The Weird Plumes of Jupiter’s Moon Are Real

Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter and the sixth-closest moon to the planet of the 79 known moons of Jupiter. Also, it is the sixth-largest out of 181 moons in the solar system.

History

Europa was discovered by Galileo Galilei on 8 January 1610. The first reported observation of Io and Europa was made by Galileo Galilei on January 7, 1610, using a 20x magnification refracting telescope at the University of Padua. However, Galileo could not separate Io and Europa due to low magnification of his telescope. Europa was named after Europa, daughter of the king of Tyre, a Phoenician noblewoman in Greek mythology. Like all the Galilean moons (satellites), Europa was named after a lover of Zeus, the Greek counterpart of Jupiter.

Facts

• Europa is one of the 79 known moons orbiting Jupiter.
• Europa is nearly the same size as Earth’s Moon. 
• Earth is 4.1x larger than Europa. 
• Europa is the sixth-largest moon of Jupiter.
• Europa also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System.
• Europa was discovered on 8 January 1610 by Galileo Galilei.
• Oxygen is the atmospheric part of Europa.
• Europa is the first four moons discovered beyond Earth, it played a vital role in the ancient understanding of how our solar system works. 
• NASA is building a future mission called Europa Clipper and ESA is developing a mission called JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer).
• Europa has a weak atmosphere. 
• NASA’s Galileo mission is responsible for what we know about Europa.
• In 2007 the New Horizon mission took further snapshots of Europa on a flyby on its way to to the outer edges of our Solar System.
• Europa’s surface temperature is -171 degrees Celcius.
• It takes Europa 3.55 Earth days to orbit Jupiter.
• Europa’s orbit distance is 671,000 kilometres.
• While Europa’s age is 4.5 billion years old, it’s surface is only about 20-180 million years old. 
• The surface of Europa is the smoothest surface of any of our solar system objects. 
• The Galileo space probe provided further detailed images and data captures of the Galilean moons of any space mission.
• Galileo might have actually discovered Europa a day earlier than announced. On January 7th the had thought he had found a moon, but couldn’t be sure if it was one moon or two moons.
• The largest crater on Europa is named Pwyll.

Around two years ago (October 11 2017), I had posted about Europa and the possibilities of water plumes, it also had facts and information about Europa. 

A team led by researchers out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has confirmed traces of water vapour above the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, researchers "have obtained the first direct detection of water vapour on Jupiter’s moon, Europa," according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)
• https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-scientists-confirm-water-vapor-on-europa
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ-E1lnSOzc
• https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-finds-water-plumes-above-the-surface-of-jupiter-s-icy-moon-europa
• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/by-the-numbers/
• https://space-facts.com/moons/europa/
• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/exploration/
• https://theplanets.org/europa/
• https://www.planetsforkids.org/moon-europa-moon.html
• https://nineplanets.org/europa/

Europa | Facts & History

Welcome to another post on my blog. In today's post, I am going to share you some facts and history about Europa, Jupiter's sixth-largest moon. Here we go.

History

Europa was discovered by Galileo Galilei on 8 January 1610. The first reported observation of Io and Europa was made by Galileo Galilei on January 7, 1610, using a 20x magnification refracting telescope at the University of Padua. However, Galileo could not separate Io and Europa due to low magnification of his telescope. Europa was named after Europa, daughter of the king of Tyre, a Phoenician noblewoman in Greek mythology. Like all the Galilean moons (satellites), Europa was named after a lover of Zeus, the Greek counterpart of Jupiter.

Facts

• Europa is one of the 79 known moons orbiting Jupiter.
• Europa is nearly the same size as Earth’s Moon. 
• Earth is 4.1x larger than Europa. 
• Europa is the sixth-largest moon of Jupiter.
• Europa also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System.
• Europa was discovered on 8 January 1610 by Galileo Galilei.
• Oxygen is the atmospheric part of Europa.
• Europa is the first four moons discovered beyond Earth, it played a vital role in the ancient understanding of how our solar system works. 
• NASA is building a future mission called Europa Clipper and ESA is developing a mission called JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer).
• Europa has a weak atmosphere. 
• NASA’s Galileo mission is responsible for what we know about Europa.
• In 2007 the New Horizon mission took further snapshots of Europa on a flyby on its way to to the outer edges of our Solar System.
• Europa’s surface temperature is -171 degrees Celcius.
• It takes Europa 3.55 Earth days to orbit Jupiter.
• Europa’s orbit distance is 671,000 kilometres.
• While Europa’s age is 4.5 billion years old, it’s surface is only about 20-180 million years old. 
• The surface of Europa is the smoothest surface of any of our solar system objects. 
• The Galileo space probe provided further detailed images and data captures of the Galilean moons of any space mission.
• Galileo might have actually discovered Europa a day earlier than announced. On January 7th the had thought he had found a moon, but couldn’t be sure if it was one moon or two moons.
• The largest crater on Europa is named Pwyll.

I hope you like my post about Europa. Comment down below if you've learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Meet Arrokoth: A Ice Body Renamed by NASA

A small visited by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on 1st January is now known as Arrokoth.

NASA’s New Horizons sent the first detailed images showing two spheres stuck together in the shape of a snowman.

Introduction

This object was previously known as Ultima Thule or 2014 MU69. That name was chosen to mean something like “farthest place”. But it attracted a discussion or debate because “Thule” is a word that has been associated with Nazis in the past. 

NASA said that the old name, Ultima Thule (2014 MU69), was just a temporary name, but the new name is used officially and permanently.

New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement that, “The name 'Arrokoth' reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own”

Today (November 13), the mission team announced that the 34 kilometres (21 miles) wide body visited by NASA’s New Horizon space is now known as Arrokoth. Arrokoth or Ultima Thule is the farthest body visited by a spacecraft. Arrokoth means ‘sky’ in the Native American Powhatan and Algonquian languages. 

This icy body orbits in the dark and frigid Kuiper Belt, approximately a billion kilometres beyond Pluto. Also, it is 6.6 billion kilometres away from Earth.

Let’s go into history, Arrokoth was discovered on 26 June 2014 by Marc William Buie (American astronomer) using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Did you know that Arrokoth orbital period is 297 Earth years? It is 132 years longer than Neptune’s orbital period, 165 years.  

Photos

The first colour photo of the Kuiper Belt object, Ultima Thule reveals that the object is red, not grey, as seen from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft from a distance of 137,000 kilometres during the January 1st flyby.

The first image which was sent by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft was quite undetailed. The surface features of the rock, or object were coming into focus in these images taken. These images were taken on 1st January, but released on the 2nd of January, from a distance of 28,000 kilometres.

Sources:

• https://www.space.com/ultima-thule-beyond-pluto-new-name-arrokoth.html?utm_source=notification
• https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/nasa-ultima-thule-arrokoth-name-nazi-controversy-new-horizons-a9200576.html
• https://phys.org/news/2019-11-nasa-renames-faraway-ice-world.html
• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/2014-mu69/overview/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth
• https://www.space.com/42867-ultima-thule-pictures-new-horizons-flyby-photos.html

Violent Cyclone stuck Christchurch suburb

Two were injured when a tornado caused a roof to cave in. Photo credit: Newshub/Alex Parsons, YouTube/Nic Muc
Credit: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/11/

Two people have been injured after a tornado hit a Christchurch suburb. It hit ripped roofs off buildings and scattered various debris (litter). The storm cut power to more than a thousand homes throughout the city and left part of a tree upside down in powerlines.

A tree branch on powerlines over traffic on Waltham Road
Credit: https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/

The tornado struck the same time as hail rained down on the city on Monday afternoon. Two people were injured at the SaveMart second-hand shop on Battersea Street in Sydenham when the tornado hit the roof. Emergency services were called around at 1:55 pm. The storm lasted for 15 minutes. It started at 1:45 pm and ended at 2 pm, with the tornado, there were large hailstones and rain.

The hail that hit Christchurch. Photo credit: Newshub.
Credit: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/11/

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the thundercloud was about 12 kilometres tall, right up to the top of the troposphere, the lowest level of the atmosphere which contains all of our weather. Weather charts on Monday morning showed small tornadoes were possible in east Christchurch.

At 12:30 pm, MetService reported a severe thunderstorm warning as a front moved from Ashburton towards urban Christchurch.

A stationary truck managed to be blown from one side to the yard to another.

The storm which produced a tornado in Sydenham
Source: MetConnect
Credit: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/

What is a tornado?

Tornado Funnel
Credit: https://twitter.com/MetService/ and https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/

A tornado is a violent rotating event which occurs underneath a thunderstorm when it generates strong up-drafts of air, leading a spinning motion in the air which forms into a tornado funnel.

Tornado is not uncommon in New Zealand at this time of the year as the mix of cold and warmer air temperature produced thunderstorms, forecaster Tony Trewinnard of Blue Skies Weather said.

MetService meteorologists Andrew James said that Tornadoes were typically seen on the West Coast and Taranaki, but sometimes in Canterbury.

References:

• https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/117503708/at-least-one-person-injured-after-christchurch-tornado
• https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/117510613/12kmtall-thunderstorm-cloud-spawned-destructive-christchurch-tornado
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12286201

Rare Mercury Transit, Next in 2032

Welcome to another post on my blog. In today's post, I am going to share you the rare event which is going to start tomorrow, the Mercury Transit.

Mercury, that smallest planet in the solar system is going to transit the sun tomorrow on 12 November at 6:02 AM. The last Mercury transit has happened in 2016. The next rare event is going to happen in 2032. We need to wait for 13 more years for the next one. 

So this transit will last for 1 hour and 6 minutes. This transit will start at 5:58 AM. The midpoint of the transit is at 6:01 AM. The midpoint means the best time to see the transit. The end of the transit is at 7:04 AM. In Christchurch and the rest of New Zealand, the transit is near the max. 

The 2016 Mercury Transit
Credit: ScienceAtNASA

After reading about the Mercury transit, you must be thinking, what is a transit? A transit is where one object crosses in front of the other object in space. An example of a transit is when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun. The Moon is “transiting” the Sun. This is also called a solar eclipse. But the Moon isn’t the only object which can transit the Sun. We can see Venus when it passes between Earth and the Sun on its object. Because of how the orbits of Venus and the Earth line up, we can’t see the transit of Venus really often. This is a rare transit. transits occur in early May and early November. People don’t see a Mercury transit every year. The last transit of Venus was on 6 June 2012, we can’t see the next one until 2117!

If you want more information about the transit and what happens during a transit, read this infographic below from Space.com.

Let’s go back to the Mercury transit. If you want to see the transit, you need a telescope and solar filters to view the transit. Mercury’s diameter is only 1/194th of that of the sun, as seen from the Earth. That’s why, the master of the eclipse, Fred Espenak suggests using a telescope with a magnification of 50 to 100 times for observing the event.

If you don’t have any telescope or any tools to view the transit, you can try an online view of the transit. The Virtual Telescope is hosting a live observation. Or, watch the live stream from Time and Date.

Mercury Transit
Credit: The Planetary Society

The planet will look like a tiny, small mark travelling on the sun’s face as it passes through in front of the sun. Did you know that the Mercury transit occurs only 13 or 14 times per century? You know that the last transit was in 2016 and it won’t happen again until November 2032. What’s the best way to see and enjoy the event that, like a solar eclipse, it is observable during the day time. 

Mercury transit will be visible from most of North America, all of South America, all of Africa, parts of Europe, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica. According to a map developed by Time and Date, sky gazers in cities like Montreal, New York and Sao Paulo will be able to see and observe the entire transit. People sky gazing in cities like Rome, Cario and Honolulu can view part of the transit.

Let’s go to New Zealand history about the Mercury transit. About 250 years ago Captain Cook’s astronomer observed a similar event. Stargazers will gather at Mercury Bay (Te Whanganui o Hei), where astronomer Charles Green and Captain Cook observed the planetary phenomenon in 1769. This transit will be visible across New Zealand, but only with a telescope. Astronomy societies across the country will be setting up star parties for people to observe the transit, according to astronomer and Otago Museum director Ian Griffin. Stardome astronomer Dr Grant Christie said November 9, 1769, happened to be clear weather, enabling Green a good view of the solar system's innermost planet. "They noted that Mercury seemed like a little disc against the sun and implied that it didn't have a big fuzzy atmosphere."

"On the morning of the 12th of November, as the sun rises, the planet Mercury will be transiting across the face of the sun," he said. "You won't be able to see it with the naked eye ... you need a special solar telescope.”

Sources:

• https://earthsky.org/tonight/transit-of-mercury-on-november-11-2019
• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/transits/en/
• https://www.space.com/mercury-transit-2019-viewing-guide.html
• https://youtu.be/dDd_cS6SHqA
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2019/11/08/four-easy-ways-you-can-watch-monday-as-mercury-transits-the-sun-for-the-last-time-until-2032/ 
• https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402324/all-night-star-party-mercury-transit-visible-from-nz
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12281668

Inspired Writing

Welcome to another post on my blog. In today's post, I am going to share you the inspired writing that I have created for writing. We started writing the inspired writing two weeks ago. We had to choose a topic which interests us. We had to choose from a following of:

• Our World
• Fantasy
• Apocalyptic
• Animals
• Space

As my interest topic, I chose Space. There were a few images of space that were given. I chose the galaxy. The next slide was Vocab, it is one of the parts in the e-asTTle rubric. We were told that we should be in R5 or R6, which should have onomatopoeia, it should have emotive language. In R6, we should point a clear picture in the mind of the reader and give the reader detailed and specific information. I am focusing on R6. 

We should have adjectives, language feature, emotive language, detailed and specific information.

Now, I am going to show you the image that I have chosen.

Below is the writing that I have written.

1. The galaxy is spinning.
2. The enormous galaxy is spinning.
3. The enormous galaxy is spinning like a hurricane.
4. The enormous galaxy is spinning like a hurricane in space.
5. The magnificent enormous galaxy is spinning like a hurricane in space.

The magnificent enormous galaxy, Andromeda Galaxy is spinning like a hurricane in space.


I hope you like my post about my Inspired Writing. Comment down below if you've written a Inspired Writing before. Have a cool day!! Bye!!