The Chandra X-Ray Telescope

As part of a presentation on "Astronomy in the News", I collated some information on The Chandra X-Ray Telescope, from various sources, which I am also posting here for the benefit of my readers.

The Chandra X-Ray Telescope

In 1976 the Chandra X-ray Observatory (called AXAF at the time) was proposed to NASA by Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum.

Since cosmic X-ray radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, space-based telescopes are needed for X-ray astronomy. Applying himself to this problem, Giacconi worked on the instrumentation for X-ray astronomy; from rocket-borne detectors in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to Uhuru, the first orbiting X-ray astronomy satellite, in the 1970s – pictured here.

Giacconi's pioneering research continued in 1978 with the Einstein Observatory, the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space, and later with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched in 1999 and is still in operation. 

X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy which deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects.

X-rays are a form of light, but much more energetic than the light detected by our eyes. The energy of an X-ray photon (light particle) is ~1000 times that of a photon of visible light. They are part of the electromagnetic spectrum which includes visible light, radio waves, microwaves and infra red radiation.

What the picture shows is that X-rays are emitted from things that are really hot - millions of degrees. K stands for Kelvin - a temperature scale which has the same units as Celsius, but starts at absolute zero (-273o C). The shorter the wavelength (higher frequency) the higher the energy of the light.

X-ray missions produce a wide range data in many forms. The main three are discussed here; they all result from the type of detector used in X-ray telescopes and also from the fact that X-rays are very high energy. This means that they act as particles rather than waves and so it is easy to measure the energy of each individual photon. They can also record the time a photon hit the detector and also where it came from, to a very high accuracy in the case of CHANDRA.

Above we see Ttree different clusters as imaged by the CHANDRA satellite.

Images are the most easily accessible result from X-ray missions. The raw output of an X-ray detector is the "events" file - which shows how many photons hit each pixel of the detector. However the extra information, for example the energies of the photons, give a greater insight into what is going on in the object under study.

The CHANDRA X-ray Observatory was launched on the 23rd July 1999 by the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was designed to provide high resolution imaging of X-ray sources; as opposed to XMM-NEWTON which has better spectral resolution but worse imaging capabilities. It was the follow up to the EINSTEIN observatory which flew from November 1978 to April 1981and was far superior in all ways. CHANDRA was placed into an elliptical orbit so that it spent little time in the Earths radiation belts, and so allows up to 48hrs (172.8 ksec) of uninterrupted observing time.

In January 2017, the Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed the as yet deepest X-ray image of the outer space which could contain more than a couple of thousands of black holes.

Most of the supermassive black holes revealed by Chandra are believed to be billions of years old. More exactly, they could be as old as the Big Bang. Their formation period was traced back as far as this cosmic event.

Astronomers from the University of Durham’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy have confirmed the discovery of two supermassive black holes located close to the Milky Way. Working in conjunction with the Chandra observatory, the scientists were delighted to reveal the discovery to the scientific world.

They couldn’t directly observe the black holes as they are shielded by huge clouds of dust and gas, but deep X-ray imaging has allowed the scientists to confirm the discovery.

A quiet beauty

"A solar eclipse is spectacular, but a lunar eclipse has a quiet beauty all of its own" Sir Patrick Moore.

I had my trusty Pentax Option P80, very basic camera, on night setting, timer delay and tripod to capture the lunar eclipse.

Notes on the unfolding event.

Just woken up: Clear skies, moon very high, and half eaten away.

Moon the shape of one of those candied orange and lemon sweets you can buy at Christmas.

You couldn't wish for better. Moon so high it is visible virtually anywhere looking up, and no clouds whatsoever.

The outline of the earth's shadow against the moon is very clear. You can see the moon is being obscured by our shadow.

The Inca thought a jaguar was attacking the moon, and beat their dogs! Nasty. But if you have dogs, are they reacting? Please don't beat them!

Getting down to a tiny sliver of light..

Camera on tripod getting nice shots

Almost entered totality

This was definitely worth setting alarm to see

As the light of the moon fades more stars can be seen around that area of the sky

Looking to the south east, Orion s Belt and Rigel very clear

Capella almost vertically above looking east

Moon now like a lump of coal, glowing in the sky

Well some of us have to go to work, so I'll leave the moon to return to its resplendent white fullsomeness all by itself. If you are a night owl, have fun watching. Just to tell you: far east and low, Venus has just risen. Look for the very very bright star.

Tweets on the event...
Astronomy Magazine ‏@AstronomyMag 1h1 hour ago
September 27/28 sky event: Full Moon occurs at 2:50h UT (10:50 p.m. EDT) in a total lunar eclipse, which begins in just over an hour

Sky & Telescope ‏@SkyandTelescope 1h1 hour ago
So much red.

Malcolm Ferey ‏@MalcolmFerey 52m52 minutes ago
He who is illuminated with the brightest light, shall cast the darkness shadow #BloodMoon

Binky Bowles-Balls ‏@TheOnlyGuru 39m39 minutes ago
This #SuperBloodMoon has to be one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen.

It's creepy and so dark out here.#jerseyci

Will Rodgers ‏@WilliamRodgers 50m50 minutes ago
SuperMoon will never be as cool as BatMoon...

Gyles Brandreth ‏@GylesB1 27m27 minutes ago
And is it my imagination or do the stars seems brighter? (The cocoa certainly seems darker.)

Gyles Brandreth ‏@GylesB1 25m25 minutes ago
"@swansonian: I really enjoyed that but baby's nightlight moon would have been a more accurate name.". Nicely put.
More photos on
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153574359535600&l=da40f5d53f

Portent of Doom?

Lunar eclipses are caused when the Earth crosses between the sun and the moon, which passes into our planet’s shadow. The one tomorrow happens starting at 1.11 am, with a partial eclipse by 2.07 am and a full eclipse by 3.11 am.

However, it doesn’t go completely dark or disappear from view completely, but instead turns red.

This is because of light bending in the Earth’s atmosphere and is the reason why lunar eclipses are sometimes known as ‘blood moons’.

European Astronomy was pretty accurate in charting the sky, and Christopher Columbus had an almanac which showed a lunar eclipse in February 1504. He could not get the natives of Jamaica to give him food and shelter, try as he might. So he used this knowledge as a way to scare them into submission, telling their chieftain that God was angry that the natives wouldn’t help him. He said that God would turn the moon blood red, and then make it go away completely, as a way of expressing his displeasure.

Sure enough, the moon disappeared, and there was a great deal of terror among the locals. As the eclipse was about to end, Columbus said that God was going to forgive the natives as long as they kept the sailors fed. The moon reappeared, and Columbus and his men ate well until the next Spanish ship arrived.

It is a good example of how a people ignorant of science can be cowed by religion, and I rather think Columbus did not do Christianity any favours by abusing science in that way. On the other hand, I’m not hungry, negotiating for food for myself and my men, and facing starvation. It was, I think, better than going in and taking the food at gunpoint, but only marginally so.

The Inca feared that a lunar eclipse was caused by a jaguar attacking the moon. They would try to drive it away by making noise, including beating their dogs to make them howl and bark. Nowadays, Animal welfare groups would be on their case, but the Inca didn’t sacrifice the dogs, only people...The Inca no longer exist. The Spanish conquistadors saw to that in a rather brutal and nasty way, while at the same time imposing their brand of Christianity on the native population, but probably didn’t enlighten them about lunar eclipses.

The ancient Mesopotamians also saw lunar eclipses as an assault on the moon, says E. C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. This was an attack by seven demons.

We know from written records that Mesopotamians had a reasonable ability to predict lunar eclipses," says Krupp. So in anticipation of an eclipse, they would install a surrogate king intended to bear the brunt of any attack.

"Typically, the person declared to be king would be someone expendable," Krupp says. Though the substitute wasn't really in charge, he would be treated well during the eclipse period, while the actual king masqueraded as an ordinary citizen. Once the eclipse passed, "as you might expect, the substitute kings typically disappeared," Krupp says, and may have been dispatched by poisoning.

Maybe the installation of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader at this time has something to do with this myth!

Not all cultures view an eclipse as a bad thing, says Jarita Holbrook, a cultural astronomer at the University of the Western Cape in Bellville, South Africa, in an interview last year.

"My favourite myth is from the Batammaliba people in Togo and Benin" in Africa, she says. In this myth, the sun and the moon are fighting during an eclipse, and the people encourage them to stop. "They see it as a time of coming together and resolving old feuds and anger," Holbrook says. "It's a myth that has held to this day."

This was something that came up today when I was reviewing the papers on BBC Radio Jersey. I mentioned it to Christian May, who was talking about the recent news that Gay marriage has been approved in Jersey, and the law will be forthcoming. 

It was, I said, a time when the consensus in the States was to see this as a time of peace and reconciliation between opposing views, and that the advent of Gay marriage does make for a more accepting society. So perhaps the lunar eclipse at that time is propitious!

Christina Ghidoni asked me about the prophecies of doom. Among the more alarming Biblical verses referring to the moon can be found in Joel 2:30: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
 Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness. And the moon into blood,
 before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (KJV).

But lunar eclipses have happened before, and the world has not ended.

I suspect the same will happen this time, and it will be like the Beyond the Fringe sketch:. The doomsayers will say: “Not quite the conflagration we had anticipated,” followed by “Oh well, better luck next time, chaps!”

Space: A Presentation by Dr Robin Catchpole

Sue Daly - May 18th - Talk and Film Show

A life of space

A life of space

Venue: Patrick Moore Astronomy Club House, La Moye, St Brelade - for detailed directions and map, click on 
http://jerseyastronomyclub.weebly.com/

April 13 - David Le Conte will be coming over to Jersey to speak about his career in the USA, working on a NASA-funded space-tracking project for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory during the 1960s Apollo programme, and his later work at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.  In an illustrated talk he will describe the photographic records made of the Apollo spacecraft and what it was like to watch the moon landings.

This event is free to members but open to the general public at £5 entrance fee and the venue is the Jersey Astronomy Club. See Home page for directions.

David’s Background 

In the mid 1960s this "little lad from Guernsey" found himself at the heart of the space race to the moon.

Amongst the many thousands of people working behind the scenes to make this moment possible was David Le Conte. Now known to most islanders thanks to his work with La Société Guernesiaise, of which he is a Past President, and as a Jurat of the Royal Court, David's previous career took him all over the world and all thanks to his love of astronomy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, was responsible for the creation of Guernsey’s Astronomical Observatory, and astronomical adviser for the Guernsey Liberation Monument.

In 1968 David worked in Hawaii where he photographed the Apollo 8 mission at the moment its Saturn V rocket took the first men to escape Earth orbit and eventually to the moon.

After this his job moved to Arizona where he was based in 1969 at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing. He described his role there as "photographing the spacecraft as far out as we could and also photographing 'space dumps' in order to determine something of the character of space".

As Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of 'The Eagle' lunar module David said he and his friends, colleagues and family "not only breathed a sigh of relief but we cheered".

Local Astronomy News

I'm giving a talk on meteorites, with a powerpoint presentation on Monday at 8 pm at Les Creux at the Jersey Astronomy Club. There will be sample meteorites on display to view, and tektites to hold. If you don't know what a tektite is, come along!

A map giving the location is on our website at:
http://jerseyastronomyclub.weebly.com/


The clubhouse is next to the dome.

Guernsey Astronomer Jean Dean has started a new Facebook group for the Channel Islands on Astrophotography.

Channel Islands Astrophotography Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/channelislandsastrphotography

An informal group for Channel Islanders to show their astrophotography images and share their skills with members. Everyone is welcome to join from beginners to advanced, DSLR or CCD. Also a place to advertise your astronomy equipment as you upgrade, so hopefully it will be a good place for beginners to pick up good quality second hand equipment. 

Other Channel Island Facebook Groups

SAstroS (Sark Astronomy Society)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SarkAstronomySociety

The Astronomical Society of the Channel Island of Guernsey

https://www.facebook.com/AstronomyGuernsey

And of course our very own

Jersey Astronomy Club

https://www.facebook.com/JerseyAstronomyClub

Remember that our own website here also has a gallery, and welcomes any views of the night sky from the Channel Islands.

Futures Past

Looking at the future is always interesting, because it is invariable wrong, and the mistakes can tell us a lot about the kind of society and culture that gave rise to them, and how markedly it differs from our own. In 1976, Patrick Moore wrote "The Next Fifty Years in Space." This was over 10 years after the first manned flights into space, and almost seven years after 1969 and the moon landing. By that time, there were already at least a thousand man-made satellites orbiting the earth; orbiters had been sent to Mars, and probes to Venus.

It was a time of great optimism. Harold Wilson notoriously spoke of the "white heat of the technological revolution", and the 1970s were the decade in which the popularity of science reached its apogee. On television, "Moonbase Three" was a drama set on the moon, full of hard science, and with James Burke acting as scientific advisor to the production team.

Patrick Moore's speculations look at the Space Shuttle which was just being developed in 1976. He thought it could be used to assemble a space station by 1982. The unnamed exploration of the solar system would continue, and not only would a probe land on Mars, there would also be a return of samples from the red planet in 1982.

Of course, in 1976, the Cold War was still very much a live issue, with the threat of a nuclear Armageddon as the West and East fought an atomic war. Patrick Moore does not forget the Soviets, who, "unlike NASA, do not have to answer to the general public for every financial out lay" would set up a network of automatic stations in the moon by 1985. He suggests that the United States will wait until it has better nuclear rockets, and will not establish a lunar base until 1992; it will follow this by a Martian base in 2020.

Well, 2020 is now seven years away, and a Martian base does not seem at all likely to take place. It is surprising, given the ending of the Apollo landings in 1972, that Patrick Moore never considered that signified the end of manned exploration to the moon. Perhaps he believed that shuttle technology would replace booster rockets, and enable almost a ferry service to the moon; that, after all, is the scenario of the TV series "Star Cops" which is set largely in a colony on the moon.

And the Soviet Union has also collapsed and gone, another fact which was unforeseen in 1976; when the end came, it came with remarkable speed, like dominoes topping behind the Iron Curtain, the communist regimes tumbled and fell. That is significant, because in looking at the purely technological advances of the 1970s, we should also remember that the "space race" was fuelled by the antagonism between East and West.

The fear in the West was that space would yield the opportunity to rain down missiles upon the earth. Only an optimist could have seen the establishment of an International Space Station, where Americans, Russians and other nations would all come together to conduct joint  experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology etc.  Gene Rodenberry, it should be noted, was such an optimist; he placed a Russian Chekhov on board the USS Enterprise. But the realist view would have been a continuation of the Cold War.

We are still sending scientific devices to the planets, and of course Mars has recently been in the news after the safe arrival of Curiosity on Mars. While human beings can behave more flexibly, the vast increase in technology since 1976 means that remote vehicles can provide a much more flexible exploration than would have been the case. The shift towards technological remote access exploration was something unforeseen by Patrick Moore, and it can provide data relatively cheaply compared to sending a human being, and with considerably smaller risk. There is less ego in space exploration that was the case in the world of  the past, when six flags were planted on the moon. No one had any thought of Curiosity planting a flag on Mars.

The world of 1976 had not yet seen the explosion of the microchip into changing the technological landscape of our world. Computers were large machines, the smallest the size of large filing cabinets, and with a very limited processing power. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Patrick Moore was so mistaken. When we peer into our scientific crystal ball, we often see the reflections of our present.

Astronomy - An Ever Changing Science

I remember a friend of mine, Ken Webb, never really understood the nature of scientific theories. For him, science was about facts, and those were permanent. True, new facts could be discovered, but the existing facts remained solidly present.

As a result, he never liked Patrick Moore. "He's always changing what he is saying", he would complain to me, as if Patrick Moore was somehow guilty of purveying false information to people deliberately. But of course astronomy, especially during that time, was full of false information. Mercury did not rotate, but we now know that it does. Venus was probably a humid watery planet, but we now know it as a super heated hell hole of a planet, a runaway greenhouse world without water.

At one point, astronomers calculated the small perturbations in Mercury's orbit suggested another planet, as yet unseen, between Mercury and the sun, which was given the name Vulcan (this was way before Mr Spock!). After all unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis Bouvard to deduce that its orbit was subject to gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet, and hence the discovery of Neptune. But in fact, it was the strength of the suns gravitational field alone which was causing such anomalies, and Einstein's General Theory of Relativity explained the orbit without recourse to that planet. In fact, the magnitude of the differences of General Relativity from Newtonian theory diminishes rapidly as one gets farther from the Sun, and is largely negligible for other planets.

New means of measuring, and better measurements, mean that astronomical knowledge changes, and sometimes that means that established facts are overturned. That's the nature of science, and it is not just in astronomy. The very idea that the earth had tectonic plates, and continents drifted over time was once mocked; now it is simply part of our mental makeup, so much as known that we forget how strange the idea must have been when it was first mooted. And that has also led astronomers to reassess other planets, to see if they have tectonic plates, and the theory has been developed further as a result. At first, it was believed that Venus had a lack of plate tectonics, because the oceanic hallmarks of continental plates - spreading ridges, subduction zones and transform faults - were not found on Venus, but these are oceanic hallmarks, not found on land masses, and the surface of Venus does not represent oceans but continental land masses, where we find rift zones, mountain belts, and strike-slip systems.

Astronomy is an every changing science, and Patrick Moore kept up to date. As new discoveries came along, he shared them in "The Sky at Night". And it throws up surprises all the time; what seemed to be the solid facts of the 1950s have often remained in place, but sometimes they also changed as new and improved theories change the way we understand the universe.