Some time ago, I gave a talk on the changing face of publishing and writing for editors at EAC in Toronto.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Hubble Captures Jupiter’s Great Entourage of Moons
Jupiter and its Entourage of Moons |
Jupiter is approaching opposition (when it’s opposite in the
sky from the Sun), which means it’s as close to Earth as it gets for the year,
Plait tells us. So, now is the time to observe it! Of course; I get two
Jupiters in one month! In his article Plait gives good instructions on how to
find and watch Jupiter (the planet, that is) if you have a telescope or even
binoculars.
On January 24, 2015, says Plait, three of Jupiter’s largest
moons crossed directly in front of Jupiter’s face at the same time. “This is
called a triple transit, and it’s a relatively rare event,” writes Plait. Of
course, the Hubble Space Telescope was there to take the most awesome shots of
this phenomenon.
The image depicted here clearly shows the yellowish volcanic
Io in the upper right. Europa is on the
Jupiter Ascending motion picture |
Plait explains how studying the positions of the shadows
shows the relative orbital distances of the moons around Jupiter. Europa with
its ice-covered liquid ocean, for instance has a much closer orbit to Jupiter
than Callisto.
Jupiter's turbulent storms seen from Voyager 1 |
The dark belts and light streaks of Jupiter are a spinning
highway of turbulent atmospheric gases circling the planet in opposite directions.
You can see the turbulent swirling vortices at their boundaries, where the to
and fro meet.
Plait shows a spectacular video of the triple transit over Jupiter’s
spinning face. Jupiter’s rotation is the fastest of all the Solar System’s
planets, taking less than 10 hours for this gas giant to spin once. Plait noted
the different orbiting speeds of Europa’s rapid and Callisto’s more languid
orbits.
Jupiter has dozens of moons; thirty seven discovered so far.
Astronomers have classified them into two major groups: the regular moons with
nearly circular orbits near the plane of Jupiter (believed to have formed with
Jupiter); and irregular moons with elliptical and inclined orbits (believed to
be captured asteroids or their fragments). Hubble’s video captured two of these
lumpy rocks. One, called Amalthea, is about 250 km along its long axis. Thebe
is about 100 km across. Amalthea was the first moon of Jupiter discovered since
Galileo spotted the big four; it was found in 1892. Thebe was discovered when
Voyager 1 flew past it in 1979.
In a few days, after I’ve seen the film, I’ll let you know
which “Jupiter” is more fascinating.
Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.
Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Reader Shares Favourite Passage in Darwin's Paradox
When Monique wrote me to tell me how she had enjoyed my SF thriller Darwin's Paradox, set in post climate-change Ontario Canada, I was delighted. But she did more; she included her favourite passage! Here it is from Page 68:
As the laminar flow spilled into riotous tendrils only to find a uniform pattern of turbulence, she was once again reminded of her father and chaos theory. Stable chaos, he insisted, permeated everything and everyone. Like fractals of a larger interconnected universe, each person had his or her own cycle of creative destruction to experience before merging into a greater community of consciousness. Where was she in that cycle? Would she be as serene when it was her time like her father was the day the Pols took him?
"For me," said Monique, "this captures the beauty of the science underlying our humanity .... or our humanity underlying the science."
Thanks so much for sharing this, Monique!
Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.