Ispectrum Magazine #13

ISPECTRUMIssue 13/May - June 2015 MAGAZINEPMeerds oicnianlei s e d Jupiter the Lord of the Night SkyThe Enigma of the Thracians 13

CONTENTS Features 15 18 3 03 29 Personalised Medicine Use of Personalised Medicine in the preven- tion of disease and the maintenance of wellness 08 Barriers affecting the availability of Personalised Medicine 12 Personalised medicine - part of everyday life 15 The Enigma of the Thra- cians and the Orpheus Myth 16 Fighting spirit 18 Journey to the Past 21 Orphic Mysteries 23 The Devil’s Throat 25 Jupiter the Lord of the Night Sky Observe top spring objects with a robotic telescope 29 Galileo and the Telescope 32 Jupiter the Lord of the Night Sky 25 1

editorial Mado Martinez Dear Readers, Editorial Director I am really glad to bring you this lat- Ispectrum est issue which is full of varied topics, all equally interesting. Our contributor Ellie magazine Pownall goes into personalised medicine. In recent years, the path of medicine has Published Bimonthly ISSN 2053-1869 progressed both scientifically and social- ly; one of these recent developments is Editorial Director the ideology of personalised medicine. Mado Martinez, Personalised medicine is an emerging [email protected] practice of medicine that uses an indi- Art Director vidual’s genetic profile to guide decisions Rayna Petrova made in regard to the prevention, diag- [email protected] nosis and treatment of disease. Contributing Editors Bradley Terblanche Also in this issue, I make my own contri- Laura Hayes bution with ‘The Enigma of the Thracians Contributing Writers and the Orpheus Myth’. The Thracians Ellie Pownall are well-known for their exuberant fight- John Baruch ing spirit; but the history of a popula- Images tion is not just built on its wars and the www.commons.wikimeadia.org , exploits of its soldiers and leaders, as is www.morguefile.com , usually read in encyclopaedias and his- www.freeimages.com tory books. Spread across South East Europe were groups of men and women www.ispectrummagazine.com who were highly skilled in working with [email protected] refined metals, were followers of a deli- cate mystique that worshipped the moth- +44 7938 707 164 (UK) er goddess and had complex funerary rituals immersed in symbolism. Follow Us And to top off the final contents, John Baruch walks us through Jupiter, the lord of night sky, and an attractive proposal. Our computers take us into amazing worlds where anything is possible but reality can also deliver the amazing. How about using computers to take us into the real world, to control robots that will take images for us of the far distant reaches of the Universe? 2

PersMonedailcisinedeUse of Personalised Medicine inthe prevention of disease and themaintenance of wellness by ellie pownall website www.ispectrummagazine.com 3

I n recent years, the path of medicine has progressed both scientifically and social- ly; one of these recent devel-opments is the ideology of per-sonalised medicine. Personalisedmedicine is an emerging practice ofmedicine that uses an individual’sgenetic profile to guide decisionsmade in regard to the prevention,diagnosis, and treatment of disease.Scientists believe that this newapproach to medical treatment willcut costs on the NHS, improve over-all health and ensure patients havemore urgent treatment and betterfacilities with the financial benefitsfrom this new scheme. An articlefrom the New England Journal ofMedicine states that “major invest-ments in basic science have createdan opportunity for significant prog-ress in clinical medicine ”, reflectingoptimistic views on the future ofthe personalised scheme and highhopes for its impact in basic scien-tific discovery.4

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Examples of this new social devel- new development in personalisedopment in medicine includes the per- medicine beyond what has alreadysonalised medicine summit taking been discovered.place in the Life Science Institute,University of British Columbia , in Another example of the progresspartnership with the Personalized and breadth that personalised medi-Medicine Initiative, Genome BC and cine has reached is in the PMWCLifeScience BC on Sunday 7th-9th of (personalised medicine world confer-June this year. Professor Terry Allen, ence) held in Silicon Valley 2014. ThisConference Organizer, describes that conference provides the entire range“in many ways, British Columbia of people involved in personalise(BC) constitutes an ideal testing medicine, and each speaker gives aground for putting a personalised unique take on the developments ofmedicine rogramme into practice, the future. Brook Byers, senior part-with its highly integrated single- ner in KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caufieldpayer health care system, its ethni- & Byers), even goes as far to saycally diverse, well-educated popula- that “this is the best personalisedtion and its advanced expertise in medicine conference there is todaythe development and application of .” From 400 attenders and 41 speak-molecularly-based medicine .” This ers in 2010 to 1000+ attendees andscheme aims to use pharmacoge- 100+ speakers, is it clear to seenomics and other ‘omics’ analyses to there is growing interest in the areaguide diagnosis and treatment and of personalised medicine with moremanage, interpret and use big data than 40 companies investing in thein a new system of data consolida- development of the scheme, sociallytion to access improving health care and technologically.in BC and investment in basic andtranslational research to advancepersonalized medicine discoveries.This aims to create a better knowl-edge of the maintenance of wellnessin the public and eventually create6

Dr George Church, has it, but they don’t requiring family histo-Harvard Medical School, know until they get ry, as many people arehelped to develop the genetically tested. As the first person in theirfirst direct genomic the price comes down, family that have dis-sequencing method and it seems an obvious eases, can therefore be the human genome choice to find out if stored until symptoms you do have a genet- present themselves or doctors can act on the ic disease, for genetic information example that has been discov- breast ered”. This evidence of can- new ways to quickly c e r ”. act upon genetic dis- He eases such as cancer and therefore decrease the chance of a moral- ity. To have access to this information will also enable parents to dis-project; describeshe explains the the processimportance of person- of testing thealised medicine: “I think presence ofthis is something easy genetic diseases:to misunderstand, in “genetic materi-that 100% of the peo- al in your file, notple are at risk of somedisease; this doesn’tmean that everybody 7

cover the inherited will provide a basic net- alised medicine duegenetics of future off- work of medical infor- to the open depth ofspring and therefore mation for both doc- information about eachbe able to prepare both tors and patients to patient. Reagan Kellysocially and finically to access, which would is a PhD student at theaid the living standards otherwise be difficult to University of Michiganof their children such discover, and thus pre- , and he explores the vent or become aware problems surrounding as the current devel- of potential future dis- personalised medicine opment of medical eases in both offspring and if these will be care surround- and relatives. easy to overcome. He ing Down’s states the three main syndrome in Indeed, there are issues surrounding the infants. The many ethical issues drawbacks of this new use of per- surrounding person- scientific development sonalised are protecting patient medicine privacy, protecting 8

patient autonomy and allowing in which many scientists and legalaccess to personalised medicine. advisors have worked throughoutIn previous years, patients have the years to address and overcome,always had the right to retain infor- and the article below explains howmation about their health and well- they have succeeded.being from both insurance compa-nies and the government, yet do An article named ‘Personalizedthese personal rights also apply to Medicine: Ethnical, Legal andgenetic makeup? What uses are Regulatory Issues’ explains thatacceptable for genetic information, “although tests and companionand if a person has this information diagnostics exist to improve pre-collected for use in risk profiling or scribing and care outcomes, phy-diagnosis, should that then auto- sicians typically do not have thematically commit them to allowing detailed analyses of clinical infor-their data to be used for diagnos- mation needed to select optimaling and profiling others? As people drug treatments and dosages on thehave a right to refuse treatment basis of a patient’s unique geneticand have personal privacy when it profile, physiology, and metaboliccomes to diagnostics, how will thiswork when relatives also poten-tially encounter the same issues?Cost is also a massive issue in per-sonalised medicine -- as 46 millionpeople are without health insur-ance, how will companies ensureeveryone receives personalisedmedicine? And will the benefits ofcost cuts to everyday NHS be spenton attempting to achieve person-alised medicine globally? Theseoutline the fundamental issues inthe personalised medicine scheme 9

processes. In the absence of what sive, this will massively save onis needed to know to deliver per- hospital expenditure and improvesonalised medicine, physicians can the economics of medical industry.easily continue to use a certain The article also states that “theamount of trial-and-error meth- recently enforced regulations of theods when they evaluate treatment Health Insurance Portability andapproaches ”. Along with the sta- Accountability Act (HIPPA) couldtistics from the Agency for Health obviate some contentious priva-Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) cy battles, particularly those aris-stating that more than 770,000 ing within immediate families, bydeaths or injuries a year are due requiring all patients to consent toto adverse reactions to treatments, disclosure of private health infor-this shows that the benefit of per- mation and to authorise access tosonalised medicine massively out- specific third parties”. This there-weighs the issues highlighted pre- fore reduces the amount of cau-viously. These deaths also cost up tion regarding privacy and dignityto 5.6 million per hospital per year, within personalised medicine, andwhich shows that although trying to this aids to ensure the treatmentimplement personalised medicine is both fair and continues to offeraround the globe will be expen- patient disclosure in medical prac- tice. The article somewhat answers the concerns regarding person- alised medicine in Regan Kelly’s work and thus enables scientists to focus more on developing the process of the personalised scheme and eventually put the ideas stated in the ethnic, legal and regulatory article into play. 10

An article named ‘the testing for trisomy dis- the management andFuture of Coverage orders, such as Down’s in many cases reduceand Payment for syndrome, has begun the overtreatment ofPersonalised Medicine to rapidly replace tra- diseases as diverseand Diagnostics’ also ditional amniocente- as breast, prostate,states the progress sis methods. There colon, ovarian and thy-personalised medicine is also multi-analyte roid cancers. Severalhas made to modern assays with algorithms of these tests areday health care. For (MAAAs). Another tech- FDA approved, whichexample, non-invasive nological achievement expands their potentialmaternal blood testing. includes the develop- as widely distributedIn the past two years, ment of MAAAs, which platform-based kits.non-invasive prenatal help physicians plan This table below also 11

shows the newly devel- and economically sug- gests that personalisedoped scheme in which gests that the idea of medicine is becomingthe American Medical personalised medicine gradually more popu-Association (AMA), will eventually become lar and consumers,which controls the a regular part of every- although having littlestandard code set for day life and there- say in health care sys-the communication of fore both reduce the tems’ protocol, wouldoutpatient and labora- costs on the NHS and surely be for a physi-tory services between improve health condi- cian to have access toproviders and payers, tions or disease aware- a diagnostic test to pickhas developed more ness of a large major- the right, as opposedthan 100 new codes for ity of the globe. to the wrong, treat-genetic tests and delet- ment. The maintenanceed the former ‘stack Patrick Conway, MD, of wellness for patientscodes’ for molecular states that “innovation will undoubtedly betest processes. This much higher, due to aenables an easier pro- larger amount of medi- The mass progress both medical and economicallysuggests that the idea of personalised medicine will eventually become a regular part of everyday lifecess for both insurance is happening broad- cal information for per-companies and medical ly across the country. sonnel to make deci-personnel, which will The promise of per- sions regarding bothaid the transition into sonalised medicine and treatment and diagno-personalised medicine innovation is amazing, sis. Of course, the costbeing global. The mass and we’re already see- would be worrying toprogress both medical ing dividends ”. He sug- the average consumer, 12

yet the ‘the Future of Coverage and that this new scheme of havingPayment for Personalised Medicine medicine personalised will be over-’ article states that “from the public all cheaper than the previous ‘trialand payer perspective, the margin- and error’ tactics that costs moneyal cost of the benchtop chemistry is for improper medicine usage.only a small part of the test’s valueto the health care system, which is Overall, there is no doubt that themeasured in years of life extended, use of personalised medicine willquality of life and the avoidance of improve health and maintenance ofdrugs that are not helpful”. It seems wellbeing due to the ease in identi-that once the finalised scheme of fying diseases at early stages usingpersonalised medicine takes off, it genetic information already loggedis only natural that the tax payer for medical personnel. Although,will feel both strain and benefit over there are some issues surround-the new system, as there is a belief13

References: 1. The Path to Personalised Medicine -- The New England Journal of Medicine- Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., and Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. 2. http://www.personalizedmedsummit. com/ -- Terry Allen, Professor Emeritus, Conference Organizer 3. http://pmwcintl.com/index.php - Brook Byers on PMWC 4. Reagan Kelly is a PhD student at University of Michigan -- Science, Policy, and Ethics in Personalized Medicineing the price and cost effective- 5. Personalized Medicine: Part 2: Ethical,ness for aspects, such as insur- Legal, and Regulatory Issuesance, hospitals and the tax payer. F. Randy Vogenberg, Carol Isaacson Barash,Arguably, experts are working tire- Michael Pursellessly to create a sound scheme P T. 2010 November; 35(11): 624-626, 628-which can work in many different 631, 642.environments and economic bud- PMID: 21139819gets, to eventually make person-alised medicine a global scheme 6. ‘The Future of Coverage and Paymentwhere all of the general public will for Personalised Medicine and Diagnostics’ --have the ability to maintain medi- The Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) ,cal wellness. Bruce Quinn 7.Patrick Conway, MD Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality & Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Tenth Annual State of Personalized Medicine Luncheon hosted by PMC March 15, 2014 14

The Enigma of the Thraciansand the Orpheus Myth by mado martinez website www.madomartinez.comT he passage of the millen- mollusc we only find a trace of fos- nia has brought us traces silised shell, from a human we find of ancient civilisations that much more than just remains: we shone enough to make their find pyramids, mounds, sculptures,cultural glimpses last through the coins, tools, weapons, scripts, trea-ages. Humanity itself has featured in sures, houses, palaces, altars andthe art, culture and funerary rites of more.these civilisations, so whilst from a 15

All of this, in light of archaeology, the people were that mixed withallows us to know more about our the Thracians around 5,000 yearsancestors. But for some of them, ago, from which Thracian civilisa-like the Thracians, what has been tion itself would emerge. But it isdiscovered barely casts a shadow known that there were some whoover what is still unknown. There came from the North to the Balkansare many mysteries surrounding with their livestock, finding a placethis ancient civilisation that occu- with a bright and attractive culture.pied what is now Bulgaria and It was the intermingling betweensome adjoining parts of Romania, the local population and the newGreece and Turkey. arrivals that allows us to talk today of the Thracians. In archaeological terms, evidenceof civilisation in Bulgarian lands fighting spiritdates back thousands of years.Not coincidentally, it was found The Thracians are well-knownin Provadia (Bulgaria) the oldest for their exuberant fighting spirit;prehistoric city in Europe, dated but the history of a population isbetween 4,700 BC and 4,200 BC, not built only on its wars and thein a fortified settlement of 350 exploits of its soldiers and leaders,inhabitants. On the other hand, as it is usually read in encyclo-we know that for years the world’s paedias and history books. Spreadoldest golden treasure was not across South East Europe werefound in Sumeria, nor in Egypt, groups of men and women whonor in pre-Columbian America but were highly skilled in working within Varna (Bulgaria) and dates from refined metals, who were follow-4,600 BC. ers of a delicate mystique that Scientists and archaeologists stillharbour serious doubts about who 16

Old, historical map of ancient Thrace, 1585worshipped the mother ering and extracting Bulgarian lands sincegoddess, and who had natural deposits with- ancient times, theycomplex funerary ritu- out harming nature. presumably exchangedals immersed in sym- Archaeologists and knowledge, and theirbolism. anthropologists contin- wisdom swelled as they ue to be surprised by incorporated the skills, There are many puz- the kinds of advanced practices and informa-zles that arise when technological practices tion of the other cul-we investigate the that the Thracians were ture.ancient Thracians. For using. If, as some schol-example, they had a ars believe, they were So what mysteriesrare ability for discov- intermingling with the remain from the first people who inhabited 17

Thracians over 5,000 Journey to the Pastyears ago? Althoughwe know of some The Thracian burial the ancient necropolisThracian names and rite is one of the most of the city of Seutheswords, apparently they compelling evidences III, called in those dayslacked their own alpha- of belief in the after- Seuthopolis, and head-bet and came to use life and immortality of ed to the mound-tombGreek and Latin charac- the soul. The Valley of of the King himself.ters to perform certain the Thracian Kings is ininscriptions. However, the region of Kazanlak, The remains of Seuthesthis Indo-European lan- where we can find sev- III were buried with hisguage spoken by the eral grave mounds, horse, his weapons andThracians is still a mys- making this area a real a bronze statue of histery and no one has route of the funeral ritu- own image that hadbeen able to decipher al (over 500 burial hills). been placed in a specialit... yet. Some bilin- We are in the realm chamber of the tomb,gual inscriptions in of the Odrisios (fifth according to the OrphicGreek characters writ- century to the fourth funeral practices. Thus,ten in Ancient Greek century BC), ruled by we are reminded ofand Thracian that were the King III Seuthes. Iberian funerary ritu-discovered in Northern Their mounds did not als in which the war-Greece could perhaps reach the colossal size rior was buried with hisshed some light in help- of the pyramids of weapons but placed ining to decipher the con- Egypt, but the Thracian a way that neutralisedtents of the Thracians funeral process had them, rendering themtexts, something that many things in com- completely unusable.certainly would reveal mon with the Egyptian Why? The texts of theimportant informa- one, not least the idea ancient Greek geog-tion about the people of resurrection and an rapher and historianof whom we still know afterlife. We drove tohardly anything. 18

Photo credit:By Ann Wuyts [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons my point of view. If the human being whose life was destroyed with the advent of death was meant to revive in the Hereafter, so the objects had to ‘die’ to revive again. Death was considered to be the beginning of a new life. In this passage, the spirit of the deceased travelled to reach the heavenly abode where they would stay. On this trip, they need- ed to carry everything they would need. Bronze Head of Herodotus shed light The most valuable Seuthes III on this mystery. He thing for the elite of claimed that whatever the Thracian warriors (end of 4th - beginning was destroyed or made was their horse and of 3rd c. B.C.), unusable during funer- their wife, though we al rites would become do not really know in Golyama Kosmatka useful for the afterlife. which order! So not mound, Kazanlak The logic of this phi- only did they sacrifice losophy is overwhelm- their horse, but also ing and beautiful, from their favourite wife. 19

Tomb of Seuthes Photo credit:By HM-ISKRA (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsIII– the famousThracian ruler of the Odrysian kingdomWas it cruel? If, as the favour, which is full of ied beside him, whileancients used to say, praise and applause of the ones who lost thethe Thracians wept at men and women, will case, that is for thembirths and cheerfully be beheaded by a kin the greatest infamy,sang at their deaths, far hand over the grave of remain mourning theirfrom being a cruel act, her husband and is bur- misfortune”.the Thracians probablyconsidered it an honour.In fact, wives are said tohave argued over whowould have the hon-our of being the chosenone. As the Greek poetHesiod said: “When ahusband dies, his wives,which are many for eachone, argue in competi-tion held by the deter-mination of those whoare their close friendsand relatives, and claimthem to be the deceasedhusband’s dearest one.The wife who comes outvictorious and honouredwith a judgement in her 20

Orphic Mysteries The Thracians wor- Bacchusshipped Ares, the godof war; Sabazios, thesky father god; and hadfaith in the Sun, sonof the goddess Bendis,the incarnation of per-fection and immortality.The most popular cultswere the Dionysianmysteries, which surelycame to Greece fromThrace, along with thecult of Orpheus and theOrphic mysteries.Following Orpheus’ foot-steps, I ascended to thetop of a mountain to theruins of an abandonedplace called Perperikonin Southern Bulgaria.It is a real city temple,which can still be seenin the stone altars thatwere part of a templededicated to the God ofwine and sexual ecstasy,known by the Greeks asDionysus and Bacchusby the Romans. It isthe most sacred and 21

The ruins of the ancient city of Perperikon, Eastern Rhodopes Photo credit:By Renaud71 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commonsimportant place dedi- nads, the female fol- cult proclaimed asceti-cated to the Dionysian lowers of Dionysus. cism, was against sac-cult, which consisted of rifice and taught thesexual orgies and sac- Some archaeolo- transmigration of soulsrifices. But Orpheus, gists maintain that the and mankind’s capac-who according to leg- Thracians’ musician ity to experience theend had been a disci- god could have been divine, although theyple of Dionysus, argued a real character who had to be initiated inagainst these practices resided in the Bulgarian order to learn to breakin the name of Apollo, Rhodope Mountains free and rise in a statethe god of reason. and would had been of “happy immortality”.According to ancient a Dionysian priest who Without being initiated,legend, this act of defi- had access to hidden one could not experi-ance resulted in his con- knowledge of Egyptian ence happiness in theviction and murder at and oriental sages. His afterlife.the hands of the mae- 22

the Devil’s Throat The Greek poet Sappho of Lesboswrote a poem referring to a womanwho died without having access tothe Orphic mysteries: “After youdie, you will lie without anyoneremembering or missing you withsorrow, because you did not enjoythe roses of Pieria. You will beignored, as well, in the house ofHades, floating wandering amongthe dark deceased”. Was Sapphoa follower of the Orphic mysteries?Possibly yes. Candidates had to be accepted The Head of Orpheusinto the Orphic mysteries, whichwere esoteric and only disclosed tothose who managed to be initiat-ed. The initiates were required tothen save and protect the knowl-edge they were taught. Sappho’spoems speak of reverence to theOrphic religion on more than oneoccasion, for instance, in one shespeaks of rising over the afflic-tion of death, considering it a sinto lament at the Muses’ Home,because as she said: “I’d ratherdie listening to this song (Orpheuswith his lyre)…”. 23

According to mythology, Orpheus descended into the underworld to retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice, and did so through the Devil’s Throat, a cave in the Rhodope Mountains, South East Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church follows doctrines explained by the ancient creeds of the apostles, where it is described the moment in which Christ had to descend into hell to defeat the devil and release the righteous. Here, we see some parallels in the accounts of both Orpheus and Jesus. Both had to go down to the depths of hell, to “die” and to come back to life trans- formed. They both preached that humans have souls that would be judged at the moment of death and would pay for their actions. They both practiced ceremonies that included rituals such as turn- ing water into wine. Furthermore, the brutal murder of Orpheus was considered a sacrifice to redeem mankind for its sins. The similari- ties are interesting to say the least.24

A n A udience w ith J upiter the Lord o f the N ight S k y by John Baruch, Edward Hand, Chris Tallon, Dan Hedges. Bradford Robotic Telescope. University of Bradford UK. [email protected] credit:NASA O ur computers take us into amaz- high on the northern side of Mount ing worlds where anything is Teide on the Spanish island of Tenerife possible, but reality can also at the Instituto Astrofisica Canarias deliver the amazing. How about using Northern Hemisphere Observatory. computers to take us into the real This is one of the few autonomous world, to control robots that will take robots available on the web: images for us of the far distant reaches www.telescope.org. See below for a of the Universe? One such robot is the free offer code for you to use it with Bradford Robotic Telescope, situated Ispectrum. 25

OBSERVE TOP SPRING OBJECTSWITH A ROBOTIC TELESCOPEIspectrum has teamed up with the University of Bradford tobring you one month of access to their robotic telescope, freewith this magazine.The Bradford Robotic Telescope is located over the world, who are able to requestin the best observing site in Europe, images from the telescope via the website.8000ft above sea-level on the island of These images are scheduled automaticallyTenerife. From this prime location, this and taken for you while you’re sleeping.fully-autonomous observatory takes Log on to the website a few days laterpictures of the night sky. Unusually and your very own images are waiting forhowever, its main purpose isn’t academic you. All the raw data collected is availableresearch. Rather, it is taking images and online image processing tools arefor members of the public, for school provided to make sure you get the mostchildren and for amateur astronomers all from your pictures.What you can seeJupiter The Moon The Hercules Globular ClusterGalileo turned his telescope onto Jupiter A favourite of astronomers for centuries, Global clusters are among the oldestjust as you can with the robotic telescope take a simple image of our nearest structures in the galaxy, around 11 billionand was able to see the bright planet neighbour up close. Take detailed images years old. This one is thought to containwith its tiny family of moons just like the of craters and watch as the moon changes around 300,000 stars. Might there also beplanets going around the Sun. of the lunar month. a black hole at its centre?The Milky Way The Andromeda Galaxy The Dumbbell NebulaThe Robotic Telescope comes equipped The closest large galaxy to our own, This is a bright planetary nebula: thewith two wide-field cameras. The widest Andromeda is on a collision course with remnants of a dying star and a peek intois able to capture our own galaxy in all our own galaxy. As a result it appears the future of our own Sun. The red areasits glory. Glowing areas of star formation very large in the sky and makes a great are ionised Hydrogen and Nitrogen, withand dark obscuring dust show up clearly. target for the mid-field camera. Oxygen showing up in green.HOW TO GET YOUR FREE MONTH’S ACCESS1. Go to telescope.org2. Enter the access code EUROPA3. Try out imaging the six objects abov2e6for one month

Photo:©Bradford Robotic Telescope Tell the telescope what you want it to do, and it will service your request and send it back to you with- out any human inter- vention. It collects all the requests, and as soon as it is dark, it checks the weather to see if it is safe to open its dome, schedules its observing and sets off. You can do real science with the telescope and follow in the footsteps of the pioneers like Galileo. 27

The Bradford Robotic Telescope is located in the best observing site in Europe 28

It was Galileo who made the first all the other then known planetstelescope following a rumour that (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter anda Dutch optician had built such an Saturn) all circled the Sun just likeinstrument. In his hands, the tele- the Earth, and like the earth byscope changed the world. The date implication, they could easily havewas January 1610. It was already rivers, mountains, animals andknown that the Earth was a sphere people. The idea was terrible andsince Magellan had sailed around clearly wrong for the guardians ofthe world and returned in 1522 to be thought since the Bible was quitefollowed by the Englishman Drake clear. God only tried his hand at cre-in 1580. There was also the ter- ation once, and it was here on thisrible idea published by Copernicus special place Earth – but the proofin 1543 that the Earth along with that the Earth was a sphere, both29

Galileo Demonstrating the New Astronomical Theories at theUniversity of Padua.A replica of the earlest surviving telescope attributed to GalileoGalilei, on display at the Griffith Observatory.the Magellan and the Drake expe- Copernicus helped get out of thisditions had returned home sailing dilemma showing that ‘down below’only west, unearthed some terrible was not the centre of the universeimplications. Heaven was clearly – the Sun was. But there was theup there and hell down below, but other terrible implication with theif the Earth is a sphere, then the ideas of Copernicus that were evencentre of the Universe as created more unacceptable: the idea thatby God was hell. there were other similar planets and Man was not alone in the Universe. For the Catholic Church this was too much, and Copernicus was clearly wrong; they would live with the hell conundrum. It was clearly30

very hot just below the with Venus, but Galileo nated. The size and thesurface of the Earth with his telescope phase cancelled eachsince we had found vol- could see clear phases other out and kept thecanoes breathing fire. with Venus, which also brightness of VenusCopernicus must be explained the bright- the same as it orbitedwrong. Galileo with his ness. When Venus is the Sun. For the ortho-telescope threatened to near, it is apparently dox Catholic view theturn all this on its head bigger, but only a small unvarying brightnessin two ways. One was part of it is illuminated. of Venus was proof thatVenus: a clear proof When it is far away, it is it did not go ‘round thethat the planets did smaller and fainter, but Sun, and only whennot go ‘round the Sun the whole disc is illumi- Galileo could show thewas that Venus hard- phases of Venus toly changed its bright-ness, and if it went everyone did thesearound the Sun, ideas change.it would sure-ly be much Venusbrighterwhen itwas nearthe Earthandfainterwhen itwas faraway; anda n y w a y,it wouldhave phaseslike the Moon.No-one had seenanything like phases 31

Photo:©Bradford Robotic TelescopeThe four largest satellites of Jupiter are easily seen in a small telescope and were first observed by Galileo.The other more dramat- early evening. Galileo the Sun. The faint lineic discovery involved turned his telescope of dots of light changeJupiter. After Venus, onto Jupiter just as you their position everythe Sun, and the Moon, can with the robotic night sometimes disap-Jupiter is the brightest telescope and was able pearing behind Jupiterobject in the sky, and to see the bright planet or each other as Jupiterat the moment (spring with its tiny family of follows its majestic2015), it is prominent moons, just like the journey around thehigh in the sky in the planets going around Sun. You can see these 32

Jupiter with its Great Red Spot, and Jupiter’s four largest moons, known as the Galilean satellites. From top to bottom, the moons shown are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The Great Red Spot, a storm in Jupiter’s atmo- sphere, is at least 300 years old. Source:Wikipedia Photo credit:NASAmoons and their daily motion the volcanic object in the solar system,same as Galileo did. Ask the tele- blasting out sulphur with moun-scope to take images of Jupiter for a tains higher than Everest. It orbitsfew days and you too will see these Jupiter in just under 2 days, but ittiny spots of light move around the is Europa that will probably receiveplanet. Check exactly how to do it the most attention because it hasby finding images in the image gal- oceans under a thin surface of ice,lery. With a bit of care and by using and the general view is that liquiddifferent exposures, you should also water is the best place to look forbe able to see the Great Red Spot life.on Jupiter: a giant storm that hasbeen raging for at least 400 years With multiple requests to the tele-and which is big enough to engulf scope, you will be able to measurethe Earth. The moons themselves the orbital time of the moons ofare uniquely interesting; Io, themoon nearest Jupiter, is the most 33

Jupiter and with some effort appre- he was shown the instruments ofciate the first measurements of the torture and forced to stop lookingvelocity of light, since the time of at the stars and remain silent aboutdisappearance of a moon behind the motions of the planets aroundJupiter can be measured exactly the Sun. He was pardoned in 1992and so can the orbital period. We by Pope John Paul II. You can haveneed to add on the time the light all these delights for free unlesstakes to get to us; the distance you decide to subscribe. There arefrom Jupiter to the Earth varies by no instruments of torture… just £5the diameter of the Earth’s orbit: per month.about 16 minutes in light time aswe circle the Sun. You can enjoya foray into the history of scienceand much more with the robotictelescope. For Galileo, he achievedeverlasting fame, but in his lifetime, 34

“Orpheus with his Lute made Trees,And the Mountaine tops that freeze,Bow themselves when he did sing.To his Musicke, Plants and FlowersEver spring; as Sunne and Showres,There had been a lasting Spring.Every thing that heard him play,Even the Billowes of the Sea,Hung their heads, and then lay by.In sweet Musicke is such Art,Killing care, and griefe of heart,Fall asleepe, or hearing dye.” - Shakespeare FREE SUBSCRIPTION www . ispectrummagazine . c o m 35