Adventure Ausrama Blog

It is said there is nothing like blowing your own trumpet. Well, in some cases it can be very pleasing. The fact that the Voyager 1 probe has pass into space beyond the solar system is good news, The US must take most of the praise, but a small country in terms of population played a major part. Australian scientists are base at Canberra's Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC). The controlling body is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). This company is a big mover in world science. Many new ideas, concepts and discoveries have their origin at CSIRO. The world's most advanced antennas are situated at the CSIRO base and they have been following Voyager since its launch in 1977. A round trip for a signal forward and back between the Earth and satellite is 34 hours. There are two probes, Voyager 1 and 2. Only one is in deep space. Due to improvements in technology the antennas have been constantly upgraded as the probe journeyed

It is presumed that planets are changing orbital speed at exceedingly slow rates and it will take millions of years for any significant alteration in the "balance" of orbits in the solar system. This theory has recently been confounded. Venus was thought to be in a fixed orbit of 243.0185 days, but when astronomers went looking for it, it was found 20 kilometers further back than it should have been. Calculations showed the orbit had slowed by 6.5 minutes. This will mean that computer computations will have to be altered for future planetary probes to Venus. This is a drastic rethink for scientists. For some reason Venus is affected more by fierce weather conditions and planetary gravitational interaction than other planets. There could be a simpler explanation. Venus could be travelling at different rates in its orbit due to getting close to other planets. It could be a normal slow down period. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustrali

Something is happening - out there! Yes, something mysterious has occurred in space. Astronomers are aghast at the total disappearance of a broad ring around Jupiter. This is a shock and totally unexpected. Things in space are supposed to be quite stable. The ring was not on a picture taken on May 8. The band was very large, twice as broad as the diameter of Earth. A view with binoculars clearly shows that the "bottom" half of the planet is now all white. The twin banded planet is now "held together" by a single band - quite disconcerting. Have no fear. The disappearance could be only temporary. Jupiter's second belt could be covered by cloud higher in the planet's atmosphere. Ammonia can cause ice crystals to form which develops into cirrus clouds. Wind patterns have probably changed on the planet. This has led to a climate change. Just why the bands are brown is a mystery anyway. Only a few probes have been sent to Jupiter so knowledge about it is limited.