ALL THE BEST FOR THE GCSE ASTRONOMY EXAM

To all Star Learners around the world, we hope that you have a very successful day with your GCSE Astronomy examination.

Some of our distance learners writing up their controlled assessments in St Albans on our UK tour.

Mauna Kea - our amazing visit

4th March 2013.  We left Hilo on Big Island in Hawaii on our visit to the amazing telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea.  From sea level to 13,700 feet in 3 hours. We stopped at the Visitor Information Station at 9,200 feet to acclimatise for 30 minutes as the air was rarified at the summit.  A school were on a trip from one of the other islands.  What a school trip!

As we stepped out at the top of Mauna Kea, we both had to stop and make sure we did not fall over.  The lack of oxygen was quite something.  Once we had caught our breath, we looked out at a fantastic array of telescopes.  Clear blue skies, hardly any wind - perfect.  A snowball whizzed past!  This is a dream come true.

1 The Subaru telescope to the left of David and the famous Keck 1 and Keck 2 to the right

2 CalTech Submillimetre (left) : James Clark Maxwell : Smithsonian Submillimetre Array (right) 

3 Looking from the Keck telescopes back towards the summit area of Mauna Kea

4 Gemini North

The inactive volcano looked at its best today. The day before there were winds of 45 mph - a very different place.  The reddish ground is caused by a high iron content and the dark grey is like pumice.   One of the most impressive telescopes was the Gemini North (seen on the right). The size of all the telescopes is staggering.
Apart for maintenance, there are few people around. The astronomers work from centres near sea level, controlling the telescopes by remote control. The Keck 1 and 2 telescopes are controlled about 20 miles away at Waimea. This saves the astronomers working in very tough conditions. 

Not the most scenic of entrances to what was the biggest telescope in the world until July 2009. The Keck telescopes both have 10 metre primary segmented mirrors and can work together using interferometry - making them the most powerful optical telescope in the world.  The Keck 1 and 2 telescopes are absolutely incredible and it was the hope before we set off to Hawaii that conditions would allow us to view the famous pair.  We were so fortunate to have perfect conditions.

We moved into the very cold viewing gallery of Keck 1. This was kept cold so that the air inside the observatory would not be affected by warm air currents that would create wobbling of the atmosphere when the telescopes were in use. The picture above shows the secondary mirror that helps to collect the light reflected from the primary mirror made up of 36 hexagonal segments.  The dome is enormous!  What an impressive piece of engineering.

Remembering Challenger

Liz and myself were at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Oahu on our trip to Hawaii this month.  An incredible setting in the Punchbowl Crater of an inactive volcano.  

As well as honouring the fallen in the Pacific battle arenas, we paid our respects to Ellison S Onizuka, Hawaii's first astronaut.  He was one of the seven astronauts killed on that dreadful day in January 1986 when the Challenger Space Shuttle disintegrated just after take off.  Also buried at the Punchbowl is the NASA astronaut Charles L Veach.

Close shave with an asteroid tonight

Try to get out and see an asteroid tonight.  You will need to use binoculars or a telescope as the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye at magnitude 7.  You should see the asteroid moving against the background stars because it is so close to us - closest approach is just 27,700km away at 19.26.  Use the Plough as your guide. Look at the stars in the Plough to judge the position of the asteroid at any given time from 21.00 onwards.  

Meteorite injures 500 in Russia today

A fireball was seen by thousands zooming across the morning sky in Russia. The meteorite hit a zinc factory and 500 people were injured by the explosion and flying glass from buildings in the town of Chelyabinsk.  Drivers caught views of the fireball on their car video cameras.  Spectacular! 

The smoke trail was then followed by the impact on the zinc factory in Chelyabinsk.

Have a look at some video clips of the meteorite on its way to impact Earth:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcqZmaves5c

See the news cast from Russia Today:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36MEsWC1Pzc

A sparkling meteor

Take a look at this superb image of a meteor captured as star trails were being photographed.  This is a beginner's photo!

           Picture Credit : David Leece

I have just been sent this terrific picture showing a meteor in the night sky of early November.  David is new to astrophotography!  I've adjusted the brightness as 30 second exposures were made to show the star trails over one hour and the lights from the town made the image appear as if it was in daylight.  You can see the dots in the star trails showing each separate exposure.  Not only that, you can pick out the colours of the stars too - some blue stars can be seen quite easily.  During one of the 30 second exposures, a meteor shot across the sky and has been captured heading on its way down towards the horizon.  This is one of David's early astrophotos.  I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Hubble Extreme Deep Field

Hubble has done it again!  Two million seconds exposure picked out 5,500 galaxies in an area near the constellation of Cetus - the Sea Monster, found in the southern skies.  The area is similar in size to the Sea of Crises on the Moon.  All sorts of colours, shapes and sizes.   

Picture credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team

To view where in the night sky the image was taken, just copy the URL below and open:-

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/xdf.html