Aadil's Astronomy Space and Travels

Enceladus rains water onto Saturn

2011-07-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Herschel space observatory has shown that water expelled from the moon Enceladus forms a giant torus of water vapour around Saturn. The discovery solves a 14-year mystery by identifying the source of the water in Saturn’s upper atmosphere.

Does Asteroid Vesta have a moon?

2011-07-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Does Asteroid Vesta have a moon?

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft is closing in on Vesta, and from now until the ion-powered spacecraft goes into orbit in mid-July, every picture of the giant asteroid will be the best one ever taken. What will researchers do with this unprecedented clarity?

First images from the VLT Survey Telescope 268-megapixel camera

2011-06-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

First images from the VLT Survey Telescope 268-megapixel camera

(PhysOrg.com) -- The VLT Survey Telescope (VST), the latest addition to ESO’s Paranal Observatory, has made its first release of impressive images of the southern sky. The VST is a state-of-the-art 2.6-meter telescope, with the huge 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart, which is designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality. It is a visible-light telescope that perfectly complements ESO’s VISTA infrared survey telescope. New images of the Omega Nebula and the globular cluster Omega Centauri demonstrate the VST’s power.

Heaven is a 'fairy story' says Stephen Hawking.

2011-05-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

Heaven is a 'fairy story', says Stephen Hawking

British scientist Stephen Hawking has branded heaven a "fairy story" for people afraid of the dark, in his latest dismissal of the concepts underpinning the world's religions.

Lyrid Meteor Shower and Big Sun Spot Activity.

2011-04-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

LYRID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Comet Thatcher,
source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on
April 22nd with as many as 20 meteors per hour, although visibility will be reduced
by bright moonlight. The best time to look, no matter where you live, is Friday morning
during the hours before local dawn. Visit http://spaceweather.com for live meteor
counts and more information.

BIG SUNSPOTS: This week the sun is dotted with several large spots, a situation that
will become increasingly common as Solar Cycle 24 intensifies.  Our new White Light
Solar Observing System allows you to safely monitor these behemoth sources of solar
activity. Click here for more information:
http://www.shopspaceweather.com/explore-scientific-white-light-solar-observer-system.aspx


New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at http://spaceweather.com/services/.

Spinning Asteroid Flyby

2011-04-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

SPINNING ASTEROID FLYBY: A 50-meter asteroid is flying past the Earth-Moon system on
April 15th, 2011. There's no danger of a collision, but the 50-meter space rock is
remarkable. It is elongated and spinning, which causes the asteroid to flash like a
strobe light in amateur telescopes. Video and observing tips are highlighted on today's
edition of http://spaceweather.com.

Astronomers identify thick disc of older stars in nearby Andromeda galaxy

2011-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

Astronomers identify thick disc of older stars in nearby Andromeda galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of astronomers has identified for the first time a thick stellar disc in the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest large spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way.

Stereo view of our Sun

2011-02-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

First ever STEREO images of the entire Sun (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's official: The sun is a sphere.

Six small planets orbiting a sun-like star amaze astronomers

2011-02-03T10:34:00.001-08:00

Six small planets orbiting a sun-like star amaze astronomers

(PhysOrg.com) -- A remarkable planetary system discovered by NASA's Kepler mission has six planets around a Sun-like star, including five small planets in tightly packed orbits. Astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and their coauthors analyzed the orbital dynamics of the system, determined the sizes and masses of the planets, and figured out their likely compositions--all based on Kepler's measurements of the changing brightness of the host star (called Kepler-11) as the planets passed in front of it.

Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

2011-01-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

A fizzy ocean on Enceladus

For years researchers have been debating whether Enceladus, a tiny moon floating just outside Saturn's rings, is home to a vast underground ocean. Is it wet--or not? Now, new evidence is tipping the scales. Not only does Enceladus likely have an ocean, that ocean is probably fizzy like a soft drink and could be friendly to microbial life.

Fermi's Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula

2011-01-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Fermi's Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Crab Nebula, one of our best-known and most stable neighbors in the winter sky, is shocking scientists with a propensity for fireworks—gamma-ray flares set off by the most energetic particles ever traced to a specific astronomical object. The discovery, reported today by scientists working with two orbiting telescopes, is leading researchers to rethink their ideas of how cosmic particles are accelerated.

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

2011-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most enduring mysteries in solar physics is why the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. Now scientists believe they have discovered a major source of hot gas that replenishes the corona: narrow jets of plasma, known as spicules, shooting up from just above the Sun's surface. The finding addresses a fundamental question in astrophysics: how energy moves from the Sun's interior to create its hot outer atmosphere.

Happy New Year MMXI

2011-01-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a starry, joyous, peaceful and very happy New Year MMXI!!!
With best wishes,
Aadil.

SOHO SPOTS 2000TH COMET

2010-12-30T05:31:00.000-08:00

SOHO is one of my favourite websites to see the sun's Corona and also see some sun grazing comets. And now it has discovered it's 2000th comet!!! Hope to someday discover one of my own comets too!!!

Aadil.

SOHO spots 2,000th comet

Courtesy: www.physorg.com

As people on Earth celebrate the holidays and prepare to ring in the New Year, an ESA/NASA spacecraft has quietly reached its own milestone: on December 26, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) discovered its 2000th comet.

Sun-grazing spacecraft carries out slewing maneuver for the first time

2010-12-27T02:07:00.000-08:00

Sun-gazing spacecraft carries out never-before-tried slewing maneuver

The fastest path between Point A and Point B is a straight line. Not so fast, says a team of scientists and engineers who recently disproved this commonly accepted notion using a NASA satellite that had not moved more than 15 degrees during its 12-year mission studying the Sun.

Article about me in the Times of India Crest Edition.

2010-11-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of the article which appeared in the Times of India's Crest issue dated Saturday, 6 November 2010 which has a story about me and some other travellers who pursue their hobbies on their vacations. Hope you enjoy reading it and do let me know your reactions or you may also leave your comments on the online version of the newspaper (after registering for free) at http://t.co/ocyA2aX

Cheers,
Aadil.

Travel the world on your hobby horse

Shalini Umachandran | November 6, 2010

EYES UP: Amateur astronomer Aadil Desai made friends with locals during eclipse-watching in China

Dancing, diving or chasing eclipses. Combine your passion with your vacation and you've got the best of both worlds.

Though special interest holidays are just catching on in India, a small number of intrepid people are chasing eclipses across the skies of China, tackling different tides and winds while sailing the Aegean Sea, learning martial arts in Brazil, or dancing the flamenco in Spain. Rather than just whizz through scenic spots, they're choosing to spend their annual vacation learning more about a hobby they're passionate about, while soaking in the history and culture of the place they're visiting.

DIVING WITH THE SHARKS

That's what Swetha Amit and her husband Amit Sridharan did this March when they decided to combine their passion for scuba diving and Egypt. "We both love diving as well as seeing new places, so for the past year we've been planning holidays that let us enjoy both, " says Swetha, a school counsellor and freelance writer in Mumbai. After all, what can be better than swimming through spectacular coral reefs in the Red Sea to catch a glimpse of a bluespotted sting ray and following it up with an afternoon at the Khan El-Khalili open market buying spices and souvenirs. The icing on the desert cake was the sight of the famous Pyramids and Sphinx, and then diving back into the underwater world of parrotfish and seahorses.

In August, the couple went diving in the South China Sea. "We spent three days on a boat diving, and then went to Singapore for two days. It was a great break, " she says.

Apart from the thrill of adventure and the joy of pursuing a passion, there's also the chance to make new friends. "We dive in twos, so you have a different 'buddy' every day. You communicate in sign language under water to spot all kinds of marine life, and then on land, you have so much to share, " says 28-year-old Delhi banker Aseem Agrawal, who has gone on scuba diving holidays in the Andamans and Thailand, and keeps in touch with friends made on these trips.

While these trips are expensive, the adventurers say the cost is well worth the thrill. "It's definitely not pocket-friendly, " says Swetha. "We choose off-season times to get lower rates, " she says. A diving holiday costs upwards of Rs 70, 000, says Aseem. "But you get to experience a completely different world. And when I'm sitting in the office bored, just looking at the photographs makes me happy, " he says.

GETTING A KICK IN BRAZIL

Marketing professional Aparna Shekar Roy makes it a point to do capoeira, a form of Brazilian martial arts that she learnt in Mumbai, whenever she travels. "I've done capoeira in Brazil, Sao Paulo, Chile, Argentina, New York, Atlanta, Moscow, Bali, Austria, even Dubai, " says Aparna. She's spent seven months in South America in 2008-09 learning more about this mix of martial arts, dance and music, created in Brazil by African slaves. "I've always loved travelling and wanted to go to Brazil after I started learning capoeira in 2006. That desire to go to Brazil became a seven month mega-trip, " says the 30-year-old.

Over the seven months, she took classes in Salvador, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, and also attended the capoeira festival there. "I didn't become an expert just because I went to Brazil, " says Aparna. "I picked up the language and various elements of the culture. I got to understand nuances of the form as well as the philosophy behind it, " she says. "Now there's a new dimension to my travel - capoeira. " Aparna says having a hobby is an easy way to find friends in a new country. "I went to Russia on work and if it hadn't been for the capoeira group, I would hardly have seen Moscow outside of the conference room. They picked me up from hotel and showed me around, " she says. Capoeiristas travelling to India also stay with her.

FANCY FOOTWORK

Language teacher Deborah Zerneri agrees with her: "There's nothing like living and breathing the art form you love. " Deborah, who has been learning different dance forms since the age of seven, spent two weeks in Grenada, Spain, in 2008 learning flamenco. "Everyone in Spain sings and dances, so you see people doing the moves in clubs and during street festivals. It's all around you, it was heavenly, " says Deborah, who has been teaching at the American International School in Chennai for seven years. "I brought back castanets, fans and shoes to show my students - and I sometimes dance for them to make classes more interesting, " she says, laughing.

HEAVENLY HOBBY

Amateur astronomer Aadil Desai is an umbraphile and it's this passion that sends him chasing across the world. He has travelled across India and to Iran, Zambia and China to chase eclipses. "You get to make lots of friends and just share experiences with locals. " Aadil, who works for Air India and has been star-gazing since 1981, talks about reserved Muslim clerics in Iran warming up to him and asking to see the eclipse through his telescope. "In China, we had a lot of locals joining us even though we could not understand any Chinese and they couldn't understand English, " says the 45-year-old.

These trips can be a lot of work as these aren't as simple as signing up with a tour operator or packing that Lonely Planet Guide to read on the flight. Most vacationers do their own planning and research, often writing to locals at the place they're visiting to make sure they can indulge in their passion. Swetha and Amit go online to find the right diving schools, tides and safety standards. Aparna finds capoeira groups on-line and emails the members to find out whether she can attend classes. "Just as I research food and stay, I also research capoeira groups, " says Aparna. "If the price and timing is right, I go for it. "

Aadil checks weather conditions and the duration of the eclipse at the destination, apart from flight and hotel availability. "If I don't take the weather into account first, I won't get to see an eclipse. Sometimes even the best predictions go awry, " he says. That's exactly what happened to him during his recent trip to Hangzhou in China. "The eclipse day turned out very cloudly so we had to search for a gap. We finally found a good viewing position quite far away from where we had initially planned. "

BRUSH WITH THE HILLS

If you don't have the time and energy for extensive research, there are tour operators who offer learning holidays. Gaurav Punj, founder of Connect with Himalaya, which organises theme-based holidays and homestays in remote parts of the Himalayas, is adding painting and music holidays from next year. Professional musicians will accompany the group on the music holidays and evenings will be spent in three or fourhour jugalbandi sessions and discussions with local musicians as well. "The painting holiday will introduce people to the basics while showing them the beauty of the Himalayas, " says Gaurav, whose clients are mostly from Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru.

If the world is your playground, and money is no object, Parthaa Kundo of Esperienza, a lifestyle experiential vacation company, organises more exotic activities such F1 driving in Malaysia or Muay Thai boxing classes in Thailand. "There are people who have travelled the world and now want to learn and experience something new, " says Kundo.

Bright New Comet In Morning Sky.

2010-11-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

This story is courtesy Sky & Telescope Magazine Astro Alert.

Bright New Comet in the Morning Sky

This is an Astro Alert from Sky & Telescope.

November 4, 2010

Two observers in Japan have independently spotted an 8th-magnitude comet, low in the eastern sky just before before dawn. Kaoru Ikeya spotted the comet with his 25-cm (10-inch) reflector at 39x, while Shigeki Murakami used a 46-cm (18-inch) reflector at 78x, as reported in IAU Circular 9175 of November 3rd from the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT),.

What's truly astonishing is that both Ikeya and Murakami did it the old-fashioned way: by looking into the eyepiece of a telescope! Use of the time-honored technique has become a rarity in this age of powerful professional surveys and digital imaging techniques.

Brian G. Marsden (Minor Planet Center) has calculated a preliminary orbit for the comet, which is officially designated C/2010 V1. It is moving in a parabolic orbit and is just past perihelion, at 1.7 astronomical units from the Sun (that is, well outside the orbit of Mars). So while this comet won't be getting any brighter in the coming weeks, it should stay within reach of binoculars as it moves slowly southeastward across Virgo. On November 4th, J. J. Gonzales in Spain and Carl Hergenrother in Arizona called it roughly magnitude 7.5 in their binoculars, while Alan Hale in New Mexico put it at 9.0. To all three observers, it resembled a fuzzy round glow with no tail.

The following ephemeris gives the comet's coordinates (equinox 2000.0) at 0 hours Universal Time on selected dates and its angular elongation from the Sun.

Comet Ikeya-Murakami
Date 2010	R. A. h m	Dec. o '	Elong. o
Nov. 5	12 38.0	-02 26	32.6
Nov. 7	12 43.1	-03 06	33.2
Nov. 9	12 48.2	-03 47	33.8
Nov. 11	12 53.3	-04 27	34.4
Nov. 13	12 58.3	-05 06	35.0
Nov. 15	13 03.4	-05 46	35.6

Be sure to check the online version of this AstroAlert on Sky & Telescope's website for updates when the orbit is improved:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/proamcollab/astroalert/

Also stay tuned to our website's observing highlights. Good luck, and clear skies!

Roger W. Sinnott
Senior Contributing Editor
Sky & Telescope

Working remotely from Italy, Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero used a Global-Rent-a-Scope (GRAS) telescope in New Mexico for this confirming image of the new comet.

Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero

Spaceweather news.

2010-10-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

Space Weather News for Oct. 1, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

APPROACHING COMET: Green comet 103P/Hartley 2 is approaching Earth for a close
encounter on Oct. 20th. At that time, the comet will be only 11 million miles
(0.12 AU) from our planet and should be dimly visible to the naked eye from dark
sky sites. It already looks great through backyard telescopes, as shown by
images featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com. NASA's Deep
Impact/EPOXI spacecraft is en route to this comet for close-up studies and a
daring flyby on Nov. 4th. 

UPSIDE-DOWN LIGHTNING OVER THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER:  An amateur photographer
has photographed rare lightning-like discharges called "gigantic jets" shooting
up from storm clouds near NASA's Kennedy Space Center.  Visit
http://spaceweather.com for a movie and more information about the phenomenon.

Space Weather Newsletter

2010-06-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

http://spaceweather.com

SPACE STATION IN CONSTANT SUNLIGHT: For the next few days, the  International Space
Station (ISS) will be orbiting Earth in constant sunlight. This sets the stage for
a remarkable sky show.  Because the ISS is constantly illuminated, it shines brightly
in the night sky every single time it passes overhead. Some observers can see the
space station 3, 4, even 5 times a night. More information and flybys predictions
may be found at http://spaceweather.com

ANDROID FLYBYS: Spaceweather's "Simple Flybys" app is now available for Android
phones as well as the iPhone and iPad. Details at http://simpleflybys.com

WEEKEND LUNAR ECLIPSE: On Saturday, June 26th, the Moon will pass through Earth's
shadow, producing a 54% partial lunar eclipse. The event is visible from most of the
Americas, Australia, Japan, east Asia and all of the Pacific Ocean.  For readers in
the USA, the best time to look is just before sunrise on Saturday morning. Visit
http://spaceweather.com for more information.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like to turn your phone into a space weather
monitoring system? Sign up for Space Weather PHONE: http://spaceweatherphone.com

New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at
http://spaceweather.com/services/.

klipsi

2010-06-06T08:42:00.001-07:00

Back from Egypt and Israel!!!

2010-03-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Back from Egypt and Israel and missing all the lovely people and places we visited. It was a wonderful experience to see some of the oldest civilisations of the world in one month of travel around just two countries and it was an inmemorable trip. Wish that time would stand still and we could still be there living life like the locals there.

Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

2010-02-26T05:10:00.000-08:00

Been travelling through Egypt and now off to Israel and Jordan from tomorrow morning. Really enjoying the wonders of the world!!!
Cheers,
Aadil.

2010-01-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Space Weather News for Jan. 28, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

FULL MOON AND MARS:  Friday night's full Moon is the biggest and brightest full Moon
of the year. It's a "perigee Moon," as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than other
full Moons you'll see later in 2010. But that's not all. Mars is having a close
encounter with Earth, and on Friday night, Jan. 29th, it will join the Moon for an
all-night-long conjunction. Don't miss it! Sky maps and images may be found at
http://spaceweather.com.

FLYBY ALERT: NASA is preparing to launch space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 7th. It's
the last night launch of the shuttle program and it kicks off a 13-day mission to
the International Space Station (ISS). You can follow the ISS and Endeavour as they
streak across the night sky using our new Satellite Flybys app for the iPhone or
iPod Touch. Details at http://simpleflybys.com.

New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at
http://spaceweather.com/services/

Off to Egypt!!!

2010-01-27T23:22:00.000-08:00

I am off to Egypt and Jordan if I get the visas in time and maybe even Israel if I get the visa without a stamp on my passport. Lets see how things go from here. Will update when I get details.

Cheers,
Aadil.

Tremors felt in Mumbai.

2009-12-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

Just experienced a jolt when lying on my sofa which turned out to be an earthquake with an epicenter near Koyna Dam in Maharashtra with tremors of 4.9 on the Richter scale which were felt in Western Maharashtra, Pune, Solapur and Northern Mumbai.

Leonids from Mumbai

2009-11-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

I saw two Leonid meteors from Mumbai city yesterday night. One was a fantastic bolide which traversed almost the whole sky (160 degrees) from East to West burning with a trail of greenish yellow light burning brightly at around -6 magnitude. The other was a fainter one at -3 magnitude and burning bluish white from East to South for about 25 degrees.

Astronomy.com - Understanding the solar system

2009-09-05T03:10:00.001-07:00

Astronomy.com - Understanding the solar system

Shared via AddThis

TOTALITY FROM CHINA 2009

2009-08-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Total Solar Eclipse of 22nd July 2009 was a spectacular event and here you can see the pictures of the event at totality when the sun was covered completely by the moon and the otherwise invisible corona glowed softly from behind the moon. The pictures were taken with a Pentax MZ-5 camera with a Sigma 600mm mirror lens and Kodak 400 ISO print film for an exposure of one second. The observation site was at the Xi Xi Wetlands National Park near Hangzhou, China. Pictures by Aadil Desai of the Amateur Astronomers' Association (Bombay).

2006-02-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world of Aadil's Astronomy Space and Travels. I am sure you will be exited by seeing all the wonders of the universe as they are visible to the unaided eye and the stories and pictures of my travels around this small blue planet we call Earth!!! I have a dream and that is to see the borders of all the countries vanish into thin air and no wars on earth. "Imagine" (by John Lennon of The Beatles) is one of my favourite songs and I really hope one day my dream will come true!!!

Cheers,
Aadil.

Aadil's Astronomy Space and Travels

Enceladus rains water onto Saturn

Does Asteroid Vesta have a moon?

First images from the VLT Survey Telescope 268-megapixel camera

Heaven is a 'fairy story' says Stephen Hawking.

Lyrid Meteor Shower and Big Sun Spot Activity.

Spinning Asteroid Flyby

Astronomers identify thick disc of older stars in nearby Andromeda galaxy

Stereo view of our Sun

Six small planets orbiting a sun-like star amaze astronomers

Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

Fermi's Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

Happy New Year MMXI

SOHO SPOTS 2000TH COMET

SOHO is one of my favourite websites to see the sun's Corona and also see some sun grazing comets. And now it has discovered it's 2000th comet!!! Hope to someday discover one of my own comets too!!!

Aadil.

Sun-grazing spacecraft carries out slewing maneuver for the first time

Article about me in the Times of India Crest Edition.

Mail This Article

My Saved Articles

Bright New Comet In Morning Sky.

This story is courtesy Sky & Telescope Magazine Astro Alert.

Bright New Comet in the Morning Sky

This is an Astro Alert from Sky & Telescope.

Spaceweather news.

Space Weather Newsletter

klipsi

Back from Egypt and Israel!!!

Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

Off to Egypt!!!

Tremors felt in Mumbai.

Leonids from Mumbai

Astronomy.com - Understanding the solar system

TOTALITY FROM CHINA 2009