Threatening clouds over Paranal Observatory

This is unusual to get such dark and threatening clouds above one of the driest place on Earth. But it’s been so for two days and we just hope that no drops of rain will fall down because the Observatory is not made for rain and that’s just more hassle for the staff and of course for the occasional visitors who are not getting their projects done.

Tonight it got worse, the wind is blowing over 20 meters/second (45 miles/hour) and the humidity rose above 50% due to the proximity of the clouds.

In the morning it did look promising though… I really like this metallic light and feeling we get just before sunrise (not much sun today). The horizon was so clear, we could see the snow on the Cordillera a few hundred km away as well as on the 6739m (21,300 ft) Llullaillaco Volcano which is in Argentina.

night is over, clouds are there

But the Observatory routine (and life!) does not stop. The cleaning ladies walk towards the residencia…

Usual morning walk from the “village” to the Residencia, under the unusual clouds.

At night, after a rough day of work taking care of all the instruments and facilities some French engineers play with their “toys for boys”: they fly helicopters in the gym!

Sebastien Poupar flying his helicoper

Pierre Bourget tuning his big helicopter

At the end of the night, the scenery is impressive. Here’s a long exposure shot above the Residencia at 6:00am. we can see the Southern Cross making its way through the moving clouds and the important airglow. The night isn’t completely lost, at least for me!

Entering a cloudy twilight, back to the Residencia!

You can see more photos about the past 48 hours of cloudy Paranal on this Flickr Photo Set.

Roger shoots

This 3D image provides a view ~40 km wide of the mountains and a valley in the Libya Montes region using a composite mosaic of MRO-CTX and MEx-HRSC overlain on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) from HRSC and vertically enhanced by 2.5X. Co-author Daniela Tirsch of the DLR in Berlin who prepared these maps describes that “the clay units are exposed below the olivine-bearing unit at several sites where the wind abrasion has scoured the surface”. The colored sites are compositional maps from MRO-CRISM where the pyroxene-bearing basalt is mapped in blue, olivine-rich basalt is mapped in green and Fe/Mg-clays are mapped in red.

This ~2 km wide portion of Hashir Crater featuring HiRISE image DT1EA_002756_1830_002822_1830_A01) with colors from CRISM image FRT000047D8 (blue is pyroxene, green is olivine, and red is Fe/Mg-clay) was overlain on a HiRISE DTM and enhanced 3X vertically. Co-author Livio Tornabene of the University of Western Ontario developed this technique “to illustrate the stratigraphy of the geologic units and view changes in the surface morphology with composition on a scale of meters rather than tens of meters”.

Identification of Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates and carbonate in ancient basalt implies the existence of a neutral to slightly basic aqueous environment. Identification of small isolated outcrops of the Al-rich smectite called beidellite likely indicates the presence of subsurface water and elevated temperatures in some regions. Bishop adds that “changes in the water chemistry or leaching of the Fe and Mg could be responsible for alteration of the ancient basalt to Al-smectite in these specific sites.”

This ~8 km wide 3D view of CRISM image FRT0000A819 shows the locations of different minerals found in the rocks at Libya Montes.

This graph illustrates differences in the spectral properties of the mineral types shown in the 3D CRISM view.

Evidence for a past history of wet Mars seen at Lybia Montes from SETI Institute on Vimeo.

Rotating 3D view of CRISM image FRT0000A819 showing evidence of an ancient wet Mars at Lybia Montes from SETI Institute on Vimeo. The phyllosilicates and carbonate formed in an aqueous environment on early Mars (cyan) through alteration of an ancient pyroxene-bearing basalt (grey) that forms 1-2 km high mountains in some places. Olivine-bearing rocks (red-brown) covered the region more recently. Image is 5X vertically exaggerated to better illustrate the phyllosilicate-bearing units.

Age dating of the geologic units through crater counting was employed to develop a map of the region. Older terrains on Mars have a larger number of craters. Analysis of these geologic units and their ages were coordinated together with the compositional information and surface morphology in order to create a likely stratigraphy for the region.

Geologic map of the Libya Montes region created using ages of distinct units and analysis of surface morphology.

This is an example from Hashir Crater of how craters are identified (marked in red) and counted and then modeled using crater counting statistics to illustrate age differences of geologic units.

The Fe/Mg-smectites and carbonate were likely formed by alteration of the ancient basaltic rocks through interactions with water. The Fe/Mg-phyllosilicate and carbonate are often associated with olivine in CRISM and HiRISE images because these alteration minerals are observed where the olivine-rich lavas have been eroded away. More recent olivine-rich and pyroxene-bearing lava flow or impact melt deposits filled in the valley regions including Hashir Crater after it formed. Wind erosion of these basaltic caprock units has sufficiently scoured off these materials in some places to provide a window down to the ancient Noachian rocks that were altered under aqueous conditions on early Mars.

Stratigraphy cartoon of the rock units in the Libya Montes region determined from this study.

MOLA Map of Isidis Planitia Basin region showing location of Libya Montes study site.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) — the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919 — recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to nine impact craters on Mercury. In keeping with the established naming theme for craters on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other contributors to the humanities.

Global map of Mercury recently released by the NASA Messenger team. The globe on the left was created from the MDIS monochrome surface morphology base map campaign. The globe on the right was produced from the MDIS color base map campaign. Portraits of the nine artists, musicians and authors honored with the name of a crater on the planet. (adapted from NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington & Wikipedia by F. Marchis)

The newly named craters are

• Alver, for Betti Alver (1906-1989), an Estonian writer who rose to prominence in the 1930s, toward the end of Estonian independence and on the eve of World War II. She published her first novel, Mistress in the Wind, in 1927. She also wrote several short stories, poetry, and translations.

• Donelaitis, for Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714-1780), a Lutheran pastor who was considered one of the greatest Lithuanian poets. He is best known for The Seasons, considered the first classic Lithuanian poem. It depicts the everyday life of Lithuanian peasants. His other works include six fables and a tale in verse.

• Flaiano, for Ennio Flaiano (1910-1972), an Italian screenwriter, playwright, novelist, journalist, and drama critic especially noted for his social satires. He became a leading figure of the Italian motion-picture industry after World War II, collaborating with writer Tullio Pinelli on the early films of writer and director Federico Fellini.

• Hurley, for James Francis “Frank” Hurley (1885-1962), an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in several expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian Imperial Forces during both world wars. The troops called him “the mad photographer,” because he took considerable risks to obtain photographs.

• L’Engle, for Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), an American writer best known for young-adult fiction, particularly the award-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong interest in modern science.

• Lovecraft, for Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century. He popularized “cosmic horror,” the notion that some concepts, entities, or experiences are barely comprehensible to human minds, and those who delve into such topics risk their sanity.

• Petofi, for Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849), a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He wrote the Nemzeti dal (National Poem), which is said to have inspired the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 that grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire.

• Pahinui, for Charles Phillip Kahahawai “Gabby” Pahinui, (1921-1980), a Hawaiian guitar player considered to be one of the most influential slack-key guitar players in the world. His music was a key part of the “Hawaiian Renaissance,” a resurgence of interest in traditional Hawaiian culture during the 1970s.

• Roerich, for Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), a Russian painter and philosopher who initiated the modern movement for the defense of cultural objects. His most notable achievement was the Roerich Pact of 1935, an international treaty signed by India, the Baltic states, and 22 nations of the Americas (including the United States), affirming that monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational, and cultural institutions and their personnel are to be considered neutral in times of war unless put to military use.

Ray Espiritu, a mission operations engineer on the MESSENGER team, submitted Pahinui’s name for consideration. “I wanted to honor the place where I grew up and still call home even after many years away,” he says. “The Pahinui crater contains a possible volcanic vent, and its name may inspire other scientists as they investigate the volcanic processes that helped to create Mercury, just as investigation of Hawaiian volcanoes helps us understand the volcanic processes that shape the Earth we know today.”
These nine newly named craters join 95 other craters named since the MESSENGER spacecraft’s first Mercury flyby in January 2008.

“We are delighted that the IAU has once again assigned formal names to a new set of craters on Mercury,” adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “These names will make it easier to discuss these features in the scientific literature, and they provide a fresh opportunity to honor individuals who have contributed to the cultural richness of our planet.”

More information about the names of features on Mercury and the other objects in the Solar System can be found at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Planetary Nomenclature Web site:http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/index.html.

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER’s extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. A possible second extended mission is currently under evaluation by NASA. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.

Gemini Planet Imager Flexure Jig Mounting from Franck Marchis on Vimeo.

This new setting is an important step in the integration of GPI, since it will allow astronomers to test the instrument in more realistic conditions. Because GPI will be mounted on the Cassegrain focus of the 8m-class telescope, the 2-ton instrument will move with the telescope. After studying the instrument’s behavior  for more than a week, the team is glad to report that the first results are promising and the instrument is stable despite the effect of gravity.

Combining adaptive optics, coronagraphy and spectroscopic capabilities, GPI will be capable of imaging and studying the light coming from Jupiter-sized exoplanets in orbit around nearby young stars. It will also study disks of dust from comet or asteroid belts around those stars, potentially detecting structure caused by even smaller planets. Individual opto-mechanical components of GPI must remain aligned to within 2 microns – 1/10th the diameter of human hair – over the course of an hour-long observation of a target, even as the telescope moves to track stars. The goal of this new set up is to study those effects. After four weeks of testing on the flexure jig and crane, GPI will be moved into a giant refrigerator to show that it can remain operating and aligned even under cold mountain-top conditions.

GPI is one of the major projects in the field of exoplanetary science with the involvement of ~60 researchers from 15 institutions (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of California, Berkeley , University de Montreal, STSCI, SETI Institute, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, University of California, Los Angeles, Dunlap Institute, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arizona State University and University of Georgia.). The instrument is scheduled to be shipped to Chile in the second semester of 2013 and will have its first light shortly after. Until then, the GPI team is making sure that the instrument is properly understood and the data processing pipeline is working fine. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder how many exoplanets we will find with GPI…

Clear Skies,

Franck Marchis

Disclaimer: I am writing this post as the co-lead of the Education and Public Outreach and member of the data analysis and observation team of the GPI Extrasolar Search Campaign (GPIES). I am involved in the GPI project since 2007.

GPI instrument being set up on its flexure jig mounting (Credit: GPI consortium)

Gemini Planet Imager Flexure Jig Mounting from Franck Marchis on Vimeo.

This new setting is an important step in the integration of GPI, since it will allow astronomers to test the instrument in more realistic conditions. Because GPI will be mounted on the Cassegrain focus of the 8m-class telescope, the 2-ton instrument will move with the telescope. After studying the instrument’s behavior  for more than a week, the team is glad to report that the first results are promising and the instrument is stable despite the effect of gravity.

Combining adaptive optics, coronagraphy and spectroscopic capabilities, GPI will be capable of imaging and studying the light coming from Jupiter-sized exoplanets in orbit around nearby young stars. It will also study disks of dust from comet or asteroid belts around those stars, potentially detecting structure caused by even smaller planets. Individual opto-mechanical components of GPI must remain aligned to within 2 microns – 1/10th the diameter of human hair – over the course of an hour-long observation of a target, even as the telescope moves to track stars. The goal of this new set up is to study those effects. After four weeks of testing on the flexure jig and crane, GPI will be moved into a giant refrigerator to show that it can remain operating and aligned even under cold mountain-top conditions.

GPI is one of the major projects in the field of exoplanetary science with the involvement of ~60 researchers from 15 institutions (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of California, Berkeley , University de Montreal, STSCI, SETI Institute, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, University of California, Los Angeles, Dunlap Institute, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arizona State University and University of Georgia.). The instrument is scheduled to be shipped to Chile in the second semester of 2013 and will have its first light shortly after. Until then, the GPI team is making sure that the instrument is properly understood and the data processing pipeline is working fine. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder how many exoplanets we will find with GPI…

Clear Skies,

Franck Marchis

Disclaimer: I am writing this post as the co-lead of the Education and Public Outreach and member of the data analysis and observation team of the GPI Extrasolar Search Campaign (GPIES). I am involved in the GPI project since 2007.