________ ______ _ ______ ___ ____ __ _ /_ __/ / ___ __ / / __ \ | / / __/ / _ )__ __/ / /__ / /_(_)__ / / / _ \/ -_) / // / /_/ / |/ / _/ / _ / // / / / -_) __/ / _ \ /_/ /_//_/\__/ \___/\____/|___/___/ /____/\_,_/_/_/\__/\__/_/_//_/ -the newsletter* of NASA's Radio JOVE Project "Planetary Radio Astronomy for Schools" * This newsletter is best viewed using a fixed-width font such as Courier. This will allow the logo above and tables etc. to be aligned properly. APRIL 2000 ISSUE *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Visit our Web Site: http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov Email Radio JOVE at: rj_project@radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* CONTENTS 1. Radio JOVE at the NSTA 2. Radio JOVE chat session on the web 3. Software Update 4. Jovian and Solar Observing 5. RJ News 6. Take our Radio JOVE Survey! 7. Radio JOVE at a Glance 8. Acknowledgments 9. Subscription Information 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Radio JOVE at the NSTA by Jim Thieman, NASA/GSFC Members of the Radio JOVE team will be at the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA) convention in Orlando, FL April 6-9, 2000. There will actually be two sessions that concern Radio JOVE. The first is called "Radio Active Jupiter!" and occurs from 5:00 to 6:00 on Friday, April 7th in room 231C (room assignments are tentative so please check a program to verify). The second is a joint session on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 of Radio JOVE with the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) project in a session called "Join NASA for the Jupiter Encounter 2000". This should be in room 205C, but again, please check the program. There is also another session for GAVRT also, unfortunately, scheduled simultaneously with the Radio JOVE session on Friday. That one is titled "Jupiter Quest: Listening to Jupiter with a Real Radio Telescope" we don't have the room number for that session. If any Radio JOVE participants are attending the NSTA please stop by. 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 Radio JOVE chat session on the web by Jim Thieman, NASA/GSFC For those of you who might be interested in asking questions about the Radio JOVE project, or just chatting about the project or space science in general I will be "in the hot seat" for an on-line webchat session scheduled on Wednesday, April 12, from 1:30 to 2:30 eastern time (10:30 to 11:30 pacific time). We'd love to have you come and chat about your experiences or plans. You have to register for the program. Go to http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ and click on the "What's Happening" hyperlink, then scroll down to April 12. You can register using the hyperlinks there or just observe the chat session if you prefer. Hope you can join us. 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Software Update by Leonard Garcia, RITSS/GSFC Ron Parise, creator of the JoveChart software, has recently tracked down a bug which had resulted in problems installing JoveChart version 1.1 on computers that had not had version 1.0 already installed. For some time a work around had been to install version 1.0 of the software and then install version 1.1 on top of that. With this bug fix that work around is no longer necessary. Users can download the latest version of the software from our website. Radio JOVE participants who have received a CD with a date of "January 2000" printed on it already have the newest version. 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 Jupiter and Solar Observing On May 8, 2000, Jupiter will be in conjunction with the Sun, in other words the Sun will be between Jupiter and Earth. Once Jupiter moves out of the Sun's glare it will again be visible but in the early morning hours rather than in the early evening. Since Jupiter will be so close to the Sun and the Sun's effect on the Earth's ionosphere makes observing Jupiter very difficult anyway why not use the Radio JOVE equipment to observe the Sun? Dale Gary, Associate Professor of Physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology, recently sent out an email message to the Radio JOVE participants about solar radio emission. This message was so informative that we are reprinting sections of it here. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year activity (peak is predicted about July 2000), and the appearance of a big sunspot group on the Sun can mean better chances of getting an event, but they can happen almost any time. So, listen often. At 20 MHz the main type of radio-producing event is a beam of electrons that gets accelerated in the solar corona and produces "plasma radiation" which is a coherent mechanism that can be extremely bright. Individual beams of electrons will last only a 10 seconds or so at 20 MHz, and come from about 1 solar radius above the surface of the Sun. They sometimes happen in groups, however, and so you may see spikey emission lasting for 1 to 5 minutes. These electron beam bursts are called type III emission. Another possible type of emission is due to a shock wave, again traveling out through the solar corona but going more slowly. The emission can last several minutes or more, and will be smoother in time. These shock wave bursts are called type II emission. They are much rarer than type III emission. Rarely, a type of emission called "noise storm" emission can be produced at 20 MHz. This emission can last for hours or days, and can be rather spikey. It is much more common at higher frequencies, but can happen occasionally at 20 MHz. This emission is called type IV emission. If you see something, how can you tell if it is really a solar burst? If you have access to the web, these bursts are reported daily by a world-wide network at the Space Environment Center at NOAA. Type the following into your browser: gopher://sec.noaa.gov:70/11/indices/events then click on the day you want to check. Here is the start of the file for today (the file for the current day is updated every 30 minutes): #Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type Loc/Frq Particulars Reg# #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5040 0041 0041 0041 LEA G RBR 245 65 5050 + 0132 0132 0132 LEA G RBR 245 72 5080 0242 0248 0316 PAL G RNS 410 230 5060 0250 //// 0251 LEA C RSP 030-05 III/1 5070 0318 0322 0334 LEA 3 FLA S17E30 SF 8882 5070 + 0324 0332 0344 GO8 5 XRA 1-8A C4.4 4.4E-03 8882 The Begin, Max, End columns are times in HHMM, universal time. The Type column shows the type of event being reported. Here are the meanings: RBR radio burst. RNS radio noise storm RSP radio spectrograph FLA optical flare XRA x-ray flare The Loc/Frq column gives different information depending on the Type column. For RBR, RNS this is the radio frequency (MHz). For RSP it is the frequency range (MHz). For FLA it is the location of the optical flare (solar coordinates). For XRA it is the wavelength of the x-rays. The Particulars column for RBR and RNS gives the radio flux (in solar flux units, or SFU, 1 SFU=10^-22 W/m^2/Hz). For RSP, it gives the type and intensity (this one is a type III burst, of intensity 1, which is the lowest intensity). An intensity of 3 is the highest intensity. The entry we would be most interested in is the one repeated below: #Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type Loc/Frq Particulars Reg# #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5060 0250 //// 0251 LEA C RSP 030-05 III/1 This shows that a type III burst occurred between 5 and 30 MHz (so should be seen by Jove at 20 MHz if bright enough), and it lasted for about 1 minute from 0250 to 0251 UT. I hope this information is of use to people who want to use Jove to detect some solar events. Let us know if someone catches one, and you can "prove" it too by showing the NOAA report of the event. 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5 RJ News *Francisco Reyes and Wes Greenman of the UF Radio Observatory and Radio JOVE Core Team members gave a talk on the Jupiter decametric radio emission and the Radio Jove Project to 15 teachers and high school students participating in the 37th Annual Junior Science, Engineering and Humanities Symposium, held at the University of Florida campus. * The RJ Kit price has increased from $100 to $115 based on a more realistic estimate of actual costs for the first 200 kits sold. Our prices are still a good deal since we have been able to keep them down by buying parts for the kits in bulk. * Jim Brown, Director of the Stanback Planetarium at South Carolina State University, has developed a variation on the RJ antenna mast design. He reports that it makes putting up and taking down the antennas quicker. For more details check out: http://www.draco.scsu.edu/joveant.html * The Radio JOVE Website now has a link to the University of Florida's "UF Radio Observatory Online". This site (linked from the Radio JOVE Control Room web page under "Access UFRO On-line") contains useful information about Jovian radio emission, Jovian and Solar sound files in MP3 format and images of the UF Radio Observatory. This new site will eventually contain live data from the UF Radio Observatory's main instruments as well as a Radio JOVE antenna/receiver system and and INSPIRE receiver. This data will be in the form of a stripchart display and audio output. The live data is not yet available. We will keep you informed of updates to this site. 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6 Take Our Radio JOVE Survey! Please take a moment to fill out the following survey. This survey will help us know how the Radio JOVE project has been implemented in your school and where we need to make changes or improvements. Thank you. Project Radio JOVE Participant Survey 1. Did you complete the Radio JOVE kit? Yes No 2. If yes, did you or will you make any observations with the equipment? 3. If no, could you state briefly why it was not completed? 4. Do you have suggestions for making the kit more useful or valuable for your purposes? 5. Was Radio Jove useful as a tool in teaching science or technology? Very useful Useful Some help Not useful 6. Any comments on the reason for the answer to its usefulness? 7. Have you used the Radio JOVE website (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov)? Yes No 8. Do you have any suggestions for improvement of the web site? 9. Any other comments or suggestions overall? 10. For Radio JOVE purposes can you connect to the web? Yes No If yes, do you connect through : telephone dial-in (modem) intermediate access speeds (DSL, low speed network) high speed network (ethernet, T1 or higher ) Thank you for your help in the survey. Please return by email, mail or FAX to: Jim Thieman Email: james.thieman at nasa.gov FAX: 301-286-1771 Code 633, NASA/GSFC Greenbelt, MD 20771 7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7 Radio JOVE at a Glance (from the RJ Web Site) * Teaches planetary and solar radio astronomy, space physics, and the scientific method * Target audience - Teachers and students of high school / college science courses * Provides teachers and students with a hands-on radio astronomy experience * Gain experience in electronics construction and testing * Interact with other Radio JOVE schools to exchange data, ideas, and experiences * Radio JOVE kits available for $115, additional equipment is required, including antenna supports, a tape recorder, and a PC with a sound card 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Radio JOVE project is an educational/public outreach program involving scientists and educators from NASA, Raytheon ITSS, the University of Florida, the Florida Space Grant Consortium, RF Associates and The INSPIRE Project, Inc. The Radio JOVE project wishes to acknowledge support from the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Director's Discretionary Fund and the Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy and Space Science (IDEAS) grant program administered by the Space Telescope Science Institute. 9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9 THE JOVE BULLETIN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The JOVE Bulletin is published several times a year. It is a free service of the Radio JOVE Project. We hope you will find it of value. If any of your friends would like to subscribe, they may do so by sending E-mail to Leonard.Garcia@gsfc.nasa.gov. If you do not want to receive any more issues, send E-mail to Leonard.Garcia@gsfc.nasa.gov. Back issues are available on the Radio JOVE Project Web site, http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/ For assistance or information send inquiries to: Radio JOVE Project Code 633 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA or Email: rj_project@radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov FAX: 1-301-286-1771 =======================================================================