Lord of the rings is once again shining brightly in the eastern skies after sunset giving us an opportunity to view this marvelous planet and its rings through a telescope.

Saturn will reach at its opposition on April 28, 08:28 UT (13:58 IST). An object is said to be at opposition when the Sun is on one side of the Earth and the object is directly on the opposite side. The result is that the object is fully illuminated by the sun and appears disk-like.

According to Mr. CB Devgun, President, SPACE – “Look for the brightest object in the eastern skies one hour after sunset and you will find Saturn glowing on the horizon. Saturn is around 19 seconds of arc in apparent size as seen from Earth through naked eyes (in comparison Full moon is around 1800 seconds of arc). Months from May to July, 2013 are the best months to view Saturn this year.”

We see a great example of an opposition every month. Whenever there is a full moon, the moon is on one side of the Earth and the Sun is on the opposite side. Saturn opposition occurs after every one year and two weeks (378.1 days), or 29 times every 30 years. Last opposition occurred on April 15, 2012 and the next one will happen on May 10, 2014. Incidentally Mars is in conjunction with Sun this month meaning that it’s on the other side of the Sun as seen from Earth.

That means Saturn will be appearing at its brightest for the year 2013, shining at magnitude of 0.1 Mag and that means it is almost equal to Vega or Rigel (Bright Stars).



About Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant (also known as a Jovian planet, after the planet Jupiter), the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. It was named after the Roman god Saturn (the Greek equivalent is Cronos, father of Zeus). Its symbol is a stylized representation of the god's sickle.

Saturn has at least 62 moons, 53 of which have formal names. In alphabetic order, they are: Aegir, Albiorix, Anthe, Atlas, Bebhionn, Bergelmir, Bestla, Calypso, Daphnis, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Erriapus, Farbauti, Fenrir, Fornjot, Greip, Hati, Helene, Hyperion, Hyrokkin, Iapetus, Ijiraq, Janus, Jarnsaxa, Kari, Kiviuq, Loge, Methone, Mimas, Mundilfari, Narvi, Paaliaq, Pallene, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Polydeuces, Prometheus, Rhea, Siarnaq, Skadi, Skoll, Surtur, Suttung, Tarqeq, Tarvos, Telesto, Tethys, Thrym, Titan and Ymir.

The dozens of moons orbiting Saturn vary drastically in shape, size, age and origin. Some of these moons have rocky surfaces, while others are porous, icy bodies. Many have craters, ridges and valleys, and some show evidence of tectonic activity. Some appear to have formed billions of years ago, while others appear to be pieces of a bigger, fragmented body. The most interesting one is Titan, the biggest of them all. Larger than Earth's Moon, Titan even has its own thick atmosphere -- the only natural satellite in the Solar System with such a luxury. During its four-year mission in this immense region, the Cassini spacecraft will extensively photograph many of these moons and collect data that will increase our understanding of their composition.

Tomorrow, April 25th 2013, Earth’s shadow will cover 1 % of the moon. In fact it will just touch the moons limb and go. In astronomical terms, this phenomenon is called as Lunar Eclipse. It’s one of the smallest Partial lunar eclipses and will not be a visual treat meaning that the Moon will not disappear and turn red, but will merely get darker than usual.

 This Eclipse will be the first of three lunar eclipses in 2013. Only a tiny sliver of the Moon will be covered by the Earth's umbral shadow at maximum eclipse, the northern half of the Moon will be darkened from being inside the penumbral shadow. This is the second shortest partial eclipse of the Moon for the 21st century, lasting 27 minutes.

Lyrids meteor shower peaks this weekend on the nights of 21st and 22nd April, 2013. Month of April marks the beginning of the “Lyrids Meteor Shower” which is tending to be bright and often leave trails. The 2013 Lyrid meteor shower will be seen from the entire northern hemisphere. One can see trails of shooting stars coming from a particular area in the sky at a rate of 10 – 20 meteors per hour. Though, light pollution and the presence of the gibbous moon may hamper the observation and may be the city can’t witness too many meteors. Shooting stars are common, but a shower of shooting stars is something that happens only few times.

Lyrids meteor shower date and timings:

It can be seen from April 16th – April 25th, 2012 every night. The peak usually occurs around 21st and 22nd April. According to Mr. CB Devgun, President SPACE and amateur astronomer – “this year shower spreads over 2 days. This year Moon will be rising a little after the radiant rises. Hence, the chances of high number of meteor observations are less. The time when the shower would be at its peak: Early morning hours of 22nd (night of 21st 3am to 5am)”

Lyrids meteor shower

About ‘Lyrids’

‘Lyrids’ are a prolific meteor shower associated with the Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The meteor shower is visible every year around April 22nd when the Earth moves through the Lyrid meteor stream. The stream comprises solid particles, known as meteoroids, ejected by the comet as it passes by the Sun. It’s like truck carrying garbage littering the road with it while it moves. A typical particle is no bigger than fine dust, and rapidly vaporizes emitting a streak of light as it hits Earth's atmosphere at tremendous speed (71 km/s).  As the entire meteor streaks are parallel, because of effect of perspective they appear to originate from a single point in the sky (just like railway tracks appear to meet at some distance) and as a result Lyrids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Lyra. The Lyrids have been observed for the past 2600 years. Lyrid meteors are usually around magnitude +2. However, some meteors can be brighter, known as "Lyrid fireballs", cast shadows for a split second and leave behind smokey debris trails that last minutes. Occasionally, the shower intensifies when the Earth passes through a thicker part of the dust trail, resulting in a Lyrid meteor storm.

What is a meteor shower?
Meteors are better known as "shooting stars": startling streaks of light that suddenly appear in the sky when a dust particle from outer space evaporates high in the Earth's atmosphere. We call the light phenomenon in the atmosphere a "meteor", while the dust particle is called a "meteoroid".

As mentioned earlier a meteor is “A meteor is the visible path of a meteoroid (a small sand size particle) that enters the Earth's atmosphere, commonly called a shooting star or falling star. These shooting stars can be seen on any night and they fall at random. But when the number of meteors is large, it is called a meteor shower or meteor storm. The shower always happen on a particular day or a time period as it is associated usually with comets. During meteor showers (which usually last a few days), the majority of the meteors appear to come from a particular point in the sky, called the radiant of the shower. The meteor shower is commonly named after the constellation in which this radiant is found, and occurs annually during a well-defined time period. For example, the Lyrids meteor shower occurs every year from about April 16th – April 25th, with a peak on April 22nd, and has its radiant in the constellation Lyra. In this shower, the typical maximum number of meteors that can be seen per hour at its peak is about 20, which is quite a few times more than the rate of random meteors. As comets move about their orbits they leave a stream of debris because dust and rocky material is liberated from the head as the ices vaporize. If the earth crosses the cometary orbit, this debris leads to an increased number of meteors.

In the spirit of World Heritage Day, SPACE in collaboration with ASI conducted “Heritage Walk” at Jantar Mantar on 18th April, 2013. SPACE in collaboration with ASI has been doing this walk since November, 2011 which was initiated to commemorate 100 years of Delhi as a capital and 150 years of ASI. 

World Heritage Day celebrates the diversity of heritage through the world in the name of "International Day for Monuments and Sites" on April 18th every year. “International Monuments and Sites Day” has been traditionally called the World Heritage Day. World Heritage Day is all about encouraging people to enjoy and protect heritages around to ensure that future generations can appreciate this legacy too. With this sprit, Mr. CB Devgun, President, SPACE acted as an educational guide to approximately 70 people who attended this scientific walk at Jantar Mantar.

Students, young Astronomy enthusiasts, tourists and general public participated in this event. Mr. Devgun demonstrated and discussed the working of the ancient instruments; Samrat Yantra, Misra Yantra, Ram Yantra and Jai Prakash Yantra at the 300 years old astronomical observatory. Maharaja Jai Singh constructed this and 4 other Jantar Mantars to study the motion of the sun and planets accurately.

Participants were shown how Samrat Yantra can be used as a giant sundial to tell time. They were also shown how Ram Yantra and Jai Prakash Yantra have two separate complementary structures so that the ancient astronomer could step inside the instrument and do their measurements. They were excited to find out how ancient astronomers studied the motions of the sun, moon and planets without the help of any high tech satellites or telescopes, and told time without any clocks!

Be a part of the Heritage walk around our scientific heritage "Jantar Mantar" on 18th April, 2013 at 3:00 pm. SPACE in collaboration with ASI has been doing this walk since November, 2011 which was initiated to commemorate 100 years of Delhi as a capital and 150 years of ASI.  

In the spirit of World Heritage Day as part of celebrations, organization is conducting this month’s scientific heritage walk on the day itself.  To promote awareness about the assortment of cultural legacy around us on the day World Heritage Day is the motivation for this Heritage walk at "Jantar Mantar".

Experts from SPACE will be demonstrating and discussing the working of the ancient instruments at the 300 years old astronomical observatory. Participants will find out how ancient astronomers studied the motions of the sun, moon and planets without the help of any high tech satellites or telescopes, and told time without any clocks!

Participation in this Heritage Walk is being kept open to general public including tourists and students from school & colleges. Entry will be restricted to 100 participants on first cum first serve basis.

World Heritage Day celebrates the diversity of heritage through the world in the name of "International Day for Monuments and Sites" on April 18th every year. “International Monuments and Sites Day” has been traditionally called the World Heritage Day. World Heritage Day is all about encouraging people to enjoy and protect heritages around to ensure that future generations can appreciate this legacy too.

Details of the event -
Date – 18-04-2013 (Thursday)
Time – 3:00 pm
Venue – Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

 

 

 

2013 is said to be the year of comets!! We have at least 2 comets predicted to reach naked eye (well almost) visibility, and Comet Panstarrs takes the lead. Its shining (though feebly) now almost on the horizon just after the sunset. If you have clear western horizon, try to locate the Comet with naked eyes or wide field binoculars. Favourable dates are just about to begin, start looking for it on 9th March onwards. Binoculars in India are avialiable at Space Arcade.

On March 5th, Comet Pan-STARRS makes its closest approach to Earth (1.1 AU), followed on March 10th by its closest approach to the sun (0.3 AU). As Comet Pan-STARRS passes the sun, solar glare might make it difficult to see even as the nucleus vaporizes and brightens. By March 12th and 13th, the comet will be seen in the sunset skies of the northern hemisphere not far from the crescent Moon.

Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), is a non-periodic comet discovered in June 2011, that is expected to be visible to the naked eye when it is near perihelion in March 2013. The comet was discovered using the Pan-STARRS telescope located near the summit of Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It can also be seen through Space Launcher Telescopes in India, which are availiable at economical / cheap prices throughout vast dealership network of space arcade telescopes in india.

Comet C/2011 L4 had an apparent magnitude of 19 when it was discovered in June 2011. By early May 2012, the comet had brightened to magnitude 13.5, and could be seen visually when using a large amateur telescope from a dark site. As of October 2012, the coma (expanding tenuous dust atmosphere) was estimated to be about 120 000 km in diameter. The comet was spotted without optical aid on 7 February 2013 at a magnitude of ~6. Comet PANSTARRS passed close to Earth on 5 March 2013 at a distance of 1.09 au. It will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 10 March 2013.

To view this splendid sight you should have a clear western horizon with no light pollution teamed up with any telescope in India more than 76 mm diameter. Wide field binoculars in india such as 10x50, 8x60, 25x100 and 20x60 will also give a good view and are good options to witness the phenomenon. 

Comet data for Delhi

Date	Altitude at 7:00 pm IST	Azimuth at 7:00 pm IST	expected Magnitude (estimated) taken from MPC*	Comments
March 9	5	260	0.5
March 10	6	262	0.5
March 11	7	264	0.5
March 12	8	267	0.6
March 13	8.5	269	0.7	Thin crescent moon will act as a guide to look for the Comet.It will be about 5 deg below the moon towards 7 o’clock position
March 14	9	272	0.9
March 15	10	274	1.1
March 16	10	277	1.3
March 17	10	279	1.5

In Water Rocketry workshop/competition organized by SPACE and Nehru Planetarium in

SPACE in collaboration with Nehru Planetarium hosted “SPACE Rocketry Festival” under which “Water Rocketry” workshop and competition was conducted on the National Science Day, 28th Feb, 2013 in Nehru Planetarium. To celebrate the day of Science with fun and learning, approximately 150 students and general public joined this competition in a team of four members.

National Science Day is celebrated across India on 28th Feb to commemorate the discovery of Raman Effect by the Nobel Laureate, Bharat Ratna, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.

The Chief Guest for the event was Dr. Salil Gupta, Convener, Indian Science Congress Association. Dr. Rathnashree, Director, Nehru Planetarium and Mr. CB Devgun, President SPACE was the special guests. The event was conducted and masterminded by Mr. Sachin Bahmba, General Secretary SPACE. 

 Water Rocketry workshop and competition aimed towards developing the scientific temperament in the individuals who are space science enthusiasts and encouraging students to explore their full academic potentials by building their interest using hands on science activity such as “Water Rocketry” in the spirit of National Science Day. The welcome note was delivered by Mr. Sachin Bahmba. Following this, Dr. Rathnashree talked about the legacy of CV Raman’s discovery.

At the onset of the event, a short film of 10 minutes, on “Raman Effect” was shown to participants.  After the movie, a workshop was conducted by the SPACE experts under which participants were explained about the basic principles of a water rocketry model and further guided to craft their own water rockets. After learning about the basics of rocketry, participants got down to designing their own rockets. The basic design consisted of 500 ml empty soft drink bottle, augmented by various paper and cardboard attachments which provided the rods, cones and fins needed to find the perfect balance of stability and weight. In the final lap of the event, bevy of people from all age groups including students, parents and teachers launched their self made models of water rockets enthusiastically and showcased their learning. Specially designed economical launchers designed by SPACE were used to launch these rockets. You can also get these launchers designed by SPACE at SPACE ARCADE www.spacearcad.in

The winning position was bagged by Amity International School, Saket. First and Second Runners up team were from Ramjas College and Bal Bharati School, Pitampura. Winning scores were determined according to their rocket landing proximity to the target zones.

The students adjusted their launch angles, air pressure and water level to optimize their flights. Amongst the panel of the judges were – Dr. Salil Gupta, Convener, Indian Science Congress Association, Mr. Sachin Bahmba, General Secretary, SPACE, Mr. CB Devgun, President, SPACE and Dr. Rathnashree, Director, Nehru Planetarium.

At the end of the show, all the winners and participants were given prizes by the guests present there.  With great cherishable memoirs; the day came to an end. The event was very well-received among the participants.

 

Three days ISS EarthKAM workshop conducted by SPACE-an NGO based in Delhi, allowed participants to click fascinating pictures of Earth from a unique perspective of space through a camera mounted at nadir point of International Space Station. You may also be interested to know that Indian American astronaut; Sunita Williams serviced this camera on her last ISS mission – Expedition 33. SPACE brought this enthralling experience under the reach of its associated students and general public through ISS EarthKAM workshop which was conducted at SPACE associated CSE (Centre for student excellence) Indraprastha World School, Paschim Vihar from 29th Jan to 31st Jan, 2013.

ISS EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) is an international educational program of NASA through which participants can select and take stunning, high quality images of Earth from a digital camera mounted on the Destiny lab of the International Space Station. They can select the location of their choice on Earth via a website interface on their computers which provides the tools to look at the upcoming ISS orbits, evaluate terrain, check the weather conditions and provides all details regarding orbit locations, timings etc.

SPACE has been coordinating this project from the last 4 years. This year, SPACE hosted a bigger platform as; for the first time it was brought under the reach of common public. There were more than 150 participants included students and general public. Students from 15 schools around Delhi/NCR participated in this workshop. Also a group of 13 students joined the workshop from Mandawa Institute of Technology, Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh joined for this workshop. Dr. Rajesh Hasija, Director, Indraprastha welcomed and encouraged the participants in the first session of the workshop i.e. 29th Jan, 2013.

During this 3 hour long workshop participants learnt about orbital dynamics and selected target locations of geographical, climatic or photographic interest such as mountains, landscapes, rivers, islands etc. The program enabled them to learn about flight dynamics and Earth from the unique perspective of space, be a part of real science and make informed decisions.

The participants were then given time to plan and research their imaging targets and finally sends a request to ISS through the EarthKAM website. It was rewarding to see them excitedly coming up with fantastic imaging ideas. Imaging targets encompassed various targets of scientific and political interest. In all, about 300 pictures were requested. Participants selected regions that covered a large range of geographical variation, such as mountains, islands, bays and regions of environmental interest such as rainforests, glaciers etc. Participants requested photographs of some amazing geographical features like- Coffs Harbour beach in Australia, Jaffna Lagoon in Sri Lanka, Finders Island in Tasmania, Western Sahara, Muthupt Lagoon etc. Places in India of geographic interest or natural beauty were also targeted by a lot of students including rivers, mountains, bays and cities.

ISS subsequently photographed the images and the participants were excited to browse the images that were taken! A few of them are included here. Participants were amazed on receiving the pictures selected by them and clicked by real astronauts.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants were encouraged by SPACE educators to write messages for the astronauts on board International Space Station. All messages have been compiled and send to the ISS as the program encourages interaction between the astronauts and students.

Few of the messages are as below:

• Hello, Hope you are fine!!!!! I love your job.- Yashowardhan Gupta, a student from Step by Step School, Noida
• Dear Astronaut, I too want to become an astronaut. You are all doing excellent jobs. Because of you we are able to know about Astronomy. As you keep revolving around the Earth in space in order for us to know more about the universe, all my best wishes to you. - Aaryaman Saini, Ryan International School, Rohini

Overall, this workshop proved to be a fruitful experience for the participants. It was instrumental in giving them an appreciation of space as a platform to understand our world better as a way to view large scale geographical features of the earth and also to understand weather and climate and to study the areas affected by natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, fires etc and perhaps help in better planning the relief activities.

Ms Mala Shekhar, a teacher from Ryan International School, Rohini said – “This workshop makes the students the world wide web sitting on the desk. It also gives a dream to them to become an astronomer and reach to International Space Station”.

Mr. Rajiv, a parent who attended the workshop with his son said – “During my school days I had no opportunity like this but I am glad that SPACE has given a platform to parents and children both to participate in this educational program and click fantabulous pictures of Earth”.