Does Space Have A Standard Time Or Do You Rely On The Time Zones On Earth While You Are In Space?

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Like sailors of old, the Cassini mission team fondly thinks of the spacecraft as “she."  On April 22, she begins her Grand Finale, a spectacular end game—22 daring dives between the planet’s atmosphere and innermost rings. Here are 10 things to know about her Grand Finale.

1. She’s Broadcasting Live This Week

On Tuesday, April 4 at 3 p.m. EDT  (noon PDT), At Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Cassini team host a news briefing to discuss the mission’s Grand Finale.

Tune in Tuesday: youtube.com/nasajpl/live

2. She’s Powered in Part By … Titan

Cassini left Earth with less than 1/30th of the propellant needed to power all her adventures at Saturn. The navigation team used the gravity of Saturn’s giant moon Titan to change course and extend the spacecraft’s exploration of Saturn. Titan also provides the gravity assist to push Cassini into its final orbits.

More on Cassini’s navigation: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft/navigation/

3. She’s a Robot

Cassini is an orbiter that was named for 18th century astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. She was designed to be captured by Saturn’s gravity and then explore it in detail with a suite of 12 powerful science instruments.

More on the Spacecraft: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft/cassini-orbiter/

4. She Brought a Friend to Saturn

Cassini carried the European Space Agency’s Huygens Probe, which in 2005 descended through Titan’s thick, perpetual clouds and made the most distant landing to date in our solar system.

More on Huygens: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft/huygens-probe/

5. She’s a Great Photographer

Your mobile phone likely captures dozens of megapixels in images. Cassini, using 1990s technology closer to one megapixel cameras, has returned some of the most stunning images in the history of solar system exploration.

Cassini Hall of Fame Images: go.nasa.gov/2oec6H2 More on Cassini’s Cameras: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/imaging-science-subsystem/

6. She’s an Inspiration

Those great images have inspired artist’s and amateur image processors to create truly fantastic imagery inspired by the beauty of Saturn. Feeling inspired? There’s still time to share your Cassini-inspired art with us.

Cassini Inspires Campaign: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/cassiniinspires/

7. She’s Got a Long History

Two decades is a long time to live in the harsh environment of outer space (respect to the fast-approaching 40-year-old twin Voyager spacecraft). Launched in 1997, Cassini logged a lot of milestones over the years.

Explore the Cassini Timeline: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/timeline/

8. She Keeps a Diary

And, you can read it. Week after week going back to 1997, Cassini’s adventures, discoveries and status have been chronicled in the mission’s weekly significant events report.

Read It: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/?topic=121

9. She’s Got a Fancy New App

Cassini was the prototype for NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System 3-D visualization software, so it’s fitting the latest Cassini module in the free, downloadable software is the most detailed, elaborate visualization of any mission to date.

Fly the Mission - Start to Finish: http://eyes.nasa.gov/cassini

10. She’s Going Out in a Blaze of Glory

In addition to all the new information from 22 orbits in unexplored space, Cassini’s engineers reprogrammed the spacecraft to send back details about Saturn’s atmosphere to the very last second before the giant planet swallows her up on Sept. 15, 2017.

More on the Grand Finale: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale

Discover more lists of 10 things to know about our solar system HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Cassini's Final Image of Saturn

Here's a mosaic of Saturn made from raw images acquired by Cassini on Sept. 13, 2017, as it was on its way toward its dive into the planet's atmosphere. These images are uncalibrated for color but were acquired in visible-light RGB filters. This will be our last close-up image of Saturn for a long time. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Jason Major

The last look before her descent in fire…

Ep. 21 Radio Astronomy and RQZs - HD and the Void

Be brave in the face of an extremely technical episode where I tackle radio astronomy! Astronomers collect radio waves to map distant objects. To do their work they need a level of quiet that's hard to find without some help from Radio Frequency I...

I’ve gotten some feedback that episodes can be too technical. Unfortunately, that feedback came too late to save you from this week’s episode, which requires me to summarize the electromagnetic spectrum, radio astronomy, a concept called interferometry, and government regulations to talk about the topic that originally started me on this path: radio quiet zones. Please, bear with me! Pardon my mess! It was all very interesting stuff, I couldn’t resist digging into it.

Below the cut are my sources, music credits, a vocab list, a timeline of the astronomers I mention, and the transcript of this episode. I’ve bolded those sources I mention in the podcast, including the podcast that started me on this topic: The Adventure Zone! Please let me know what you think I should research next by messaging me here, tweeting at me at @HDandtheVoid, or asking me to my face if you know me. I’d love it if you would subscribe on iTunes, rate my humble little podcast and maybe review it, and tell friends if you think they’d like to hear it!

(My thoughts on the next episode are SOFIA, which you need to listen to find out what it stands for, or the pilot Chuck Yaeger. The next episode will go up February 26th.)

Glossary

aperture synthesis - the process of collecting electromagnetic radiation from a variety of separate, small telescopes and then combining this data to recreate the image at a higher resolution than would be possible with a single telescope.

frequency - the number of times a wave oscillates up and down per second.

hertz - the number of times an electromagnetic wave cycles per second. One cycle per second is 1 hertz.

interferometry - a group of techniques to extract information from superimposing electromagnetic waves to create interference. In radio astronomy, this is done by using a wide spread of receivers to look at the same distant object, then bringing that data together with a correlator that can create a larger, clearer picture than an individual radio telescope alone could.

radiation - energy that travels and spreads out as it goes.

Script/Transcript

Timeline

Joseph-Louis Lagrange, French (1736-1813)

Armand-Hippolyte-Louis Fizeau, French (1819-1896)

Edward W. Morley, American (1838-1923)

Albert A. Michelson, American (1852-1931)

Sir Martin Ryle, British (1918-1984)

Bernard Yarnton Mills, Australian (1920-2011)

Derek Vonberg, British (1922-2015)

Antony Hewish, British (1924- )

Sources

Electromagnetic spectrum via NASA

Observatories across the EM spectrum via NASA

Fermi satellite via NASA

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory via NASA

NuSTAR via Caltech

NuSTAR via NASA

Chandra X-Ray Observatory via Harvard

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) via Caltech

Kepler satellite via NASA

Hubble Space Telescope via NASA

Spitzer satellite via Caltech

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

Planck satellite via ESA

Spekt-R Radioastron from Russia

High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS)

W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea

South Africa Large Telescope (SALT) in Namibia

The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) via Caltech

CARMA public page (decommissioned)

Very Large Array (VLA) via NRAO

Space radio telescope (1997) via NRAO

Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy (HALCA) via NASA

A timeline of the history of radio interferometry via University of Groningen (Netherlands)

Interferometers via the LIGO Laboratory

Michelson-Morley Experiment via University of Virginia

Astronomical Interferometry via Magdalena Ridge Observatory

Interferometry via XKCD

How Radio Works via How Stuff Works

Radio Spectrum Allocation via the Federal Communications Commission

Interferometry via the European Space Observatory

National Radio Quiet Zone via National Radio Astronomy Observatory

“minimize possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in Sugar Grove, WV.”

National Radio Quiet Zone via CNN

“Tucked in the Allegheny Mountains, researchers are listening to exploding galaxies at the edge of the universe – a signal that is so faint, it’s about a billionth of a billionth of a millionth of a watt.”

The Quiet Zone: Where mobile phones are banned via BBC News (May 2015)

Enter The Quiet Zone: Where Cell Service, Wi-Fi Are Banned via NPR (Oct 2013)

Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, USA

Karen O’Neil: “The types of energies we look at are less than the energy of a single snowflake falling on the Earth.”

Characteristics of radio quiet zones via International Telecommunication Union (Sept 2012)

“transmissions below 15 GHz are restricted within a certain radius around the Arecibo Observatory, located in Puerto Rico. Since no observations are carried out, nor are any expected to be carried out above that frequency in the future, no restrictions are needed on higher frequency transmissions. The reverse is not necessarily true, however. For example, some restrictions may be imposed on transmissions below 30 GHz in the neighbourhood of the large international ALMA observatory even though it is not expected to ever observe below that frequency, due to its susceptibility to interference at these lower frequencies in the signal path.”

“It is important to emphasize that a RQZ does not imply a complete absence of radio transmissions. The existence of, and coexistence with, a range of man-made devices will always be necessary. A RQZ may include options for notification of other users and for negotiation in mitigating interference. On the other hand, a RQZ does not consist entirely of mitigating techniques implemented by the radio astronomy facility; some level of control on externally-generated interference is intrinsic to a RQZ.

A RQZ is therefore a buffer zone that allows for the implementation of mechanisms to protect radio astronomy observations at a facility within the zone from detrimental radio frequency interference, through effective mitigation strategies and regulation of radio frequency transmitters.”

ALMA Observatory website

The Scientific Committee on Frequency Allocations for Radio Astronomy (IUCAF) website

Google Map of worldwide radio quiet zones (Aug 2016)

ITU-R Recommendations of Particular Importance to Radio Astronomy by A. Richard Thompson

“the necessity of maintaining the shielded zone of the Moon as an area of great potential for observations by the radio astronomy service and by passive space research, and consequently of maintaining it as free as possible from transmissions.”

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty setup episode via Maximum Fun

Intro Music: ‘Better Times Will Come’ by No Luck Club off their album Prosperity

Filler Music: ‘Junkyard Chandelier’ by Radical Face aka Ben Cooper, who primarily releases music as Radical Face but also has at least three other bands or band names he’s working with/has released music as.

Outro Music: ‘Fields of Russia’ by Mutefish off their album On Draught

A Giant Star Factory in Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822 NASA

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NASA has emailed a wrench to astronauts in space

Responding to International Space Station (ISS) astronauts’ need for a wrench, NASA solved the problem by emailing a digital file to the ISS. The astronauts then 3D-printed the tool.

In a post on Backchannel, Mike Chen, founder of Made In Space, explained how the process worked.Made in Space is a Silicon Valley startup that built the 3D printer that was shipped to the ISS in September. In November, the first-ever 3D-printed part was, yes, made in space.

“My colleagues and I just 3D-printed a ratcheting socket wrench on the International Space Station by typing some commands on our computer in California,” Chen wrote in his post. “We had overheard ISS Commander Barry Wilmore … mention over the radio that he needed one, so we designed one in CAD and sent it up to him faster than a rocket ever could have. This is the first time we’ve ever ‘emailed’ hardware to space.”

My microphone just arrived! Now to set it up and figure out how the hell it works....

What is so special about the solar eclipse to you??

Huh, that’s a very good question and I probably answer it differently each time I get asked it. I love the fact that in totality you can see the solar atmosphere and get a chance to see the magnetic field structure of the Sun. This is something that you can’t normally do. I also love the idea that we’re going to be able to test a bunch of ionospheric models with the help of citizen scientist! This again is a very unique opportunity! But probably the thing that seems so special about this particular eclipse is seeing how excited everyone is about it! Most days I sit in my office working on my science (which I think is the best science and most interesting thing in the world- but I’m probably biased about that) and not too many other people in the world are all that excited about it. But with the eclipse, I get to share how cool this science is, and it’s amazing to see everyone get involved! 

When the sun sets on Stonehenge on the shortest day of the year, it’s rays align with several important stones.  Twice a year, the streets of Manhattan also line up with the setting sun, a phenomenon dubbed “Manhattanhenge”. Really, most cities with grid systems will see a similar effect (though it’s most dramatic in cities with tall buildings and a view of the true horizon).  You can use a great tool called The Photographer’s Ephemeris to find out the “henge” dates for your city grid - or even individual streets.

Yesterday, (Friday, January 24th) the sun lined up with New York Avenue, a street in DC that runs diagonally up to the White House. (The orange line indicates alignment with the setting sun).

I went out with our multimedia intern Meg Vogel, and captured some images of the sun setting in line with a rather Stonehenge-y sculpture that sits in the middle of that street.

Here are dates for sunset “henge” events in some cities this year:

Manhattan May 25th, July 17th

Philadelphia April 5th, September 6th

Washington DC March 18th, September 24th

Chicago March 16th, September 26th

Phoenix March 20th, September 22nd

Portland, OR March 18th, September 24th

Is your city/town a grid? When’s your henge?

The original nine. js