OverSky for March 2003: THE OLD, THE COLD AND THE
DIRTY
posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

While waiting one night for a meteor shower to peak,
my friend shared a true story: a few years back, she
was at her favorite stargazing, far from any light
pollution, with a friend who hadn’t been under such
dark skies in a while. He was excited to set up his
telescope, but was annoyed at the one cloud that
arched across the sky and refused to budge, blocking
his view.

We laughed at his frustration. That “cloud” wasn’t
going anywhere any time in the next three billion
years. That “cloud” was our Milky Way Galaxy, made up
of millions of star systems, star clusters and
nebulas. With so many stars, the Milky Way is over
600,000 trillion miles wide. In fact, we are looking
at the Milky Way from the inside because our solar
system is a part of it. The light from so many stars
so far spread out blends together. Our eyes are not
sharp enough to pick out the individual stars,
creating a faint, hazy appearance of a milk-white arch
that rings around the sky. April is the last month to
see the part of the Milky Way that stretches behind
the winter constellations. Away from city lights under
clear, dark skies, look to see it from the north in
Perseus to the south in Pyxis, at the top of Taurus
and the feet of Gemini and through Auriga, and between
the winter triangle of Orion, Canis Major and Canis
Minor. (Don’t worry if you miss it this month -- you
have until the Milky Way collides with the Andromeda
Galaxy 3 billion years from now. Even then, they merge
slowly, over about 1 billion years, to form a
non-spiral, elliptical galaxy.) But any bright light
is enough to spoil your view and hide the galactic
glory of the Milky Way.

Our view of Milky Way Galaxy is blocked, though, by
clouds of different type: intergalactic dust clouds.
The light and more importantly the heat from distant
suns are absorbed. Sensing that heat would allow
astronomers to detect discs around other stars where
planets may be forming, and provide valuable
information about the early life of the universe.
Nicknamed “the Old, the Cold, and the Dirty,”
(referring to the oldest, coldest and most
dust-obscured objects and processes in outer space)
these are the targets of the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility (SIRFT). Launch of SIRTF is scheduled for
Tuesday, April 15, 2003, at 4:34:07 AM EDT from Cape
Canaveral. SIRTF compliments the Hubble Space
Telescope. Both belong to NASA's Great Observatories
Program, each of which studies a different part of the
spectrum; Hubble shoots pictures in visible light,
Chandra takes X-ray images. Infrared light, invisible
to the human eye, is typically absorbed by Earth's
atmosphere and therefore ideal for an Earth-trailing
space telescope. More information about the mission is
available http://sirtf.caltech.edu/

Old, cold and dirty also describes comets. Comets are
interplanetary icebergs, and as a comet nears the Sun,
dust mixed in with the ice is released. A meteor
shower occurs as Earth transits through the tail of
dusty debris dispersed by a comet. Before dawn on
April 22nd the Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak.
The meteor shower is associated with the orbit of
Comet Thatcher, which was first recorded in 687 B.C.
In April 1803, 700 meteors per hour were seen.
However, April 2003 is expect to be more modest, with
a maximum of 15 meteors per hour
Interested observers should look northeast after
midnight. The Lyrid meteors are so named because they
appear to emanate from the constellation of Lyra the
Harp, home to the 3rd brightest star of the sky.
Unfortunately the last quarter Moon rises at almost
the same time as Lyra and its light will interfere
with this year's display.

LUNAR ALMANAC APRIL 2003 (All times are Eastern Time)
April 1: New Moon
April 4: Moon at apogee (406,209 km)
April 7: Moon near Saturn
April 9: First Quarter
April 10: Moon near Jupiter
April 16: Full Moon
April 17: Moon at perigee (357,156 km)
April 23: Last Quarter, Moon near Mars
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC April 2003 (All times are Eastern at the
80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
Apr. 1: Sun Rise: 6:11 AM EST, Sun Set: 6:37 PM
Apr. 14: Sun Rise: 6:57 AM EDT, Sun Set: 7:43 PM
Apr. 28: Sun Rise: 6:44 AM EDT, Sun Set: 7:50 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
MERCURY materializes out of the dusk at sunset,
shining at mag. -1.4 as April starts. But midmonth is
has faded to mag. -0.5, but has climbed 20 degrees
above the horizon. Using binoculars, look low in the
west about 30 minutes after sunset.
JUPITER (mag. -2.1) outshines the surrounding stars of
Cancer, standing high and bright in the southwest in
the early evening.
SATURN (mag. +0.1) shines at the tips of Taurus and
the toes of the Twins in the south after evening
twilight, visible as the yellow “star” over Orion's
head at sunset and setting around midnight.
VENUS is so low in the pre-dawn sky that it is almost
impossible to see until the end of April.
MARS rises around 2 AM in the southeast. As it moves
from Sagittarius into Capricornius, it continues to
get brighter until it doubles in magnitude to +0.5.

For news on space exploration with the "science giant"
Erich Landstrom, listen to a live broadcast of SCIFI
OVERDRIVE Monday mornings at www.scifioverdrive.com
over the Internet! Our guests on Apr. 10 and 17 will
talk about SIRTF and the Gravity Probe B. Free
telescope viewing will be offered if the weather
permits at the following dates and places: on
Wednesday, April 9th at the main public library in
West Palm Beach on Summit Blvd., on Thursday, April
10th at the public library in West Boynton Beach on
Jog Rd., and on Friday, April 18th at Sugar Sand
Community Park at Military Trail & Palmetto Park Rd.
in Boca Raton.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFI-OVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Please note the date and time for the launch of SIRFT
has been changed to Friday, April 18 at 4:32 Am. If
the article has not already been put to press, I would
appreciate the following revision. Thank you.

"Our view of Milky Way Galaxy is blocked, though, by
clouds of different type: intergalactic dust clouds.
The light and more importantly the heat from distant
suns are absorbed. Sensing that heat would allow
astronomers to detect discs around other stars where
planets may be forming, and provide valuable
information about the early life of the universe.
Nicknamed “the Old, the Cold, and the Dirty,”
(referring to the oldest, coldest and most
dust-obscured objects and processes in outer space)
these are the targets of the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility (SIRFT). Launch of SIRTF is scheduled for
Friday, April 18, 2003, at 4:32:49 AM EDT from Cape
Canaveral. SIRTF compliments the Hubble Space
Telescope. Both belong to NASA's Great Observatories
Program, each of which studies a different part of the
spectrum; Hubble shoots pictures in visible light,
Chandra takes X-ray images. Infrared light, invisible
to the human eye, is typically absorbed by Earth's
atmosphere and therefore ideal for an Earth-trailing
space telescope. More information about the mission is
available http://sirtf.caltech.edu/

Old, cold and dirty also describes comets. Comets are
interplanetary icebergs, and as a comet nears the Sun,
dust mixed in with the ice is released. A meteor
shower occurs as Earth transits through the tail of
dusty debris dispersed by a comet. Before dawn on
April 22nd the Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak.
The meteor shower is associated with the orbit of
Comet Thatcher, which was first recorded in 687 B.C.
In April 1803, 700 meteors per hour were seen.
However, April 2003 is expect to be more modest, with
a maximum of 15 meteors per hour. Interested observers
should look northeast after midnight. The Lyrid
meteors are so named because they appear to emanate
from the constellation of Lyra the Harp, home to the
3rd brightest star of the sky. Unfortunately the last
quarter Moon rises at almost the same time as Lyra and
its light will interfere with this year's display."


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=254961

Saga bans searchlights, lasers to preserve starry night sky


Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 09:00 JST
SAGA — Saga Prefecture on Tuesday enforced an ordinance to protect
the night sky by banning the use of searchlight and laser beams for
commercial purpose.

The ordinance, enacted last October at the request of local star
gazers, primarily targets pachinko pinball parlors, hotels and other
business operators that beam searchlight and laser into the night sky
as advertising gimmick.

The Saga business community has promised to cooperate, and Saga
officials say they expect all commercial searchlight and laser beams
will go out by the end of September, the end of a six-month
moratorium allowed under the ordinance.

Saga's environmental department says the use of searchlight by the
Self-Defense Forces and other legal light-beam users, is exempt from
the measure.

The ordinance specifically bans the use of outdoor light beams that
have no specific target. Violators are subject to a maximum 50,000
yen fine.

When the Saga Prefectural Assembly enacted the "environment
protection" ordinance, eight business establishments in the
prefecture used light beams for advertising. All but one of them have
already abandoned the practice. The remaining holdout — a hotel — has
promised to end the practice as well. (Kyodo News)

Seminole Community College Planetarium

Press Release 051203

CONTACT: Laurent Pellerin
                    Operations & Production Manager
                    Seminole Community College Planetarium
                    100 Weldon Blvd
                    Sanford, Florida  32773
                    pelleril@...
                    407 328 2409


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE PARTY AT SCC PLANETARIUM ON Thursday, MAY 15TH AT
10:30 PM


The full moon on Thursday, May 15th will be passing right through the
Earth's shadow, creating a Total Lunar Eclipse for the Western
Hemisphere this week.  Lunar eclipses are very different from solar
eclipses...for one thing you do not need to protect your eyes to see it.
  And for another, they last longer, up to a couple of hours rather than
just a few minutes.  They are also visible across the entire night side
of the Earth, not just in a narrow band like solar eclipses.

But the biggest difference is in the visual colors.  Even though the
Moon might be deep in the Earth's shadow, sunlight from all of the
sunrises and sunsets on earth is bent by the Earth's atmosphere into the
Earth's shadow and lights the Moon in a broad ranges of beautiful
colors...reds, umbers, coppers, oranges, yellows, and occasionally that
rarest of lunar eclipse colors...green flashes.

The Seminole Community College Planetarium will be hosting its
traditional Eclipse Party, with the aid of the Central Florida
Astronomical Society, starting at 10:30 PM on Thursday, May 15th, and
lasting until the eclipse is over or everyone leaves.  The party will be
held right in front of the SCC Planetarium on the Main Campus of
Seminole Community College.  feel free to bring food and drinks, but
remember alcohol is not permitted on campus.

This event is free and open to the public and the press.  So please
join us for this beautiful sight.



Laurent A. Pellerin, Jr.
Operations & Production Manager
Seminole Community College Planetarium
100 Weldon Blvd
Sanford, Florida 32773-6199
407 328 2409 (Office)
407 417 6176 (cell)
PelleriL@...
http://www.scc-fl.edu/planet/

Laurent, I lived in Maitland from 1971-94 and I never knew there was a
planetarium at SCC.
  I wish you all: CLEAR SKIES!
~Lainie~

*~Lainie~*The Stargazer~*

http://community.webtv.net/LAINIE121/doc

AMATEUR ASTRONOMER SURVEY

Marni Berendsen, of Astronomical Society of the
Pacific and the Navigator team at NASA JPL has an
Astronomy Concepts Survey available and is asking for
amateur astronomers to participate.  Following is a
message from Marni and the link to her survey:

"Complete this new Astronomical Society of the Pacific
(ASP) survey and have a chance to win a $100 gift
certificate to the ASP Catalog!  You can assist in
developing training and materials for amateur
astronomers to help the public understand concepts of
astronomy.  In addition, we are collecting your
experiences with any astronomy misconceptions you have
come across in your encounters with the public.
Access the survey at:

http://fs8.formsite.com/astrosociety/AstroSurvey/index.html

As an added bonus, if you belong to an astronomy club
and 15 or more of your club members respond to the
survey, you will receive your club's responses (no
names will be included).  This could help in planning
programs for your club and can serve as a topic of
discussion at a club meeting.  Just have your members
put your club's full name on the form where they enter
their name for the drawing."

Marni indicated that any astronomy club wishing to do
so may add the link above to their club website.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
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Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
http://calendar.yahoo.com

CONTACT: Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator
Cell #561.601.7755
Email: landstrom@...

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 19, 2003

SCIENCE TEACHERS EGG-ACTING EXPERIMENTS


Fifteen science teachers from the School District of
Palm Beach County will test their designs for the next
generation of Mars missions on Thursday, June 19th at
John I. Leonard Community High School. The 15 have
spent the past week attended the workshop, “Integrated
Science Training For Earth Science Teachers,” with the
goal of understanding how to use simple and fun
activities to assist them with the new integrated
physical science course. The late-start to summer
vacation has provided them an opportunity to review
and refresh chemistry and physics concepts.

The final test for the teachers will be two friendly
competitions on Thursday morning, June 19, that
demonstrate designs for the 2003 Mars Exploration
Rovers.
- Egg Drop Competition: to simulate the challenges of
soft landing a spacecraft on Mars by designing,
building and testing their own "interplanetary
lander." The teachers construct a package that will
protect raw eggs dropped from the height of 90 feet.
The Greenacres Fire Department is taking part,
allowing the use of their big hook and ladder trucks.
Each team is in competition with the others for an all
important NASA contract and that the team which builds
the lightest lander that successfully lands an
unbroken egg will be the winner.
- Rover Racers: the teachers built their own rover out
of 2-liter bottles, where the only traffic regulations
are Isaac Newton’s 3 laws of motion. Each participant
is in competition with the others for an all important
NASA contract and that the team which builds the rover
that travels the furthest on a single tank of water
will be the winner.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

Media Contact: Jeff Stanford, 407.514.2145, 407.421.8988 (cell)

Orlando Science Center Celebrates Our Local Star!

"Faces of the Sun" - Astro-Photography Exhibit

Opening Saturday, June 21 in OSC's Crosby Observatory

Meet the Artist from 3 to 5 p.m.

For centuries, man has been fascinated with the brilliant star we call the
sun. But how much do we really know about the sun? This huge star provides
us with heat, light, and life, but it offers so much more than meets the
eye. By using high tech telescopes and special filters, local
astro-photographer Jeff Pettitt has captured the sun in all its stellar
fury.

"Faces of the Sun" is an amazing collection of photos, containing images of
enormous eruptions and storms on the sun's surface. On June 21 from 3 to 5
p.m., Pettitt will be available to discuss the exhibit and his photography.
"Faces of the Sun" will be on display in the Crosby Observatory from June 21
to August 31. "Faces of the Sun" is the perfect opportunity for astronomy
enthusiasts to meet Pettitt and discover how he captures these wonderful
images. Perhaps after viewing these photographs, you too will share his love
for our closest star.

Pettitt started observing and photographing the sky about a decade ago when
he joined the Central Florida Astronomical Society. The sun quickly became
one of his favorite subjects to observe and photograph. His love for
astronomy led to volunteering and training others at OSC's Crosby
Observatory.

Viewing "Faces of the Sun" is available on Friday and Saturday evenings when
the Crosby Observatory is open to the public -

7 to 9 p.m. on Fridays, 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. Access to the observatory
is included with exhibits admission to OSC ($10 for adults, $7.50 for kids -
ages 3-11). For more information, please call 407.514.2000 or visit
www.osc.org.



-- OSC --


Paul Trembly
Technical Director -- CineDome, Planetarium, & Observatory
Orlando Science Center
777 E. Princeton
Orlando, FL 32803
  <http://www.osc.org/> www.osc.org
V: 407-514-2040
F: 407-514-2244
  <mailto:ptrembly@...> ptrembly@...



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In the local section of today's (Friday, June 20,
2003)edition of the Palm Beach Post newspaper, the
photo of the day "Science Eggs-periment" shows the
teacher training workshop I just finished
facilitating. Fifteen science teachers from the Palm
Beach County School District spent the past week
attending the workshop, “Integrated Science Training
For Earth Science Teachers,” with the goal of
understanding how to use simple and fun activities to
assist them with the new integrated physical science
course. The late-start to summer vacation has provided
them an opportunity to review and refresh chemistry
and physics concepts. In this exercise, teachers were
allowed to use a manila folder, cotton balls, balloons
and mini marshmellows to construct a lander to safely
deliver the egg. The idea is to simulate the
challenges of soft landing a spacecraft on Mars by
designing, building and testing their own
"interplanetary lander."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/photo/content/photos/daily_photo_gallery1.html


Enjoy.

=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

Sorry that this is running late. I hope it can still
be included for publication.
-------------------------
OverSky for July 2003: MARVELOUS MARS, IN OPPOSITION
OR OCCULTATION.
posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

It’s appropriate to see the Moon and Mars get together
this month, as if celebrating anniversaries. On
Thursday morning, July 17th, Mars is the object
closest to the Moon in the southeastern predawn sky,
with the lit part of the waxing gibbous Moon aimed
towards orange Mars. After all, on July 20th, the Moon
and Mars celebrate milestones in their exploration. On
July 20, 1969 at the Sea of Tranquility, astronauts
Armstrong and Aldrin opened the hatch of their lunar
excursion module Eagle, and took one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind. Seven years to the
day after the first manned landing on the Moon, in
1976, the Viking 1 spacecraft landed on Mars (Viking
2, its sister ship, landed two months later). The two
landers snapped thousands of photographs of the
surface, relayed millions of weather reports and
performed three biological tests in a search for
micro-organisms in the soil.

In fact, on July 17th, from vantage point of
south-central Florida, the Moon will appear to graze
Mars in an historic occultation replay.  David Dunham,
a member of the International Occultation Timing
Association (IOTA), passed along an email request from
Dr. Mitsuru Soma: “The Nihongi (Japanese old history
book) says that Mars was occulted by the Moon on Nov.
3, 681. The circumstance of the coming July 17
occultation in Florida is rather similar to the 681
occultation. Could you ask the observers to check how
close to the Moon Mars can be detected by the naked
eyes?” The path of the occultation runs northeast from
Ft. Myers, above Lake Okeechobee, in a corridor that
stretches as wide as Vero Beach to Palm Bay. It should
be a spectacular sight with Mars, brilliant at
magnitude 1.9 and 19.6" in a telescope playing hide
and seek with the 85% light Moon moving northeast
along the ecliptic. Below that corridor, in south
Florida, the Caribbean, and South America, the Moon
will completely cover the Moon from 4:15 AM until 4:55
AM. For full details, check out
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/0717grz.htm

Speaking of historic, keep watching Mars wherever on
Earth you are. Mars will be brighter than usual,
particularly for sky-watchers in the southern United
States and those in the Southern Hemisphere, because
it will be closer to us this summer than in the last
5,000 years! On August 27, Mars will be at its closest
distance, approximately 55.7 million kilometers (34.6
million miles). A little Martian math and geo-geometry
might help explain. On average, Mars is 50% farther
from the Sun than Earth, so Mars takes twice the time
we do to orbit the Sun. Because of our tighter orbit,
Earth passes Mars once every 26 months. The reduced
distance between the two planets and better solar
illumination angle give Earthlings the best
Mars-viewing opportunity. Free telescope viewing will
be offered if the weather permits on the following
Fridays at Sugar Sand Community Park at Military Trail
& Palmetto Park Rd. in Boca Raton: July 11, July 25,
August 15, and August 29.

For centuries these favorable observing conditions
have excited human imagination, providing closer views
and new details and features. Now with better tools
and the same hunger for discovery, NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory took advantage of Mars' position
to launch the most recent missions to the red plan to
save fuel and time: the Mars Exploration Rovers
“Spirit” and Opportunity.”

Spirit and Opportunity launched in July, and will
reach Mars in January 2004. Together the two MER
missions seek to determine the history of climate and
water at two sites on Mars where conditions may once
have been favorable to life. Although both rovers are
identical, their landing sites are almost opposite of
each other. Each rover carries five scientific
instruments including a panoramic camera and
microscope, plus a rock abrasion tool that will grind
away the outer surfaces of rocks to expose their
interiors for examination. The rovers each weigh
approximately 400 pounds. They will navigate
themselves around obstacles as they drive across the
Martian surface, traveling up to about 130 feet each
Martian day. Each rover's prime mission is planned to
last three months on Mars. Follow the rovers at
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer

To understand the mechanics of timing launches to
Mars, Dr. E. Myles Standish, a JPL astronomer who
specializes in studies of planetary positions,
compares Earth and Mars to two cars on different
nearly circular tracks. The car on the shorter inside
track is going faster, getting ahead of the one on the
outside, and eventually catching up with it and
overtaking it. "If you were in the car on the inside
track and wanted to throw a ball to someone in the car
on the outside, you can do it only at certain times:
you have to throw the ball outward at a specific time
before your car has caught up with the outside one,
and you have to aim at a spot ahead of the outside
car. It is very similar with spacecraft," Standish
said.

LUNAR ALMANAC JULY 2003 (All times are Eastern Time)
July 2: Moon near Jupiter
July 6: First Quarter
July 10: Moon at perigee (365,145 km)
July 13: Full Moon
July 17: Moon near Mars
July 21: Last Quarter
July 22: Moon at apogee (404,328 km)
July 28: New Moon
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC July 2003 (All times are Eastern at the
80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
July. 1: Sun Rise: 6:30 AM EDT, Sun Set: 8:17 PM
July 15: Sun Rise: 6:36 AM EDT, Sun Set: 8:15 PM
July 30: Sun Rise: 6:43 AM EDT, Sun Set: 8:09 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
SATURN (mag. +0.1) and VENUS (mag. -3.9) are so low in
the eastern pre-dawn sky that their conjunction on the
morning of July 8th in Gemini is almost impossible to
see.
JUPITER (mag. -1.7) and MERCURY are so low in the
western post-dusk sky that their conjunction on the
evening of July 25th in Leo is almost impossible to
see.
MARS (-2.0) and the Moon are so high in the southern
sky at midnight that their conjunction on July 17th in
Aquarius is almost impossible to miss.

Join the "science giant" Erich Landstrom for  news on
space exploration with, listen to a live broadcast of
SCIFI OVERDRIVE Monday mornings at
www.scifioverdrive.com on the Business talk radio
network and over the Internet!

=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
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SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

THIS WEEK (29/30 June 2003) on SCI-FI OVERDRIVE, heard
on the Business Talk Radio Network:

Hour 1 (2 AM ET): sci-fi news and commentary,
including the Weekly World News World News of the Week
with your hosts Joey Donovan, David Durica, Erich
Landstrom, Lauren Urban, and Charles Blake.

Hour 2 (3 AM ET): The “Sci-Sky” with Stuart Goldman,
associate editor of "Sky & Telescope," the essential
magazine of astronomy. And, Dr. Everett Gibson, Jr.
talks about life on Mars and  in Mars meteorites. Dr.
Gibson was co-leader with David McKay and Kathie
Thomas-Keprta of the NASA-JSC team which made the
discovery of possible relic biogenic activity in the
martian meteorite ALH84001.   The work has been
acclaimed as one of the outstanding discoveries in
science in the 20th Century. Dr. Gibson presently
services on the Science Advisory Team for the Beagle2
Mission to Mars.  Beagle2 is part of the Mars Express
mission of the European Space Agency designed to
search for life on Mars. He is the only U.S. scientist
participating with the Beagle2 Science Team.

Hour 3 (4 AM ET): Interview with Dr. James B. Garvin,
talking about the Mars Exploration Rovers “Spirit” and
“Opportunity” Dr. James B. Garvin is presently NASA's
Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration at NASA
Headquarters in Washington, DC. Dr. Garvin has
explored the landscapes of Iceland, the Azores, and
Kazakhstan, in his search for "Mars on Earth". He was
a lead scientist on the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter
experiment which flew to Mars on the Mars Global
Surveyor, and was the Chairman of the NASA Decadal
Planning Team which was charged with planning the
future of human exploration after the international
space station.

Hour 4 (5 AM ET): Interview with an encore
presentation with Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham
as the 25th anniversary edition of his book "The
All-American Boys" has just been released. On October
11, 1968, Col. Cunningham occupied the lunar module
pilot seat for the eleven-day flight of Apollo 7 - the
first manned Apollo mission. With Walter M. Schirra,
Jr., and Donn F. Eisele, Cunningham participated in
the flight test of the third generation. Mr.
Cunningham's last assignment at the Johnson Space
Center was as Chief of the Skylab Branch of the Fight
Crew Directorate. Currently, Mr. Cunningham is a
successful businessman, and a radio talk show host. He
is author of “The All American Boys,” the human side
of the space program.

NEXT WEEK (7 July 2003) on SCI-FI OVERDRIVE, heard on
the Business Talk Radio Network: Sci-fi news and
commentary;
Hr. 1- Robert O'Reilly (Star Trek actor).
Hr. 2- Harry Potter, it's not just for kids anymore!
Hr. 3- TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE (Printing Press)
MACHINES! Interviews with terminatrix villainess
Kristanna Loken; David Hagberg, author of the
novelization of the film; and Gabe Benson from Beckett
Comics, comic book adaptor of the T3 screenplay by
Jonathan Mostow, John Brancato, and Michael Ferris.
Hr. 4- Miracles of the Next Fifty Years- a look back.

SCI-FI OVERDRIVE is the only nation-wide radio talk
show exclusively covering science fiction and its
related genres, such as comic books, animation,
role-playing, horror and fantasy. We also highlight
real science stranger sounding than fiction, including
astronaut interviews, NASA news updates on missions of
discovery and exploration, and the "Sci Sky" with
Stuart Goldman, associate editor of "Sky & Telescope,"
the essential magazine of astronomy. Guests span the
sci-fi spectrum from actors to authors to animators to
astronomers to astronauts, too!

SCI-FI OVERDRIVE is heard Monday mornings (2-6AM EDT,
11PM-3AM PDT, 7-11AM BST, 4-8PM AEST) nationwide over
22 affiliate stations of the Business Talk Radio
network http://www.businesstalkradio.net and streamed
over the Internet using Windows Media Player.

(All times are local)
KFNN 1510 Phoenix, AZ 12AM-4AM
KNRY 1240 Salinas, CA 11PM-3AM
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WBNW 1120 Boston, MA 2AM-6AM
KCCO 950 Minneapolis, MN 1AM-5AM
KCUE 1250 Red Wing, MN 1AM-5AM
WHWH 1350 Trenton, NJ 2AM-5AM
WVKZ 1240 Albany, NY 2AM-5AM
KGWA 960 Enid, OK 1AM-5AM
KBNP 1410 Portland, OR 11PM-3AM
WHVR 1280 York, PA 2AM-5AM
WPSE 1450 Erie, PA 2AM-6AM
WISW 1320 Columbia, SC 2AM-6AM
WDXI 1310 Jackson, TN 1AM-5AM
WHAN 1430 Richmond, VA 2AM-5AM
KSBN 1230 Spokane, WA 11PM-1AM

Check out our website at
http://www.scifioverdrive.com!

Miss a show? Not to worry -- archives in MP3 at
http://www.businesstalkradio.net/weekday_host/Archives/sfo.shtml
(requires Windows Media Player)



=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

Robert Gass, Solar System Ambassador invites you to
party in Jetty Park on the space coast of the sunshine
state this Saturday, to see the historic launch of the
next spacecraft bound for the red planet.

The event includes:
- Games & prizes
- Live and lively lectures by project scientists
- Countdown and status reports throughout the night
- Displays and literature
- A location as close to the rocket as you can get
(even the VIP’s are not closer!)
- View the launch with the people who built the
spacecraft

He would like to include telescope viewing of Mars and
other sky object. If you can attend with your
telescope, please let me know.

The second of twin Mars Exploration Rovers is targeted
to thunder into the midnight sky on Saturday, June
28th. The rover mission will lift off from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., onboard a Delta II
launch vehicle. The first launch time for Opportunity,
the second rover, is June 28 at 11:56 pm EDT (8:56 PM
Pacific time), the second time is at 12:37 am June 29
EDT. Ambassador Robert Gass will continue his
tradition of hosting a launchday public event at Jetty
Park, outside Cape Canaveral, affording excellent
views of the launch and telling those who attend the
pre-dawn event all about the mission and its goals.
Gates open at 9:00 pm and admission is free. However,
the park will charge a $3.00 per car entrance fee.
Space is limited so it is recommended that partiers
come early!

This event is being brought to you by the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory’s Solar System Ambassadors
Program with support from Boeing and Cornell
University.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

At the "Roving the Red Planet" workshop this week, a
request for our services was made. The Arizona State
University Mars Education Outreach team is discussing
how best to arrange for a "Night of Two Thousand
Telescopes" on Wednesday, August 27, when Mars is
closest and at opposition. They would like astronomy
groups, science centers, observatories, et cetera,
world-wide to host public star parties to celebrate
Mars at its biggest and brightest (mag. -2.88). I
offered to start arranging things on the planetarium
side.

If would you be interested in arranging a public star
party at your venue on Wednesday night, August 27th,
please email me back with the word "N2KT" in Subject
line, and let me know your address. As you might
gather from the working title, I am hoping for two
thousand and three telescopes sites. Although, more
realistically, I'll settle for two thousand and three
telescopes, period. Thank you.

BTW, We _might_ do another one in Tuesday, January
27th, after the two Mars Exploration Rovers have
landed; just to compare how Mars has changed its
appearance -- smaller in scopes but now seen from the
surface. There should be a surge in public interest (a
"buzz"), but since it will be colder in the northern
hemisphere than it was in August, I expect that Jan.
event would be smaller. Let me know if you would be
interested in that as well. Thanks.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

CONTACT: Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator
Cell #561.601.7755
Email: landstrom@...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 26, 2003

OPPORTUNITY TO SEE MARS ROVER LAUNCH AND PARTY WITH
THE RED PLANET THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 28 AT MIDNIGHT!

Mars has an ambassador on Earth in Florida. His name
is Robert Gass, and Rob invites you to party in Jetty
Park on the space coast of the sunshine state this
Saturday, to see the historic launch of the next
spacecraft bound for the red planet.

The event includes:
- Games & prizes
- Live and lively lectures by project scientists
- Countdown and status reports throughout the night
- Displays and literature
- A location as close to the rocket as you can get
(even the VIP’s are not closer!)
- View the launch with the people who built the
spacecraft

The second of twin Mars Exploration Rovers is targeted
to thunder into the midnight sky on Saturday, June
28th. The rover mission will lift off from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., onboard a Delta II
launch vehicle. The first launch time for Opportunity,
the second rover, is June 28 at 11:56 pm EDT (8:56 PM
Pacific time), the second time is at 12:37 am June 29
EDT. Ambassador Robert Gass will continue his
tradition of hosting a launchday public event at Jetty
Park, outside Cape Canaveral, affording excellent
views of the launch and telling those who attend the
pre-dawn event all about the mission and its goals.
Gates open at 9:00 pm and admission is free. However,
the park will charge a $3.00 per car entrance fee.
Space is limited so it is recommended that partiers
come early!

Gass, an accountant, volunteers his time as a solar
system ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.  Like most of other ambassadors, Gass, of
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was an astronomy buff who
enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm even before learning
about this program. "I had been looking for new ways
to reach people," Gass said. "Before, people said,
'Who is this guy? He's an accountant.' Now, the
affiliation with JPL helps. I talk with the mission
scientists. I've had training sessions." NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif., helps
train solar system ambassadors and solar system
educators learn about missions such as the twin rovers
Spirit and Opportunity, to Mars; Cassini, to Saturn;
and Stardust and Deep Impact, to comets. The
ambassadors and educators participate in
teleconferences and Internet chats directly with
scientists and engineers working on the missions. They
also receive materials such as brochures, posters,
color slides and videos to help them excite other
people about the wonders of the solar system. But
whereas the ambassadors commit to arranging at least
four public outreach projects during the year, the
educators focus on “teaching the teachers,” offering
at least three workshops to 100 science teachers
during the year. Ambassador projects range from
library talks to original theater productions;
educator workshops range from egg-drop simulations of
Mars landings to cooking up comets in the classroom.

Gass wants to fill the park with 12,000 people. VIPs
include the entire Athena science team from Cornell
University including Mars Exploration Rover, a hefty
helping of NASA brass from HQ in DC, and a possible
appearance by a certain “Science Guy.”

Entertainment at the launch party includes telescope
viewing of Mars, broadcast of NASA TV feed, two game
shows with prizes furnished by Boeing, and three live
and lively talks. The games include “Let's make a
Martian Deal,” and “Guess Your Martian Weight.” The
first talk will be on Mars, the second will be on the
MER mission and spacecraft, and the last will be on
Athena science package on the rovers.

This event is being brought to Florida by the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory’s Solar System Ambassadors
Program with support from Boeing and Cornell
University.

Jetty Park is at Port Canaveral, on the Atlantic Ocean
just south of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
border. Both expendable launch vehicle and space
shuttle liftoffs can be viewed from here. The park is
open all day year-round. Prices for admittance are $3
and up. The park typically closes at 9 p.m. but
adjusts its hours to accommodate launch viewing. Call
(321) 783-7111 for directions.

The NASA robotic geologist named Opportunity began its
seven-month journey to Mars will reach Mars on Jan.
25, 2004. Opportunity will roam a landing area on Mars
that bears evidence of a wet history. The rover will
examine rocks and soil for clues to whether the site
may have been a hospitable place for life.
Opportunity's twin, Spirit, launched on June 10th and
will be targeted to a separate site with different
signs of a watery past.


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Mars at Its All-Time Finest

"Page where the story of Mars started,with pictures at site:
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/planets/article
_988.asp

SkyandTelescope.com
Martian Flare Watch
By Thomas A. Dobbins
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Story can be found at this address,with pictures at site:
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/planets/article
_985.asp

Tan Wei Leong of Singapore obtained this superb CCD image of Mars
using an 11-inch telescope. Edom Promontorium, where numerous bright
flares were seen in early June 2001, is near the central meridian in
its normal non-flare state. South is up.




Will Martian flares like those observed in 2001 appear again in 2003?
Amateur and professional astronomers will be watching the red planet
closely to find out.
In the May 2001 issue of Sky & Telescope, my colleague William
Sheehan and I discussed rare historical observations of bright, star-
like flares from certain regions on the planet Mars. We suggested
that the brightenings might be caused by specular (mirror-like)
reflections of sunlight off water-ice crystals in surface frosts or
thin clouds. Many of these glints were reported when the sub-Sun and
sub-Earth points (where the Sun and Earth, respectively, are directly
overhead as seen from Mars) were nearly coincident and close to the
planet's central meridian, the imaginary line running down the center
of the visible disk from pole to pole. Based on our analysis, we
predicted that flares like those reported only four times between
1894 and 1958 might erupt in the region known as Edom Promontorium,
near the Martian equator at longitude 345°, in early June 2001.

I organized an expedition to the Florida Keys, where the red planet
would climb high in the south under exceptionally steady skies. Team
members from Sky & Telescope and the Association of Lunar and
Planetary Observers (ALPO) scrutinized the planet using a variety of
telescopes nightly beginning June 5th. No flares were seen for the
first two nights. But on June 7th, beginning around 06:35 Universal
Time (2:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time), about 85 minutes before Edom
crossed the central meridian, we saw a series of brightenings. Each
lasted 3 to 5 seconds; they occurred once or twice a minute over the
next hour and a half, until clouds ended the observations. The flares
were seen visually at magnifications of 300x to 366x through two 6-
inch (15-centimeter) Newtonian reflectors and were recorded on
videotape at 1,400x through a Meade 12-inch (30-cm) Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescope. Visually, the flares seemed to cut the dark
linear feature Sinus Sabaeus nearly in two. More brightenings of Edom
were observed on June 8th; these were as brilliant as the ones the
night before but not as frequent. For details see IAU Circular 7642.


One of several flares seen on June 7, 2001, peaks in brightness
(left) and fades considerably less than a minute later (right). Both
images are identically processed 9-frame composites from an SVHS
video recording made through a 12-inch telescope. South is up.
Courtesy David Moore.


Our June 2001 observations support the idea that the flares came from
sunlight glinting off patches of frost or ice on the Martian surface.
Because the flashes occurred before Edom crossed the center of the
planet's disk, the reflectors must have been tilted as much as 19°
east-west; perhaps they rested on inclined surfaces on the ground,
for example, the slopes of dunes. Intriguingly, the light-colored
oval of Edom Promontorium corresponds to the large, flat crater
Schiaparelli, and in May 2002 NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft found
indications that this region is anomalously rich in water ice for a
site near the Martian equator. The historical tendency of flares to
occur when the sub-Sun and sub-Earth points are nearly coincident
suggests to Masatsugu Minami, director of the Oriental Astronomy
Association's Mars section, that the sources of the reflections lie
at the bottoms of narrow fissures or trenches on the planet's
surface.

Mars observers and planetary scientists hope to learn more about the
flare phenomenon during the red planet's 2003 apparition, now
building toward a record-breaking closest approach in late August.
Because Mars's southern hemisphere is tipped our way this year, the
geometry precludes seeing any flares from Edom or other equatorial
regions. Instead, specular reflections are likely from sites at more
southerly Martian latitudes.

In late July and early August this year, the sub-Sun and sub-Earth
points will converge at a Martian latitude of –20°. By then the
apparent diameter of Mars's gibbous disk will exceed 20 arc seconds.
From July 24th through August 10th, observers should keep an eye on
northern Thaumasia, northern Solis Lacus, southern Tithonius Lacus,
Deucalonius Regio, Iapygia, and northern Hellas — all at or near
latitude –20°. It will be interesting to see if specular reflections
like those observed at Edom in 2001 are rare events that suggest
something special about that site, or if they can be seen at many
locations whenever the Mars-Sun-Earth geometry is favorable.

Observations, both positive and negative, are welcomed by the Mars
sections of both ALPO and the British Astronomical Association, as
well as by the International Mars Watch. Of course, we also welcome
your observing reports at Sky & Telescope!

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

Tom Dobbins is a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine and
the author of several acclaimed books on observing and imaging the
solar system. S&T editors Rick Fienberg and Gary Seronik, who
accompanied Dobbins to Florida in June 2001 and saw the Martian
flares themselves, contributed to this article.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-

Related Articles:

Mars Odyssey Support for Visual Ice Flashes?
A Mars Record for the Ages


   ©2003 Sky Publishing Corp.




======================================================================
=
"This web site can be found at this address,just text no pictures:
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/07600/07642.html#Item1



Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA
02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@... or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@... (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


MARS
      R. Tresch Fienberg, Sky and Telescope (S&T), reports that he
and a team of observers representing S&T and the Association of
Lunar and Planetary Observers (T. Dobbins, G. Seronik, D. Parker,
T. D'Auria, D. Moore, P. D'Auria, D. Troiani, S. Ireland, L.
Ireland, C. Petersen, M. Petersen, and B. Itzenthaler), succeeded
in detecting a brightening of Edom Promontorium during June 7 and
8, both visually with two 0.15-m Newtonian reflectors and via
monochrome videotape recorded with a 0.30-m Schmidt-Cassegrain
reflector located in the Florida Keys, following predictions by
Dobbins and Sheehan [2001, S&T 101(5), 115].  Observing conditions
were good, with partly cloudy skies and excellent seeing.  No
brightenings were detected under good observing conditions on June
5 and 6.  A perceptible brightening of Edom was first detected
around June 7.274 UT, about 85 min before the feature transited
Mars' central meridian.  By June 7.278, sporadic pulsations in
brightness were evident, occurring once or twice a minute with
brightness maxima of about 3-5 s duration that were not correlated
with atmospheric turbulence; these brightness variations, which
appeared along the north margin of Sinus Sabaeus, were seen
simultaneously by visual observers and by those viewing the video
monitor until June 7.312.  Brightening around Edom also occurred
on June 8, having intensity like that of June 7, with a series of
short-lived (3- to 5-s) brightenings observed during June 8.292-
8.306 and another series of frequent variations seen during June
8.328-8.350.  These specular reflections may continue for the next
few nights, as detailed by Dobbins and Sheehan (op.cit.).



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

Planetary Activity
==================================================================

Veteran Mars observer Donald C. Parker reports that significant
changes
have taken place on Mars in the last 48 hours. "I'd call it a dust
cloud,
not a dust storm," he advises. "Let's hope it stays put!"

Beginning on July 1st, Parker noticed a marked weakening, or
lightening, of
the conspicuous dark feature Syrtis Major in images taken with his 16-
inch
Newtonian reflector in Coral Gables, Florida. Yet just the previous
morning
another Mars expert, Jeffrey D. Beish, had described Syrtis Major as
dark
and normal when viewed visually with his own 16-inch at Lake Placid,
Florida. Parker also noticed some bright ochre spots rimming the
Hellas
basin and partially obscuring the Iapygia region (between Hellas and
Syrtis
Major). Similar spots around Hellas had been imaged by Texas amateur
Ed
Grafton on June 28th.

By early this morning, July 2nd, it was clear that something major
was
taking place. Parker noted that the isolated clouds he'd seen over
Iapygia
the night before had coalesced and expanded to form one cloud, bright
when
viewed in red light. The coalescing cloud is on the side of the
planet that
can currently be studied most easily from the Americas. It is
centered at
Martian latitude 25 degrees south, longitude 294 degrees west.

"It's scary. This is almost a repeat of what happened in 2001," says
Parker. "But with Mars, who knows?  Maybe we'll get lucky and it will
just
go away. We should know in a day or two."

Parker credits Beish, former Mars recorder for the Association of
Lunar and
Planetary Observers, with having predicted this localized event
almost to
the day. In Beish's view the dust cloud is unlikely to become
widespread.
Rather, it may be the precursor of a global dust storm that Beish
feels is
a distinct possibility for September.

SKY & TELESCOPE's guide to this year's Mars apparition appeared in
our June
2003 issue. An abridged version is on our Web site:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_985_1.asp

According to the Farmer's Almanac, tonight begins the "Dog Days of
Summer"...and in South Florida we know it!...In the 90's!..I think Noel
Coward was inspired to write how "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the
midday Sun."...Keep Cool!

~Lainie~

*~Lainie~*The Stargazer~*

http://community.webtv.net/LAINIE121/doc

CONTACT: Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator
Cell #561.601.7755
Email: landstrom@...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Boynton Beach High School Students Help NASA to
Explore Mars

While the ultimate field trip might someday be an
actual journey to Mars, Boynton Beach Community High
School students are taking the next best thing. NASA
is giving teams from the school the opportunity to
explore Mars by working on specific research projects
during the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions, set
to land on the red planet in January 2004.

The Mars Exploration Student Data Teams (MESDT)
project is a unique opportunity to be part of an
out-of-this-world experience experiment during the
2003-04 MER missions. Advance studies will prepare the
students for participating in the mission when the two
rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, begin exploring Mars.
Teams work with scientists to prepare for rover
operations, to analyze data during the mission, and to
reach out to others through presentations, articles,
and web sites. Teachers will be part of each team and
will help students in their investigations of Mars and
its geologic history. Students will relay their
experiences to other students in their schools and
communities and to the public in order to share the
excitement of exploring Mars. The Mars Exploration
Student Data Team project officially begins with a
kick-off teleconference on September 10, 2003 from 5-6
PM EDT.

The MESDT teams are from 24 states plus the District
of Columbia and an American school in Bolivia. Boynton
Beach Community High School in Boynton Beach is one of
51 participating schools selected during a nationwide
search to provide students for MESDT. The 51 teams
participating in the MESDT program will use data from
Mars-orbiting spacecraft to help characterize aspects
of Mars from the atmosphere to the surface that affect
the rover missions. Two NASA orbiters, Mars Global
Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, are actively examining the
planet. MESDT will help compare orbital data to
rover-collected data for "ground truthing," which
means using ground-level observations to verify
interpretations of remote observations. There will be
frequent interactions with data team members and Mars
scientists via distance learning. The two programs
will closely complement each other, just as both
landed and orbital science teams work closely together
in planetary missions.

The Boynton Beach “Tiger” teams will be lead by Erich
Landstrom, high school science teacher of the year
(2002-03) for the School District of Palm Beach
County. Landstrom is also a Solar System Educator for
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The goal of the
Solar System Educators Program is to inspire America's
students, create learning opportunities, and enlighten
inquisitive minds by engaging them in the Solar System
exploration efforts conducted by NASA. Educators lead
workshops that show teachers how to successfully
incorporate NASA materials and research into their
classes. Landstrom was selected as Florida’s Educator
during a nationwide search in August 2000, while
Director of Astronomy Education at the South Florida
Science Museum. JPL, a division of the California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Mars Exploration Program's Mars Public Engagement
efforts on behalf of NASA.

Additional information about the MESDT and the MER
missions is available online at
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/students/mer .


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on
http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design
software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

hi there was a few posts here last summer about an unidentified
fireball like thing seen flying through the sky around Henryetta
Oklahoma.  I live in Henryetta, my cousin is the police chief, Audie
Cole, mentioned in some of the stories. I was wondering what
information y'all might have on it aside from the ap story. I felt
the impact from whatever it was and it was huge.  The local NBC
station here came down to the office where I used to work because my
cousin emailed them about it and a couple women I worked with were on
the news... anyway, just wondering...

Sarah

OverSky for September 2003: GOODBYE GALILEO.
posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

On the last night of summer, the constellation of Lyra
the Harp stands straight overhead at sunset. Lyra is
part of the "Summer Triangle" asterism, formed by
three stars in three separate constellations. The
brightest star is Vega in Lyra, shining at the zenith,
lighting the world under it. Next is the star Deneb,
which is located in the constellation Cygnus the Swan.
Finally, the star Altair soars above the Earth in the
constellation Aquilla the Eagle. These three stars
appear as a right triangle with Vega at the 90 degree
intersection and Deneb and Altair along the
hypotenuse.

According to Greek myth, both the swan and the eagle
were sacred to the Roman god Jupiter, and Lyra once
belonged to the musician Orpheus, a singer so great he
could charm the birds out of the trees. On the day of
his wedding, his bride Eurydice was bitten by a snake
and died. Orpheus descended into the underworld, and
sang so persuasively of his love, that Pluto agreed to
let her follow Orpheus back to earth with one
condition. Orpheus was warned he must not to look
backwards at Eurydice even once during their ascent.
But just as their journey was almost over, as Orpheus
stepped into the sunlight, he was so eager to see his
wife that he turned to look at her. At once she
slipped back into the grave forever. Orpheus died by
being torn limb from limb by a group of women angry
with him for rejecting their advances. Orpheus’ lyre
was placed in the sky by Jupiter, where it became the
constellation Lyra.

Like a modern-day Orpheus, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft
comes to its finale on September 21st. It too will be
torn limb from limb, as it enters the underworld of
the planet Jupiter. Galileo was launched on October
18, 1989, and arrived at Jupiter in December 1995.
En-route it visited Venus; asteroids Ida, Dactyl, and
Gaspra; and the Earth and Moon. Although Galileo’s
damaged main antenna meant it could never sing as
sweetly as Orpheus, it did return impressive
information. Galileo's primary mission was to study
Jupiter's atmosphere, magnetosphere, and the four
largest moons for two years (1995-1997) from the
orbiting spacecraft and an atmospheric probe. In an
extended mission, for two more years (1997-1999)
Galileo studied in further detail and closer range
Jupiter's icy moon Europa and its fiery moon Io.
Galileo continued its studies under yet another
extension, called the Galileo Millennium Mission,
which saw joint observations of Jupiter with the
Cassini spacecraft as it flew by on its way to Saturn.
The Galileo spacecraft made a final visit to Jupiter’s
moon Amalthea in November 2002. The rendezvous set it
on a course to impact with Jupiter itself on September
21, 2003. It will be destroyed to prevent possible
contamination while still controllable, lest it drift
into an unwanted impact with the moon Europa, where
Galileo discovered evidence of a subsurface (there’s
that theme again!) ocean that is a possible habitat
for extraterrestrial life. Follow the descent at
[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/countdown/].

Speaking of modern myths, in a clever
interdisciplinary approach, the wizardry of Harry
Potter has been blended with the “wow” of the Galileo
mission by Dr. Tony Phillips from NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center.  His Science@NASA website story
“Harry Potter and the Moons of Jupiter,” cites serious
astronomy references Hermione makes in “Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix.”
[http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/02jul_harrypotter.htm].
I’ll bet she knows where the constellation of Phoenix
is in the southern hemisphere, too.
LUNAR ALMANAC SEPTEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern
Time)
September 3: First Quarter (8:34 AM)
September 8 & 90: Moon by Mars (dusk)
September 10: Full Harvest Moon (12:36 PM)
September 16: Moon at apogee (404,714 km); lower high
tides, higher low tides.
September 18: Last Quarter (3:03 PM)
September 20: Moon by Saturn (dawn)
September 24: Moon between Jupiter and Mercury (dawn)
September 25: New Moon (11:09 PM)
September 28: Moon at perigee (362,834 km); higher
high tides, lower low tides.
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC SEPTEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern at
the 80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
Sep. 1: Sun Rise: 6:59 AM EST, Sun Set: 7:40 PM
Sep. 14: Sun Rise: 7:05 AM EDT, Sun Set: 7:26 PM
Sep. 28: Sun Rise: 7:12 AM EDT, Sun Set: 7:08 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
EARTH: the autumn equinox begins at 6:47 AM EST on
September 23rd. Going to try balancing an egg?
MARS is magnificent even as it drops a magnitude (mag.
-2.5), its ginger glow easily visible after sunset in
the southeast. Mars continues to move retrograde
through Aquarius until the 29th.
SATURN shines (mag. +0.1) between the kneecaps of
Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, visible high in
southeast at dawn.
JUPITER (mag. -1.7) and MERCURY are low in the east
about an hour before sunrise in the constellation Leo,
and sets about 3 ½ hours after the Sun.
VENUS in Virgo is too close to the Sun to be seen
after sunset.

Join the "science giant" Erich Landstrom on SCIFI
OVERDRIVE radio program for science fiction, and
science fact stranger sounding than fiction. It’s like
Paul Harvey, with pointy ears. Listen to a broadcast
Monday mornings on the Business Talk radio network and
at www.scifioverdrive.com over the Internet!


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

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Oversky for November 2003: EXCELLENT ECLIPSE, MEDIOCRE
METEORS
Posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

The Moon is like a diva; if she’s not the star of the
show, then she upstages everyone else. This month it’s
especially true. There’s a total lunar eclipse at 8 PM
on November 8th, when the Moon changes colors before
our eyes. But then there’s the Leonid Meteor Shower on
November 18th, when there is so much moonlight, the
Moon will outshine all but the brightest meteors.

On Saturday, November 8th, North Americans experience
a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE. Lunar eclipses occur whenever
the full Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. The
shadow blocks most of the Sun’s light from reaching
it, but a little light, passing over the edges of the
Earth where sunrise and sunset is occurring gets bent
by Earth’s atmosphere in toward the shadow, making our
diva’s face flush. Luna’s Saturday evening performance
begins around 6:30 PM and ends around 10 PM. The Moon
begins entering the umbra (the darkest part of Earth’s
shadow cone) at 6:32 PM. The first blush starts on the
northeast corner, near the crater Pythagoras (I say
“corner” and “Pythagoras,” but despite popular
misconception, the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was
round and not flat thanks to eclipses. The shape of
curved shadow told them the Earth must be a sphere).
The Moon will be totally eclipsed at 8:06 PM, at
deepest eclipse at 8:19 PM, and will begin to exit the
umbra at 8:31 PM. By 10:05 PM, it will have completely
exited the umbra and be back to its usual frosty self.
To review: eclipse starts at 6:32 PM, totality between
8:06 and 8:31 PM, show over at 10:05 PM.

Each eclipse is unique in how the Moon reflects the
reds and oranges that tint the twilight sky during a
totality. Anything in the air – hurricane clouds,
volcanic dust, and forest fire ash – can affect the
eclipse’s coppery coloration, changing the Moon’s
muted grays in a range from dark brown to a freshly
minted penny. Astronomers use a five-point scale of
brightness (L = 0 being darkness and L = 4 being the
brightest) known as the Danjon scale to measure how
dark the shadow makes the Moon appear. The November
issue of SKY AND TELESCOPE magazine has more pertinent
information, or you can visit the website of the
essential magazine of astronomy at
www.SkyandTelescope.com/. This should be an excellent
eclipse.

But during November’s other great sky event, the Moon
spoils the show in the predawn morning of Tuesday the
18th. On November 18-19, the Earth transits though the
tail of Comet Temple-Tuttle. Plowing into the bits and
pieces of the comet's cloud of dust causes a
spectacular light show known as the LEONID METEOR
SHOWER, when the grit and gravel incinerate in the
Earth's atmosphere due to friction. Meteors are the
flashes of light caused by cometary debris hitting our
upper atmosphere and vaporizing (and phenomena related
to the ablation such as ionization). A combination of
the dusty debris crashing down at 71 km/sec, and the
relative velocities of the Earth, at a tangent heading
toward the constellation Leo, make the meteor shower
appear to radiate from the "sickle" of Leo the Lion.

The celestial fireworks show should be returning to
normal this year, producing 10-20 meteors per hour
after having storm-level displays of 1,000 per hour in
the last five years. But the Moon manages to upstage
the meteor shower, by being in the wrong place at the
wrong time. She positions her spotlight right in the
midst of Leo on the 17th and 18th, a fat waning
crescent phase that outshines the meteors and nearby
Jupiter. At best, this will be a mediocre meteor
shower.

LUNAR ALMANAC NOVEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern
Time)
November 2 & 3: Moon by Mars
November 8: Full Moon (8:13 PM); total lunar eclipse
November 10: Moon at apogee (406,301 km); lower high
tides, higher low tides.
November 13 & 14: Moon by Saturn
November 16: Last Quarter (11:15 PM)
November 18 & 19: Moon by Jupiter
November 23: New Moon (5:59 PM); solar eclipse visible
over Antarctica and Australia
November 23: Moon at perigee (356,812 km); higher high
tides, lower low tides.
November 25: Moon by Venus
November 30: First Quarter (12:16 PM)
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC NOVEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern at
the 80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
November 1: Sun Rise: 6:29 AM EST, Sun Set: 5:37 PM
November 15: Sun Rise: 6:39 AM EDT, Sun Set: 5:29 PM
November: Sun Rise: 6:50 AM EDT, Sun Set: 5:26 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
VENUS (mag. -3.9) is caught in claws of Scorpius the
Scorpion, low in the west at sunset.
MERCURY (mag. -0.5) keeps close to Venus in Libra low
in the west after sunset.
MARS drops another magnitude (from mag. -1.2 to -0.4)
as it moves through Aquarius. Its ginger glow is
easily visible after sunset in the south, under the
“circlet” of Pisces.
SATURN shines (mag. -0.2) between the kneecaps of
Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, visible high in
southwest at dawn.
JUPITER beams brightly (mag. -2.0) at the hind feet of
Leo in the southeast before dawn.
EARTH eclipses the Moon the night of the 8th, and
eclipses the Sun on the 23rd.

Join the "science giant" Erich Landstrom on SCIFI
OVERDRIVE radio program for science fiction, and
science fact stranger sounding than fiction. It’s like
Paul Harvey, with pointy ears. Listen to a broadcast
Monday mornings on the Business Talk radio network and
at www.scifioverdrive.com over the Internet!


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
Solar System Educators Program http://www.ssep.org
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com

__________________________________
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On Thursday night, October 23rd, my husband Bill and I witnessed an
asteroidal event..My son Richard is an astronomer, and I will quote his
own words as posted on the IOTA occultations website:

"I observed a 2.05 second occultation by 978 Aidamina from 11 km west of
predicted center in Balmorhea, Texas. While set up for over 45 minutes a
truck with high beams drives right past me at 5 mph causing substantial
glare only during the 3 seconds of the event. Fortunately, this being a
m=8.3 mag bright star, I was able to extract the times of disappearance
and reappearance.

Lat = 30d 59' 34.0",
Long = 103d 45" 20.5",
Elev = 1026 m.....

D = 9h 18m 28.95 sec,
R = 9h 18m 31.0 sec,

Duration = 2.05 +/ - 0.1 seconds....

Richard Nugent,
Ft. Davis, Texas

To see his set-up, go to URL:

http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/video/rnvideosetup.htm

>>>>>It was a thrilling experience for Bill and I..
We did some more stargazing with his larger scope behind his house in
Ft. Davis - His backyard faces the McDonald Observatory on Mt. Locke.

~Bill & Lainie Nugent~

Here are the timings for the lunar eclipse events in EST, I have not
converted them to our exact longitude yet, but they'll be very
close...

Total Lunar Eclipse
Saturday, November 8, 2003

04:53 PM   Sunset
06:09 PM   Moon enters penumbra   (1st contact)
06:32 PM   Moon enters umbra         (2nd contact)
08:06 PM   Totality begins                 (3rd contact)
08:19 PM   Mid-totality
08:31 PM   Totality ends                   (4th contact)
10:05 PM   Moon exits umbra           (5th contact)
10:28 PM   Moon exits penumbra     (6th contact)

This is a very short totality eclipse because the Moon's southern
limb will be passing inside the Earth's southern umbral edge by only
50 miles.  Therefore this should be a brighter eclipse, mostly lemon-
yellow on the Moon's southern side, and copper orange on the northern
side.  However, I think that there may be a good chance to catch the
elusive "green flash" because of this.  Tell your students to watch
for it, it only lasts a second or two.

The SCC Planetarium Lunar Eclipse Party will begin at 6 PM on the
College Drive side of the B-bldg.  There will be no planetarium show
that night.  Cost: FREE

Seminole Community College Planetarium
Press Release 110303


Contact Person: Laurent Pellerin, Planetarium Operations & Production
                           Seminole Community College Planetarium
                           100 Weldon Blvd, Sanford, FL 32773-6199
                           407-328-2409 (Office)
                           407-754-4078 (Cell)
                           PelleriL@...



For Immediate Release



Last Total Lunar Eclipse for Central Florida Until October, 2004


The Seminole Community College Planetarium will be hosting a FREE Total
Lunar Eclipse Party this Saturday Evening, November 8th, at 6 PM for all
of Central Florida.  Telescopes will be available for the public to get
a close up look at this beautiful event, with extra telescopes being
supplied by the Central Florida Astronomical Society.

This is a very short totality eclipse because the Moon's southern limb
will be passing inside the Earth's southern darkest shadow by only 50
miles.  Therefore this should be a brighter eclipse, mostly lemon-yellow
on the Moon's southern side, and copper orange on the northern side.
However, there may be a good chance to catch the elusive "green flash"
because of this.  Watch carefully for it, it only lasts a second or
two.

Here are the timings for the lunar eclipse events in EST

Total Lunar Eclipse
Saturday, November 8, 2003

04:53 PM   Sunset
06:09 PM   Moon enters penumbra   (faint smudge of the Earth's outer
shadow on the Moon)
06:32 PM   Moon enters umbra         (the Earth's inner, darker, shadow
begins to cover the Moon)
08:06 PM   Totality begins                 (the Moon completely enters
the Earth's shadow...only lit all of the Earth's sunrises and sunsets)
08:19 PM   Mid-totality                      (darkest colors on the
Moon's surface)
08:31 PM   Totality ends                   (Moon begins to emerge from
the Earth's dark inner shadow)
10:05 PM   Moon exits umbra           (Moon is only shadowed by the
faint smudge of the Earth's outer shadow)
10:28 PM   Moon exits penumbra     (the Moon exits the Earth's outer
shadow)

The SCC Planetarium Lunar Eclipse Party will begin at 6 PM on the
College Drive side of the Planetarium.  There will be no planetarium
show that night.  Cost: FREE

Members of the Press are always welcome at all SCC Planetarium events.




Laurent A. Pellerin, Jr.
Operations & Production Manager
Seminole Community College Planetarium
100 Weldon Blvd
Sanford, Florida 32773-6199
407 328 2409 (Office)
407 754 4078 (Cell)
407 328 2360 (Show Info)
PelleriL@...
http://www.scc-fl.edu/planet/

OverSky for December 2003: FIRST FLIGHT
posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

From author Douglas Adams: “This is what The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has to say on the
subject of flying: There is an art, or, rather, a
knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to
throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day
and try it.”

December 17, 1903 wasn’t a nice day. It was a cold,
damp, windy day with temperatures below freezing and
steady winds blowing at 27 miles per hour. But it was
also the day men first flew in a heavier-than-air
machine. At 10:35 AM, the world’s first successful
powered aircraft lifted off the beach at the Outer
Banks of North Carolina. Pilot Orville Wright took it
on a 12-second, 120-foot journey into history. With
December 17, 2003, marks the centennial anniversary of
the world's first powered flight
(www.centennialofflight.gov).

In the 100 years since brother Wilbur took the
controls of the Wright Flyer, consider how far we have
come. For the fourth and flight of the day, Wilbur
covered 852 feet in 59 seconds. By December 17, 2003,
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft will have flown 8.4
billion miles beyond the Outer Banks into outer space,
in 26 years. Its instruments register that the solar
wind of electrically charged gas blown constantly from
the Sun has died down from about 700,000 miles per
hour to less than 100,000 mph, and still Voyager 1
flies on (http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/).

On December 24, 1968, three astronauts had flown
1,267,200,000 feet in 3 days, so far above the dunes
of Kitty Hawk, NC, that they were now flying above the
hills of the Moon. Apollo 8, the first manned mission
to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve.
That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman,
Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module
Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast
from lunar orbit in which they showed pictures of the
Earth. On December 24, 2003, ESA's Mars Express probe
is scheduled to arrive at Mars. On Christmas Eve, the
British-made Beagle 2 lander is expected to throw
itself at the ground and land safely using parachutes
and airbags. Like the first flight on Earth 100 years
earlier, the weather on Mars at Isidis Planitia will
be cold. Temperatures on the red planet fall below
–125°C but there is not enough moisture in the
atmosphere to make it damp. The first images of Mars
from the cameras of Beagle 2 and Mars Express are
expected to be available between the end of the year
and the beginning of January 2004
(http://www.beagle2.com).

Appropriate to all this flying, the constellation of
Pegasus the Winged Horse is straight overhead at
sunset in December, with Mars just beneath it. The
stars of the “Great Square” that form Pegasus’ torso
are all bright, formed by a four star diamond with
magnitudes between 2 and 3: alpha Peg, beta Peg, gamma
Peg and Sirrah. Originally the fourth star was called
delta Peg, but nowadays this star is assigned to the
neighboring constellation Andromeda. She rides on the
wings of an airborne equine, a fable of flight for all
time.

LUNAR ALMANAC DECEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern
Time)
December 1: Moon by Mars
December 7: Moon at apogee (406,275 km); lower high
tides, higher low tides.
December 8: Full Moon (3:37 PM)
December 10: Moon by Saturn
December 15: Moon by Jupiter
December 16: Last Quarter (12:43 PM)
December 22: Moon at perigee (358,348 km); higher high
tides, lower low tides.
December 23: New Moon (4:44 AM)
December 25: Moon by Venus
December 30: First Quarter (5:05 AM)
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC DECEMBER 2003 (All times are Eastern at
the 80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
December 1: Sun Rise: 6:51 AM, Sun Set: 5:26 PM
December 15: Sun Rise: 7:00 AM, Sun Set: 5:29 PM
December 31: Sun Rise: 7:08 AM, Sun Set: 5:37 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
VENUS (mag. -4.0) passes from Sagittarius to
Capricornus, low in the west at sunset.
MERCURY (mag. 0.5) is lower than Venus and to her
right in Capricornus, easily visible in the west after
sunset during the first 2 weeks of December.
MARS shines beneath the Circlet of Pisces at mag.
-0.5). Its ginger glow is easily visible after sunset
in the south.
SATURN shines (mag. -0.83) between the kneecaps of
Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, visible low in
the west-northwest at dawn.
JUPITER beams brightly (mag. -2.6) at the hind feet of
Leo high in the southeast before dawn.
EARTH sees the shortest day of the year for the
northern hemisphere, as the winter solstice occurs on
December 22nd at 2:04 AM EST.

Join the "science giant" Erich Landstrom on SCIFI
OVERDRIVE radio program for science fiction, and
science fact stranger sounding than fiction. It’s like
Paul Harvey, with pointy ears. Listen to a broadcast
Monday mornings on the Business Talk radio network and
at www.scifioverdrive.com over the Internet!


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
http://sseforum.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com


__________________________________
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** High Priority **

Seminole Community College Planetarium
Press Release 112003

For IMMEDIATE Release

Contact Person: Laurent Pellerin
                           SCC Planetarium Operations & Production
                           407 328 2409 (office)
                           407 754 4078 (cell)

POSSIBLE AURORA VISIBLE FROM CENTRAL FLORIDA TONIGHT

As the following SpaceWeather.com News alert explains, the Sun's
magnetic field, along with the Earth's magnetic field, a lined up to
allow for extremely high altitude auroras stretching southward tonight.
If this continues, the resulting auroras MAY be high enough to see over
the curve of the Earth from Central Florida.  On average this occurs
every 20 years or so.  But there was an aurora visible from Central
Florida in April 2000, and earlier this month!

To view this aurora try to find a flat, DARK, northern horizon.  You
should see a red glow in the sky.  The aurora may appear at any time.
Remember, this is a Low Latitude Auroral Warning.  This means conditions
are good for see the aurora from out middle-low latitude position, but
not guaranteed.

Laurent A. Pellerin, Jr.
Operations & Production Manager
Seminole Community College Planetarium
100 Weldon Blvd
Sanford, Florida 32773-6199
407 328 2409 (Office)
407 754 4078 (Cell)
407 328 2360 (Show Info)
PelleriL@...
http://www.scc-fl.edu/planet/





>>> SpaceWeather.com <swlist@...> 11/20/03 11:22:00 AM
>>>
Space Weather News for Nov. 20, 2003
http://spaceweather.com

A coronal mass ejection swept past Earth during the early hours of
Nov.
20th and sparked bright auroras over northern parts of the United
States.
At the time of this writing (1600 UT or 11:00 a.m. EST) a strong
geomagnetic storm is in progress.  The interplanetary magnetic field
near
Earth has tilted sharply south--a condition which promotes geomagnetic
activity. If this condition persists, auroras are possible at low
latitudes tonight.

The source of this space weather is sunspot 484--one of the trio of
big
sunspots that caused intense solar storms last month.  Indeed all three
of
those active regions are back on the Earth-facing side of the sun, so
more
solar activity is possible in the days ahead.

Visit Spaceweather.com for more information and pictures of today's
auroras.

---
You are currently subscribed to spaceweather as:
pelleril@...
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
leave-spaceweather-391418B@...

Laurent Pellerin wrote:

> ** High Priority **
>
> Seminole Community College Planetarium
> Press Release 112003
>
> For IMMEDIATE Release
>
> Contact Person: Laurent Pellerin
>                           SCC Planetarium Operations & Production
>                           407 328 2409 (office)
>                           407 754 4078 (cell)
>
> POSSIBLE AURORA VISIBLE FROM CENTRAL FLORIDA TONIGHT
Take a look at http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~oliver/ConCamRH/aurora.htm to
see what our night sky camera saw ... this aurora was not easily visible
to the naked eye but shows clearly on the ConCam RH.

--
John Oliver
Associate Professor
Associate Chair/Undergraduate Coordinator
Department of Astronomy
University of Florida
Project AST@RHO http://astrho.astro.ufl.edu
see the night sky at http://concam.net/rh/

OverSky for January 2004: CHARIOTS OF THE GOODS.
posted by Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System
Educator

Remember “Chariot of the Gods?” Long before the
X-Files were shown on Fox, “Chariots” postulated the
theory that ancient Earth had been visited by aliens.
Most incredible of all, however, was the suggestion
that we ourselves are the descendants of these
galactic pioneers. The archeological “evidence” was
supposed to include an alien astronaut preserved in a
pyramid, thousand-year-old spaceflight navigation
charts, computer astronomy from Incan and Egyptian
ruins, and a giant spaceport discovered in the Andes.

Well, I myself do have a cosmic connection, but I’ll
explain that at the end of the article. I was more
interested in the real goods: chariots that can be
seen this January, two of which actually are aliens
visiting another planet.

The first chariot is in the constellation of Auriga,
the Charioteer. Auriga (pronounced “oh-RYE-gah”) gets
surprisingly little attention despite having the
brilliant magnitude zero star Capella. Perhaps that’s
because his neighbors are more famous and easy to
recognize. Orion the Hunter is immediately below him,
and the Gemini twins are immediately behind him to the
east. Auriga has a heavenly handicap – the bright
magnitude one star that would make his foot was
misappropriated to make the right horn of Taurus the
Bull. As a result of Auriga’s disability, his pentagon
shape is portrayed as riding a chariot (hence “the
charioteer”) with three kids onboard. These kids are
baby goats, represented in a narrow triangle of 4th
magnitude stars. Capella to the left of “The Kids” is
supposed to their mother, carried on Auriga’s left
shoulder.

Chariots two and three are NASA robot rovers that will
roll on the planet Mars. The first Mars Exploration
Rover will arrive at Mars on Jan. 4, 2004; the second
on Jan. 25. Plans call for each to operate for at
least three months. The identical rovers can see
sharper images, explore farther and examine rocks
better than anything that's ever landed on Mars. These
missions continue NASA's quest to understand the role
of water on the red planet.

These chariots come equipped with air bags to safely
reach Mars. The rovers will bounce to airbag-cushioned
landings at sites offering a balance of favorable
conditions for safe landings and interesting science.
The designated site for the first mission “Spirit” is
Gusev Crater. The second rover “Opportunity” will go
to a site called Meridiani Planum. Gusev appears to
have been a crater lake. The channel of an ancient
riverbed indicates water flowed right into it.
Meridiani has a large deposit of gray hematite, a
mineral that usually forms in a wet environment.

The rovers, working as remote-controlled robotic field
geologists, will examine the sites for clues about
what happened there. First, a panoramic camera at
human-eye height, and a miniature thermal emission
spectrometer with infrared vision help scientists
identify the most interesting rocks. The rovers can
watch for hazards and maneuver around them. Each
six-wheeled robot has a deck of solar panels, about
the size of a kitchen table, for power. The rover
drives to the selected rock and extends an arm with
tools on the end. Then, a microscopic imager, like a
geologist's hand lens, gives a close-up view of the
rock's texture. Two spectrometers identify the
composition of the rock. The fourth tool substitutes
for a geologist's hammer. It exposes the fresh
interior of a rock by scraping away the weathered
surface layer. Additional information about the
project is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ .

So what’s the cosmic connection between the “Chariot
of the Gods,” Auriga and myself? My name is ERICH.
“Chariots of the Gods” was written by ERICH von
Daniken. And the constellation of Auriga the
Charioteer was named for ERICHthonius. In Greek
mythology, Erichthonius was the son of the goddess of
wisdom Athena, and the first to invent the four-horse
powered chariot.

LUNAR ALMANAC JANUARY 2004 (All times are Eastern
Time)
January 3, Moon at apogee (405,706 km); lower high
tides, higher low tides.
January 6: Moon by Saturn (evening)
January 7: Full Moon (10:40 AM)
January 11: Moon by Jupiter (evening)
January 14: Last Quarter Moon (11:47 PM)
January 19: Moon by Mercury (dawn)
January 19: Moon at perigee (362,767 km); higher high
tides, lower low tides
January 21: New Moon (4:06 PM)
January 24: Moon by Venus (dusk)
January 27: Moon by Mars (evening)
January 29: First Quarter (1:04 AM)
January 31: Moon at apogee (404,806 km); lower high
tides, higher low tides.
Tip: The full moon's diameter measures about 1/2 of
one degree in the night sky.

SOLAR ALMANAC JANUARY 2003 (All times are Eastern at
the 80 deg. N. longitude of West Palm Beach.  Add 20
minutes to each time for each 5º west.)
January 1: Sun Rise: 7:08 AM, Sun Set: 5:38 PM
January 15: Sun Rise: 7:10 AM, Sun Set: 5:48 PM
January 30: Sun Rise: 7:06 AM, Sun Set: 6:00 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLANET PLACEMENT
VENUS (mag. -4) in Capricornus is the brilliant “star”
in the southwest after sunset
MARS (mag. 0.05) lights up the south after sundown in
Pisces.
SATURN is rising the east at sundown and visible (mag.
-0.8) most of the night in Gemini. Its rings are near
their maximum tilt (25 degrees) toward us, making it
an entrancing sight in the telescope.
JUPITER (mag. -2.1) rises in the east around midnight,
and is high in the south at sunrise.

Join the "science giant" Erich Landstrom on SCIFI
OVERDRIVE radio program for science fiction and
science fact that sounds stranger than fiction. It’s
like Paul Harvey, with pointy ears. Listen to a
broadcast Monday mornings on the Business Talk radio
network and at www.scifioverdrive.com over the
Internet!


=====
Erich Landstrom, NASA JPL Solar System Educator
http://sseforum.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
[Hands-on teacher training workshops sharing NASA's
missions of research, discovery and exploration!]

Science fiction & science fact stranger than fiction.
Listen Monday mornings on http://www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.com


__________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

John, Thank you for the great photos and time lapse gif's.  Due to
even the fairly low light pollution levels here in Deltona, and the
weakening and reversal of the solar magnetic field just before dark,
I was unable to see the aurora myself.  I thought they ended about
Georgia/Florida.  But its great to see they got as far south as
Rosemary Hill.  Everyone on the list should check out you link.

Thanks again, Laurent

--- In Southern_Nights@yahoogroups.com, John Oliver <oliver@a...>
wrote:
> > POSSIBLE AURORA VISIBLE FROM CENTRAL FLORIDA TONIGHT
> Take a look at http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~oliver/ConCamRH/aurora.htm
to
> see what our night sky camera saw ... this aurora was not easily
visible
> to the naked eye but shows clearly on the ConCam RH.