Category: Astronomy

Exploring the cosmos

Stormy Weather on Uranus

W. M. Keck Observatory press release…

Weather on any planet can be quite unpredictable. As hurricanes threaten the Aloha State, astronomers working at W. M. Keck Observatory on the island of Hawaii were surprised by the appearance of gigantic swirling storm systems on the distant planet Uranus.

Uranus Storms
Massive storms on Uranus captured August 5 and 6, 2014 as seen by Keck Observatory. Credit Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley)/Keck Observatory
During the Voyager encounter with Uranus in 1986, only a scant handful of dim clouds were seen in its atmosphere. When the planet approached equinox in 2007 (i.e., when the Sun stood high above its equator), large storms developed on the planet, yet most of these faded.

In the past few days, however, astronomers were surprised by a multitude of bright storms on the planet, including one monstrous feature.

“We are always anxious to see that first image of the night of any planet or satellite, as we never know what it might have in store for us,” said Imke de Pater, professor at UC Berkeley and team leader. “This extremely bright feature we saw on UT 6 August 2014 reminds me of a similarly bright storm we saw on Uranus’s southern hemisphere during the years leading up to and at equinox”.

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On the Summit Before the Storm

Now at the summit doing a last walk through the facility to insure everything is ready for the storm. A lot of the gear has been turned off to preserve the battery and generator capacity, keeping the network and the key servers operational so we can monitor remotely once everyone leaves.

The winds are picking up, some 60mph gusts along the summit ridge, a little less where Keck sits on the western side. Looking to the east we can see some cloud features that might be the front wall of the oncoming storm.

We plan to depart the summit in another hour and head for home. I expect the drive down to be as clear as the drive up, mostly clear with wild cloud formations over the summits.

So far today we have a hurricane, a 4.2 magnitude earthquake, and the ongoing plague of rodents. Just living in paradise… Anyone for a tsunami?

Iselle Forecast Track
The forecast track for hurricane Iselle

Jupiter Appears in the Dawn

This week will see the reappearance of Jupiter in the dawn sky. This morning the planet will be 10° above the rising Sun, climbing quickly higher each morning.

Jove
Jupiter and the moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (left-right)
Jupiter will join Venus in the dawn, the brighter Venus has been the dawn star for much of the year. The two will rendezvous for a very close conjunction on the 17th and 18th. After the meeting Venus will disappear into the Sun’s glare leaving Jupiter a turn as the dawn star.

Look for a bright, -2 magnitude object directly above the bright glow of dawn. Venus will be 15° higher tomorrow morning, much brighter at -3.9 magnitude. The distance between the two diminishing over the next two weeks as Jupiter rises and Venus slides towards the Sun.

Observations Reveal Massive Eruptions on Jupiter’s Moon Io

W. M. Keck Observatory Press Release…

Three massive volcanic eruptions occurred on Jupiter’s moon Io within a two-week period, leading astronomers to speculate that these presumed rare “outbursts,” which can send material hundreds of miles above the surface, might be much more common than previously thought. The observations were made using the W. M. Keck Observatory and Gemini Observatory, both near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Io Eruptions
Images of Io obtained at different infrared wavelengths (in microns, μm, or millionths of a meter) with the W. M. Keck Observatory’s 10-meter Keck II telescope on Aug. 15, 2013 (a-c) and the Gemini North telescope on Aug. 29, 2013 (d). Credit: Imke de Pater and Katherine de Kleer, UC Berkely
“We typically expect one huge outburst every one or two years, and they’re usually not this bright,” said Imke de Pater, professor and chair of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of one of two papers describing the eruptions. “Here we had three extremely bright outbursts, which suggest that if we looked more frequently we might see many more of them on Io.”

Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s four large “Galilean” moons, is about 2,300 miles across, and, aside from Earth, is the only known place in the solar system with volcanoes erupting extremely hot lava like that seen on Earth. Because of Io’s low gravity, large volcanic eruptions produce an umbrella of debris that rises high into space.

De Pater’s long-time colleague and coauthor Ashley Davies, a volcanologist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., said that the recent eruptions resemble past events that spewed tens of cubic miles of lava over hundreds of square miles in a short period of time.

“These new events are in a relatively rare class of eruptions on Io because of their size and astonishingly high thermal emission,” he said. “The amount of energy being emitted by these eruptions implies lava fountains gushing out of fissures at a very large volume per second, forming lava flows that quickly spread over the surface of Io.”

All three events, including the largest, most powerful eruption of the trio on 29 Aug. 2013, were likely characterized by “curtains of fire,” as lava blasted out of fissures perhaps several miles long.

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Postcard from the Summit – Mamane and Fogbow

As you descend from Hale Pohaku in the afternoon you often drive into the top of the clouds at about 6,000-8,000ft elevation. The transition from clear blue skies to fog is often stunningly breautiful, a zone where light does interesting things. This zone is haunted by ghostly phenomena… As long as the Sun angle is low you will see fogbows here…

Mamane & Fogbow
A favorite mamane tree framed by a fogbow along the Mauna Kea access road

Thirty Meter Telescope Begins Construction

TMT Press Release…

Following the approval of a sublease on July 25 by the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) announces the beginning of the construction phase on Hawaii Island and around the world throughout the TMT international partnership. Contingent on that decision, the TMT International Observatory (TIO) Board of Directors, the project’s new governing body, recently approved the initial phase of construction, with activities near the summit of Mauna Kea scheduled to start later this year.

The Thirty Meter Telescope
An artist concept of TMT at night, with the laser guide star system illuminated.
Kahu Ku Mauna and the Mauna Kea Management Board reviewed, and the University of Hawaii Board of Regents recently approved, the proposed TMT sublease. The final approval from the Board of Land and Natural Resources—the last step in the sublease process—allows TMT to begin on-site construction on Mauna Kea, home to many of the world’s premier observatories.

“It has been an amazing journey for TMT, from idea to shovel-ready project,” said Henry Yang, TIO Board Chair and Chancellor of the University of California Santa Barbara. “We are grateful to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Hawaiian government, its citizens, and our project partners in bringing this important astronomical science effort to fruition. It is also my rewarding experience to work with so many community friends, University of Hawaii colleagues, and officials on both the Big Island and Oahu in this journey.”

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Postcard from the Summit – Mamane in the Fog

This is one of my favorite trees. Found along the summit access road it has enormous character, I have stopped to photograph this tree several times. Silhouette or simply in the sunlight, from just about any angle, it is simply a great tree. Even better when I catch it in the top of the cloud layer…

Mamane in the Fog
A mamane tree in the fog along Mauna Kea access road