The disk and jet were supercomputed by John Hawley at the University of Virginia. The general relativistic rendering was done with the Black Hole Flight Simulator.
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Friday, 9 January 2015
Thursday, 24 July 2014
Saturday, 26 April 2014
The CAST Astro Sciences Pro-Am citizen science project has been producing excellent results, to date, in the area of asteroid research.
Our citizen scientist team has been progressively growing as we continue to recruit interested parties, and they have been providing excellent data on MBA & Kuiper Belt Objects as well as NEA's and PHA's.
Our citizen scientists are based globally, so working together they are able to provide a comprehensive tracking of targets of interest for reliable data analysis. We match their data collection with what we are doing with our research grade telescopes for a comprehensive analysis and include our new research methodology to determine any characteristics of these objects that have not been measured to date. In some cases our asteroid research methods have produced valuable results into their composition and physical characteristics.
Our citizen scientist team has been progressively growing as we continue to recruit interested parties, and they have been providing excellent data on MBA & Kuiper Belt Objects as well as NEA's and PHA's.
Our citizen scientists are based globally, so working together they are able to provide a comprehensive tracking of targets of interest for reliable data analysis. We match their data collection with what we are doing with our research grade telescopes for a comprehensive analysis and include our new research methodology to determine any characteristics of these objects that have not been measured to date. In some cases our asteroid research methods have produced valuable results into their composition and physical characteristics.
Monday, 24 March 2014
Asteroids & Asteroid Mining, why?
Asteroid mining, what's the point, why should we even bother, can we even do it, isn't this just the crazy plans of the insanely rich so they can get richer, wont this cause more harm than good?
Over the past year, I have had these questions or some variation, asked of me. I will try to outline the purpose of asteroid mining and just how it can benefit humanity.
1.) What's the point/why should we even bother?:
We know that asteroids are composed of a variety of materials that have value in some form, metals (both structural and precious) , carbonaceous chondrites, silicates, oxides, minerals, volatiles and organics. We can mine and process many of these to surplus our Earthly supply, reduce shortages and market rises. Certain materials can be returned to our planet and used in the production of valuable electronics, machinery, medical devices, transportation, space research & exploration equipment. Others can be used in Construction and Industrial sectors to reduce costs.
We can also recycle mined materials into space based developments such as mining and fuelling platforms, planetary habitats & space stations, power stations and more.
There are so many different possibilities that can be utilised with asteroid mining, but one of the most important is that it will fuel the further exploration and expansion into space, which is something we must progress towards if we look to achieve our full potential.
2.) Can we even do it?:
Yes, we can. Our advancing capability & expertise in mechanical engineering and robotics will be the key components in making this possible, companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are basing many of their plans via robotic systems, they have the R&D expertise and experience (many of the Planetary Resources team have direct experience on the Mars rovers) to make it a very real possibility, it may be some time off, but it is not science fiction, it is science fact.
3.) Isn't this just the crazy plans of the insanely rich so they can get richer?:
Is it? Not necessarily, yes there is significant profit to be made in this field, but many of the people behind asteroid mining have a forward focus more on benefiting society and reaching for the stars, than just the sole hunger for greater riches. The benefit of this venture being done privately by these people are the investment of greater resources and R&D into producing results and achieving success than if it were a government organisation solely relying on limited funding options, I see no issue with them profiting from it, as long as the primary focus is as I described.
4.) Wont this cause more harm than good?:
Realistically? No, there are millions to trillions of asteroids in our solar system, many of these have materials that can be used for a variety of purposes to benefit us on the planet, or in the further exploration of the solar system and moving out amongst the stars without causing any problems. Careful planning will be enacted before targets are mined, after all, what's the purpose of returning materials to the planet, or a manned habitation, if you deflect an asteroid into it and destroy it?
So, given that, we have to consider if we feel that asteroid mining is a feasible venture and worth doing for a variety of reasons, whether personal, religious, scientific or other.
Personally, I believe it is on both accounts, despite the ignorant criticism from some people that there are not enough asteroids in the solar system of size or type to make it worth mining, in reality we know that is just as I stated, ignorance. That criticism comes from people who are not directly involved with the aspects & research of asteroid mining, they make faulty assumptions on what it is that asteroid miners are after, they ignore the vast amount of available data on asteroids fully detailing mass, composition and physical characteristics, then publish papers and press releases about it to criticise something they have previously stated they are against, which is a straw man fallacy.
I do research with asteroids & comets, amongst other things, and personally I have observed and done data analysis on over 40 asteroids that meet all criteria for worthwhile mining targets, we also have a citizen science research team who continue to provide significant amounts of data for further targets that match in size, composition type and potential value for multiple purposes to make it more than a promising venture.
If we can reduce drastic shortages of much needed materials, if we can introduce greater resources of platinum group metals (PGM) for use in valuable electronic systems, machinery, medical equipment and devices which can increase production while at the same time reducing the overhead costs of these things, allowing for a continued profit and benefit to everyone as more people will purchase them and have access to the necessities of life, then why not attempt to make such things possible?
We will, of course, have to carefully plan all aspects of such an enterprise; what and where to mine, what to return to Earth and what to maintain as equity capital, what to keep in space and invest into our future plans for solar system exploration, coupled with the time to finish development and production of the robotic systems that will be engaging in asteroid mining, we will have some time yet to wait to continue evaluation, but even then, this is something we should seriously consider investing our time & effort into, with our full support. This is the first step into being the first generation in our entire history to move off planet and begin a new existence in space
Whom do we support in the asteroid mining field?
We know that there are two companies immediately vested in asteroid mining; Planetary Resources Inc. (PRI) and Deep Space Industries, both are looking into the methodology of selecting potential targets and mining their resources.
We, personally, favor Planetary Resources Inc. as we have worked with them and continue to do so in the venture of researching asteroids for mining candidates, a new field of astronomy which uses many of the tools that we use in non-commercial research, but has some different methodology and ways to it.
We have spoken with PRI's Chief Asteroid Miner, Chris Lewicki, on a few occasions as well as other members of their team. His background is in Aerospace Engineering and has been directly involved with the development of the Mars Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander, as well as being Flight Director for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Surface Mission Manager for Phoenix. His perspective on the need for asteroid mining is invigorating and gives an indication that Planetary Resources is being managed by some of the best people in the field who have significant experience in such ventures. Numerous members of the Planetary Resources team also come from a NASA background, having worked on the rovers, optical assemblies and other engineering areas, this makes PRI extremely well suited to this venture and is evidence of why they have the backing they do, from the people they do. .
For those unfamiliar with asteroids/comets, I have provided some simplified information on them below:
Asteroids & Comets:
Asteroids are small bodies of rock, minerals & metals and dust while comets are bodies of ice, small rock particles and dust that orbit the Sun and planets in our solar system. They are the left over debris from the time when the planets in our solar system formed, most are relatively small ranging from 5m to 1+ kilometres in radii up to 100+ kilometres, the largest asteroids (Ceres, Vesta, et al.) are classed as dwarf planets as they are very large bodies, but still too small to reach the size of a planet, there are also very few of this size body in the solar system.
The asteroid belt, more commonly known as the main asteroid belt, lays between the planets Mars and Jupiter, it is filled with a large amount of asteroids that consist mostly of rock, silicates, minerals and metals, which are what the planets of the inner solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are made of and are the remnants of the materials that made up these planets when they formed during the early days of our solar system.
In the outer solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) lays another asteroid belt, known as the Kuiper Belt. It starts just beyond the orbit of Neptune and goes outwards to 50 AU (AU stands for astronomical unit, 1 AU is the distance to the Sun from the planet Earth, roughly 93 million miles or 149,597,871 kilometres), this means that the Kuiper belt extends outwards very far away. It is larger than the main asteroid belt as it extends further, is wider and more massive, though where the main asteroid belt has asteroids made of rock, silicates, minerals and metals, the Kuiper Belt objects consist mostly of volatiles. Volatiles are ices such as water, ammonia and methane. The Kuiper Belt also has three dwarf planets within its bounds, these are Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake.
At the extreme outer edges of our solar system lays another type of asteroid belt known as the Oort Cloud, which begins at a distance of 50,000 AU, or nearly one light year, from the Sun. Like the Kuiper Belt, it consists mainly of volatile objects such as water, ammonia and methane ices. The Oort cloud also has an inner and outer region, but is only loosely connected to our solar system as a result of its distance, which means that it is effected by gravitational pulls from the Sun, passing stars and the Milky Way galaxy itself.
Asteroids have a number of different classes, some of the most common asteroid types are these:
C-type asteroids are carbonaceous (carbon, which can be a dark substance as in carbon or graphite or clear as in diamond), these are the most abundant type of asteroid in the solar system, roughly 75% of all known asteroids belong to this class, though this percentage could be higher as they are very dark which makes them difficult to observe without a telescope. They are rich in silicates (various types of rock), oxides ( silicon dioxides such as sand & quartz, iron oxides such as iron ore, aluminium oxides such as aluminium ore, carbon dioxides, etc.) and sulphides (minerals & metals containing sulphur, sulphur minerals consist of iron, copper, nickel, lead, cobalt, silver, and zinc.), the minerals olivine & serpentine are commonly found in these objects as well as large percentages of ice (3-22%).
B-type asteroids are a rare type of carbonaceous asteroid that are found mainly in the outer asteroid belt. They are volatile rich (in planetary science, volatiles are chemical elements and compounds with low boiling points, they are found in the crust & atmosphere of planets and moons. Some examples of volatiles are; nitrogen, water, carbon dioxide, ammonia,
hydrogen, methane and sulphur dioxide.) remnants from the early formation period of our
solar system.
P-type asteroids are another dark type asteroid with a low albedo (how bright an object is
when it reflects light. A low albedo means it does not reflect much light and is dark as a
result.), they consist of organic silicates and carbon, they may also have water ice in their
interiors. They are an asteroid type whose minerals may have been chemically altered by
water and are mostly found in the outer edges of the asteroid belt.
S-type asteroids are mostly a stony composition, which is why they are termed S-type, or
silicate type, asteroids. Roughly 17% of the known asteroid population are made of this type
asteroid, making it the 2nd most abundant class after the C-type asteroid family. S-type
asteroids are moderately brighter, making them easier to observe through telescopes, and
are mostly found in the inner and central regions of the main asteroid belt, they become very
rare in the outer regions of the belt. They are composed primarily of iron and magnesium
silicates (which can take the form of magnesium metals or stone & magnesium-silicate
minerals such as olivine, humite, enstatite and more.
M-type asteroids are a metal rich type, consisting mainly of stone and metallic iron, nickeliron
and platinum group metals (the amount of platinum group metals on just one 500 meter
asteroid exceeds the entire amount on our planet.). These asteroids are very bright and are
found mainly in the central region of the main asteroid belt.
They also have a few different family types, an asteroid family is a group of asteroids that
have the same or similar traits, such as their orbital trajectory & orbital inclination (it's angle from the
level galactic plane), their eccentricity ( how circular its orbit is) and its semi-major axis (half
of the major axis, or half of its total orbit, taken at the furthest point). They are grouped from
impact events, where a large object collided with another and broke apart into smaller
asteroids, or where an asteroid hit a planet and the debris that was thrown out into space
became such an asteroid family.
Comets:
Comets are icy bodies that vary in size from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometres, they are generally made up of collections of ice, dust and small rocky particles. They have different orbital periods, ranging from a few years for short-period comets (which generally come from the Kuiper Belt) to thousands & millions of years for long-period comets (which come from the Oort Cloud). When a comet comes close to our Sun and heats up, it displays a coma (a gaseous-dusty cloud around the main body) and a tail which can be quite long, some comets can become very bright at this stage and be easily visible without the need of a telescope, these comets become known as Great Comets (Halley's Comet, Comet Hale-Bopp, Comet Lovejoy, Comet Hyakutake, etc), some of the larger comets that become this bright are also visible during daytime hours.
Some comets leave behind large piles of debris (ice, dust, rock particles) as they pass the Sun that the Sun does not melt or blow away through its solar wind, if the Earth comes
across one of these piles as it orbits around the Sun in our solar system, we encounter a meteor shower, such as the Perseid and Leonid meteor showers.
Comets are different from asteroids in that they possess a coma, a gaseous-dusty cloud around the main body which resembles an atmosphere, and a tail which follows the main comet body. After they have orbited the Sun many times, they start to resemble small asteroids as the majority of their volatile ices have melted off from the heat of the Sun and pressure of its solar wind. The other main distinction between comets and asteroids are that asteroids formed mainly in the inner solar system with the rocky planets and comets formed mainly in the outer solar system where there are a lot of volatile ices.
There are currently 4.894 known comets, this number is steadily increasing as astronomers observe the solar system and the regions of the Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, due to the vast amount of volatile ices in these regions, it is estimated that there could be up to 1 trillion comets in the outer solar system.
Some of the different comet classes are:
Great Comets, these are the comets that become extremely bright as they pass the Sun, they become bright enough that we can see them without the aid of a telescope, some can even be seen by naked eye. Typically only one great comet happens every decade, though it is difficult to determine which comet will become such a one due to a number of factors, or if there could be more than one per decade.
Sungrazing comets, are comets that pass very close to the Sun, usually within a few million miles/kilometres, the smaller sungrazing comets can become completely evaporated while the larger comets can survive a few orbits before fading away. One of the most common families of sungrazing comets are Kreutz-Sungrazers, to which 90% of all sungrazing comets belong to. The Kreutz family all descended from one giant body that broke apart on its passage through the solar system, leaving behind a large proportion of smaller comets.
Unusual Comets, are comets with unusual properties, such as an orbital path that differs from the other comets, multiple tails, a small coma but large tail, or those that resemble asteroids more than a regular comet.
It has also been asked, how do we know so much about asteroids, I have provided a very simplified answer to that question, but which essentially covers the primary methods:
Over the past year, I have had these questions or some variation, asked of me. I will try to outline the purpose of asteroid mining and just how it can benefit humanity.
1.) What's the point/why should we even bother?:
We know that asteroids are composed of a variety of materials that have value in some form, metals (both structural and precious) , carbonaceous chondrites, silicates, oxides, minerals, volatiles and organics. We can mine and process many of these to surplus our Earthly supply, reduce shortages and market rises. Certain materials can be returned to our planet and used in the production of valuable electronics, machinery, medical devices, transportation, space research & exploration equipment. Others can be used in Construction and Industrial sectors to reduce costs.
We can also recycle mined materials into space based developments such as mining and fuelling platforms, planetary habitats & space stations, power stations and more.
There are so many different possibilities that can be utilised with asteroid mining, but one of the most important is that it will fuel the further exploration and expansion into space, which is something we must progress towards if we look to achieve our full potential.
2.) Can we even do it?:
Yes, we can. Our advancing capability & expertise in mechanical engineering and robotics will be the key components in making this possible, companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are basing many of their plans via robotic systems, they have the R&D expertise and experience (many of the Planetary Resources team have direct experience on the Mars rovers) to make it a very real possibility, it may be some time off, but it is not science fiction, it is science fact.
3.) Isn't this just the crazy plans of the insanely rich so they can get richer?:
Is it? Not necessarily, yes there is significant profit to be made in this field, but many of the people behind asteroid mining have a forward focus more on benefiting society and reaching for the stars, than just the sole hunger for greater riches. The benefit of this venture being done privately by these people are the investment of greater resources and R&D into producing results and achieving success than if it were a government organisation solely relying on limited funding options, I see no issue with them profiting from it, as long as the primary focus is as I described.
4.) Wont this cause more harm than good?:
Realistically? No, there are millions to trillions of asteroids in our solar system, many of these have materials that can be used for a variety of purposes to benefit us on the planet, or in the further exploration of the solar system and moving out amongst the stars without causing any problems. Careful planning will be enacted before targets are mined, after all, what's the purpose of returning materials to the planet, or a manned habitation, if you deflect an asteroid into it and destroy it?
So, given that, we have to consider if we feel that asteroid mining is a feasible venture and worth doing for a variety of reasons, whether personal, religious, scientific or other.
Personally, I believe it is on both accounts, despite the ignorant criticism from some people that there are not enough asteroids in the solar system of size or type to make it worth mining, in reality we know that is just as I stated, ignorance. That criticism comes from people who are not directly involved with the aspects & research of asteroid mining, they make faulty assumptions on what it is that asteroid miners are after, they ignore the vast amount of available data on asteroids fully detailing mass, composition and physical characteristics, then publish papers and press releases about it to criticise something they have previously stated they are against, which is a straw man fallacy.
I do research with asteroids & comets, amongst other things, and personally I have observed and done data analysis on over 40 asteroids that meet all criteria for worthwhile mining targets, we also have a citizen science research team who continue to provide significant amounts of data for further targets that match in size, composition type and potential value for multiple purposes to make it more than a promising venture.
If we can reduce drastic shortages of much needed materials, if we can introduce greater resources of platinum group metals (PGM) for use in valuable electronic systems, machinery, medical equipment and devices which can increase production while at the same time reducing the overhead costs of these things, allowing for a continued profit and benefit to everyone as more people will purchase them and have access to the necessities of life, then why not attempt to make such things possible?
We will, of course, have to carefully plan all aspects of such an enterprise; what and where to mine, what to return to Earth and what to maintain as equity capital, what to keep in space and invest into our future plans for solar system exploration, coupled with the time to finish development and production of the robotic systems that will be engaging in asteroid mining, we will have some time yet to wait to continue evaluation, but even then, this is something we should seriously consider investing our time & effort into, with our full support. This is the first step into being the first generation in our entire history to move off planet and begin a new existence in space
Whom do we support in the asteroid mining field?
We know that there are two companies immediately vested in asteroid mining; Planetary Resources Inc. (PRI) and Deep Space Industries, both are looking into the methodology of selecting potential targets and mining their resources.
We, personally, favor Planetary Resources Inc. as we have worked with them and continue to do so in the venture of researching asteroids for mining candidates, a new field of astronomy which uses many of the tools that we use in non-commercial research, but has some different methodology and ways to it.
We have spoken with PRI's Chief Asteroid Miner, Chris Lewicki, on a few occasions as well as other members of their team. His background is in Aerospace Engineering and has been directly involved with the development of the Mars Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander, as well as being Flight Director for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Surface Mission Manager for Phoenix. His perspective on the need for asteroid mining is invigorating and gives an indication that Planetary Resources is being managed by some of the best people in the field who have significant experience in such ventures. Numerous members of the Planetary Resources team also come from a NASA background, having worked on the rovers, optical assemblies and other engineering areas, this makes PRI extremely well suited to this venture and is evidence of why they have the backing they do, from the people they do. .
For those unfamiliar with asteroids/comets, I have provided some simplified information on them below:
Asteroids & Comets:
Asteroids are small bodies of rock, minerals & metals and dust while comets are bodies of ice, small rock particles and dust that orbit the Sun and planets in our solar system. They are the left over debris from the time when the planets in our solar system formed, most are relatively small ranging from 5m to 1+ kilometres in radii up to 100+ kilometres, the largest asteroids (Ceres, Vesta, et al.) are classed as dwarf planets as they are very large bodies, but still too small to reach the size of a planet, there are also very few of this size body in the solar system.
The asteroid belt, more commonly known as the main asteroid belt, lays between the planets Mars and Jupiter, it is filled with a large amount of asteroids that consist mostly of rock, silicates, minerals and metals, which are what the planets of the inner solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are made of and are the remnants of the materials that made up these planets when they formed during the early days of our solar system.
In the outer solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) lays another asteroid belt, known as the Kuiper Belt. It starts just beyond the orbit of Neptune and goes outwards to 50 AU (AU stands for astronomical unit, 1 AU is the distance to the Sun from the planet Earth, roughly 93 million miles or 149,597,871 kilometres), this means that the Kuiper belt extends outwards very far away. It is larger than the main asteroid belt as it extends further, is wider and more massive, though where the main asteroid belt has asteroids made of rock, silicates, minerals and metals, the Kuiper Belt objects consist mostly of volatiles. Volatiles are ices such as water, ammonia and methane. The Kuiper Belt also has three dwarf planets within its bounds, these are Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake.
At the extreme outer edges of our solar system lays another type of asteroid belt known as the Oort Cloud, which begins at a distance of 50,000 AU, or nearly one light year, from the Sun. Like the Kuiper Belt, it consists mainly of volatile objects such as water, ammonia and methane ices. The Oort cloud also has an inner and outer region, but is only loosely connected to our solar system as a result of its distance, which means that it is effected by gravitational pulls from the Sun, passing stars and the Milky Way galaxy itself.
Asteroids have a number of different classes, some of the most common asteroid types are these:
C-type asteroids are carbonaceous (carbon, which can be a dark substance as in carbon or graphite or clear as in diamond), these are the most abundant type of asteroid in the solar system, roughly 75% of all known asteroids belong to this class, though this percentage could be higher as they are very dark which makes them difficult to observe without a telescope. They are rich in silicates (various types of rock), oxides ( silicon dioxides such as sand & quartz, iron oxides such as iron ore, aluminium oxides such as aluminium ore, carbon dioxides, etc.) and sulphides (minerals & metals containing sulphur, sulphur minerals consist of iron, copper, nickel, lead, cobalt, silver, and zinc.), the minerals olivine & serpentine are commonly found in these objects as well as large percentages of ice (3-22%).
B-type asteroids are a rare type of carbonaceous asteroid that are found mainly in the outer asteroid belt. They are volatile rich (in planetary science, volatiles are chemical elements and compounds with low boiling points, they are found in the crust & atmosphere of planets and moons. Some examples of volatiles are; nitrogen, water, carbon dioxide, ammonia,
hydrogen, methane and sulphur dioxide.) remnants from the early formation period of our
solar system.
P-type asteroids are another dark type asteroid with a low albedo (how bright an object is
when it reflects light. A low albedo means it does not reflect much light and is dark as a
result.), they consist of organic silicates and carbon, they may also have water ice in their
interiors. They are an asteroid type whose minerals may have been chemically altered by
water and are mostly found in the outer edges of the asteroid belt.
S-type asteroids are mostly a stony composition, which is why they are termed S-type, or
silicate type, asteroids. Roughly 17% of the known asteroid population are made of this type
asteroid, making it the 2nd most abundant class after the C-type asteroid family. S-type
asteroids are moderately brighter, making them easier to observe through telescopes, and
are mostly found in the inner and central regions of the main asteroid belt, they become very
rare in the outer regions of the belt. They are composed primarily of iron and magnesium
silicates (which can take the form of magnesium metals or stone & magnesium-silicate
minerals such as olivine, humite, enstatite and more.
M-type asteroids are a metal rich type, consisting mainly of stone and metallic iron, nickeliron
and platinum group metals (the amount of platinum group metals on just one 500 meter
asteroid exceeds the entire amount on our planet.). These asteroids are very bright and are
found mainly in the central region of the main asteroid belt.
They also have a few different family types, an asteroid family is a group of asteroids that
have the same or similar traits, such as their orbital trajectory & orbital inclination (it's angle from the
level galactic plane), their eccentricity ( how circular its orbit is) and its semi-major axis (half
of the major axis, or half of its total orbit, taken at the furthest point). They are grouped from
impact events, where a large object collided with another and broke apart into smaller
asteroids, or where an asteroid hit a planet and the debris that was thrown out into space
became such an asteroid family.
Comets:
Comets are icy bodies that vary in size from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometres, they are generally made up of collections of ice, dust and small rocky particles. They have different orbital periods, ranging from a few years for short-period comets (which generally come from the Kuiper Belt) to thousands & millions of years for long-period comets (which come from the Oort Cloud). When a comet comes close to our Sun and heats up, it displays a coma (a gaseous-dusty cloud around the main body) and a tail which can be quite long, some comets can become very bright at this stage and be easily visible without the need of a telescope, these comets become known as Great Comets (Halley's Comet, Comet Hale-Bopp, Comet Lovejoy, Comet Hyakutake, etc), some of the larger comets that become this bright are also visible during daytime hours.
Some comets leave behind large piles of debris (ice, dust, rock particles) as they pass the Sun that the Sun does not melt or blow away through its solar wind, if the Earth comes
across one of these piles as it orbits around the Sun in our solar system, we encounter a meteor shower, such as the Perseid and Leonid meteor showers.
Comets are different from asteroids in that they possess a coma, a gaseous-dusty cloud around the main body which resembles an atmosphere, and a tail which follows the main comet body. After they have orbited the Sun many times, they start to resemble small asteroids as the majority of their volatile ices have melted off from the heat of the Sun and pressure of its solar wind. The other main distinction between comets and asteroids are that asteroids formed mainly in the inner solar system with the rocky planets and comets formed mainly in the outer solar system where there are a lot of volatile ices.
There are currently 4.894 known comets, this number is steadily increasing as astronomers observe the solar system and the regions of the Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, due to the vast amount of volatile ices in these regions, it is estimated that there could be up to 1 trillion comets in the outer solar system.
Some of the different comet classes are:
Great Comets, these are the comets that become extremely bright as they pass the Sun, they become bright enough that we can see them without the aid of a telescope, some can even be seen by naked eye. Typically only one great comet happens every decade, though it is difficult to determine which comet will become such a one due to a number of factors, or if there could be more than one per decade.
Sungrazing comets, are comets that pass very close to the Sun, usually within a few million miles/kilometres, the smaller sungrazing comets can become completely evaporated while the larger comets can survive a few orbits before fading away. One of the most common families of sungrazing comets are Kreutz-Sungrazers, to which 90% of all sungrazing comets belong to. The Kreutz family all descended from one giant body that broke apart on its passage through the solar system, leaving behind a large proportion of smaller comets.
Unusual Comets, are comets with unusual properties, such as an orbital path that differs from the other comets, multiple tails, a small coma but large tail, or those that resemble asteroids more than a regular comet.
It has also been asked, how do we know so much about asteroids, I have provided a very simplified answer to that question, but which essentially covers the primary methods:
Observational data; we measure the magnitude (M/m) variation of
asteroids over a period of time, this tells us it's mass (the specific
magnitude ((brightness)) of an asteroid indicates just how big/heavy it
is) and it's rotational period. We then can do further analysis off of
this data to determine it's orbit, eccentricity, inclination and speed
at a very reliable accuracy.
We can do further observational analysis by conducting spectrophotometry (measuring it's magnitude at different EM wavelengths), this provides detail about it's composition.
We do further analysis with spectrometry, each element/mineral/volatile emits/absorbs light at different frequencies, so we measure asteroids in optical & infrared spectrometry which tells us what they are made of, the specific wavelength magnitude details the mass (or how much) of that specific element/mineral/volatile is in an asteroid.
Meteorites: we take meteorite fragments and run them through electron microscopes, mass spectrometers and carbon date them for the best analysis of what that specific asteroid is made of.
Asteroids belong to a family type (same/similar asteroids of a specific composition, orbital trajectory and inclination) so as we run the above data analysis on them we can make very accurate estimations of the other members of that family.
There's more to it than that, but simplified, that describes how we learn about asteroids and know so much about them.
We can do further observational analysis by conducting spectrophotometry (measuring it's magnitude at different EM wavelengths), this provides detail about it's composition.
We do further analysis with spectrometry, each element/mineral/volatile emits/absorbs light at different frequencies, so we measure asteroids in optical & infrared spectrometry which tells us what they are made of, the specific wavelength magnitude details the mass (or how much) of that specific element/mineral/volatile is in an asteroid.
Meteorites: we take meteorite fragments and run them through electron microscopes, mass spectrometers and carbon date them for the best analysis of what that specific asteroid is made of.
Asteroids belong to a family type (same/similar asteroids of a specific composition, orbital trajectory and inclination) so as we run the above data analysis on them we can make very accurate estimations of the other members of that family.
There's more to it than that, but simplified, that describes how we learn about asteroids and know so much about them.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Citizen Scientists: We Need You
Citizen science is an important aspect of any science field, the collaboration & cooperation of additional researchers and data analysers can make such a positive contribution and save a significant amount of time enabling scientists to do further work that would otherwise be held back.
I work with a research group that is partnered with the private space firm, Planetary Resources Inc., who some of you may have heard of. They are involved with the concept of mining asteroids and they developed the first publicly accessible space telescope (the ARKYD-100) which will be put into LEO (low Earth orbit) later this year, this is a first of it's kind and enables the public to use an advanced scientific instrument to image most astronomical objects without the planetary issues of time and weather distortion.
We are collaborating with them and some additional partners for the purpose of asteroid & comet research. The research project will be monitoring and tracking both known and newly discovered NEO's (near Earth objects), PHA's (potentially hazardous asteroids), main belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojans, comets and specific fields.
We're asking assistance from citizen scientists to help with observing these objects, as the more data we are able to collect, the better we can assess target trajectory, mass, rotational period, astrometry and additional details, our science team will be doing similar observations, but using astronomical research methods and tools to enable greater understanding of these objects than we have had before. Those citizen scientists who are currently contributing to this project, and those that join during the continued project period, are providing important information on these objects that the science team is not able to measure due to time & resource constraints (we have to focus on the scientific analysis we are doing), this contributes to greater scientific analysis and understanding of these objects and assists the scientific community and the public to learn the same about them.
If you have participated in citizen scientist research before, as a direct researcher, or doing data analysis through the Zooniverse project (they are a partner of ours as well) or other, and would be interested in becoming involved with this project, we ask that you contact us through this blog, so that we may discuss in greater detail what you will be doing.
All of our citizen science partners receive full credit and citation for their observations & data analysis, whether that be in data submission to various organisations and groups, research papers, or in press releases.
I work with a research group that is partnered with the private space firm, Planetary Resources Inc., who some of you may have heard of. They are involved with the concept of mining asteroids and they developed the first publicly accessible space telescope (the ARKYD-100) which will be put into LEO (low Earth orbit) later this year, this is a first of it's kind and enables the public to use an advanced scientific instrument to image most astronomical objects without the planetary issues of time and weather distortion.
We are collaborating with them and some additional partners for the purpose of asteroid & comet research. The research project will be monitoring and tracking both known and newly discovered NEO's (near Earth objects), PHA's (potentially hazardous asteroids), main belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojans, comets and specific fields.
We're asking assistance from citizen scientists to help with observing these objects, as the more data we are able to collect, the better we can assess target trajectory, mass, rotational period, astrometry and additional details, our science team will be doing similar observations, but using astronomical research methods and tools to enable greater understanding of these objects than we have had before. Those citizen scientists who are currently contributing to this project, and those that join during the continued project period, are providing important information on these objects that the science team is not able to measure due to time & resource constraints (we have to focus on the scientific analysis we are doing), this contributes to greater scientific analysis and understanding of these objects and assists the scientific community and the public to learn the same about them.
If you have participated in citizen scientist research before, as a direct researcher, or doing data analysis through the Zooniverse project (they are a partner of ours as well) or other, and would be interested in becoming involved with this project, we ask that you contact us through this blog, so that we may discuss in greater detail what you will be doing.
All of our citizen science partners receive full credit and citation for their observations & data analysis, whether that be in data submission to various organisations and groups, research papers, or in press releases.
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