- Email: [email protected]
SOHO — Comet hunter par excellence
and is hosted by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Other offices will be established in the Arab Region, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Office was timely, since it would support the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the G8 focus on Africa. The ICSU Regional Office could play an important role in building the capacity of individuals and institutions on the continent.
The ICSU Regional Office for Africa will promote the development of all fields of science throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The office will facilitate capacity building, includeing quality science education, training and research. Core objectives are to facilitate networks within Africa and increase participation of African scientists in international programmes.
South Africa was chosen to host the Regional Office by a committee made up of ICSU's African National Members. The National Research Foundation satisfied numerous selection criteria, which included the host being based in a scientific institution with good links to similar institutions in the region, long-term financial support from the host institution and its national government, and ease of access for scientists from the region served by the office.
The office was officially opened by the Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa, the Hon Mr Mosibudi Mangena. The Minister stated that the South African government was deeply honoured to be part of this milestone event and that by hosting the office, it "re-affirmed South Africa's commitment to the common and global effort to bring science solutions closer to the African people."
More information about the African Regional Office of ICSU may be obtained at http://www.icsu-africa.org/news.htm
The newly-appointed Director of the Regional Office, Professor Sospeter Muhongo, said that the office would focus on: 9 Health and human well-being; 9 Sustainable energy; 9 Natural and human-induced hazards; 9 Global climate change.
SOHO
-
Comet
Hunter
Par
Excellence [Extracted from ESA Press Release, 19 August 2005] n 5 August 2005, the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft achieved an incredible milestone - the discovery of its 1000th comet! The 1000th comet was a Kreutz-group comet spotted in images from the C3 coronagraph on SOHO's LASCO instrument by Toni Scarmato, from Calabria, Italy. Just five minutes prior to discovering SOHO's 1000th comet, Toni had also spotted the mission's 999th comet? These comets take Toni's personal number of comet discoveries using SOHO to 15.
O
In establishing the Regional Office, the Director undertook to concentrate on the establishment of a database of African experts, on capacity building, gender balance and outreach activities. The Regional Office has set a target of doubling the number of African countries adhering to ICSU within the first year (from 16 to 32) as an initial vehicle for mobilizing and empowering scientists within the region. Professor Jane Lubchenco, President of ICSU, expressed ICSU's high hopes for the key role this office will play in enabling African scientists to serve society. ICSU Executive Director Professor Thomas Rosswall pointed out that the opening of this Regional
Many of the comet discoveries attributed to SOHO have been by amateurs using SOHO images on the internet, and SOHO comet hunters come from all over the world. Toni Scarmato, a high school teacher and astrophysics graduate of the University of
6
Bologna, commented: "I am very happy for this special experience that is possible thanks to the SOHO satellite and NASA-ESA collaboration. I want to dedicate the SOHO 1000th comet to my wife Rosy and my son Kevin to compensate for the time that I have taken from them to search for SOHO comets". The SOHO team also held a contest over the internet to guess the time when the 1000th comet would be discovered. The contest winner is Andrew Dolgopolov of Dublin, Ireland, who guessed the time of the comet's closest approach to the Sun (perihelion time) within 22 minutes.
SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint effort between NASA
and ESA and is now in its tenth year of operation. Although it was originally planned as a solar and heliospheric mission, it was optimistically hoped that the LASCO instrument might observe at least a handful o f 'sungrazer' comets, based on the success of the SOLWIND coronagraph in the late 1970s and 1980s, which discovered a small number o f very bright Kreutz-group comets. It was not long atter SOHO began sending down a steady stream of data in 1996 that SOHO scientists spotted a Kreutz-group comet in the LASCO images. Soon, several more comets had been found and word started to spread of SOHO's potential as a comet discoverer.
[ImcL~e cotti'tesv c~/'SOHO, LASC O coHsot'tium]
In 2000, amateur astronomer Mike Oates started to search the SOHO images, which had then recently became available via the internet. He soon revealed just how much potential SOHO had by quickly spotting over 100 comets in LASCO images. Almost all S O H O ' s comets are discovered using images from its L A S C O instrument the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph. LASCO is used to observe the corona - the faint, multimilliondegree outer atmosphere of the Sun. A disk in the instrument is used to make an artificial eclipse, blocking direct light from the Sun so that the much fainter corona can be seen. Sungrazing comets are discovered when they enter LASCO's field of view as they pass close by the Sun. As time passed, more professional astronomers, as well as amateur enthusiasts from all over the world, have joined the search for 'SOHO' comets. In August 2002, Rainer Kracht (now the leading comet discoverer using SOHO, with over 150 comets) spotted SOHO's 500th comet. This in itself was an achievement that none of those involved in planning the SOHO mission and its LASCO instrument ever imagined would, or could, happen. However, just three years later, SOHO, with 1000 comet discoveries, is responsible for almost half of all officially recorded comets in history! Add to this the fact that the SOHO mission has completely revolutionized solar physics and the understanding of the Sun, and it shows just how truly amazing the SOHO spacecraft has proved to be.
European Vision for Space Science [by Giovanni F, Bignami]
T
he 2004 Nobel prizewinner in Physics, David Gross, once commented that "Science is shaped by ignorance".
Space science is no exception: by going after our knowledge gaps (or 'ignorance chasms') in the universe around us, we focus on questions that both direct and motivate us. Identifying those questions has been the starting point of Cosmic Vision 2015-2025. Long-range plans for space science are vital to foster the development of space science missions, for which a development time of 10 to 15 years, preceded by long and intense preparatory work, is the rule. Such an investment of time and effort could not be sustained by scientists, technologists, national funding agencies, the space industry and international partners without the existence of long-term plans prepared by such major agencies as ESA or NASA. All these self-same scientists, technologists, national funding agencies, space industry companies and international partners rely very heavily on the existence of ESA's long-term plans to build confidence in the success of space projects. The missions in operation today were planned in the Horizon 2000 plan, prepared in 1984/85 and then in Horizon 2000+ which was formulated during 1994/95. Following on this highly successful tradition is Cosmic Vision 2015-25 that aims at furthering Europe's achievements in space science for the benefit of all mankind. The year 2005 is especially apt for taking stock of the new science done from space in the continent that was home to Ptolemy, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and Einstein. One century after the 'annus mirabilis' of the theory of relativity, the photoelectric effect and Brownian motion, we celebrate thirty years of activity of the European Space Agency, itself emerging from the achievements of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) over the previous decade. We European space scientists are proud to have given again a new contribution to mankind in its quest to
Office was timely, since it would support the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the G8 focus on Africa. The ICSU Regional Office could play an important role in building the capacity of individuals and institutions on the continent.
The ICSU Regional Office for Africa will promote the development of all fields of science throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The office will facilitate capacity building, includeing quality science education, training and research. Core objectives are to facilitate networks within Africa and increase participation of African scientists in international programmes.
South Africa was chosen to host the Regional Office by a committee made up of ICSU's African National Members. The National Research Foundation satisfied numerous selection criteria, which included the host being based in a scientific institution with good links to similar institutions in the region, long-term financial support from the host institution and its national government, and ease of access for scientists from the region served by the office.
The office was officially opened by the Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa, the Hon Mr Mosibudi Mangena. The Minister stated that the South African government was deeply honoured to be part of this milestone event and that by hosting the office, it "re-affirmed South Africa's commitment to the common and global effort to bring science solutions closer to the African people."
More information about the African Regional Office of ICSU may be obtained at http://www.icsu-africa.org/news.htm
The newly-appointed Director of the Regional Office, Professor Sospeter Muhongo, said that the office would focus on: 9 Health and human well-being; 9 Sustainable energy; 9 Natural and human-induced hazards; 9 Global climate change.
SOHO
-
Comet
Hunter
Par
Excellence [Extracted from ESA Press Release, 19 August 2005] n 5 August 2005, the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft achieved an incredible milestone - the discovery of its 1000th comet! The 1000th comet was a Kreutz-group comet spotted in images from the C3 coronagraph on SOHO's LASCO instrument by Toni Scarmato, from Calabria, Italy. Just five minutes prior to discovering SOHO's 1000th comet, Toni had also spotted the mission's 999th comet? These comets take Toni's personal number of comet discoveries using SOHO to 15.
O
In establishing the Regional Office, the Director undertook to concentrate on the establishment of a database of African experts, on capacity building, gender balance and outreach activities. The Regional Office has set a target of doubling the number of African countries adhering to ICSU within the first year (from 16 to 32) as an initial vehicle for mobilizing and empowering scientists within the region. Professor Jane Lubchenco, President of ICSU, expressed ICSU's high hopes for the key role this office will play in enabling African scientists to serve society. ICSU Executive Director Professor Thomas Rosswall pointed out that the opening of this Regional
Many of the comet discoveries attributed to SOHO have been by amateurs using SOHO images on the internet, and SOHO comet hunters come from all over the world. Toni Scarmato, a high school teacher and astrophysics graduate of the University of
6
Bologna, commented: "I am very happy for this special experience that is possible thanks to the SOHO satellite and NASA-ESA collaboration. I want to dedicate the SOHO 1000th comet to my wife Rosy and my son Kevin to compensate for the time that I have taken from them to search for SOHO comets". The SOHO team also held a contest over the internet to guess the time when the 1000th comet would be discovered. The contest winner is Andrew Dolgopolov of Dublin, Ireland, who guessed the time of the comet's closest approach to the Sun (perihelion time) within 22 minutes.
SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint effort between NASA
and ESA and is now in its tenth year of operation. Although it was originally planned as a solar and heliospheric mission, it was optimistically hoped that the LASCO instrument might observe at least a handful o f 'sungrazer' comets, based on the success of the SOLWIND coronagraph in the late 1970s and 1980s, which discovered a small number o f very bright Kreutz-group comets. It was not long atter SOHO began sending down a steady stream of data in 1996 that SOHO scientists spotted a Kreutz-group comet in the LASCO images. Soon, several more comets had been found and word started to spread of SOHO's potential as a comet discoverer.
[ImcL~e cotti'tesv c~/'SOHO, LASC O coHsot'tium]
In 2000, amateur astronomer Mike Oates started to search the SOHO images, which had then recently became available via the internet. He soon revealed just how much potential SOHO had by quickly spotting over 100 comets in LASCO images. Almost all S O H O ' s comets are discovered using images from its L A S C O instrument the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph. LASCO is used to observe the corona - the faint, multimilliondegree outer atmosphere of the Sun. A disk in the instrument is used to make an artificial eclipse, blocking direct light from the Sun so that the much fainter corona can be seen. Sungrazing comets are discovered when they enter LASCO's field of view as they pass close by the Sun. As time passed, more professional astronomers, as well as amateur enthusiasts from all over the world, have joined the search for 'SOHO' comets. In August 2002, Rainer Kracht (now the leading comet discoverer using SOHO, with over 150 comets) spotted SOHO's 500th comet. This in itself was an achievement that none of those involved in planning the SOHO mission and its LASCO instrument ever imagined would, or could, happen. However, just three years later, SOHO, with 1000 comet discoveries, is responsible for almost half of all officially recorded comets in history! Add to this the fact that the SOHO mission has completely revolutionized solar physics and the understanding of the Sun, and it shows just how truly amazing the SOHO spacecraft has proved to be.
European Vision for Space Science [by Giovanni F, Bignami]
T
he 2004 Nobel prizewinner in Physics, David Gross, once commented that "Science is shaped by ignorance".
Space science is no exception: by going after our knowledge gaps (or 'ignorance chasms') in the universe around us, we focus on questions that both direct and motivate us. Identifying those questions has been the starting point of Cosmic Vision 2015-2025. Long-range plans for space science are vital to foster the development of space science missions, for which a development time of 10 to 15 years, preceded by long and intense preparatory work, is the rule. Such an investment of time and effort could not be sustained by scientists, technologists, national funding agencies, the space industry and international partners without the existence of long-term plans prepared by such major agencies as ESA or NASA. All these self-same scientists, technologists, national funding agencies, space industry companies and international partners rely very heavily on the existence of ESA's long-term plans to build confidence in the success of space projects. The missions in operation today were planned in the Horizon 2000 plan, prepared in 1984/85 and then in Horizon 2000+ which was formulated during 1994/95. Following on this highly successful tradition is Cosmic Vision 2015-25 that aims at furthering Europe's achievements in space science for the benefit of all mankind. The year 2005 is especially apt for taking stock of the new science done from space in the continent that was home to Ptolemy, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and Einstein. One century after the 'annus mirabilis' of the theory of relativity, the photoelectric effect and Brownian motion, we celebrate thirty years of activity of the European Space Agency, itself emerging from the achievements of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) over the previous decade. We European space scientists are proud to have given again a new contribution to mankind in its quest to