SUNDAY 5TH APRIL, 2015 – UWI TODAY
15
OUR REGION
On the Trail
of a Comet
Scientist on groundbreaking space mission
visits Campus, UWI plays its part
As you read this
,
a comet is hurtling
i t s way t h roug h
t he s olar system
some 400 million
kilometers away from
earth. That in itself
is nothing unusual.
There are over 5,000
known comets (icy
collections of dust
and rock particles)
and many billions
more out i n t he
vastness of space.
What makes this
comet different – Comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,
as it has been named – is that scientists have managed to
attach a probe to its surface.
“This to me is the most significant scientific
achievement of this century,” says Professor Indar
Ramnarine, Deanof the Faculty of Science andTechnology.
It is indeed. For the first time in human history, man
has landed a probe on a comet.
Professor Ramnarine was speaking at an event
hosted by the Department of Physics and the Caribbean
Institute of Astronomy titled “Trailing a Comet”. The
feature speaker was Professor Harry Lehto, a member of
the European Space Agency (ESA) team that landed the
probe, named “Rosetta” after the famed Rosetta Stone used
by archaeologists to decode the secrets of Ancient Egypt.
Professor Lehto came to “tell the story of a comet,” he
explained to attendees at the February 26 event at Daaga
Auditorium. Surprisingly, he also visited the St Augustine
Campus because of the university’s very specific role in
the comet’s story.
Professor Lehto, or “Harry” as he prefers to be
called, is an astrobiologist at the Tuorla Observatory of
the University of Turku in Finland.
“I study some of the questions that people have
pondered forever,” he explains, speaking in a slow and
thoughtful manner, smiling behind a long swirling beard.
“I look at things like where did life start and how did life
begin. What was the earth like 4.5 billion years ago?”
By studying data from the Comet 67 P he hopes to
come closer to the answers. Comets are believed to be the
oldest bodies in the solar system, on which the earliest
materials from which our sun and planets were formed
have been preserved.
“We are looking for molecules for the precursor of
life,” Harry says.
The Rosetta Mission sent the probe on a 10-year,
6.4 billion kilometer journey through space to intercept
the comet. To understand how far that is, the distance of
the Earth from the Sun is a mere 150 million kilometers.
The probe lander “Philae” touched down on the comet
in November of 2014. The mission will end in December
2015 after it passes the sun and travels back to the outer
solar system.
Harry is no stranger to Trinidad or the St Augustine
Campus. The university’s SATU Observatory, which
contains a 40 cm Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope,
is a joint venture with the University of Finland. In fact,
Trinidad’s position close to the Equator means that it is
well suited to capture Comet 67 P as it emerges from
behind the Sun this month.
“(Our location) puts us in a very favourable position
to view the comet,” says Dr. Shirin Haque, Deputy Dean
and Senior Lecturer in Astronomy.
Asked what it’s like to study such mysteries and
primordial forces, Harry smiles, “humbling. It makes you
humble to see your own smallness in the scope of things.
That’s why I don’t get caught up in titles.”
On February 27
, the Confucius Institute (CI) ofThe UWI
in collaboration with the Embassy of the People’s Republic
of China hosted a Chinese Spring Festival Celebration in
commemoration of the observance of the Chinese New
Year.
ApackedDaagaAuditoriumaudiencewas entertained
by a performance from the Chinese Arts and Culture
Studies Society entitled “Dragon and Lion Dances” – a
veritable showcase of synchronised acrobatic feats as
duelling dancers brought a costumed dragon to life. Aerial
somersaults over stacked tables and chairs electrified the
crowd and started the night on a literal high note.
The celebrationcontinuedwitha steelpanperformance
of a traditional Chinese Folk song and a classical Chinese
dance by a dance troupe fromThe UWI’s Department of
Creative and Festival Arts. Students of CI highlighted their
proficiency inMandarin by reading an essay by renowned
Chinese writer Zhu Ziqing, named
Spring
.
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor
Clement Sankat offered his remarks highlighting The
UWI’s continued efforts to build a relationship with China
and embrace Chinese culture through the work of the
Confucius Institute. He was followed by the translated
remarks of the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of
China, Huang Xingyuan.
Two of the night’s most unforgettable performances
occurred when the special guest performers were revealed.
Ambassador of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to
the People’s Republic of China, Chandradath Singh and
his son, Sharan Singh, Director of The UWI’s Office of
Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation,
performed an instrumental duet of steelpan and cajón “(a
six sided, box-shaped percussion instrument)”. The last
performance of the night was a surprise solo rendition of a
patriotic song called “My Chinese Heart” by Ambassador
Huang that ended in a standing ovation from a very
appreciative audience.
Chinese Spring at St Augustine
Father and
son duet –
Ambassador
Singh and
Sharan
Singh.
Ambassador Huang
serenades the
audience.
