Venus to take center stage in October 2020 observation campaign

View larger. | Graphic highlighting some of the science themes that may be possible to study during the two flybys of Venus. Image via ESA.

In October 2020, Venus will be the focus of an international campaign of coordinated observations, involving the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo and JAXA Akatsuki spacecrafts, as well as multiple ground-based telescopes and planetary scientists around the world. The collaboration aims to shed new light on the thick and complex atmosphere of Venus. Astronomers announced the plans for the campaign September 19, 2019 at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

On October 15, 2020, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft will pass close to Venus in the first of two flybys of the planet during the mission’s long journey to Mercury. The encounter, said ESA:

… will provide an opportunity to cross-check the accuracy of BepiColombo’s instrumentation with that of JAXA’s Venus orbiter, Akatsuki, and for the two missions to work together with Earth-based observers to study Venus’ atmosphere from multiple viewpoints and at different scales.

Akatsuki, launched in May 2010, is currently the only spacecraft in orbit around Venus. The mission arrived in December 2015 and monitors the planet every two hours from an elliptical orbit that takes it from 620 miles (1,000 km) at its closest approach to 205,000 miles (330,000 km) at its furthest point.

The BepiColombo mission, launched in October 2018, will go into orbit around planet Mercury in December 2025. At the time of the spacecraft’s flyby of Venus, BepiColombo will be at 6,637 miles (10,681 km) from Venus’ surface – approximately 30 times closer to the planet than Akatsuki, which will be at its peak distance. This means that BepiColombo will be able to make close up observations while Akatsuki will capture processes at a global scale.

BepiColombo will use encounters with Venus in October 2020 and August 2021 to help it spiral onto an orbital path where it can catch up with fast-moving Mercury, which whizzes round the sun every 88 days.

The BepiColombo mission consists of two scientific orbiters, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, renamed at launch ‘Mio’), which are designed to explore Mercury and its environment. According to ESA:

Eight out of the eleven instruments onboard the MPO will be able to operate at Venus. While this suite of sensors has been designed to study the rocky, atmosphere-free environment at Mercury, the MPO instrumentation will be able to contribute valuable science at Venus during the flyby.

In particular, MPO’s thermal infrared spectrometer and radiometer (MERTIS) will provide temperature and density profiles and study the chemical composition and cloud cover in the mid-altitude atmosphere. This will be the first time observations of this kind have been made since the Russian Venera 15 mission in 1983. MPO’s UV spectrometer (PHEBUS) may provide UV range reflectivity from the clouds and emissions from the upper atmosphere while its approaching to Venus. Six other instruments on both MPO and Mio will study the interaction between the sun and Venus’s upper atmosphere. The magnetometers on each spacecraft will study the magnetic environment.

The infrared and ultraviolet instruments onboard BepiColobo will make coordinated observations with the corresponding cameras onboard Akatsuki. Earth-based telescopes, including the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, as well as the Earth-orbiting Hisaki ultraviolet astronomy satellite, will contribute a different viewing perspective and enable global mapping of atmospheric features at Venus.

Astronomer Yeon Joo Lee of TU Berlin, said in a statement:

The opportunity to use all these instruments simultaneously will give us access to multiple wavelengths to probe different altitudes of the atmosphere and to distinguish the different gases present … The different viewing angles and distances of all the spacecraft and telescopes involved will enable us to see what’s happening on the dayside and the nightside of the planet and how processes evolve over time, which can be missed by just one mission.

Bottom line: Coordinated observations, involving 2 spacecrafts and multiple ground-based telescopes, aims to shed new light on the thick, complex atmosphere of Venus in October 2020.

Via Europlanet Society

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2l0wApZ

View larger. | Graphic highlighting some of the science themes that may be possible to study during the two flybys of Venus. Image via ESA.

In October 2020, Venus will be the focus of an international campaign of coordinated observations, involving the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo and JAXA Akatsuki spacecrafts, as well as multiple ground-based telescopes and planetary scientists around the world. The collaboration aims to shed new light on the thick and complex atmosphere of Venus. Astronomers announced the plans for the campaign September 19, 2019 at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

On October 15, 2020, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft will pass close to Venus in the first of two flybys of the planet during the mission’s long journey to Mercury. The encounter, said ESA:

… will provide an opportunity to cross-check the accuracy of BepiColombo’s instrumentation with that of JAXA’s Venus orbiter, Akatsuki, and for the two missions to work together with Earth-based observers to study Venus’ atmosphere from multiple viewpoints and at different scales.

Akatsuki, launched in May 2010, is currently the only spacecraft in orbit around Venus. The mission arrived in December 2015 and monitors the planet every two hours from an elliptical orbit that takes it from 620 miles (1,000 km) at its closest approach to 205,000 miles (330,000 km) at its furthest point.

The BepiColombo mission, launched in October 2018, will go into orbit around planet Mercury in December 2025. At the time of the spacecraft’s flyby of Venus, BepiColombo will be at 6,637 miles (10,681 km) from Venus’ surface – approximately 30 times closer to the planet than Akatsuki, which will be at its peak distance. This means that BepiColombo will be able to make close up observations while Akatsuki will capture processes at a global scale.

BepiColombo will use encounters with Venus in October 2020 and August 2021 to help it spiral onto an orbital path where it can catch up with fast-moving Mercury, which whizzes round the sun every 88 days.

The BepiColombo mission consists of two scientific orbiters, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, renamed at launch ‘Mio’), which are designed to explore Mercury and its environment. According to ESA:

Eight out of the eleven instruments onboard the MPO will be able to operate at Venus. While this suite of sensors has been designed to study the rocky, atmosphere-free environment at Mercury, the MPO instrumentation will be able to contribute valuable science at Venus during the flyby.

In particular, MPO’s thermal infrared spectrometer and radiometer (MERTIS) will provide temperature and density profiles and study the chemical composition and cloud cover in the mid-altitude atmosphere. This will be the first time observations of this kind have been made since the Russian Venera 15 mission in 1983. MPO’s UV spectrometer (PHEBUS) may provide UV range reflectivity from the clouds and emissions from the upper atmosphere while its approaching to Venus. Six other instruments on both MPO and Mio will study the interaction between the sun and Venus’s upper atmosphere. The magnetometers on each spacecraft will study the magnetic environment.

The infrared and ultraviolet instruments onboard BepiColobo will make coordinated observations with the corresponding cameras onboard Akatsuki. Earth-based telescopes, including the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, as well as the Earth-orbiting Hisaki ultraviolet astronomy satellite, will contribute a different viewing perspective and enable global mapping of atmospheric features at Venus.

Astronomer Yeon Joo Lee of TU Berlin, said in a statement:

The opportunity to use all these instruments simultaneously will give us access to multiple wavelengths to probe different altitudes of the atmosphere and to distinguish the different gases present … The different viewing angles and distances of all the spacecraft and telescopes involved will enable us to see what’s happening on the dayside and the nightside of the planet and how processes evolve over time, which can be missed by just one mission.

Bottom line: Coordinated observations, involving 2 spacecrafts and multiple ground-based telescopes, aims to shed new light on the thick, complex atmosphere of Venus in October 2020.

Via Europlanet Society

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2l0wApZ

Old moon, Regulus, rising times and more

These upcoming mornings – September 26 and 27, 2019 – the waning crescent moon and the star Regulus adorn the eastern sky before sunrise. Astronomers will call the waning crescent, visible at dawn, an old moon. Regulus is a bright star and the brightest light in the constellation Leo the Lion. You might or might not be able to see in your sky that Regulus marks the bottom of a backwards question mark pattern of stars. This asterism is called The Sickle, and it marks the head and shoulders of Leo. Regulus is sometimes called The Heart of the Lion. The name Regulus means little king.

Regulus is part of a backwards question mark pattern known as The Sickle in Leo. Image via Derekscope.

Now … about the time of sunrise. Because we’re only a few days past the equinox, sunrise happens about six hours before noontime – or about six hours after midnight – everywhere around the world. In this usage, noon means midway between sunrise and sunset, and midnight means midway between sunset and sunrise.

On the other hand, Regulus is a northern star, so it rises at an earlier hour at more northerly latitudes and a later hour at more southerly latitudes. For the next day or two, we give the approximate amount of time that Regulus rises before sunrise for various latitudes:

60 degrees north latitude: Regulus rises 3 1/2 hours before the sun

35 degrees north latitude: Regulus rises 2 1/2 hours before the sun

Equator (0 degrees latitude): Regulus rises 2 hours before the sun

35 degrees south latitude: Regulus rises 1 1/3 hours before the sun

60 degrees south latitude: Regulus rises 1/2 hour before the sun

For your specific view of Regulus before sunrise, try Stellarium Online.

The moon is a harder to pin down, because it’s not a “fixed” star like Regulus. In fact, during the one day (24-hour) stretch from September 26 to 27, the waning crescent moon moves 15 degrees (30 moon-diameters) closer to the sunrise point on the horizon for everyone worldwide. Yet, the rising time of the moon depends on your latitude – and your longitude.

Here’s an old moon, caught by Amirul Syazani in Port Dickson, Malaysia in 2017. That glow on the darkened portion of the moon is called earthshine. It’s twice-reflected sunlight – sunlight reflected from the Earth to the moon, and then from the moon back to Earth. Watch for it on the moon in the coming mornings.

For instance, sky chart at the very top of this post – showing the moon and Regulus – is especially for North America. Nonetheless, the moon will be in the vicinity of Regulus on the sky’s dome as seen from around the world. At the same date from the world’s Eastern Hemisphere, at one hour before sunrise, the moon appears more westward (upward) relative to Regulus than it does from North America; yet from the Hawaiian Islands, the moon appears more eastward (downward) than it does in North America.

However, from everywhere worldwide, the moon will be harder to catch on September 27 than on September 26. That’s because the shrinking crescent looms closer horizon and is more deeply buried in the glow of morning twilight.

And here’s another factor that’ll determine how you’ll see the old moon and Regulus in the coming mornings. The waning crescent moon will be easier to spot from the Northern Hemisphere than from the Southern Hemisphere. That’s because the ecliptic – approximate monthly path of the moon in front of the constellations of the zodiac – hits the sunrise horizon at its steepest angle for the year around the time of the autumn equinox, which we just passed. Meanwhile, at the spring equinox, the ecliptic intersects the sunrise horizon at its shallowest angle of the year; that’s the case in the Southern Hemisphere now.

So – as the moon gets closer to new – the advantage for any old moon hunt goes to the Northern Hemisphere. The moon is now a bit north of the ecliptic, which adds to the Northern Hemisphere’s advantage and to the Southern Hemisphere’s disadvantage. Many factors to consider! And yet we’ll all see the old moon and Regulus before sunup in the coming days.

New moon will fall on September 28, 2019, at 18:26 UTC. This new moon will be a supermoon – an extra-close new moon.

Remember two weeks ago – on September 14, 2019 – when it was the farthest full moon of the year? If, somehow, we could superimpose this September 2019 full moon (mini-moon) onto the September 2019 old crescent moon, the size difference would resemble Peter’s magnificent portrayal of a lunar crescent at perigee with the full moon at apogee in the photo below.

Peter Lowenstein superimposes the small June 2017 mini-moon (full moon at apogee, farthest from Earth for the month) with the slender lunar crescent, with its dark side covered over in earthshine, when at perigee (closest point to Earth). The most recent full moon on September 14, 2019, was a mini-moon, and two weeks later, the old moon will sweep to perigee (closest point to Earth) on September 28, 2019, at 2:27 UTC. The moon reaches perigee only 16 hours before the moon turns new on September 28, 2019, at 18:26 UTC. If, somehow, we could superimpose this September 2019 mini-moon onto the upcoming old crescent moon, it’d probably resemble Peter’s magnificent portrayal of a supermoon with a mini-moon. The size difference is proportionally comparable to that of a U.S. quarter versus a U.S. nickel.

Bottom line: Enjoy an early morning drama as the waning crescent moon swings past the star Regulus on the mornings of September 26 and 27, 2019.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2lAGSNP

These upcoming mornings – September 26 and 27, 2019 – the waning crescent moon and the star Regulus adorn the eastern sky before sunrise. Astronomers will call the waning crescent, visible at dawn, an old moon. Regulus is a bright star and the brightest light in the constellation Leo the Lion. You might or might not be able to see in your sky that Regulus marks the bottom of a backwards question mark pattern of stars. This asterism is called The Sickle, and it marks the head and shoulders of Leo. Regulus is sometimes called The Heart of the Lion. The name Regulus means little king.

Regulus is part of a backwards question mark pattern known as The Sickle in Leo. Image via Derekscope.

Now … about the time of sunrise. Because we’re only a few days past the equinox, sunrise happens about six hours before noontime – or about six hours after midnight – everywhere around the world. In this usage, noon means midway between sunrise and sunset, and midnight means midway between sunset and sunrise.

On the other hand, Regulus is a northern star, so it rises at an earlier hour at more northerly latitudes and a later hour at more southerly latitudes. For the next day or two, we give the approximate amount of time that Regulus rises before sunrise for various latitudes:

60 degrees north latitude: Regulus rises 3 1/2 hours before the sun

35 degrees north latitude: Regulus rises 2 1/2 hours before the sun

Equator (0 degrees latitude): Regulus rises 2 hours before the sun

35 degrees south latitude: Regulus rises 1 1/3 hours before the sun

60 degrees south latitude: Regulus rises 1/2 hour before the sun

For your specific view of Regulus before sunrise, try Stellarium Online.

The moon is a harder to pin down, because it’s not a “fixed” star like Regulus. In fact, during the one day (24-hour) stretch from September 26 to 27, the waning crescent moon moves 15 degrees (30 moon-diameters) closer to the sunrise point on the horizon for everyone worldwide. Yet, the rising time of the moon depends on your latitude – and your longitude.

Here’s an old moon, caught by Amirul Syazani in Port Dickson, Malaysia in 2017. That glow on the darkened portion of the moon is called earthshine. It’s twice-reflected sunlight – sunlight reflected from the Earth to the moon, and then from the moon back to Earth. Watch for it on the moon in the coming mornings.

For instance, sky chart at the very top of this post – showing the moon and Regulus – is especially for North America. Nonetheless, the moon will be in the vicinity of Regulus on the sky’s dome as seen from around the world. At the same date from the world’s Eastern Hemisphere, at one hour before sunrise, the moon appears more westward (upward) relative to Regulus than it does from North America; yet from the Hawaiian Islands, the moon appears more eastward (downward) than it does in North America.

However, from everywhere worldwide, the moon will be harder to catch on September 27 than on September 26. That’s because the shrinking crescent looms closer horizon and is more deeply buried in the glow of morning twilight.

And here’s another factor that’ll determine how you’ll see the old moon and Regulus in the coming mornings. The waning crescent moon will be easier to spot from the Northern Hemisphere than from the Southern Hemisphere. That’s because the ecliptic – approximate monthly path of the moon in front of the constellations of the zodiac – hits the sunrise horizon at its steepest angle for the year around the time of the autumn equinox, which we just passed. Meanwhile, at the spring equinox, the ecliptic intersects the sunrise horizon at its shallowest angle of the year; that’s the case in the Southern Hemisphere now.

So – as the moon gets closer to new – the advantage for any old moon hunt goes to the Northern Hemisphere. The moon is now a bit north of the ecliptic, which adds to the Northern Hemisphere’s advantage and to the Southern Hemisphere’s disadvantage. Many factors to consider! And yet we’ll all see the old moon and Regulus before sunup in the coming days.

New moon will fall on September 28, 2019, at 18:26 UTC. This new moon will be a supermoon – an extra-close new moon.

Remember two weeks ago – on September 14, 2019 – when it was the farthest full moon of the year? If, somehow, we could superimpose this September 2019 full moon (mini-moon) onto the September 2019 old crescent moon, the size difference would resemble Peter’s magnificent portrayal of a lunar crescent at perigee with the full moon at apogee in the photo below.

Peter Lowenstein superimposes the small June 2017 mini-moon (full moon at apogee, farthest from Earth for the month) with the slender lunar crescent, with its dark side covered over in earthshine, when at perigee (closest point to Earth). The most recent full moon on September 14, 2019, was a mini-moon, and two weeks later, the old moon will sweep to perigee (closest point to Earth) on September 28, 2019, at 2:27 UTC. The moon reaches perigee only 16 hours before the moon turns new on September 28, 2019, at 18:26 UTC. If, somehow, we could superimpose this September 2019 mini-moon onto the upcoming old crescent moon, it’d probably resemble Peter’s magnificent portrayal of a supermoon with a mini-moon. The size difference is proportionally comparable to that of a U.S. quarter versus a U.S. nickel.

Bottom line: Enjoy an early morning drama as the waning crescent moon swings past the star Regulus on the mornings of September 26 and 27, 2019.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2lAGSNP

Study gets to root of rice's resilience to floods

"Our work is the most comprehensive look yet across species into what's really going on under the hood as plants respond to flooding," says Emory biologist Roger Deal. (Getty Images)

By Carol Clark

Climate change is increasing both the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, including floods. That’s a problem for many farmers, since rice is the only major food crop that’s resilient to flooding. A new study, published in Science, however, identified genetic clues to this resilience that may help scientists improve the prospects for other crops.

“Our work is the most comprehensive look yet across species into what’s really going on under the hood as plants respond to flooding,” says Roger Deal, associate professor of biology at Emory University and a lead author of the study. “Understanding the mechanism for flooding tolerance is the first step in understanding how you might increase it in plants that lack it.”

Rice was domesticated from wild species that grew in tropical regions, where it adapted to endure monsoons and waterlogging. The Science research looked at how other crops compare to rice when submerged in water. The plants included species with a range of flooding tolerance, from barrel clover (which is similar to alfalfa), to domesticated tomato plants, to a wild-growing tomato that is adapted for a desert environment.

The results showed that, although evolution separated the ancestors of rice and these other species as many as 180 million years ago, they all share at least 68 families of genes that are activated in response to flooding.

“That was surprising,” Deal says. “We thought we’d see different gene expression responses among these species related to their adaptation to wet or dry conditions. Instead, what was really different was that rice had far and away the most rapid and synchronous response. In comparison, the other plants’ responses were piecemeal and haphazard.”

The Deal lab experimented on barrel clover (Medicago truncatula) as part of the study. (Photo by Marko Bajic)

Deal’s research focuses on how plants build and adapt their bodies. By digging deep into the developmental biology and genetics of plant systems, he hopes to unearth secrets that could benefit both agriculture and human health.

Marko Bajic, an Emory graduate student in the Department of Biology and the Graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, is co-author of the Science paper.

The study was an international collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program. The authors include scientists from the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Riverside; Argentina’s National University of La Plata and the Netherland’s Ultrecht University.

UC Riverside researchers conducted flooding experiments and analysis of rice plant genomes, scientists at UC Davis did the same with the tomato species while the barrel clover work was done at Emory.

The results suggest that the timing and smoothness of the genetic response may account for the variations in the outcomes for the plants during the experiments.

The wild tomato species that grows in desert soil withered and died when flooded.

The team examined cells that reside at the tips of roots of plants, as roots are the first responders to a flood. Root tips and shoot buds are also where a plant’s prime growing potential resides. These regions contain cells with the ability to become other types of cells in the plant and serve as a repair system in plants and other living things.

Drilling down even further, the team looked at the genes in these root tip cells, to understand whether and how their genes were activated when covered with water and deprived of oxygen.

“We looked at the way that DNA instructs a cell to create particular stress responses in a level of unprecedented detail,” says Mauricio Reynoso, one of the lead authors from the University of California, Riverside.

The group is now planning additional studies to improve the survival rates of plants that currently die and rot from excess water.

This year is not the first in which excessive rains have kept farmers from being able to plant crops like corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Floods have also damaged the quality of the crops they were able to grow. This trend is expected to continue due to climate change.

“We as scientists have an urgency to help plants withstand floods, to ensure food security for the future,” says Julia Bailey-Serres, another lead author of the study and a professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside.

Jules Bernstein, from the University of California, Riverside, contributed to this story. 

Related:
How zinnias shaped a budding biologist


from eScienceCommons https://ift.tt/2lm4Vjy

"Our work is the most comprehensive look yet across species into what's really going on under the hood as plants respond to flooding," says Emory biologist Roger Deal. (Getty Images)

By Carol Clark

Climate change is increasing both the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, including floods. That’s a problem for many farmers, since rice is the only major food crop that’s resilient to flooding. A new study, published in Science, however, identified genetic clues to this resilience that may help scientists improve the prospects for other crops.

“Our work is the most comprehensive look yet across species into what’s really going on under the hood as plants respond to flooding,” says Roger Deal, associate professor of biology at Emory University and a lead author of the study. “Understanding the mechanism for flooding tolerance is the first step in understanding how you might increase it in plants that lack it.”

Rice was domesticated from wild species that grew in tropical regions, where it adapted to endure monsoons and waterlogging. The Science research looked at how other crops compare to rice when submerged in water. The plants included species with a range of flooding tolerance, from barrel clover (which is similar to alfalfa), to domesticated tomato plants, to a wild-growing tomato that is adapted for a desert environment.

The results showed that, although evolution separated the ancestors of rice and these other species as many as 180 million years ago, they all share at least 68 families of genes that are activated in response to flooding.

“That was surprising,” Deal says. “We thought we’d see different gene expression responses among these species related to their adaptation to wet or dry conditions. Instead, what was really different was that rice had far and away the most rapid and synchronous response. In comparison, the other plants’ responses were piecemeal and haphazard.”

The Deal lab experimented on barrel clover (Medicago truncatula) as part of the study. (Photo by Marko Bajic)

Deal’s research focuses on how plants build and adapt their bodies. By digging deep into the developmental biology and genetics of plant systems, he hopes to unearth secrets that could benefit both agriculture and human health.

Marko Bajic, an Emory graduate student in the Department of Biology and the Graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, is co-author of the Science paper.

The study was an international collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program. The authors include scientists from the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Riverside; Argentina’s National University of La Plata and the Netherland’s Ultrecht University.

UC Riverside researchers conducted flooding experiments and analysis of rice plant genomes, scientists at UC Davis did the same with the tomato species while the barrel clover work was done at Emory.

The results suggest that the timing and smoothness of the genetic response may account for the variations in the outcomes for the plants during the experiments.

The wild tomato species that grows in desert soil withered and died when flooded.

The team examined cells that reside at the tips of roots of plants, as roots are the first responders to a flood. Root tips and shoot buds are also where a plant’s prime growing potential resides. These regions contain cells with the ability to become other types of cells in the plant and serve as a repair system in plants and other living things.

Drilling down even further, the team looked at the genes in these root tip cells, to understand whether and how their genes were activated when covered with water and deprived of oxygen.

“We looked at the way that DNA instructs a cell to create particular stress responses in a level of unprecedented detail,” says Mauricio Reynoso, one of the lead authors from the University of California, Riverside.

The group is now planning additional studies to improve the survival rates of plants that currently die and rot from excess water.

This year is not the first in which excessive rains have kept farmers from being able to plant crops like corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Floods have also damaged the quality of the crops they were able to grow. This trend is expected to continue due to climate change.

“We as scientists have an urgency to help plants withstand floods, to ensure food security for the future,” says Julia Bailey-Serres, another lead author of the study and a professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside.

Jules Bernstein, from the University of California, Riverside, contributed to this story. 

Related:
How zinnias shaped a budding biologist


from eScienceCommons https://ift.tt/2lm4Vjy

Scientists use drones to probe earthly dust devils, with an eye toward Mars

The video above shows scientists’ encounter with a dust devil in May 2019, in the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon. These scientists – members of the Boise State Dust Devil Collaboration – have been flying drones through active dust devils, in part to understand earthly dust devils better, and also to understand dust devils on Earth’s neighbor planet, Mars. Physicist Brian Jackson of Boise State University said in a statement:

Dust devils, while common in arid climates on Earth, are ubiquitous on Mars, where they may be responsible for much of the planet’s haze that helps heat its atmosphere. Dust devils have been observed from landers the ground and from orbiting spacecraft all over the surface of Mars. A better understanding of dust devils on Earth will help scientists understand their influence on Mars’ climate.

In the video above, acquired with a drone, you can see how the drone tilts and drops once inside the dust devil. It’s also fun to see the drone chase the dust devil as it moves away. Jackson reported on these May 2019 observations via drone on September 19, 2019, at a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences in Geneva, Switzerland. He said the drone struggled as air pressure dropped inside the dust devil. Camille M. Carlisle of SkyandTelescope.com, who apparently heard Jackson speak at the meeting, explained:

The pressure drop matches what’s expected for the wind speed twirling round the dust devil’s funnel.

Yet, Jackson said, despite the fact that dust devils have been studied for decades, scientists still aren’t entirely clear on the physics of how dust devils lift dust into the atmosphere. He said:

When we compare theoretical predictions of how much dust a devil should lift to how much it does lift, the numbers just don’t add up.

That’s why Jackson’s team thought of the drones to study dust devils. The drones carry not just cameras, but also other lightweight instruments, including pressure and temperature loggers. They measure the structures of the dust devil while taking particle samples to determine how much material the dust devil is carrying.

Dust devil research in the Alvord desert of Eastern Oregon. Image via J. Kelly/B. Jackson/Europlanet.

In summer 2017, Jackson and his team were awarded a grant from the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium to launch drones into dust devils. In 2018, they also received a three-year, $217,000 grant from NASA’s Solar System Workings Program. Why is NASA interested in dust devils? These scientists explained:

NASA currently has three active rovers on Mars, two of which are powered by solar panels. Martian dust has been a concern, falling on the panels and reducing the amount of energy generated, and the static charges that can build up in the dust devils may pose a hazard to electrical equipment deployed on Mars.

And why drones? The scientists said:

Previous studies of Martian dust devils have relied on passive sampling of the profiles via meteorology packages on landed spacecraft. Past studies of terrestrial devils have employed more active sampling (instrumented vehicles or manned aircraft) but have been limited to near-surface or relatively high-altitude sampling.

Drones promise a new and powerful platform from which to sample dust devils at a variety of altitudes. Measurements made aloft are more directly relevant for evaluating the dust that is injected into the atmosphere.

NASA may have dust on its mind since the official demise of its Mars Opportunity rover earlier this year. Opportunity – fondly nicknamed Oppy – was built to last 90 days, but spent 15 years exploring Mars, until a Mars-wide dust storm hit in June 2018. The rover relied on solar power. Its solar panels are now thought to be blanketed with dust. Engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent more than a thousand commands to Mars throughout this past fall and early winter, in an attempt to restore contact with the rover. It didn’t work. The rover sits silent on Mars’ surface now, in Mars’ Perseverance Valley.

The tweet below, from 2016, offers a particularly beautiful and poignant view of the Opportunity rover in relationship to a Mars dust devil.

Twisting through the valley is a Martian dust devil, seen by @MarsRovers Opportunity: https://t.co/3Rc1t2Qg2s pic.twitter.com/di8J3Flvt6

— NASA (@NASA) April 5, 2016

If you want more about Mars’ dust devils, check out the video below. The navigation cameras aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured images of a few of them moving dust across Gale Crater in 2017. Dust devils result from sunshine warming the ground, prompting convective rising of air. All the dust devils in the video below were seen in a southward direction from the rover. Timing is accelerated and contrast has been modified to make frame-to-frame changes easier to see.

Read more about Mars dust devils, from NASA

Bottom line: Scientists are using drones to study dust devils on Earth, with an eye to future studies of dust devils on Mars.

Via Europlanet

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2liMBrx

The video above shows scientists’ encounter with a dust devil in May 2019, in the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon. These scientists – members of the Boise State Dust Devil Collaboration – have been flying drones through active dust devils, in part to understand earthly dust devils better, and also to understand dust devils on Earth’s neighbor planet, Mars. Physicist Brian Jackson of Boise State University said in a statement:

Dust devils, while common in arid climates on Earth, are ubiquitous on Mars, where they may be responsible for much of the planet’s haze that helps heat its atmosphere. Dust devils have been observed from landers the ground and from orbiting spacecraft all over the surface of Mars. A better understanding of dust devils on Earth will help scientists understand their influence on Mars’ climate.

In the video above, acquired with a drone, you can see how the drone tilts and drops once inside the dust devil. It’s also fun to see the drone chase the dust devil as it moves away. Jackson reported on these May 2019 observations via drone on September 19, 2019, at a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences in Geneva, Switzerland. He said the drone struggled as air pressure dropped inside the dust devil. Camille M. Carlisle of SkyandTelescope.com, who apparently heard Jackson speak at the meeting, explained:

The pressure drop matches what’s expected for the wind speed twirling round the dust devil’s funnel.

Yet, Jackson said, despite the fact that dust devils have been studied for decades, scientists still aren’t entirely clear on the physics of how dust devils lift dust into the atmosphere. He said:

When we compare theoretical predictions of how much dust a devil should lift to how much it does lift, the numbers just don’t add up.

That’s why Jackson’s team thought of the drones to study dust devils. The drones carry not just cameras, but also other lightweight instruments, including pressure and temperature loggers. They measure the structures of the dust devil while taking particle samples to determine how much material the dust devil is carrying.

Dust devil research in the Alvord desert of Eastern Oregon. Image via J. Kelly/B. Jackson/Europlanet.

In summer 2017, Jackson and his team were awarded a grant from the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium to launch drones into dust devils. In 2018, they also received a three-year, $217,000 grant from NASA’s Solar System Workings Program. Why is NASA interested in dust devils? These scientists explained:

NASA currently has three active rovers on Mars, two of which are powered by solar panels. Martian dust has been a concern, falling on the panels and reducing the amount of energy generated, and the static charges that can build up in the dust devils may pose a hazard to electrical equipment deployed on Mars.

And why drones? The scientists said:

Previous studies of Martian dust devils have relied on passive sampling of the profiles via meteorology packages on landed spacecraft. Past studies of terrestrial devils have employed more active sampling (instrumented vehicles or manned aircraft) but have been limited to near-surface or relatively high-altitude sampling.

Drones promise a new and powerful platform from which to sample dust devils at a variety of altitudes. Measurements made aloft are more directly relevant for evaluating the dust that is injected into the atmosphere.

NASA may have dust on its mind since the official demise of its Mars Opportunity rover earlier this year. Opportunity – fondly nicknamed Oppy – was built to last 90 days, but spent 15 years exploring Mars, until a Mars-wide dust storm hit in June 2018. The rover relied on solar power. Its solar panels are now thought to be blanketed with dust. Engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent more than a thousand commands to Mars throughout this past fall and early winter, in an attempt to restore contact with the rover. It didn’t work. The rover sits silent on Mars’ surface now, in Mars’ Perseverance Valley.

The tweet below, from 2016, offers a particularly beautiful and poignant view of the Opportunity rover in relationship to a Mars dust devil.

Twisting through the valley is a Martian dust devil, seen by @MarsRovers Opportunity: https://t.co/3Rc1t2Qg2s pic.twitter.com/di8J3Flvt6

— NASA (@NASA) April 5, 2016

If you want more about Mars’ dust devils, check out the video below. The navigation cameras aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured images of a few of them moving dust across Gale Crater in 2017. Dust devils result from sunshine warming the ground, prompting convective rising of air. All the dust devils in the video below were seen in a southward direction from the rover. Timing is accelerated and contrast has been modified to make frame-to-frame changes easier to see.

Read more about Mars dust devils, from NASA

Bottom line: Scientists are using drones to study dust devils on Earth, with an eye to future studies of dust devils on Mars.

Via Europlanet

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2liMBrx

Meet Delta Cephei, a famous variable star

Like lights in a dark tunnel, stars in the distant universe become fainter as they are farther away. Because they pulsate at a rate correlated to their own intrinsic brightnesses, Cepheid variable stars reveal their own true distances. Image via The Last Word on Nothing

At the southeast corner of the house-shaped constellation Cepheus the King, there’s an intriguing variable star called Delta Cephei. With clocklike precison, this rather faint star doubles in brightness, fades to a minimum and then doubles in brightness every 5.36 days. You can see it change over a period of days. The entire cycle is visible to the eye alone in a dark-enough sky. This star and others like it have secured a place as important standard candles for establishing the scale of the galaxy and universe.

Delta Cephei itself looms large in the history of astronomy. An entire class of supergiant stars – called Cepheid variables – is named in this star’s honor.

Like Delta Cephei, Cepheid variable stars dependably change their brightnesses over regular intervals. The time period can range from about one to 100 days, depending on the star’s luminosity or intrinsic brightness. Astronomers have learned that – the longer the cycle – the greater the intrinsic brightness of the star. This knowledge is a powerful tool in astronomy for probing distances across vast space.

This graph – measuring brightness variations over time – is what astronomers call a light curve. It’s the light curve of Delta Cephei, which, as dependably as a fine clock, doubles in brightness and then fades again every 5.366341 days.

How do Cepheid variable stars help measure cosmic distances? Because Delta Cephei and other stars in its class vary so dependably – and because the cycle of their brightness change is tied so strongly to their intrinsic brightnesses – these stars can be used to measure distances across space. Astronomers call objects that can be used in this way standard candles.

How does it work? First, astronomers carefully measure the rates of these stars’ pulsations. Unfortunately, the distances to very few – if any – Cepheid variable stars are close enough to measure directly by stellar parallax. However, the approximate distances of Cepheid variables in relatively nearby star clusters have been determined indirectly by the spectroscopic method (sometimes called by the misnomer spectroscopic parallax). After watching many Cepheid variables pulsate – and knowing their approximate distances via the spectroscopic method – they know how bright a Cepheid variable of a particular intrinsic brightness should look at a given distance from Earth.

Armed with this knowledge, astronomers watch the pulsations of this class of stars in distant space. They can deduce the stars’ intrinsic brightnesses because of their rates of pulsation. Then they can infer the distances to more faraway stars by their apparent magnitude. Because light dims by the inverse square law, astronomers know a star of a given luminosity (intrinsic brightness) would appear 1/16th as bright at four times the distance, 1/64th as bright at eight times the distance or 1/100th as bright at 10 times the distance.

Why are these stars varying in brightness, by the way? The variations are thought to be actual pulsations as the star itself expands and then contracts.

Cepheid variable stars can be seen up to a distance of 20 million light-years. The nearest galaxy is about 2 million light-years away – and the most distant are billions of light-years away. So these stars don’t get you far in measuring distances across space. Still, since astronomers learned the secrets of their pulsation, these stars have been vital to astronomy.

The astronomer Henrietta Leavitt discovered Cepheid variables in 1912. In 1923, the astronomer Edwin Hubble used Cepheid variable stars to determine that the so-called Andromeda nebula is actually a giant galaxy lying beyond the confines of our Milky Way. That knowledge released us from the confines of a single galaxy and gave us the vast universe we know today.

Location of star Delta Cephei within constellation Cepheus.

How can I spot Delta Cephei in the night sky? This star is circumpolar – always above the horizon – in the northern half of the United States.

Even so, this star is much easier to see when it’s high in the northern sky on autumn and winter evenings. You can find Cepheus by way of the Big Dipper. First, use the Big Dipper “pointer stars” to locate Polaris, the North Star. Then jump beyond Polaris by a fist-width to land on Cepheus.

You’ll see the constellation Cepheus the King close to his wife, Cassiopeia the Queen, her signature W or M-shaped figure of stars making her the flashier of the two constellations. They’re high in your northern sky on November and December evenings.

International Astronomical Union chart showing constellation Cepheus.

How can I watch Delta Cephei vary in brightness? The real answer to that question is: time and patience. But two stars lodging near Delta Cephei on the sky’s dome – Epsilon Cephei and Zeta Cephei – match the low and high ends of Delta Cephei’s brightness scale. That fact should help you watch Delta Cephei change.

So look back at the charts above, and locate the stars Epsilon and Zeta Cephei. At its faintest, Delta Cephei is as dim as the fainter star, Epsilon Cephei. At its brightest, Delta Cephei matches the brightness of the brighter star, Zeta Cephei.

Have fun!

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Bottom line: The star Delta Cephei brightens and fades with clocklike precision every 5.36 days. The rate of brightness change is tied to the star’s intrinsic brightness. That’s how a whole class of stars named for Delta Cephei – called Cepheid variable stars – helps astronomers measure distances.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2mkI5Jn

Like lights in a dark tunnel, stars in the distant universe become fainter as they are farther away. Because they pulsate at a rate correlated to their own intrinsic brightnesses, Cepheid variable stars reveal their own true distances. Image via The Last Word on Nothing

At the southeast corner of the house-shaped constellation Cepheus the King, there’s an intriguing variable star called Delta Cephei. With clocklike precison, this rather faint star doubles in brightness, fades to a minimum and then doubles in brightness every 5.36 days. You can see it change over a period of days. The entire cycle is visible to the eye alone in a dark-enough sky. This star and others like it have secured a place as important standard candles for establishing the scale of the galaxy and universe.

Delta Cephei itself looms large in the history of astronomy. An entire class of supergiant stars – called Cepheid variables – is named in this star’s honor.

Like Delta Cephei, Cepheid variable stars dependably change their brightnesses over regular intervals. The time period can range from about one to 100 days, depending on the star’s luminosity or intrinsic brightness. Astronomers have learned that – the longer the cycle – the greater the intrinsic brightness of the star. This knowledge is a powerful tool in astronomy for probing distances across vast space.

This graph – measuring brightness variations over time – is what astronomers call a light curve. It’s the light curve of Delta Cephei, which, as dependably as a fine clock, doubles in brightness and then fades again every 5.366341 days.

How do Cepheid variable stars help measure cosmic distances? Because Delta Cephei and other stars in its class vary so dependably – and because the cycle of their brightness change is tied so strongly to their intrinsic brightnesses – these stars can be used to measure distances across space. Astronomers call objects that can be used in this way standard candles.

How does it work? First, astronomers carefully measure the rates of these stars’ pulsations. Unfortunately, the distances to very few – if any – Cepheid variable stars are close enough to measure directly by stellar parallax. However, the approximate distances of Cepheid variables in relatively nearby star clusters have been determined indirectly by the spectroscopic method (sometimes called by the misnomer spectroscopic parallax). After watching many Cepheid variables pulsate – and knowing their approximate distances via the spectroscopic method – they know how bright a Cepheid variable of a particular intrinsic brightness should look at a given distance from Earth.

Armed with this knowledge, astronomers watch the pulsations of this class of stars in distant space. They can deduce the stars’ intrinsic brightnesses because of their rates of pulsation. Then they can infer the distances to more faraway stars by their apparent magnitude. Because light dims by the inverse square law, astronomers know a star of a given luminosity (intrinsic brightness) would appear 1/16th as bright at four times the distance, 1/64th as bright at eight times the distance or 1/100th as bright at 10 times the distance.

Why are these stars varying in brightness, by the way? The variations are thought to be actual pulsations as the star itself expands and then contracts.

Cepheid variable stars can be seen up to a distance of 20 million light-years. The nearest galaxy is about 2 million light-years away – and the most distant are billions of light-years away. So these stars don’t get you far in measuring distances across space. Still, since astronomers learned the secrets of their pulsation, these stars have been vital to astronomy.

The astronomer Henrietta Leavitt discovered Cepheid variables in 1912. In 1923, the astronomer Edwin Hubble used Cepheid variable stars to determine that the so-called Andromeda nebula is actually a giant galaxy lying beyond the confines of our Milky Way. That knowledge released us from the confines of a single galaxy and gave us the vast universe we know today.

Location of star Delta Cephei within constellation Cepheus.

How can I spot Delta Cephei in the night sky? This star is circumpolar – always above the horizon – in the northern half of the United States.

Even so, this star is much easier to see when it’s high in the northern sky on autumn and winter evenings. You can find Cepheus by way of the Big Dipper. First, use the Big Dipper “pointer stars” to locate Polaris, the North Star. Then jump beyond Polaris by a fist-width to land on Cepheus.

You’ll see the constellation Cepheus the King close to his wife, Cassiopeia the Queen, her signature W or M-shaped figure of stars making her the flashier of the two constellations. They’re high in your northern sky on November and December evenings.

International Astronomical Union chart showing constellation Cepheus.

How can I watch Delta Cephei vary in brightness? The real answer to that question is: time and patience. But two stars lodging near Delta Cephei on the sky’s dome – Epsilon Cephei and Zeta Cephei – match the low and high ends of Delta Cephei’s brightness scale. That fact should help you watch Delta Cephei change.

So look back at the charts above, and locate the stars Epsilon and Zeta Cephei. At its faintest, Delta Cephei is as dim as the fainter star, Epsilon Cephei. At its brightest, Delta Cephei matches the brightness of the brighter star, Zeta Cephei.

Have fun!

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Bottom line: The star Delta Cephei brightens and fades with clocklike precision every 5.36 days. The rate of brightness change is tied to the star’s intrinsic brightness. That’s how a whole class of stars named for Delta Cephei – called Cepheid variable stars – helps astronomers measure distances.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2mkI5Jn

Remember to look for Fomalhaut

The chart at top is via Stellarium Online. It’s facing due south in the evening, from the Northern Hemisphere. Go to Stellarium for a view of your night sky.

Here’s one star you’ll want to come to know: Fomalhaut, a bright star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish. Fomalhaut is visible from all but far-northern latitudes. It’s located in a region of the sky that contains only faint stars. For that reason, in most years, Fomalhaut appears solitary in the evening sky at this time of year. In 2019, however, Fomalhaut has company. The bright planets Jupiter and Saturn are up in the evening, too, pointing the way to Fomalhaut on the sky’s dome.

How can you find Jupiter and Saturn? Jupiter is easy. It’s the brightest starlike object visible in your sky after sundown. Saturn is fainter than Jupiter, but it’s also bright. Think about the path the sun travels during the day. This path is called the ecliptic. Both Jupiter and Saturn can be found along the sun’s path. Jupiter is the very bright one, and Saturn is located just to the east of Jupiter on the sky’s dome. Need more? Click here for EarthSky’s monthly planet guide.

Fomalhaut is south of the sun’s path, and even farther east than Saturn. From the Northern Hemisphere, at about 8 to 9 p.m., you’ll find Fomalhaut peeking out at you just above the southeast horizon. See it on the chart above? No other bright star sits so low in the southeast in the evening at this time of year. From this hemisphere, Fomalhaut dances close the southern horizon until well after midnight on these autumn nights. It reaches its highest point for the night in the southern sky at roughly 11 p.m. local time (midnight daylight saving time). At mid-northern latitudes, Fomalhaut sets in the southwest around 2:30 to 3:30 a.m. local time (3:30 to 4:30 a.m. local daylight time).

From the Southern Hemisphere, Fomalhaut rises in a southeasterly direction, too, but this star climbs much higher up in the Southern Hemisphere sky and stays out for a longer period of time.

Click here to find out precisely when Fomalhaut rises, transits (climbs highest up for the night) and sets in your sky.

Fomalhaut is a bright white star. In skylore, you sometimes see it called the Lonely One, or the Solitary One, or sometimes the Autumn Star. Depending on whose list you believe, Fomalhaut is either the 17th or the 18th brightest star in the sky.

Roughly translated from Arabic, Fomalhaut’s name means mouth of the fish or whale.

By the way, Fomalhaut is famous in astronomical science as the first star with a visible exoplanet. Click here for more about Fomalhaut and its planet, Fomalhaut b or Dagon

View larger. | This false-color composite image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals the orbital motion of the planet Fomalhaut b, aka Dagon. Image via NASA/ ESA/ P. Kalas. Read more about Fomalhaut and Dagon.

Bottom line: Go outside around mid-evening – and learn to keep company with Fomalhaut – brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish – sometimes called the loneliest star. In 2019, Fomalhaut has company. Both Jupiter and Saturn are near it in the sky.

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2kEg1zY

The chart at top is via Stellarium Online. It’s facing due south in the evening, from the Northern Hemisphere. Go to Stellarium for a view of your night sky.

Here’s one star you’ll want to come to know: Fomalhaut, a bright star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish. Fomalhaut is visible from all but far-northern latitudes. It’s located in a region of the sky that contains only faint stars. For that reason, in most years, Fomalhaut appears solitary in the evening sky at this time of year. In 2019, however, Fomalhaut has company. The bright planets Jupiter and Saturn are up in the evening, too, pointing the way to Fomalhaut on the sky’s dome.

How can you find Jupiter and Saturn? Jupiter is easy. It’s the brightest starlike object visible in your sky after sundown. Saturn is fainter than Jupiter, but it’s also bright. Think about the path the sun travels during the day. This path is called the ecliptic. Both Jupiter and Saturn can be found along the sun’s path. Jupiter is the very bright one, and Saturn is located just to the east of Jupiter on the sky’s dome. Need more? Click here for EarthSky’s monthly planet guide.

Fomalhaut is south of the sun’s path, and even farther east than Saturn. From the Northern Hemisphere, at about 8 to 9 p.m., you’ll find Fomalhaut peeking out at you just above the southeast horizon. See it on the chart above? No other bright star sits so low in the southeast in the evening at this time of year. From this hemisphere, Fomalhaut dances close the southern horizon until well after midnight on these autumn nights. It reaches its highest point for the night in the southern sky at roughly 11 p.m. local time (midnight daylight saving time). At mid-northern latitudes, Fomalhaut sets in the southwest around 2:30 to 3:30 a.m. local time (3:30 to 4:30 a.m. local daylight time).

From the Southern Hemisphere, Fomalhaut rises in a southeasterly direction, too, but this star climbs much higher up in the Southern Hemisphere sky and stays out for a longer period of time.

Click here to find out precisely when Fomalhaut rises, transits (climbs highest up for the night) and sets in your sky.

Fomalhaut is a bright white star. In skylore, you sometimes see it called the Lonely One, or the Solitary One, or sometimes the Autumn Star. Depending on whose list you believe, Fomalhaut is either the 17th or the 18th brightest star in the sky.

Roughly translated from Arabic, Fomalhaut’s name means mouth of the fish or whale.

By the way, Fomalhaut is famous in astronomical science as the first star with a visible exoplanet. Click here for more about Fomalhaut and its planet, Fomalhaut b or Dagon

View larger. | This false-color composite image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals the orbital motion of the planet Fomalhaut b, aka Dagon. Image via NASA/ ESA/ P. Kalas. Read more about Fomalhaut and Dagon.

Bottom line: Go outside around mid-evening – and learn to keep company with Fomalhaut – brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish – sometimes called the loneliest star. In 2019, Fomalhaut has company. Both Jupiter and Saturn are near it in the sky.

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2kEg1zY

Science Surgery: ‘Does cancer affect the future development of children?’

Our Science Surgery series answers your cancer science questions. 

One of our Instagram followers asked: ‘Does cancer affect the future development of children?’

“It massively depends on what cancer the child has, where it is and how it’s treated,” says Dr John Moppett, an expert in childhood blood cancer from the University of Bristol Hospitals NHS Trust.

Most children who’ve had cancer carry few major long-term side effects into adulthood.

And when they do, the side effects will vary hugely depending on what treatment they’ve had.

Children usually recover well after chemo

Thankfully, children’s cancer isn’t very common. The number of cancer cases in children aged 0 to 14 and  young people aged 15 to 24 each makes up less than 1% of the total number of cancer cases diagnosed in the UK each year. Blood cancers, known as leukaemias, account for around one third of childhood cancer cases in the UK.

“In terms of leukaemia, the vast majority of treatment will have next to no long-term side effects on the child at all, says Moppett. “Which means no effects on fertility, growth, intellectual capacity or anything really. The same can be said for many solid tumours in kids.”

Chemotherapy is normally the first option to treat these cancers. Despite being effective at killing cancer cells, these drugs are designed to kill any cell that divides, so can come with nasty side effects like.

Damaged normal cells are great at replenishing themselves quickly once treatment has stopped. So, although horrible, these effects are relatively short-lived.

And for the times when chemo causes more severe, long-term damage, research is helping to find kinder solutions.

Minimising the long-term impact of more aggressive treatment

The future development of children with cancer is more of a concern when chemo isn’t an option.

Take leukaemia for example, the children who are most likely to have complications are those needing an aggressive treatment called a bone marrow transplant.

For certain types of blood cancer, the treatment uses high doses of radiotherapy to destroy the child’s bone marrow and with it their cancer cells. But is also destroys other cells living in the bone marrow, which are replenished by new, transplanted cells.

It’s fairly rare for children to have this treatment – Less than 5 in 100 children who are diagnosed with the most common type of leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL),  and around a third of the less common , acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), need a bone marrow transplant. But it can have a big impact if they do.

“Whilst a transplant gives us the best chance of curing some children, it can affect their growth,” says Moppett. He explains that they can end up shorter than they would have done otherwise because their body can no longer make the hormones that help them grow.

Total body irradiation can also impact a child’s sexual development and fertility.

“Body radiation can upset a child’s hormone levels, and puberty can be delayed or never happen. But these are all things we would routinely track. And intervening with hormone injections or supplements is relatively simple.”

Moppett says research is also giving a lot of “hope” around preserving the fertility of young children with cancer and there are options available for teenagers and young adults with the disease.

Radiotherapy and development

“Brain tumours is the area where long-term effects can be quite different,” says Moppett. Treatment for brain tumours can vary treatment, but the one that are most cautious about is radiotherapy.

“Brain tumours that are in tricky places and need large doses of radiotherapy at a young age can affect the developing brain,” says Moppett.

And the younger you have it, the more likely it will affect development.

“We avoid radiotherapy as much as possible in children under three because research has shown that very young children who have radiotherapy to the brain are more likely to have changes to how their brain works after treatment,” says Moppett.

That’s because the central nervous system is not fully developed at three. And if the whole brain needs to be treated, areas controlling intelligence or the ability to learn can become irreversibly damaged and development stunted.

While these side effects won’t happen to everyone, doctors are more likely to give young children with brain tumours chemotherapy to keep their tumour under control until they’re old enough to have radiotherapy.

As well as intellectual development, the brain is responsible for a plethora of delicate bodily functions, so radiotherapy can have some potentially surprising effects.

For example, girls who’ve had radiotherapy to the head can sometimes go through puberty early. Or if an area of the brain responsible for making growth hormones, called the pituitary gland, is damaged it can stop working and affect a child’s growth.

Research to reduce side effects

While these long-term side effects seem extremely worrying, the risk of each treatment needs to be weighed up against the benefits. And, thanks to research, the chances of people experiencing long-term effects from cancer treatment they had when they were young are becoming lower and lower.

For example, instead of a bone marrow transplant, children with hard-to-treat blood cancer may be able to have a form of personalised immunotherapy called CAR T cell therapy which may have less long-standing impact.

And a kinder type of radiotherapy called proton beam therapy is currently being put through trials to see if it’s as effective as current radiotherapy treatment with fewer long-term side effects.

What about school?

Dr Moppett says he’s always surprised at how quickly children catch up with their schoolwork and how keen they are to get back in the classroom.

“If children have to miss school for treatment, at the time it can feel like they’re missing out. But from my experience, in the big scheme of things they won’t suffer any long-term educational deficit, nor will their social development be affected.”

And for older children and young people who might need to take exams the support is there for them too.

“In that moment school is understandably very important for them but given the perspective of time the significance wanes.”

Gabi

If you’d like to ask us something, post a comment below or email sciencesurgery@cancer.org.uk with your question and first name.

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/2m3cwDM

Our Science Surgery series answers your cancer science questions. 

One of our Instagram followers asked: ‘Does cancer affect the future development of children?’

“It massively depends on what cancer the child has, where it is and how it’s treated,” says Dr John Moppett, an expert in childhood blood cancer from the University of Bristol Hospitals NHS Trust.

Most children who’ve had cancer carry few major long-term side effects into adulthood.

And when they do, the side effects will vary hugely depending on what treatment they’ve had.

Children usually recover well after chemo

Thankfully, children’s cancer isn’t very common. The number of cancer cases in children aged 0 to 14 and  young people aged 15 to 24 each makes up less than 1% of the total number of cancer cases diagnosed in the UK each year. Blood cancers, known as leukaemias, account for around one third of childhood cancer cases in the UK.

“In terms of leukaemia, the vast majority of treatment will have next to no long-term side effects on the child at all, says Moppett. “Which means no effects on fertility, growth, intellectual capacity or anything really. The same can be said for many solid tumours in kids.”

Chemotherapy is normally the first option to treat these cancers. Despite being effective at killing cancer cells, these drugs are designed to kill any cell that divides, so can come with nasty side effects like.

Damaged normal cells are great at replenishing themselves quickly once treatment has stopped. So, although horrible, these effects are relatively short-lived.

And for the times when chemo causes more severe, long-term damage, research is helping to find kinder solutions.

Minimising the long-term impact of more aggressive treatment

The future development of children with cancer is more of a concern when chemo isn’t an option.

Take leukaemia for example, the children who are most likely to have complications are those needing an aggressive treatment called a bone marrow transplant.

For certain types of blood cancer, the treatment uses high doses of radiotherapy to destroy the child’s bone marrow and with it their cancer cells. But is also destroys other cells living in the bone marrow, which are replenished by new, transplanted cells.

It’s fairly rare for children to have this treatment – Less than 5 in 100 children who are diagnosed with the most common type of leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL),  and around a third of the less common , acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), need a bone marrow transplant. But it can have a big impact if they do.

“Whilst a transplant gives us the best chance of curing some children, it can affect their growth,” says Moppett. He explains that they can end up shorter than they would have done otherwise because their body can no longer make the hormones that help them grow.

Total body irradiation can also impact a child’s sexual development and fertility.

“Body radiation can upset a child’s hormone levels, and puberty can be delayed or never happen. But these are all things we would routinely track. And intervening with hormone injections or supplements is relatively simple.”

Moppett says research is also giving a lot of “hope” around preserving the fertility of young children with cancer and there are options available for teenagers and young adults with the disease.

Radiotherapy and development

“Brain tumours is the area where long-term effects can be quite different,” says Moppett. Treatment for brain tumours can vary treatment, but the one that are most cautious about is radiotherapy.

“Brain tumours that are in tricky places and need large doses of radiotherapy at a young age can affect the developing brain,” says Moppett.

And the younger you have it, the more likely it will affect development.

“We avoid radiotherapy as much as possible in children under three because research has shown that very young children who have radiotherapy to the brain are more likely to have changes to how their brain works after treatment,” says Moppett.

That’s because the central nervous system is not fully developed at three. And if the whole brain needs to be treated, areas controlling intelligence or the ability to learn can become irreversibly damaged and development stunted.

While these side effects won’t happen to everyone, doctors are more likely to give young children with brain tumours chemotherapy to keep their tumour under control until they’re old enough to have radiotherapy.

As well as intellectual development, the brain is responsible for a plethora of delicate bodily functions, so radiotherapy can have some potentially surprising effects.

For example, girls who’ve had radiotherapy to the head can sometimes go through puberty early. Or if an area of the brain responsible for making growth hormones, called the pituitary gland, is damaged it can stop working and affect a child’s growth.

Research to reduce side effects

While these long-term side effects seem extremely worrying, the risk of each treatment needs to be weighed up against the benefits. And, thanks to research, the chances of people experiencing long-term effects from cancer treatment they had when they were young are becoming lower and lower.

For example, instead of a bone marrow transplant, children with hard-to-treat blood cancer may be able to have a form of personalised immunotherapy called CAR T cell therapy which may have less long-standing impact.

And a kinder type of radiotherapy called proton beam therapy is currently being put through trials to see if it’s as effective as current radiotherapy treatment with fewer long-term side effects.

What about school?

Dr Moppett says he’s always surprised at how quickly children catch up with their schoolwork and how keen they are to get back in the classroom.

“If children have to miss school for treatment, at the time it can feel like they’re missing out. But from my experience, in the big scheme of things they won’t suffer any long-term educational deficit, nor will their social development be affected.”

And for older children and young people who might need to take exams the support is there for them too.

“In that moment school is understandably very important for them but given the perspective of time the significance wanes.”

Gabi

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from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/2m3cwDM