A long wait for your files to transfer!As we wait for the New Horizons Data to be returned to Earth it is worth considering the difficulty in getting it back. 2.9 billion miles is a long way away for a radio signal. This is not the record, we can still communicate with the Voyager spacecraft at over 12 billion miles out. Unlike Voyager, there is a great deal of data in the memory of New Horizons, we want it here on Earth ASAP.
Each LORRI image is a 1Mpix image at a 12bit depth, even with image compression this is 2.5Mbyte per image. LORRI was one of three cameras taking imagery during the encounter, there is also the data from Alice and Ralph. At the distance of Pluto about the best data transfer rate we can expect is around 1Kbit/sec. I am old enough to remember the days when a 1200 baud modem was state-of-the-art, large files were painful. At this data rate it will take about sixteen months for the entire Pluto encounter data set to be returned to Earth. I can only imagine the anticipation within the mission team, waiting for their data to be arrive.
With the New Horizons spacecraft successfully making its flyby of Pluto, we are now getting the first close up images of this distant world. The spacecraft went into radio silence for 22 hours while it maneuvered to photograph Pluto and its moons. The first signal returned was simply a full status report, and only now, a day later are we beginning to see the imagery returned. Given the 2.9 billion miles between the spacecraft and Earth, it will take about 16 months to get all of the data back.
The first images are fascinating! Eleven thousand foot high ice mountains create a rugged landscape. I find myself waiting for further images, the surface of Pluto promises to be far different than any terrain we have seen elsewhere in the solar system.
New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
A very young moon over Waikoloa, this is only 26 hours after new, visible to the unaided eye as a sliver in the fading glow of sunsetNew Moon will occur today at 15:24HST.
In this illustration a black hole emits part of the accreted matter in the form of energetic radiation (blue), without slowing down star formation within the host galaxy (purple regions). Credit: M. Helfenbein, Yale University / OPACAn international team of astrophysicists led by Benny Trakhtenbrot, a researcher at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Astronomy, discovered a gigantic black hole in an otherwise normal galaxy, using W. M. Keck Observatory’s 10-meter, Keck I telescope in Hawaii. The team, conducting a fairly routine hunt for ancient, massive black holes, was surprised to find one with a mass of more than 7 billion times our Sun making it among the most massive black holes ever discovered. And because the galaxy it was discovered in was fairly typical in size, the study calls into question previous assumptions on the development of galaxies. Their findings are being published today in the journal Science.
The data, collected with Keck Observatory’s newest instrument called MOSFIRE, revealed a giant black hole in a galaxy called CID-947 that was 11 billion light years away. The incredible sensitivity of MOSFIRE coupled to the world’s largest optical/infrared telescope meant the scientists were able to observe and characterize this black hole as it was when the Universe was less than two billion years old, just 14 percent of its current age (almost 14 billion years have passed since the Big Bang).
Even more surprising than the black hole’s record mass, was the relatively ordinary mass of the galaxy that contained it.
Most galaxies host black holes with with masses less than one percent of the galaxy. In CID-947, the black hole mass is 10 percent that of its host galaxy. Because of this remarkable disparity, the team deduced this black hole grew so quickly the host galaxy was not able to keep pace, calling into question previous thinking on the co-evolution of galaxies and their central black holes.
My 18″ telescope Deep violet set up under the stars at the MKVIS.There have been some revisions to the rules as originally proposed. Most notably the closure hours begin at 10pm in place of 8pm, this would allow the VIS to operate the normal evening public program.
I have yet to locate a copy of the final approved rules, it is only a few minutes ago that the decision was approved. I expect they will appear on the DLNR website eventually (Tonight? Monday?). They are effective immediately, I would expect there to be a legal requirement to post them.
It is safe to say that there will be no overnight observing at or near the Mauna Kea VIS. You will need to find a site elsewhere or at least one mile from the access road.
These rules are effective for 120 days, after which we will see what happens. In that time they may be allowed to lapse. It also allows the DLNR time to approve similar, permanent rules through the regular process in place of these emergency rules.
120 days and counting… I make that November 8th, 2015.
Update: Found them!
(a) The area referred to in this rule as the “restricted area” is defined as any lands in the public hunting area that includes the Mauna Kea Observatory Access Road and one mile on either side of the Mauna Kea Observatory Access road.
(b) As used in this rule, the term “transiting” means operating, or being a passenger in, a motor vehicle traveling at a reasonable and prudent speed and having regard to the actual and potential hazards and conditions then existing.
(c) No person shall at any time possess or control in the restricted area any of the following items: sleeping bag, tent, camping stove, or propane burner.
(d) No person shall enter or remain in the restricted area during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., unless the person is transiting through the restricted area on the Mauna Kea Observatory Access Road or is lawfully within or entering or exiting an existing observatory or a facility operated by the University of Hawaii.
To celebrate the arrival of the new Horizons Probe at Pluto next week the W. M. Keck Observatory is holding a special lecture.
Tantalizing signs of geology on Pluto are revealed in this image from New Horizons taken on July 9, 2015 from 3.3 million miles (5.4 million kilometers) away. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research InstituteNASA Spacecraft New Horizons Pluto Flyby:
Special Talk by NASA Scientist Eliot Young
Just hours before their observing run at Keck Observatory will start, NASA scientists Eliot Young and his team will give a talk in the Hualalai Conference room at Keck Observatory’s headquarters in Waimea. Join us at 7:00p to learn about the science of Pluto, the Kuiper belt, dwarf planets and more.
At 1:49am the next morning, the NASA New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to make its closest approach to Pluto, and Young’s team will be collecting close-up data on the dwarf planet and other distant solar system objects for the first time ever.
Young is the principal scientist from the Southwest Research Institute, one of the partners involved in the building of the New Horizons craft.
As we are all aware, the TMT protests are having direct consequences for everyone who goes to the mountain. Regular mountain users and tourists alike are dealing these consequences. The summit road closed to the public for a second week, the MKVIS also closed, even before these closures the protests had curtailed many activities.
My 18″ telescope Deep violet set up under the stars at the MKVIS.It looks to get worse.
Go the the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station on the weekends nearest new Moon and you will find telescopes. While the MKVIS telescopes get put away at 10pm there are ‘scopes that are operating late into the night, often still there when dawn colors the sky. These telescopes belong to local amateur astronomers who bring them here to enjoy perfect Mauna Kea skies.
There has been a tangible shift in mood on the mountain. I sense this change in all I talk to. The sentiment toward the TMT protesters has turned from one of tolerance to active hostility. They crossed a line, and I think everyone knows it, including the protesters.
An ahu built in the downhill lane of the Mauna Kea summit access roadFrom everyone’s comments it was the blocking and damage to the summit road that was the critical moment. There has always been a certain sympathy for the protesters among the mountain crews. We may disagree, but at least we understand the source of that disagreement. We are Americans, with an understanding of the right to protest, of respect for those who stand up for their beliefs.
That has changed.
Everyone who works on the mountain understands that the road is an absolutely vital link. It is the only means by which to evacuate the summit in an emergency, the only route by which help can come in the case of trouble. Contrary to many glib Facebook assertions our local fire department helicopters can not operate safely at high elevation. I have seen comments by protesters that downplay the danger, they simply do not understand the seriousness of their actions.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media has been parroting this “public safety concern” language. Of course, they are trying to deceive the public into thinking the Mauna Kea Protectors and the pohaku present the safety hazard. They are lying. – Will Falk
“Pohaku” is of course the Hawaiian word for stone. In his writing Will waxes poetic about the effort and the beauty of placing the rocks on the road, then calls the safety concerns “lying”. His casual disregard for safety is distressing, and typical of those who simply disrespect the mountain, her beauty and her risks.
Today the Earth is furthest from the Sun, a point called apehelion. We will be about 152,096,000km (94,508,000miles) from the Sun. Compare this to the 147,099,000km (91,403,000miles) we were at perihelion on January 3rd, a difference of about 4,996,000km (3,104,000miles) occurring throughout one orbit.
It may seem odd that we are actually at the furthest for the middle of northern summer, you just have to remember that proximity to the Sun is not the cause of the seasons. The seasons are caused by the axial tilt of the Earth, creating short and long days throughout the year, with a resulting change in the angle and intensity of the sunlight.
The new dome and shutter control PLC finally had it’s first night on-sky. The result? No fuss, no trouble, it just worked as designed. To have everything go so smoothly was very satisfying. So much work and trouble, so much worry on my part. Yes, I had performed two days of testing, but this would be on-sky, at night, the final test.
The Keck 2 dome in the glow of sunsetI arrived on the summit after lunch to convert the system, removing the old PLC and connecting the new controller. A few tests, moving the dome and shutters showed that everything seemed to be working. The plan was to stay into the night to insure that if there was trouble I was on hand to fix it, or convert back to the older system.
As the last rays of sunset gleamed I took Capt. Marvel (the radio controller for the dome) and went up onto the roof. From there I commanded the shutters to open, watching with satisfaction as the giant assemblies smoothly opened to the night.
Better yet, the night was partially used for testing the new telescope control system, the TCSU project. Thus the new PLC was tested with both the old system and the new telescope control system.
The result of all my worry was a simple one line write-up from the telescope operator in the logs the next morning… “New dome PLC operations successful. No issues.”
