CAS Hosts The Celebration Of - College of Arts and Sciences ...

Simon Miller of NASA‘s Goddard
Space Flight Center, is currently
studying the nature of the impact
and will give a press release soon.
In international astronomy
circles, Christopher Go is the
one credited for finding Red Spot
Jr., the smaller red spot on Jupiter
in February 2006. For his contribution
to promoting astronomy in the
Philippines, he received the Presidential
Medal of Merit from President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and
the San Carlos Borromeo Medal
of Excellence from the university. I n
his latest find, he recorded a video of the
impact of an asteroid on the lower right
side of Jupiter. Using special filters for
his telescope, he was able to show the
presence of a bright spot which lasted for
about a second. Although the impact size
is huge, this short duration can be explained
by the fact that Jupiter‘s surface
gravity is 2.5 times than Earth‘s so its
physics
Impact on Jupiter Spotted by a Carolinian Astronomer
by: Raymund Lee Antonio C. Sarmiento, Ph.D.
Christopher Go and his Celestron-11 on his balcony in Cebu
City, Philippines
Christopher Go, a BS Physics
Batch ‘91 graduate of the university,
observed an object striking Jupiter at
4:31 AM on June 4, 2010. Although
impacts on planetary surfaces are common,
they are very seldom documented
live. Mr. Go did just that after processing
several images captured using a
high-resolution camera mounted on his
telescope. His group, headed by Amy
Scientist Lawrence Berkeley visits USC
by: Raymund Lee Antonio C. Sarmiento, Ph.D.
Dr. Alfred S. Schlachter stressing a point in his talk
Dr. Alfred S. Schlachter, a
physicist from the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory at the University of
California, visited the University of San
Carlos on March 15, 2010. He gave a
talk titled, ―Over a barrel: revolutionizing
the way we power our cars‖ at the College
of Architecture and Fine Arts
P A G E 1 0
Christopher Go writes:
(CAFA) Theater at 2:00 P.M. The event
was made possible by the Office of Research
and the Department of Physics.
Dr. Schlachter is a very accomplished
scientist with expertise in the field of
atomic and molecular physics, x-rays and
synchrotron radiation among others. He
is also an energy efficiency proponent
who co-wrote the American Physical
Society (APS) evaluation report in 2008
titled ―Energy Future: Think Efficiency.
How America can look within to achieve
energy security and reduce global warming.‖
In his talk, Dr. Schlachter discussed
several issues related to the
dwindling supply of oil and how we can
adapt. The message of his talk centered
on different ways of making our energy
use more efficient by applying newly developed
technologies. He also emphasized
the need for a slow withdrawal from
the use of fossil fuels which would even-
atmosphere can suppress more the fragments
of the impact.
He credited his find to his fellow
amateur astronomer from Australia, Anthony
Wesley who sent an initial alert on
this suspected impact. In his journal, Christopher
writes ―Today was supposed to be
a routine imaging run. Seeing was perfect.
And this was on the boring side of Jupiter.
On my second image sequence using the
blue filter, I luckily imaged an impact on
Jupiter. I did not see this when it happened
but Anthony sent an alert on this suspected
impact and I was able to confirm
this with my
video.‖ His
video provides
an
i r o n c l a d
confirmation
o f t h e
event.
Impact
fireball
tually be good for the environment. Intended
for a lay audience, his talk was
well attended by faculty and students of
different departments as well as faculty
of other universities in Cebu.
Dr. Alfred S. Schlachter (right) receives a certificate
of appreciation from Dr. Danilo Largo (left), Director
of the Office of Research and Ms. Marian Sionzon,
Administrative Assistant for the College of Arts and
Sciences
C A S B U L L E T I N M A R C H 2 0 1 0