August 16, 2015 ALP Monthly
Meeting Report
by James
Kevin Ty and Christopher Louie Lu
Last August 16th, ALP held
their monthly meeting at Exploreum at SM Mall of Asia in
Pasay City. Members who attended were ALP
President James Kevin Ty , wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty;
Secretary Christopher Louie Lu, wife Karren and daughter
Frances Lu; Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan and Iah Serna;
Auditor Edgar Ang, PRO Edge Lat , directors Ronald Sison
, John Ray Cabrera and Peter Benedict Tubalinal , Shubhashish Banerjee
, Nelson Go, Vincent Gella and his dad, Jan Karlo
Hernandez, Miguel Cajita and Maria Sobina Yu.
Meeting started at around 3:30pm
with ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu giving the
highlights of this month celestial events. This
was followed by his lecture on the Latest Updates on New
Horizon and Pluto.
The New
Horizons July 14, 2015 close flyby of the Pluto System
was a success & initial data from the space probe has
been received by the NH team at NASA. This represent new
frontiers in planetary science & exploration. NASA then
held a news conference on July 17, 2015 & another news
update a week later on July 24, 2015. Both updates
focuses on two points: 1. Surface Geology & Composition
& 2. Atmosphere. Some of the discoveries made by New
Horizons are as follows:
I. Surface
geology & composition:
1.) That
Pluto is colored red. This could be caused by methane
gas in the atmosphere interacting with Ultraviolet rays
from the Sun.
2.) There are
various craters on Pluto. Some appeared to have
experienced erosion. There are also mountain ranges seen
on the surface of Plato.
3.) In false
color, there appear to be interaction between nitrogen,
methane & Hydrocarbon ices.
4.) There is
a region unofficially named "Tombaugh Regio" that
appears to be geologically young. Estimated at about 100
million years, this region has also shown evidence of
subsurface activity & heating. This hints at the idea
that Pluto is still geologically active. However, as to
what geologic processes are at work is still a mystery.
II.
Atmosphere:
1.) Charon
appears to have little to no atmosphere.
2) Plato on
the other hand does have an atmosphere & it extends
about 1000 miles above its surface. Pluto's atmosphere
is discovered also to be very thin, a lot thinner than
earlier predicted.
3.) Behind
Pluto & along the atmosphere, New Horizons has detected
an ion tail emanating from the interaction of the
nitrogen gases found in the upper atmosphere with solar
wind.
These initial
discoveries represent just a mere 6% of data downloaded
from New Horizons, which means Here are still 94% of
data yet to be received from New Horizons. The next
downlink is expected to be by the end of August or early
September. The New Horizons probe is now moving further
away from Pluto & plans for its next close encounter
with a Kuiper Belt object is now in the works.
Afterwards. ALP President James
Kevin Ty discuss the upcoming ALP 12th Anniversary Get
Together and Global SunDay on September 6th. The get
together was initially planned at Yakimix at SM MOA but
due to their unfavorable conditions on reservations, it
was later changed to 4 Seasons Restaurant also at SM MOA
11:00am. The meeting ended at around 5:30pm with
some of the members continuing their discussion over
dinner at Racks. :)
ALP Secretary Christopher
Louie Lu gives a
lecture on the Latest Updates on
New Horizon and Pluto. |
ALPers attended the
meeting to listen to Louie's lecture. |
ALPers listen to Louie's
lecture on Updates on New Horizons and Pluto. |
ALPers Andrew Ian Chan,
Iah Serna, Charito Ty, Edgar Ang, Maria Sobina
Yu, Shubhashish Banerjee. |
LP President James Kevin
Ty discuss the upcoming ALP 12th Anniversary Get
Together and Global SunDay on September 6th. |
ALP's Dinner Get Together
at Racks. |
|
