Starry Starry Night

Astronomy, inarguably the oldest science known to us, is ever fascinating and ever mysterious! From the realms of our planet to the outer worlds, from the ocean of stars to the clouds where the stars themselves are born, astronomy is wide in its platform, having something for all. For me, it simply means the love for stars. Where these tiny twinkling points mean happiness and hope, a reason and beyond reasons. Most important, I feel, its extent and scope cannot be limited by human imagination or scientific definitions! Infinite, unlimited, unknown. Yes, it is indeed for those who don't work within boundaries!

Astronomers Without Borders is a global astronomy community where astronomy lovers and educators interact and participate in observing, outreach and arts in astronomy. One People, One Sky is what they believe in. 

http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/

The ongoing Global Astronomy Month is its annual celebration and their Global Star Party the ultimate observing event! April 5th was the set date for the event. It means that on this day people all over the world come out under the stars and skywatch! A wonderful concept of connecting and true to 'Astronomers Without Borders' theme that boundaries vanish when we look skyward. As a part of this Global celebrations and monthly scheduled public skywatching event, India's oldest amateur astronomy association and Pune's one of the most active- Jyotirvidya Parisanstha (JVP) organised a star party. 

http://www.jvp.org.in/

The event saw a great response with curious Punekars participating in it. It was held at Karandi village, near Nasrapur. JVP, equipped with it telescopes and a team of enthusiastic volunteers did an excellent show. Sky show, constellation identification, star lores, comet presentation, astro antakshari and of course telescopic viewing of Moon, Mars (with polar caps visible), Saturn (rings a stunner as usual), Jupiter (and its 4 huge moons) and the Orion Nebula, until the clouds played a spoil sport! It doesn't dampen the spirit, in fact it gives a reason to go the next time too! Its exciting as much as informative to attend the public star parties, with fun, friends and stars!

Go out, look up, appreciate the beauty!

You are bound to connect. 

Clear skies :)
On a lighter note, 

Black and White

Some thing here and there,
some thing black and white!

Poetry & Painting

The genius couldn't have said it better! 

For all the poetry and painting lovers <3

Straying away from Science

Move a bit away from the Science that fills your day! Let creativity take over and see what happens :) 

Planetary Exploration...........Rewind 2013

Humans by nature are a curious lot. Always exploring, always setting a limit, crossing it and further setting a new limit. Space is a canvas for humans to sketch their ideas, play with technologies, overcome challenges and create wonderful mean machines capable of venturing astronomical distances where no human has ever gone! It comes with a lot of allied applications in defence, aeronautics, navigation, material sciences and even medical, apart from the enormous science! 

Planetary exploration began in 1960s with Venera, Mariner, and Apollo missions (to Venus, Mars and Moon) which distinguished the exploration fraternity as those who are not satisfied being limited by the spatial extent of the Earth. Everyday newer discoveries are made and old bench marks are being shifted. Better resolution (spectrally and spatially) data are available. There is a need for better understanding the other known yet mysterious lands, distant and near and at the same time comprehending the analogous processes on the Earth. With so little been done and so much to do, these are exciting times!

Japan's AKASTUKI a.k.a Venus Climate Orbiter is bravely travelling as a recovery effort to study the harsh and hellish Venus (Venus arrival 2015). The curious CURIOSITY celebrated its first birthday of landing on Mars in August 2013. It investigates the geology finding larger answers of past Martian environment. It zaps the rocks through its laser eyes. It is well equipped with gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer, laser spectrometer (suite called Sample Analysis at Mars), X-ray diffraction and fluorescence (CheMin), Mars Hand Lens Imager, Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Mast Camera, ChemCam to vaporize fine thin layers from Martian surface and identify the excited atoms using spectrometer and not to forget the Radiation Assessment Detector. Curiosity is a true geologist. Apart from this, MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) launched in November, aims to investigate what went wrong with Mars-its lost atmosphere and water. It is devoted to study the upper atmosphere and the loss of atmospheric gases.  

DAWN scanning one of the most interesting asteroid Vesta (a close-up like never before, its extreme terrain images released in an Atlas in 2013) and now on the way to the largest one Ceres. Studying these protoplanets DAWN would take us back in time, as it would throw some light on early solar system (the dawn of solar system), its evolution and processes. JUNO en route to unlock the Giant Jupiter's secrets (Jupiter arrival July 2016). It had a gravity assist Earth flyby in October 2013. JUNO aims to study in depth the atmosphere, its composition, clouds, and magnetosphere, magnetic field and auroras. 

On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, CASSINI went into Saturn's shadow and imaged the planet, its seven moons, inner rings and our home Earth, in the background. The image released was a mosaic of 1600 images and a stunner. Hope you did wave at Saturn that time! Cassini continues to provide intriguing information about the Saturn system since 2004. As we entered a new year 2014 on our Earth, Cassini had a Titan flyby at 1400 kilometres altitude on the 1st. The New Horizons spacecraft already crossed Uranus orbit and awaits to unravel long standing mysteries of the newer horizons of Pluto (Pluto arrival July 2015). 

Coming closer to home, the nearest neighbour Moon too has visitors- NASA's LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) entered the Moon orbit around its equator on November 20th 2013, has begun to study the extremely thin atmospheric structure and composition along with the dust, through three main instruments- the Ultraviolet & Visible Light Spectrometer, Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Lunar Dust Experiment. 

The Chinese CHANG'E 3 landed on the desolate magnificent Moon on December 14th and a little rover YUTU was deployed. YUTU carries a ground penetrating radar that aims to provide the structure below. The LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) already orbiting the Moon sent back a picture of the lander and rover on Christmas, to us Earthlings. 

The icing on the cake not to be forgotten, is with India entering the elite club of a handful nations attempting inter planetary mission on 5th November. The PSLV shot like firework from Sriharikota shooting hopes sky high of all Indians. The Mars Orbiter Mission is eight months and 600 million kilometres away from the Red Planet. Other than the technological demonstration it aims for scientific objectives of exploration of Martian surface, morphology, mineralogy and methane gas. 

With years to come, the challenges are plenty. To achieve what has never been attempted before, planet to planet! 

Image Credit:Olaf Frohn, 2012

Must see: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/jpl/cassini20131112.html#.UsWcmfQW1bY

*P.S: Past and present NASA planetary data archived and distributed via http://pds.nasa.gov/

Memory Lane....Revisited

"Memory....is the diary that we all carry about with us"

-Oscar Wilde

Some roads, however difficult to travel

may have to be treaded not once, not twice but often.

As you travel along these paths,

you gather experiences,

lessons are learnt,

strangers are met,

mistakes are commited,

moments are cherished!

And soon you realize,

that the road once a strange land

is now full of memories!

And sooner enough, you tend to go back there more than 'often' can be!

-for the pleasant moments there bring back a smile,

and the harsh lessons make you braver!

And soon enough,

its a Memory Lane...Revisted!

HIATUS

"We are likely to be disconcerted....by hiatuses of thought"

-Edmund Wilson

Hiatus-a break, a gap, an interruption, Pause or the unrepresented time. Geologically speaking, hiatus indicates a break or gap in the geologic record, a period of erosion or non deposition. When such hiatus is evident in stratigraphic sections, geologists call it an unconformity. The Earth's crust is changing continuously with upliftment, subsidence and erosional activities. The data preserved in the rocks or as rocks is not complete and continuous. It is much like a book, layer by layer represented by pages. However some pages are torn or missing! These are unconformities. No, they aren't insignificant. They provide you with enough details you need to unravel. They mark the junction where different rocks, formed at different geologic times, by varied forces exist and sometimes they are separated by millions (even billion) of years. We realize that human life span is not even a moment compared to the geologic time!

Here, Precambrian schists which have been tried and tested by heat, pressure over time, folded and faulted may be overlain by smooth and calm horizontal beds of Cambrian (Nonconformities separate igneous/metamorphics from overlying sedimentary strata). Here, the inclined beds may be overlain by horizontal beds (angular unconformity). Some times, both the sedimentary deposits may be horizontal and separated by an erosional surface (disconformity). 

Types of Unconformities: http://earthsci.org/education/teacher/basicgeol/geotim/geotim.html

James Hutton, often called as 'Father of Modern Geology' (a Scottish farmer and naturalist) and a revolutionary observer of geological sections, made an important observation at the Siccar Point, Scotland in 1788. The juxtaposition of almost vertical layers of gray shale and overlying horizontal layers of red sandstone is seen here. Hutton put forth that the gray shale were deposited, uplifted, tilted, eroded and subsequently covered by ocean, when again the red sandstone was deposited. The boundary between the two rock types at Siccar Point is now called the Hutton's Unconformity, a geological landmark. 

Geological Society of America, http://www.gsahist.org/v35n03/11-poster.gif

(Animations for unconformity formations 

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/geo/egeo2/content/animations/10_4.htm)

Moving away from the geology, we do need to take a break and slow down some times. Essentially, to channelise the thoughts, to erode away the negativities and let new opportunities deposit! A newer self! So, taking a hiatus, doesn't mean calling it a day! :) It means hitting back with a zeal! Happy Hiatus.