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Alastair has
an impressive
observatory and
various telescopes,
including the
largest one on the
Coromandel, for
those who want to
learn more about
the heavens.
On September 30 the Rosetta probe made a controlled crash
landing on the 4km long Comet 67P that it has been orbiting for
almost 2 years, as they looped around the sun together.
This end to a successful and daring mission was dictated by the
reduction in power from the spacecraft’s solar panels as it follows
the comet moving further from the Sun in its 6 year orbit. Without
power to keep the probes electronics warm it would eventually
freeze and die.
Although the spacecraft was never designed to land and had
no landing gear, it was still able to perform a slow motion crash
landing. Seven of Rosetta’s instruments kept gathering data until
the end, transmitting a wealth of information about the comet’s
dusty atmosphere as well as useful data about the interaction
between a small spacecraft and the gravitational field of a slowly
rotating 4x2 km body. The very last blurry photo from only 20m
above the surface shows a lumpy terrain with humps only a few cm
across and intriguing linear features.
Another closure came on 5 September, with the photographic
evidence of the location of the actual landing probe Philae, wedged
hidden along a dark ridge. Even crashed, she was able to transmit
some data when her solar panels briefly caught some energy from
the sunlight.
Rosetta has proven to be an unprecedented scientific goldmine,
demonstrating that comets consist of complex organic molecules
that include the building blocks of life as well as abundant water.
To see video of the mission control room during Rosetta’s final
landing see
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PLANETARY NOTES
Venus, Saturn and Mars are now cearly visible
in the early evening sky when looking towards the
west. The most obvious is brilliant Venus, totally
covered in clouds laden with sulphuric acid and so reveals little
of its surface even in the largest telescope. Commonly known as
the ‘evening star’ this planet will still be well worth watching even
with powerful binoculars. It is rapidly approaching us and will get
significantly bigger and brighter from month to month.
Even more noticeable and somewhat startling will be its changing
shape… after beginning as an almost round disc in October it
gradually transforms into a half disc or ‘first quarter Venus’ by
the end of the year – becoming an ever thinning crescent late
January. In October it will be very low in the evening sky with
Saturn above and Mars even higher. However, by December it will
have become much closer to Mars and just to the left of the thin
crescent Moon on December 3rd & 4th.
Distinctly reddish, but fainter than Venus, Mars becomes fainter
through January as we move away. It will be easy to spot to the left
of the crescent Moon on November 6th & 7th or December 5th.
Slightly yellowish Saturn will only be visible low in the west after
twilight until early November when it disappears into the glow of
the setting Sun. Even a small telescope or powerful binoculars will
provide a glimpse of its rings – in a large telescope, a few of its 65
moons can also be seen.
COMET 67P: THE ROSETTA MISSION GLIDES
TO A SCHEDULED END