the Red Planet has necessitated the call for applications, writes Christian Science Monitor. The space agency has promised that the chosen astronauts will have the opportunity to be part of an "unprecedented transition to commercial spacecraft for crew and cargo transport to the space station," according to a press release.

"This next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights, and help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement. "Those selected for this service will fly on U.S. made spacecraft from American soil, advance critical science and research aboard the International Space Station, and help push the boundaries of technology in the proving ground of deep space."

To be considered for one of the positions, applicants must have a bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. The space agency will consider advanced degrees over those without.


Aside from the academic requirements prescribed by the space agency, candidates should have at least three years of "related, progressively responsible, professional experience" or at least 1,000 hours of "pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft," which, according to Space.com, may indicate that NASA is hoping to encourage military candidates.

The physical requirements are also an important part of the application, as astronauts must endure a lot of physical strain during missions due to the effects of being in an environment which does not follow the laws of gravity, which would likely cause health issues for those unprepared to cope in a space environment for an extended period of time.

However, physical height is one requirement that may immediately eliminate some candidates from the pool. NASA has specified that in order to qualify, commander and pilot candidates must be between 62 and 75 inches tall.

Successful candidates will undergo two years of training, which includes military survival water training, scuba diving qualification, high and low atmospheric pressure testing, training in Russian language, and test flights aboard a jetliner that has been modified to simulate weightlessness in space, colloquially known as the "vomit comet". All of these tasks must be successfully completed prior to being considered an official astronaut.



Source: Design and Trend , 7th Nov 2015

Observatory Builds a Ramp to the Cosmos

On a Friday night in October, Jesse Shanahan, a graduate student in the Astronomy Department, stood behind an inflatable planetarium. The silver, blown-up stellar theatre, they explained (Shanahan uses gender-neutral pronouns), was part of Kids’ Night, a public outreach program aimed at children. Later, kids would go inside to view projections of the stars and constellations in the night sky.

Shanahan founded Kids’ Night earlier this year. When we spoke, though, they expressed a major concern: the location. Shanahan advocates for disability rights within the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the largest astronomical organization within the United States. As with other events the Astronomy Department hosts, Kids’ Night is housed in the Van Vleck Observatory, a building that has no wheelchair-accessible entrances.

“I worked primarily with kids with disabilities and cognitive impairments and stuff [with an outside organization], especially, and they would not be able to come to an event that I put on here,” Shanahan said. “That really bothers me.”

Currently, the Astronomy Department—working with Physical Plant and the Office of Student Affairs, of which Disability Resources is a part—is in the process of addressing Shanahan’s concerns. Physical Plant is currently working with an outside architect to draw up plans to build a ramp in the architectural style of the 99-year-old building, making the observatory wheelchair-accessible on the first floor.

These plans would still not make accessible the dome for the 20-inch telescope, however. In order to address this concern, a monitor will be installed inside the library of the observatory, connected to a camera that will be attached to the 20-inch telescope.

According to Roy Kilgard, Support Astronomer and Research Associate Professor of Astronomy, initial plans to address accessibility issues at Van Vleck Observatory included the possibility of making the 20-inch telescope dome wheelchair accessible, but were abandoned due to logistical concerns.

“There’s a lot of challenges involved in [making the dome wheelchair-accessible]; it’s unclear that it ever would’ve worked for any sum of money and it would’ve been a massive renovation to the building,” Kilgard said. “So that was ruled out.”

Kilgard said he came up with the idea of the camera as a more affordable and feasible solution to the problem of making the dome accessible. The camera and monitor, he later wrote in an email to The Argus, will be installed by the beginning of spring semester.

Efforts to make the Van Vleck Observatory more accessible, administrative officials said, are part of a larger plan for the University to address concerns regarding accessibility on campus and meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a 1990 law that requires that people with disabilities are offered reasonable accommodations from employers. As with the rest of the University, they said, the age of the observatory and the hilly terrain surrounding it make these concerns especially hard to address.

“There’s a constant conversation on campus around accessibility,” Laura Patey, Associate Dean of Student Academic Resources, said. “I mean, we recognize that [with] topography and the age of some of our buildings, accessibility is a challenge on this campus. And we’re always wanting to improve that.”

According to a document provided by Roseann Sillasen, Associate Director and Project Manager of Facilities, the University has spent through Physical Plant $2.23 million since 2003 on campus-wide accessibility projects. Those initiatives range from making pathways more accessible to building restrooms designed for wheelchair users to putting ADA-compliant phones, which are required to be hearing-aid compatible, into elevators.

The University has limited funds set aside for ADA-related projects; The Facilities Planning Committee—an executive committee of the University—sets priorities about which parts of campus are first renovated for accessibility concerns, Sillasen said. According to University President Michael Roth, a large factor in setting these priorities lies in how much activity different buildings experience.

“Those buildings that have either the most public or student activity we want to make sure are the most accessible first, and then we hope that every building meets ADA requirements and goes beyond them when we can,” Roth said.

Until this summer, the Van Vleck Observatory had not received money from the University to address accessibility concerns. The reason for this, Sillasen suggested, is because Physical Plant makes assessments about which ADA-related projects it does based on student and faculty feedback—and, until somewhat recently, it had received none.

“No student has asked me about Van Vleck,” Sillasen said. “So I have had a request from the chair of the department. And at that time, I had provided some very broad scope schematics looking at topography and now we have an architect who’s providing some schematic designs from us.”

Sillasen said that the University uses feedback from people in the Wesleyan community, in large part, as a way of identifying which parts of campus have issues with accessibility.

“I’m out there on campus a lot, but I don’t have the opportunity to be everywhere on campus,” Sillasen said.

In order to address what some of these concerns are, Disability Resources added an ADA/Campus Access Barriers Report Form, through which students, faculty, staff, and visitors can report accessibility concerns, Patey said.

“This would provide an opportunity for anyone in the community to help us identify barriers that might exist for an individual,” Patey said.

But at places like the Van Vleck Observatory, where faculty and administrative officials have long known about lack of access for wheelchair users and other people with disabilities, waiting for students or faculty to issue complaints concerns Shanahan.

“I think a lot of people have good intentions to change things,” Shanahan said. “But I hate that we have to wait for somebody to be in need before we make changes.”

Even with an understanding of areas on campus where accessibility issues need to be addressed, renovations to make buildings accessible take time to implement. In an email sent to The Argus, Patey pointed to several other academic buildings on campus that are not accessible, including the Anthropology building on 287 High Street and buildings in the Center for the Arts.

Physical Plant, Kilgard said, has been looking at adding a ramp to the Van Vleck Observatory for a number of years.

“They’ve just been putting it into the long-term planning for construction that happens to the University,” Kilgard said. “Those things take a very long time to filter through. It’s not as fast as you would like it to be.”

And the process is far from over. This June, the Astronomy Department will be hosting a centennial celebration in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the Van Vleck Observatory. Although faculty within the Astronomy Department had hoped to see a ramp installed by then—along with other features, like the building of an accessible restroom and doorways and entryways designed for wheelchairs—such changes are unlikely to occur by then.

“It’s going to take years, is my guess,” Moran said.

On the day of the centennial, Kilgard said, Physical Plant will install a temporary ramp to the Van Vleck Observatory. In part, this is intended to allow visitors access to the building. It will also be installed, Shanahan said, because the J. Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, Arthur Upgren, plans to visit the Observatory and is a wheelchair user.

“He can’t get into his own department, where he worked here for decades,” Shanahan said. “And so, we have our centennial celebration next semester and he can’t get into the building.”

Because of the ramp, Upgren should be able to view the inside of the building. Still, faculty in the Astronomy Department wait to see a more permanent fixture installed—one that would allow Shanahan’s students to visit Kids’ Night on any Friday night they choose.



Source: Wesleyan Anargus, 22nd Oct 2015