Bakong Temple

Bakong Temple

Contructed: Late 9th century C.E.
Religion: Hindu
King/Patron: Indravarman I
Style: Preah Ko

Roluos Group: The most impressive member of the Roluos Group, sitting at the center of the first Angkorian capital, Hariharalaya. Bakong stands 15 meters tall and is 650x850m at the outer wall. Constructed by the third Angkorian-era king as his state-temple, Bakong represents the first application of the temple-mountain architectural formula on a grand scale and set the architectural tone for the next 400 years. The temple displays a very early use of stone rather than brick. Though begun by Indravarman I, Bakong received additions and was expanded by later kings. The uppermost section and tower may have been added as late as the 12th century AD. Some of the lintel carvings, particularly on the outer towers, are in very good shape. Picturesque moat and vegetation surround Bakong.

Angkor Wat Temple

Angkor Wat Temple Date of Construction: Early - Mid 12th century C.E.
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism
Patron or King: Suryavarman II
Artistic/Archeo. Style: Angkor Wat
Location: 6 kms north of Siem Reap; nearest major temple to Siem Reap
Location of Entrance: Western causeway
Duration of Visit: 2 hours - half day
Time to Visit: Sunrise; Afternoon for best light on face; Fewer visitors in the morning.
Photography Notes: Sunrise; Afternoon for best light on face
Position: 13d24'44N 103d52'00E

Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking. It is a massive three tiered crowned by five lotus-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Angkor Wat is the centerpiece of any visit to the temples of angkor.

At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region, Suryavarman II constructed Angkor Wat in the form of a massive 'temple-mountain' dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. It served as his state temple, though the temple's uncommon westward orientation has led some to suggest that it was constructed as Suryavarman II's funerary temple. Other temples of the same style and period include Thommanon, Banteay Samre, Wat Atwea and Beng Mealea, which may have served as a prototype to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat and an exterior wall measuring 1300 meters x 1500 meters. The temple itself is 1km square and consists of three levels surmounted by a central tower. The walls of the temple are covered inside and out with bas-reliefs and carvings. Nearly 2000 distinctively rendered apsara carvings adorn the walls throughout the temple and represent some of the finest examples of apsara carvings in Angkorian era art. But it is the exterior walls of the lower level that display the most extraordinary bas-reliefs, depicting stories and characters from Hindu mythology and the historical wars of Suryavarman II. It is in the viewing of the bas-reliefs that a tour guide can be very helpful.

The northern reflecting pool in front is the most popular sunrise location. For sunrise, arrive very early, well before sunrise begins. The sun will rise behind Angkor Wat providing a silhouette of Angkor's distinctively shaped towers against a colored sunrise sky. Some of the best colors appear just before the sun breaks over the horizon.
The visual impact of Angkor Wat, particularly on one's first visit, is awesome. As you pass through the outer gate and get your first glimpse, its size and architecture make it appear two dimensional, like a giant postcard photo against the sky. After you cross through the gate and approach the temple along the walkway it slowly gains depth and complexity. To maximize this effect you should make your first visit in optimal lighting conditions, i.e. after 2:00pm. Do not make your first visit to Angkor Wat in the morning when the backlighting obscures the view.

The first level of is the most artistically interesting. Most visitors begin their exploration with the bas-reliefs that cover the exterior wall of the first level, following the bas-reliefs counterclockwise around the temple. Bas-relief highlights include the mythological battle of Kuru on the west wall; the historical march of the army of Suryavarman II, builder of Angkor Wat, against the Cham, followed by scenes from Heaven and Hell on the south wall; and the classic 'Churning of the Ocean Milk' on the east wall.

The temple interior is not as densely carved as the first level exterior, but still sports hundreds of fine carvings of apsaras and scenes from Hindu mythology. A guide can be quite helpful in explaining the stories of the various Chambers, statues and architectural forms to be found in the interior. At the upper-most of your tour of the temple, the central tower on the third level houses four Buddha images, each facing a different cardinal point, highlighting the fact that though Angkor Wat was constructed as a Hindu temple, it has served as a Buddhist temple since Buddhism became Cambodia's dominant religion in the 14th century. Some say that it is good luck to pay homage to all four Buddha images before departing Angkor.

Angkor Thom Temp

Angkor Thom Temple Date of Construction: Late 12th - Early 13th century C.E.
Religious Affiliation: Buddhist
Patron or King: Jayavarman VII
Artistic/Archeo. Style: Bayon
Location: Angkor Thom
Duration of Visit: See individual temple listings
Photography Notes:
Position (Center, Bayon): 13d26'28N 103d51'31E

Angkor Thom (Big Angkor) is a 3km² walled and moated royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. After Jayavarman VII recaptured the Angkorian capital from the Cham invaders in 1181, he began a massive building campaign across the empire, constructing Angkor Thom as his new capital city. He began with existing structures such as Baphuon and Phimeanakas and built a grand enclosed city around them, adding the outer wall/moat and some of Angkor’s greatest temples including his state-temple, Bayon, set at the center of the city. There are five entrances (gates) to the city, one of each cardinal point, and the victory gate leading to the Royal Palace area. Each gate is crowned with 4 giant faces. The South Gate is often the first stop on a tour.

Ak Yum Temple

• Ak Yum Temple

  Date of Construction: Late 8th - Early 11th century C.E.
  Religious Affiliation: Hinduism
  Patron or King: ---
  Artistic/Archeo. Style: ---
  Location: AAP - Near the SW corner of the West Baray.
  Duration of Visit: 15-30 minutes
  Time to Visit: Anytime
  Photography Notes:
  Position: 13d26'50N 103d51'38E

  

  The historically important ruins of a small brick and sandstone temple in very poor condition. The earliest elements date from the pre-Angkorian 8^th century. Inscriptions indicate that a temple dedicated to the Hindu ‘god of the depths’ was previously located on the same spot.

  Ak Yum is the earliest known example of the ‘temple-mountain’ architectural design formula, which was to become a primary design formula for many of the Angkorian periods temples including Angkor Wat.

scient and technology

Planck Chills Out

Artist's concept of Planck in space, with Earth in the background. Image credit: ESA› High-resolution JPEG (1.5MB)

June 12, 2009

A JPL-developed and -built cooler on the Planck spacecraft has chilled the mission's low-frequency instrument down to its operating temperature of a frosty 20 Kelvin (minus 424 degrees Fahrenheit). The so-called hydrogen sorption cooler was turned on June 4 and achieved the target temperature of 20 Kelvin eight days later. The cooler is part of a chain of coolers that works together to ultimately chill the high-frequency instrument down to 0.1 Kelvin -- an event scheduled to take place in a few weeks.

Planck is currently on its way to its final orbit at the second Lagrange point, which is located about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, on the opposite side of our planet from the sun. Once there, it will look back to the dawn of time to study the birth of our universe.

scient and technology

Herschel's Cover Flips Open

Artist's concept of Herschel in space.
› Full-resolution JPEG (27MB)

June 15, 2009

The Herschel observatory has flipped its lid -- the cover protecting the telescope's instruments was successfully removed on June 14, 2009, at 2:54 a.m. Pacific Time. Herschel, a European Space Agency mission with significant participation from NASA, is already well on its way to an orbit around a point 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. That location, called the second Lagrange point of our Earth-sun system, is where Herschel will soon begin exploring the birth of stars and galaxies in our universe. The observatory detects infrared light, as does NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, but sees longer wavelengths. This means that, among other things, Herschel will study objects cooler than those observed by Spitzer, for example earlier stages of star formation.

The cover is on the telescope's cryostat -- the chamber that chills the instruments. After launch, the telescope was kept warm to prevent the buildup of water ice, which would harm the observatory's performance. Once any water stuck on the spacecraft was gone, it was safe to let the telescope cool down. With that process complete, it was then safe to remove the cover. This was accomplished by sending a command to the spacecraft to release a latch holding the cover shut. The cover swung open and, for the first time, light from space fell on the instrument detectors.

scient and technology

JPL Wind Watcher Blows Into its Second Decade

Artist concept of QuikScat. Image credit: NASA/JPL

June 18, 2009

NASA's Quick Scatterometer, or QuikScat, mission was conceived, developed and launched less than two years after the unexpected loss of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-1 spacecraft, which carried the NASA Scatterometer in June 1997. Just two years later, on June 19, 1999, the QuikScat spacecraft carrying JPL's SeaWinds instrument was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Since its launch a decade ago, QuikScat has advanced Earth science research and helped improve environmental predictions using measurements of global radar backscatter from Earth's ocean, land and ice surfaces. QuikScat data help scientists better understand and predict the processes that drive our climate, such as ocean circulation and the global water cycle.

QuikScat data have revolutionized operational weather and storm forecasting. According to Paul Chang, ocean winds science team lead at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service/Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Camp Springs, Md., "QuikScat observations are now used around the world to support operational forecasting and warning of phenomena ranging from tropical and extratropical cyclones, fronts, localized coastal wind events such as gap winds and sea conditions driven by winds, to sea and lake ice extent and motion. The 10 years of observations from the QuikScat mission have provided critical information for the monitoring, modeling, forecasting and research of the atmosphere, oceans and climate."

In addition to its numerous weather forecasting and climate research applications, QuikScat data also help monitor changes in Arctic sea ice and icebergs, as well as snow and soil moisture changes on land. QuikScat's reliability, quality, resolution, coverage and longevity have made it the only global ocean wind speed and direction data to date that are appropriate for climate studies.

QuikScat accurately measures the speed and direction of winds at the ocean surface over 90 percent of Earth's surface twice a day, providing data in areas not sampled by buoys and other wind platforms. The scatterometer works by measuring the strength of radar signals that are bounced back from the ocean surface. As wind speeds increase, they disturb the ocean surface, generating more small waves. These small waves reflect the radar energy toward the radar, resulting in a stronger reflection. This is similar to the way that wind blowing at the beach on a sunny day causes the ocean surface to sparkle.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., developed QuikScat and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. QuikScat's mission team includes personnel from JPL; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.; the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder; and numerous principal investigators funded by NASA's Ocean Vector Winds science team.

scient and technology

Lunar Orbit is Divine for NASA Instrument

Artist's concept of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA
› High-resolution JPEG (4MB)

June 23, 2009

PASADENA - Diviner, an instrument that will make the first maps of the temperature on the surface of the lunar polar regions, entered the moon's orbit this morning (June 23) aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The instrument, a nine-channel radiometer built and project-managed by JPL, will measure very cold temperatures, and, for the first time, characterize the entire thermal environment of the moon. Diviner will also produce a map showing the composition of the moon, and a map showing how rocky the moon is.

In addition to creating a comprehensive atlas of the moon’s features with detailed information about surface and subsurface temperatures, Diviner will identify cold traps and potential ice deposits, as well as landing hazards such as rough terrain or rocks to be avoided by future manned missions to the moon.

JPL designed, built and manages the Diviner instrument for NASA’s Exploration Science Mission Directorate, Washington. UCLA is home institution of Diviner’s principal investigator, David Paige. NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, Md., manages the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is a NASA mission with international participation from the Institute for Space Research in Moscow.