Solar＆Planetary LtE Now for
CMO/ISMO #34 (CMO #408)
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every email is necessarily cited in the PDF’s CMO LtE
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see the preceding ones, click
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latest is at the top
¤·····Subject:
RE: CMO #407 uploaded
Received;
Thank
you for forwarding this report to me; most fascinating.
Kind Regards,
Alan CLITHEROW (SPA, the
¤·····Subject: your mars essay
Received;
Dear
Masatsugu,
I am glad that my rather hastily prepared and premature essays, “Night Thoughts
on a Classical Mars Observer,” led to such a thoughtful and insightful response
from you. I think your points are well made—and it was a pleasure to see
such a succinct reprise of the history of quantum mechanics. I haven’t
studied the mathematical formalism of it since I was an undergrad in physics
almost four decades ago. (And I note that this year is the centennial
anniversary of the Bohr atom!)
I can only briefly respond your comments, but it seems to me the important
points, which have rarely been considered in this context, include:
1) the fact that we must carefully define
what is meant by a classical Mars observer, that this refers to something more
rigorously defined than just the old visual telescopic methods and the search
for non-existent details;
2)
a planned program of observations, with specific research projects in mind, in
which the Earthbased observations complement those of the spacecraft needs to
be laid out beforehand and carefully brought to fulfillment by trained and
experienced observers.
This
is, I would add, from what has typically been the method of amateur observers
who have often just thrown together lots of disparate and somewhat random
observations by many inexperienced observers.
***I
especially approve of your last paragraph, about the human brain having no
ability to describe anything that is very unfamiliar. The human eye is a
so-so astronomical instrument (detector), and the brain was developed through
natural selection for the specific purpose of achieving tasks needed for
survival, searching for and finding food, mating, fleeing predators. It
was not devised for the purpose of analyzing telescopic images of remote
planets and when applied to such a remote-from-everyday-life purpose, it is
bound to be easily led astray. One sees some of these aspects in which
the eye-brain-hand system, evolved for other purposes, falls into various
default modes in the history of the canals of Mars, as you suggest. So
even in quantum mechanics, for instance, we still end up most of the time
struggling with a description that is “non-classical” and goes against “commonsense.”
Another value of Earthbased observations is related to the sheer volume of
information that we are being asked to process from the spacecraft on Mars (or
those exploring other planets, like Cassini at Saturn). It is impossible
for anyone to keep abreast of all the details, and many specialists are
involved in analyzing such data from the viewpoint of their special
fields. Thus George Rieke,
“The various fields of space science—space physics, space biology,
microgravity, astronomy, planetary studies—touch on nearly the entire range of
science. Successful researchers need a high degree of focus and
specialization. Few have any understanding or appreciation of the
activities, aspirations, and potential scientific importance of fields far from
their own. That is, the space ‘community’ is Balkanized into groups
without a common language.”
That this is so there can be no doubt; perhaps the “classical” Mars observer
you describe is indispensable to our capturing the “Big Picture” in an age of
increasing fragmentation (quantization?).
I hope you will continue to instruct us in to how we can formulate a “planned
program of observations in which the Earthbased observations complement those
of the spacecraft,” but your essay is a very important start on refining an
approach to what is really a key problem.
I hope that I may infer from the depth of thinking—and the length of this
essay—that you have had some upsurge from the more incapacitating aspects of
your health problems.
Let us hear from other members of CMO/ISMO their views as to these intriguing
questions.
Best, Bill
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤·····Subject:
The Moon 2013 February 19
Received;
I went a bit mad with imaging the Moon on this night,
doing it with three different cameras and telescopes. So I did my usual whole Moon
with the 80mm refractor, but I also made this redundant by taking a much larger
whole Moon image with the 100mm f9 which is mounted with my C-14, in IR with
DMK41 camera at 15fps. This can be zoomed in to examine parts of it in detail;
it won't fit on a monitor at full size. It has been so successful I will
certainly use this combination again. Finally I imaged Copernicus with C-14,
Flea 3 and 3x Barlow, the same arrangement as I use for Jupiter.
With the very large image scale for Copernicus, one fact,
or maybe opinion, that comes into my mind is that when attempting very high
resolution imaging of lunar features on the terminator, and processing using
stacking software and wavelet sharpening, you very easily hit the diffraction
limit of the telescope, because the contrasts are so great, in a way you don't
when imaging Jupiter or Saturn with the same telescope (but you do when imaging
double stars). You can see this looking at the central
Also posted here.
David ARDITTI (Middlesex, the
http://www.staglaneobservatory.co.uk
HA8 5LW
¤·····Subject:
vzv03210@nifty.com has shared:
Comet
C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) – a possible collision with Mars
Received;
Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) – a
possible collision with Mars
http://spaceobs.org/en/2013/02/25/comet-c2013-a1-siding-spring-a-possible-collision-with-mars/#
L.
Elenin There is a chance that the comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), discovered in
the beginning of 2013, might collide with Mars. At the moment, based on the
observation arc of 74 days, the nominal close approach distance between the red
planet and the comet might be as little as 0.00073 AU, that is approximately
109,200 km! Distance to Mars’ natural satellite Deimos, will be smaller by 6000
km, making it 103,000 km. On
¤·····Subject:
Solar images 18th / 19th-Feb-2013
Received;
Hi
Guys here are few solar images, showing the progress of a
spectacular filament over 5 days, and a couple of active regions . The wide
shot is double stack and the rest single stack 90mm
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
The Moon 2013 January 25
Received; 24 February 2013 at 09:52 JST
Here's
today's Moon portrait. 12.8 days, Schickard and Hevelius near the terminator.
Some higher-res shots coming soon.
Also
posted here.
David ARDITTI (Middlesex, the UK)
http://www.staglaneobservatory.co.uk
HA8 5LW
¤·····Subject:
RE: CMO/ISMO 406/32 uploaded
Received;
23 February 2013 at 15:45 JST
Hello
Masami Murakami:
Thank you for sending me this issue of CMO.
I
am currently working on a paper that describes the North Polar Cap of
Mars.
Your
publication is very useful.
Sincerely,
Richard SCHMUDE, Jr. (GA, the USA)
¤·····Subject:
The Moon 2013 January 22
Received; 23 February 2013 at 07:58 JST
Here's another in my series of whole Moon portraits (or
visible part of the Moon anyway) assembled from SkyNYX webcam images through
80mm f7.5. This is the Moon aged 10.1 days, the phase that gives the
"sword-handle" view (as it was called in Patrick Moore's books) of
the mountains bordering the Sinus Iridium projecting from the terminator.
Also at posted here.
David ARDITTI (Middlesex, the UK)
http://www.staglaneobservatory.co.uk
HA8 5LW
¤·····Subject: Solar images
Received;
22 February 2013 at 02:10 JST
Hi Guys yet another sunny day ! I have 18ths and 19ths to
process yet too! The big filament is still spectacular.
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
Jupiter 2013.02.19
Received;
21 February 2013 at 08:00 JST
Dears,
Under windy and average seeing conditions, but
nonetheless two interesting events to see with on CM WSA and WSZ encounter
(with a bright streak of one of them passing south of the other), and a bright
eruption between NEBs and EZs:
IR gets the most resolved: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219i-20h38.0UT-MDe.jpg
RVB with low details: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219-20h49.2UT-MDe.jpg
CH4: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219c-21h04.9UT-MDe.jpg
R: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219r-20h48.3UT-MDe?jpg
G: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219g-20h49.2UT-MDe.jpg
B: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219b-20h50.1UT-MDe.jpg
L: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130219l-20h51.0UT-MDe.jpg
Sincerely,
Marc DELCROIX (Tournefeuille,
FRANCE)
¤·····Subject:
Jupiter Images
Received;
21 February 2013 at 01:53 JST
Hi Guys here are a few Jupiter images from the 18th
with Io in transit, BA near the meridian and the GRS just coming onto the disc.
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
RE: Re: A bit of help for the #CMO 407
Received;
19 February 2013 at 06:02 JST
Dear Reiichi,
Many thanks for the inputs. I'm
not making a full answer because I am currently completely busy but I'm making a
reference to your opinion in the note (your answer does not currently appear in
LtE, it could be a good idea, Masami please ?).
Masatsugu, the text is complete
and only remain the figures; I must get it all done on 20th feb by the end of
the day, so you would find it in your e-mails on the morning of the 21th !
Best wishes,
Christophe PELLIER (Nantes, FRANCE)
¤·····Subject:
Re: A bit of help for the #CMO 407
Received;
14 February 2013 at 01:38 JST
Dear Christophe,
I am looking forward to reading
(and translating for Japanese readers) your coming note!
For the reason of the absence of the trailing effect over Elysium Mons you have
mentioned, I believe that the “Elysium trailing clouds”are just too small to be
observable from our Earth-based stations.
I have saved all the downloadable images by the Mars-orbiting satellites to
review the Martian volcanoes in every season ( I am an areovolcanoholic, as you
know). And as far as could be checked through the MRO MARCI Weekly Weather
Reports, it seems that every larger volcano on Mars shows orographic trailing
clouds in some seasons. Attached are some MRO MARCI images showing the
possible“trailing effects”over the Elysium volcanoes；
The 2011 ones were about a
month after the seasonal first emergence of the orography over the area, and
the 2012 ones were within a month before the ceasing of the orographic cloud
activity over the Elysium rise―available amount of water vapor during either
period was not so abundant. In the season with enough amount of water vapor, in
the local late afternoon, the cloud over the small Elysium rise (of course
compared to the gigantic Tharsis bulge!) might develop to be dense and
widespread to obscure individual volcanoes' subtler matters.
Finding trailing Elysium clouds in the CMO Mars Gallery may be extremely hard；also attached Don Parker's
superb images on 14 March 2012 seems to show some nice-directioned (SE to NW)
elongation, but quite uncertain (still too early in the local afternoon?).
Best Wishes,
Reiichi KONNAÏ (Fukushima, JAPAN)
¤·····Subject:
Jupiter and Io 2013.02.16
Received;
18 February 2013 at 14:31 JST
Dears,
After 4 months without observing, for various reasons -health, bad weather,
work ... - here is at last some Jupiter images from me, far from opposition. As
usual after a long time without problems, start was a bit difficult (unplugged
cables in my eq. table, out of order battery, ...). I hence imaged late, with
Jupiter only 45° high, but after all I am satisfied with the results for this
new start:
RGB: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216-21h34.5UT-MDe.jpg
Infrared, with Io : http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216i-21h16.0UT-MDe.jpg
Méthane, very noisy and not much detail: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216c-21h48.9UT-MDe.jpg
R: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216r-21h34.9UT-MDe.jpg
V: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216g-21h33.8UT-MDe.jpg
B: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216b-21h34.9UT-MDe.jpg
L: http://astrosurf.com/delcroix/images/planches/j20130216l-21h34.7UT-MDe.jpg
Sincerely,
Marc DELCROIX (Tournefeuille,
FRANCE)
¤·····Subject:
Solar Images 15-Feb-2013
Received;
18 February 2013 at 02:25 JST
Hi Guys here are few of the most outstanding
features on the 15th.
The 11:37 image show progress of the awesome large
filament .
The 11:31 image , I have seen this type of prom before,
they are visually dense and as bright as the surface, enabling the capture
of both on the same settings.
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
Jupiter Images 16 Feb-2013
Received;
17 February 2013 at 19:22 JST
Hi Guys Would you believe it,
solar Imaging and Jupiter imaging on the same day!! AND reasonable seeing !!!!
Here are the Jups
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
Solar Images 14-Feb-2013
Received;
15 February 2013 at 19:56 JST
Hi Guys The sun at last !! I managed to grab a
couple of images before cloud domination. Seeing was quite good for
the 26deg alt.
The twisted loop prom was on
The Limb straddling prom was at the prime focus of my
Coronado DS 90 Scope . Flea 3 CCD mono 1/4inch. Regi
6 MAP
Best wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject:
Re: SAHEKI's observations of Tithonius L
Received;
11 February 2013 at 03:32 JST
Dear Masatsugu,
Interesting about Saheki--I am glad you are writing him up.
I do remember Akinori Nishita very well.
I will see about an essay for CMO#408, but unfortunately, Springer
is bringing the hammer down on me to finish a Galaxies book, and so I have
pledged no distractions till I have it done.
With best wishes, Bill
---------------------------------------
On
Dear Bill,
How are you going well? Thank you again for your second part of
your Night Thoughts.
By the way I just inform you that
the written data of SAHEKI's observations of Tithonius L on 9 December 1951
(JST) proved correct according to the recent result derived by Akinori NISHITA
(whom you met in 2004):
9 December 1951 at 06:00 JST
implies 8 December 1951 21:00 GMT, and NISHITA's results show at 21:00 on 8 Dec
1951 that
Longitude of CM=36.7 degrees W, and
Disk diameter=5.3"
It is apparently possible to catch
Tithonius L on the rhs of the disk when the LCM=36.7 degrees. And so de
VAUCOULEURS was wrong. As to the angular diameter, Reiichi KONNAI is of the
opinion that 5" is enough to check the glint if the seeing is good. Really
in 2012 he finished the season when the angular diameter was just around
5".
I am going to write an opening
essay for CMO #407, by alluding to your night thoughts. However we have no idea
concerning the articles in #408, and so we hope you can afford to write
something willingly for the opening essay of the CMO.
With best wishes,
Masatsugu
---------------------------------------
Bill SHEEHAN (Willmar,
MN)
¤·····Subject: A bit of help for the #CMO 407
Received;
10 February 2013 at 21:51 JST
Dear Masatsugu and Reiichi,
As I told to Masatsugu I'm going to write a short note for the next CMO (and should not for the again next one due to other commitments), and it will be a review of the trend of the Elysium cloud, similar to that of the Tharsis ones.
I'm facing a problem of analysis however : looking closely at images, it is evident that the "trailing effect" so prominent over Tharsis, is completely absent over Elysium, and the cloud looks to stay roundish even at late afternoon hours.
Do you have informations to explain this ?
The Elysium cloud is a bit higher in latitude than Olympus, so maybe the afternoon cell is not active, but the difference in latitude is weak. Maybe some local circulation of winds, but this could be hard to explain...
Best wishes
Christophe PELLIER (Nantes, FRANCE)
¤·····Subject:
Re: A fascinating shot from an angle impossible
Received;
10 February 2013 at 21:43 JST
Thank you Reiichi ! In the MGS studies
(Wang et al.) they say that fall begins in the northern hemisphere by great
spiral storms above the NPR. Although the season is a bit later here, the storm
should still be active. However, the colour aspect of the photo does not help
to discriminate dust and water vapour, as the latter component should already
be important in this season.
The links show very well the development of the NPH...
In a way or another, maybe later or not, perhaps we could write a review of
this for the CMO ?
Best wishes
Christophe PELLIER (Nantes, FRANCE)
¤·····Subject: FW: Some Mars examples
Received;
9 February 2013 at 05:50 JST
Dear fellow Martians,
I have just resumed contact with Leo Aerts, an old friend who is now retired after many years and is devoting himself to astronomy which has always been his passion.
I commend to you his recent
CCD work. Note especially the first one, where on a disk of only
The others show very nice comparisons between images and drawings by Antoniadi and Dollfus.
Best, Bill
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Aerts Leo [mailto:aerts.leo@skynet.be]
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 11:12 AM
To: Sheehan, William P (DHS)
Subject: Some Mars examples
Hello Bill,
Only 3 examples on Mars. As already mentioned in my previous email
I can forward you the most interesting results from the past 3 apparitions if
you are interested.
Mars March 7th 2010. The apparent disc was only 11”5 but showed in
good seeing conditions many “canali”. It was the first time that they
were so prominent to see. I used my
Mars at October 11th
2005. The apparent disc was a “big
Mars at the recent
apparition : February 27th 2012 at 2h59 UT. The apparent disc was
13”8. I used my C14 at good seeing conditions and compared it with a
Dollfus drawing of April 10th 1982.
I Photo shopped my result in such a way that it came out as a black
and white result, resembling a drawing. It seemed to a good idea to
compare it with the Dollfus visual result.
Note : of course it must have
been great and much, much more rewarding to observe those minute Mars details
by eye.
Kind regards.
Leo
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bill SHEEHAN (Willmar,
MN)
¤·····Subject:
A fascinating shot from an angle impossible
Received;
8 February 2013 at 23:17 JST
Dear Dr. Minami, Christophe, all,
Attached here is an image by ESA's MEX VMC
on 30 Sep. 2012 from an angle we can never get from our planet showing great
spiraling dust/cloud streaks over NPR. The most conspicuous arm of the spiral
seems to be originated in Hyperboreus Lacus, entered NPC through Chasma
Boreale, then veered south to across Baltia and north-western Acidalium, all
the way to Nilokeras;the area has often shown distinctive greenish tint in some
seasons.
You can access to many more fantastic recent VMC images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esa_marswebcam/sets/
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/12190600-mars-express-vmc.html
Best Regards,
Reiichi KONNAÏ (Fukushima, JAPAN)
¤·····Subject:
DEATH BY SUICIDE FOR MONSTER SATURN STORM .. FROM CASSINI
Received;
1 February 2013 at 03:24 JST
January 31, 2013
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Remember that monster storm that Cassini sighted in December 2010 erupting
within the northern mid-latitudes of Saturn that, by the end of January 2011,
had entirely wrapped itself around the planet, blown about by the planet's jet
streams?
Well, a new paper published online in the journal Icarus by two teams on
Cassini -- the Imaging Team and the team that studies the radiation produced by
lightning -- reveals new details in the development and death of this colossus.
Go to ・
http://www.ciclops.org/view_media/37174/Chronicling_Saturns_Northern_Storm
... to see the month-by-month development of this colossus, and to ....
http://ciclops.org/view_event/188/
... to see the latest published
results.
Also,
be sure to read the news release, attached below, that went out a moment ago.
The luxury of prolonged observation and study of a phenomenon of this magnitude
is what a mission like Cassini, in orbit around Saturn now for over 8 years,
allows. We live in interesting times.
Enjoy!
Carolyn Porco
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
Director, CICLOPS
http://ciclops.org
http://twitter.com/carolynporco
http://www.facebook.com/carolynporco
PS. To unsubscribe from this list,
go to the right hand column of the CICLOPS home page ( http://ciclops.org ) and find and click the
[Unsubscribe] link
=====================================================================
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
CASSINI IMAGING CENTRAL LABORATORY FOR OPERATIONS (CICLOPS)
SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLORADO
http://ciclops.org
media@ciclops.org
Steve Mullins 720-974-5859
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
media@ciclops.org
Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
jccook@jpl.nasa.gov
IMAGE
ADVISORY:
NASA'S CASSINI WATCHES STORM CHOKE ON ITS OWN TAIL
Call it a Saturnian version of the Ouroboros, the mythical serpent that bites
its own tail. In a new paper that provides the most detail yet on the life and
death of a monstrous thunder-and-lightning storm on Saturn, scientists from
NASA's Cassini mission describe how the storm churned around the planet until
it encountered its own tail and sputtered out. It is the first time scientists
have observed a storm consume itself like this anywhere in the solar system.
"This Saturn storm behaved like a terrestrial hurricane - but with a twist
unique to Saturn," said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member
based at the California Institute of Technology who is a co-author on the new
paper in the journal Icarus. "Even the giant storms at Jupiter don't
consume themselves like this, which goes to show that nature can play many
awe-inspiring variations on a theme and surprise us again and again."
Earth's hurricanes feed off the energy of warm water and leave a coldwater
wake. This storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere also feasted off warm
"air" in the gas giant's atmosphere. The storm, first detected on
Dec. 5, 2010, and tracked by Cassini's radio and plasma wave subsystem and
imaging cameras, erupted around 33 degrees north latitude. Shortly after the
bright, turbulent head of the storm emerged and started moving west, the storm
spawned a clockwise-spinning vortex that drifted much more slowly. Within
months, the storm wrapped around the planet at that latitude, stretching about
Terrestrial storms have never run into their own wakes - they encounter
topographic features like mountains first and expend themselves. But Saturn has
no land to stop its hurricanes. The bright turbulent storm head was able to
chomp all the way around the planet. It was only when the head of the storm ran
into the vortex in June 2011 that the massive, convective storm faded away. Why
the encounter would shut down the storm is still a mystery.
By Aug. 28, after 267 days, the Saturn storm stopped thundering for good. While
some lingering effects in higher layers of Saturn's atmosphere continue to be
tracked by Cassini's infrared detectors, the troposphere -- which is the
weather - producing layer, lower in the atmosphere - has been quiet at that
latitude.
"This thunder-and-lightning storm on Saturn was a beast," said Kunio
Sayanagi, the paper's lead author and a Cassini imaging team associate at
The vortex grew to be as large as the giant storm known as Oval BA on Jupiter.
But Oval BA and Jupiter's more famous storm - the Great Red Spot - are not
thunder-and-lightning storms. Jupiter's storms also have a quiet center, unlike
the violence at the center of Saturn's storms.
"Cassini's stay in the Saturn system has enabled us to marvel at the power
of this storm," said Scott Edgington, Cassini's deputy project scientist
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
This storm was the longest running of the massive storms that appear to break
out in Saturn's northern hemisphere once every Saturn year (30 Earth years).
The longest storm of any size ever detected on Saturn actually unfolded over
334 days in
area than the latest northern storm.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the mission for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two
onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team
consists of scientists from the
For more information, visit: http://ciclops.org,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
-end-
Carolyn PORCO (Boulder, CO)