Science by Email 1 June 2012

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	1 June 2012
News: Australia to co-host SKA By Patrick Mahony CSIRO is already constructing an SKA precursor telescope called ASKAP. The starlight that we see at night is only a fraction of what is out there. Stars and galaxies don’t just emit visible light but a range of electromagnetic radiation, including UV radiation, X-rays and radio waves. Most of this radiation is invisible to humans. Special telescopes are required to detect radiation such as radio waves. It has now been announced that part of the world’s largest radio telescope will be built in Australia. The $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will consist of thousands of antennas concentrated in the Mid West Radio Quiet Zone in Western Australia, as well as southern Africa. Radio waves are emitted by a range of astronomical sources, including stars and clouds of gas and dust. These radio waves are similar to those made by communications systems on Earth. Radio signals that reach the Earth from space can be drowned out, which is why places like the Australian outback and southern Africa are ideal locations for the SKA. Their distance from large population centres means that interstellar signals can be heard above the background radio noise. While the radio waves are hard to detect, the bigger the telescope, the easier it is to pick them up. The thousands of dishes and other detectors of the SKA will cover an area of approximately one square kilometre, making it the biggest radio telescope. Its huge size means that it will be 50 times more sensitive than the best radio telescopes currently available. The SKA will be used to investigate the formation of the first stars in the Universe, the mysterious force of gravity and possibly even search for extraterrestrial life. By hosting part of this important scientific endeavour, Australia will continue to support research that investigates some of the mysteries of the Universe. More information Dual site agreed for Square Kilometre Array telescope CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope Careers link Astronomy profiles
You will need these materials.   Turn on the torch and hide it. Have your friends find the torch. Do this a few more times and calculate the average time it takes. Repeat in a darkened room.   Try this: Hiding light   You will need Small torch Room that can be made dark but not pitch black Friends Stopwatch What to do Have your friends wait outside the room. Turn on the torch, and hide it somewhere in the room. Make sure the room is well-lit. Let your friends into the room. Use the stopwatch to time how long it takes to find the torch. Hide the torch a few more times. Calculate the average amount of time it takes to find the torch in a well-lit room. Turn off the lights in the room, or make it dark. Repeat steps 2 to 4. How long does it take your friends to find the torch in the darker room? What’s happening? Each time you hide the torch, it is producing the same amount of light. In the well-lit room, the lights are much brighter than the torch. You might not notice the torch because its light is drowned out by the light in the room. The torch is usually easier to find in the darker room because it is now brighter than the background light. The torch stands out to our eyes in the darker room making it easier to spot. Applications The lights of our cities create a relatively high background level of light. This makes it harder to see fainter lights, such as the stars in the night sky. This extra light, called light pollution, makes it harder for astronomers to view objects in space. Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation. Another type of electromagnetic radiation is radio waves. Astronomers use radio waves emitted by stars and dust clouds to learn about the Universe. Like light pollution, stray radio waves from communications devices make it harder to detect the faint radio signals from space. Observatories and large telescopes are often built in isolated areas to escape radio interference and light pollution. Australia’s isolation and low population density makes it an ideal place to build observatories. By Patrick Mahony Try another Science by Email activity about light More information Light pollution View the online version Quiz questions 1. In what year did the last transit of Venus occur? 2. What flowers belong to the genus Narcissus? 3. In astronomy, what is the habitable zone?         4. What is the atomic number of boron?    5. Is TNF-Alpha the name of a) a protein, b) a planet or c) a supercomputer? Did you know? Some stars experience ‘starquakes’, like earthquakes on Earth. Starquakes are being used by astronomers to learn more about how stars are formed. Websites Read it! Learn more about Indigenous Australian astronomy in ‘Dreaming of the sky’. See it! Check out the latest images from the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons. Events International: Transit of Venus Transits of Venus are rare astronomical events where Venus moves between the Earth and the Sun. They are important historically as well: it was during a mission to view the 1769 transit that James Cook landed on the east coast of Australia. Many astronomical societies and observatories are hosting special events, including live streaming of the transit. For more information, head over to the Transit of Venus – Australia 2012 website. Win a Parkes Observatory online shop gift voucher! Wherever you are in Australia, you can now purchase a range of astronomy and space science educational resources and souvenirs from the Parkes Observatory online shop. To celebrate the transit of Venus, take a photo of a stunning sunset or sunrise and email it to us along with your name, address and age. Two winners will receive a $100 gift voucher for the Parkes Observatory online shop. Entries close 15 June 2012. Full terms and conditions can be found here. Trees, Saturday 2 June at 9.00 am on Network Ten Find out how a tree farm works, meet a tree doctor and check out the many animals that call trees home! Join Dr Rob as he plants a few seedlings and once again proves that the ordinary becomes extraordinary, under the SCOPE. Next episodes: Thursday 7 June, 4.00 pm: Surf/skate Saturday 9 June, 9.00 am: Rescue science Want to have your own episodes of SCOPE to watch whenever you feel like it? Click here to download them directly into your iTunes folder, or go here to download iTunes. Charges apply. Quiz answers 1. The last transit of Venus occurred in 2004. 2. Daffodils and jonquils belong to the genus Narcissus. 3. The habitable zone is the region around a star where a planet can maintain liquid water on its surface.  4. The atomic number of boron is five. 5. TNF-Alpha is a) a protein. Research from the University of Western Australia showed that proteins like this may be able to play a role in cancer treatment. Science by Email is a CSIRO publication. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and bankmecu are proud partners of Science by Email. Editor: Mike McRae| Manage your subscription | FAQ

 

 

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