AIASC Extended for One Week

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Some Image Sets Available

Image sets from June 25 and 28 are available in some (but not all) of the school folders.  As more sets become available they will be put into the school folders.  Just in case, check your folder!!

Extended One Week

The current All-India Asteroid Search Campaign is scheduled to end in two days on June 30.  However, with the problems we have had with the skies at the ARI Observatory, the campaign will be extended by one week until July 7.  This will give your students additional time to make important NEO observations and possible Main Belt asteroid discoveries...hopefully making up for the bad weather.

Happy Hunting!!

updates on AIASC

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Skies continue to be overcast at the ARI Observatory (Westfield, IL).  This is the reason there have been no image sets in the past several days.

However, the Tarleton State University Observatory located in Stephenville, TX has agree to provide survey images along the ecliptic for use in the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign.  The skies are clear in Texas for the moment, and image sets from the 32" RC telescope should be available momentarily.

Your students will need to use a new configuration file, TSU.cfg, which will be provided in each of the school folders when the image sets from Tarleton State become available.

Be patient...there will soon be image sets from Texas.  The skies will clear in Illinois and sets will again be available from the ARI Observatory, as well.

SPACE Celebrates "SUMMER SOLSTICE DAY "

SUMMER SOLSTICE DAY

Tuesday, June 21^st, 2011

Longest day of the year!

June 21st will mark the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and is called the summer solstice. It is the longest day for people living in the northern hemisphere. In 2011, the solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on June 21, at 17:16 UT (22:46 IST).

June 21 is a very important day for our planet in its relationship with the sun. June 21 marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and is called the summer solstice. It simultaneously heralds the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. It is the longest day for people living in the northern hemisphere. In 2011, the solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on June 21, at 17:16 UT (22:46 IST).

The name is derived from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstice, the Sun appears to stands still in its movement during its motion (it appears to travel slowly).

The earth spins around its axis, an imaginary line going right through the planet between the north and south poles. The axis is tilted somewhat off the plane of the earth's revolution around the sun. The tilt of the axis is 23.5 degrees; and thanks to this tilt, we enjoy the four seasons. For several months of the year, one half of the earth receives more direct rays of the sun than the other half. Days are longer in the summer for the northern hemisphere due to the tilt of the Earth's axis allowing for more sunlight to be projected onto the surface.

At the June solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the North Pole is leaning 23-and-a-half degrees toward the sun. As seen from Earth, the sun is directly overhead at noon 23-and-a-half degrees north of the equator, at an imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Cancer. The sun's rays are directly overhead along the Tropic of Cancer (the latitude line at 23.5° north, passing through Mexico, Saharan Africa, and India). This is as far north as the sun ever gets. This results in the longest day of the year. For example in New Delhi, sunrise on summer solstice day in 2011 will be at 5:24 am and sunset will be at 7:22 pm making it a day which is almost 14 hours duration.

When the axis tilts towards the sun, as it does between June and September, it is summer in the northern hemisphere but winter in the southern hemisphere. Alternatively, when the axis points away from the sun from December to March, the southern hemisphere enjoys the direct rays of the sun during their summer months. All locations north of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the June solstice. Meanwhile, all locations south of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours. Around December 21 the solstices are reversed and winter begins in the Northern hemisphere.

Cultures around the world, starting from historical times, mark this special day in celebration of the sun’s powers.

Summer Solstice Event conducted by SPACE Foundation:

To celebrate the summer solstice, SPACE Foundation will perform public outreach at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on Tuesday, 21^st June. SPACE team would also celebrate a Solar Fest where a small skit would be performed. All media and public are invited to attend this event.

Details:

Summer Solstice: June 21, 22:46 IST (17:16 UT)

Event: SPACE will conduct Public Outreach and Solar Fest (solar observations through pin-hole camera and ball projectors)

Location: Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Date and Time: Tuesday, 21^st June, 2011; 11 am to 2 pm

For more information log on to www.space-india.org

Contact Apoorva 09212669953 or Aakanksha 09212669920.

updates for AIASC

Image sets from June 16th are becoming available.  Already some of have been uploaded into the school folders.  Not all schools will have one of these image sets, but will receive new sets in the coming days.

Sets from June 12th are in some of the folders.  These have not all been analyzed.  Just to be sure, check your folder.


Happy Hunting!!

AIASC Phase II - Selected List of Participants

     School                                                                                Participant
1. Genesis Global School, Noida -                              Zeba Shakil, Ishan Anand
2. Navarachana School, Sama -                                  Tejas Gopal krishanan, Vansil Shah
3. Delhi Public School, Greater Noida -                       Jaivrat Saroha, Sucheta Dey
4. Delhi Public School, Rohini -                                  Saksham Jain, Rishabh Aggarwal, Pranay Baldev
5. The Air Force School, Subroto Park, Delhi Cantt.  -    Gurek Singh, Neil Singh
6. Ryan International School, Noida -                         Gobind Deep Singh, Arnav Saini
7. KIIT World School, Pitampura                                Kirti Gupta & Komal                   
8. Navy Children School, New Delhi -                         Anubhav Kashov, Kartik Ranjan
9. Indirapuram Public School, Ghaziabad -                   Akshay Sivadas, Shardul Singh
10. St. Columba's School, Ashoka Road, CP -             Shiv Singhal/Vibhu Narayan
11. Venkateshwar International School, Dwarka -        Ayush Jaiswal/Karandeep Singh Mann
12. Bal Bharti Public School, Rajinder Nagar -             Souhard Saini/Vikramaditya Bansal
13. Bal Bharati Public School, Rohini -                         Ritika Khurana, Aashirya Kaushik
14. Apeejay School, Saket -                                        Akhil Raina, P. Paritosh
15. Ryan International School, Sec. 218, Faridabad -   Amar Chopra, Rahil Kavin Sannoo
16. G.D. Goenka Public School, Rohini -                      Manu Chopra, Shubham Chawla
17. N K Bagrodia Public School,Sec.-9, Rohini -          Raghav Jogodia, Sonpreet Singh
18. Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj                   Mihir Chawla & Chhayank Satija             
19. St. Joseph's Public School, King Koti, Hyderabad - S. Sashin Shreyas, Jeffrey Daniel
20. Convent of Jesus and Mary School -                        Anushka Goel, Sachi Sanghavi
Bangla Sahib Marg, New Delhi
21. Shri Natesan Vidyasala MHSS                                 P.Praveen Prabhu, V. Praveni
22. City Montessori School, Chowk Branch, Lucknow -Ajay Kumar Singh , Agam Agarwal
23. Bluebells School International, Kailash -                   Abhay Sharda, B. Chaitanya Srinivas
24. Amity International School, Sec. 46, Gurgaon -        Suhail Nagpal, Anirudh Bansal
25. Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura -                      Sharanjeet Singh, Vaibhav Sapra
26. Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Ser. Sec. School, Vivek Vihar - Himanshu Kumar, Uma Shanker
27. Indraprastha International, Dwarka                              

INDIVIDUALS/ORGANIZATIONS
28. Trushit Makwana, Naval Koralkar
29. Fergusson College -                                                   Asmita Bhandare, Sherry Chhabra
30. Astronomicans - Team II-                                          Prafull Sharma, Amol Garg
31. Astronomicans - Team III                                           Aman Singh, Yukti,Suvriti
32. SPACE  Individuals                                                    Medhavi Haseja, Srijan Devgun

Watch Lunar Eclipse on 15th June, 2011 right here

Live Webcast of Lunar Eclipse - Watch it here:



A live webcast of the eclipse will be broadcast by ECA (Eclipse Chasers’ Athaenium), the Eclipse wing of SPACE from 10:30pm IST (17:00 UT) onwards here. Tune in to watch and comment:

ECA Live Webcast of Lunar Eclipse

Chand ka Langar - Feast in the Shadow of the Eclipse

Join the mass movement with SPACE Foundation and break the myth. Eat and fest when the moon hides behind the earth shadow. Add a scientific dimension to Indian society!

SPACE Foundation invites all the mediaand public  to come and join us in the myth breaking movement on the night of total lunar eclipse on 15th June 2011. Come, observe and break the myth in one of the longest total lunar eclipses.

The youngest eclipse chasers Asmi & Chavvi who are only 10 & 7 years will initiate this movement for irradiating the myths behind the eclipses. Asmi is the youngest eclipse chaser to witness the eclipse. These two kids have witnessed 2006(Turkey), 2008 (Russia) & 2009(China) total solar eclipses and have exposed themselves in the shadow of the total solar eclipse for 10 minutes in totality.

The eclipse chasers will break the myth at 00:00 hours at SPACE Foundation office on June 15th, when the moon will hide in the earth’s shadow. SPACE will be mobile throughout the eclipse night and will throw a “LANGAR” at Nehru Planetarium & Noida Film City, sec 16 A.
Come and witness the mass movement and explore the scientist in you.
Beat the fear and feast the eclipse!

For further detail feel free to call SPACE Foundation on:
9212669920: Aakanksha Sinha (PR Executive)

Eclipse the Eclipse Myth

Join us to break the Myth during the Total Lunar Eclipse

SPACE Foundation wants to invite people from all across India to join in a mass movement to break a myth by ‘feasting during the eclipse’. 

Lunar eclipse is a scientific phenomenon and it has nothing to do with the food one eats. Therefore, we would like to call all Indians to participate in this campaign and break these undying myths which have been passing from one generation to another.

Just observe the eclipse and feast on something at the same time. Get together with your friends, neighbours and family and make it a party! You can do this from anywhere.

People who are interested can register themselves at https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGowQUQyNFdEX3ZVQ0tDUTk2Vno0TWc6MQ

The supporters of this campaign have to eat during the eclipse and click their photographs.  Send in a report to info@space-india.org. 

The report should contain pictures, description of event and general medical report reporting any adverse medical health which was previously not present, starting from 1 day prior to 7 days later. Report to be sent to SPACE Foundation by all the participating campaigners at info@space-india.org. A cumulative report with analysis would be then drafted and sent to UNESCO and other scientific organisations. Please join us to create a MEGA participation to make this one of the BIGGEST public outreach science events.

Please spread the word and register now!

Total Lunar Eclipse on June 15th (One of the longest in duration)

On 15^th June, 2011, India will witness a lunar eclipse in totality.

This is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2011, the second occurring on December 10.  This first lunar eclipse of 2011 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in southern Ophiuchus about 7° west of the Lagoon Nebula (M8). The Moon passes deeply through Earth's umbral shadow during this rather long event. It is a relatively rare central eclipse where the moon passes in front of the center of the Earth's shadow. It will be visible completely over Africa, and Central Asia, visible rising over South America, Western Africa, and Europe, and setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia. 

The total phase itself is long, and lasts 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000. The Moon's contact times with Earth's umbral and penumbral shadows as seen from Delhi:

Penumbral Eclipse Begins:22:55                             Alt:+34,          

Partial Eclipse Begins:23:53                                  Alt:+37           

Total Eclipse Begins: 00:52                                   Alt: +37,         

Mid Eclipse:  01:43                                              Alt:+34           

Total Eclipse Ends: 02:33                                     Alt:+29,          

Partial Eclipse Ends: 03:32                                   Alt:+21           

Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 04:31                              Alt: +11

SPACE observes Eclipse:

SPACE Foundation will conduct an observation of the lunar eclipse from its office building on 15^th June. This is open to the public and media. Details of Observation:

Location – SPACE Office roof

WZ-19, Asalatpur, A-3 Block, Janakpuri

New Delhi - 58

Timings – 15^th June, 8 pm onwards

Webcast:

A live webcast of the eclipse will be broadcast by ECA (Eclipse Chasers’ Athaenium), the Eclipse wing of SPACE from 11:30pm IST  (17:00 UT) onwards here. Tune in to watch and comment:

ECA Live Webcast

IASC updates +NEO confirmations june 9, 7:00 pm

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Image Sets Available

Image sets from June 6, 7, and 8 are available in the school folders. If your students have not already done so, they need to check their folder and analyze the sets.

NEO Confirmation

Congratulations to R. Arora & Y. Gupta from Step by Step School, Noida. In addition to their MBA preliminary discovery on June 7th in P100BXR-0607-32, they also had an NEO confirmation of a comet C/2011 L4. The measurements made by these two students were perfect!!

As more image sets become available, you will be immediately notified. In the meanwhile, keep an eye on your folder and...

Happy Hunting!!

Preliminary discoveries + NEO confirmation observation

Congratulations to P. Chawla & A. Aggarwal from Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg, New Delhi for the NEO confirmation observation of C/2011 L3 in the image set SL5FB87-0606-24.  Observed on June 6th, it was linked to BBP8035.


There are three Main Belt asteroid (MBA) preliminary discoveries made on June 7th:

1. A. Arora & D. Bansal from Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj discovered TOV42V in P100BXS-0607-32.

   The discovery was linked to ABD0003.

2. R. Arora & Y. Gupta from Step by Step School, Noida discovered TOV433 in P100BXR-0607-32.

   The discovery was linked to SBS0003.

3. A. Gosain & P. Lekhi from Navy Children School, New Delhi - Team  I discovered TOV431 in P100BWM-0607-32.

   The discovery was linked to NCS0014.

Congratulations to all of you!!

updates - AIASC june 6 8:20 pm

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration



Image Sets Available



Image Sets from June 4th and 6th are available in the school folders.  All schools have at least one image set.  Check your folder.



Your students need to download and analyze their sets using Astrometrica.  There are important NEO observations and possible MBA discoveries waited to be made.

New Preliminary Discovery

New Preliminary Discovery

Congratulations!!  P. Chawla & A. Aggarwal from Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg, New Delhi made the preliminary discovery of the Main Belt asteroid TOV42I.  They made this observation on June 4th in the image set SL1EBD7-0604-24, linked to BBP8027.

A preliminary discovery is the first observation of a Main Belt asteroid (MBA).  It must be observed a second time in the coming 7-14 days; otherwise, it is considered to be lost by the Minor Planet Center (MPC).  IASC keeps a close watch on second, follow-up observations.  If one is made you will be notified immediately.

updates - AIASC 2:50 am

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Image Sets Available

Image sets are available in all of the school folders.  The most recent sets are dated June 4th.  Check your folder.  Your students need to download and analyze their image sets.  There are important NEO observations and possible MBA discoveries to be made.

This is the second year that SPACE and IASC have conducted the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign.  This summer a total of 60 schools from India will participate.

Updates on correction and possible second preliminary discovery

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration



Mistake Corrected



In the image set 2011 KH4-0602-24, C. Singh & I. Singh discovered the Main Belt asteroid TOV42C.  This is a preliminray discovery that requires a follow-up observation in 7-14 days.  A mistake was made in listing their school.  They are from K.R. Mangalam World School, Vikas Puri.



In re-checking their results, a second discovery was detected.  These two students also observed the Main Belt asteroid TOV42A.  This was linked to CSA1004 in their MPC report.



Remember a preliminary MBA discovery needs to be observed that second time.  If it is then the Minor Planet Center changes the status from preliminary to provisional.  If it is not observed a second time, it is considered to be lost.  IASC monitors the second observations.  If these come in, you will be notified immediately.



Congratulations!!  And, sorry for the mistake.  In the meanwhile...


Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

AIASC updates june 3, 11:00 am

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration



Discoveries & Observations



Congratulations!!  Looking at the image set 2011 KH4-0602-24, C. Singh & I. Singh from K R Manglam School, Vikas Puri made the preliminary discovery of the Main Belt asteroid TOV42C.  Their observation was linked to IND0034.



A preliminary discovery must be observed a second time within 7-14 days.  If that happens the asteroid is designated as a provisional discovery by the Minor Planet Center.  If it is not observed a second time, the preliminary discovery is considered to be lost.



IASC will watch very carefully the status of TOV42C.  If that changes to a provisional discovery, you will be notified immediately.



B. Rishi & A. Goel from Manav Sthali School,  New Rajinder Nagar made the NEO confirmation of 2011 KN17 in the image set BZ250253-053132.  Their observation was linked to MSS0001.



An NEO confirmation is not a discovery but the second observation of a near-Earth object.  This observation is important because it confirms the existence of the NEO, refines the orbit calculations, and better assesses the impact risk with Earth.



Image Sets Available



There are image sets available from June 1st and June 2nd in some (but not all) of the school folders.  If your students have not download and measured their sets, they need to do so.  There are important NEO observations and possible Main Belt asteroid discoveries waiting to be made.



Again, congratulations to C. Singh & I. Singh  and B. Rishi & A. Goel.


Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

IASC Updates 2 June, 3:15 AM

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Image sets from May 30th, May 31st, and June 1st are available.  There is at least one image set in each of the folders.  Some (but not all) have two.

Check your folder.  There are important NEO observations and possible MBA discoveries just waiting for your students to make.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

NEO Confirmation -- IASC

 Congratulations to S. Arya, R. Jain, S. Kesri, & P. Kumar from S.P.A.C.E. - Team I.  On May 30th they confirmed the near-Earth object (NEO) 2011 JP29.  This observation was linked to SAC0001 reported in BZ47838-0530-24.


2011 JP29 is an Amor class asteroid.  This type of asteroid has an orbit between the orbits of Earth and Mars.  This particular object comes within 0.08 AU (1 AU = 150,000,000 km) from Earth.

An NEO confirmation is not a discovery.  It is the second observation of an NEO, and is important since it confirms the existence of the NEO and better assesses the risk that it will impact Earth.  For the foreseeable future 2011 JP29 does not pose an impact hazard.

Congratulations to these four students, and...

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

IASC Updates 1 June, 3:15 AM

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Image Sets Available

All school folders have at least one image set for your students to analyze.  These images are dated May 30th and 31st, and come from the ARI Observatory located in Westfield, IL.

The ARI uses a 24" and 32" prime focus telescope, and takes images every night when the skies are clear and dark.

Check your folder...

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller