The Solar System and a Close-up of Mars at Probus
Dr Richard Dodd of Martinborough spoke on what we can now see of the sun and the solar system at a recent meeting of the South Wairarapa Probus Club.
From Hale to Hubble and beyond” was a presentation of images obtained from the 1940’s to the 1960’s using the largest telescope available at that time, the Hale 5m instrument in California, USA. These were compared with recent photographs from the Keck 10m telescope in Texas, USA (currently the world’s largest ground based telescope), the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and various planetary spacecraft launched over the past 50 years.
Richard spoke with a depth of knowledge and authority gained as Director of the Carter Observatory in Wellington before he retired to life in the country in South Wairarapa.
The large gathering of members was enthralled by the clarity and detail in the photos now available and by Richard’s explanations of current explorations in space. For example the original “Voyager 1” mission launched in 1977 is still operating and is now heading off out of our solar system and into interstellar space. Presently it takes over 17 hours for data to travel back from Voyager 1 to the earth at the speed of light. It will continue to report back for about a further ten years when its nuclear power plant will become exhausted and its messages will cease.
What next will we learn as we probe further into our solar system and beyond?
Hyatt Cox
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