Wednesday, 4 November 2009

NASA Sets STS-129 Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., are set for the upcoming launch of space shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle's STS-129 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to lift off at 2:28 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 16. A NASA blog will update the countdown beginning Nov. 16 at 9:30 a.m. Originating from Kennedy, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. During the mission, visitors to NASA's shuttle Web site can read about the crew's progress and watch the mission's three spacewalks live. As Atlantis' flight concludes, the NASA blog will detail the spacecraft's return to Earth.

For NASA's launch blog and continuous mission updates, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

The NASA News Twitter feed will be updated throughout the shuttle launch countdown, mission and landing. To follow, visit:

http://www.twitter.com/nasa

Two STS-129 astronauts are tweeting about their pre-launch preparation and are expected to provide updates to their Twitter accounts during the shuttle mission. Bobby Satcher, an orthopedic surgeon, can be followed at:

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Bones and

http://www.twitter.com/ZeroG_MD.

The latter account focuses on a discussion of medical issues for space exploration. His crewmate Leland Melvin can be followed at:

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Flow

Detailed lists of countdown milestones, news briefing times and participants, and hours of operation for Kennedy's news center and media credentialing office are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news

For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

- end -

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

X-38 Crew Return Vehicle Finds New Home

One of NASA's three X-38 Crew Return Vehicle technology demonstrators that flew at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., a decade ago has found a new home in America's heartland. In this image from test flights in 1999, the X-38 research vehicle drops away from NASA's B-52 mothership immediately after being released from the B-52's wing pylon. More than 30 years earlier, this same B-52 launched the original lifting-body vehicles flight tested by NASA and the Air Force at what is now called the Dryden Flight Research Center and the Air Force Flight Test Center.The wingless lifting body craft was transferred this past weekend from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to the Strategic Air and Space Museum, located just off Interstate 80 at Ashland, Neb., about 20 miles southeast of Omaha. The X-38 adds to the museum's growing collection of aerospace vehicles and other historical artifacts. The move of the second X-38 built to the museum has a fitting connection, as the X-38 vehicles were air-launched from NASA's famous B-52B 008 mothership. The B-52 bomber served as the backbone of the Air Force's Strategic Air Command during the command's history.Prior to cancellation, the X-38 program was developing the technology for proposed vehicles that could return up to seven International Space Station crewmembers to Earth in case of an emergency. These vehicles would have been carried to the space station in the cargo bay of a space shuttle and attached to station docking ports. If an emergency arose that forced the ISS crew to leave the space station, a Crew Return Vehicle would have undocked and returned them to Earth much like the space shuttle, although the vehicle would have deployed a parafoil for the final descent and landing.

Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Charts-info Astrosite Groningen (November 4, 2009)

Comet 88P Howell is too far South to be viewed from U.K Latitudes-now in the Constellation of Sagittarius and can only be seen during the early part of the evening from Equatorial regions at magnitude 9.3 it is fading and moving away from the Earth as well as the Sun respectively.

C/2006 W3 Christensen is now in the lower part of the Constellation of Saggita at Magnitude 9.6 and will gradually fade from view as it moves out of its 2 Hour Evening viewing window and also moves away from the Earth as well as the Sun.

Dear comet observers,

We have prepared the following new charts for our homepage:

* C/2006 W3 (Christensen) :

a 3.0x4.5 degrees chart for the period 5 - 20 November 2009

* 88P/Howell :

two 4x6 degrees charts for the period 5 - 17 November 2009

These new charts can now be directly downloaded from:

http://members.home.nl/comets/NewCharts.HTM

They will be available at a somewhat later time from the charts section of our mainpage as well:

http://www.shopplaza.nl/astro

Here you can also download charts from earlier updates....

Reinder Bouma/Edwin van Dijk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images

IMAGE ADVISORY: 2009-160 Nov. 4, 2009

Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-160

PASADENA, Calif. -- Winter images of NASA's Phoenix Lander showing the lander
shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars have been captured with the High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The HiRISE camera team at the University of Arizona, Tucson, captured one image of
the Phoenix lander on July 30, 2009, and the other on Aug. 22, 2009. That's when the sun
began peeking over the horizon of the northern polar plains during winter, the imaging
team said. The first day of spring in the northern hemisphere began Oct. 26.

The images are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_014393_2485 .

"We decided to try imaging the site despite the low light levels," said HiRISE team
member Ingrid Spitale of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"The power of the HiRISE camera helped us see it even under these poor light
conditions," added HiRISE team member Michael Mellon of the University of Colorado
in Boulder, who was also on the Phoenix Mars Lander science team.

The HiRISE team targeted their camera at the known location of the lander to get the
new images and compared them to a HiRISE image of the frost-free lander taken in June
2008. That enabled them to identify the hardware disguised by frost, despite the fact that
their views were hindered by poor lighting and by atmospheric haze, which often
obscures the surface at this location and season.

Carbon dioxide frost completely blankets the surface in both images. The amount of
carbon dioxide frost builds as late winter transitions to early spring, so the layer of frost is
thicker in the Aug. 22 image.

HiRISE scientists noted that brightness doesn't necessarily indicate the amount of frost
seen in the images because of the way the images are processed to produce optimal
contrast. Even the darker areas in the frost-covered images are still brighter than typical
soil that surrounds the lander in frost-free images taken during the lander's prime mission
in 2008.

Other factors that affect the relative brightness include the size of the individual grains of
carbon dioxide ice, the amount of dust mixed with the ice, the amount of sunlight hitting
the surface and different lighting angles and slopes, Spitale and Mellon said.

Studying these changes will help us understand the nature of the seasonal frost and
winter weather patterns in this area of Mars.

Scientists predicted that the ice layer would reach maximum thickness in September
2009, but don't have images to confirm that because HiRISE camera operations were
suspended when Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter entered an extended safe mode on Aug.
26.

The Phoenix Mars Lander ceased communications last November, after successfully
completing its mission and returning unprecedented primary science phase and returning
science data to Earth. During the first quarter of 2010, teams at JPL will listen to see if
Phoenix is still able to communicate with Earth. Communication is not expected and is
considered highly unlikely following the extended period of frost on the lander.

HiRISE is run from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's HiRISE Operations Center, on
the University of Arizona campus. Planetary Sciences Professor Alfred McEwen is
HiRISE principal investigator. Planetary Sciences Professor Peter Smith is principal
investigator for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is
managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, for NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin
Space Systems, based in Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. Ball
Aerospace Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE camera.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

-end-

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

ISS passes

NASA SKYWATCH SKYLOG OUTPUT

Satellite Local Date/Time Pass Max Elev (Deg) Approach (Deg Dir) Departure (Deg-Dir)
ISS Tue- Nov-10/2009@17:55 01m00s 15 11-above-S 15-above-SSE
ISS Wed- Nov-11/2009@18:16 02m00s 25 10-above-SW 25-above-SSW
ISS Thu- Nov-12/2009@17:05 03m00s 16 11-above-S 11-above-ESE
ISS Thu- Nov-12/2009@18:39 00m20s 20 13-above-WSW 20-above-WSW
ISS Fri- Nov-13/2009@17:26 04m00s 30 12-above-SW 22-above-ESE
ISS Sat- Nov-14/2009@17:50 01m00s 53 25-above-SW 50-above-SE
ISS Sun- Nov-15/2009@16:37 04m00s 29 18-above-SSW 10-above-E
ISS Sun- Nov-15/2009@18:12 01m00s 57 26-above-WSW 57-above-WSW
ISS Mon- Nov-16/2009@17:00 03m00s 52 31-above-SW 14-above-E
ISS Mon- Nov-16/2009@18:34 00m20s 26 26-above-W 26-above-W

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

My Talk About Lyra And Skywatching Astronomy At The New Kessingland Library...

I will be doing a talk about the Lyra Society, Astronomy and Fieldwork Skywatching at the new Kessingland Library on Wednesday 11th November from 14.30 to 15.30 in the afternoon and anyone is welcome to attend for free if you are interested.

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Monday, 2 November 2009

Spirit Embedded in Soft Soil on Mars as Engineers Devise Methods to 'Free Spirit'

This view from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. The hundreds of images combined into this view were taken beginning on the 1,906th Martian day (or sol) of Spirit's mission on Mars (May 14, 2009) and ending on Sol 1943 (June 20, 2009). Near the center of the image, in the distance, lies Husband Hill, where Spirit recorded views from the summit in 2005. For scale, the parallel tracks are about 1 meter (39 inches) apart. The track on the right is more evident because Spirit was driving backwards, dragging its right-front wheel, which no longer rotates. The bright soil in the center foreground is soft material in which Spirit became embedded after the wheels on that side cut through a darker top layer. The composition of different layers in the soil at the site became the subject of intense investigation by tools on Spirit's robotic arm.In recent weeks, Engineers have been using test rovers on Earth to prepare for extracting the sand-trapped Spirit rover. While amnesia-like symptoms in recent days might delay the start of planned drives by Spirit geared towards extricating it, the Mars Exploration Rover team remains hopeful. "If they are intermittent and infrequent, they are a nuisance that would set us back a day or two when they occur. If the condition becomes persistent or frequent, we will need to go to an alternate strategy that avoids depending on flash memory, " said Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In these amnesia events, Spirit fails to record data from the day's activities onto the type of computer memory -- non-volatile "flash" memory -- that can retain the data when the rover powers down for its energy-conserving periods of "sleep." Spirit has worked on Mars for more than 69 months in what was originally planned as a three-month mission.

Trouble still plaguing GPS satellite / Europe launches watery mission

NEWSALERT: Monday, November 2, 2009 @ 1740 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

===========================================
Looking for a job out of this world?
The top jobs and the best talents in
the space industry are on Space Careers.

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GPS SATELLITE BESET BY PERMANENT SIGNAL PROBLEM
-----------------------------------------------
A Global Positioning System satellite launched earlier this year is
suffering from permanent signal distortions and will miss its target to
enter operational service this year, Air Force officials said.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0911/02gps/

EARTH-WATCHING SATELLITE LAUNCHED ON WATERY MISSION
---------------------------------------------------
A modified Russian ballistic missile successfully launched a $464 million
European science satellite Monday to investigate Earth's water cycle by
measuring moisture levels in soil and salt concentrations in the world's
oceans.

http://spaceflightnow.com/rockot/smos/091102liftoff/

FATHER OF THE CHINESE SPACE PROGRAM DIES
----------------------------------------
The father of China's space and strategic rocket program Tsien Hsue-shen,
who worked initially on U.S. rocket development, helped bring Werner Von
Braun to the U.S. then was wrongly deported back to China in the 1950s for
alleged ties with communist China, died in Beijing Oct. 31 at age 98.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0911/02china/

+++++++++++++++

Be part of the future.

If you want to contribute to the future of space exploration, here's your
chance. Boeing's Exploration Ground Launch Services supports the NASA
Constellation Program at the Kennedy Space Center. For more information
and to express your interest, visit http://boeing.com/egls

+++++++++++++++

HISTORY-MAKING JAPANESE SPACE MISSION COMPLETED
-----------------------------------------------
Packed with garbage from the International Space Station, the first HTV
cargo freighter met a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday,
punctuating an historic chapter in the Japanese space program.

http://spaceflightnow.com/h2b/htv1/091101reentry/

PARACHUTE FAILURE CAUSES DAMAGE TO ARES 1-X BOOSTER
---------------------------------------------------
Two days after NASA launched a test model of its Ares 1 rocket, the
flight's mission manager confirmed the first stage descended to the
Atlantic Ocean on just one fully functioning parachute, damaging the
booster as it splashed into the Atlantic Ocean harder than expected.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091030recovery/

FATHER OF CHINA'S SPACE PROGRAM DIES
------------------------------------
The father of China's space and strategic rocket program Tsien
Hsue-shen, who worked initially on U.S. rocket development, helped bring
Werner Von Braun to the U.S. then was wrongly deported back to China in
the 1950s for alleged ties with communist China, died in Beijing Oct. 31
at age 98.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0911/02china/

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Having A lookin Right Now....

Nov. 1/2

Rockot • SMOS

Launch time: 0150 GMT on 2nd (8:50 p.m. EST on 1st)
Launch site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia

A Eurockot Rockot vehicle will launch the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite for the European Space Agency. The launch will also carry the Proba 2 microsatellite into orbit. SMOS will measure moisture in soils and salt content in oceans during its mission. Delayed from July and September. [Sept. 21]

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/smos/SEMCYXZRA0G_0.html

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Proba/SEMCYXZRA0G_0.html

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/rockot/smos/091101preview/

Public release date: 21-Oct-2009

Contact: Robert Meisner
robert.meisner@esa.int
39-069-418-0874
European Space Agency

Final look at ESA's SMOS and Proba-2 satellites

As preparations for the launch of SMOS and Proba-2 continue on schedule, the engineers and technicians at the Russian launch site say goodbye as both satellites are encapsulated within the half-shells of the Rockot fairing.

Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, "Today, with the encapsulation of the SMOS satellite in the launcher fairing, we have made an important step towards the launch of this key environmental mission, which will investigate two parameters of the complex climate system. I am looking forward to the launch in a few days!"

The small Proba-2 satellite had already been mated to the Breeze-KM, which is the upper stage of the Russian Rockot, and sealed from view by the SMOS launch adapter above. In launch configuration, Proba-2 sits underneath the SMOS satellite, for injection into orbit after SMOS. Proba-2 is the second in ESA's Project for Onboard Autonomy series. Although it is less than a cubic metre, incorporates a total of 17 technology developments and four scientific experiments that focus on solar and space weather.

Michel Courtois, ESA's Director of Technical and Quality Managment, said, "The encapsulation of the Proba-2 satellite was an emotional moment for the project team in Plesetsk. After five years of hard work, our satellite is one step closer to launch, ready to show the importance of in-orbit demonstration of new technologies."

The Proba-2 technology demonstrator is taking advantage of the launch of the 'Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity' (SMOS) mission, which will make advances in our understanding of Earth's water cycle.

By employing novel technology in space, SMOS will provide the data to produce global maps of soil moisture at least every three days and global maps of sea-surface salinity averaged over 30 days. Through this regular and consistent mapping, the mission will improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating the water cycle.

Information from SMOS will also improve weather and climate models, and have practical applications in areas such as agriculture and resource management. The data on sea-surface salinity will further our knowledge of ocean circulation patterns and the role they play in the climate system.

Both Proba-2 and SMOS have been at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia since September, initially taking turns in the cleanroom for the early part of the launch campaign. Over the last week or so, the teams have been working in parallel to mate the satellites to the upper stage of the launcher and now encapsulate them within the fairing. This proved quite emotional for the teams, as both missions have been a number of years in the making.

Now protecting both satellites from the rigors of launch, the half-shells will not open until three minutes after launch, which is scheduled for 2 November at 02: 50 CET (01:50 UT). The next important step in the preparation schedule will be to roll out the 'upper composite' to the launch pad on 26 October, for mating with the rest of the rocket.

SMOS satellite joins launch adapter

14 October 2009

As preparations for the launch of SMOS on 2 November continue to progress well at the launch site in Russia, a milestone in the schedule has been passed as the satellite joins the Rockot launch adapter.

ESA's 'Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity' (SMOS) satellite arrived at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on 17 September. After it had been installed in the integration facilities and unpacked, the team of engineers and technicians carried out initial tests to ensure the satellite had arrived in good shape.

By employing a novel use of technology, the SMOS Earth Explorer mission will make global observations of soil moisture over land and sea-surface salinity over the oceans to improve our understanding of Earth's water cycle. Data from SMOS will be important for weather and climate modelling, water resource management, agriculture and also contribute to the forecasting of hazardous events such as floods.

The measuring technique involves measuring microwave radiation emitted from Earth's surface within the 'L-band', around a frequency of 1.4 GHz. To do this, the instrument, which is called 'MIRAS' – short for Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis, carries 69 small antennas distributed along three arms that fold out to form an unusual three-pointed star shape. The clever bit is that these small antennas mimic the size of a much larger single antenna that would normally be needed at this frequency to obtain the required coverage and resolution.

The campaign to prepare the SMOS satellite for launch has now been underway for almost four weeks. The satellite has undergone a series of electrical tests and also the hazardous task of filling the satellite with 28 kg of hydrazine fuel was carried out by team members from Thales Alenia Space. In addition, multilayer insulation has been secured around certain components on the satellite.

The most recent milestone involved hoisting the satellite off the working stand on the fuelling frame and then lowering onto the launch adapter. As the name suggests, the adapter forms the interface between the SMOS satellite and the upper stage of the Rockot launcher. Since the satellite already holds fuel, this task is somewhat dangerous, so everyone involved had to wear special protective clothing as a precautionary measure.

Once the satellite was positioned on the adapter, a clamp band, which is a crucial component that secures the satellite to the adapter, was fitted and tension then carefully applied. As ESA's Proba-2 mission is being launched on the same rocket, there are, in fact, two of these clamp bands: one to hold the SMOS satellite on the adaptor and one to connect the two halves of the adapter, which separate after SMOS is released into orbit.

The small Proba-2 satellite sits under the SMOS adapter during launch, so the release of the adapter halves enables the Proba-2 satellite to be injected into orbit. This happens almost two hours after SMOS has been injected.

The Proba-2 team has also returned to Plesetsk as the launch campaign activities for both satellites are now being combined in the run up to liftoff at 02.50 CET on 2 November. The next major step will be when teams have to say 'goodbye' to the satellites as SMOS and Proba-2 are encapsulated together within the fairing, which is scheduled to take place on 19 October.

For more information click here.

Source: ESA

Friday, 30 October 2009

All for One

The International Space Station's Expedition 1 crew took a break from training in the systems integration facility at the Johnson Space Center to pose for a crew photo in this picture from May 2000. From the left are cosmonaut and flight engineer Sergei Krikalev, mission commander William Shepherd and cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, Soyuz commander. Behind them is the full fuselage trainer, one of the full-scale mockups used to prepare the crew for certain phases and contingencies of their shuttle return flight.Expedition 1 lifted off to become the first crew to live aboard the station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 31, 2000.

Image Credit: NASA

Happy Halloween-Bat Wishes Etc...

The Cassini team sends "bats wishes" for a happy, healthy and fun Halloween. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.

Image Credit: NASA

Ares 1-X manager provides new insights into test flight

NEWSALERT: Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 2053 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

+++++++++++
Astronauts Suit up for Auction

Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's 7th Annual Astronaut Experiences &
Memorabilia Auction has launched. Bid on 50 extraordinary lots donated by
legendary astronauts online NOW through Nov. 7.

http://astronautscholarship.org/2009_auction.py?id2
+++++++++++

PARACHUTE FAILURE CAUSES DAMAGE TO ARES 1-X BOOSTER
---------------------------------------------------
Two days after NASA launched a test model of its Ares 1 rocket, the
flight's mission manager confirmed the first stage descended to the
Atlantic Ocean on just one fully functioning parachute, damaging the
booster as it splashed into the Atlantic Ocean harder than expected.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091030recovery/

MISSION STATUS CENTER:
http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/status.html

VIDEO ARCHIVE:
http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/index.php?k=ares%201-x&s=date

HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO:
http://spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/ares1x/

HTV CARGO SHIP DEPARTS INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
--------------------------------------------------
Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle, loaded with 1,600 pounds of space station
trash, was being pulled from the complex and released to fly away after a
successful maiden mission.

http://spaceflightnow.com/h2b/htv1/status.html

ARIANE 5 HAULS UP ANOTHER DOUBLE PAYLOAD STACK
----------------------------------------------
For this second time this month, the workhorse Ariane 5 rocket carried out
a double satellite deployment mission just like clockwork on Thursday and
set the stage to break its record for flights in a single year.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v192/

SHUTTLE ATLANTIS TARGETING LAUNCH DATE OF NOV. 16
-------------------------------------------------
NASA managers met at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday and tentatively
cleared the shuttle Atlantis for launch Nov. 16 on a three-spacewalk
mission to deliver nearly 15 tons of spare parts and supplies to the
International Space Station.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts129/091029frr/

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Glenn and STS-95 Go to Space

The seven crew members in training for the STS-95 mission aboard Discovery pose for photographers prior to participating in a training session at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Pictured, from the left, are Pedro Duque, Curtis Brown, Chiaki Nauto-Mukai, then-U.S. Sen. John H. Glenn Jr. (D.-Ohio), Stephen Robinson, Steven Lindsey and Scott Parazynski. Sen. Glenn, who served as a payload specialist for the mission, launched with the Discovery crew on Oct. 29, 1998. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on America's first manned orbital mission.

Image Credit: NASA

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Ares I-X Lifts Off

Mission managers watch as NASA's Ares I-X rocket launches from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Asteroid Explodes Over Indonesia

Space Weather News for Oct. 28, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

INDONESIAN ASTEROID: Earlier this month, with no warning, a ~10-meter wide asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere above Indonesia and exploded. The break-up was so powerful, it triggered nuclear test ban sensors thousands of kilometers away. A just-released analysis of infrasound data shows that the asteroid detonated with an energy equivalent of about 50 kton of TNT, similar to a small atomic bomb. This significant impact has received relatively little attention in Western press. Details are available today on http://spaceweather.com.

SUNSPOT UPDATE: Since it emerged last weekend, new-cycle sunspot 1029 has become the biggest and most active sunspot of 2009. It is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares and putting on a good show for amateur astronomers. This one sunspot does not put an end to solar minimum, but it is a remarkable break from the calm. Check htttp://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

CONNECT YOUR PHONE TO THE SKY: Would you like a call when Earth-orbiting satellites detect strong solar flares and solar wind gusts? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE to turn your telephone into a bona fide solar activity alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Unfavorable weather scrubs Ares 1-X rocket launch

Clouds and winds have forced a delay in the first experimental test flight of the hardware NASA is developing to replace the space shuttle. The next try for the Ares 1-X rocket blastoff would be 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center's modified pad 39B. Join us in the Mission Status Center for live play-by-play updates, a video webcast anchored by Miles O'Brien and an interactive chat!

   MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates and video!
   IMAGES: ARES 1-X ON EVE OF LAUNCH
   COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   NASA'S PRESS KIT (.pdf download)
   STORE: ARES 1-X PATCH

Ares I-X at the Launch Pad

NASA's Ares I-X rocket is seen on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. The flight test of Ares I-X, scheduled for today, Oct. 27, 2009, will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Monday, 26 October 2009

Tattooed Mars

This high-resolution picture from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing light-colored terrain on the Martian surface. Newly formed trails like these had presented researchers with a tantalizing mystery but are now known to be the work of miniature wind vortices known to occur on the red planet, in other words Martian dust devils. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are also common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth. Typically lasting only a few minutes, dust devils become visible as they pick up loose red-colored dust leaving the darker and heavier sand beneath intact. Ironically, dust devils have been credited with unexpectedly cleaning the solar panels of the Mars rovers.

Image Credit: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona)

LIVE COVERAGE: The experimental test launch of Ares 1-X

NEWSALERT: Monday, October 26, 2009 @ 1712 GMT
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now

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MISSION STATUS CENTER IS THE PLACE TO VISIT
-------------------------------------------
Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center's modified pad 39B is targeted for
Tuesday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). You can follow the countdown will
play-by-play updates throughout the night in our Mission Status Center,
plus the page will host our live launch broadcast anchored by Miles
O'Brien beginning at 6 a.m. EDT.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/status.html

COUNTDOWN TIMELINE:
http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091022countdowntimeline.html

LAUNCH TIMELINE:
http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091022launchtimeline.html

ARES 1-X LAUNCH POISED TO BE ENGINEER'S DELIGHT
-----------------------------------------------
NASA has meticulously tailored Tuesday's Ares 1-X test launch as a
learning exercise, using more than 700 high-fidelity sensors to collect
gargantuan amounts of data during the booster's six-minute flight.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091026preview/

+++++++++++++++

Be part of the future.

If you want to contribute to the future of space exploration, here's your
chance. Boeing's Exploration Ground Launch Services supports the NASA
Constellation Program at the Kennedy Space Center. For more information
and to express your interest, visit http://boeing.com/egls

+++++++++++++++

RISK AND INGENUITY CROSS PATHS ON ARES 1-X TEST FLIGHT
------------------------------------------------------
NASA plans to launch a one-of-a-kind suborbital test flight to validate
the aerodynamic design of the agency's embattled Ares 1 rocket, a
crew-carrying booster under development to replace the space shuttle.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091025risk/

VIDEO ARCHIVE:
http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/index.php?k=ares%201-x&s=date

HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO:
http://spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/ares1x/

STATIC ELECTRICITY RULE THREATENS ON-TIME LIFTOFF
-------------------------------------------------
A new constraint in the Launch Commit Criteria to prevent the buildup of
static electricity on the Ares 1-X flight test vehicle as it accelerates
away from Kennedy Space Center has reduced chances for favorable launch
weather to 40 percent for the rocket's debut planned Oct. 27.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/091025weather/

Sunday, 25 October 2009

A Big Sunspot Emerges

Space Weather News for Oct. 25, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

BIG SUNSPOT: The sun is showing signs of life. Sunspot 1029 emerged over the weekend, and it is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares. The active region's magnetic polarity identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. If its growth continues apace, sunspot 1029 could soon become the biggest sunspot of 2009. Check http://spaceweather.com for animations and updates.

MONDAY NIGHT SKY SHOW: When the sun sets on Monday, Oct. 26th, go outside and look south. Jupiter and the Moon are converging for a beautiful conjunction. The bright pair can been seen even through thinly-clouded skies and city lights. Don't miss it!

CONNECT YOUR PHONE TO THE SKY: Would you like a call when Earth-orbiting satellites detect strong solar flares and solar wind gusts? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE to turn your telephone into a bona fide solar activity alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Saturday, 24 October 2009

NASA clears Ares 1-X rocket for test flight on Tuesday

NEWSALERT: Saturday, October 24, 2009 @ 1936 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

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NEW! Shuttle crew patch for next mission in November!
http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com
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ARES 1-X TEST FLIGHT CLEARED FOR LAUNCH TUESDAY MORNING
-------------------------------------------------------
Senior NASA officials convened at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday and
formally approved plans to launch a $445 million test flight of the
next-generation Ares 1 rocket next week. Watch live views of the pad in
our status center.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/status.html

VIDEO ARCHIVE:
http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/index.php?k=ares%201-x&s=date

HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO:
http://spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/ares1x/

AUGUSTINE PANEL REPORTS ON SPACE PROGRAM'S FUTURE
-------------------------------------------------
Amid work to ready NASA's Ares 1-X rocket for a long-awaited test flight
next week, a presidential panel charged with reviewing the nation's manned
space program submitted its completed report Thursday, concluding NASA's
planned shuttle replacement will cost too much and take too long to build
to be a viable option.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/22augustine/

VEGA ROCKET TESTED AS ESA MAPS OUT OPERATIONS
---------------------------------------------
Europe's small satellite launcher is on the home stretch of its protracted
development, as engineers methodically check to ensure each of the Vega
rocket's parts are qualified for flight.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/23vega/

ASTRONAUTS LOADING TRASH INSIDE JAPANESE FREIGHTER
--------------------------------------------------
Space station astronauts have finished unloading cargo from the Japanese
H-2 Transfer Vehicle and are now packing trash inside the ship's
pressurized compartment. The spacecraft is scheduled to depart the complex
next Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/h2b/htv1/status.html

SCIENTISTS FIND ORGANIC MOLECULES AROUND PLANET
-----------------------------------------------
Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the
basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers
toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could
exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if
found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of
life.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/21planet/

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Ares 1-X rocket arrives at launch pad for test flight



Ares 1-X rocket arrives at launch pad for test flight Following the same path as the mighty Saturn rockets and the space shuttles, the new Ares 1-X test vehicle trekked from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B Tuesday. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 27. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates and video! IMAGES: ARES 1-X EMERGES FROM VAB IMAGES: ROCKET ARRIVES AT PAD 39B

NASA puts priority on Ares test ahead of Atlantis NASA managers met early Monday and agreed the Ares 1-X flight was now NASA's top near-term priority. Because many engineers supporting the Ares test also are needed for shuttle processing, officials have moved Atlantis' "no-earlier-than" launch date from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16. FULL STORY LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! IMAGES: ATLANTIS ROLLS TO LAUNCH PAD STORE: STS-129 PATCH STS-129 VIDEO COVERAGE HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO

Oct. 27

Ares 1-X • Test Flight

Launch window: 1200-1600 GMT (8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: LC-39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

NASA will launch the Ares 1-X rocket on a sub-orbital test flight to collect valuable engineering data from the vehicle. The Ares program is being developed to replace the space shuttle for launching astronauts. Delayed from July 11 and Aug. 30. Moved up from Oct. 31. See our Mission Status Center. [Sept. 23]

Ares 1-X test flight cleared for launch Tuesday morning
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: October 23, 2009

Senior NASA officials convened at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday and formally approved plans to launch a $445 million test flight of the next-generation Ares 1 rocket next week.

Ares 1-X is poised on the launch pad. Credit: NASA-KSC

"This team has done a tremendous job getting to this point in the flow," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for NASA's exploration systems mission directorate.

The Ares 1-X rocket is set for liftoff during a four-hour window opening at 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday. During the six-minute, 144-mile flight, instruments will collect data on the vibrations, flexing, pressures, temperatures and acoustics the booster experiences.

"They've got to a point where there are really no technical issues, they've closed out their paperwork to this point. All they've got is the forward work to get to a Tuesday launch," Cooke said.

The information collected during the flight will be fed into computer models helping engineers design the real Ares 1 rocket, which is expected to debut some time between 2015 and 2017.

Friday's meeting, called a Flight Test Readiness Review, included input from a range of engineers and was overseen by top NASA managers. The review board unanimously cleared Ares 1-X for launch, Cooke said.

Also on Friday, teams were wrapping up the ground systems portion of an integrated test of all flight and ground equipment that will be used during Tuesday's countdown and launch.

The conclusion of the test came on the heels of a successful hotfire of the Ares 1-X first stage's auxiliary power unit Thursday night. The device drives the rocket's nozzle gimbal system that steers the vehicle during flight.

The launch team will conduct a countdown simulation all day Saturday. Workers at the pad will close out the rocket and connect pyrotechnic ordnance Sunday.

Monday will mostly be an off day for teams, and the countdown will commence at 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

Early weather forecasts look iffy for launch attempts next week. There is a 60 percent chance of violating weather rules Tuesday because of rain showers, ground winds and electrical charges in the atmosphere. There is a 40 percent chance of bad weather prohibiting launch Wednesday and Thursday.

"Weather is always a challenge, and next week will be no different," said Ed Mango, Ares 1-X launch director. "We have weather constraints for Ares 1-X that are different than you've seen on other vehicles around here because it's a 300-foot-tall rocket."

Ares 1-X is booked on the Air Force's Eastern Range for Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday may not be available on the Range, but NASA would request a third launch opportunity if necessary.

"We are working to see if we can't get other opportunities on the Range, and we'll see how that goes in the next few days," Mango said.

If the flight slips beyond next week due to weather or technical issues, the Ares 1-X team may have to stand down for several weeks because of a busy launch schedule at neighboring pads at Cape Canaveral.

The Air Force-run network of communications and tracking sites supports all launches from the Space Coast on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Range is unavailable due to an unspecified activity beginning late next week. An Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled for a commercial satellite launch Nov. 14, followed by the launch of shuttle Atlantis around Nov. 16 and a Delta 4 booster a few days later.

"The month of November is very difficult on the Range in terms of trying to get space, but we want to be ready as soon as an opportunity opens up to jump on the Range at that time and try to go fly," Mango said.

If the upcoming launches stay on schedule, Ares 1-X may not have another chance to launch until the middle of November.

Officials would like to keep the rocket on the pad as long as possible to be ready to take advantage of any openings on the Range.

"After this particular window, we'll be working with (the vehicle team) to figure out how we can leave the vehicle at the pad, if at all possible, which is what we'd like to go do," Mango said.

Ares 1-X from Playalinda Beach

The Ares 1-X rocket stands on pad 39B on Wednesday afternoon, a day after rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building. These photos were taken from Playalinda Beach just north of the Kennedy Space Center.

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

NASA Sets Ares I-X Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details

Ares is ready to go:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html

NASA Sets Ares I-X Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details
Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:00 -0500

News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the upcoming Ares I-X flight test.

This NASA news has been delivered on behalf of the agency by GovDelivery (800-439-1420) · NASA Headquarters · Washington, DC 20546

Oct. 27
Ares 1-X • Test Flight
Launch window: 1200-1600 GMT (8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT) Launch site: LC-39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida NASA will launch the Ares 1-X rocket on a sub-orbital test flight to collect valuable engineering data from the vehicle. The Ares program is being developed to replace the space shuttle for launching astronauts. Delayed from July 11 and Aug. 30. Moved up from Oct. 31. See our Mission Status Center. [Sept. 23]

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Friday, 23 October 2009

Building an Original

Platforms surround the Ares I-X in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building before it was moved to the launch pad on Oct. 20, 2009. Closer in height to the hulking Saturn V moon rockets than the space shuttle, Ares I-X looks unlike any rocket that's ever stood at Launch Complex 39. But it blends familiar hardware from existing programs with newly developed components.Four first-stage, solid-fuel booster segments are derived from the Space Shuttle Program. A simulated fifth booster segment contains Atlas-V-based avionics, and the rocket's roll control system comes from the Peacekeeper missile. The launch abort system, simulated crew and service modules, upper stage, and various connecting structures all are original.

Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Spirit's Robotic Stretch

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded this forward view of its arm and surroundings during the rover's 2,052nd Martian day, or sol, on Oct. 11, 2009. Bright soil in the left half of the image is loose, fluffy material churned by the rover's left-front wheel as Spirit, driving backwards, approached its current position in April 2009 and the wheel broke through a darker, crusty surface.Spirit used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this image. The turret of tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm is positioned with the Moessbauer spectrometer up and the rock abrasion tool extending toward the right. Spirit's right-front wheel, visible in this image, has not worked since 2006. It is the least-embedded of the rover's six wheels at the current location, called "Troy."Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been working on Mars for more than 58 months in what were originally planned as 3-month missions on Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Ares 1-X rocket reaches the pad

The Ares 1-X rocket travels to Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B following the overnight trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for its test flight for NASA's new vehicle.

Photo credit: Spaceflight Now

Friction Stir Weld

This close-up view of the friction stir weld tack tool used to manufacture of space shuttle external tanks shows the process of tack welding barrel panels together. Barrels were previously fabricated using traditional fusion welding, but friction stir welding is different in that the materials are not melted. A rotating tool pin uses friction and applied pressure to join the 20-foot longitudinal panels together. Friction stir welding is the most recent upgrade to the space shuttle's external tank, the largest element of the shuttle and the only element that is not reusable. The new welding technique utilizes frictional heating combined with forging pressure to produce high-strength bonds virtually free of defects. Friction stir welding transforms the metals from a solid state into a "plastic-like" state, and then mechanically stirs the materials together under pressure to form a welded joint. Invented and patented by The Welding Institute, a British research and technology organization, the process is applicable to aerospace, shipbuilding, aircraft and automotive industries. One of the key benefits of this new technology is that it allows welds to be made on aluminum alloys that cannot be readily fusion arc welded, the traditional method of welding.

Image Credit: NASA

Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet

JPL/NASA News

Feature Oct. 20, 2009

Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hsJVK6OHIdLRJgJ&s=dvIQI8PWKmJ0JfNWIvG&m=pvL2IkNXLhI7G

Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of life.

"It's the second planet outside our solar system in which water, methane and carbon dioxide have been found, which are potentially important for biological processes in habitable planets," said researcher Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Detecting organic compounds in two exoplanets now raises the possibility that it will become commonplace to find planets with molecules that may be tied to life."

Swain and his co-investigators used data from two of NASA's orbiting Great Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, to study HD 209458b, a hot, gaseous giant planet bigger than Jupiter that orbits a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. The new finding follows their breakthrough discovery in December 2008 of carbon dioxide around another hot, Jupiter-size planet, HD 189733b. Earlier Hubble and Spitzer observations of that planet had also revealed water vapor and methane.

The detections were made through spectroscopy, which splits light into its components to reveal the distinctive spectral signatures of different chemicals. Data from Hubble's near-infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer revealed the presence of the molecules, and data from Spitzer's photometer and infrared spectrometer measured their amounts.

"This demonstrates that we can detect the molecules that matter for life processes," said Swain. Astronomers can now begin comparing the two planetary atmospheres for differences and similarities. For example, the relative amounts of water and carbon dioxide in the two planets is similar, but HD 209458b shows a greater abundance of methane than HD 189733b. "The high methane abundance is telling us something," said Swain. "It could mean there was something special about the formation of this planet."

Other large, hot Jupiter-type planets can be characterized and compared using existing instruments, Swain said. This work will lay the groundwork for the type of analysis astronomers eventually will need to perform in shortlisting any promising rocky Earth-like planets where the signatures of organic chemicals might indicate the presence of life.

Rocky worlds are expected to be found by NASA's Kepler mission, which launched earlier this year, but astronomers believe we are a decade or so away from being able to detect any chemical signs of life on such a body.

If and when such Earth-like planets are found in the future, "the detection of organic compounds will not necessarily mean there's life on a planet, because there are other ways to generate such molecules," Swain said. "If we detect organic chemicals on a rocky, Earth-like planet, we will want to understand enough about the planet to rule out non-life processes that could have led to those chemicals being there."

"These objects are too far away to send probes to, so the only way we're ever going to learn anything about them is to point telescopes at them. Spectroscopy provides a powerful tool to determine their chemistry and dynamics."

You can follow the history of planet hunting from science fiction to science fact with NASA's PlanetQuest Historic Timeline at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/timeline/timeline.html .

This interactive web feature, developed by JPL, conveys the story of exoplanet exploration through a rich tapestry of words and images spanning thousands of years, beginning with the musings of ancient philosophers and continuing through the current era of space-based observations by NASA's Spitzer and Kepler missions. The timeline highlights milestones in culture, technology and science, and includes a planet counter that tracks the pace of exoplanet discoveries over time.

More information about exoplanets and NASA's planet-finding program is at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

-end-
--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Meteors from Halley's Comet

Space Weather News for Oct. 20, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

METEORS FROM HALLEY'S COMET: Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, and this is causing the annual Orionid meteor shower. If forecasters are correct, the shower will peak on Wednesday morning, Oct. 21st, with dozens of meteors per hour. The best time to look is during the dark hours before local dawn.

For the past three years, Orionid rates have been unusually high, with reports of 60 or more meteors per hour. Researchers believe this is a result of some very old and rich debris from Comet Halley drifting across Earth's orbit. Computer models of the debris suggest that it is still in the neighborhood, so the trend of "good Orionids" could continue in 2009. Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos and updates.

Clocks back 1 Hour To Greewich Mean Time On Sunday Morning 02.00 Hours...

[October 2009]

The English have been moving their clocks backwards and forwards since 1916. Businessman William Willett had noticed that during the summer people wasted the light mornings in bed. He proposed that the clocks be moved forward by one hour for summer so that the extra light could be put to better use in the afternoon, and put back for winter.

What does the clocks going back mean to you? Shorter, darker days is just the beginning for most of us.

While we can still enjoy flip flops and holiday memories at the moment, once the clocks change we will have to accept the inevitable. It is the end of summer and the beginning of the relentless, unstoppable descent into Christmas madness.

Almost as soon as those hands go back, we have packed away light, airy summer thoughts. The mornings get darker and the chilliness starts to set in. We notice the pumpkins and spiders decorating the shops. Small children dress like monsters and demand free stuff. Not that unusual, but it is indeed Halloween again.

Within a few days we find ourselves oohing and aahing over fireworks and perhaps even wearing a scarf. Must be Bonfire Night. We can fool ourselves a little longer by playing in the garden and taking fresh country walks in big jumpers. Maybe we can even still sit outside the pub to have a few beers.

But by mid-November there is only one destination: the festive season. Before we know it, we're gazing longingly at aspirational Christmas scenes on magazines, loitering near the wrapping paper, and planning Christmas drinks with old friends. The warm, cosy arms of Christmas are enveloping us.

It's only a matter of time before we find ourselves devouring mince pies, knocking back the mulled wine and singing Fairytale of New York. There is no hope for us.

Every year, we go Christmas crazy and demand joy and goodwill from everyone. Then it's January and we're all depressed. The cosiness of confinement has turned to claustrophobia and we've got at least three more months of it with nothing else to look forward to.

This is when we need to make plans: organise days out; cook some big old roasts for family and friends; book a West End show; take a city break, ski trip or a winter sun holiday. And look forward to spring when the clocks will go forward and we'll start all over again.

by Maxine Clarke.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isn't it just so nice to have such a short weekend borrowing an hour of daylight from the evening and giving it to the morning so the cock crows a little earlier-well as for me I will be re-setting all the clocks (30 or so) in my house on Monday because the Sabbath day (Sunday) is a rest day and a day of peace, well back to winter and the cold grey and damp dark wet days until the clocks go forward in spring next year and we can all wake up again to the early dawn bird chant.

I actually leave all clocks until Monday morning rather that fiddling around with them on a Sunday considering I have around 30 of them in my house-mind you several are radio controlled so they set automatically-its the other 30 or so I have to go round the house re-setting so I leave it all for the working day of Monday and the new week....

'Spring Forward' and 'Fall Back' - that's how to remember when to change the clocks. This year, 2009, we 'Go Back' early Sunday morning October 26 - so remember to put your clocks back one hour, officially at 1am GMT (2 a.m BST) or for some of us that will be before we go to sleep on Saturday night!

Background:

British Summer Time (BST) is the daylight saving time in effect in the UK and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) stays the same all year round and is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is the place from where all time zones are measured. In 2002 an order was made to link our summertime to Europe permanently. This means that the clocks go forward and back on the last Sundays in March and October respectively.

The dates for the next few years are:

2009 March 29 and October 25
2010 March 28 and October 31
2011 March 27 and October 30

Other Useful Links:

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/info/bst.htm - more information

http://wwwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/ - see the correct time right now, both local and GMT.

http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/seasonal03.htm - advice on how to prevent crime when the clocks go back.

[BAA 00446] RARE DAYLIGHT OCCULTATION OF ANTARES ON WEDNESDAY

======================================================================

BAA electronic bulletin No. 00446 http://www.britastro.org/

======================================================================

RARE DAYLIGHT OCCULTATION OF ANTARES, 2009 OCTOBER 21

On Wednesday October 21st, the thin crescent moon will occult the

second brightest star it can occult, magnitude 1.1 Antares (alpha

Scorpii), in daylight. Specimen disappearance and reappearance

times will be as follows:-

Disappearance Reappearance

UT h m h m

Greenwich 14 55.1 16 09.9

Birmingham 14 51.9 16 06.9

Edinburgh 14 48.9 16 02.7

Add 1 hour to the above times for the time in BST. Approximate

times for other locations can be calculated from the simple formulae

in the 2009 BAA Handbook, p.26.

The moon will be due south at around 10º elevation at disappearance

and slightly lower at reappearance. The cusp angles will be around

79S for the disappearance against the dark limb, and -62S for the

reappearance from the bright limb.

Owing to the low elevation of the moon, these won't be easy to see

without a small telescope, but worth a try if you can. Use the

telescope to find the moon then concentrate on the moon's limb to

search for the star. Even a 1.1 magnitude star may be difficult to

find in daylight, only 40º from the sun.

The undersigned would be interested to receive a copy of any video

recordings of the events.

Unfortunately the weather forecast....

Good luck,

Andrew Elliott

Occultation Coordinator, Lunar Section

Email: ae[at]f2s[dot]com

======================================================================

BAA electronic bulletins service. E-mail: circadmin@britastro.org

Bulletin transmitted on Tue Oct 20 12:37:39 BST 2009

======================================================================

Good Clear Skies

Astrocomet

Colin James Watling

Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Clocks back 1 Hour To Greewich Mean Time On Sunday Morning 02.00 Hours...

Colin

You place some interesting material on your mailing list. I have always wondered why we put our clocks back and forward in Autumn and spring, and who concocted the idea -now I know. I have an interest in how things and event began and have considered writing a book on the origins of annual events and festivities.

A couple of years ago I undertook a period of research about how Christmas came about. I know it has a Christian origin, but what about before Christ. My research revealed that there were festivities held in December by the Romans and by civilisations even before the Romans came onto the scene. In fact it goes way back in time where ancient people celebrated ending of the old year and the welcome of the new year. Many of the customs they practiced were carried through from one generation to the next and even into our current Christmas festivities. The Yule log and the exchanging of gifts are two such customs the ancients did.

The story of Santa Clause is a nice one too, which goes back to various origins across Europe and the USA that were eventually merged into the one we know of today.

The origins of Halloween is a fascinating one too, which began as a religious festival on 'all Hallow's Day' where people celebrated and remembered their dead ancestors. But as time moved on it started to take on mischievous elements and later moving into devilish acts and eventually becoming what we call it today - Halloween.

Its all very interesting stuff.

Ron.

Monday, 19 October 2009

NASA Updates Shuttle Atlantis Target Launch Date, Crew Rehearsal

WASHINGTON -- NASA is targeting Nov. 16 for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Managers for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate and Exploration Systems Mission Directorate met Monday and decided to adjust Atlantis' target launch date to optimize the agency's ability to launch both Ares I-X and Atlantis before the end of the year. The same launch team at Kennedy is supporting both the shuttle and the flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, which is targeted to lift off on Oct. 27. Ares I-X is scheduled to roll out to its launch pad at 12:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Atlantis' new target launch date will give Ares I-X launch opportunities Oct. 27, 28 and 29. NASA has yet to schedule Atlantis' new target liftoff date on the Eastern Range. The change to Atlantis' targeted launch will affect the launch countdown dress rehearsal for the shuttle's six astronauts. The astronauts arrived at Kennedy on Monday for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test and related training. The simulated countdown has been rescheduled to Nov. 3. The astronauts will practice emergency escape and other related training while they are at Kennedy this week and return there Nov. 2 to conclude their rehearsal work. The agency's Flight Readiness Review meeting for STS-129 is set for Oct. 29. NASA will schedule an official launch date for Atlantis following that meeting. For more information about the STS-129 mission and its crew,

visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

- end -
--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

LIVE: Ares 1-X rollout to pad 39B tonight / Atlas 5 success

NEWSALERT: Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 1958 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

===========================================
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The top jobs and the best talents in
the space industry are on Space Careers.

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===========================================

ARES 1-X TEAM CONTINUES TO TARGET ROLLOUT TONIGHT
-------------------------------------------------
The Ares 1-X test rocket is scheduled to make an overnight journey from
Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B. The
trip will begin at midnight EDT and take 8 to 10 hours to complete. Live
updates and streaming video will be available:

http://spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/status.html

NASA CHANGES PLANS AND LAUNCH DATE FOR ATLANTIS
-----------------------------------------------
Space shuttle Atlantis' six astronauts jetted into the Kennedy Space
Center today for an abbreviated training session instead of the three days
of drills and a countdown dress rehearsal originally planned. At the same
time, NASA officials moved the target launch date to November 16.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts129/status.html

U.S. MILITARY'S NEW WEATHER SATELLITE GETS FOGGY SENDOFF
--------------------------------------------------------
An Atlas 5 rocket escaped the heavy blanket of fog smothering its launch
pad Sunday morning and successfully powered to space to deploy a new
global weather observatory for America's military.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av017/status.html

+++++++++++++++

Be part of the future.

If you want to contribute to the future of space exploration, here's your
chance. Boeing's Exploration Ground Launch Services supports the NASA
Constellation Program at the Kennedy Space Center. For more information
and to express your interest, visit http://boeing.com/egls

+++++++++++++++

NASA LOOKS TO RELIEVE SPACE STATION TRAFFIC BOTTLENECKS
-------------------------------------------------------
In an attempt to alleviate tightly stacked space missions, managers are
re-evaluating a long-standing policy banning other spacecraft from
arriving or leaving the International Space Station while the space
shuttle is docked to the complex.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts129/091016visiting/

IRAN READIES SAFIR LAUNCH WITH ICBM IMPLICATIONS
------------------------------------------------
U.S. reconnaissance spacecraft are watching Iran's Semnan launch site for
evidence that Iran is readying launch of its second satellite on a Safir-2
booster. The mission to launch the Mesbah communications satellite is
designed as much to test the long range ballistic missile capabilities of
the booster as it is to perform a space mission.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/18iran/

CARGO SHIP ARRIVES AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
-----------------------------------------------------
The International Space Station has received a new load of supplies from
the latest Russian-built cargo freighter, which successfully docked to the
outpost Saturday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/17progress35p/

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

[BAA 00444] UNUSUAL ROCKET FUEL DUMP SIGHTED

======================================================================
BAA electronic bulletin No. 00444 http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================

UNUSUAL ROCKET FUEL DUMP SIGHTED

A Centaur rocket caused a minor sensation on Sunday night, October 18, when
it flew over Europe and dumped a load of surplus propellant. On its second
orbit of Earth following launch earlier on Sunday afternoon, the Centaur
rocket had fired itself out of Earth orbit into a heliocentric orbit as it
travelled northwards over Europe shortly before 19:15 UT. A couple of
minutes later it began to dump surplus fuel, a process that continued for
around 13 minutes. This led to the appearance of an unusual, cloud-like
structure that was easily visible to the naked eye.

When first sighted from the UK, soon after 19:15 UT, the cloud of propellant
looked like a comet with a slightly fan-shaped tail travelling from south to
north. About 20 seconds later, a second object appeared. This was the US
military weather satellite (DMSP F-18), which the Centaur booster had helped
launch some three hours' earlier from Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) in
California. This was in turn followed by a quite remarkable large circular
halo which trailed the two previous objects in formation across the sky.
This large circular halo was probably an expanding puff of gas emitted
during an earlier firing of the Centaur.

The events were witnessed by John Fulcher from Cransford in Suffolk, who
described what he saw as follows:

".outside with telescope looking at various astronomical sights, looked up,
and saw an odd small cloud, but no cloud cover in sight, (sky) quite clear.
Then another, very similar, if not exact, cloud-like shape following on
behind, keeping formation. Tried to follow with telescope but travelling too
fast, so used binoculars, and followed them north to south; disappeared near
Dubhe in the Plough. Surrounded by large double halo, oval in shape
(covering about 30 degrees, I suppose), as they disappeared from sight,
travelling quite fast and still in shape and formation."

There is a fine movie of the clouds and large halo recorded by Jonas Förste
of Jakobstad, Finland, available at www.spaceweather.com, together with a
selection of images of the event from locations all over Europe.

The Atlas V rocket carrying the Air Force's DMSP F-18 satellite lifted off
from Vandenburg AFB at 16:12 UT on 18 October 2009. Despite a foggy day,
the Atlas V flawlessly delivered the satellite to its assigned 838 km x 853
km orbit after an 18-minute flight. This mission marked the 600th launch of
an Atlas vehicle, carrying on a tradition that began with the first Atlas A
rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Florida, in
1957. For the Atlas V, Sunday's success was the 18th for the program, with a
100 percent mission success rate. The inaugural launch for the latest Atlas
V configuration occurred from CCAFS on 2002 August 21.

Anyone who witnessed the Centaur fuel dump, or who has images or video of
the unusual clouds and/or halo is invited to send these to the undersigned
at docjohn@dircon.co.uk.

John W. Mason
19 October 2009

======================================================================
BAA electronic bulletins service. E-mail: circadmin@britastro.org
Bulletin transmitted on Mon Oct 19 19:17:38 BST 2009
(c) 2009 British Astronomical Association http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================

Ready to Roll

In the Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility-1 in Florida, workers prepared space shuttle Atlantis to move from its hangar to the transfer aisle inside the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building.Subsequently, the shuttle was rolled to the launch pad in anticipation of its Nov. 12, 2009, launch on the STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

[BAA 00443] ORIONID METEORS: ENHANCED ACTIVITY THIS YEAR?

20th October-my Birthday Meteors-favourable this year.....

======================================================================
BAA electronic bulletin No. 00443 http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================

ORIONID METEORS: ENHANCED ACTIVITY THIS YEAR?

The Orionid meteor shower will be active throughout the coming week and
until the end of October. One of two annual showers associated with Comet
1P/Halley (the other being the Eta Aquarids of early May), the Orionids are
a moderately active shower, usually producing observed rates in excess of 10
meteors/hr around their maximum.

In the years from 2006-2008, observers in North America, particularly,
reported higher-than-normal Orionid meteor rates, and this month there is
chance that enhanced activity may be observed again. With New Moon on
October 18 and First Quarter on October 26, there will be no interference
from moonlight this year.

In a recent IAU electronic telegram (CBET 1976: 20091017) Peter Jenniskens,
SETI Institute, reports that the strong Orionid meteor shower activity may
well repeat this year, according to M. Sato and J.-I. Watanabe (2007, PASJ
59, L21). They ascribed the enhanced activity in the period 2006-2008
activity to dust trails of comet 1P/Halley that were formed by meteoroids
ejected in the years -1400 and -11. The orbital evolution of the dust is
affected by the 1:5 to 1:8 mean-motion resonances with Jupiter. This
so-called "filament" component is expected to be in the Earth's path again
around Oct. 18-24 in 2009, giving rise to a higher-than-normal
Orionid-shower activity that is relatively rich in bright meteors. Thanks
to the filamentary nature of the debris stream laid down by the parent
comet, activity can vary markedly from one year to another: good rates can
be experienced if Earth encounters a rich meteoroid filament, but at other
times activity might seem disappointing.

Several sub-peaks are usually seen between October 20-22, and intervals of
slightly increased activity can be found even as late as October 27-28. Like
1P/Halley, stream meteoroids have a retrograde orbit around the Sun, meaning
that they enter the upper atmosphere on 'head on' collisions at the high
velocity of 66 km/sec. Orionid meteors are very swift, and the brighter
ones, particularly, often leave behind brief persistent ionisation trains.

Having been laid down over numerous returns of 1P/Halley, the Orionid meteor
stream is quite spread out, and this is reflected in the shower's diffuse
(probably multiple) radiant. Orionid meteors emanate from a region of sky
midway between Betelgeuse (Orion's eastern 'shoulder') and the
second-magnitude star Gamma Geminorum. The radiant doesn't rise until 22h
local time, and best rates are generally found in the early morning hours
once it has gained somewhat in altitude.

Observations of the Orionid meteor shower should be made according to the
standard methods of the BAA Meteor Section which are available on the
Section's website at http://www.britastro.org/meteor

Please submit your observations to the BAA Meteor Section as soon as
possible after you have made them, and at any rate within one month at the
most. Observations should be sent to the Acting Director:-

Dr John Mason, 51 Orchard Way, Barnham, West Sussex PO22 0HX. Tel: 01243
814307. email docjohn@dircon.co.uk

The Acting Director will also be pleased to answer any queries regarding
further aspects of meteor work.

John W. Mason
BAA Meteor Section
18 October 2009

======================================================================
BAA electronic bulletins service. E-mail: circadmin@britastro.org
Bulletin transmitted on Mon Oct 19 18:05:58 BST 2009
(c) 2009 British Astronomical Association http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Sunday, 18 October 2009

Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago

Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago October 16, 2009

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2338

- Launch: Oct. 18, 1989, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-34
- Arrival in orbit around Jupiter: Dec. 7, 1995
- VEEGA (Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist) is the acronym mission planners gave for Galileo's flight path through the inner solar system
- Observed impacts of fragments from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter
- Approximate number of people (from around the world) who worked on the Galileo mission: 800.
- More than 100 scientists from United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Sweden carried out Galileo's experiments

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Galileo spacecraft began what would become a 14-year odyssey
of exploration 20 years ago this Sunday, Oct. 18. Galileo was humanity's first emissary to orbit a
planet in the outer solar system – Jupiter.

Galileo was launched into space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on Oct. 18, 1989, from
Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The crew of Atlantis deployed Galileo out of the shuttle's cargo
bay only hours after launch. Then, a little over seven hours after leaving Earth, Galileo was
propelled onto its interplanetary flight path by a two-stage, solid-fuel motor called an Inertial
Upper Stage. Although earlier plans called for Galileo to use a more powerful upper stage so that
it could fly directly to Jupiter, the final flight took it by other planets first so that it could gain
energy from the gravity of each. Galileo flew past Venus on Feb. 10, 1990, and then twice past
Earth -- once on Dec. 8, 1990, and again on Dec. 8, 1992.

Even before its arrival at Jupiter in 1995, Galileo was making groundbreaking discoveries. On
Oct. 29, 1991, the spacecraft flew past asteroid Gaspra – sending back the first close up images
of one of these celestial wanderers. Then on Aug. 28, 1993, Galileo encountered the 15.2-
kilometer-wide (9.4-mile) asteroid Ida, where it took the first images of an asteroid and
discovered the first asteroid moon, the 1.6-kilometer-wide (1-mile) Dactyl. During the latter part
of its interplanetary cruise, Galileo was used to observe the collisions of fragments of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July 1994.

Galileo arrived at Jupiter on Dec. 7, 1995, entering orbit and dropping a probe into the giant
planet's atmosphere. The probe's velocity as it entered Jupiter's atmosphere was a blistering 47.6
kilometers per second (106,500 miles per hour). After the atmospheric drag and a deployed
parachute slowed its descent rate, the probe relayed to Galileo the first in-place studies of
Jupiter's clouds and winds, furthering scientists' understanding of how the gas giant evolved. The
probe also made composition measurements designed to assess the degree of evolution of Jupiter
compared to the sun.

While the descent of the probe was a highlight of Galileo's mission, it was hardly the only one.
Galileo extensively investigated the geologic diversity of Jupiter's four largest moons:
Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa. It found that Io's extensive volcanic activity is 100 times
greater than that found on Earth. Galileo discovered strong evidence that Jupiter's moon Europa
has a melted saltwater ocean under an ice layer on its surface. Scientists estimate such an ocean
could be up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) deep underneath its frozen surface and contain about
twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans. Data showed moons Ganymede and Callisto may
also have a liquid-saltwater layer. The biggest discovery surrounding Ganymede was the presence
of a magnetic field. No other moon of any planet is known to have one.

When Galileo turned its instruments towards the giant gas world itself, the spacecraft made the
first observations of ammonia clouds in another planet's atmosphere. It also observed numerous
thunderstorms on Jupiter many times larger than those on Earth, with lightning strikes up to
1,000 times more powerful than on Earth. It was the first spacecraft to dwell in a giant planet's
magnetosphere long enough to identify its global structure and to investigate the dynamics of
Jupiter's magnetic field. Galileo determined that Jupiter's ring system is formed by dust kicked
up as interplanetary meteoroids smash into the planet's four small inner moons. Galileo data
showed that Jupiter's outermost ring is actually two rings, one embedded within the other.

Having traveled approximately 4.6 billion kilometers (about 2.8 billion miles), the hardy
spacecraft endured more than four times the cumulative dose of harmful Jovian radiation it was
designed to withstand -- and still major systems functioned. But while it was still enjoying
relatively good health, the spacecraft's propellant was low. Without propellant, Galileo would not
be able to point its antenna toward Earth or adjust its trajectory, so controlling the spacecraft
would no longer be possible. Mission managers at NASA and JPL decided to place their resilient
Jovian explorer on a collision course with Jupiter to eliminate any chance of an unwanted impact
between the spacecraft and Europa. The possibility of life existing on Europa is so compelling
and has raised so many unanswered questions that it is prompting plans for future spacecraft to
return to the icy moon.
The Galileo spacecraft's 14-year odyssey came to an end on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2003, when the
spacecraft passed into Jupiter's shadow, then disintegrated in the planet's dense atmosphere at
11:57 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Its entry speed was 48.2 kilometers per second (nearly 108,000
miles per hour). That is the equivalent of traveling from Los Angeles to New York City in 82
seconds.

JPL's Deep Space Network tracking station in Goldstone, Calif., received the last signal at
12:43:14 PDT, 46 minutes after it was sent. The delay is due to the time it takes for the signal to
travel to Earth. Hundreds of former Galileo project members and their families were present at
JPL for a celebration to bid the spacecraft goodbye.

Galileo project scientist Torrence Johnson said at the time, "We haven't lost a spacecraft, we've
gained a steppingstone into the future of space exploration."
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, managed the Galileo
mission for NASA. JPL designed and built the Galileo orbiter, and operated the mission.

Additional information about the Galileo mission and its discoveries is available online at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo-legacy and http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.

-end-

Friday, 16 October 2009

My Science Interview

Interview with:

Colin James Watling [astrocomet]

SCIENCE

	What do you investigate? What is at the heart of your research? Astronomy, Fieldwork Skywatching and especially Comets down to Magnitude +9
	Do you have a link to a site where we can see something about you, or the center where you work? http://lyrandgyastronomers.blogspot.com
	What is your educational background? What work experience did you have before this? I was top in my Science groups at school and have been part of Lyra (Lowestoft and Great yarmouth Regional Astronomers) for over 10 years now...
	Did you keep your nose to the grindstone in school? I didn't want it to become sore!!! ---------------------------------- I decided to study hard in the last years at school.
	What kind of technology are you using for your research right now? Green YaG Laser pointers for the skywatching fieldwork, Red LED headlights for dark eye adaption, 20x100 mounted Binoculars, 4.5 Inch TAL Russian build Newtonian Refractor type Telescope-various star atlases including Nortons 2000 and a good set of deep field sky charts.
	What types of experiments do you conduct? How are the conclusions documented? I frequently do a lot of fieldwork with the YaG Green laser pointers and conduct my own experiments into how these can be used in Astronomy fieldwork and the potential for future gadgets of this kind to be used for pointing areas of the sky out.
	If you conclude your investigation successfully, what practical application would it have in everyday life? Lasers as a whole have a big potential in many industries and right across the spectrum-lasers have a big future but mainly the uses I put them too are usually done under cover of dark.
	What is a "eureka" moment? What is it like to experience one? When I see just what potential the Lasers can do for the future of fieldwork Astronomy.
	What do you find to be the most difficult aspects of your research? As with all Astronomical fieldwork it depends on clear weather and good seeing conditions but there is also the experiment of pointing the lasers to the cloudtops and seeing how high the clouds are by the ends of the light beam showing into the clouds themselves-maybe it might measure the heights of the accurately one day...
	What have you published? Monthly astronomical and comet reports for my Blog and Society..
	Should there be more public financing for scientific investigation? I wouldn't say no, pends on this Government and how long this bunch of chumps hang onto power.
	What is your personal position on the use of animals in scientific investigation? No Animals are used or harmed in any way whatsoever in my experiments. Although Lasers do attract cats and bats a lot.
	Can you briefly explain the difference between common logic and the scientific method? Common Logic is simple and a baby can understand it-we all can whereas Scientific logic is derived from doing a meathod and a result be it however complicated and coming to a scientific logical conclusion.
	What is science and what is pseudoscience? Who decides which is which? Science is Experimenting with tools to reach a result and conclusion through basic materials and the knowledge and intellegence of a person to derive a result and conclusion, whereas pseudoscience is the same thing but the persons understanding of supernatural and other forces unknown to science being put into practice.
	What is the role of creativity in the scientific method? Well what got the men to the Moon-basically they had used the tecnology and science of that time-late 1960's to get them to the Eagle has landed position and safely return them to Earth again, Tecnology and science is a main factor in achieving these things and as for today it has put the I.S.S up there with frequent visits from the space shuttle as well as other countries involved-science and tecnology being a major factor to accomplish this.
	What it is the most intriguing scientific question that you would like to see resolved? What is the border to the Universe, does one exist and if it does what is beyond it? ANS: Whats North of the North Pole?
	What scientific explanation is there for spirituality? Are religion and science incompatible? Wasn't this question to do with pseudoscience? Depends-Ghosts have been captured on CCTV footage without explanations but people are contrarily divided between Science and Faith and continuously at odds with each other. Personally I believe in God because for all this to be by chance is madness-but so is delving deeper and deeper into Quantumn mechanics-unless you have a brilliant mind to understand it all-everything down there at the molecular sizes and the deeper you go the more madness it contributes to our understanding of it. Basically in my opinion we shouldn't play God because if we do madness is what we'll end up with in the end and that goes for that large Hadron Collider in Cern.
	Is there some area of knowledge that is morally unacceptable to you? Black arts-Devil Worship and spells-They don't do anyone any good. Large Hadron Collider in Cern-man should not play God as I've stated.
	Is there another way science could be studied in schools? The Internet. Fieldwork for kids-water rockets, hot air bags rising, Scientific research outside, Astronomical Solar viewing during the day.
	What is the best way to disseminate science in the mass media? Make it interesting and likeable.
	Why do two or more scientists often come up simultaneously with the same discovery? Are they psychic? Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp for instance- Remember this: Comet 1995 O1 Hale-Bopp is now a morning object for observers south of the equator, and it has faded below naked eye visibility. It was a 'great comet', though in some ways comet Hyakutake made a greater impression with its long straight gas tail. Discovered on the same night by these Scientists in different parts of the U.S.A in 1995.
	What is the meaning of life? Is there a scientific answer to this question? No only God can tell you this-Science just explains everything else but this fact. We are here because we are-simple as that.
	Investigating is to live on the frontier of knowledge. Can you explain that sentiment? The intrigue and satisfaction that comes from the knowledge of Science-yes and the Skywatching fieldwork does a lot for me.
	What would be your dream to work on for your next research project? Depends where the YaG Laser fieldwork takes me-tecnology can be used for things outside of what they were made for and I have several gadgets and electrical items that does this for me and I'm still discovering further uses.
	If you could give just one piece of advice to beginning researchers, what would it be? Don't jump in a the deep end (save ya drownin') learn the basics of Science first and work your way up to understanding it and branching off into the area you are best at and like the most, within my science of Astronomy I am head of the Comet section for Lyra: Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork) -- Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/ -- Blog: http://lyrandgyastronomers.blogspot.com It has took me around 10 years to achieve this level and still learning a lot.

Atlantis Rolls to the Launch Pad

14.10.09

› View Now

Space shuttle Atlantis began its 3.4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39A in the predawn darkness, leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 6:38 a.m. on October 14.Stacked with its solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank on the mobile launcher platform, the shuttle's slow roll atop a crawler-transporter took approximately six hours, reaching the seaside launch pad in the early afternoon.At the pad, the STS-129 payload of equipment bound for the International Space Station will be installed in Atlantis' cargo bay as technicians continue launch preparations throughout the next month.A crew of six astronauts will conduct this 31st space shuttle mission dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the space station.

› View Now

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Thursday, 15 October 2009

NASA's Shuttle Atlantis Moves to Launch Pad, Practice Liftoff Set

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Reporters are invited to cover space shuttle Atlantis' move to the launch pad on Oct. 13 and the STS-129 mission crew's dress rehearsal activities Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis is targeted to launch to the International Space Station Nov. 12 on an 11-day cargo flight. Atlantis was moved from its hangar on Tuesday to Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building. There it will be attached to its external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters before its move next week to Launch Pad 39A. The first motion of Atlantis from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad is targeted for 12:01 a.m. EDT on Oct. 13. The 3.4 mile journey is expected to take approximately six hours. Activities include a 6:30 a.m. photo opportunity of the shuttle's move and an interview availability with Atlantis Flow Director Angie Brewer at 7:45 a.m. Reporters must arrive at Kennedy's news center by 6 a.m. for transportation to the viewing area. Live video coverage of the move will be shown on NASA Television starting at 6:30 a.m. Video highlights of the move will air on NASA TV's Video File. International media accreditation for these events is closed. U.S. reporters without permanent Kennedy credentials must apply for accreditation online by 3 p.m., Friday, Oct. 9, at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Badges must be picked up before 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, at the Kennedy Space Center Badging Office on State Road 405. Atlantis' astronauts and ground crews will participate in the practice countdown, known as the terminal countdown demonstration test. The test provides each shuttle crew with an opportunity to participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency training. Times for terminal countdown demonstration test activities still are being finalized. Activities available for press coverage will include: - Oct. 19: STS-129 crew arrival. The astronauts will arrive in Shuttle Training Aircraft and T-38 jets at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. Crew arrival will be broadcast live on NASA TV. - Oct. 20: Crew media availability. The crew will take questions from reporters at Launch Pad 39A. The session will be carried live on NASA TV. - Oct. 21: Crew walkout photo opportunity. The astronauts will depart from the Operations and Checkout Building in their flight entry suits in preparation for the countdown demonstration test at the launch pad. The walkout will not be broadcast live but will air on NASA TV's Video File. Updates with times for all events will be available by calling 321-867-2525. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the STS-129 mission and crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

- end -

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Television to Broadcast Cargo Ship Arrival at Space Station

HOUSTON -- The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies at 8:41 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. NASA Television's coverage of the ship's arrival at the station will begin at 8:15 p.m. The Russian ISS Progress 35 cargo ship, filled with more than two tons of supplies for the station, is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 p.m. There will be no television coverage of the launch. Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams, Nicole Stott, Roman Romanenko, Max Suraev and Bob Thirsk will observe the event from aboard the station as the unpiloted craft automatically docks to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment. For NASA Television streaming video, downlink and schedule information,

visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

- end -

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Spacecraft Sees Ice on Mars Exposed by Meteor Impacts

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed frozen water hiding just below the surface of mid-latitude Mars. The spacecraft's observations were obtained from orbit after meteorites excavated fresh craters on the Red Planet. Scientists controlling instruments on the orbiter found bright ice exposed at five Martian sites with new craters that range in depth from approximately 1.5 feet to 8 feet. The craters did not exist in earlier images of the same sites. Some of the craters show a thin layer of bright ice atop darker underlying material. The bright patches darkened in the weeks following initial observations, as the freshly exposed ice vaporized into the thin Martian atmosphere. One of the new craters had a bright patch of material large enough for one of the orbiter's instruments to confirm it is water ice. The finds indicate water ice occurs beneath Mars' surface halfway between the north pole and the equator, a lower latitude than expected in the Martian climate. "This ice is a relic of a more humid climate from perhaps just several thousand years ago," said Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona. Byrne is a member of the team operating the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, which captured the unprecedented images. Byrne and 17 co-authors report the findings in the Sept. 25 edition of the journal Science. "We now know we can use new impact sites as probes to look for ice in the shallow subsurface," said Megan Kennedy of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, a co-author of the paper and member of the team operating the orbiter's Context Camera. During a typical week, the Context Camera returns more than 200 images of Mars that cover a total area greater than California. The camera team examines each image, sometimes finding dark spots that fresh, small craters make in terrain covered with dust. Checking earlier photos of the same areas can confirm a feature is new. The team has found more than 100 fresh impact sites, mostly closer to the equator than the ones that revealed ice. An image from the camera on Aug. 10, 2008, showed apparent cratering that occurred after an image of the same ground was taken 67 days earlier. The opportunity to study such a fresh impact site prompted a look by the orbiter's higher resolution camera on Sept. 12, 2009, confirming a cluster of small craters. "Something unusual jumped out," Byrne said. "We observed bright material at the bottoms of the craters with a very distinct color. It looked a lot like ice." The bright material at that site did not cover enough area for a spectrometer instrument on the orbiter to determine its composition. However, a Sept. 18, 2008, image of a different mid-latitude site showed a crater that had not existed eight months earlier. This crater had a larger area of bright material. "We were excited about it, so we did a quick-turnaround observation," said co-author Kim Seelos of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., "Everyone thought it was water ice, but it was important to get the spectrum for confirmation." The Mars orbiter is designed to facilitate coordination and quick response by the science teams, making it possible to detect and understand rapidly changing features. The ice exposed by fresh impacts suggests that NASA's Viking 2 lander, digging into mid-latitude Mars in 1976, might have struck ice if it had dug four inches deeper. The Viking 2 mission, which consisted of an orbiter and a lander, launched in September 1975 and became one of the first two space probes to land successfully on the Martian surface. The Viking 1 and 2 landers characterized the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface. They also conducted on-the-spot biological tests for life on another planet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. The Context Camera was built and is operated by Malin. The University of Arizona operates the HiRISE camera, which Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colo., built. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory led the effort to build the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer and operates it in coordination with an international team of researchers. To view images of the craters and learn more about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,

visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mro

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Instruments Reveal Water Molecules on Lunar Surface

WASHINGTON -- NASA scientists have discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. Instruments aboard three separate spacecraft revealed water molecules in amounts that are greater than predicted, but still relatively small. Hydroxyl, a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, also was found in the lunar soil. The findings were published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science. NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3, instrument reported the observations. M3 was carried into space on Oct. 22, 2008, aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, or VIMS, on NASA's Cassini spacecraft and the High-Resolution Infrared Imaging Spectrometer on NASA's EPOXI spacecraft contributed to confirmation of the finding. The spacecraft imaging spectrometers made it possible to map lunar water more effectively than ever before. The confirmation of elevated water molecules and hydroxyl at these concentrations in the moon's polar regions raises new questions about its origin and effect on the mineralogy of the moon. Answers to these questions will be studied and debated for years to come. "Water ice on the moon has been something of a holy grail for lunar scientists for a very long time," said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This surprising finding has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organization." From its perch in lunar orbit, M3's state-of-the-art spectrometer measured light reflecting off the moon's surface at infrared wavelengths, splitting the spectral colors of the lunar surface into small enough bits to reveal a new level of detail in surface composition. When the M3 science team analyzed data from the instrument, they found the wavelengths of light being absorbed were consistent with the absorption patterns for water molecules and hydroxyl. "For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to water and hydroxyl-bearing materials," said Carle Pieters, M3's principal investigator from Brown University. "When we say 'water on the moon,' we are not talking about lakes, oceans or even puddles. Water on the moon means molecules of water and hydroxyl that interact with molecules of rock and dust specifically in the top millimeters of the moon's surface. " The M3 team found water molecules and hydroxyl at diverse areas of the sunlit region of the moon's surface, but the water signature appeared stronger at the moon's higher latitudes. Water molecules and hydroxyl previously were suspected in data from a Cassini flyby of the moon in 1999, but the findings were not published until now. "The data from Cassini's VIMS instrument and M3 closely agree," said Roger Clark, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist in Denver and member of both the VIMS and M3 teams. "We see both water and hydroxyl. While the abundances are not precisely known, as much as 1,000 water molecule parts-per-million could be in the lunar soil. To put that into perspective, if you harvested one ton of the top layer of the moon's surface, you could get as much as 32 ounces of water." For additional confirmation, scientists turned to the EPOXI mission while it was flying past the moon in June 2009 on its way to a November 2010 encounter with comet Hartley 2. The spacecraft not only confirmed the VIMS and M3 findings, but also expanded on them. "With our extended spectral range and views over the north pole, we were able to explore the distribution of both water and hydroxyl as a function of temperature, latitude, composition, and time of day," said Jessica Sunshine of the University of Maryland. Sunshine is EPOXI's deputy principal investigator and a scientist on the M3 team. "Our analysis unequivocally confirms the presence of these molecules on the moon's surface and reveals that the entire surface appears to be hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day." NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the M3 instrument, Cassini mission and EPOXI spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Indian Space Research Organization built, launched and operated the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. For additional information and images from the instruments,

visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars

For more information about the Chandrayaan-1 mission, visit:

http://isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm

For more information about the EPOXI mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/epoxi

For more information about the Cassini mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

MESSENGER Spacecraft Prepares for Final Pass by Mercury

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER will fly by Mercury for the third and final time on Sept. 29. The spacecraft will pass less than 142 miles above the planet's rocky surface for a final gravity assist that will enable it to enter Mercury's orbit in 2011. Determining the composition of Mercury's surface is a major goal of the orbital phase of the mission. The spacecraft already has imaged more than 90 percent of the planet's surface. The spacecraft's team will activate instruments during this flyby to view specific features to uncover more information about the planet. "This flyby will be our last close look at the equatorial regions of Mercury, and it is our final planetary gravity assist, so it is important for the entire encounter to be executed as planned," said Sean Solomon, principal investigator at the Carnegie Institution in Washington. "As enticing as these flybys have been for discovering some of Mercury's secrets, they are the hors d'oeuvres to the mission's main course -- observing Mercury from orbit for an entire year." The spacecraft may observe how the planet interacts with conditions in interplanetary space as a result of activity on the sun. During this encounter, high spectral- and high spatial-resolution measurements will be taken again of Mercury's tenuous atmosphere and tail. "Scans of the planet's comet-like tail will provide important clues regarding the processes that maintain the atmosphere and tail," said Noam Izenberg, the instrument's scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Md. "The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer will give us a snapshot of how the distribution of sodium and calcium vary with solar and planetary conditions. In addition, we will target the north and south polar regions for detailed observations and look for several new atmospheric constituents." As the spacecraft approaches Mercury, cameras will photograph previously unseen terrain. As the spacecraft departs, it will take high-resolution images of the southern hemisphere. Scientists expect the spacecraft's imaging system to take more than 1,500 pictures. Those images will be used to create a mosaic to complement the high resolution, northern-hemisphere mosaic obtained during the second Mercury flyby. The first flyby took the spacecraft over the eastern hemisphere in January 2008, and the second flyby took it over western side in October 2008. "We are going to collect high resolution, color images of scientifically interesting targets that we identified from the second flyby," said Ralph McNutt, a project scientist at APL. "The spectrometer also will make measurements of those targets at the same time." Two spacecraft maneuvers will improve the ability of the spacecraft's Neutron Spectrometer to detect low-energy neutrons sensitive to the abundances of iron and titanium on Mercury's surface. These two elements absorb neutrons and are critical to an understanding of how the planet and its crust formed. A combination of day and night measurements will enable scientists to test the influence that planetary surface temperature has on the neutron population. The data are important for interpreting measurements that will be made after the probe is in orbit around Mercury. An altimeter will make a topographic profile along the instrument ground track of Mercury's surface. The data gathered will provide additional topography of Mercury's surface features for ongoing studies of the form and structure of its craters and large faults. The information also will extend scientists' equatorial view of Mercury's global shape and allow them to confirm the discovery made during the first and second flyby that Mercury's equatorial region is slightly elliptical. The spacecraft has completed nearly three-quarters of its 4.9-billion-mile journey to enter orbit around Mercury. The trip includes more than 15 trips around the sun. In addition to flying by Mercury, the spacecraft flew past Earth in August 2005 and Venus in October 2006 and June 2007. The project is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, scientifically focused space missions. The spacecraft was designed and built by APL. The mission also is managed and operated by APL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/messenger

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis' Path Toward Earth

PASADENA, Calif. -- Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036. The Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields. The new data were documented by near-Earth object scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They will present their updated findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Puerto Rico on Oct. 8. "Apophis has been one of those celestial bodies that has captured the public's interest since it was discovered in 2004," said Chesley. "Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million." A majority of the data that enabled the updated orbit of Apophis came from observations Dave Tholen and collaborators at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy in Manoa made. Tholen pored over hundreds of previously unreleased images of the night sky made with the University of Hawaii's 88-inch telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea. Tholen made improved measurements of the asteroid's position in the images, enabling him to provide Chesley and Chodas with new data sets more precise than previous measures for Apophis. Measurements from the Steward Observatory's 90-inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona and the Arecibo Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico also were used in Chesley's calculations. The information provided a more accurate glimpse of Apophis' orbit well into the latter part of this century. Among the findings is another close encounter by the asteroid with Earth in 2068 with chance of impact currently at approximately three-in-a-million. As with earlier orbital estimates where Earth impacts in 2029 and 2036 could not initially be ruled out due to the need for additional data, it is expected that the 2068 encounter will diminish in probability as more information about Apophis is acquired. Initially, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029. Additional observations of the asteriod ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029. However, the asteroid is expected to make a record-setting -- but harmless -- close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 18,300 miles above Earth's surface. "The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "The public can follow along as we continue to study Apophis and other near-Earth objects by visiting us on our AsteroidWatch Web site and by following us on the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed." The science of predicting asteroid orbits is based on a physical model of the solar system which includes the gravitational influence of the sun, moon, other planets and the three largest asteroids. NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near Earth-Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Cornell University operates the Arecibo Observatory under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

For more information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Spacecraft Impacts Lunar Crater in Search for Water Ice

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present. The satellite traveled 5.6 million miles during an historic 113-day mission that ended in the Cabeus crater, a permanently shadowed region near the moon's south pole. The spacecraft was launched June 18 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "The LCROSS science instruments worked exceedingly well and returned a wealth of data that will greatly improve our understanding of our closest celestial neighbor," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator and project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The team is excited to dive into data." In preparation for impact, LCROSS and its spent Centaur upper stage rocket separated about 54,000 miles above the surface of the moon on Thursday at approximately 6:50 p.m. PDT. Moving at a speed of more than 1.5 miles per second, the Centaur hit the lunar surface shortly after 4:31 a.m. Oct. 9, creating an impact that instruments aboard LCROSS observed for approximately four minutes. LCROSS then impacted the surface at approximately 4:36 a.m. "This is a great day for science and exploration," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The LCROSS data should prove to be an impressive addition to the tremendous leaps in knowledge about the moon that have been achieved in recent weeks. I want to congratulate the LCROSS team for their tremendous achievement in development of this low cost spacecraft and for their perseverance through a number of difficult technical and operational challenges."‪ Other observatories reported capturing both impacts. The data will be shared with the LCROSS science team for analysis. The LCROSS team expects it to take several weeks of analysis before it can make a definitive assessment of the presence or absence of water ice. "I am very proud of the success of this LCROSS mission team," said Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager at Ames. "Whenever this team would hit a roadblock, it conceived a clever work-around allowing us to push forward with a successful mission." The images and video collected by the amateur astronomer community and the public also will be used to enhance our knowledge about the moon. "One of the early goals of the mission was to get as many people to look at the LCROSS impacts in as many ways possible, and we succeeded," said Jennifer Heldmann, Ames' coordinator of the LCROSS observation campaign. "The amount of corroborated information that can be pulled out of this one event is fascinating." "It has been an incredible journey since LCROSS was selected in April 2006," said Andrews. "The LCROSS Project faced a very ambitious schedule and an uncommonly small budget for a mission of this size. LCROSS could be a model for how small robotic missions are executed. This is truly big science on a small budget." For more information about the LCROSS mission, including images and video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Sen. Mikulski Unveils First Images from Rejuvenated Hubble

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers declared NASA's Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release Wednesday of observations from four of its six operating science instruments. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., unveiled the images at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Topping the list of new views are colorful, multi-wavelength pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation," and a "butterfly" nebula. Hubble's suite of new instruments allows it to study the universe across a wide swath of the light spectrum, from ultraviolet all the way to near-infrared. In addition, scientists released spectroscopic observations that slice across billions of light-years to probe the cosmic-web structure of the universe and map the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life as we know it. "This marks a new beginning for Hubble," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The telescope was given an extreme makeover and now is significantly more powerful than ever, well-equipped to last into the next decade." "I fought for the Hubble repair mission because Hubble is the people's telescope," said Mikulski, chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA. "I also fought for Hubble because it constantly rewrites the science textbooks. It has more discoveries than any other science mission. Hubble is our greatest example of our astronauts working together with scientists to show American leadership and ingenuity. I want to salute Team Hubble -- everyone who worked on Hubble from the Goddard Space Flight Center and Space Telescope Science Institute scientists in Maryland, to the ground crew at the Kennedy Space Center, to the Johnson Space Center where the astronauts train, and to the astronauts who were heroes in space." The new instruments are more sensitive to light and, therefore, will improve Hubble's observing efficiency significantly. It is able to complete observations in a fraction of the time that was needed with prior generations of Hubble instruments. The space observatory today is significantly more powerful than it ever has been. "We couldn't be more thrilled with the quality of the images from the new Wide Field Camera 3 and repaired Advanced Camera for Surveys, and the spectra from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph," said Keith Noll, leader of a team at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which planned the early release observations. "The targets we've selected to showcase the telescope reveal the great range of capabilities in our newly upgraded Hubble." These results are compelling evidence of the success of the STS-125 servicing mission in May, which has brought the space observatory to the apex of its scientific performance. Two new instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, were installed, and two others, the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were repaired at the circuit board level. Mission scientists also announced Wednesday that the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer was brought back into operation during the three months of calibration and testing. "On this mission we wanted to replenish the 'tool kit' of Hubble instruments on which scientists around the world rely to carry out their cutting-edge research," said David Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Prior to this servicing mission, we had only three unique instrument channels still working, and today we have 13. I'm very proud to be able to say, 'mission accomplished.' " For the past three months, scientists and engineers at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Goddard have been focusing, testing, and calibrating the instruments. Hubble is one of the most complex space telescopes ever launched, and the Hubble servicing mission astronauts performed major surgery on the 19-year-old observatory's multiple systems. This orbital verification phase was interrupted briefly July 19 to observe Jupiter in the aftermath of a collision with a suspected comet. Hubble now enters a phase of full science observations. The demand for observing time will be intense. Observations will range from studying the population of Kuiper Belt objects at the fringe of our solar system to surveying the birth of planets around other stars and probing the composition and structure of extrasolar planet atmospheres. There are ambitious plans to take the deepest-ever near-infrared portrait of the universe to reveal never-before-seen infant galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 500 million years old. Other planned observations will attempt to shed light on the behavior of dark energy, a repulsive force that is pushing the universe apart at an ever-faster rate. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. Goddard manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. in Washington, and is an International Year of Astronomy 2009 program partner. For images and more information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings. The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). One of Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material. Saturn's newest halo is thick, too -- its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring. "This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky, one on either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published online tomorrow by the journal Nature. An artist's concept of the newfound ring is online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20091007a.html

The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer's infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band's cool dust. The telescope, launched in 2003, is currently 107 million kilometers (66 million miles) from Earth in orbit around the sun. The discovery may help solve an age-old riddle of one of Saturn's moons. Iapetus has a strange appearance -- one side is bright and the other is really dark, in a pattern that resembles the yin-yang symbol. The astronomer Giovanni Cassini first spotted the moon in 1671, and years later figured out it has a dark side, now named Cassini Regio in his honor. A stunning picture of Iapetus taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft is online at:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08384

Saturn's newest addition could explain how Cassini Regio came to be. The ring is circling in the same direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn's moons are all going the opposite way. According to the scientists, some of the dark and dusty material from the outer ring moves inward toward Iapetus, slamming the icy moon like bugs on a windshield. "Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus," said Hamilton. "This new ring provides convincing evidence of that relationship." Verbiscer and her colleagues used Spitzer's longer-wavelength infrared camera, called the multiband imaging photometer, to scan through a patch of sky far from Saturn and a bit inside Phoebe's orbit. The astronomers had a hunch that Phoebe might be circling around in a belt of dust kicked up from its minor collisions with comets -- a process similar to that around stars with dusty disks of planetary debris. Sure enough, when the scientists took a first look at their Spitzer data, a band of dust jumped out. The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn't reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak. "The particles are so far apart that if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn't even know it," said Verbiscer. Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. "By focusing on the glow of the ring's cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find," said Verbiscer. These observations were made before Spitzer ran out of coolant in May and began its "warm" mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation, Boulder, Colo., and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Its principal investigator is George Rieke of the University of Arizona. For additional images relating to the ring discovery and more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu

and

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

Cassini Data Help Redraw Shape of Solar System

This image shows an artist's conception of the bubble around our solar system moving through the interstellar medium, the matter that fills the local region of our galaxy. New observations from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn suggest the shape resembles something like a slippery ball moving through smoke.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL › See animation

October 15, 2009

Images from the Ion and Neutral Camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft suggest that the heliosphere, the region of the sun's influence, may not have the comet-like shape predicted by existing models. In a paper published Oct. 15 in Science Express, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory present a new view of the heliosphere, and the forces that shape it. "These images have revolutionized what we thought we knew for the past 50 years; the sun travels through the galaxy not like a comet but more like a big, round bubble," said Stamatios Krimigis of the Applied Physics Lab, in Laurel, Md., principal investigator for Cassini's Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument which carries the Ion and Neutral Camera. "It's amazing how a single new observation can change an entire concept that most scientists had taken as true for nearly fifty years." As the solar wind flows from the sun, it carves out a bubble in the interstellar medium. Models of the boundary region between the heliosphere and interstellar medium have been based on the assumption that the relative flow of the interstellar medium and its collision with the solar wind dominate the interaction. This would create a foreshortened "nose" in the direction of the solar system's motion, and an elongated "tail" in the opposite direction. The Ion and Neutral Camera images suggest that the solar wind's interaction with the interstellar medium is instead more significantly controlled by particle pressure and magnetic field energy density. "The map we've created from the images suggests that pressure from a hot population of charged particles and interaction with the interstellar medium's magnetic field strongly influence the shape of the heliosphere," says Don Mitchell, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument/Ion and Neutral Camera co-investigator at the Applied Physics Lab. Since entering into orbit around Saturn in July of 2004, the Ion and Neutral Camera has been mapping energetic neutral atoms near the planet, as well as their dispersal across the entire sky. The energetic neutral atoms are produced by energetic protons, which are responsible for the outward pressure of the heliosphere beyond the interface where the solar wind collides with the interstellar medium, and which interact with the magnetic field of the interstellar medium. "Energetic neutral atom imaging has demonstrated its power to reveal the distribution of energetic ions, first in Earth's own magnetosphere, next in the giant magnetosphere of Saturn and now throughout vast structures in space-out to the very edge of our sun's interaction with the interstellar medium," says Edmond C. Roelof, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument co-investigator at the Applied Physics Lab. The results from Cassini complement and extend findings from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. Data from IBEX and Cassini have made it possible for scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky Way galaxy. Researchers from University of Arizona, Tucson; Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio; and University of Texas at San Antonio contributed to the article. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument was developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory.

More information on the Cassini mission is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini,

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

and on the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument Web site at

http://sdwww.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/ .

More information on the Interstellar Boundary Explorer is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ibex

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/

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