PHL one of best places in the world for planetary imaging

The Philippines is one of the best places to do planetary imaging, according to Filipino amateur astronomer Christopher Go.

Go is no stranger to the field: he is well respected in the international community of astrophotographers, having recently been included in the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) ground-support team for the Juno Jupiter mission.

“The best place to do planetary imaging is an island close to the equator. It’s a good thing that Cebu is in the right location. Basically, the whole Philippines is in the right location,” Go said.

Growing up in Cebu, Go developed a liking for astronomy in high school, when he became fascinated with Halley’s comet.

With his 10x40 binoculars, he started looking up at the sky, admiring thousands of stars visible during a clear night.

“I was still in high school. It developed into astrophotography. In 2003, I started mag-image planet.Then I found out na ‘yung lugar ko is basically one of the best places to do planetary imaging. So that’s how I specialize on imaging planets now,” he said.

Go is one of 29 participants—including 13 planetary scientists and 16 amateur astronomers from 13 different countries—who will serve as the backbone of a coordinated ground-support effort for the Juno mission.

The Juno spacecraft aims to develop an understanding of the planet Jupiter and its atmosphere.

“The primary vision is to understand the internal dynamics of Jupiter. The major instrument of spacecraft is magnenometor and high-grade antenna which are used to study the inside the Jupiter,” Go said.

Jupiter is very much familiar to Go, who is credited as the first person to observe the planet’s second red spot.

“This was a storm that appeared during World War II just after 1944. It was first a white spot before that turned red so I was the first one to image it when it turned red,” he explained.

Following his observation, Go was admitted into the American Astronomical Society and its Division for Planetary Sciences.

“I also image Mars and Saturn. But I spend more time with Jupiter because it is more dynamic eh. So araw-araw may bagong nangyari sa Jupiter,” he shared.

Despite this achievement, Go chalks up much of his success to pure luck.

“During that time I had an advantage because Jupiter was in the southern hemisphere so most images in the North could not capture Jupiter at that time. So I was just lucky,” he said. — TJD, GMA News