Last Transit of Venus Century

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Last Transit of Venus Century Last Story Transit of Venus Cover in the 21st Century K. SMILES MASCARENHAS Planet Venus is fast approaching the Sun for a rendezvous on the 6th of June 2012. If you miss it, you will have to wait till the year 2117! “We are now on the eve of the second HESE prophetic words were written by When two heavenly bodies apparently transit of a pair, after which there will be William Harkness, an astronomer who cross each other’s path as seen from the no other till the twenty-first century of our Tled the American efforts for the 1882 Earth, we have the following three era has dawned upon the Earth, and the transit of Venus, and the one who almost possibilities: June flowers are blooming in 2004. When single-handedly achieved the final 1. Eclipse: When two heavenly objects the last transit season occurred the American result. It is remarkable that having apparently the same size (that is, intellectual world was awakening from Harkness was trained in medicine, and they appear to be roughly the same size the slumber of ages, and that wondrous served as a surgeon in the Union Armies as observed from the Earth) cross each scientific activity which has led to our during part of the American civil wars, other’s path, we say an eclipse takes present advanced knowledge was just before he became a full-fledged place. For example, during the eclipse of beginning. What will be the state of astronomer! the Sun, even though the Moon is much science when the next transit season Yet another Venus transit is fast smaller, it appears to be of the same size arrives God only knows. Not even our approaching – on 6 June 2012 to be as the Sun, because it is nearer to us. children’s children will live to take part in precise. If you miss this event, you may Therefore, it can completely hide the Sun the astronomy of that day. As for perhaps not be alive to witness it when it behind it. th ourselves, we have to do with the occurs next on the 11 of December 2117. 2. Occultation: When an apparently larger present . .” But before we proceed further, let us try to heavenly object covers an apparently get an idea about what a transit actually smaller one, we say an occultation occurs. is. For example, when the Moon blocks the SCIENCE REPORTER, MAY 2012 8 Cover Story Black drop effect Penumbra Umbra Moon Earth SUN Anatomy of transits of Venus occur in pairs separated Transits of Venus occur in pairs an eclipse by eight years. But these pairs are very because the length of eight Earth years is rare! They occur once every 113.5 years almost the same as 13 years on Venus, so or 129.5 years (on the average roughly every eight years the planets are in roughly every 121.5 years). It is remarkable that the same relative positions. This the pairs occur alternately in the month approximate conjunction usually results in light coming from a star, we say that the of June and December! a pair of transits, but it is not precise Moon has occulted the star. We are now on the eve of the second enough to produce a triplet, since Venus 3. Transit: When an apparently smaller transit of the pair in the twenty first century. arrives 22 hours earlier each time. The last object traverses in front of an apparently The last transit of Venus occurred on 8th of transit not to be part of a pair was in 1396 larger one, we say a transit occurs. For June 2004 and the next is predicted to A.D., the next will be in 3089. example, it is known that the inferior planets happen on the 6th of June 2012. Transits of Venus had great importance Mercury and Venus (inferior, because their If the orbit of Venus were not inclined during the early history of modern orbits lie within the orbit of the Earth; all the to ours, a transit would occur every time astronomy. In fact, it was the only time when other planets are called superior planets Venus moves in between the Sun and the astronomers had a chance to determine because the radii of their orbits are greater Earth, that is, at inferior conjunction. The the value of the Astronomical Unit (or AU than that of the Earth) can occasionally orbit of Venus, however, is inclined at an as it is called, the average distance cross the Sun’s disc when viewed from the angle of 3.4 degrees to the ecliptic (the between the Sun and the Earth). During Earth. plane of Earth’s orbit), which causes Venus modern times, the AU can be estimated There can be many transits of Mercury to usually pass above or below the Sun at to a greater accuracy using space probes during the century. But the transits of Venus inferior conjunction as seen from the Earth. and radar techniques. So the transit of across the disc of the Sun are among the Only when both Venus and Earth are Venus arouses interest not because of its rarest of planetary alignments. Indeed, approximately at the line of the nodes, importance to astronomy, but because it only six such events have occurred since along which the orbital planes of Venus is so rare! the invention of the telescope (1631, and the Earth cross, there is a possibility for The next Venus transit pair after the 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874 and 1882). The a transit to take place. 2012 event will occur on 11th of December 9 SCIENCE REPORTER, MAY 2012 Cover Story 2117 and on 8th of December 2125 (before for Mars or Saturn; but otherwise very calendar were to be followed, the date 1526 A.D, Venus transits occurred on May accurate. Like another astronomer, Omar would be 4th of December 1639). and before 1396 A.D, they occurred in Khayyam, Horrocks was also a poet, and As it always happens, it turned out to November; till the 44th century, transits of he wrote his poetic verses in praise of his be a cloudy day. Although he was Venus will occur only in June or telescopes and the heavenly objects! uncertain of the exact time, Horrocks December!). In 1627, Johann Kepler (1571-1630), calculated that the transit was to begin at The time of occurrence of the 21st using his laws of planetary motion approximately 3:00 pm. Horrocks focused century Venus transits shows that the 2004 prepared the Rudolphine tables, consisting the image of the Sun through a simple transit was placed comfortably for viewing of a star catalogue and a table of telescope onto a piece of card, where from India, from the start to the finish. Many planetary positions. Based on it, he the image could be safely observed. After amateur astronomers in India observed it predicted the December 1631 transit of observing for most of the day, he was lucky by simply projecting the Sun’s image on Venus, but wrongly predicted that in 1639 to see the transit as clouds obscuring the the walls of their room. Only the closing Venus would narrowly miss transiting the Sun. Sun cleared at about 3:15 pm, just half an stages of the 2012 transit will be visible from Kepler never lived to see his 1631 hour before sunset. India. Still, there will be live coverage of prediction come true, having missed it by Horrocks is remembered on a plaque this rare event by many TV channels. just one year! in Westminster Abbey and the lunar crater Horrocks corrected Kepler’s Horrocks is named after him. In 1859 a History of Observations calculation for the orbit of Venus and marble tablet and stained glass window The transit of Venus was claimed to have realized that a transit would indeed been observed by medieval Islamic occur in 1639, and concluded that William Crabtree watching the transit of Venus in AD 1639 astronomers. The Persian astronomer transits of Venus would occur in pairs Avicenna claimed to have observed the eight years apart. Horrocks made 24 May 1032 Venus transit of the Sun. Soon his observations from his house in after, he wrote the Compendium of the England on the 24th of November Almagest, a commentary on Ptolemy’s 1639. (Did I not say that transits of Almagest, in which he concluded that Venus took place only on Venus is closer to the Earth than the Sun. December after the year 1396 A.D? Jeremiah Horrocks (1619-1641), a The confusion arises because British amateur astronomer, could be one before 1752, Britain followed the of the two persons to observe the first old Julian system of calendar! If the recorded transit of Venus in 1639. He was present Gregorian system of one of the first Englishmen to appreciate the astronomical revolution going on in Europe following the works of Tycho, In 1627, Galileo and Kepler. It was Horrocks who Johannes first proved that the orbit of the moon is an Kepler ellipse. Horrocks died at the young age of (1571-1630), 22 and it is anybody’s guess how much using his more he could have discovered had he lived longer. Yet, he is considered to be laws of the father of British astrophysics for the planetary remarkable depth of his motion accomplishments. prepared the Johannes Kepler According to Horrocks’s Law, all the Rudolphine then-known planets would appear the same size if viewed from the Sun. Not true tables SCIENCE REPORTER, MAY 2012 10 Cover Story Jeremiah Horrocks with his telescope Plaques commemorating Horrock’s achievements commemorating him were installed in The Perhaps the transit of Venus during atmosphere, and indeed it was held to be Parish Church of St Michael, Much Hoole.
Recommended publications
  • Prehistory of Transit Searches Danielle BRIOT1 & Jean
    Prehistory of Transit Searches Danielle BRIOT1 & Jean SCHNEIDER2 1) GEPI, UMR 8111, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, F- 75014, Paris, France [email protected] 2) LUTh, UMR 8102, Observatoire de Paris, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France [email protected] Abstract Nowadays the more powerful method to detect extrasolar planets is the transit method, that is to say observations of the stellar luminosity regularly decreasing when the planet is transiting the star. We review the planet transits which were anticipated, searched, and the first ones which were observed all through history. Indeed transits of planets in front of their star were first investigated and studied in the solar system, concerning the star Sun. The first observations of sunspots were sometimes mistaken for transits of unknown planets. The first scientific observation and study of a transit in the solar system was the observation of Mercury transit by Pierre Gassendi in 1631. Because observations of Venus transits could give a way to determine the distance Sun-Earth, transits of Venus were overwhelmingly observed. Some objects which actually do not exist were searched by their hypothetical transits on the Sun, as some examples a Venus satellite and an infra-mercurial planet. We evoke the possibly first use of the hypothesis of an exoplanet transit to explain some periodic variations of the luminosity of a star, namely the star Algol, during the eighteen century. Then we review the predictions of detection of exoplanets by their transits, those predictions being sometimes ancient, and made by astronomers as well as popular science writers.
    [Show full text]
  • Transit of Venus Presentation
    http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/webcast.php Venus visible Venus with the unaided eye: "morning star" or the Earth "evening star. • Similar to Earth: – diameter: 12,103 km – 0.95 Earth’s – mass 0.89 of Earth's – few craters -- young surface – densities, chemical compositions are similar • rotation unusually slow (Venus day = 243 Earth days -- longer than Venus' year) • rotation retrograde • periods of Venus' rotation and of its orbit are synchronized -- always same face toward Earth when the two planets are at their closest approach • greenhouse effect -- surface temperature hot enough to melt lead M ikhail Lomonosov, june 5, 1761 discovered, during a transit, that V enus has an atmosphere The atmosphere is is composed mostly of carbon dioxide. There are several layers of clouds, many kilometers thick, composed of sulfuric acid. Mariner 10 Image of Venus V enera 13 Venus’ orbit is inclined (by 3.39 degrees) relative to the ecliptic If in the same plane we would have 5 transits in 8 years Venus: 13 years , Earth: 8 years Each time Earth completes 1.6 orbits, Venus catches up to it after 2.6 of its orbits Progress of the 2004 Transit of Venus pictured from NASA's Soho solar observatory. Credit: NASA Ascending (A) or Duration since last transit Date of transit Descending (D) node (years and months) 6 December 1631 A 4 December 1639 A 8 yrs 6 June 1761 D 121 yrs 6 months 3 June 1769 D 8 yrs 9 December 1874 A 105 yrs 6 months 6 December 1882 A 8 yrs 8 June 2004 D 121 yrs 6 months 5 June 2012 D 8 yrs 11 December 2117 A 105 yrs 6 months 8 December 2125 A 8 yrs In 6000 years 81 transits only Venus’ Role in History Copernican System vs Ptolemaic System http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/renaissance/venusphases.html Venus’ Role in History Size of the Solar System - Revealed! • Kepler predicted the transit of December 1631 (though not observed!) and 120 year cycle.
    [Show full text]
  • Exception, Objectivism and the Comics of Steve Ditko
    Law Text Culture Volume 16 Justice Framed: Law in Comics and Graphic Novels Article 10 2012 Spider-Man, the question and the meta-zone: exception, objectivism and the comics of Steve Ditko Jason Bainbridge Swinburne University of Technology Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc Recommended Citation Bainbridge, Jason, Spider-Man, the question and the meta-zone: exception, objectivism and the comics of Steve Ditko, Law Text Culture, 16, 2012, 217-242. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol16/iss1/10 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Spider-Man, the question and the meta-zone: exception, objectivism and the comics of Steve Ditko Abstract The idea of the superhero as justice figure has been well rehearsed in the literature around the intersections between superheroes and the law. This relationship has also informed superhero comics themselves – going all the way back to Superman’s debut in Action Comics 1 (June 1938). As DC President Paul Levitz says of the development of the superhero: ‘There was an enormous desire to see social justice, a rectifying of corruption. Superman was a fulfillment of a pent-up passion for the heroic solution’ (quoted in Poniewozik 2002: 57). This journal article is available in Law Text Culture: https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol16/iss1/10 Spider-Man, The Question and the Meta-Zone: Exception, Objectivism and the Comics of Steve Ditko Jason Bainbridge Bainbridge Introduction1 The idea of the superhero as justice figure has been well rehearsed in the literature around the intersections between superheroes and the law.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeremy Shakerley (1626-1655?) Astronomy, Astrology and Patronage in Civil War Lancashire
    JEREMY SHAKERLEY (1626-1655?) ASTRONOMY, ASTROLOGY AND PATRONAGE IN CIVIL WAR LANCASHIRE A. Chapman, M.A., D. Phil., F.R.A.S. The civil war period witnessed a remarkable activity in the pursuit of astronomy and allied subjects in the northern counties of England, and well over half a dozen mathematical practitioners were active between 1635 and 1650. Perhaps the best known of these men was Jeremiah Horrocks and his circle, including William Gascoigne and William Crabtree who were active around 1640, and made contributions of international importance in celestial mechanics and instrument design. 1 Though working some years later, Jeremy Shakerley was deeply influence by the work of Horrocks, and in many ways, saw himself as continuing in the same tradition. While Shakerley worked in greater isolation in many respects, he did maintain an active London correspondence, and often made reference to fellow astronomers in the Pendle district, where he originally resided. Shakerely's historical importance lies in the nine substantial letters which he exchanged with the London astrologer, William Lilly between 1648 and 1650, along with others to Henry Osborne and John Matteson. Most of these letters, now preserved in the Ashmole manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, are rich in information about the aspirations and problems of a provincial mathematical practitioner. He was an admirer of the theories of Copernicus and Kepler and argued for strictly natural causes in celestial phenomena. Yet he also perceived a hierarchy of correspondences and astrological demonstrations behind the physical laws, whereby man could interpret God's design, as a guide to conduct.
    [Show full text]
  • Classical Mechanics - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Page 1 of 13
    Classical mechanics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 13 Classical mechanics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Newtonian mechanics) In physics, classical mechanics is one of the two major Classical mechanics sub-fields of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the Newton's Second Law action of a system of forces. The study of the motion of bodies is an ancient one, making classical mechanics one of History of classical mechanics · the oldest and largest subjects in science, engineering and Timeline of classical mechanics technology. Branches Classical mechanics describes the motion of macroscopic Statics · Dynamics / Kinetics · Kinematics · objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, as well as Applied mechanics · Celestial mechanics · astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and Continuum mechanics · galaxies. Besides this, many specializations within the Statistical mechanics subject deal with gases, liquids, solids, and other specific sub-topics. Classical mechanics provides extremely Formulations accurate results as long as the domain of study is restricted Newtonian mechanics (Vectorial to large objects and the speeds involved do not approach mechanics) the speed of light. When the objects being dealt with become sufficiently small, it becomes necessary to Analytical mechanics: introduce the other major sub-field of mechanics, quantum Lagrangian mechanics mechanics, which reconciles the macroscopic laws of Hamiltonian mechanics physics with the atomic nature of matter and handles the Fundamental concepts wave-particle duality of atoms and molecules. In the case of high velocity objects approaching the speed of light, Space · Time · Velocity · Speed · Mass · classical mechanics is enhanced by special relativity.
    [Show full text]
  • New Reports1
    2004: the year of the transit by Valerie & Andrew White The highlight of 2004 was the transit of far from Much Hoole, as we Venus in June. To prepare ourselves for knew it has a painting of the event, in April we visited Much Horrocks observing the Hoole in Lancashire, to see the church transit, but it was closed where Jeremiah Horrocks was clerk, and that day, so we just took a nearby Carr House where it is assumed photo of their adverts for he was a tutor to the children of the observing the transit on June house, and from where he was the first 8 and their play ‘Much to view a transit of Venus in 1639. The Hoole about Nothing’. east window of the church has a stained Unfortunately the play was glass depiction of Horrocks viewing the already fully booked, so we Roundels in Much Hoole Church to commemorate the Venus transit and also, in another window in were unable to see it. transits. Left, erected in 1874; right, added in 2004. For the transit itself we flew to Egypt (Sinai) with Explorers some interesting photos of the present Tours and had a perfectly clear sky to interior and garden of the cottage. An view the event, although it was very hot. additional point of interest was that the We took a Meade ETX90 and a Coronado nearby road was called Priory Grove but Maxscope 40 H-alpha telescope with us. its road sign said ‘Priory Grove − late Val viewed through the ETX with a solar Crabtree Croft’.
    [Show full text]
  • Transit of Venus M
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Transit of Venus June 5/6, 2012 HD209458b (HST) The Transit of Venus June 5/6, 2012 Transit of Venus Mathof Venus Transit Top Row – Left image - Photo taken at the US Naval Math Puzzler 3 - The duration of the transit depends Observatory of the 1882 transit of Venus. Middle on the relative speeds between the fast-moving image - The cover of Harpers Weekly for 1882 Venus in its orbit and the slower-moving Earth in its showing children watching the transit of Venus. orbit. This speed difference is known to be 5.24 km/sec. If the June 5, 2012, transit lasts 24,000 Right image – Image from NASA's TRACE satellite seconds, during which time the planet moves an of the transit of Venus, June 8, 2004. angular distance of 0.17 degrees across the sun as Middle - Geometric sketches of the transit of Venus viewed from Earth, what distance between Earth and by James Ferguson on June 6, 1761 showing the Venus allows the distance traveled by Venus along its shift in the transit chords depending on the orbit to subtend the observed angle? observer's location on Earth. The parallax angle is related to the distance between Earth and Venus. Determining the Astronomical Unit Bottom – Left image - NOAA GOES-12 satellite x-ray image showing the Transit of Venus 2004. Middle Based on the calculations of Nicolas Copernicus and image – An observer of the 2004 transit of Venus Johannes Kepler, the distances of the known planets wearing NASA’s Sun-Earth Day solar glasses for from the sun could be given rather precisely in terms safe viewing.
    [Show full text]
  • Big Data and Big Questions
    Big meta Q:Visualization-based discoveries ?? • When have graphics led to discoveries that might not have been achieved otherwise? . Snow (1854): cholera as a water-borne disease Big Data and Big Questions: . Galton (1883): anti-cyclonic weather patterns Vignettes and lessons from the history of data . E.W. Maunder (1904): 11-year sunspot cycle visualization . Hertzsprung/Russell (1911): spectral classes of stars Galton (1863) Snow (1854) Maunder (1904) H/R (1911) Michael Friendly York University Workshop on Visualization for Big Data Fields Institute, Feb. 2015 2 Big meta Q:Visualization-based discoveries ?? Context: Milestones Project • In the history of graphs, what features and data led to such discoveries? . What visual ideas/representations were available? . What was needed to see/understand something new? • As we go forward, are there any lessons? . What are the Big Questions for today? . How can data visualization help? 3 Web site: http://datavis.ca/milestones 4 Vignettes: 4 heros in the history of data visualization Underlying themes • The 1st statistical graph: M.F. van Langren and the Escaping flatland: 1D → 2D → nD “secret” of longitude • • “Moral statistics”: A.M. Guerry and the rise of modern • The rise of visual thinking and explanation social science • Mapping the invisible • Visual tools for state planning: C.J. Minard and the • Data → Theory → Practice Albums de Statistique Graphique in the “Golden Age” Graphical excellence • Mapping data: Galton’s discoveries & visual insight • • Appreciating the rich history of DataVis in what we do today 5 6 1. Big questions of the 17th century Big data of the 17th century • Geophysical measurement: distance, time and • Astronomical and geodetic tables space .
    [Show full text]
  • Leonhard Euler - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Page 1 of 14
    Leonhard Euler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 14 Leonhard Euler From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Leonhard Euler ( German pronunciation: [l]; English Leonhard Euler approximation, "Oiler" [1] 15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function.[2] He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, and astronomy. Euler spent most of his adult life in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in Berlin, Prussia. He is considered to be the preeminent mathematician of the 18th century, and one of the greatest of all time. He is also one of the most prolific mathematicians ever; his collected works fill 60–80 quarto volumes. [3] A statement attributed to Pierre-Simon Laplace expresses Euler's influence on mathematics: "Read Euler, read Euler, he is our teacher in all things," which has also been translated as "Read Portrait by Emanuel Handmann 1756(?) Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all." [4] Born 15 April 1707 Euler was featured on the sixth series of the Swiss 10- Basel, Switzerland franc banknote and on numerous Swiss, German, and Died Russian postage stamps. The asteroid 2002 Euler was 18 September 1783 (aged 76) named in his honor. He is also commemorated by the [OS: 7 September 1783] Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on 24 St. Petersburg, Russia May – he was a devout Christian (and believer in Residence Prussia, Russia biblical inerrancy) who wrote apologetics and argued Switzerland [5] forcefully against the prominent atheists of his time.
    [Show full text]
  • This Is an Electronic Reprint of the Original Article. This Reprint May Differ from the Original in Pagination and Typographic Detail
    This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail. Author(s): Sterken, Christiaan; Aspaas, Per Pippin; Dunér, David; Kontler, László; Neul, Reinhard; Pekonen, Osmo; Posch, Thomas Title: A voyage to Vardø - A scientific account of an unscientific expedition Year: 2013 Version: Please cite the original version: Sterken, C., Aspaas, P. P., Dunér, D., Kontler, L., Neul, R., Pekonen, O., & Posch, T. (2013). A voyage to Vardø - A scientific account of an unscientific expedition. The Journal of Astronomical Data, 19(1), 203-232. http://www.vub.ac.be/STER/JAD/JAD19/jad19.htm All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. MEETING VENUS C. Sterken, P. P. Aspaas (Eds.) The Journal of Astronomical Data 19, 1, 2013 A Voyage to Vardø. A Scientific Account of an Unscientific Expedition Christiaan Sterken1, Per Pippin Aspaas,2 David Dun´er,3,4 L´aszl´oKontler,5 Reinhard Neul,6 Osmo Pekonen,7 and Thomas Posch8 1Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium 2University of Tromsø, Norway 3History of Science and Ideas, Lund University, Sweden 4Centre for Cognitive Semiotics, Lund University, Sweden 5Central European University, Budapest, Hungary 6Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany 7University of Jyv¨askyl¨a, Finland 8Institut f¨ur Astronomie, University of Vienna, Austria Abstract.
    [Show full text]
  • Deep Space Chronicle Deep Space Chronicle: a Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes, 1958–2000 | Asifa
    dsc_cover (Converted)-1 8/6/02 10:33 AM Page 1 Deep Space Chronicle Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology ofDeep Space and Planetary Probes, 1958–2000 |Asif A.Siddiqi National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA SP-2002-4524 A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958–2000 Asif A. Siddiqi NASA SP-2002-4524 Monographs in Aerospace History Number 24 dsc_cover (Converted)-1 8/6/02 10:33 AM Page 2 Cover photo: A montage of planetary images taken by Mariner 10, the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2, all managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Included (from top to bottom) are images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars) and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other. NASA SP-2002-4524 Deep Space Chronicle A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958–2000 ASIF A. SIDDIQI Monographs in Aerospace History Number 24 June 2002 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of External Relations NASA History Office Washington, DC 20546-0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Siddiqi, Asif A., 1966­ Deep space chronicle: a chronology of deep space and planetary probes, 1958-2000 / by Asif A. Siddiqi. p.cm. – (Monographs in aerospace history; no. 24) (NASA SP; 2002-4524) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Space flight—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series. III. NASA SP; 4524 TL 790.S53 2002 629.4’1’0904—dc21 2001044012 Table of Contents Foreword by Roger D.
    [Show full text]
  • Morphology and Dynamics of the Venus Atmosphere at the Cloud Top Level As Observed by the Venus Monitoring Camera
    Morphology and dynamics of the Venus atmosphere at the cloud top level as observed by the Venus Monitoring Camera Von der Fakultät für Elektrotechnik, Informationstechnik, Physik der Technischen Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr.rer.nat.) genehmigte Dissertation von Richard Moissl aus Grünstadt Bibliografische Information Der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. 1. Referentin oder Referent: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Blum 2. Referentin oder Referent: Dr. Horst-Uwe Keller eingereicht am: 24. April 2008 mündliche Prüfung (Disputation) am: 9. Juli 2008 ISBN 978-3-936586-86-2 Copernicus Publications, Katlenburg-Lindau Druck: Schaltungsdienst Lange, Berlin Printed in Germany Contents Summary 7 1 Introduction 9 1.1 Historical observations of Venus . .9 1.2 The atmosphere and climate of Venus . .9 1.2.1 Basic composition and structure of the Venus atmosphere . .9 1.2.2 The clouds of Venus . 11 1.2.3 Atmospheric dynamics at the cloud level . 12 1.3 Venus Express . 16 1.4 Goals and structure of the thesis . 19 2 The Venus Monitoring Camera experiment 21 2.1 Scientific objectives of the VMC in the context of this thesis . 21 2.1.1 UV Channel . 21 2.1.1.1 Morphology of the unknown UV absorber . 21 2.1.1.2 Atmospheric dynamics of the cloud tops . 21 2.1.2 The two IR channels . 22 2.1.2.1 Water vapor abundance and cloud opacity . 22 2.1.2.2 Surface and lower atmosphere .
    [Show full text]