The Combined Science Center is a Colorado non-profit in Good Standing (ID: 20081448893) with 501c3 certification pending from the IRS. CSC is a management and control element with resources, linking national experts acting as Project Mentors to local teachers acting as Project Managers, leading small Project Teams composed of students, engaged in the study and exploration of weather, radio propagation and ham satellite communications.

Our major business partners include Famatech software, Pate Construction, Boughtons Precast Inc, CJ’s Construction, Lowes Home Improvement Centers, Transit Mix Concrete, LaFarge Group, LaserPro2 of Pueblo, Bassett Construction, and Aquila/Black Hills Energy.

Our national and international sponsors include the ARRL, Colorado Space Grant Consortium, NASA, Stanford University, Air Force Academy, UCLA, Famatech Software, Radio Sky Software, the APRS Tier II Server Network, and Sandia Labs. We recently received equipment from NOAA ESRL GMD in Boulder, Colorado. Other groups or agencies such as Oakridge National Laboratories and GENSO (Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations) provide guidance and critical technical assistance or access to science projects or resources.

There are currently twelve projects under way or in some stage of being incorporated into CSC. They are:

1. SID (Measures radio propagation and solar interference)
2. Magnetometer (Measures earth and space magnetic changes)
3. WEFAX APTDecoder (Weather fax receive station)
4. Radio JOVE (Jupiter and solar activity monitoring)
5. Faros (Beacon monitoring software)
6. APRS Tier II Server (APRS and Emergency system software)
7. Solar Sensor Array (Solar temperature and conditions monitoring)
8. ASMO/ESMO/COSGC Satellite Antenna/Ground Station
9. Geiger Muller Sensor Array (Cosmic Ray monitor)
10. All Sky Camera Network (Monitors and records local meteor activity)
11. SSTV station (slow scan TV station)
12. Total Ultraviolet Radiometer (Eppley Labs, Inc TUVR)

Additionally, we run a series of communications servers such as TeamSpeak, IRC server, WINAMP web radio, WAMP servers, Spark Chat and other servers and equipment suites that help with communications, security, and information exchange.

CSC Main is housed in a 8′ by 32′ trailer designed to house the field headquarters of a construction company. It has AC, electric, internet connections and security. It is currently located in downtown Pueblo where we can build-out the insides and then move it as needed to support our operations when finished. With the exception of the large mesh dish S-Band, all antennas are roof mounted or attached to the sides.

The Walker Ranch site is located to the west of Pueblo, on Highway 50 on the Walker Ranch. It is a small but secure facility where we will install selected instruments and sensors. For more information, please see the web page.

The biggest step for the satellite ground station at Main is the installation of the M-Squared antennas and Rohm towers, and the S-Band antenna. There are small antennas that work but our work with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium (CSGC) and others will probably require us to find a large rotatable mesh dish. We currently have a 2 meter mesh dish but it doesn’t have rotation capability. I am hoping that Dave Balsick of WdSL can help us acquire a large dish with all the pieces and parts we need from a local TV station as they transition to HDTV operations.

As you can tell, our main facility in downtown Pueblo fits well with a lot of different possibilities, and the annex on Walker Ranch provides an excellent site for special devices needing isolated environments. We will continue to pursue projects that will make CSC a place to collect data for researchers, for hams to help the community, and a place to teach students about Amateur Radio.

Radmin (Remote Administrator) is a fast and secure remote control and remote access software that enables us to work from the office on a computer at the Observatory as if we were sitting right in front of it. Radmin includes full support for Windows, including file transfer, multi-user text and voice chats, Windows security, authentication, encryption for data streams, telnet access, and multiple monitors support. Radmin utilizes TCP/IP and this means that we can access the Observatory computers from around Pueblo or the world.

Visit them at http://www.radmin.com when you have a need for remote PC access. I’ve used Radmin at various businesses and in an academic environment, and it is easy to work with and their tech support is fantastic. This is critical help desk, business, and educational services support software. What is especially nice for CSC is that they are located in Moscow, Russia. In exchange for the software, we provided Ms. Natalya Melnikova (Advertising and PR Manager) a Case Study of how we utilize remote control software. CSC has international support. Yahoo!

Donate to the CSC Now and Help Science Happen
By donating to the CSC members of the public can help enable astronomers to make new discoveries, collaborate more effectively and share their results with the public through publication and outreach at Star Party nights. Support our local students by your donation and donate today because one sky connects us all!

Likewise, we also received some tubing and construction assistance from Mr. Blue Pate of Pate Construction Company, Pueblo West. Mr. Pate provided specialty PVC pipe for the magnetometer housing and sidewalk corridor. Mr. Pate has also offered to assist us with paving materials and some landscaping as well as lending us his expert eye for construction engineering. Pate Construction Company is one of the largest and most respected underground utilities contractors on Colorado’s Front Range. They have completed well over 3,000 projects. With offices in Pueblo West, they are well located for projects throughout Colorado as well as surrounding states and have capabilities to serve clients in Texas, Nevada and California. And at the Nature Center too.

Additionally, LaserPro 2 of Pueblo has provided us with computer platforms for use in the Observatory and with our various processing needs. It is not necessary for these locally-based platforms to be the most current technology as the processing power needed to crunch the numbers is basically web-enabled and located at the associated University.

Moreover, we can’t forget the main purpose and goal of our Center which is to, among the science aspects, also help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day-and night time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

We all should realize the impact of astronomy and basic sciences on our daily lives, and understand better how scientific knowledge can contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society. Additionally, in the year 2009, the world will celebrate the International Year of Astronomy as it commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to study the skies, and Kepler’s publication of Astronomia Nova. 2009 is also the anniversary of many other historic events in science, including Huygen’s 1659 publication of Systema Saturnium.

Galileo’s achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy", the “father of modern physics", the “father of science", and “the Father of Modern Science.” The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject of kinematics. His contributions to observational astronomy include the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, named the Galilean moons in his honour, and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, improving compass design.

This year will be modern modern astronomy’s quadricentennial, and the 2009 Year of Astronomy will be an international celebration of numerous astronomical and scientific milestones.

Don’t forget that the Observatory has a telephone number: 719-549-2489.

We are very thankful for the support we are receiving from the local business community.

For instance, we are in the final stages of concluding an agreement with UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics to obtain a magnetometer unit. This would add substantially to the Earth Sciences program at the center and we are excited about the possibility.

In other news:

• Mike Maselli has identified a potential donor for a weather station. That is excellent news for us as we need an automated weather report system for the bacon network. Bruce Jones is finalizing plans for the beacon system.

• The ARRL has a grant program to support and encourage wireless technology (i.e., radios) training in schools. They are open to holding their 2009 conference at the Center and so we are working with the Canon City and Pueblo Ham Radio Club to see if we can jointly sponsor the conference.

• The Pueblo Ham Radio Club is willing to provide a 60’ self-supporting tower for our beacon and weather systems. We need a moving company to relocate it to the Center, but we are hoping to have the tower on-site sometime in May or June of this year.

• Dr Brown is working with Dr Brian Sanders and CSU-Pueblo officials to finalize arrangements for use of the 3 meter (steerable) antenna to track satellites launched by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. CubeSats are space research picosatellite with dimensions of 10×10×10 centimeters (i.e., a volume of exactly one litre). We initially suggested the 10 meter dish but it is not steerable and therefore cannot slew to the satellite orbital specifications. The 3 meter antenna will need to be moved to the Center as will the 60’ tower.

• A project update briefing was given to the CSU-Pueblo Astronomy Club Monday evening. This briefing was also provided to potential grantors and supporting agencies.

• The web site now has a Donation button.

As summer approaches, the Center will continue to outreach to foundations, organizations, groups, and businesses to build and sustain the Center. We have obtained significant support from several large institutions and universities and we will continue our efforts to finalize equipment and facility deliveries. This is an exciting time for our Center, Pueblo science education, and for the people involved as we move forward with this project. The Center includes experts and professionals from related sciences; math, earth sciences, computer science, space and radio experts, and experts from other basic sciences are welcome and invited.

Don’t forget the Star Party on 24th March, 2008. If the weather is poor, the date will slip to the 25th. The Observatory will open at 6:00pm. Remember to bring your youngster as we will view the heavens through the high quality big ‘scope. Experts (Walter Russell on Monday Frank Lopez on Tuesday) will be on-hand to answer questions and provide assistance.

December 29, 2003: Every few years, scientist Larry Newitt of the Geological Survey of Canada goes hunting. He grabs his gloves, parka, a fancy compass, hops on a plane and flies out over the Canadian arctic. Not much stirs among the scattered islands and sea ice, but Newitt’s prey is there–always moving, shifting, elusive.

His quarry is Earth’s north magnetic pole.

At the moment it’s located in northern Canada, about 600 km from the nearest town: Resolute Bay, population 300, where a popular T-shirt reads “Resolute Bay isn’t the end of the world, but you can see it from here.” Newitt stops there for snacks and supplies–and refuge when the weather gets bad. “Which is often,” he says.

Right: The movement of Earth’s north magnetic pole across the Canadian arctic, 1831–2001. Credit: Geological Survey of Canada.

Scientists have long known that the magnetic pole moves. James Ross located the pole for the first time in 1831 after an exhausting arctic journey during which his ship got stuck in the ice for four years. No one returned until the next century. In 1904, Roald Amundsen found the pole again and discovered that it had moved–at least 50 km since the days of Ross.

The pole kept going during the 20th century, north at an average speed of 10 km per year, lately accelerating “to 40 km per year,” says Newitt. At this rate it will exit North America and reach Siberia in a few decades.

Keeping track of the north magnetic pole is Newitt’s job. “We usually go out and check its location once every few years,” he says. “We’ll have to make more trips now that it is moving so quickly.”

Earth’s magnetic field is changing in other ways, too: Compass needles in Africa, for instance, are drifting about 1 degree per decade. And globally the magnetic field has weakened 10% since the 19th century. When this was mentioned by researchers at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union, many newspapers carried the story. A typical headline: “Is Earth’s magnetic field collapsing?”

Probably not. As remarkable as these changes sound, “they’re mild compared to what Earth’s magnetic field has done in the past,” says University of California professor Gary Glatzmaier.

Sometimes the field completely flips. The north and the south poles swap places. Such reversals, recorded in the magnetism of ancient rocks, are unpredictable. They come at irregular intervals averaging about 300,000 years; the last one was 780,000 years ago. Are we overdue for another? No one knows.

Left: Magnetic stripes around mid-ocean ridges reveal the history of Earth’s magnetic field for millions of years. The study of Earth’s past magnetism is called paleomagnetism. Image credit: USGS.

According to Glatzmaier, the ongoing 10% decline doesn’t mean that a reversal is imminent. “The field is increasing or decreasing all the time,” he says. “We know this from studies of the paleomagnetic record.” Earth’s present-day magnetic field is, in fact, much stronger than normal. The dipole moment, a measure of the intensity of the magnetic field, is now 8 × 1022 amps × m2. That’s twice the million-year average of 4× 1022 amps × m2.

To understand what’s happening, says Glatzmaier, we have to take a trip … to the center of the Earth where the magnetic field is produced.

At the heart of our planet lies a solid iron ball, about as hot as the surface of the sun. Researchers call it “the inner core.” It’s really a world within a world. The inner core is 70% as wide as the moon. It spins at its own rate, as much as 0.2° of longitude per year faster than the Earth above it, and it has its own ocean: a very deep layer of liquid iron known as “the outer core.”

Right: a schematic diagram of Earth’s interior. The outer core is the source of the geomagnetic field.

Earth’s magnetic field comes from this ocean of iron, which is an electrically conducting fluid in constant motion. Sitting atop the hot inner core, the liquid outer core seethes and roils like water in a pan on a hot stove. The outer core also has “hurricanes"–whirlpools powered by the Coriolis forces of Earth’s rotation. These complex motions generate our planet’s magnetism through a process called the dynamo effect.

Using the equations of magnetohydrodynamics, a branch of physics dealing with conducting fluids and magnetic fields, Glatzmaier and colleague Paul Roberts have created a supercomputer model of Earth’s interior. Their software heats the inner core, stirs the metallic ocean above it, then calculates the resulting magnetic field. They run their code for hundreds of thousands of simulated years and watch what happens.

What they see mimics the real Earth: The magnetic field waxes and wanes, poles drift and, occasionally, flip. Change is normal, they’ve learned. And no wonder. The source of the field, the outer core, is itself seething, swirling, turbulent. “It’s chaotic down there,” notes Glatzmaier. The changes we detect on our planet’s surface are a sign of that inner chaos.

They’ve also learned what happens during a magnetic flip. Reversals take a few thousand years to complete, and during that time–contrary to popular belief–the magnetic field does not vanish. “It just gets more complicated,” says Glatzmaier. Magnetic lines of force near Earth’s surface become twisted and tangled, and magnetic poles pop up in unaccustomed places. A south magnetic pole might emerge over Africa, for instance, or a north pole over Tahiti. Weird. But it’s still a planetary magnetic field, and it still protects us from space radiation and solar storms.

Above: Supercomputer models of Earth’s magnetic field. On the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field, typical of the long years between polarity reversals. On the right is the sort of complicated magnetic field Earth has during the upheaval of a reversal.

And, as a bonus, Tahiti could be a great place to see the Northern Lights. In such a time, Larry Newitt’s job would be different. Instead of shivering in Resolute Bay, he could enjoy the warm South Pacific, hopping from island to island, hunting for magnetic poles while auroras danced overhead.

Sometimes, maybe, a little change can be a good thing.

References: [1] Kelley, M. C., The Earth’s Ionosphere, Academic Press, Inc:San Diego, 1989. [2] Davies, Kenneth, Ionospheric Radio, Peter Peregrinus Ltd.:London, 1990.

In 1864, a Scottish mathematician named James Clerk Maxwell published a remarkable paper describing the means by which a wave consisting of electric and magnetic fields could propagate (or travel) from one place to another. Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetic (EM) radiation was eventually proven correct by the German physicist, Heinrich Hertz in the late 1880’s in a series of careful laboratory experiments. It was not until the last decade of the 19th century that an Italian scientist named Guglielmo Marconi converted these theories and laboratory experiments into the first practical wireless telegraph system for which he was granted a British patent. In 1899, Marconi demonstrated his wireless communication technique across the English Channel.

In a landmark experiment on December 12, 1901, Marconi, who is often called the "Father of Wireless," demonstrated transatlantic communication by receiving a signal in St. John’s Newfoundland that had been sent from Cornwall, England. Because of his pioneering work in the use of electromagnetic radiation for radio communications, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1909.

Figure 1. Areas in the light blue region are within the radio "Line of Sight" (LOS). The receiving antenna is in the shadow region (SR) and cannot receive a signal directly from the transmitter. Marconi’s famous experiment showed the way toward world wide communication, but it also raised a serious scientific dilemma. Up to this point, it had been assumed that electromagnetic radiation traveled in straight lines in a manner similar to light waves. If this were true, the maximum possible communication distance would be determined by the geometry of the path as shown in Figure 1 to the left. The radio signal would be heard up to the point where some intervening object blocked it. If there were no objects in the path, the maximum distance would be determined by the tranmitter and receiver antenna heights and by the bulge (or curvature) of the earth. Drawing from light as an analogy, this distance is often called the "Line-of-Sight" (LOS) distance. In Marconi’s transatlantic demonstration, something different was happening to cause the radio waves to apparently bend around the Earth’s curvature so that the communication signals from England could be heard over such an unprecedented distance.

Figure 2. A conductive region at high altitude would "reflect" radio signals that reached it and return them to Earth.

In 1902, Oliver Heaviside and Arthur Kennelly each independently proposed that a conducting layer existed in the upper atmosphere that would allow a transmitted EM signal to be reflected back toward the Earth. Up to this time, there was no direct evidence of such a region and little was known about the physical or electrical properties of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. If such a conductive layer existed, it would permit a dramatic extension of the "Line-of-Sight" limitation to radio communication as shown in Figure 2 to the left. During the mid-1920’s, the invention of the ionosonde (an instrument that is an important part of the HAARP diagnostic suite) allowed direct observation of the ionosphere and permitted the first scientific study of its characteristics and variability and its effect on radio waves. The excitement of Marconi’s transatlantic demonstration inspired numerous private and commercial experiments to determine the ultimate capabilities of this newly discovered resource, the ionosphere. Among the most important early experiments were those conducted by radio amateurs who showed the value of the so-called high frequencies above 2 MHz for long distance propagation using the ionosphere. The Importance of Ionospheric Research is proven by research. Although our society has learned to use the properties of the ionosphere in many beneficial ways over the last century, there is still a great deal to learn about its physics, its chemical makeup and its dynamic response to solar influence. The upper portions of the ionosphere can be studied to some extent with satellites but the lower levels are below orbital altitudes while still too high to be studied using instruments carried by balloons or high flying aircraft. Much of the current theory is inferred by observing the ionosphere’s effect on communication systems. In addition, some very useful information has been obtained using rockets (for example, from the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, AK). Active ionospheric research facilities, like HAARP, have provided detailed information that could not be obtained in any other way, about the dynamics and responses of the plasma making up the ionosphere. Incoherent Scatter Radars (ISRs), such as the one that will be built at the HAARP observatory, can study from the ground, small scale structures in the ionosphere to nearly the degree that an instrument in the layer could provide. The ionosphere affects our modern society in many ways. International broadcasters such as the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) still use the ionosphere to reflect radio signals back toward the Earth so that their entertainment and information programs can be heard around the world. The ionosphere provides long range capabilities for commercial ship-to-shore communications, for trans-oceanic aircraft links, and for military communication and surveillance systems. The sun has a dominant effect on the ionosphere and solar events such as flares or coronal mass ejections can lead to worldwide communication "blackouts" on the short wave bands. We have created an Example Page with data from a communications blackout that occurred on August 3, 1997 showing how the instruments at the HAARP observatory can be used to study the underlying physics of these telecommunication disruptions. Signals transmitted to and from satellites for communication and navigation purposes must pass through the ionosphere. Ionospheric irregularities, most common at equatorial latitudes (although they can occur anywhere), can have a major impact on system performance and reliability, and commercial satellite designers need to account for their effects. In the Auroral latitudes, the ionosphere carries a current that may reach magnitudes up to or beyond a million amperes. This current, which is called the auroral electrojet, can change in dramatic ways under solar influence, and, when it does, currents can be induced in long terrestrial conductors like power lines and pipe lines. While such effects found in nature cannot be reproduced by active ionospheric research, the sensitive instruments at observatories like HAARP can follow the progress of natural magnetic storms and provide insight into the physical mechanisms at work in the ionosphere. To varying degrees, the ionosphere is a plasma, the most common form of matter in the universe, often called the fourth state of matter. Plasmas do not exist naturally on the Earth’s surface, and they are difficult to contain for laboratory study. Many current active ionospheric research programs are efforts to improve our understanding of this type of matter by studying the ionosphere, the closest naturally occurring plasma. Recently, it has become possible to produce computer simulations of ionospheric processes. The development of computer visualizations have allowed us to see and appreciate the enormous variability and turbulence that occurs in the ionosphere during a major solar geomagnetic storm and the resultant effects that can impact radio communication and navigation systems. Active ionospheric research facilities like HAARP attempt to produce small temporary changes in a limited region directly over the facility which, in no way, compare to the worldwide events frequently caused by the sun. But the extraordinary suite of sensitive observational instruments installed at observatories like HAARP permit a detailed and comprehensive correlation with the induced effects, resulting in new insights into the ways the ionosphere responds to a much wider variety of natural conditions.

“FUSE accomplished all of its mission goals and more,” said Alan Stern, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington. “FUSE vastly increased our understanding of our galaxy’s evolution and many exotic phenomena and left a strong legacy on which to build the next generation of investigations and missions.”

Launched in 1999, FUSE helped scientists answer important questions about the conditions in the universe immediately following the Big Bang, how chemicals disperse throughout galaxies, and the composition of interstellar gas clouds that form stars and solar systems.

“FUSE helped pioneer low-cost, principal investigator-led astronomy missions,” said Jon Morse, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters.

Examples of the many successes FUSE achieved during its mission are:

- By measuring abundances of molecular hydrogen (made of two hydrogen atoms), FUSE showed that a large amount of water has escaped from Mars, enough to form a global ocean 100 feet deep.

- FUSE observed a debris disk that is surprisingly rich in carbon gas orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris. The carbon overabundance indicates either the star is forming planets that could end up as exotic, carbon-rich worlds of graphite and methane, or Beta Pictoris is revealing an unsuspected phenomenon that also occurred in the early solar system.

- FUSE discovered far more deuterium, a form of hydrogen with a proton and a neutron instead of just one proton, in the Milky Way galaxy than astronomers had expected. Deuterium was produced in the early universe, but this isotope is destroyed easily in stellar nuclear reactions. “FUSE showed that less deuterium has been burned in stars over cosmic time, in agreement with modern models for the evolution of the galaxy and the recent Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe results,” said Warren Moos, FUSE principal investigator, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

- FUSE saw that an atmosphere of very hot gas surrounds the Milky Way. The ubiquity of hot gas around our galaxy demonstrates the galaxy is even more dynamic than expected.

- By detecting highly ionized oxygen atoms in intergalactic space, FUSE showed that about 10 percent of matter in the local universe consists of million-degree gas floating between the galaxies. This discovery might help resolve the long-standing mystery of the universe’s “missing baryons.” Baryons are subatomic particles, often protons and neutrons. Calculations of how many baryons were produced in the very early universe predict about twice as many baryons as astronomers have observed. The rest of the missing baryons might exist as even hotter gas, which could be observed by future X-ray observatories such as NASA’s Constellation-X.

“FUSE collected quality science data for eight years, longer than its five-year goal. By any measure, FUSE was a success,” said George Sonneborn, FUSE project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Although FUSE’s mission has ended, NASA’s ultraviolet study of the universe continues. In 2008, NASA will conduct a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope to install a new ultraviolet spectrograph on the telescope and repair another. The new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, is designed to study remote galaxies and nearby stars in the ultraviolet. Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph also will be repaired. That instrument had ultraviolet capabilities complementary to the COS and was used in conjunction with FUSE when both were operational. The spectrograph failed due to an electronic short in August 2004 after more than seven years of in-orbit operations.

FUSE was a joint mission of NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the French Space Agency, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. The Johns Hopkins University built the telescope and managed the mission. The University of Colorado, Boulder, built FUSE’s spectrograph. The University of California, Berkeley, made the detectors. For more information, visit: http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu