Dr. Rishi Shah

As it darkens, the night skies would come alive with shimmering stars and charming constellations that would be seen sprawling all over the heavens. The spectacular sight of major planets lining up lavishly in the south-eastern sky could be savoured during the morning hours before sunrise. Planet Mercury could be marvelled low in the south-eastern morning sky before sunrise among the stars that chisel the constellations Sagittarius (archer) and Capricornus (sea goat). The elusive planet will hasten to its greatest western elongation from the Sun on 16 February. It would be well placed for observation on this day. Planet Venus could be viewed for a few hours before daybreak in the south-eastern sky.

It would be shining serenely with stars staying in the north-eastern section of constellation Sagittarius. The red planet, Mars, could be relished shortly before sunup in the south-eastern sky. It would be moving masterly across the northern segment of Sagittarius. Planet Jupiter could be admired tersely in the western sky after sundown. It will be glistening grippingly in the constellation Aquarius (water bearer) till the middle of the month.
The ringed planet Saturn could not be surveyed safely this month, due to its proximity to the Sun. It would be drifting through Capricornus. The greenish planet Uranus could manifest in the western sky soon after sunset till late in the night. It could be spotted smoothly in the sparse southern sector of compact constellation Aries (ram). The bluish planet Neptune would not be noticed since it would be high in the sky during the day. It would be nudging nonchalantly through the constellation Aquarius.

New Moon
The new moon will transpire on February 1, while the full moon will mesmerise moon-enthusiasts on 16 February 2022. This full moon has been proclaimed popularly as hunger full moon because the heaviest snows would fall during this time of the year and hunting would be difficult due to the harsh weather. Venerated Saraswoti Jayanti will be celebrated respectfully on 06 February. Peculiarly chicken-resembling periodic Comet 19P/Borrelly could be chased cheerfully in the southwestern sky after dusk for a few hours.

It would be tumbling across the southern side of congenial constellations Pisces (fishes) and Aries. The comet had come to perihelion (closest tryst to the Sun) in May 2015 and would next be at the nearest at obvious 1.31 AU on 01 February 2022. The comet’s nucleus has been sheer three thousand four-hundred kilometres wide. Its orbital period has been established to be paltry 6.8 years. The comet was identified by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly during routine looking out for comets at Marseilles, France in December 1904. One astronomical unit (AU) has been accepted as the mean distance between Earth and the Sun. It would measure approximately 150 million kilometres.

Zodiacal constellation Aries has been generally considered dim but cryptic, possessing four secretively sparkling stars Hamal, Sheratan, Mesarthim and 41 Arietis (Bharani) and tenebrous pairs of interacting galaxies. They are fairly 65.8, 59.6, 164 and 166 light-years away respectively. The strange spiral galaxy M74 with many clusters of young stars and nebulae, showing extensive regions of star-production and Sphinx-like supernova could be evinced in constellation Pisces. It was detected by French astronomer Pierre Mehain in 1780. It would be queerly thirty million light-years away. They could be applauded amazingly above Borrelly’s path. Whereas star Alpha Piscium dubbed Alresha or meaning chord in Arabic would be comprised of baffling binary star-system with the conspicuous star Alpha Piscium-A and secondary Alpha Piscium-B. They would be purely 151 light-years away. Alrescha could be appreciated below Comet Borrelly.

Alluring asteroid 1 Ceres (designated dwarf planet) could be cherished in the southwestern sky after evening twilight as a gleaming point of light that would be gliding graciously through a charismatically captivating constellation Taurus (bull) until late in the night. It would be sliding towards the south-western horizon and skirted by the astounding ruddy resplendent giant star Aldebaran (Rohini) from above. Open star-cluster the Pleiades could be spotted above Ceres. The arcane Aldebaran would inhabit presumably a puzzling planet (Aldebaran-b) several times the mass of Jupiter.

The Aldebaran-radius has been estimated to be forty-four times the Sun’s. The star could be more than four hundred times more luminous than the Sun. It would be surely sixty-five light-years away. NASA’s iconic planetary exploration probe Pioneer-10 has been heading towards Aldebaran and would approach ardently its vicinity in questionably in two million years. Famed as Seven Sisters (Messier 45) or Kritika in diverse cultures, the prominent Pleiades could be discerned in the north-west expanse of Taurus and be feasibly 444 light-years away. The cluster is dominated by hot blue bright stars.

JUICE Mission
The mammoth gaseous planets Jupiter and Saturn have allegedly played a crucial role in the evolution and conservation of life on earth. Delving into clues for understanding them in detail would be vital for our existence. The European Space Agency (ESA)’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission will investigate Jupiter’s three Galilean moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa for comprehending how habitable worlds might emerge around the gas giant planets. The venture will scrutinise the moons, assumingly hosting internal oceans as potential habitats for life, and attempt to address themes related to the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life. JUICE would continuously observe Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetosphere and the interplay of the Galilean moons with the planet.

The spacecraft will be dispatched tentatively in April 2023 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Ariane-5 rocket, to spend at least three years making meticulous observations. It will probably reach Jupiter in August 2031. The gas giant planet Jupiter would indicate a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. It would lack a well-defined solid surface. Because of its rapid rotation, the planet’s shape is an oblate spheroid. The outer atmosphere has been visibly segregated into sibylline bands at different latitudes, with turbulence and storms along their boundaries. The Great Red Spot is a giant storm known to have been extant exclusively since the 17th century when it was first acclaimed through telescopes. Faint planetary ring systems and a powerful magnetosphere surround Jupiter. Its magnetic tail would be eight-hundred million kilometres long. Jupiter boasts of its whooping eighty known moons. Its four Galilean moons including Io were ascertained by legendary Galileo Galilei in 1610. Jupiter will revolve around the Sun for circa 11.86 years.

Slated for launch in 2026 and arriving apparently in 2034, NASA’s eight-bladed rotorcraft Dragonfly would sample and examine dozens of promising sites around Saturn’s organic-rich icy moon Titan. During its almost three-year baseline assignment, Dragonfly would explore Titan’s eerie environments. Since the basic building blocks of life on Titan have been similar to those on earth before life had developed and thrived, Dragonfly’s instruments would study how far pre-life chemistry may have progressed. Titan is larger than Mercury and the second biggest moon in our Solar System after Jupiter’s Ganymede.

Titan’s Ocean
It would harbour a subsurface ocean of liquid water, methane lakes and rivers along with clouds that trigger rain of methane. Titan would be tremendously 1.4 billion kilometres away from the Sun. Because of its sweeping span from Sun, its temperature would be mostly minus 179 Celsius. The pressure would be fifty per cent haply higher than the Earth’s. Titan’s gravity would be meagre one-seventh that of earth’s. Titan’s atmosphere would verify nitrogen (simply ninety-five per cent) with methane (scant five per cent) and exiguous amounts of carbon compounds. When exposed to sunlight, methane and nitrogen molecules can be split by ultraviolet light and putatively recombine to re-vitalise a variety of complex organic materials. Organic molecules are indispensable for breathing-in novel life types and their presence on Titan could concoct confounding compounds on Titan.

As an ocean world, Titan would offer a rare opportunity for furthering facts and analysing pre-biotic chemistry outside the earth’s environment, characterising potential habitability and searching for signs of life. Dragonfly would cover tens of kilometres, with one hop per full Titan day (sixteen earth days). Unable to use solar power under Titan’s hazy atmosphere, Dragonfly will utilise Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) to convert heat from decaying plutonium-238 into electricity.

(Dr. Shah is an academician at NAST and the patron of NASO)