Apr.16 & 17
What do patterns of light from the sky reveal about particles in the air? Atmospheric particles -- aerosols, cloud droplets, ice crystals -- come in many sizes and shapes, and their interaction with sunlight affects Earth’s climate and gives rise to many spectacular atmospheric optical displays. From blue skies, red sunsets and green flashes to rainbows, glories, arcs and halos, these effects are not only beautiful to behold but give us clues to the nature of the airborne particles that cause them. This talk will look at some fundamental principles of atmospheric optics -- the scattering of sunlight by particles floating in the air -- to explain how several of these wonderful visual displays are formed. Satellite instruments such as JPL’s Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer, which has been orbiting Earth since 1999, are able to use these principles to distinguish different particle types, such as smoke and dust.
Speaker: |
Dr. David J. Diner |
Location: |
Thursday, Apr. 16, 2009, 7p.m. |
Webcast: |
› Archived webcast with captions |
Spirit and Opportunity: The Corps of Discovery for Mars Rolls On
Jan.15 & 16
For five Earth years, the intrepid robotic explorers Spirit and Opportunity have been successfully conducting field geology at two different locations on the surface of Mars.
Galileo's Dream: The International Year of Astronomy 2009
Feb. 19 & 20
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has chosen 2009 as the Internatonal Year of Astronomy. What makes this year special?
Advanced Propulsion for JPL Deep Space Missions
Mar. 19 & 20
JPL's Dawn mission is en route to rendezvous with the main-belt asteroids Vesta and Ceres, and is using ion propulsion to get there.
Rainbows, Red Sunsets and Rocket Science Revisited
Apr.16 & 17
What do patterns of light from the sky reveal about particles in the air?
Kepler, a Planet-Hunting Mission
May 14 & 15
Kepler, a NASA mission launching in the spring of 2009, is a spaceborne telescope designed to survey distant stars to see how common Earth-like planets are.
The Really Big Picture: Things We Know About the Universe, and How We Know Them
Jun. 11 & 12
The structure and nature of the universe has puzzled and fascinated people for thousands of years.
Exploring the Moon
Jul. 16 & 17
Several international space agencies are actively engaged in robotic as well as human exploration of the moon, including projects from China, Japan, India, Russia, Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Robots in the Race to the Moon
Jul. 20
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, JPL's historian will look at the role of robots in opening the "lunar frontier."
Lunar Landing Anniversary with KPCC AirtalkLunar Landing Anniversary with KPCC Airtalk
Jul. 15
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first human footprints on the moon, and much of the work leading up to that historic walk was done right here in Southern California at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
From Legs to Wheels
Aug. 20 & 21
NASA’s next mission to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory, will be landing with an extremely unusual landing system – a skycrane invented by the mission team specifically to land a large rover in scientifically exciting locations on Mars.
Measuring Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide From Space
Sep. 17 & 18
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an efficient atmospheric greenhouse gas. Fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and other human activities are currently emitting more than 30 billion tons of this gas into atmosphere each year.
How to Drive a Robot
Oct. 15 & 16
The last few years have witnessed some great strides in the field of autonomous mobile robotics.
Taking a Closer Look at Exoplanet Atmospheres
Nov. 12 & 13
The last two years have seen extraordinary progress in the field of detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of planets circling stars other than the sun.
Monitoring Earth's Changing Land Surface
Dec. 3 & 4
The U.S./Japan ASTER instrument has been taking pictures of Earth's surface since 2000. Dramatic changes are evidence of processes re-shaping our planet.
