Yesterday, 11 November, 2019, Veterans Day, Mercury made its fourth (2003, 2006, 2016, 2019) transit of the Solar disk in the 21st century. I was glad to be able to view the event on my solar projection device. It’s homemade and has brought me many hours of enjoyment being out in the fields of Virginia trying to catch a glimpse of the solar events of both Mercury and Venus. In the pictures below you will see short pieces of tape with dates written on them. These dates represent my attempts over the last fifteen years to view transits of the two inner planets. In 2004 and then again in 2012 I tried to view the transits of Venus. In 2004 the initial stages of the event were obscured by a heavy fog. However, I was able to capture a glimpse of the event just before its conclusion. Yesterday, I was able to watch a great deal of the transit of Mercury.
My viewing platform is built around a Newtonian telescope that I bought from Sears in 1986 to view the last passing of Halley’s Comet. The platform is two hinged boards. The bottom board is a base for mounting the viewing platform on a hand truck, the upper board holds the telescope and the viewing screen. The viewing screen is mounted over the eye piece of the telescope. The screen is a piece of plastic sheet mounted on a wooden frame. I use a third piece of wood hinged to the upper board that enables me to maintain the proper elevation for the telescope. I also use wood blacks to help in holding the correct elevation, as the projection of the sun and the planet moves quickly across the screen.
The biggest surprise for me was how tiny the planet appeared on my screen. My screen was able to accommodate the disk of the sun. But in that projection Mercury appeared only slightly bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. Due to this as well as the texture of the viewing screen and my questionable skill as a photographer, I was not able to take a picture of the “dot” of Mercury that I can provide in this article. However, I present my pictures of the event and my viewing platform.
I am happy to share the experience and my excitement at
seeing that small dot proceed across the disk of the Sun.
My original post leading up to the transit of Mercury was posted on October 30, 2019.
The Transit of Mercury will take place in the early morning of November 11, 2019. Now is the time tor prepare.
There is a shelf in my garage above the cabinets..
Its way up there, and if I want to reach it I have to stretch, and maybe get a
stick to push things so I can grab them.Up on the shelf are tools, and hard
hats, and a rabbit box, plus equipment we made for old science fair
experiments, and overlying it all is a contraption made of two pieces of
plywood and numerous hinges. Lying on top of that is a spindly item with four
threaded rods for legs that support a celluloid viewing screen.
This was my viewing platform for the transit of
Venus in 2004; and then again for the transit of 2012. In 2012 it was cloudy
where I was so I could not observe the sun – or Venus.
But the previous event in 2004 was the event for
which I made the contraption. The contraption was built to hold my old
Newtonian telescope. It was an inexpensive ($20.00) telescope but very
functional. I have had the telescope for more than 30 years. I bought it in 1986
to view Halley’s comet. Since then I have used it often. In 2004 I planned to
strap it into place on my T.V.P. (Transit Viewing Platform) and see what I
could see. I made the T.V.P. so I could mount it on a hand cart for ease of
movement. It had several elevation blocks to get the elevation that I needed,
and I attached a small, hinged elevation board that gave me the ability to fine
tune the elevation. Lastly I used a broad-headed “brad” (a nail made of wire)
that helped me aim the device. I mounted the nail so it was pointed towards the
sun. When the shadow of the nail head was centered on the base of the nail, I
knew the telescope was pointed right at the sun.
A week before the transit I drove out to my viewing
location in a local National Park. I needed to test my device. I am pleased to
say it worked as planned. A ranger stopped and asked what I was doing and what
the contraption was. I told him what I was doing, and assured him that the telescope
and mount were not a rocket launcher. Although I must admit that it looked like
one.
I was ready!
On the morning of the transit I got up early. When I
looked out the window I was stunned. It was incredibly foggy. I have never seen
fog so thick. But I was going! I was sure of my contraption, I was certain of
my site with a good eastern exposure, and I hoped that the weather would break
before Venus crossed the disk of the sun.
I was wrong.
As I drove out to the site I was unsure of what I
would find. It was foggy, but I didn’t care, I was ready. The appointed time
came, and the fog was no less thick. By the time of the transit being half
completed the weather had not improved. I had to make a choice. I decided to go
– and find a fog-free spot.
I put all my equipment back into my car and headed
west. The road was covered with the fog, and I had to be careful in my driving.
Finally, I made it out of the fog. I took a turnoff that I hoped would have a place
to set up my telescope. I finally found one. I only had ten minutes before the
transit was complete. I found a good spot. I took out the telescope and its
T.V.P. and aimed it at the sun. There were still some clouds in the sky, but I
had a good projection onto my screen. And there in the lower right was Venus! It
was a small black dot against the disk of the sun. I stood in awe not of myself
by of others who had chased this dot around the globe only to be disappointed
by the weather. In 1761, the British expedition to Saint Helena, in the south
Atlantic, did not see what I had just seen. They were explorers. I had followed
in their footsteps.
On 11 November, 2019 Mercury will transit the
sun. Venus makes its transits in pairs as in the 2004 and 2012 transits. There
is a period of 105 to 122 years before another pair of Venus transits happen.
Mercury has its transit more often. A transit of Mercury will occur 4 more
times before 2060. So there are good opportunities to see it.
If you want to see the 11/11 transit you will need to find a place with a good eastern exposure. You must also have a projection device to see the small black dot on the face of the sun. Do not view the sun or the transit directly. Do not look at the sun. It will severely damage your eyes. Try to find a place that can help you observe the transit. And know that you are participating in an observation that has been important to scientists since they first were able to use telescopes and projection screens to observe it.
More information on the 11 November transit of Mercury
may be found at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/events/2019/11/11/watch-the-transit-of-mercury-2019/
When I have a chance to drive across country I look for new roads and new sights. That’s part of the fun of traveling, to see and learn about new places and ideas. But I also look for remembered sites, places I have seen before and remember with enthusiasm.
On a recent trip into the mid-west, I drove across
Ohio on Interstate 70. Not always the best way to see the country, but I was in
a hurry to get back home. While I was on the road I looked for a remembered
place. I would often drive that road in the 1970s. I had favorite places along
that route that I liked to see. There was a campground outside of Indianapolis,
where I could stop and pitch my tent and spend the night. I often stopped there
back in those days, nearly 50 years ago. I looked for it on this trip and may
have seen it on the south side of the road. But now it was more modern, and there
were more recreational vehicles than there were sites for tents or small
trailers.
The other place I looked for along that road was a
barn. It was an old barn even 50 years ago. I would see it whenever I drove
back and forth to Chicago. This barn stood out from the others I would see
along that rural route. It was not big, but it had a mural painted on the side
that faced the road. The barn was less than 500 yards from the road and was
well cared for as were the house next to it and the fields surrounding it. What
made this barn stand out was the mural of the Earth rising over a lunar
landscape, as seen during Apollo 8’s 1968 orbit across the far side of the
moon.
At the time it was a very famous picture. Its image or
images based on it could be seen in many places. People were fascinated by it.
It was views like this that caused the popularization of the phrase ”big blue
marble” as that was what the earth looked like from space. It was also pictures
like this that tugged at the American consciousness, and perhaps the
international consciousness, of how beautiful, and yet how fragile, our home,
Earth, actually might be. These were the early days of the environmental movement.
The government of the United States worked with the people of the United States
to pass legislation to improve and protect the environment in which we all
live. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were all
enacted in the 1970s. The people wanted these laws enacted to improve and protect
the environment and human health, and the government responded.
When I would see that barn, well into the 1970s, I would
feel pride in our accomplishments in space and in protection of the
environment. And I knew that the people who had painted this mural on their
barn felt a similar pride. We accomplished a great deal in the 1970s and into
the 1980s. The environment is now cleaner. Pollution is now less. And yes,
yards and roadsides and the air and water are now cleaner than they had been in
the 1950s and 1960s, because of environmental action. It was a great time in
which improvements were everywhere. And it still a great time, and the potential
to change and improve continuous all around us. It is on our curb, in our front
yard, in our town, in our nation, and in the international community at large. But
each of us must still act to protect it! It is our responsibility.
On this recent trip. I did not see the barn with its
iconic “Earth-rise”. I may have been removed or it might have collapsed due to
age. It might be a parking lot now. But the image with always be with us. That
picture of our fragile home hung in the blackness of space can always remind us
of the necessity to keep it clean and to improve it for its growing population.
Thank you to whoever you were that painted that mural.
Perhaps I will see another on my next cross country trip.
In June of last year, we were told by NASA that the 14
year mission of Rover Opportunity might be coming to an end. The rover was
caught in a planet-encircling dust storm. This did not allow light from the sun
to reach the rover’s solar panels, and her battery were becoming drained.
This year NASA tried to get Opportunity up and running,
but their best efforts did not work. NASA sent one more transmission to
Opportunity on 12 February, 2019, but no response was received. The following
day NASA announced that the mission was concluded.
At least the roving part is completed. Years will be spent by scientists and geologists and engineers pouring over the treasure trove of data sent back by Opportunity. All that information will improve the likelihood of another outstanding success in a future mission to Mars – or beyond.
If Opportunity had a middle name it would be Success.
The rover was originally planned as a 90-day mission. Opportunity lasted for 14
years. Her sister rover, Spirit, lasted about half as long, but also well
beyond her planned 90-day mission
Why mentioned them now, nearly 6 months after the conclusion
of the mission? Because they are a model for success, and we should always talk
about success. Plus I’ve been hoping that we would hear from her.
Maybe someday an astronaut will walk up and dust off
her panels, and Opportunity will say, “Welcome to Mars”.
Image is derived from
photos on the NASA Mars Mission website, https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/ . The background
is of Opportunity’s last panorama picture.
More information on the rovers and future missions to
Mars may be found there. MER stands for “Mars Exploration Rover”.
The Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) issued a press release today that India successfully launched
their Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon.
After reaching its orbit around the Earth, the spacecraft will begin its nearly
60-day journey. The landing on the Moon is scheduled for September 7, 2019.
ISRO chairman, Dr. K. Sivan stated, ““Today is
the beginning of the historical journey of India towards Moon … .” It truly is
as India continues its scientific quest to aid humanity to reach out to the
moon – and beyond.
We congratulate India on their success and
look forward to a soft landing.
And we recall the lines from Robert Heinlein’s
story, “The Green Hills of Earth,”
“Up
leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet —“.
This is an update to
my post of 21 July, 2019, “Back to the Moon!” which speaks to the several nations
that are reaching out for the Moon to expand our understand of that body and
the to reach outward beyond that.
The image is
combination of a launch picture from the NBC News website, and the badge of the
ISRO.
Today is the 50th anniversary of mankind’s first landing
on the Moon. We celebrate the men and women of the United States , and truly of
all nations, who worked to make the event happen, and who celebrate it’s reality.
We all look forward to “peace for all mankind”.
Did any other story
of the future written by Robert Heinlein look to the future with such a clear
gaze. The character, D.D. Harriman in the 1940 science fiction story, The Man Who Sold the Moon, faces the reality
that comes to all visionaries. What’s on the moon and how do you get people to
buy it. At the very start of the story Mr. Harriman’s partner says to him, “…
and don’t give me any guff about tourist trade and fabulous lunar jewels. I’ve
had it.”
Today and this
week and this year the moon is being sold; and its being bought. Again this is
by visionaries. But are they right.? Is there profit to made on the moon? Can
whatever resources that lie on its surface or buried in the moon’s crust and
its interior be found and recovered for use?
This is the
question that some forward thinkers are trying to answer.
The Washington
Post’s lead article in the Business section on 17 February, 2019, “The Moon is Suddenly White Hot”, explores
the current activities of nations and individuals/corporations who are sending landers
to the Moon to start scratching the surface to determine if there are “lunar
jewels” that can easily be picked up.
First what are
these jewels? First of all there is the question of whether there is water on
the moon. This is followed by questions related to the value and usability of
minerals and compounds that may be found on the moon and put to use in
industry. What are they? Where are they? Can they be mined (picked up even) and
processed? Will they need to be brought back to earth for processing or can
that be done on the moon, in situ? And is there a profit in it?
We don’t know the answer to these questions yet. That’s why nations and corporations are sinking hundreds and thousands of millions of dollars into making a soft landing on the moon and roving around and finding out the answers to our questions. And at this time we aren’t even talking about getting people, men and women, back onto the lunar surface.
Last year China succeeded
in a soft landing of Chang’e 4 on the far
side of the moon. Their rover is currently “asleep” as the sun is on the
near-side of the moon and the far-side is in truth the dark-side. When the sun
returns to the far-side of the moon, the rover, Yutu, will continue its mission
of investigating the Moon’s magnetic filed, and analysis of the surface dust as
well as a seismometer to study the interior of the moon.
Israel Space Industries
(ISI) with their partners attempted to make a soft landing with their Beersheet
mission, but their lander failed and crashed into the moon’s surface in April..
The lander mission was to study the Moon’s
magnetic field. Initially they said they would try again. But ISI and its
partners have said they will not make a second attempt – just yet. I can only
imagine that they will make another attempt. There are not only riches at
stake, but a good bit of national pride.
India is next up
with their Chandrayaan-2
mission. The Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) mission has an orbiter, and a lander
with a rover. The launch is scheduled for Monday, 22 July. The elements of the mission
include the orbiter which will survey the surface of the Moon and the rover which
will study the surface material as well as the make-up of the moon to a depth
of 10 meters and beyond.
The U.S. has long
range plans for landing men and women back on the moon. Russia also has this as
a goal. However, we are likely ten years away from either to make a serious
attempt. Both nations intend to send unmanned missions to the lunar surface
before then.
Mr. Davenport in his
Washington Post article, “The Moon is Suddenly
White Hot”, comments “… the moon is drawing investors and explorers the way
the promise of the American West once did.” A great deal of the effort on the
moon will focus on the Moon’s south polar region where it is thought that there
may be the possibility of extracting weather from the minerals of the Moon.
That would truly
be a “Lunar Jewel”!
Articles reviewed
for this post include:
“The Moon is Suddenly White Hot” in the Washington Post ,February 17, 2019,
print edition; by Christian Davenport
Art work based on “The Moon is Suddenly White Hot” in the Washington Post ,February 17, 2019
and Robert
Heinlein’s book, The Man Who sold the Moon, Signet Edition, 1951.
Its night time
on the far side of the moon. On 11 July the China National Space Administration
(CNSA) announced it had sent commands to its Chang’e-4
probe on the far side of the moon to go into its dormant state. The lander
and the rover will both ‘sleep’ through the 14 day lunar night before they are
sent commands to wake up and continue the mission. The lander and rover require
sunlight to charge their electrical systems and so can only operate during the moon’s
daytime. For the moon to completely rotate on its axis and the sunlight to
return, takes approximately 29 days. The nighttime, when there is no sun, and
the daytime, when the sun’s light reaches the surface of the far side of the
moon, are both approximately 14.5 days. The progress of the lunar days across
the surface of the moon can be easily seen from Earth in the changes phases of
the moon.
However, as
explained in the CNSA 11 July report, “As a result of
the tidal locking effect [between the Earth and the Moon], the moon’s
revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, and the same side always
faces Earth.”
This synchronicity has historically caused the far-side of the moon to remain unseen and a mystery (1). That is until the early days of humanity’s first tentative steps into space. In October 1959 a lunar probe, Luna 3, launched by the Soviet Union, sent back pictures of the far side of the moon. The first humans to see the far side of the moon were the American astronauts in Apollo 8 as they orbited the moon (10 times) in December 1968.
There is still a great deal to discover about the moon, both on the far side and on the side that faces the earth. The return of the sun, and the return of the Chang’e-4 probe to its mission, may enable further discoveries and help humanity to heighten the potential of humanity’s return to the moon – and to go beyond.
The pictures at the top include (upper) a picture from the current Chinese mission on the moon, and two pictures (lower) from Apollo 8.
(1) Lil Wayne’s song “Dark Side of the Moon” – with Nicki Minaj – speaks to the mystery of the far side of the moon. – “On the dark side of the moon I’ll be waiting, I’ll be waiting for you On the dark side of the moon And If you happen to get there before me Leave a message in the dust just for me If I don’t see it I’ll be waiting for you On the dark side of the moon (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)” (Lyrics copied from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lilwayne/darksideofthemoon.html .)
The Mole is stuck, but there may not be anything touching
it.
NASA and its partner Germany’s DLR are still trying to
figure if they can get the inSight Mole unstuck. According to an article
published by NASA on 5 July, the team now believes that the Mole has created a
cavity so that there is no soil surrounding it. The Mole needs interaction
(touching) the Martian soil in order to move forward/downwards. Without the
surrounding soil the Mole cannot penetrate further.
The problematic void may be like a cavity formed under a
“bridge” similar to a bridge/arch that can form in bulk carrier cargo vessels.
Due to normal vibration during the voyage or in the unloading process, a bridge
or an arch of the material being transported/unloaded can form across the
material. The bridge/arch will not allow the material above it to fall into the
cavity created by the unloading process. The bridge/arch may have been formed
by the Mole in the Martian soil due to the vibration of the mole mechanism.
These vibrations may have caused the material below the bridge/arch to collapse.
The bridge/arch does not allow the Martian soil which the Mole has already
penetrated to collapse into the cavity.
If the material were able to collapse into the cavity perhaps the Mole
could progress to is mission depth.
The pictures in this article show that NASA has moved the
Mole mechanism from above the mole hole. The hole is indicated by the yellow
arrow. The placement of the feet of the mechanism are shown by orange
semi-circles. The tether that provides energy to the Mole and which allows data
transmission up to the lander is shown by the curved green line. NASA will have
to ensure that when it places the mechanism back over the hole that the tether
is not crimped or broken.
In my original post on the inSight lander (4/4/2019 – Mars inSight
H-P cubed) I asked whether it would be possible to remove the Mole and start at
another location. The answer is no; the Mole cannot be extracted. There is no
way to extract the Mole and then reload it into its mechanism so it could start
again. And even if it did, would it only form another cavity and be in a
similar situation?
Links to two articles on bridging are given below. The key to preventing bridging in earth-bound hoppers is control of material flow based on its cohesion and friction on the sides of the container. On Mars, well, it’s different. In the case were a bridge/arch forms, it is generally necessary to shock/vibrate the material so it will start to flow. In the case of the Mole, a shock might allow bridge arch to collapse filling the cavity with soil and the Mole may be able to move forward again.
Right now, according to current thinking, the Mole is probably
dangling in this cavity. It needs material around it to move. Maybe if there
was a nine-pound hammer on the lander it could give the area close to the hole
a good whack. But that is not the case.
We all hope that the NASA/DLR team will be able to develop a
means for the mole to move forward again.
There were people sitting on chairs on a stage. They were all introduced, including Dr. Shep Doeleman, the Director of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. There was applause, and then there was silence as everyone in the room sat up to listen closely and to see the picture they all hoped to see. The presentation was succinct, but everyone whether in the room or watching remotely from their offices or homes was waiting for the anticipated announcement. These included scientists, post-docs, students, managers, politician, reporters, and other interested people watching and listening. These other interested people were called the “black-hole enthusiasts”. The work was described, including the development of a Very Long Baseline Interferometer the size of the earth with multiple sites at locations around the globe. Not all of the sites were able to view the target location at the same time, but this supported obtaining good data since as the world turned other sites/telescopes were able to view the target location in space. High levels of collaborative processes were required for the EHT team to be successful.
The target was in galaxy M87, also known as Virgo-Alpha. It is the largest galaxy in the Virgo cluster. At the heart of the galaxy is a super-massive black hole. The international team was seeking to “image”, to create a picture, of the event horizon of the black hole in M87.
The room was quiet. Dr. Doeleman turned toward the screen and pressed the button on his control. For a moment there was total silence followed by the soft clicks of cameras in the room. Then applause. It did not carry on for wave after wave, but it was solid and positive and excited. The applause stopped as everyone in the room leaned forward to see the image. Everyone quieted down as if there were a sound to be heard. Every ear strained; every eye refused to blink.
The image on the screen clearly showed the edge of the event horizon inside of which not even light can escape. Dr. Doeleman stressed that it was the work of numerous nations, their agencies, and their early-career and senior scientists that made possible the development of the pictures. The pictures were created from more than 5-petabytes of information. It was the hard work of all these people that enabled the image seen today to be extracted from the mass of data.
Enthusiasts at home leaned closer to their computer screen and rose on the edge of their chairs. The room was full of virtual attendees who wanted to be part of this announcement of what is truly scientific history.
The picture showed (“north” being up in the picture) a glowing mass of light, the swirl of particles around the heart of galaxy M87 before they cascade across the event horizon into the darkness. The colors in the maelstrom indicated the speed of photon emissions from the accretion flow toward the event horizon. There was a distinct rise in color as the relative speed of the light flowing towards the observing telescopes in 1-mm wavelength increased on the south edge of the ring. And there in the center, the darkness of no light escaping, the back hole. And between the two the crisp edge of the event horizon.
The first-of-its-kind image and the science and math behind it and the cooperation behind it all, leads us to a transformation of our understanding of black holes.
Congratulations to the entire team and all those who supported
and continue to support them.
The image of the black hole is based on the image provided by the NSF-EHT. The map of Virgo is based on a map provided by IAU and Sky and Telescope.
The announcement and press briefing can be viewed at https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/ .
One of the
dedicated science instruments on the Mars InSight lander has had to pause
during its deployment. The instrument is officially known as the Heat Flow and
Physical Properties Probe, which according to the Launch Press Kit is
abbreviated HP3 (pronounced “H-P cubed”). Its mission is to take the temperature
of Mars. It will determine the amount of heat that is escaping from the
interior of the planet. Knowing this heat flow will help us better understand
the evolution of the Martian interior – and the rate at which Mar’s internal
core energy is diminishing.
The instrument includes a probe that is being hammered into the Martian soil to a depth between ten and sixteen feet (3 – 5 meters). But the probe, which is called the “Mole” by NASA, has met significant resistance at a much shallower depth. NASA is trying to determine if the resistance is coming from a rock or a gravel layer. Then they will need to decide how best to get beyond the obstacle. Can it be penetrated, or will another method be necessary?
As a gardener, or I should say as the shovel-man for a gardener, I know what it is to hit a resistive object while digging a hole. For me the resistance is often a stone of small to moderate size or perhaps a root of a nearby tree. Sometimes I can remove the impediment, but sometimes I must shift the location of the hole. Removing the impediment is not an option on Mars. There is no gardener on Mars that can kneel and sweep out the rubble with their gloved hand. *
The Mole is
about 16 inches long and approximately an inch in circumference. The exterior
of the Mole is aluminum. It is attached to a flexible tether that carries
information to the instrument package that is attached to the deck of the
lander. The hammer that provides the driving force is built into the Mole. There
is no outside hammer at the surface level to drive the Mole into the soil. This
means that there is no device, like the claw on the back of a hammer, that can
extract the Mole so it can be placed in a different location.
Going back to my gardening efforts, I have often driven spikes for mats or pegs for garden borders into the ground. I have also driven steel rods to a depth or 18 to 24 inches to support a structure or a wall. In these cases, if I hit a rock or a root that I cannot penetrate I may be able to slightly reorient the item and try to slide past the obstacle. But that may not to be an option for the Mole on Mars. For clarity, I will have to ask NASA.
The Mole’s
internal hammer was designed to enable the tip of the Mole to penetrate objects
up to a certain hardness. This can be understood from the description of the
operation in the mission Launch Press Kit which describes the process. The information
in these documents states that it is expected that the hammer will be dropped
between 5,000 and 20,000 times to penetrate the soil to its planned depth. The
number of hammer blows required depends on the density and hardness of the soil
matrix.
Currently the
Mole has met an object of significant hardness. The hammer not only has to
overcome the hardness of the material it has to penetrate, but it also has to
overcome the friction of the sides of the Mole as it is driven through the obstacle
plus the added friction of the flexible tether as it is dragged down the Mole’s
hole.
NASA will determine the best course of action to allow the Mole to penetrate beyond its current depth. On March 21, the NASA Mission page stated that many ideas are being considered to free the Mole from the obstacle, and that the ideas will require “at least several more weeks of careful analysis.”
Stay tuned.
Perhaps we will be able to slide past the obstacle and reach the appropriate
depth.
