Curious Eyes

In the dark glistening expanse of the night sky, the stars sparkle just like the rhymes we’d learnt… only later do we understand why stars sparkle, and how stars are not as tiny as they appear to be… rather an alarming size, as one approaches it close, and the hot jets burst in flares every second, the very source of light, which from distant seemed so calm…

In Carl Sagan’s words, “We are stardust… “  …. and very literally, yes, we are… For you see, it is after birth of stars (be it via supernova explosion or collapsing of nebula) , does the formation of heavier elements take place over time, and cloud, gas and matter take form to form their respective solar systems, and collectively, formations of galaxies… 

Our seek to understand the origin of us, leads to discovering, our roots, and the birth of universe… and so we start looking at what’s in proximity :: our very own solar system in the milky way galaxy. If answers to the existence of solar systems and its formations could be defined, so would the larger questions be answered, like fitting in the little pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle… 

Today, our eyes aren’t just limited to the what we see with our retina, but eyes, that travel across the deep space of the universe due the technological advancements that provide lens to our eyes… 

The spacecrafts that wonder across the night sky : there are those that set out to uncover mysteries while orbiting the subject, and those who travel to the very surface of the planets we watch from afar… 

And of all the various missions, I shall elaborate on the recent space mission (JUNO) to orbit Jupiter for a year, so as to provide about the information that Jupiter holds, for it isn’t any other planet, but a planet if 80 times more than its present state could’ve been the sun, a planet with 50 moons, a planet that was formed just after the infant sun and helped shape up the solar system, a planet whose immense thunderstorm created the ever so prominent great red spot that is about the size of two earths, and the planet‘s immense magnetic field that creates the brightest auroras in the solar system ; Also, Jupiter's giant mass allowed it to hold onto its original composition, providing us with a way of tracing our solar system's history… 

Beneath its dense cloud covers, hiding the secrets of its workings, and Juno shall unveil what lies beneath the stormy atmosphere, and the core of Jupiter. Juno will determine the global structure and motions of the planet’s atmosphere below the cloud tops for the first time, mapping variations in the atmosphere’s composition, temperature, clouds and patterns of movement down to unprecedented depths. 

Deep in Jupiter's atmosphere, under great pressure, hydrogen gas is squeezed into a fluid known as metallic hydrogen. At these great depths, the hydrogen acts like an electrically conducting metal which is believed to be the source of the planet's intense magnetic field. This powerful magnetic environment creates the brightest auroras in our solar system, as charged particles precipitate down into the planet’s atmosphere. Juno will directly sample the charged particles and magnetic fields near Jupiter’s poles for the first time, while simultaneously observing the auroras in ultraviolet light produced by the extraordinary amounts of energy crashing into the polar regions. These investigations will greatly improve our understanding of this remarkable phenomenon, and also of similar magnetic objects, like young stars with their own planetary systems. By determining the water content in Jupiter’s atmosphere, it’ll help determine which planet theory is correct (or if new theories are needed). 

The understanding of the giant planet shall reveal the story of the solar system. And eventually the story about us… 

So next time, when you look out to the night sky, you aren’t just peeping into unknown distant lights, rather you are gazing at your own roots, and the silent detective spacecrafts that work through years, in order to explain the mysterious workings of the universe…. 

For more information and exploration you can check out :: www.nasa.gov about the various past, current and future missions. Also you can explore into the solar system with the software :: “eyes into the solar system” , a virtual reality built by JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and Caltech wherein you can just explore the universe by changing the space-time coordinates, and look at the orbits, the planets and the space shuttles.