Stargazing Update

By Ken Campbell

Hi Everyone,
 
there will be a fantastic view of the International Space Station as it passes just north of our area tomorrow (Friday 18th July) at 23.15 coming from the Gibraltar direction.
 
Dont forget that we are running astronomy talks at the top of Benelmadena mountain every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout July and August. Take the cable car up from Tivoli world. It costs E15 to ride the cable car then everything else is free. We have giant telescopes and laser beams to show you what can be seen in the night sky.
 
If any one would like to join us up there tomorrow I am going to try and photgraph it as it passes, we'll be so high at 2500ft that you should be able to shake hands with the astronauts let alone wave at them!!
 
Enjoy.
 
Ken
 
Details can be found at www.kencampbell.info

The Return Of The King

Have you noticed the really bright ‘Star’ in the South over the Mediterranean? It is not a Star at all but is the king of the planets, Jupiter. And this week it will be at it’s closest to us at 386 million miles or 622 million km.

Jupiter is by far the biggest of the planets; it could easily swallow up all of the other planets in the solar system. But unlike the Earth, Jupiter is not a solid planet. It is not made from rock but instead is a giant ball of mainly hydrogen gas. If it was possible, you could fly a space ship right through Jupiter, in one side and out the other, there is nothing in the middle to stop you!

Jupiter is so big that if it where much bigger the heat and pressure inside it would cause nuclear fusion and it would evolve into a star.

But despite its giant size a day on Jupiter lasts for just 10 hours, it is spinning at an incredible speed. It spins so fast that when viewed through a telescope or binoculars it is quite clearly flattened at the poles and bulges at the equator.

Even a small pair of binoculars will show you the disc of Jupiter, but the most impressive sight is a view of its 4 largest Moons. Four hundred years ago in 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo turned the very first telescope toward Jupiter and noticed four tiny stars close by. Over a series of nights he noticed that the stars moved in relation to one another and to the planet and he deduced that they must be moons circling it. He wrote his findings in a book and dared to suggest that this meant that the Earth was not the center of the universe. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for the rest of his life by the Catholic Church for heresy.

But the four Moons do quite clearly circle the planet, in fact, during the course of an evening you can actually see them moving. They are called Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa; and it is Europa that is the one causing the most interest with scientists.

During an exploration by a NASA probe, high quality pictures where taken of Europa and it was found to be completely covered in a blanket of Ice. But under the ice is a liquid ocean, it is being prevented from totally freezing because of underwater seismic activity similar to what is seen under the Earths oceans. On Earth, around these mini volcanoes or fumaroles, they are teaming with life in a very inhospitable environment. During the next decade NASA plan to send a probe to Europa that will first parachute down to the surface then melt its way through the ice until it drops into the ocean beneath. Where it turns into a submarine and will send back live TV pictures as it swims around under the oceans. And it is Europa where my money lies for the best chances of finding life.

If you would like to see Jupiter through a giant telescope then join me at the top of Benelmadena Mountain every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening throughout July and August. Take the cable car up from Tivoli World.

For more updated news on the Costa Del Stars go to www.kencampbell.info     

For more info about the Planetarium click here