El Nino Effects

1. El Nino results in the rise of sea surface temperatures

2. It also weakens the trade winds of the affected region
3. In India, Australia, it can bring about drought conditions. This affects crop productivity largely. It
has been also observed certain times, that EL Nino may not bring drought but cause heavy
rainfall. In both the cases, it causes heavy damage.

4. However, in some other countries, it may result in a complete reversal, i.e., excessive rainfall.

Chernobyl disaster, accident in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in

the Soviet Union, the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation.
The Chernobyl power station was situated at the settlement of Pryp’yat, 10 miles
(16 km) northwest of the city of Chernobyl (Ukrainian: Chornobyl) and 65 miles
(104 km) north of Kyiv, Ukraine. The station consisted of four reactors, each
capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electric power; it had come online in
1977–83.
Chernobyl disaster | Causes, Effects, Deaths, Videos, Location,
& Facts | Britannica – refer to the link for more details
BAROMETER
mercury barometer
barometer, device used to measure atmospheric pressure. Because atmospheric
pressure changes with distance above or below sea level, a barometer can also be used to
measure altitude. There are two main types of barometers: mercury and aneroid.
In the mercury barometer, atmospheric pressure balances a column of mercury, the
height of which can be precisely measured. To increase their accuracy, mercury
barometers are often corrected for ambient temperature and the local value of gravity.
Common pressure units include pounds per square inch; dynes per square centimetre;
newtons per square metre (the SI unit called the pascal); inches, centimetres, or
millimetres of mercury; and millibars (1 millibar equals 1,000 dynes per
square centimetre, 100 pascals, or 0.75 millimetre of mercury). Atmospheric pressure at
sea level is about 14.7 pounds per square inch, equivalent to 30 inches (760 millimetres)
of mercury, 1,013.2 millibars, or 101,320 pascals.

Track the evolution of the barometer to measure atmospheric

pressure from Galileo to Blaise Pascal
Of the many different varieties of mercury barometers, most variations arise from
different techniques for measuring the height of the mercury column. Though other
liquids can be used in a barometer, mercury is the most common. Its density allows the
vertical column of the barometer to be of manageable size. If water were used, for
instance, the column would have to be 34 feet high.
A nonliquid barometer called the aneroid barometer is widely used in portable
instruments and in aircraft altimeters because of its smaller size and convenience. It
contains a flexible-walled evacuated capsule, the wall of which deflects with changes in
atmospheric pressure. This deflection is coupled mechanically to an indicating needle. A
mercury barometer is used to calibrate and check aneroid barometers. Calibration can
be, for example, in terms of atmospheric pressure or altitude above sea level. The
concept of altitude above sea level, based on barometric pressure, is used to create one
type of aircraft altimeter.
A barometer that mechanically records changes in barometric pressure over time is
called a barograph. Though mercury barographs have been made, aneroid barographs
are much more common. The motion of the aneroid capsule is magnified through levers
to drive a recording pen. The pen traces a line on a graph that is usually wrapped around
a cylinder driven by a clockwork mechanism.
About - Facts | Hubble Fast Facts
The Hubble Space Telescope explores the universe from Earth orbit. This vantage point
allows it to obtain a view of cosmic objects unobstructed by Earth's atmosphere, which can
distort light and block certain wavelengths.
NASA named Hubble after American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889–1953). Hubble
confirmed an "expanding" universe, which provided the foundation for the Big Bang theory.

Mission
• Launch: April 24, 1990, from Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31)
• Deployment: April 25, 1990
• First Image: May 20, 1990: Star cluster NGC 3532
• Servicing Mission 1 (STS-61): December 1993
• Servicing Mission 2 (STS-82): February 1997
• Servicing Mission 3A (STS-103): December 1999
• Servicing Mission 3B (STS-109): February 2002
• Servicing Mission 4 (STS-125): May 2009

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth at a speed of roughly 17,000 miles per hour. It takes Hubble about 95 minutes to
make that journey at an altitude of approximately 340 miles above Earth.

Credits: NASA

Size
• Length: 43.5 feet (13.3 m)
• Weight (at launch): about 24,000 pounds (10,800 kg)
• Weight (post-SM4): about 27,000 pounds (12,200 kg)
• Diameter (at widest point): 14 feet (4.3 m)

Spaceflight Statistics
• Low Earth Orbit: altitude of 332 miles (289 nautical miles, or 535 km), inclined 28.5
degrees to the equator
• Time to Complete One Orbit: about 95 minutes
• Speed: about 17,000 mph (27,000 kph)
Optical Capabilities
• Sensitivity to Light: ultraviolet through infrared (115–2500 nanometers)

Hubble's Mirrors
• Primary Mirror Diameter: 94.5 inches (2.4 m)
• Primary Mirror Weight: 1,825 pounds (828 kg)
• Composition: Ultra-Low Expansion Glass
• Reflective Coating: 4-millionths (0.000004) of an inch (0.1 μm) of aluminum under 1-
millionth (0.000001) of an inch (0.025 μm) of magnesium fluoride
• Secondary Mirror Diameter: 12.2 inches (0.3 m)
• Secondary Mirror Weight: 27.4 pounds (12.4 kg)

Pointing Control
• Actuators: four reaction wheels and four magnetic torquer bars
• Sensors: six gyroscopes, five Sun sensors, two magnetometers, three fixed-head star
trackers, three fine guidance sensors
• Accuracy: In order to take images of distant, faint objects, Hubble must be extremely
steady and accurate. The telescope is able to lock onto a target without deviating more
than 7-thousandths (0.007) of an arcsecond, equivalent to shining a laser on a human
hair one mile away

Data Statistics
• Hubble transmits about 150 gigabits of raw science data every week.

Power Needs
• Energy Source: the Sun
• Mechanism: two 8 x 24.75-foot (2.44 x 7.54-meter) gallium-arsenide solar panels
• Power Generation (in sunlight): about 5,500 watts

Power Storage
• Batteries: six nickel-hydrogen (NiH)
• Storage Capacity: equal to about 22 average car batteries

Instruments
• Wide Field Camera 3
• Advanced Camera for Surveys
• Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
• Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
• Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
• Fine Guidance Sensors
 Did You Know?
> More Hubble achievements
• Hubble has made more than 1.5 million observations since its mission began in 1990.
• Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 19,000 scientific papers,
making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built. Those papers have
been cited in other papers over 1.1 million times.
• Hubble does not travel to stars, planets, or galaxies. It takes pictures of them as it whirls
around Earth at about 17,000 mph (27,000 kph).
• Hubble has circled Earth and gone more than 4 billion miles (6 billion km) along a circular
Earth orbit currently about 332 miles (535 km) in altitude.
• Hubble has no thrusters. To change angles, it uses Newton’s third law by spinning its
wheels in the opposite direction. It turns at about the speed of a minute hand on a clock,
taking 15 minutes to turn 90 degrees.
• Hubble has the pointing accuracy of 0.007 arcsecond, which is like being able to shine a
laser beam on President Roosevelt’s head on a dime about 200 miles (320 km) away.
• Outside the haze of our atmosphere, it can see astronomical objects with an angular size
of 0.05 arcsecond, which is like seeing a pair of fireflies in Tokyo that are less than 10
feet (3 m) apart from Washington, D.C.
• Due to the combination of optics and sensitive detectors and with no atmosphere to
interfere with the light reaching it, Hubble can spot a night light on the surface of the
Moon from Earth.
• Hubble has peered back into the very distant past, to locations more than 13.4 billion light-
years from Earth.
• Hubble generates about 10 terabytes of new data per year. The total archive is currently
over 340 TB in size.
• Hubble weighed about 24,000 pounds (10,800 kg) at launch but if returned to Earth today
would weigh about 27,000 pounds (12,200 kg) — on the order of two full-grown African
elephants.
• Hubble's mirror is about 7.9 feet (2.4 m) across. It was so finely polished that if you scaled
it to be the diameter of the Earth, you would not find a bump more than 6 inches (15 cm)
tall.
• Hubble is 43.5 feet (13.2 m) long — the length of a large school bus.

JWST
The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called
JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that
will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble
Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and
greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths
enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time
and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first
galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars
and planetary systems are forming today.

KEY FACTS

MISSION GOALS
• Search for the first galaxies or luminous objects formed after the Big Bang
• Determine how galaxies evolved from their formation until now
• Observe the formation of stars from the first stages to the formation of planetary
systems
• Measure the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems, including
our own Solar System, and investigate the potential for life in those systems

INSTRUMENTS
• Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam)
• Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
• Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI)
• FineGuidance Sensors/Near Infrared Imager and Slitless
Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS)

MAJOR INNOVATIONS
• Lightweight optics
• Deployable sunshield
• Folding segmented mirror
• Improved Detectors
• Cryogenic actuators & mirror control
• Micro-shutters

Launch
December 25, 2021 07:20am EST ( 2021-12-25 12:20 GMT/UTC)
Date:
Launch
Ariane 5 ECA
Vehicle:
Mission
5 - 10 years
Duration

Total
Approx 6200 kg, including observatory, on-orbit consumables and launch vehicle
payload
adaptor.
mass:
Diameter of
primary 6.5 m (21.3 ft) approximately
Mirror:

Clear
aperture of 2
25 m
primary
Mirror:

Primary
mirror beryllium coated with gold
material:
Mass of
primary 705 kg
mirror:
Mass of a
single
20.1 kg for a single beryllium mirror, 39.48 kg for one entire primary mirror segment
primary
assembly (PMSA).
mirror
segment:
Focal length: 131.4 meters

Number of
primary
18
mirror
segments:

Optical
~0.1 arc-seconds
resolution:

Wavelength
0.6 - 28.5 microns
coverage:
Size of sun
21.197 m x 14.162 m (69.5 ft x 46.5 ft)
shield:

Layer 1:
Max temperature 383K = approx 231F
Temp of sun
shield
Layer 5:
layers:
Max temperature 221K = approx -80F
Min temperature 36K = approx -394F
Orbit: 1.5 million km from Earth orbiting the L2 Point
Operating
under 50 K (-370 °F)
Temperature:
-9 2
Thickness of gold coating = 100 x 10 meters (1000 angstroms). Surface area = 25 m .
Gold Using these numbers plus the density of gold at room temperature (19.3 g/cm3), the
coating: coating is calculated to use 48.25g of gold, about equal to the mass of a golf ball. (A golf
ball has a mass of 45.9 grams. Note mass does not equal size!)