The Problem with Dark Matter

Theorists and observational astronomers alike have a problem: they can’t find Dark Matter! Einstein and others before and since have postulated that there is something out there that we can’t see. Theoretically, Dark Matter is just that, matter in the universe which is dark because it does not interact with electro-magnetic waves. Also, by definition, it interacts with gravity and constitutes more than 80% of the mass of the universe.

One might readily ask, how do we know that Dark Matter is out there? When mathematicians, theorists, and astronomers do the math, and here I am referring to massive calculations that start with principles and assumptions and end with a reasonable proof of how the universe might function, they find that there is not enough mass in the universe to account for the ways in which gravity is affected. Therefore, they introduce a material, an “X,” that must exist but cannot be seen to account for this. We call this “X,” Dark Matter.

True, it is not a very satisfying way to arrive at the existence of something. Many experiments have been done, or are in progress, to see if Dark Matter can be physically proven to exist. So far, every one of these experiments has been negative or inconclusive.

One answer, that is slowly being accepted by more and more of the research community, is that perhaps Dark Matter does not exist and we should simply stop looking for the material. The problem with this is that one must find some other way to account for “X.” If Dark Matter does not exist, how do we explain the gravitational effects on the regular matter of the universe?

It is tempting to invoke a “hand of God” explanation for this. The NIV translation of the Bible says in Psalm 8:3,

“When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,”

It sounds like God is simply holding the moon and stars and other heavenly bodies in their rightful place; but, this is not how we see God at work in the rest of his creation. He does not create black-boxes into which we cannot look or see the mechanism. Yes, God made the DNA molecule that accounts for the information transmission of living things, but he has allowed us to uncover the workings of DNA and even how to manipulate it for our own satisfaction and health. God created the “X” of the universe, but he likely has not put it out of bounds for us to research the “X.”

We await more experiments, more calculations, and more definitive studies to elucidate the nature of “X.” Is it indeed Dark Matter? Is it something else? Many will continue to work on the question, for certainly there is a Nobel prize waiting at the end of the search.

Saturn's Polar Vortex

Cassini has begun grazing the rings of Saturn. This represents the next phase in the journey of NASA’s preeminent spacecraft. Around November 30, 2016, Cassini began orbits that swing close to the outer rings and give a great view of the north pole of the gas giant. The resulting images are spectacular and are a testament to the concerted effort of many engineers, astrophysicists, technicians, and experiment designers. NASA has a new gallery of photos to spark imagination and create additional questions about what is happening on this planet. One of the most interesting phenomena is the hexagonal shaped polar vortex on the north pole. What forces create this uncommon geometric shape when the more common shape would be a circle?

Cassini will continue to send back pictures as it systematically surveys the atmosphere, rings, and moons of Saturn over the next 9 months. On September 15, 2017, Cassini will dive toward the surface of Saturn where, long before it reaches the planet’s crust, it will be crushed and vaporized by the forces of Saturn’s atmosphere. A fitting pyrotechnical finale for a noble spacecraft.

The James Webb Space Telescope

 

A team of over 1000 people from 17 countries is currently working on the James Webb Space Telescope. Three space agencies are collaborating on this major undertaking, including NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States), CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and ESA (European Space Agency). Many believe this will be the next great space telescope of our time and they have high hopes that the James Webb will further elucidate the conditions of the early universe because of its ability to detect ancient radiation released from events in the distant past.

Previously, the Hubble Space Telescope has been (and still is) the main work-horse of planetary discovery and space imaging. Launched over 26 years ago in 1990, Hubble has served well despite initial problems with its mirror (which were later corrected by astronauts who worked on Hubble while in orbit). The new James Webb telescope will benefit from the hard-learned lessons of Hubble and will incorporate current technology which surpasses that installed on Hubble. The ground glass mirror on Hubble is 2.4 metres in diameter, while the compound 6.5 metre diameter mirror of the James Webb is a gold-coated beryllium reflector. The collecting area of the Hubble is 4.5 m² while the James Webb will have a collecting area of 25 m². Hubble has four main instruments on board, while James Webb will have five high-tech devices for viewing a wide spectra of radiation including UV, Infra-Red, and visible light.

Of further note is the difference in orbit of the two telescopes. While Hubble travels in a low-earth, geocentric orbit, the James Webb Space Telescope will be situated near Lagrange 2 relative to the Sun and Earth. This means that it will be in a reasonably stable orbit with an equal gravitational tug from both Earth and the Sun. This will put the James Webb much further from the Earth and other radiometric influences and will allow it to peer deep into space away from the Sun and Earth.

The launch is scheduled for October 2018 and researchers anticipate five to ten years of functionality. The launch mass is sizable (6,500 kg) and the 18 facets of the mirror must be folded for launch and deployed in space. There is much that could go wrong in such a complex system and so we pray for a safe and efficient launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Details:

James Webb – 25 m² collecting area; five main instruments: NIRCam - Near IR Camera, NIRSpec - Near-Infrared Spectrograph, MIRI - Mid IR Instrument, NIRISS - Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, FGS - Fine Guidance Sensor; 6.5-meter-diameter gold-coated beryllium reflector with a collecting area of 25 m²

Hubble: 2.4 metre mirror; 4.5 m² collecting area; four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra; When finally launched in 1990, Hubble's main mirror was found to have been ground incorrectly, compromising the telescope's capabilities. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing mission in 1993.

Sources Cited:

NASA.gov, NASA Website, “James Webb Space Telescope,” http://jwst.nasa.gov/public.html, viewed 2016-07-22.

Wikipedia, “James Webb Space Telescope,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope, viewed 2016-07-22.

Wikipedia, “Lagrangian Point,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point, viewed 2016-07-22.

Angels, Galaxies, and Pins

How many planets would fit into a Milky Way galaxy? This is certainly not a classic philosophical question like, “How many angels would fit on the head of a pin?” Yet, this question does have philosophical implications if you consider why planet hunters hunt planets. Some, certainly search for planets in our known galaxy because planets are there and we want to learn more about them; but, many who search for exoplanets (planets outside our solar system), do so because they are interested in the possibility of life on other planets; intelligent or otherwise.

The Keplar Space Telescope has recently catalogued 1284 more planets,[1] bringing the total number of discovered planets to 2325.  The size of these planets ranges from sub-Mercury to super-Jupiter in size. Some are rocky, some are gaseous, and some just might be habitable. Bob McDonald in a CBC News blog[2] suggests that there are likely more planets in our galaxy than there are stars. Take a look at the night sky and think upon that for a few moments. There may be as many as 10,000,000,000 planets in our galaxy alone. There are more than 100 billion galaxies in the known universe. As we consider only the planets in our galaxy we soon realize that they are too distant by today’s transportation methods for us to visit them with anything more than a telescope, but they are still of interest. Could any of these planets have indigenous life? Would life there be water and carbon-based? Would it be DNA based? Or might it be so foreign in its composition that we would struggle to recognize it as life? Might it exist in liquid water, on dry land, or in the gaseous atmosphere of one of these exoplanets? Would we see signs of communication among creatures of common ancestry? Might we see foliage changes as seasons progressed? What could we look for as signs of life; or signs of intelligent life? Philosophically, the number of planets that would fit into a smallish galaxy appears to be a worthier question than those regarding pins and angels.

---

[1] “Kepler telescope doubles its count of known exoplanets: latest data confirm nine more worlds in ‘habitable’ zone”; Science News, May 10, 2016;

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/kepler-telescope-doubles-its-count-known-exoplanets

[2] “Finding habitable planets is one thing, finding life quite another” Bob McDonald, blog at CBC News Technology and Science; 2016-05-13; accessed 2016-05-14.

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bob-mcdonald-search-for-habitable-planets-1.3579830

A Great Disturbance in the Force

There may actually be a ninth planet in our solar system after all. Astronomers at Caltech recently presented evidence for a large, gas-giant, planet in a 20,000 year orbit around our sun. They have been quoted as saying, "We have felt a great disturbance in the force." This only adds to the crazy nature of this announcement; but they were not referring to Luke Skywalker's famed Force, but rather the gravitational force that keeps all of the planets and dwarf planets in motion around our sun. Their research suggests that the existence of such a planet, in this large elliptical orbit, is one of the best explanations for the measured orbits of the dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. Their argument is presented in an enlightening YouTube video and one of the scientists has been interviewed by CBC's Bob McDonald on the program "Quirks and Quarks." The mass of the planet is said to be greater than that of Earth but less than the mass of Neptune and it is perpetually "very distant" in the solar system. It has not yet been seen with a telescope; but is inferred from its interaction with the features of the Kuiper Belt.

What are the implications of such a discovery? Where should we point our telescopes to begin to look for this planet? There are certain constraints on where this planet could be, but that still leaves a large area to be scanned. The current position in its orbit will be unknown until it can be visualized. This research also invites questions related to the planet’s proximity to other planets in our solar system. What perturbations (dare I say, “disturbances in the force”) will be noted when this planet swings by after a long journey away from the other planets and dwarf planets in our solar system? Might it have noticeable effects on the physics, chemistry, and biology of Earth? Gravity is a relatively weak force but its influence acts over very large distances.

For now, I congratulate Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin and other contributing researchers for their work in this area. May they inspire many more “planet-hunters.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/9th-planet-x-1.3412070

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/distant-planet-may-lurk-far-beyond-neptune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6poHQ2h00ZA

Star of the East, Oh Bethlehem Star

For as long as I can remember, I have wondered about the nature of the star studied by the Magi of the east; you know, the one they used to find their way to Jesus. There are many theories. Could the “star” be a comet, a planetary conjunction, a supernova, or some other celestial event of miraculous or natural origin? It had never occurred to me that the biblical narrative in the Gospel of Matthew might describe the miraculous appearance of an angel that guided these men of wisdom. This is exactly how the Eastern Orthodox Church understands this event. Perhaps the Wise Men first noticed a light far off in the sky that they assumed was a new star. Later, they might have found this star growing in intensity as it began to reveal itself as an angel on its way to visit them. The angel may have even spoken to them and given them further guidance or simply moved ahead of them like the ancient pillar of fire that Moses and the people of Israel followed. This treatment of “the star” leaves more room for the miraculous nature of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. It is an important perspective to keep in the forefront. We all need to leave room for miracles in our lives.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem:

No ear may hear His coming

But in this world of sin

Where meek souls will receive Him still

The dear Christ enters in

The Troparion of the Nativity:

Your birth, O Christ our God,
dawned the light of knowledge upon the earth.
For by Your birth those who adored stars
were taught by a star
to worship You, the Sun of Justice,
and to know You, Orient from on High.
O Lord, glory to You.

Works Cited:

“Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;” Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; accessed 2015-12-14; http://www.goarch.org/special/listen_learn_share/nativity

“Star of Bethlehem;” Wikipedia; accessed 2015-12-14;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Bethlehem#cite_note-71

"Yesterday I missed my exit, on my way to Sears" - Joe Diffie

Have you ever had one of those days where you missed your freeway exit and had to take an alternative route? The process can be quite time consuming and often adds several minutes to the anticipated travel time. It is hard not to get frustrated. Of course, such emotions only complicate things and make the trip even less efficient. Recently, a team of Japanese aerospace engineers learned first hand that, in space exploration, one little missed exit can lead to many years of extra work. In 2010, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency was excitedly watching as their Akatsuki probe was moving rapidly toward Venus. All was well until the main engine failed to come online and make the appropriate course correction. The result of this, missed exit on the cosmic freeway, was five years of unplanned wandering in the wilderness. Not only did it mean that Akatsuki would be late for her rendezvous with the “planet of love,” it also meant that, like Icarus, Akatsuki flew too near the sun and singed her wings.

What I like about this story is that the team did not give up on the mission. They knew that this “miss” meant the probability of success was small; but they did not lose focus and they kept seeking solutions to the problem. They still could not rely upon the main engine but knew that every five years Akatsuki would be close to Venus. This would be their window of opportunity. They would use the attitude control thrusters to position the craft for Venus gravity capture. On December 7 at 8:51 am (Japan Standard Time) the gamble paid off and Akatsuki is now in orbit around our “sister planet.” The scientific mission can resume. The probe has been scorched by the sun but remains functional and will soon begin to take continuous pictures of the atmosphere and surface of Venus.

This reclamation of the mission is a testament to tenacity and problem solving. Lesser engineers might have given up on the Akatsuki probe and begun work on a replacement vehicle. These individuals continued to work as a team and redeemed what might otherwise have been seen as a failure. There is something very impressive about this work. May they now enjoy the fruit of their labour as they gather data and explore further questions related to this closest neighbouring planet.

Other Works Cited:

“Japanese spacecraft reaches Venus — five years late”; Science News, December 8, 2015; https://www.sciencenews.org/article/japanese-spacecraft-reaches-venus-—-five-years-late.

“That Road Not Taken,” Joe Diffie, from the album, Third Rock From the Sun;  Listen to it online here. Songwriters: Kelly Casey and Deborah Beasley, Published by The Bicycle Music Company. http://www.metrolyrics.com/that-road-not-taken-lyrics-joe-diffie.html

Venus, Mars, Regulus, and Jupiter Are Alright Tonight

Starship 21ZNA9

A good friend of mine

Studies the stars

Venus and Mars

Are alright tonight

"Venus and Mars" lyrics by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; published by MPL Communications, Inc.

This morning, as I went for my before-sunrise-run, I was greeted by three planets and a bright star, in the eastern sky. The four points of light were Venus, highest and brightest of the four, Regulus, a bright star only 79 light years away, Mars, the red planet, and Jupiter, just above the horizon. They made an inverted vee shape as if they were flying in formation. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Conjunctions of this nature always get me dreaming about space-travel. In my mind’s eye it looked possible to just hop in a plane and fly straight to whichever spot I chose.

Venus would provide a warm but cloudy holiday with lots of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. Regulus would be a long journey, by any mode of transportation, and what we would find there is completely unknown. Mars is becoming the most well-known planet other than earth with the many probes, rovers, and orbiters sending back reams of scientific data. Just this past week it was learned that Mars does indeed have liquid water on its surface at certain times of its solar year. We would have a cold holiday on Mars and would have to bring along our own oxygen for breathing. Jupiter would perhaps be the most exotic vacation destination. Jupiter is a gas giant made up of clouds of frozen hydrogen and helium gas high above a core of liquid metallic hydrogen. The moons around Jupiter would be even more interesting to visit. Io, the largest of the moons, is a hotbed of volcanoes and bubbling pits of molten rock. Europa is covered with a frozen water crust. Perhaps one could have the most fantastic skating party of all time on the surface of Europa.

All of this went through my mind as I ran six kilometers on this boring old terrestrial ball. I turned and ran toward a very bright moon making its way toward setting in the west and I scared a few jack-rabbits with the padding of my athletic shoes. It was a great morning on Earth; but I was dreaming of spending time on other planets. How long will it be before we have colonies on Mars, or the moon, or Venus, or Europa? It is important that we continue to cultivate a desire for exploration that will lead us to other planets, moons, and stars. It is this inquisitive, pioneering, explorative spirit that makes us truly human.

Tiny Pluto

Click on the thumbnail photo for a larger image.

A few days ago this site focused on the Cassini Spacecraft and its mission to the moons of Saturn; but, that is not all that is going on in the far reaches of our own solar system. The "New Horizons" spacecraft is due to reach Pluto in just a few days on July 14th. Pluto, now officially known as a dwarf planet, will have a brief visit from the probe before New Horizons sails past Pluto and out into the cold, barren space beyond. New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006 making it a relatively fast trip to Pluto. It took the spacecraft only 9 hours to cross the orbit of our moon (a journey that used to take three days in the Apollo era) as it traveled at 58,000 kilometers per hour. 

Pluto itself still holds much interest for NASA scientists. It is the "final frontier" before spacecraft explore beyond the confines of our neat and tidy system of planets revolving around the star we call our sun. Pluto is an extremely cold world which has been warmed only a little by her star. This means that for 4.5 billion years its surface has remained much the same without the effects of rapid warming and cooling. We will get a glimpse of one variation of what a planet looked like at that time. It is also the largest representative of the many dwarf planets and comets that orbit in the Kuiper belt. Pluto has five known moons that will be visible during the very quick tour.

One might ask why the probe will travel past Pluto so fast? The mission has been called "nearly a decade of boredom capped with hours of terror"1 since the approach will take a matter of hours and the actual transit time across the face of Pluto will last three minutes. New Horizon has been in sleep mode during most of its journey across the solar system with annual "wake-up calls" to check instrumentation. The reason for the fast trip and quick engagement with the dwarf planet is related to the cold. Pluto is headed into the cold portion of its orbit around the sun. It is presently getting further and further away and it takes 248 earth years to make a revolution. As it gets further from our star the atmosphere gets so cold that it may freeze solid forming an icy shell around the planet. This would make it difficult, if not impossible to see the surface of Pluto. New Horizons needed to get there before the year 2020. Once the spacecraft gets there, it is impossible to slow it down. There are no large gravity sources to use for braking. So, for now, NASA must make do with a short flyby and quick cameras.

Sources:
“Rendezvous with Pluto,” Science News 2015-06-12 (viewed on 2015-06-16); https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rendezvous-pluto
“Pluto,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto (viewed 2015-06-16)


1 “Rendezvous with Pluto,” Science News 2015-06-12 (viewed on 2015-06-16); https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rendezvous-pluto

Cassini

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

This picture brings to mind many science fiction stories and songs I have read and sung. I used to dream about being an astronaut and traveling to the far reaches of our solar system, then striking out for uncharted space. This is the kind of vision I would have when I imagined exploring the galaxy in a space vehicle. I can almost feel the immense loneliness of looking back at a planet containing everyone I know, and eight billion other humans.

The truth is, this picture was taken by a camera on board a man-made vehicle in orbit around the planet Saturn. The photo shows Saturn, the rings of Saturn, and Earth as a tiny blue dot just to the right of centre in the picture (the bright one). It was taken by the Cassini probe built by NASA and sent to a distance of 1.4 billion km from earth. This is of course still within our solar system; yet, it is hard to imagine distances larger than this.

Elton John sang about the loneliness of space in the song Rocket Man. I wonder what he would think of the photo.

Rocket Man (listen to it here)
Elton John and Bernie Taupin

She packed my bags last night, pre-flight
Zero hour, nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then

I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time‘til touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did

And all the science, I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time ‘til touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone

Dare Mighty Things

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of US (1858 - 1919)

"Dare mighty things" is a slogan used extensively by NASA in promotional videos for the Curiosity Rover landing on August 5, 2012. I tuned into NASA TV 1 last night to watch the entire sequence of events from the vehicle's approach to Mars, through entry into the atmosphere, parachute deployment, rocket pack maneuvers, sky crane operation, landing on the surface, and finally, first pictures back after Curiosity oriented herself on the surface of Mars. It was an extraordinary event and it was amazing to watch the optimism, tension, fear, elation, victory, celebration, and tears of the men and women in the Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology. This was the culmination of an eight year project to get this rover to Mars. Everything hinged on a complicated landing system that would safely deposit the rover on the Martian ground so that the real science of analyzing the surface of Mars could begin.

And they did it! I must admit to having a few doubts as I saw how complicated the landing system was. Yes, it was the engineering solution that ultimately made the most sense; but there were just so many things that could go wrong. Yet these amazing professionals worked as a team to put an SUV sized vehicle on a planet millions of kilometers away.2

There are plenty of take-away messages from ventures like this. Perhaps we could incorporate the "dare mighty things" into a lot more of our life. What could be accomplished by working together in teams? How can we use the mighty deeds accomplished by this team to inspire us in our work lives, our families, our churches, our communities, and our country? What indeed are we capable of accomplishing? What mighty things are sitting on the shelf in our own lives waiting for us to dare to accomplish them? Today, while there is still time, dare mighty things!


1. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
2. The earth and Mars are 55 million to 400 million kilometers apart depending on where they are each at in their orbits (http://www.universetoday.com/14824/distance-from-earth-to-mars/)

Darkness

Darkness is not as easy to come by as it once was. At least not the literal kind. When I grew up on a small farm in central Alberta the nights were truly dark. Most people turned off all lights on their farm when they went to bed. There were very few sodium or mercury vapour lights in the area. The cities were smaller and did not give off as much light pollution. The night skies were spectacular. I remember standing in the yard and being awestruck by the immensity of the Milky Way. In one swath across the sky I could see thousands of distant stars all at once. I imagined what it would be like to travel to a distant star or some exotic planet. I learned the names of a few constellations and stars and loved to watch for them in the sky: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Orion, Cassiopeia, Polaris. Each had wonderful names that rolled off the tongue and allowed me to dream of places far, far away. I soon learned that the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) could help me find direction. As long as I could see these stars, and the North Star (Polaris) to which they pointed, I could always know north, and by inference, south, east, and west. With this knowledge I would surely be able to find my way home.


Orion was a favourite constellation. Noticing this collection of stars but not knowing it by name, I had given it my own moniker: "The Scotty Dog." Years later in high school a science teacher brought in his photos of his favourite constellations and I discovered that my little scotch terrier in the sky was actually Orion The Hunter, with bow, arrow, and a belt of three stars. I would stare out the window of the car at Orion as our family drove home from town. I would try to imagine how long it had taken the light of those stars to reach my eyes. By the time I was fifteen I knew that light from even the closest stars had to travel many years to reach earth. Light that I was seeing shining from the centre star of Orion's belt had left that star over 1300 years before I sat in my parents' car watching it twinkle in the night sky. It was almost impossible to understand this and it filled me with awe and pointed me to God. As I gazed out the window my mind was filled with questions. Why was there so much space out there? What were those distant stars and planets like? Was there life on any of those planets? Could there be intelligent life that was looking back at me and wondering if there was life "out there?" What was the significance to how people gave names to collections of stars? I must confess, today, when I look up at Orion it still looks like "The Scotty Dog" to me.


Today, most of us see stars very infrequently. Even at a distance of many miles from the nearest city, the light pollution from urban centres destroys our ability to see all but the brightest stars which makes constellations very difficult to discern. For hundreds and thousands of years humans have looked up at these stars and wondered what they meant. Ours is one of the first generations to actually know the composition of a star and where it is in the universe. We are also one of the first generations to live most of the time not seeing the stars. Many go along without contemplating the immensity of space because they so rarely see the stars. Whole generations of children have grown up in cities in which they can only see one or two stars at a time. They may never know the awe of the Milky Way or the beauty of the aurora borealis or think about the vast distances of space. Could this be one of the reasons why faith in a creator God is waning?