Defender of Planet Earth can win as the most movie-like title for our epic trip series (after all, our next city visited was Los Angeles, where Hollywood was invented). But Defender of Planet Earth is a real job—with an astrophysics twist. These people defend our planet from asteroid threats. The best thing is that everyone in our group got a Planetary Defense sticker. The Defenders of Planet Earth work with the Pan-STARRS telescopes.
Some definitions
In this blog post, we meet some extraordinary people. But first, we need some definitions.
Planetary Defense
Roughly 65 million years ago, Earth was impacted by an asteroid about 10 kilometres in diameter, killing the dinosaurs and many other species. In hindsight, if they had not died, the human race would probably have struggled to evolve (if it had evolved at all). The dinosaurs and everything that lived on Earth then had no space programme, so they could not defend themselves from threats such as asteroid impacts. But we do, and through science, we can manage this threat.
Planetary Defense is about all the strategies, methods, and technologies developed to detect, track, and potentially mitigate threats posed by near-Earth objects (NEOs), such as asteroids and comets, that could impact Earth. The goal of Planetary Defense is to prevent or minimise damage from these celestial objects, which could cause significant harm to life and infrastructure on our planet.
We do this by scanning the sky with telescopes to detect and track them and by creating mitigation strategies—”What do we do if we find one?”—for example. Programmes like NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program, the Pan-STARRS telescopes, and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program are integral to identifying potentially hazardous objects.
The Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii
Our adventure began just before lunch. Our first stop was the Institute for Astronomy, part of the University of Hawaii. We took a quick tour of the Pan-STARRS control room.
We were welcomed by JD—Dr. James D. Armstrong, Project Scientist for the Faulkes Telescope North and Maui Technology Education and Outreach Specialist. His passion for astronomy education and outreach is contagious and inspirational for all the students and grown-ups present.
JD introduced his colleague, Tom Lowe. We split into two groups and started the tour.
JD gave us an overview of the astrobiology work they do at the University of Hawaii, explained about the satellite laser ranging programme, and showed some real astronomy student projects undertaken by students.
Once the confusion between NZ and US colleges was clarified, we realised he was talking about college (US high school) students doing real astrophysics research. That’s exactly the same age as the students in our group, so they could relate to it. JD is the director of the HI STAR Programme.
“This program introduces students from Hawaiʻi to the basic practices of science. Learning to think critically, using the scientific method, is extremely important to every young person in this day and age”, he said.
The Satellite Laser Ranging programme is another interesting research project undertaken by the IfA with NASA Goddard. It measures the distance between a ground observatory and a satellite.
Astrobiology research at the University of Hawaii
Astrobiology addresses three fundamental questions: 1. How does life begin and evolve? 2. Is there life elsewhere in the Universe 3. What is the future of life on Earth? Until a few years ago, this work was led by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which consisted of 15 teams, out of which one was UH (University of Hawaii).
UH supports astrobiology work in many ways. They looked at the origin of water on Earth, including developing models of how water was delivered from the outer solar system. They also supported analog Mars exploration missions, such as Hi-SEAS habitat, a Mars exploration simulation. The University worked closely with NASA on missions such as the Deep Impact Discovery mission to impact comet Tempel 1, Stardust NeXT and the EPOXI mission, and is currently active on the Pan STARRS programme.
Careers in space
Long gone are the days of the lone observer. Modern astronomy is basically number-crunching. So, if you are a data nerd, astronomy and astrophysics might be for you. If you’re wondering about the meaning of the Universe and life, then astronomy might be for you again. If you’re wondering about life’s meaning, then astrobiology is definitely for you. Electrical engineering is another great qualification that helps in the journey to learn about the Universe. And, who knows, you might even be one day, the Defender of Earth.
The Pan-STARRS – designed for surveys
During our trip to Hawaii, we met some of the most amazing survey telescopes in the world. They sweep the skies in search of anything out of place or new. Pan-STARRS is a critical component of modern astronomical surveys, contributing valuable data to our understanding of the universe.
The Pan-STARRS are two 1.8-m Ritchey–Chrétien telescopes at Haleakalā in Hawaii. They also have really big digital cameras. Pan-STARRS1 recorded 1.4 billion pixels per image on 60 closed-packed CCDs arranged in an 8×8 array – see photo below in the left lower corner. This gigapixel camera or ‘GPC’ saw its first light on 22 August 2007, imaging the Andromeda Galaxy. The combined GPC has a field of view of about 7 degrees across, roughly 14 times the diameter of the full Moon.
Here we are in the hallway, looking at the famous photo of the Andromeda galaxy, with JD explaining the CCD camera. He showed how the camera in our mobile phones is about the size of a fingernail, whereas the size of the CCD camera of the Pan-STARRS telescope that took the photo of the Andromeda galaxy is the one he points out in the lower left corner.
What does Pan-STARRS do?
The project continuously and systematically surveys the entire sky from Hawaii’s latitude, looking at objects down to apparent magnitude 24 (these are very faint). By detecting differences from previous observations of the same areas of the sky, Pan-STARRS has discovered many new asteroids, comets, variable stars, supernovae and other celestial objects, even a visitor from outside our solar system, called Omuamua.
Its primary mission is to detect near-earth objects that threaten impact events. It is expected to create a database of all objects visible from Hawaii (three-quarters of the entire sky) up to the apparent magnitude of 24.
We visited their control room, where all the data was processed. While the telescopes are on top of Haleakalā, astronomical data is gathered at the Institute for Astronomy IfA in Maui. What a special treat to see it.
The Pan-STARRS control room
In the control room, we were hosted by Tom Lowe. His business card is almost inconspicuous with the job title of “observer”. And what an observer he is, as we were about to find out.
All the displays in the photo show different data from the telescopes, from weather information to actual data and information on the hardware.
Scientific Contributions of the Pan-STARRS telescopes
Discoveries: Pan-STARRS have been instrumental in discovering new asteroids, comets, and other celestial objects. Pan-STARRS1 played a significant role in discovering the first known interstellar object, `Oumuamua, in 2017.
Data and Surveys: The data collected by Pan-STARRS is used in various scientific research areas, including galaxy formation, the search for dark matter, and understanding the dynamics of the solar system.
Next, we went to the top of Haleakalā.
