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| Astronomy & Geophysics 44 (2) 2.04 | | |||||
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| A stunning universal MAP Peter Bond reports on the first – and spectacular – results form the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. 
WMAP first results. This shows the detailed cosmic microwave background measured by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe on a sphere, representing the sphere of radius 13.3 billion light years in which we live, with Earth at the centre. The sphere is a glowing, opaque wall of hydrogen plasma that contains the whole of the observable universe. We cannot see beyond this wall, to the space that continues outside and holds evidence of the very beginnings of the universe. We need to see only 380 000 light years further, but cannot. For further information, see Tegmark et al. at www.hen.upenn.edu/~max. Remarkably precise measurements have enabled the newly renamed Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) to produce the most detailed image of the infant universe ever taken. After 12 months of observing the entire sky, WMAP has revealed the tiny temperature variations (anisotropies) in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in great detail, capturing the ripples in the afterglow of the Big Bang. This latest observation shows that the patterns in the CMB were frozen in place only 380 000 years after the Big Bang. One of the biggest surprises revealed in the data is that the first stars ignited only 200 million years after the Big Bang, much earlier than many scientists had expected. In addition, the new portrait precisely pegs the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years, with only a 1% margin of error. The WMAP team also found that the Big Bang and inflation theories continue to ring true. The universe appears to comprise 4% atoms (ordinary matter), 23% dark matter, and 73% dark energy. From its orbit around the second Lagrange Point (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth, WMAP will continue to observe the CMB for another three years, revealing new insights into the theory of inflation and the nature of dark energy. Launched on 30 June 2001, the spacecraft is named in honour of David Wilkinson of Princeton University, a world-renowned cosmologist and WMAP team member who died in September 2002. For more details, see map.gsfc.nasa.gov. Peter Bond | |||
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| A Virtual Observatory for the digital universe Jacqueline Mitton on progress towards using metadata to make the digital world navigable. As astronomical observations become increasingly sensitive, sophisticated and wide-ranging, they are adding data to already extensive archives at an ever increasing rate. Buried within numerous computers in observatories and university departments around the world, a digital, multi-wavelength picture of the universe is accumulating. Every day, as the gigabytes pour in, its resolution gets sharper. With so much data, new science is merely waiting to be discovered. The problem for researchers is how to identify, collate and process data quickly and effectively, wherever it happens to be stored. The answer is the “virtual observatory”– a collection of powerful but user-friendly software tools able to access the digital universe by means of the internet and to manipulate the data in the way scientists want. On 20 January 2003, prototype software for Europe's Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (AVO) was unveiled at a meeting for the astronomy community and the media at Jodrell Bank Observatory. Nick Walton, AstroGrid Project Scientist based at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University, demonstrated several tools developed during the first year of the AVO project. He likened its smart “metabrowser” for interrogating huge datasets to an “Astro-Google”. Crucially, it uses metadata – information about data – to minimize the quantity of real data that needs to be moved around. An astronomical catalogue extractor allows users to work with catalogues set out in a standard form and, using the “window” on the digital universe, researchers can perform different operations on images, such as aligning and layering images of the sky taken at different wavelengths. “The digital universe is as exciting a place to explore as the real universe,” says Peter Quinn from ESO, leader of the AVO project, and within the next two years many astronomers will be seeing whether they agree or not. The AVO should have a limited system capable of connecting to the six partner establishments in Europe (which include Astrogrid and Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK) up and running by the end of 2004. The target for full access is 2007. The project is funded by the EU, which is putting in €5 million over three years. Meanwhile, several other virtual observatory projects are taking off in the USA, Canada, South America, Russia, India, China, Japan and Australia. A total of US$20 million is to be spent over the next 3–5 years. In the hopes of ultimately bringing about a truly international virtual observatory, an International Virtual Observatory Alliance has been formed between the various projects. In five years time, virtual observatories are likely to be revolutionizing the way astronomical data is used, unleashing whole new opportunities for imaginative research. And while professional researchers are seen as the primary users initially, there will be wonderful opportunities for educational use and for keen amateurs as well. More information about the AVO and the IVO Alliance can be found at www.euro-vo.org and www.ivoa.net. Jacqueline Mitton | |||
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| Pro-Am meeting: comets, meteors and meteorites The annual RAS–BAA ProAm Meeting will focus this year on the smaller objects in the solar system. Margaret Penston announces the arrangements. The Pro-Am meeting gives professional and amateur astronomers who share a common interest in comets, meteors and meteorites an opportunity to discuss recent observations and developments in the field. The programme, which includes the BAA George Alcock Memorial Lecture to be given by Dr Brian Marsden (SAO), is on the web at www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/proam.htm. The meeting will be on Saturday 10 May 2003, from 10.30 to 17.30, in the Berrill Lecture Theatre, Open University, Milton Keynes. There is no registration charge. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Please notify Margaret Penston (mjp@ast.cam.ac.uk) if you wish to attend. For maps and information on travel to the OU see www.open.ac.uk/maps/. Margaret Penston | |||
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| Where will Rosetta go now? Concerns over the safety of the Ariane rocket planned to launch Rosetta, ESA's mission to land on a comet, led to its launch being postponed. But postponement means either a new flightpath to the original target, Comet Wirtanen, or a new cometary target. Peter Bond reports. After missing the launch window for Comet 46P/Wirtanen, ESA's Rosetta mission is likely to be grounded until next year. Meanwhile, finding another suitable comet is proving to be a headache for scientists involved in the mission. Two main options are currently under discussion: heading for 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (nicknamed Chury) in February 2004 on an Ariane 5 P1+, or going to Wirtanen after all, in January 2004, on a Russian Proton DM. One major advantage of keeping Wirtanen as the target is that the spacecraft, especially its lander, is designed to operate in the vicinity of a small (approximately 1.6 km) nucleus. On the other hand, the January 2004 launch opportunity will require using a larger rocket. In the aftermath of its December launch failure, the Ariane 5 ECA will not be ready in time, so the only alternative would be Russia's Proton DM. However, since Rosetta is too large to be accommodated inside the Proton's standard payload fairing, this would have to be modified and qualified within the next 10 months. The easiest solution would seem to be an Ariane 5 P1+ launch which could deliver Rosetta to Chury in 2014 via Earth and Mars flybys. Assuming this slightly modified version of the standard Ariane 5 is available, there is still a problem with the comet's size. Around 5 km in diameter, the gravitational pull of Chury's nucleus is too large for the current lander to operate. The mission options were scheduled for discussion by the Science Programme Committee on February 25–26, with a final decision in May. Meanwhile, ESA scientists have requested extraordinary observing time with the HST, and ESO's telescopes are observing Chury as it heads away from the Sun. Peter Bond | |||
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| £200 for students who can write You could win £200 in the new University Science Writing Competition organized by the RAS, says Alan Pickwick. The RAS is pleased to announce a science-writing competition for students. The task is to write an article about a topic in astronomy or geophysics of interest to the scientifically literate public. The article must be suitable for publication in a popular science magazine, illustrated and less than 2000 words. The first prize will be a cheque for £200 with the prospect of publication of the article in A&G. There will be two second prizes of £50 with articles considered for publication. The competition is open to undergraduates and first-year postgraduates, full-time and part-time, working in the UK on the closing date of the competition, 31 May 2003. To ensure fairness, references will be sought from the tutors or supervisors of the proposed winners. You must include on your entry: • your name, address and postcode • the name, address and postcode of your institution • your email and telephone number • your position as undergraduate or postgraduate • the full name, email and phone number of your tutor or supervisor • a signed declaration by your tutor or supervisor that: the selection of existing material was done by yourself and all original material, design and layout was your own work. A winning entry is likely to include: • an attention-grabbing headline • an attractive introduction • a detailed description of the science in the topic • suitable illustrations and images – the copyright holders of all illustrations to be acknowledged. Remember to lay out your material in the style of a modern magazine. Send five printed copies to: Science Writing Competition, Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ to arrive by 31 May 2003. The decision of the judges is final. The competition is organized by the Education Committee of the RAS (www.ras.org.uk). Alan Pickwick | |||
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Recent months have seen the first results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, an instrument that can map in detail relict radiation from the early universe. This data, with three years more of observations to come, is a sign of the transformation of cosmology: once the first fluctuations in the microwave background were observed, it started the journey from a fundamentally theoretical discipline to an observational science. WMAP's results mean that cosmology can now provide hard answers to questions about the age of the universe and the oldest stars. Further data will bring these fluctuations into focus, as cosmologists become able to observe and analyse the unexpected symmetries already apparent in the data. And the information revolution is spreading. We have not only exoplanets, but a reasonable idea of where to expect exo-Earths; virtual observatories to make full use of data; and whole new instruments and observatories. We should expect more leaps and bounds. Sue Bowler, Editor | |||||
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John Lane announces the award of Society medals for 2003. The Gold Medal of the Society for astronomy is awarded to Prof. John Bahcall of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, USA. The Gold Medal for geophysics is awarded to Prof. David Gubbins FRS, FRAS of the School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds. The Price Medal for geophysics goes to Prof. Yohsuke Kamide, Director of Solar-Terrestrial Environment Lab., Nagoya University, Japan. The Society also announced the names of new Associates. In the A field: Prof. Penny Sackett, Director of the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory Australia; Prof. Ed van den Heuvel,“Anton Pannekoek”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Prof. Hagai Netzer, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel. In the G field: Prof. André Berger, Institute d'Astronomie et de Géophysique G LeMaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium; Prof. Leon Knopoff, Astronomical Institute, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Los Angeles, USA; Prof. Dr Vytenis M Vasyliunas, Director, Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany; Prof. Lev M Zelenyi, Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of Dept of Space Plasma Physics, Moscow, Russia. John Lane | ||||
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| Blackwell and Penston Prize theses Alan Pickwick, on behalf of the RAS Education Committee, announces the winners of the annual prizes for the best PhD theses. The 2001 Blackwell Prize for the best PhD thesis in geophysics was awarded as follows: • First prize: Dr Emma J Bunce of the University of Leicester. • Joint second prizes: Dr Kathryn Hardacre of the University of Edinburgh and Dr Claire Newman of the University of Oxford. The 2001 Penston Prize for the best PhD thesis in astrophysics: • First prize: Dr Mark M Wright of the University of Bristol. • Joint second prizes: Dr Loretta Dunne of the University of Wales, Cardiff and Dr Ole Moeller of the University of Cambridge. There were 11 nominations for the Blackwell Prize and 9 nominations for the Penston Prize. The overall standard was very high which made judging particularly difficult this year. Congratulations are offered to all involved and particular thanks go to the judges who are members of the RAS Education Committee. Alan Pickwick | |||
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| Paneth Trust offers funds for meteorite studies Monica M Grady, secretary to the trustees of the Paneth Trust, explains the origin of the trust's funds. The Paneth Trust was founded in 1958 with a bequest of £500 from Prof. F A Paneth of the Max-Planck Institut (MPI) in Mainz. The purpose of the bequest was to preserve and support the Paneth meteorite collection and to carry out research on meteorites. The Royal Astronomical Society was given the task of establishing and maintaining the trust. Investment of the initial sum has, over the years, led to a substantial increase to the initial investment, with the accrual of sufficient monies to allow awards to be made in keeping with the spirit of the original bequest. In 2000, after a period when the trust lay in abeyance, a new board of trustees was appointed. Friedrich Adolf Paneth was a chemist, born in Vienna in August 1887. He studied at the universities of Vienna and Munich, and his first appointment, in 1912, was at the newly established Institut für Radium forschung in Vienna. This was followed by teaching appointments in Prague, Hamburg and Berlin, and a visiting professorship at Cornell University in the USA. In 1933 Paneth took up residence in England, based first at Imperial College in London and then at the University of Durham. During WWII, he was posted to Montreal, to head the chemical division of the Joint British and Canadian Atomic Energy Team, before returning to Durham. In 1953 Paneth moved back to Germany to take up a directorship at the Cosmochemistry Department of the MPI in Mainz. Friedrich Paneth died in September 1958. His biography was written by Emeleus (1960), and includes a bibliography of the 245 papers and books Paneth authored during his scientific career. Paneth started out as an organic chemist, but quickly became interested in the newly emerging field of radiochemistry, studying the uranium decay series. As a result of his attempts to separate the decay products of radium, Paneth realized that small quantities of stable material could be traced precisely when accompanied by a chemically related radioactive partner. This realization led to development, with George de Hevesy, of the technique of radioactive tracing, or isotope labelling, a technique which today has an immense number of applications in a variety of fields, most especially in medicine. Following from his work on radium, Paneth became interested in the gases that accompanied radioactive decay, and he turned his attention to helium. A natural progression was to look at the decay of radioactive elements in rocks, and Paneth developed sensitive techniques for measuring the amount of helium produced in terrestrial rocks and meteorites, as well as present in the atmosphere. Paneth used noble gas data to deduce the age of meteorites, and thus the age of the Earth and the solar system. Paneth's interest in meteorites continued throughout his scientific career and he built up a sizeable collection of specimens. His collection of over 100 meteorites now resides at Mainz, where it is curated alongside the collection of the MPI. Alongside his main research interests, Paneth was a keen photographer and experimented with colour photography when it was in its infancy. A collection of Paneth's photographs, with associated notes, is maintained in the archives of the Royal Photographic Society (www.rps.org/book/listph.html), and a colour picture of his wife and daughter on the beach at the Lido outside Venice in 1925 can be seen at www.heritage-images.com/item/default.asp?i=300000410. Another of Paneth's interests was amber, and the insects often trapped within it. His collection of Baltic amber was presented to the Dept of Geology at the University of Durham, and a series of lantern slides of the amber specimens is in the university library archives. During his lifetime many honours were bestowed on Friedrich Paneth in recognition of his contributions to physics, chemistry, geology and planetary sciences. He became an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1933, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947. Symbols commemorating his memory followed later: the mineral “panethite”, an anhydrous phosphate with the chemical formula (Na,Ca,K)2(Mg,F,Mn)2(PO4)2 and first found in a meteorite, was named for Friedrich Paneth by the International Mineralogical Association in 1967. At the other end of the scale, the 65 km diameter crater “Paneth” is located on the northern hemisphere of the Moon, at lunar co-ordinates 63.0°N, 94.8°W. The trustees of the Paneth Trust are currently G Arrhenius (Univ. of Calif. San Diego, USA), C T Pillinger (Open Univ.), L Schultz (Max-Planck Inst. f. Chemie, Mainz, Germany) and G Turner (Univ. Manchester), along with the treasurer of the RAS. Secretary to the trustees is M Grady (NHM, London). The trust became active in 2001; its main function is to disburse grants to undergraduates in support of research on meteorites. Last year, the first one in which awards were granted, a total of almost £8000 was awarded to research projects on the Raman spectroscopy of chondritic minerals, an investigation of aqueous alteration in carbonaceous chondrites using Focused Ion Beam techniques, X-ray and electron diffraction studies of shock-produced minerals, and an oxygen and trace-element study of pallasites. This year it is anticipated that a slightly greater sum will be available; the maximum awarded to any project is likely to be £2000. The deadline for this year's applications is 9 May 2003; decisions will be announced by 6 June 2003. Full details of the application process, including eligibility criteria, can be found below, and are also available on the RAS website at: www.ras.org.uk/html/ras_paneth.html, or from the secretary to the trustees (mmg@nhm.ac.uk). Reference Emeleus H J 1960 Friedrich Adolf Paneth Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 6 227 –46. Monica M Grady | |||
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| Philip Leverhulme Prizes for astronomy and astrophysics in 2003 The Leverhulme Trust wants to find outstanding scholars in astronomy and astrophysics and give them £50 000 to further their research, reports Sue Bowler. The Leverhulme Trust, known for its support of research and education in general, recognizes outstanding young scholars in particular through the Philip Leverhulme Prizes. These are awards of £50 000, which will be given to around 25 researchers under 36, in order to advance their research over a period of two years. For the 2003 awards, one of the five eligible fields will be astronomy and astrophysics. The Leverhulme Trust emphasizes individuals and especially values the originality and significance of projects put to them, and the ability to judge and take appropriate risk, as well as the removal of barriers between traditional disciplines. Nominations must be made by a head of department or equivalent on behalf of a nominee working in a UK institution. Nominees must be under 36 on the closing date for applications – 15 May 2003 – unless they have taken a career change or break, in which case they should seek guidance from the trust. Full details of the criteria for eligibility and the process of nomination are available from the Leverhulme Trust website (www.leverhulme.org.uk/philip_leverhulme_prizes.shtml). Please note that the details will remain there only until 8 May 2003. Sue Bowler | |||
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| Calling all photographers: have you got a vision of science? If you have and it is beautiful, surprising or thought-provoking, it could make you a winner! Sue Bowler has the details of a competition open to scientists, photographers and all. Visions of Science is a photographic competition sponsored by Novartis and the Daily Telegraph newspaper, with prize money totalling £8500. It seeks images that bring science to life, cast a new light on some aspect of science, or explain scientific research or natural phenomena. This year, entries can be in any of these categories: Action, Close-up, People, Concepts and Art. In addition, any image in these categories can also be entered for the Special Award, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA (sponsored by the Medical Research Council). The first prize winner in each category will receive £1000, and the runner-up £400. There are also Young Photographer awards; the winner of each age group will receive a digital camera. Winning entries will be exhibited around the UK and some will be published in the Daily Telegraph. Photographs and images generated through modelling or with instruments are equally acceptable. Full details, competition rules, guidance about the categories and winning images from previous years are on show at www.visions-of-science.co.uk, or telephone 020 7613 5577. The closing date for entries is 30 May 2003. Sue Bowler | |||
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With the approach of the first transit of Venus since 1882, on 8 June 2004, interest in archival and printed material held by the RAS and elsewhere on the subject is intensifying. This broadside is another item to emerge from the recent indexing of Additional Manuscript 88, (item no. 128), a varied collection of newspaper and magazine cuttings and other memorabilia. Broadsides were widely sold by streetsellers in the late 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and covered a huge range of subjects from politics and biting satire via recipes to rude songs. They were usually sold for a penny and are bibliographically very fugitive. Broadsides were eventually replaced as a medium for dissemination of news by the wider availability of newspapers. As is often the case with such ephemeral items, the paper is fragile and cannot be properly uncreased for optimum photography without expensive conservation. As with many broadsides no author is listed, merely the printer/publisher: J Sharpe, Holborn. But there are plenty of clues to the character of the author, if not to his identity. He assures his readers that the transit of 3 June 1769 will be “not equalled by any other for 600 years to come”– but he was wrong as transits come at intervals of alternatingly 101 years, 8 years, 121 years, 8 years, 101 years, et seq. This of course was the transit that Lieutenant James Cook, Royal Navy, sailed to Tahiti to observe, also surveying the coast of New Zealand and discovering Australia (Howse and Murray 1997). The author emphasizes that he wishes “to undeceive ignorant and timorous people” of evil consequences that may be thought to follow from the event – and how depressing it is that at the dawn of the 21st century we are still having to counter similar fears about eclipses, comets and so on. He also refers to Venus as “the goddess of love, or rather lasciviousness, worshipped by most of the heathens and idolatrous Israelites”; neither political correctness nor permissiveness were his strong suit. It is rare for a printed item to be genuinely unique, but this one may be; no other copies are listed in the English Short Title Catalogue, nor in the CURL (Consortium of University Research Libraries) Catalogue, though there is a longer tract on the same transit. The writer would be interested to be advised of any similar publications on transits of Venus. Thanks are offered to Mrs S Hingley, Head of Heritage Collections at Durham University Library, and Miss C Davie of the British Library Department of Early Printed Collections, for assistance with the bibliographic aspects of this item. Reference Howse D and Murray A 1997 A&G 38.4 27 –30. Peter D Hingley is the RAS Librarian. | ||||
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The F A Paneth Meteorite Trust was set up “to encourage and ruther research concerned with meteorites” with funds from the late Prof. F A Paneth. The turst is administered by the Royal Astronomical Society. In 2002 the trust offered funds for several internships, each up to ther valeu of £2000. This being repeated this year. Applications for projects in the field of meeoritics are accepted from institutions in Europe (defined as the European Union and Associated Member States including Members of the European Econmic Area and the enlargement applicants) or from individuals in association with a named institution. Funds can cover travel, subsistence and field-work expenses. It will be up to the successful institutions to appoint suitable condidates for the internships. Candidates should be undergraduates or the equivalent and may be of any nationality. Application (by letter, fax or email) must include a short outline of the project and its budget. Applications should be submitted to: The Secretary (Paneth Trust), Dr M Grady, Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, Comwell Road, London SW7 5BD Email: mmg@nhm.ac.uk Tel: (44) 207 942 5709 Fax: (44) 207 942 5537 Applications must be received by 9 May 2003. Recipients will be notified by mid-June 2003. | |||||
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