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May 2009 Extra: A big week in space

May 2009 Extra

It has been a busy week in space: Monday 11th May saw the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis with the final servicing mission for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope; Wednesday 13th May was the start of scientific operations on NASA's Kepler spacecraft; and on Thursday 14th May ESA's Planck and Herschel spacecraft launched successfully. All that and we still managed to put a Jodcast episode together.

JENAM - part 2

We started the show with four more interviews recorded at the Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting that was held in April.

Interview with Professor Ian Robson (UK ATC)

Jen talked to Professor Ian Robson, director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre about the International Year of Astronomy. Ian talked about how the events have gone so far, Sun Worshippers at Glastonbury, the Autum Moonwatch and how you can get involved. There are still many events happening all around the world. In the UK these can be found on the UK IYA website including a list of places where From Earth to the Universe will visit. For other countries, check out your own country's IYA website.

Interview with Prof Tim de Zeeuw (ESO)

European Southern Observatory Director General Tim de Zeeuw talked to Neil about ESO's current and future telescopes. We hear about the VLT, ALMA and the future Extremely Large Telescope.

Interview with Dr Peter Curran (MSSL)

Peter Curran is part of the Swift-UVOT team researching Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). He tells Neil about his studies of GRB afterglows using gamma-ray, Xray and optical light. By studying the light over time and across the spectrum it is possible to study the blast wave, the density of matter around a star and the amount of energy released.

Interview with Prof Sir Arnold Wolfendale (University of Durham)

Prof Sir Arnold Wolfendale tells us about his career studying cosmic rays. Cosmic rays mainly comprise of protons accelerated by magnetic fields in things such as supernovae and other systems although electrons and heavier nuclei. For the past two years he has been investigating the possibility that cosmic rays could affect global warming. After two years of study he tells us that there is no connection between cosmic rays and the climate although there is a small, finite effect of the Sun. The conversation also covers neutrinos, Patrick Blackett, AGN, pulsars, and atomic clocks.

Planck and Herschel

At 14:12 BST on Thursday 14th May, two European Space Agency spacecraft were launched onboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. As scientists at Jodrell Bank has been involved in the construction and testing of instruments on board Planck there was a launch party at the Physics Department at the University of Manchester to celebrate. Jen and Neil caught up with Richard Davis, Ciska Kemper and Tess Jaffe to find out about Planck, Herschel and the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Planck is a third-generation space telescope which will map the cosmic microwave background over 9 frequency channels. It is cryogenically cooled and is much more sensitive than its predecessors COBE and WMAP.

Herschel is the largest infrared telescope that has been launched into space. It is studying wavelengths between 50 and 800 microns (1 micron = 1/1000 of a mm) and will be able to study thermal emission from cold dust.

Ask an Astronomer

Mark puts listener questions to Tim O'Brien.

Odds and Ends

In other news, a basketball visited the Hubble Space Telescope, listener ChrisB is asking for ideas for a school presentation and Rob Bowman has recorded an episode for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast.

Show Credits

Interview:Prof Ian Robson and Jen Gupta
Interview:Prof Tim de Zeeuw and Neil Young
Interview:Dr Peter Curran and Neil Young
Interview:Prof Sir Arthur Wolfendale, Neil Young and Jen Gupta
Interview:Dr Richard Davis, Jen Gupta and Neil Young
Interview:Dr Tess Jaffe, Neil Young and Jen Gupta
Interview:Dr Ciska Kemper, Neil Young and Jen Gupta
Ask An Astronomer:Dr Tim O'Brien and Mark Purver
Presenters:Jen Gupta and Stuart Lowe
Editors:Stuart Lowe, Neil Young, Jen Gupta, Mark Purver and Tim O'Brien
Segment voice:Danny Wong-McSweeney
Website:Stuart Lowe
Cover art:Simulation of ESA's Planck spacecraft separating from the launcher Credit: ESA (image by AOES Medialab)

Comments

  • Comment by Stuart Lowe on May 17 2009:

    This is the place for all comments related to the May 2009 Extra show.

    It appears that once again we missed out the question on Facebook by John van Houten. Sorry John. Hopefully we'll remember next time.

  • Comment by Jen Gupta on May 18 2009:

    Come on guys, no comments?

  • Comment by Nick Johnson on May 18 2009:

    Good show , so much so that listened to it twice ! Thought the NAM interviews were again very good , for me Dr Curran and especially Prof Wolfendale .

    It would be interesting to hear how the commissioning work is going as Planck travels out to its final destination .

    Jen now you and the new guys have passed your probabtionary period (! ) perhaps you can nag Stuart to up the episodes !

    Nick

  • Comment by Stuart Lowe on May 18 2009:

    It takes a surprisingly long time to put together an episode. Given that the current rate of Jodcasts is just about killing me, I'll politely say no to upping the number of episodes. It is also going to be particularly difficult during the summer as I've got lots of Planck work to do and everyone else will be off at conferences/observing trips too.

  • Comment by EarthUnit on May 18 2009:

    Yep, I agree with Nick, who must be able to listen faster then me, need to hear it a minimum of twice, I think the Dr Curran interview just pips the Prof wolfendale, but only just, my brain may have just run out puff (to many facts per minute LOL), some vary good questions Neil, well done.

    And nice interviews Jen, with the Planck,/Herschel part, good questions and thanks for explaining the physics speak!

    Again I agree with Nick, it would be nice to hear what's going on with Planck on its way to L2, even if it is only once or twice a month, (which is understandable Stuart).

    One last thing, Jen, at the end of the podcast, I got the feeling that you was not giving a vulcan salute ('live long and prosper') when you said JOD ON, I hope this will be corrected in the future :-))

    Thanks all for a great show.
    JOD ON (that was difficult, typing & saluting at the same time)

  • Comment by Jen Gupta on May 18 2009:

    Cheers for the feedback guys. I think interviewing Prof Wolfendale was one of my highlights of JENAM - I just wish we'd had longer to talk to him (he had to leave us to go receive an award from the Royal Astronomical Society!) I was a bit star struck which is one of the reasons why Neil asks most of the questions in that one! Hopefully if we get this STFC funding I'll be able to persuade Stuart to let us go to Durham to do another interview because he obviously has so many stories to tell.

    And I'm sorry but there's no way I'm going to try to talk Stuart into more episodes! Maybe one time I'll try and do a video diary leading up to the episode and you all can see how stressed out Stuart gets ;-D I think part of the problem at the moment is that all of us juniors are still learning the ropes so maybe in a few months it'll get easier but for now definitely no more episodes a month...

  • Comment by Starbug on May 18 2009:

    Really enjoyable show - well done everyone. Enjoyed Prof Wolfendale and the gamma ray burst interview too (sorry, can't remember the name - only listened once).
    And well done Stuart - you really must not have any kind of life beyond all this stuff - don't know how you fit it all in! I'm sure I can speak for everyone when I say we all appreciate what you do. You deserve a medal (maybe in the shape of a Star Trek communicator pin...).

  • Comment by EarthUnit on May 18 2009:

    I second that starbug,
    I really was expecting one episode a month by now,
    Thanks for all your time & effort Stuart, I think we would all understand if it does go down to one a month for the foreseeable future, or till everyone gets up to speed

  • Comment by Nick Johnson on May 19 2009:

    Stuart , I think you should regard our requests for "more" on the sort of timeline that an average space project seems to take from conception to lauch ! I think that current high quality twice a month is great and for me better that then trying to fill weekly epsiodes with fluff . But on the other hand if we don't ask in 5/10/15 years time you won't be able to say "weekly podcasts were first suggested as early as 2009 " !! I think we are all fascinated to hear what is happening on Planck first hand . I appreciate that it takes a lot of time to put a hour or so of riveting podcast together hopefully you'll appreciate from the feedback here and elsewhere that you and the others have created something that for many has become a required two weekly fix !
    Nick

  • Comment by RapidEye on May 20 2009:

    You forgot to add other Jodcast forum members doing 365 Days of Astronomy Podcasts - ehem!!!
    I've done three so far, got another one on the schedule for Nov, and will do a backup show for Nancy in case some one backs out/forgets/quits on her and leaves her hanging.

    http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/05/13/may-13th-messiers-first-unique-find-globular-cluster-m3/

    http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/02/24/february-24th-wolf-rayet-stars/

    http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/01/17/january-17-januarys-garnet-star/

  • Comment by Jodatheoak on May 22 2009:

    Another wicked Jodcast.
    But do you have an abbreviation list I could refer to some time
    e.g.
    CMB - Cosmic Microwave Background
    GRB - Gamma Ray Burst
    ESO - European Southern Observatory
    MSSL - ?

    I can't remember any more at the moment maybe its a project for my self I could pass to you when I've done?

  • Comment by Megan Argo on May 22 2009:

    Not a bad idea yodatheoak.

    MSSL = Mullard Space Science Laboratory (at UCL)

  • Comment by EarthUnit on May 23 2009:

    Excellent idea Joda oops, Jodatheoak ;-)
    Why didn't some one think of this earlier, perhaps its worth opening a new discussion (thread) so we can ask & add as they come to mind.

    After spending about an hour after the May jod, finding out what a H1 galaxy is (one Neil's interviews I think), it would save a lot of time.
    Now was it ionised or non ionised hydrogen, would also help people with bad memories too''.

  • Comment by Jodatheoak on May 26 2009:

    LOL....Just noticed my name is that your doing Stuart?
    I'll start the discussion and you can jump in if you like...I'll have a look back at the earlyer show notes and try to cross referance and link.
    Mark B-)

  • Comment by Stuart Lowe on May 26 2009:

    @yodatheoak, I've not done anything. What's happened?

  • Comment by Jodatheoak on May 26 2009:

    I was checking the forum and my name came up as jodatheoak....I think I need more sleep
    Doh - I just found how to change my name

  • Comment by suitti on May 30 2009:

    Corrections correction.
    "Ariane 5 ECA rocket", was probably supposed to be "Ariane 5 ESA rocket". ECA would be the Entertainment Consumers Association, which is not launching any rockets any time soon, except virtually, on computer or console screens.

    My group has just shot our first video. Two of us were on camera. I've not gotten a chance to see the edited copy, but i'm sure i made worse mistakes. We kept going off script, and deep into unresearched territory.

  • Comment by suitti on May 30 2009:

    Random HST servicing mission space fact.

    When the HST is captured and placed in the Shuttle bay, it is mounted so that it can rotate and tip over. That is, it's a Dob. Probably the most expensive Dob ever deployed.

  • Comment by suitti on May 30 2009:

    Mars oppositions are closest when the occur in August or September.

    I've not gotten my Mars Attacks email yet this year. Last year i had to have someone forward it to me.

  • Comment by Stuart Lowe on May 30 2009:

    Actually, it was supposed to be the Ariane 5 ECA. See: http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Launchers_Access_to_Space/SEM0LR2PGQD_0.html

  • Comment by Jen Gupta on Aug 09 2009:

    I ended up in the pub last night with Peter Curran (GRBs) in my home town. It's a small world!

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