Answer to Question 98

A98:  2012 TC4 

Nilakantha Somayaji

Kelallur Nilakantha Somayaji, (1444–1544) (also referred to as Kelallur Comatiri was a major mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehensive astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha completed in 1501. He had also composed an elaborate commentary on Aryabhatiya called the Aryabhatiya Bhasya. In this Bhasya, Nilakantha had discussed infinite series expansions of trigonometric functions and problems of algebra and spherical geometry. Grahapareeksakrama is a manual on making observations in astronomy based on instruments of the time.

Bounce, Skid, Wobble - How Huygens Landed on Titan

The European Space Agency's Huygens probe, ferried to Saturn's moon Titan by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, bounced, slid and wobbled its way to rest in the 10 seconds after touching down on Titan in January 2005, a new analysis reveals. The moon's surface is more complex than previously thought.

Hubble Sees a Planetary Nebula in the Making

The Universe is filled with mysterious objects. Many of them are as strange as they are beautiful. Among these, planetary nebulae are probably one of the most fascinating objects to behold in the night sky. No other type of object has such a large variety of shapes and structures. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provided us with a striking image of Hen 3-1475, a planetary nebula in the making.

Mars Rock Touched by NASA Curiosity has Surprises

The first Martian rock NASA's Curiosity rover has reached out to touch presents a more varied composition than expected from previous missions. The rock also resembles some unusual rocks from Earth's interior.

The rover team used two instruments on Curiosity to study the chemical makeup of the football-size rock called "Jake Matijevic" (matt-EE-oh-vick) The results support some surprising recent measurements and provide an example of why identifying rocks' composition is such a major emphasis of the mission. Rock compositions tell stories about unseen environments and planetary processes.

High-Resolution View of Cross-Section Through a Mars Ripple

This image shows the wall of a scuffmark NASA's Curiosity made in a windblown ripple of Martian sand with its wheel. The upper half of the image shows a small portion of the side wall of the scuff and a little bit of the floor of the scuff (bottom of this image). The prominent depression with raised rims at the bottom center of the image was formed by one of the treads on Curiosity's front right wheel. 

Target: Jake Matijevic Rock

This image shows where NASA's Curiosity rover aimed two different instruments to study a rock known as "Jake Matijevic." The red dots are where the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument zapped it with its laser on Sept. 21, 2012, and Sept. 24, 2012, which were the 45th and 48th sol, or Martian day of operations. The circular black and white images were taken by ChemCam to look for the pits produced by the laser. The purple circles indicate where the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer trained its view. 

NASA Seeks Space Technology Research Fellowship Applicants

NASA is seeking applications from graduate students for the agency's Space Technology Research Fellowships. Applications will be accepted from students pursuing or planning to pursue master's or doctoral degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at accredited U.S. universities. The fellowship awards, worth as much as $68,000 per year, will coincide with the start of the fall 2013 term.

'I want Indian kids to study physics and astronomy'

The acclaimed Indian-origin scientist who has discovered cavernous supermassive black holes pulling and devouring celestial objects in a galaxy lying 11 billion light years from our own wants Indian children to get into physics and astronomy. "I want to talk about my research rather than 

about myself," said Dr Manda Banerji, a bright young scientist who came to Britain from Kolkata in 2000 to study for her graduate degree at Cambridge University. "Because I want to see kids in India getting interested in physics and astronomy."

Question 98: 10 October 2012 (Week 41)

Q98: Which asteroid will on closest approach to earth on 12th October?

Answer to Question 97

A97: Mahendra Dayashankar Gor Sūri

Work Resumes with First Scooped Sample

This pairing illustrates the first time that NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected a scoop of soil on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSS 

The team operating Curiosity decided on Oct. 9, 2012, to proceed with using the rover's first scoop of Martian material. Plans for Sol 64 (Oct. 10) call for shifting the scoopful of sand and dust into the mechanism for sieving and portioning samples, and vibrating it vigorously to clean internal surfaces of the mechanism. This first scooped sample, and the second one, will be discarded after use, since they are only being used for the cleaning process. Subsequent samples scooped from the same "Rocknest" area will be delivered to analytical instruments.

2012 TC4 will come within 60,000 miles from Earth

A 52-foot-wide space rock named 2012 TC4 will come within 60,000 miles from Earth on its closest approach on October 12, 2012. This imagery taken by The Virtual Telescope Project in Italy captured it at nearly 500,000 miles away on October 10th.

Source: space.com

Planetary Nebula

This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The planetary nebulas shown here are NGC 6543, also known as the Cat's Eye, NGC 7662, NGC 7009 and NGC 6826. In each case, X-ray emission from Chandra is colored purple and optical emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue. 

In the first part of this survey, published in a new paper, twenty one planetary nebulas within about 5000 light years of the Earth have been observed. The paper also includes studies of fourteen other planetary nebulas, within the same distance range, that Chandra had already observed.

Dragon Captured and Berthed to Station

Station Crew Opens Dragon Hatch

Dragon Berthed to Station

Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams used the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to install the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship to its docking port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node at 9:03 a.m. EDT Wednesday. 

Earlier, working from the robotics workstation inside the cupola, Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide, with the assistance of Williams, captured the commercial cargo ship with the Canadian Space Agency-provided robotic arm at 6:56 a.m. as the spacecraft flew within about 32 feet of the orbiting complex. 

Club Article to be published in Sonar Tori Magazine

INDIAN ASTRONOMY

India is the one of the oldest place where curiosity to know the universe started. Indian Astronomy started  around 2000 B.C. Khagola-Shastra was the name given to the Indian astronomy. Word Khagola was originated from the famous astronomical universe of Nalanda.

Indian Astronomy became an established tradition by the 1^st millennium BCE, when Jyotisa Vedanga and other supplementary branches of learning called Vedanga began to take place. This time onwards, number of Indian astronomers studied various phenomenon of astronomical science. Number of techniques and instruments were developed keeping the various culture in mind. These techniques and instrument were used in calendric studies.

Indian Astronomy reflects the intertwine of various religions in initial ages. The first texture mention of Indian astronomical concept comes from the Vedas. The cardinal directions of Indian Astronomy are found in the Sulbasutra (1^st millennium BCE), a discourse containing mathematical applications used for alter construction. Mathematics and astronomical instruments were used widely to calculate time after sunlight, daylight period, computation of sun rise, computation of sunset, and general measurement of time. 

Jyotisa Vedanga astronomy was on top between the 6^th and 4^th centuries BCE. The Pancasiddantika (Varahimira, 505 CE) approximates the method for fortitude of the meridian direction from any three positions of the shadow using Gnomon. The Indian religious texts also shows the information about he astronomical observation were used during the ritual.

Hindu kept a pancanga for calculation of tithi ( date), vara ( weekday), naksatra (asterism) and karan (half lunar day) for social and religious events that are closely related to Indian Astrology. Hindu calendar also shows that a year was divided on the basis of religious rituals and seasons (Ritu).

Aryabhata wrote one of the most important books of Indian Astronomy called Aryabhatasiddhanta.  The facts of this book were also used in works of Varahimira, Bhaskara I, Brahmagupta and other astronomers.  Indian Astronomy  is one of the famous astronomical science which is being used for its most interesting aspects of study and practice.

Dharmendra Kumar (DMR)

DMR’S ASTRONOMY CLUB

India test-fires Mars mission engine

The engines of the Indian Mars orbiter were tested for the first time on Monday morning. Speaking to TOI from Bangalore, Isro chief spokesperson Devi Prasad Karnik said the engine, known as the liquid apogee motor (LAM), was fired for about 670 seconds at Isro's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendra Giri in Tamil Nadu. "The test was successful and will go on for about 45 days," he said. 

The mission is slated for lift off towards the end of October or beginning of November 2013. 

Indian scientist discovers giant super-massive black holes

Cambridge researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have discovered a new population of enormous, rapidly growing super-massive black holes ever seen in the early Universe.

The black holes were previously undetected because they sit cocooned within thick layers of dust.

The new study that used cutting-edge infrared surveys of the sky has shown that they are emitting vast amounts of radiation through violent interactions with their host galaxies.

The study findings are published in the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.