CAJ 9: The Look into the Future of Space Telescopes/ The James Webb Space Telescope

Now we know about the two famous space telescopes that changed our notion of the Universe and helped many astronomers around the world in analyzing phenomena like the black hole, dark matter, or planets orbiting other stars. But how does the future look for space telescopes. Hubble had already five servicing missions and the Kepler Mission will also only work for maybe this decade and not longer. What will come after that? Considering that the technologies that these telescopes are using are considered to be outdated compared to the  technological advancements already existing, the question occurs what will the future space telescopes be like?

The answer to this question is The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), or formerly known as The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). The Primary funding bodies are the NASA, The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Supposedly it will be launched in 2018 (approximately when the Kepler Mission's current mission status is over). It's Mission is to observe the Universe and study its origins and the first galaxies. From the Big Bang to the formation of solar systems and the planets in those solar systems, it will give us insight into the history of our Universe. It will be the successor of Hubble but technologically it will be much more advanced.

The Telescope itself will be enormous in size. Alone the sunshield will approximately be the size of a tennis court. The Mirror of the telescope will be 6.5 meters in diameter. This is nearly three times bigger than that of Hubble (2.4 m). As the size of the sunshield is bigger in width than the rocket used that launches it, the telescope, with its shield will only be unfolded when it has arrived in space.


The observatory itself consists of three main parts. The Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) which is responsible for housing the cameras and the instruments. The Optical Telescope Element (OTE), which is the Eye of the Observatory. It comprises two mirrors one primary and one secondary mirror and a backplane which is the spine of the mirrors. These mirrors collect the sunlight and direct it towards the science instruments. The primary mirror consists of 18 hexagonal parts that are connected to each other and will only unfold when the observatory is in space. The Mirror itself is made of metal beryllium and is coated with gold. The second mirror, similarly like the Hubble Telescope, is reflecting the sunlight collected by the primary mirror and concentrates it towards the science instruments.  The third main part is the spacecraft bus, which is responsible for supporting functions. The six subsystems that keep the telescope functioning are located in the spacecraft bus. The Electrical Power Subsystem, the Attitude Control Subsystem, the Communication Subsystem, the Command and Data Handling Subsystem, the Propulsion Subsystem, and the Thermal Control Subsystem are all essential for the telescope to function properly.

These are only the main parts of the observatory. However, the Telescope consists of many more other elements.

The Telescope observes mainly the infrared light that comes from very distant objects, but by simply functioning, the System itself emits infrared light. For this reason the Spacecraft is also applied with a sunshield that protects it from overheating and from swamping the incoming light with infrared light emitted from the systems of the telescope. 


The already mentioned ISIM will be the heart of the telescope and includes four elements: 

Near-Infrared Camera - primary imager

Near-Infrared Spectrograph - disperses incoming light into a spectrum to analyze

Mid-Infrared Instrument - has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum

Fine Guidance Sensor - allows the telescope to point precisely All of these systems are the most sophisticated technologies that are currently known. This telescope will help humanity discover things that we do not even know about yet. Maybe even life on another planet. Take care, Harald

PS: Looks like Star Wars is becoming reality huh? :D

CAJ 8: The Hubble Telescope - Optics (part 3)

How is it possible that a telescope can view stars that are more hundred or even thousand light-years away? What optical device is capable of picturing galaxies that are so far away that we cannot even conceive the enormous distances?

It is not only the fact that it does not have to look through our polluted atmosphere, but also the "eyes" of Hubble. The eyes of Hubble have also a real name that is the Optical Telescope Assembly. This system is designed to offer the widest possible field of view. The system consists of two main mirrors, apertures and supporting trusses.

As the light strikes the telescope, it enters the tube, which prevents stray light to enter the telescope. After it entered the tube it passes the first optical glass. Than it strikes the first mirror that is shaped like an upside down bowl. This mirror is called the concave. Because of the shape of the mirror, it diverts the light and reflects it to the centre of the optical glass in which the second convex shaped mirror can be found. This mirror directs the light again to the first mirror. The first mirror has a hole in the Center where the light can enter and can reach its focal point right where the science instruments are placed. This basic model is called the

Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain. 

The main mirror measures 2.4 meters in diameter. The smaller mirror that redirects the light towards the science instruments is only 0.3 meters in diameter. The focal plane where the light gets picked up is roughly the size of a dinner plate. 

The mirrors are developed in a very special way. They are treated with abrasives so that the surface of the mirrors is perfectly smooth. The mirrors are designed so that they do not deviate from a perfect curve by more than 1/800,000th of an inch. To help you understand this I use an example. The mirrors are so smooth that if the mirror were as big as the Earth in Diameter, the biggest bump would be 6 inches tall. 
The mirrors are made of ultra-low expansion glass and are kept constantly at the same temperature. This prevents the glass from cracking or warping. The surfaces are coated with a very thin layer of aluminum and a similarly thin layer of protecting magnesium-fluoride. The magnesium-fluoride allows the mirrors to be even more reflective to ultraviolet light. 

In the first post I already mentioned the first problems of the telescope with the mirrors and blurry images. This was because of the primary mirror. After the telescope was launched and the first images were sent to Earth, it became apparent that something is wrong with the telescope as the images are all very blurry. This was because the primary mirror had a flaw called spherical aberration. The outer edge of the mirror was four microns flatter than intended. Four microns equal approximately one-fiftieth of a single human hair.

During the first servicing mission this problem was solved by putting small corrective mirrors on the primary mirror. After this the images became much sharper and the telescope could start to function properly. During the fourth servicing mission the corrective mirrors were replaced by an instrument called Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. This device breaks down the light reaching the telescope. By analyzing these light waves, scientists can determine the density and chemical components of a planet. This technology was a major development and improved the telescope's sensitivity up to 10 times, especially the sensitivity to ultra-violet light. 

How instant photographs work

Instant photography is remarkable because it encompasses every individual step of photography, from the actual taking of a photograph to the developing process. The instant camera has basically a built in dark room, where traditionally the photographs are developed. The film in the instant camera is a piece of plastic paper with many layers, containing light-sensitive grains. Every layer reacts to another color. While regular film has only the layers with the light-sensitive grains, instant film contains every necessary chemical substance required for developing the photograph. First there are additional layers of developing chemicals between every light-sensitive layer. These layers are all placed on a base layer or also called black layer.  Above these light-sensitive layers is the image layer the timing layer, the acid layer and a clear plastic layer that covers up the whole picture. The arrangement of the layers is crucial for the chemical reaction to be set in motion. The reagent chemical is the essential component that causes the reaction. It  is  collected in a bulb on the side of the paper. When taking a picture, the light-sensitive layers absorb the light energy. When this happened, the film is pushed through two stainless steel rolls that break the bulb and spreads the reagent across the picture. The reagent is pressed in right between the image layer and the light-sensitive layer. This reagent contains opacifiers and alkali, which both react with the light-sensitive layer and the layers above. It starts the chemical reaction in the light-sensitive layers by changing the particles into metallic silver. Then the particles that were struck by the light, travel up into the image layer. After the film was tossed through the rolls, it comes out of the camera but the image is not visible yet. This is because the chemical reaction has not ended yet. The opacifiers in the reagent allows the film to be exposed to light because it blocks the light from reaching the other layers. The acid layer in reaction with alkali will make the opacifiers become clear. The timing layer is responsible for slowing down the reagent, to give the film enough time to develop. This is the reason why it takes some time until the image becomes visible on the film.

[374 words]

CAJ 7: The Hubble Space Telescope / The Spacecraft (part 2)

In my last post I introduced the Hubble Space Telescope and its importance for planetary science and humanity in general. In this post I would like to introduce the telescope in somewhat more detail. I will take the Spacecraft apart, to introduce every aspect of this significant apparatus individually.

As Hubble is the first telescope in space, it was a forerunner in every sense. The outer-space conditions are often severe and to achieve the best results possible and to maintain the high performance of the telescope several spacecraft support systems are in place to keep the telescope functioning.  Over the operation time of Hubble, it had experienced many major upgrades to ensure that the telescope is always in compliance with the latest advancements of technology. To introduce the technology behind it, I am going to separate the spacecraft systems according to Housing, Communication, Power, Computers.

The Housing:

The Housing of the telescope is basically the flesh and bones of the Spacecraft. It is the layer that protects it from the severe conditions in space and the skeleton that houses every single instrument. For example, solar winds and  sudden changes in temperature are very frequent conditions that can come very sudden and unexpected. Therefore, the telescope has to be equipped with the appropriate technologies to protect it.

The multi-layered insulation (MSI) on the telescope makes it appear as if it would be covered with Gold. It is a layer that protects the telescope from thermal radiation and dust impacts. The layer consists of many sheets, often with a solid layer, for example beta cloth, which is a fireproof silica fiber cloth.

Another layer of insulation was added during a servicing Mission in 2009. The New Outer Blanket Layers (NOBLs). This layer consists of sixteen thin layers of dimpled aluminized Kapton material that are covered by an outer aluminized Teflon shell. This layer serves to protect the telescope from radiation and prevents the inner systems from overheating by simply reflecting the sun rays.

Under these layers is the Skeleton of the telescope. It is a light-weight aluminum shell that holds the parts together. It houses the optical devices and the supporting instruments.

Power:

The Telescope is powered by sun rays, as it could hardly be connected to Earth. As the telescope has to power radio transmitters, computers and scientific instruments, it requires much electricity. On the side of the tube (optics, main body), two blue solar arrays are installed that are covered in a solar cell blanket. These wing-like arrays convert sunlight into electricity. These arrays are designed to be easily replaced by an astronaut. They can even be folded for shuttle trips.

The telescope has also batteries that ensure that it can operate while it orbits in Earth`s shadow.

Communication:

Hubble receives instructions from the Flight Operations Team at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and it performs the actions according to the instructions. With a very sensitive antenna it can capture the transmitted signs and send the data to Earth. It transmits the collected data to a Tracking and Data Relay System (TDSR) that consists of five satellites. These satellites then transmit the data to Earth. The telescope has to be in line of sight with at least on of the five satellites to transmit and receive information. While it is in line of sight of one satellite, scientist can perform direct changes in the pointing of the telescope and fine tune their observations. 

(As the telescope receives the commands well in advance, this is usually not necessary.)

In case a satellite is not in sight, the telescope has a special data recorder that can store the information until the satellite is in sight again.

Computers and Automation:

In order to run properly, the Hubble Telescope requires many computers and microprocessors.  It is equipped with two main computers that look like the belt that surrounds the main body of the telescope. One of which is responsible for the communication, the receiving and sending of data and forwarding the instructions to the individual instruments. The other main computer runs the gyroscopes, the pointing system, the optical devices (will be explained in another post) and other system-wide functions. There are also additional backup computers that keep Hubble safe in the event of a problem.

There are many more small computers in the individual parts of the telescope that help to collect the data, open and close the exposure shutter,  direct the rotation of the filter wheels and maintain the temperature of the instruments. These smaller computers and microprocessors are all connected to the main computers.

Further posts about the optical devices and how they function will follow.
Take care,
Harald

Zombie Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to introduce mathematical models that can be applied to any scenario imaginable. The models help to illustrate and calculate any given scenario or possible outcome.  The scope of this paper is to give a detailed equation on how to calculate all the possible results of a disease expanding very fast. In this case the example of a zombie infection is used to demonstrate the dynamic applicability of the models. By incorporating realistic factors and assumptions, the models illustrate the possible outcomes of a zombie apocalypse and also the recommended solutions to avoid the eradication of humanity.  The paper first introduces a basic model, which only works with a limited amount of possibilities. Further models are introduced in which more factors are incorporated and the mathematical possibilities become more and more realistic throughout the paper. It becomes apparent that with these mathematical equations any realistic or even unrealistic scenario can be illustrated and it can be expanded upon unlimited assumptions and factors. These mathematical models are important as they can help to model biological processes or in this case they could help us to develop a strategy for fighting off a zombie infection and prevent a zombie apocalypse from exterminating humanity .This paper reveals the fact that with mathematical analysis anything can be modeled and calculated, therefore dangerous outcomes can be avoided beforehand. 

[249 words]

CAJ 6 - The Importance of The Hubble Telescope (post 1)

From Greek philosophers to scientists of the Renaissance, all looked up at the sky to find answers for questions yet undiscovered. The Universe and its undiscovered mysteries were always a major source of inspiration and one of the biggest question of humankind.

When in 1990 the NASA launched its first space telescope named Hubble, we came one step closer to the answer of our questions. The launch of the telescope marked the most significant advance in astronomy and planetary science since Galileo directed his telescope to the sky.

Everything began in 1962, when the National Academies of Science put forward a request for developing a space telescope. Only in the 70's did the NASA devote attention to this idea. Bob O'Dell was the first project scientist of the Hubble project, which at time was not even funded. Many years O'Dell worked tirelessly on promoting the idea to the NASA but they did not believe in the feasibility and the advantage of observing our Galaxy outside of our atmosphere. Finally in 1983 the Space Telescope Science Institute was established and seven years later they launched Hubble, the first telescope in space.

As the mirror of the telescope had the wrong shape on the edges, the first pictures appeared blurry. Another problem, which the scientists did not consider, was the shaking of the telescope due to the strong blow of solar winds. Luckily the telescope was designed to be serviceable constantly. Therefore, three years later in 1993 the mirror of the telescope was upgraded and the image appeared sharp. Since then the telescope has been upgraded numerous times and is always kept up-to-date with recent inventions.

The contribution of the Hubble telescope is unquestionable. Many discoveries and  theories emerging from those discoveries can be attributed to it. Hubble provided evidence that the Universe's expansion was accelerating. This was a milestone for physics, as till then scientists believed that it was slowing. This was achieved by observing a dying star. By observing this supernova, scientists could calculate its distance that was much farther away than predicted.
For physics this meant a discovery as important as General Relativity.

Connected to the observation of supernovas, the Hubble telescope also contributed to another big discovery. Dark matter is one of the biggest clues of science. The Hubble Telescope was constantly observing the violent death of stars. The light of these dying stars was spotted and their distance could be calculated. These distances are bigger than expected and without the added force of dark matter, the Universe could not expand so fast.

The Hubble Telescope revealed us how unbelievably complex and beautiful our Universe is. It captured images of Galaxies and dying Stars and phenomenoms that are still unexplained.

More about the importance, discoveries and achievements of the Hubble Telescope will follow.

How to prevent a time-traveling assassinator from killing Hitler

Instructional text

How to prevent a time-traveling assassinator from killing Hitler

what you will need:

- a time-machine

- good negotiation skills

- a gun

- a mega-doses of methamphetamine

Step one:

Acquire a time-machine as the one in the picture below and read the instruction manual carefully.

Step two:

Do some test travels to make sure you know how it works.

Step three:
If you are willing to kill a person that wants to kill another person: buy a gun at the local gun shop and  travel to the time the assassinator was planning his attempt. If the time is right, shoot him in the head with the gun. Mission accomplished.

If you want to prevent the assassinator from killing Hitler without the cost of a human life than you need a more elaborate plan.

Step four:  

Travel to the time when the assassinator was planning his attempt against Hitler and spy on him until you know all the details of his plan.

Step five:

Make up a fake identity and try to convince the assassinator that he should not attempt to kill Hitler. Tell him that you are from the alternative future in which he succeeded in killing Hitler and that the consequences that his early death brought about are very severe.

Step six:

If the assassinator believes you than the mission is accomplished and you can travel back to your time.

If he does not believe you, then set your time machine for the date when Hitler was still alive,  three days before the planned assassination.

Step seven:

Tell Hitler everything about the planned assassination and advise him to go into hide.

In case he does not believe you, you might want to reconsider simply killing the assassinator as suggested in step two.

Step eight:

Escort Hitler to the Eagle’s Nest and make sure no one knows about it. This is necessary because later there will be no historic records about his whereabouts at that time.

Step eight:

Put a mega-doses of methamphetamine in Hitler’s orange juice and travel back to your own time. Hitler will go insane because of the mega-doses of methamphetamine and he will make decisions that will later cause his fall.

[351 words]

GROUP Instructional text - camera lucida

http://orsolyagabriella.blogspot.co.at/2014/05/group-instructional-text-camera-lucida.html

CAJ 5: The Flower-shaped Star Shade.

The Kepler Mission is very important in detecting earth-like planets but it is not capable of studying the features of the planet in more detail. As the light of the star is too intense to analyze the orbiting planet. It’s  challenging to observe a planet orbiting another star, because the bigger the distance the paler and dimmer the image. The star is too bright and the planet too close to the star. Even though the atmosphere that would smear the light is not a problem in space (as there is no atmosphere) the light scatter and the diffraction in the telescope are still problems that need to be addressed.


There are many suggestions to resolve this problems but the most obvious and promising one is the flower-shaped star shade. This is an occulting device that blocks the starlight and thus it can not even enter the optical path.One of the major advantages of the star shade is that this construction is feasible with existing technology.  This device helps the telescope to achieve a much more detailed image of the terrestrial bodies around the star. In order to minimize the diffracted light, the distance between the telescope and the star shade must be around 40.000 kilometers. The star shade must be approximately 50 meters in diameter and the optic of the telescope diffraction limited and at least 1 meter in diameter to achieve the deepest shadow.

The star shade and the telescope would be one spacecraft and only in space they would separate and move away from each other. In order to receive the best results possible , the star shade is equipped with small thrusters that help to remain in position while observing the bodies around the star in more detail. The form of the star shade is important. Without the “leafs” around it, the light waves would still be too strong to achieve a detailed image of the planets around it. Scientists worked on this star shade tirelessly, for a long time. After numerous mathematical calculations and several prototypes, they suggested this shape, as it helps to control the fraction of the light.

This invention will help us to discover and analyze planets for liquid water and oxygen. It will help the telescopes to photograph major features of the chosen planets, like oceans or mountains. Another important advantage of this invention is that it is within the budgetary scope of NASA and it is within the reach of existing technology.


http://newworlds.colorado.edu/info/documents/CashNatureJuly2006.pdf

http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_kasdin_the_flower_shaped_starshade_that_might_help_us_detect_earth_like_planets?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=awesm-bookmarklet&awesm=on.ted.com_c08UP&utm_medium=on.ted.com-facebook-share&utm_campaign=#

CAJ 4: Breaking News: Kepler 186-f

On April 17th, NASA's Kepler Team announced the discovery of a planet in the habitable zone. This is a major step forward in the discovery of an Earth-like planet and a milestone for the Kepler Mission. Until recently, scientists only discovered  planets that were 40 % larger than Earth with similar properties but with the discovery of Kepler-186f, the Team can declare that there are planets similar to Earth in size and are in the habitable zone of their star, outside of our Solar system.

Kepler 186-f is claimed to be a rocky planet but scientists have to calculate the mass and density of the planet. Therefore, further analysis has to be done before drawing a conclusion. As the planet has the right size and is in the middle of the habitable zone of its star, the chance that it has liquid water is high. The temperature of the planet depends also on its atmosphere, for this reason it is not confirmed to be habitable yet.

 The planet is 500 light years away from us. The star that it orbits is half the size and dimmer than our Sun. Kepler 186f orbits its Star every 130 days. The star has  four  other planets ( Kepler186-b,c,d,e) that are all much closer to their Sun. They whiz around their Sun every 3 to 22 days, making them too hot to be habitable.

Scientists refer to Kepler186-f not as Earth-twin but as Earth-cousin. It has many properties that resemble Earth, but it gets less energy from its star than Earth gets from our Sun. On the surface of Kepler-186f the brightness of its star at high noon is only as intense as our Sun would appear for us an hour before sunset.

Only now I start to realize how important this Mission is. My CAJ topic brings, from day to day, new discoveries to light, which are in my eyes, very important historic events.

Descriptive Text - Group Work

Descriptive Text - Boy With The Toy Hand Grenade http://tiana-afterglow.blogspot.co.at/2014/04/descriptive-text-boy-with-toy-hand.html

CAJ 3: Still searching for our new home/ planet categories / Kepler 16-b

Now that I have introduced briefly the Kepler Mission, I want to talk a little bit more about the planet candidates and discoveries that the mission has brought to light.

To categorize the planets, scientist have created a "Periodic Table of Exoplanets". This system  helps the scientists to classify the newly discovered planets into six main categories. They differentiate planets
by mass/size and three temperature subgroups. This makes 18 categories in total. The three temperature groups are cold zone, warm zone (habitable zone) and hot zone. According to mass and size there are 6 groups, which are mercurian, subterran, terran, superterran( these four constitute the terrestrial planets), neptunians and jovians (these are called the gas giants). Mercurian planets are approximately the size of our Moon or Mercury and they are atmosphere-less low mass planets. Subterran planets are comparable to Mars, terrans are planets like the Earth, superterran is the only group for which our solar-system has no example. Neptunian, as the name already tells, is the category in which the planets are as big as Neptune, and jovian planets are in our solar-system Jupiter or Saturn or even bigger.
























On this picture you can see the confirmed exoplanets that are known by the NASA. The number in the
middle of each picture shows how many of these planets have been discovered so far. In the upper right corner you can also see the multiple number of stellar systems.



These are only the confirmed planets. The Kepler Mission has discovered many more planets, which aren't yet confirmed to be one. In order to confirm that a planet candidate is a planet it must regularly orbit a star with the same transit time. For earth like planets in the habitable zone this means that it has to transit a star for three years to make sure it is one.

 This picture shows how many planet candidates the Kepler Mission helped to discover. As you may see, there are many warm superterran planets outside of our solar system, which are particularly interesting for the scientists. They haven't had the chance to take probes or analyze them closer and as there are no superterran planets in our solar system, the scientists are very curious about their features.

In September 2011 the Kepler Mission announced a discovery which was for many science-fiction fans a day to remember. The Kepler Telescope discovered a planet that orbits two suns. This planet is 200 light-years away from Earth. The solar system is called the Kepler 16 and the name of the planet is Kepler 16-b. The planet is outside of the habitable zone and is said to be a cold world without liquid water. It orbits both stars every 226 days. The discovery was made when the Kepler Scientists discovered a second object transiting the main star that turned out to be a second star. It has a smaller orbit and that means that it orbits the main star faster than Kepler 16-b.The stars are both smaller than our sun. The fact that a phenomenon like this exists shows how mysterious and diverse our Universe is. The reason why most science-fiction fans are interested in this is because Star Wars worked with a similar concept, without knowing about the existence of the phenomenon.

Narrative article homework: North-Korea

Kim (12) is sitting on the shoulder of his father, curiously looking in the way everyone else is looking. The boy asks his father, ”Daddy what is going on? Why are we here?” The father’s answer is very simple and straightforward, ”I brought you here for one reason. I want you to learn that disrespecting your country will only lead to death.” The boy looks at the sunken face of his father with disappointment. Soon after a young man appears on a stage in front of the crowd. On his arms are handcuffs and he is followed by two guards. The boy can see the beaten but proud face of the young man on the stage. The son does not ask anymore, he just looks in the eyes of the young man and the young man stares back at him. After the guards announced the accusation, they simply shot the man in the head. At first Kim did not believe what happened and covered his eyes with his hands but his father took his hands and persuaded him to watch further. Nine more persons would follow and Kim had to look in the eye of all of them. While the crowd applauded, Kim’s face was sear and without any emotion. His father told him that this is a lesson he should never forget. Fortunately Kim never did and he is one of the few who could escape from the cruel and unforgiving hands of North-Korea. He is now here to tell his story.

Article Analysis: Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now?

The article "Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now?" written by Ben Makuch was published in the Vice Magazine. One could argue that the magazine isn't a scientific journal but as the interviewed person, called Rich Terrile is a well-regarded scientist who works simultaneously for the NASA and is writing a book about this subject, we can assume his credibility. Furthermore, Rich Terrile corroborates his arguments by naming respected scientists who already dealt with this hypothesis, for example Ray Kurzweil or Nick Bostom and at one point he also quotes Einstein to support his argument. As the magazine is trying to attract younger audiences, the colloquial language could be seen as intrinsic ethos. Logos is also present in the article. For example, Rick Terrile says that the universe is pixelated and that the pixels can't be broken down into smaller entities, thus the universe is logically finite. The other logical assumption we can find in the text is the reference to Moore's Law, which assumes that the computing power doubles every two years. If the universe is finite and the technical advances keep accelerating, then at some point in time the universe will be computable. Pathos is used several times in the article. Already in the introduction we can feel an appeal to the audience's sense of identity, because he writes:"It's an idea that every college student with a gravity bong and The Matrix on DVD has thought of before ". Always when he compares real life with video games he tries to affect the reading audience as they can draw an analogy to something that they might very much like. This also requires the readers to have some kind of knowledge about video games. 

CAJ 2 - Planetary Science - The Kepler Mission

My first step towards the exploration of the Universe is a NASA mission that provides us with the most recent discoveries that were considered to be science-fiction but are now scientific reality.

The Kepler Mission is one of the most important ongoing missions in planetary science. The main purpose of the Kepler Mission is to find Earth-like planets in the extrasolar system. This means, planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system. Basically this mission is supposed to find our new home. It is a real challenge to find an Earth-like planet, even in the extrasolar system. The conditions needed for living organisms are many: a solid surface, the right temperature, liquid water, an atmosphere that provides air to breath. All these conditions have to be present at once. As the chance for a planet being at exactly the right distance from it's star and being composed of the right substance and material and being Earth-sized, is very low, scientists have  to work  hard to find a planet that fulfils all of these criteria and is thus habitable.

The main device of this mission is the Kepler Telescope. The Kepler Telescope was launched in March 2009 and the initially planed lifetime was three and a half years. As the noise while progressing the data from the incoming photons of the stars was greater than expected, the mission will last longer than originally expected. If the telescope remains intact, the mission will be funded till 2016. The telescope has detected 961 extrasolar planets in more than 76 stellar systems. All of these planets vary in size, composition and mass.

The telescope operates with a photometer (device to measure light intensity). While orbiting the Sun, the photometer points to one direction in the northern constellation of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco. This is right next to the well-known Milky Way.
The squares on the picture show the field of view the telescope analyses permanently.

The photometer measures the light intensity of these stars in that field of view, and if a planet orbits the star, then the brightness of the star changes. This change in light intensity is detected by the photometer. The
phenomenon when a planet orbits the star is called transit.  The size of the planet can be calculated by the time it takes the planet to orbit the star and by the decrease in brightness that is detected by the photometer. By knowing the orbital size and the temperature of the star, the temperature of the planet can be calculated. This is crucial, as the Kepler Mission searches for habitable planets and by this calculation it knows which stars are worth further analyzing.

The telescope has a 0.95 meter diameter which is the already mentioned photometer. It has an exceptionally large view of 105 square degrees. A normal telescope has a field of view of 1 square degree (square degree is a measure similar to degree that helps measuring parts of a circle but square degree is used to measure parts of a sphere).  By providing the telescope with such a large diameter, it is capable to observe a very big field of view. The telescope is permanently looking at more than 100.000 stars and simultaneously analyzing the incoming data.

The telescope and the team working on this mission, have made many new discoveries. For example, planets orbiting two suns like in Star Wars, aren't fiction anymore but reality. Scientific reality.

Further discoveries and information about the Kepler Mission will follow.
Stay tuned.

Resources:
http://kepler.nasa.gov/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyjbJ3Rw7Cs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q86E2abw4AY

PSA/ADVERTISEMENT

As this topic really awakened my interest, I decided to do a PSA and an advertisement.

PSA:

DEATH! 

What a horrible sounding word, though it is as natural as birth. Loosing someone you love is a very hard thing, but a natural one.  People have been confronted with it since ever. 

Show some respect to the person who died and don't mess with his/her fake identity.

Advertisement:

Which way do YOU choose for grieving?

 An after-death avatar helps. Alcohol doesn't.


Resources: 

http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Health/660/371/Using%20Computer.JPG?ve=1&tl=1

http://www.contextview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Dependency-to-Alcohol.jpg

CAJ 1 - Planetary Science - Introduction

My CAJ topic is "planetary science", which is the study of planets, solar systems, moons and terrestrial bodies in the Universe. The focus of my research will mainly include the space telescopes and their mission to find a habitable, earth-like planet in space. I will introduce the Kepler Mission in depth and the major achievements and discoveries that are attributed to it. I will also introduce the Hubble Telescope and its importance for planetary science. Furthermore, the research will focus on the recent projects and developments that are supposed to help in achieving better results in analyzing and finding planets. The future prospect of planetary science will also be discussed. My goal is to expose the importance of this topic for the future of humanity and to prove how interesting planetary science is. 

a day in the life of a touring hardcore-punk band

A day in the life of a touring hardcore-punk band begins usually with confusion. Sleeping every night in a different flat can cause disorientation in the first minutes of wakefullness. After having realized where they are, the band asks for a cup of coffee and depending on the environment for a hot shower. After everyone had a coffee and the hangover subsided, the band gets in the van and types in the address where it is supposed to play that evening. What follows is a long-distance drive to another city or even another country. Playing board-games or listening to music helps the band to kill boredom but after four, five days on tour, nothing seems to help. So the hours spent in the van are usually the longest. First thing the band asks for after having arrived at the destination is a short sightseeing-tour. After hours spent in the van the band really enjoys stretching their legs and having a walk in an unknown city. If they are particularly lucky they have even the opportunity to see the ocean and spend some time watching the waves clashing with the shore.

Happy and refreshed from the walk it is time to see the place where they will play in the evening. Then the band gets served excellent vegan dinner and free beer. This part of the day is the best because except breakfast they haven't eaten anything for the whole day. When enough people turned up, the promoter asks the band to get ready to play.

Excitement grows as the people gather around the stage and the band can't wait to shock the audience with their 15 minutes of angry, noisy "music". Those 15 minutes per day are the reason why the band exists and in that short time they try to give their best. After the show they enjoy the company of totally unknown people and in some cases these small-talks are the beginning of a long lasting friendship. At the end of the day the sleeping bags get rolled out and the band tries to sleep as much and as fast as possible, as the following day will again be long and eventful. 

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My Reflection on the Pecha Kucha Experience

If a noun or expression is followed by the word "experience" it always reminds me of Jimi Henrdix.:)

When I first heard about this Pecha Kucha thing I wasn't sure what to think about it. I thought that its going to be a lot of work and effort crammed in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. I was totally right but I haven't thought of the fact that I could actually enjoy the work.


My assigned partner was Orsolya and I was happy that I could finally prepare something with a partner I know well. I know that the purpose of teamwork is that you have the chance to work with someone you don't know and to collect new experience, but still, knowing that I will work with Orsolya was a great relief. She is a very positive person who loves to do things passionately and that makes the work much easier. The other thing that made the PK a positive experience was the topic. I know we may seem obsessed with Hungary, but trust me, we aren't. We just wanted to work on something that we know well in order to create something that is important for both of us. I mean, who could give you a better insight into the reasons why Hungarians come to Austria than two Hungarians who came to Austria. :D

The Process: 

We started off by making a rough outline of what we want to speak about and what we should include. We knew that a short history section in the beginning would make out a good start and that it would create a good base for the whole project. Than we had a lot of other things to do so we just laid the project by side. In the middle of November we started preparing it. We met like five, six times for three, four hours. We progressed from slide to slide. Sometimes it was obvious what we want to say but then there were slides which we had to think about much more. Luckily, Orsolya had all her history books from High School that were even written in English.
From the beginning on we always measured time to know how much we can say to one picture. That helped us with remembering the transcript and it also gave us a good feeling for the pace. The hardest part of the presentation was searching for good pictures. We had slides which took us one or two hours till we found a picture that both of us liked.
Four-five days before the presentation day we met more frequently and practiced the whole thing just a couple of times every day and individually at home. I would listen to the recording and walk around in my room, doing as if I would present it to the class. As it was only 7 minutes long I could practice it a lot and soon I knew it by heart.

The Product:

I would lie if I said I wasn't excited but I got used to speaking and presenting in front of a bigger audience, so I for me it was pretty relaxed. The other thing is that I like the group so its not like presenting to unknown people. Most of them I already knew last year and even if we don't spend too much time together, the fact that everyone is walking in the same shoes made the whole thing a collective experience.
As we practiced our presentation a lot, I think it went as expected. The timing was right and I hope the pronunciation too. Language and content-wise our presentation was maybe a bit too simple, compared to other ones. We just didn't want to include difficult expressions that would only confuse the audience. We followed the suggestion: "Keep it short and simple".
 I don't know why but I just couldn't wash the smile of my face while presenting. I really enjoyed it.

 It was nice to watch the other presentations and I really enjoyed them all. I think everyone did a great job. The only negative thing that I can mention is that 5 presentations within 1 hour were simply too much. I can hardly remember any information that was said during the presentations.I concentrated more on the language and the presenting styles of my classmates and because of that the content often just went in on one ear and out on the other.

All in all, I really enjoyed the whole atmosphere and I left school for Christmas break with a really good feeling.

Take care,
Harald

My system for improving my vocabulary

I'm a bit late with this post but better late than never. As we run out of time it is better to get it out of the way now, as I assume that I won't have time for it later.

I don't have to say how important it is to collect and improve vocabulary in the process of learning a language. It helps to express yourself better and colors the language. Isn't it a beautiful feeling when you use a word in a conversation for the first time without having to think about it for 2 minutes?




Here is my system for improving my vocabulary:

The most convenient way of studying vocabulary is vocabulary.com. It adapts to your level and helps you to study words systematically. Normally I do 3 tests per day but since we have to improve our pronunciation I rather do spelling bee as it helps me with the pronunciation and on the right hand side it provides short definition of the word. Here is a picture of my process so far:


As those short definition aren't always enough to really understand a word, I search for a better definition in longman dictionary online and look how the word is used and what forms it can occur. In order to remember the word I write it down in my notebook. I've heard that writing down a word helps remembering it because the word gets processed by your brain while you write it down. Here is a picture of my notebook:

Although writing it down helps you to remember the word better, revising the words and creating example sentences is still very important. So I make sure to revise them regularly, especially before an exam.

I also love flashcards, though I didn't use them too much throughout the semester. Originally I use it for words which I stumble over accidentally and are worth remembering, but  at the beginning of the semester I decided to use them to write down words and definition related to finance and economics. I thought it's going to help me with Henry's class. In the beginning it did but unfortunately the semester was too demanding and I simply didn't find the time to do it regularly. I know...silly excuse :D.

Take care,
Harald