September 2003 |
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Join the GAVRT EXTREME TEAM 2!
November 5, 2002: Amalthea Flyby- The Galileo spacecraft’s trajectory provided a close flyby of Amalthea, one of Jupiter’s moons, orbiting 1.4 times the radius of Jupiter above the cloud tops. April 10, 2003: GAVRT/Galileo report to the scientific conference in Nice, France (Microwave Observations of Jupiter’s Synchrotron Emission during the Galileo Flyby of Amalthea in 2002). Some of the factors reported were that synchrotron emission during the November 5, 2002 flyby was near its minimum value. The average flux density of the radiation belts was 3.63 Jy +/-0.02. Historically, the lowest 13 cm measurement was ~3.45 Jy around April of 1998. July 2003: GAVRT detects a sudden increase in the radiation belts. The rate of increase is greater than any observations since the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet impacts in 1994. The cause of this increase is currently unknown! August 7, 2003: Jupiter slips behind the Sun and is “cut off” from observations for about one month. |
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Why can’t we “see” Jupiter close to the Sun? Try taking a photograph of someone standing close to the Sun. Your image will be overwhelmed by the glare! |
September 8, 2003: GAVRT Team pounces on Jupiter Quest observations as soon as it reappears from the Sun’s interference.
September 21, 2003: The Galileo spacecraft, responding to orbit adjustments sent from Earth, will dive into the Giant gaseous Planet on its final mission. NASA’s decision, was in part, to avoid accidentally crashing into one of Jupiter’s moons and thereby contaminating it with debris and possibly biological material, from Earth. An intense observing campaign will involve Galileo’s onboard instruments, GAVRT, the VLA (Very Large Array), & the DSN (Deep Space Network).
October 2003: Stay tuned!
Are you ready for GAVRT/Galileo Extreme Team 2!
Contact Kim Bunnell in OCC if you want to sign up to participate in these special scientific observations of Jupiter!