All posts by Genevive Bjorn

Culture, Environment, Lifestyle, News, Politics, Random

First of three new attack subs, the USS Hawaii, pulls into Pearl Harbor

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The Navy has been busy building the next-generation of attack submarines, called “Virginia class”, and the first of these, the USS Hawaii, built at a cost of $2.5 billion pulled into Pearl Harbor July 23rd at 9:30 am HST. It’s controlled by touch screen and joy stick, not wheel and shaft.

USS Hawaii leaving Connecticut bound for Pearl Harbor

Fanfare

The public was invited to attend the arrival ceremony, which started at 8 am HST, with a Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 jet flyover and the Pacific Fleet Band, the Kamehameha Alumni Glee Club, Halau Hula Olana Ai, Kahuna Pule Ganotise and a haka by Pa Kuci a Lua.

This morning’s arrival ceremony is a warmup for the 50th anniversary events marking Hawaii’s statehood next month. The USS Hawaii is the first commissioned submarine named for the State of Hawai‘i.

USS Hawaii being tugged into Pearl Harbor

If you visit the USS Hawaii, try to spot Governor Linda Lingle’s initials chalked on a plate on the bulkhead wall outside the crew’s mess.  She had a welder inscribe them during a keel-laying ceremony in Rhode Island back in  2004. Continue reading First of three new attack subs, the USS Hawaii, pulls into Pearl Harbor →

Culture, Environment, News, Science

Mauna Kea, Hawaii, now preferred site for the Thirty Meter Telescope

Mauna Kea was selected this week by a board of advisors in charge of deciding where to site the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the first of the next generation of giant ground-based telescopes. After a multi-year site review process by the TMT Corporation–including detailed satellite, weather and environmental studies–Hawaii and Chile were to top  contenders for locating the TMT, which could be built and operational as soon as 2018.  Hawaii won out over Chile as the best site because of slightly better atmospheric conditions, very low humidity and lower temperatures. Existing nearby observatories, such as Keck, Subaru, Gemini and the UH, will be useful for collaborations with TMT and were also an important factor.

In the official statement released today by TMT Corporation, the board of directors who selected Mauna Kea over Chile expressed “a strong commitment to respect the long history and cultural significance of Mauna Kea to the Hawaiian people, and has committed annual funding for local community benefits and education in Hawai‘i.” There has been strong opposition among some groups to any scientific activity at the summit. Exactly how much funding, for what specifically and who will receive was not disclosed.

The Thirty Meter Telescope shown in its enclosure with all vents open. The vents are designed to optimize the air flow over the primary mirror so as to reduce mirror seeing effects. The moving mass of the telescope, optics and instruments will be 1430 metric tons.

Before construction can begin on Mauna Kea, the TMT must submit and have approved an application for a Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) to the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources. This will be done through the community-based Office of Mauna Kea Management, which oversees the Mauna Kea summit as part of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

In addition to cultural and environmental concerns, weather plays a major role in the success of any observatory. Specifically, lack of it makes for better observing conditions for astronomers. Twinkling stars, a beautiful phenomenon to watch from the backyard, is a problem for astronomers because the twinkle signals humidity in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Atmospheric humidity interferes with light hitting the reflecting mirrors inside telescopes, causing distortion.

The problem of light distortion gets more detrimental as a telescopes mirror get bigger, a problem that could render data utterly useless from a telescope as big as the TMT will be. Current large telescopes, such as Gemini and Keck, use a method called “adaptive optics” to adjust for twinkle. Engineers for the TMT  are developing a special distortion correction system that will cover the TMT’s 492 segmented mirrors.

Career, Culture, News, Random, Science

Discoveries by amateurs set astronomy apart in science

Discoveries by amateurs set the field of astronomy apart from other fields of science in an era where professionally-trained Ph.D.s dominate research. The recent discovery of a dark spot on Jupiter by astronomy enthusiast Anthony Wesley of North Canberra, Australia, is just the latest example.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Wesley spotted the new dark spot on Jupiter early Tuesday morning with his 14.5-inch reflecting telescope, a type of telescope commonly used by backyard observers because of the relatively low cost and high resolution. Wesley’s setup cost about $10,000, a bargain compared to the millions required for smaller professional telescope facilities.

14-inch reflecting telescope

Wesley reported his discovery of the dark spot, possibly the result of a comet striking the planet and leaving behind a dark impact crater, in an observation report that he posted online, according to the New York Times.

Professional astronomers at NASA facility followed up the report with the NASA telescope on Mauna Kea on the Big Island and found his assessment of an impact crater to be likely correct.

In an era where scientific discoveries are generally the domain of highly trained professionals, an important discovery by an amateur serves to remind us that science grew into what it is today because of good old-fashioned curiosity.