----- Original Message -----

From: Richard Rosenberg

To: Richard Rosenberg

Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 5:47 PM

Subject: Strange Doings in the Solar System; The High Line

Hello Members,

 

You’ve probably heard of Jupiter’s new black spot, a result of a collision with a comet or asteroid.  Have any of you seen it?

 

Now there may have been a similar event on Venus, which has suddenly sprouted a bright patch.  Story at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17534-mysterious-bright-spot-found-on-venus.html.

 

Joe Delfausse, myself and maybe a few others are heading to the High Line around 14^th Street this evening a little after 8 PM to check out the Moon and Jupiter.  For those of you who don’t know, the High Line is the remnant of an elevated freight train route that has been converted to an amazing park.  Enter at 14^th Street near 10^th Avenue.  http://www.thehighline.org/

Rich

president@...

718-522-5014

 

The Kepler Space Telescope, which launched earlier this year to find Earth-like
planets elsewhere in our galaxy, showed it's open for business with NASA's
announcement that an exoplanet we thought we knew is like nothing we've seen
before.

Peering at a large planet orbiting very close to its star, HAT-P-7b, the
telescope delivered what one scientist called "exquisite" data, proving that
it's ready to start looking for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones
around stars.

Analyzing just 10 days of data, the scientists even turned up a major surprise:
HAT-P-7b isn't like Jupiter at all. It has a "dark" side and its atmosphere
could be made of relatively exotic chemicals like titanium oxide.

"This planet is not like anything in Earth's solar system," said Sara Seager, an
exoplanetary scientist at MIT.

The hottest spot on Hat-P-7b could be more than 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than the coldest spot. There is no comparable planet around our star.

Read more here:

http://kepler.nasa.gov/


Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm

Titanium oxide? That's some atmosphere! Yikes!

Bruce


--- In nyswa@yahoogroups.com, "jrsquid3" <jkendall@...> wrote:
>
> The Kepler Space Telescope, which launched earlier this year to find
Earth-like planets elsewhere in our galaxy, showed it's open for business with
NASA's announcement that an exoplanet we thought we knew is like nothing we've
seen before.
>
> Peering at a large planet orbiting very close to its star, HAT-P-7b, the
telescope delivered what one scientist called "exquisite" data, proving that
it's ready to start looking for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones
around stars.
>
> Analyzing just 10 days of data, the scientists even turned up a major
surprise: HAT-P-7b isn't like Jupiter at all. It has a "dark" side and its
atmosphere could be made of relatively exotic chemicals like titanium oxide.
>
> "This planet is not like anything in Earth's solar system," said Sara Seager,
an exoplanetary scientist at MIT.
>
> The hottest spot on Hat-P-7b could be more than 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit
warmer than the coldest spot. There is no comparable planet around our star.
>
> Read more here:
>
> http://kepler.nasa.gov/
>
>
> Jason Kendall
> Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
> http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
> NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
> http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm
>

----- Original Message -----
From: "cpcomments" <cpcomments@...>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 2:34 PM
Subject: Latest from Cassini ... Revelations in Saturn's Rings Continue!


>
> August 7, 2009
>
>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
>
> With Saturn's highly anticipated equinox less than a week away, and the
> shadows created by the sun's lowering rays growing longer and more
> obvious every day, Cassini continues to uncover new wonders in the
> planet's rings.
>
> Today, the Cassini Imaging Team is releasing a set of recent images that
> yield fresh new insights into the processes at work in this enormous
> sheet of icy debris.
>
> One image reveals for the first time a moonlet, about a half kilometer
> across, embedded in Saturn's outer B ring ... a significant discovery in
> understanding the origin and evolution of the rings.
>
> And shadows cast by unusual structures soaring high above the planet's F
> ring, on the outskirts of the main ring system, are seen in several
> images, providing important clues into the three-dimensional dynamics of
> this extraordinarily intricate ring.
>
> Check it all out at
>
> http://ciclops.org
>
> [A news release on these findings is attached below.]
>
> And be sure to stay tuned.   There will be plenty more to come over the
> days and weeks ahead!
>
>
> Enjoy,
>
> Carolyn Porco
> Cassini Imaging Team Leader
> Director, CICLOPS
> Space Science Institute
> Boulder, CO
>
>
> PS.  To unsubscribe from this list, go to the right hand column of the
> CICLOPS home page ( http://ciclops.org ) and find and click the
> [Unsubscribe] link.
>
>
>
>


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


MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
CASSINI IMAGING CENTRAL LABORATORY FOR OPERATIONS (CICLOPS)
SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLORADO
http://ciclops.org
media@...

Joe Mason (720)974-5859
CICLOPS/Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

Image Advisory: August 7, 2009

REVELATIONS IN SATURN'S RINGS CONTINUE AS EQUINOX APPROACHES

Thanks to a special play of sunlight and shadow as Saturn continues its
march towards its August 11 equinox, recent images captured by NASA's
Cassini spacecraft are revealing new three-dimensional objects and
structures in the planet's otherwise flat rings.

Through the detections of shadows cast upon the rings, a moonlet has been
spotted for the first time in Saturn's dense B ring and narrow vertical
structures are seen soaring upward from Saturn's intricate F ring.

The new images can be found at http://ciclops.org,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

The search for three-dimensional structures in Saturn's rings has been a
major goal of the imaging team during Cassini's "Equinox Mission," the
27-month-long period containing exact equinox -- that moment when the sun is
seen directly overhead at noon at the planet's equator. This novel
illumination geometry, which occurs every half-Saturn-year, or about 15
Earth years, lowers the sun's angle to the ring plane and causes
out-of-plane structures to cast long shadows across the rings' broad
expanse, making them easy to detect.

Saturn's rings are hundreds of thousands of miles or kilometers wide, but
the main rings -- D, C, B and A rings (working outward from the planet) --
are only about 30 feet, or 10 meters, thick.  These main rings lie inside
the relatively narrow F ring.  The thinness of the rings -- well below the
resolving power of the spacecraft's cameras --  makes the determination of
vertical deviations from them difficult through routine imaging.  Solid
evidence of these newly seen structures and others like them becomes
available only during the period of equinox when features protruding above
and below the rings can cast shadows.

The new moonlet in the B ring, situated about 300 miles, or 480 kilometers,
inward from the outer edge of the B ring, was found because of a shadow 25
miles, or 41 kilometers, long that it throws on the rings.  The shadow
length implies the moonlet is protruding about 660 feet, or 200 meters,
above the ring plane.  If the moonlet is orbiting in the same plane as the
ring material surrounding it, which is likely, it must be about 1,300 feet,
or 400 meters, across.  Unlike the band of moonlets discovered in Saturn's A
ring earlier by Cassini, this object is not attended by a propeller feature.
The A ring moonlets, which were not imaged directly, were found because of
the propeller-like narrow gaps on either side of them that they create as
they orbit within the rings. The absence of a propeller feature surrounding
the new moonlet is likely because the B ring is denser and the ring material
in a dense ring would be expected to fill in any gaps more quickly than in a
less dense region like the mid-A ring.  Also, it may simply be harder in the
first place for a moonlet to create propeller-like gaps in a dense ring.

In recent weeks scientists also have collected a series of images of shadows
being cast by vertically extended structures or objects in the F ring.  One
image shows the shadow of what appears to be a vertically extended object in
the core of the F ring, while another image may show the shadow of an object
on an inclined orbit which has punched through the F ring and dragged
material along in its path. A third image shows an F-ring structure casting
a shadow long enough to reach across the wide Roche Division and appear on
the A ring. Imaging scientists are working to understand the origin of these
structures.

New sights such as these -- and the questions they raise and the insights
they may provide -- will continue in the coming days of Saturn's equinox.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed,
developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from
the U.S., England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and
team leader (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in
Boulder, Colo.

-end-

This coming Wednesday night, the 12th of August, is the peak of the Perseid
Meteor Shower.

We are planning a night vigil going very late at the Meadow Overlook in Inwood
Hill Park.  Bring a lawn chair and some heavy clothes (to keep away the bugs)
and maybe some binoculars.  The evening will be a wonderful one with streaks of
light across the sky.

Please do visit this web page for all updates and where we will meet:

http://www.moonbeam.net/InwoodAstronomy/events-20090812.shtml

You may also follow us on Facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113553146103

Remember that this event is weather-permitting, so do call the hotline at
917-529-2359 to get updates.

Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "cpcomments" <cpcomments@...>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:10 PM
Subject: Saturn Equinox Arrives !


>
> August 12, 2009
>
>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
>
> Just a brief note to report that our Saturn Equinox imaging sequences
> hit the ground yesterday and today, and they did not disappoint!  Even a
> cursory examination of them reveals strange new phenomena we hadn't
> fully anticipated.
>
> Over the next week or two, the Imaging Team will be poring over these
> precious gems to see what other surprises await us, and as usual, we
> will announce what we have found as soon as we can.
>
> In the meantime, check out a few of our raw images at ...
>
> http://ciclops.org
>
> ... and join us in celebrating.  It's a good time to be alive!
>
>
> Enjoy,
>
> Carolyn Porco
> Cassini Imaging Team Leader
> Director, CICLOPS
> Space Science Institute
> Boulder, CO
>
>
>

Finally, we are getting back to good observing nights.  Those Summer nights,
while pleasant are always bad for stargazing, with hazy clouds, short night-time
skies and swarms of bugs.

With the cooler Fall comes the best observing.  The atmosphere becomes stable,
allowing gorgeous visions of the night sky.

Forecast looks GREAT for tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will certainly be
outside on Wednesday night, possibly late at our normal location at the baseball
diamonds in Inwood Hill Park.  Featured will be a nearly full Moon and Jupiter
high in the East.  To the north, we'll be able to see the Perseus
double-cluster, and numerous double stars.  The Moon's brightness will wash out
much of the fainter objects, but it is a great time to start learning about the
upcoming LCROSS impact on October 9.  Let's try to find the impact locations,
prior to our big event on the morning of October 9, when we meet out in the park
for a pre-breakfast get-together.  (more info here: 
http://www.moonbeam.net/InwoodAstronomy/events-20091009.shtml )

Tonight, (Tuesday the 1st) I will be "flying the Dome" with Brian Abbot at the
Hayden Planetarium.  It is a 6:30 PM show featuring the full-dome 3-dimensional
map of all stars and galaxies known to man.  Brian will take a tour of the local
neighborhood and show how people know what they know about the sky.  I will be
flying for Brian's show, interjecting color commentary along the way.  The
Hayden is part of the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center.  To lean
more, visit this link: 
http://www.amnh.org/programs/programs.php?date=2009-09-01&event_id=1409

This is a GREAT week for Astronomy and stargazing, take advantage of it!

As always, keep looking Up Up Up in the Sky!

Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil deGrasse Tyson" <tyson@...>
To: "department" <star-struck@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 12:13 PM
Subject: [star-struck] Double sighting of ISS+Shuttle over NY Metro Area


> Dear Star Struck,
>
> Clouds permitting, this evening (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday)
> evening, all New York area residents will enjoy good naked-eye views
> of the International Space Station flying overhead.
>
> And as a cosmic bonus, you also get to see the just-undocked space
> shuttle orbiter Discovery (STS 128) in tandem as they both pass near
> Jupiter on the sky.
>
> For viewing details, check out today's Hayden Planetarium Blog by the
> one and only Joe Rao:
>
> http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/blog/joerao/2009/09/08/two-show
>
> As always, keep looking up.
>
> -NDTyson
>
> Neil deGrasse Tyson
> Department of Astrophysics
>    &  Director, Hayden Planetarium
> American Museum of Natural History
> Central Park West at 79th Street
> New York, NY 10024
>
> http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/
> ==========================
>
> To add your name to the Hayden Panetarium's
> "Star-Struck" e-list, where you will recieve timely
> notices of cosmic happenings at the Museum
> and in the sky,  send a blank e-mail to:
>
> star-struck-join@...
>
> To unsubscribe, visit:
> http://haydenplanetarium.org/contact/lists/starstruck/
>
> ==========================
> star-struck mailing list

The Inwood Astronomy Project presents The Uptown Planetarium Lecture Series at
the New York Public Library:

Wild Universe! Black Holes and Gamma-Ray Bursts, Quasars and Neutron
Stars.

September 12 and 19, 2009, 1:00 PM

Our night sky looks peaceful, placid and wondrous, but scientists and
astronomers have recently discovered jut how amazingly violent the
Universe can be. There are cataclysmic explosions and extreme
environments beyond our imaginations. The Chandra X-Ray Telescope, The
Hubble Space Telescope, and the Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope all give us
pictures of the most violent places in the Cosmos. Come see what
happens to stuff near a Black Hole. Learn how supernova explosions
create super-dense stars. And see beacons of light so bright that they
can be seen literally across the entire Universe. Come join us for a
safe view of these wild corners of the sky.

More information:
http://www.moonbeam.net/InwoodAstronomy/events-uptownplanetarium.shtml

About The Lectures

As part of The International Year of Astronomy 2009, The Inwood
Astronomy Project (IAP) is presenting twelve live Planetarium Show /
Lectures at the New York Public Library, Inwood Branch. Supported by
NASA's Solar System Ambassador Program, each planetarium show is a 90-
minute space and sky slide show using Astronomy software with a
digital projector. Each show will feature astonishing photos from the
NASA's current space and planetary exploration missions and up-to-date
research and ideas from Astronomy. It's a great way to learn Astronomy
with a knowledgeable NASA/JPL volunteer to answer all your questions.
All shows are free, open to the public, and suitable for kids and
families. There will also be free NASA handouts, posters and
lithographs for everyone who comes. All of the lectures will be at
the New York Public Library, Inwood Branch in the downstairs
auditorium, located at 4790 Broadway [near Dyckman St.], New York, NY
10034-4916. The library's phone number is 212-942-2445. It is right
next to a car wash. To get there by train, take the "A" train to the
Dyckman/200th Street stop. It is one block from the subway. You can
also come by the "1" train, but the walk from the Dyckman Street stop
over to Broadway is about 6 blocks.

This is supported by the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors Program,
with material support by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Fermi
Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm

Passing this interesting tidbit along...

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


From Rachel Zimmerman-Brachman of the Cassini Outreach Team, FYI…

Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest – Deadline September 30, 2009

Dear Teachers,

The Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest is an opportunity for students
around the world to learn about the Cassini mission to Saturn and to study and
write about one of three of Saturn's most interesting science targets: Saturn
and its Rings, Tethys and Saturn's Rings, and Titan.

Students in graders 5-12 watch videos of Cassini team members (scientists,
engineers, mission planners, science planners, etc. representing both genders
and a variety of ethnic backgrounds) as they introduce the contest and advocate
for one of the three targets.  The students work alone or in small groups to
decide which target they think will yield the most interesting science results,
and they conduct research and write an essay of up to 500 words justifying their
selection.

In the process, students learn to think like scientists, and gain practice
writing essays.  They learn to conduct research and argue for their chosen
target in much the same way that Cassini scientists do.

The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn will take images of Saturn, Tethys, and
Titan on October 11, 2009.  Winning students and their classes will be invited
to participate in a teleconference with Cassini scientists in mid to late
October.

The contest deadline for Fall 2009 is September 30, 2009 at noon Pacific Time
(3:00pm Eastern Time).

Cassini Scientist for a Day website:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday8thedition/

This essay contest is an official "Special Project" of the International Year of
Astronomy 2009.  For international participation, visit this website:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday8thedition/international/

For more information, contact: scientistforaday@...

We hope your students will participate in this contest.

Best wishes,
The Cassini Outreach Team
scientistforaday@...

AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS ASSOCIATION
2009 – 2010 LECTURE SERIES

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FRIDAY EVENINGS 6:15 - 8:00

KAUFMANN AUDITORIUM at the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY


October 2
Michael Way, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
"100 Years of Cosmology: From Spiral Nebulae to the Cosmic Microwave Background"


November 6
Alan Guth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(John Marshall Lecture)
"Inflationary Cosmology: Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse?"



December 4
Charles Baltay, Yale University
"Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe: Accelerating Universes, Dark Matter,
Dark Energy, and All That"

January 8
Jerry Bonnell, NASA; Astronomy Picture of the Day
"Astronomy Picture of the Day: 2009"

February 5
Arlin Crotts, Columbia University
"Liquid Mirror Telescopes are Looking Up"

March 5
John Gianforte, Blue Sky Observatory
"In the Footsteps of the Master: Discovering the Contributions of Galileo"

April 9
Glennys Farrar, New York University
"High Energy Astrophysics with a Neutrino Telescope in NYC"

May 7
Ruben Kier, Advanced Radiology Consultants
"Best Targets for Amateur Astrophotography and What They Reveal About Our
Universe"

Jason invited you to "Urban Starfest" on Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm.

Event: Urban Starfest
        "The AAA's annual observing session in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park.
"
What: Club/Group Meeting
Start Time: Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm
End Time: Saturday, September 26 at 10:00pm
Where: Sheep Meadow in Central Park

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=135631683957&mid=116e3caG4c3415a8Ge1492\
3G7

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

___
This message was intended for nyswa@yahoogroups.com. Want to control which
emails you receive from Facebook? Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications&md=ZXZlbnRfaW52aXRlO2Zyb20\
9Nzk2MjU3NDQ1O2VpZD0xMzU2MzE2ODM5NTc7dG89MTI3ODQ4MTgzMg==&mid=116e3caG4c3415a8Ge\
14923G7
Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.

First Rocky World Confirmed Around Another Star

One of the smallest exoplanets yet discovered has just been confirmed as a rocky
world, scientists announced.

The planet, called CoRoT-7b, is the first planet beyond our solar system with a
proven density similar to Earth's, astronomers say. Most known exoplanets are
large gas giants like Jupiter.

"We have indications that other exoplanets could be rocky, but it's the first
time that the density of such a planet has been measured," said study team
member Claire Moutou of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille in France.
"We are really sure it's rocky."


http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090916-rocky-exoplanet.html

A list for asteroid and comet researcher
----- Original Message -----
From: mpml@yahoogroups.com
To: mpml@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 3:35 AM
Subject: {MPML} Digest Number 3296


Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 16, 2009

The asteroid Juno was photographed in 2003 with a special
optics system on the Hooker telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory.
The researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who
took the picture used varying wavelengths of light as measured in
nanometers, starting with cyan and going into the infrared. Image
credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the
asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in
the night sky. Those who get out to a dark, unpolluted sky will be able
to spot the asteroid's silvery glint near the planet Uranus with a pair
of binoculars.

"It can usually be seen by a good amateur telescope, but the guy on the
street doesn't usually get a chance to observe it," said Don Yeomans,
manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "This is
going to be as bright as it gets until 2018."

Juno, one of the first asteroids discovered, is thought to be the parent
of many of the meteorites that rain on Earth. The asteroid is composed
mostly of hardy silicate rock, which is tough enough that fragments
broken off by collisions can often survive a trip through Earth's
atmosphere.

Though pockmarked by bang-ups with other asteroids, Juno is large; in
fact, it is the tenth largest asteroid. It measures about 234 kilometers
(145 miles) in diameter, or about one-fifteenth the diameter of the moon.

The asteroid, which orbits the sun on a track between Mars and Jupiter,
will be at its brightest on Sept. 21, when it is zooming around the sun
at about 22 kilometers per second (49,000 miles per hour). At that time,
its apparent magnitude will be 7.6, which is about two-and- a-half times
brighter than normal. The extra brightness will come from its position
in a direct line with the sun and its proximity to Earth. (The asteroid
will still be about 180 million kilometers [112 million miles] away, so
there is no danger it will fall towards Earth.)

Skywatchers with telescopes can probably see Juno from now until the end
of the year, but it is most visible to binoculars in late September. On
or before Sept. 21, look for Juno near midnight a few degrees east of
the brighter glow of Uranus and in the constellation Pisces. It will
look like a gray dot in the sky, and each night at the end of September,
it will appear slightly more southwest of its location the night before.
By Sept. 25, it will be closer to the constellation Aquarius and best
seen before midnight.

For more information: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the next NASA/JPL planetarium lecture-show at
the New York Public Library in Inwood.

See below for all the information.

Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm





--- In nyswa@yahoogroups.com, "jrsquid3" <jkendall@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> The Inwood Astronomy Project presents The Uptown Planetarium Lecture Series at
the New York Public Library:
>
> Wild Universe! Black Holes and Gamma-Ray Bursts, Quasars and Neutron
> Stars.
>
> September 12 and 19, 2009, 1:00 PM
>
> Our night sky looks peaceful, placid and wondrous, but scientists and
> astronomers have recently discovered jut how amazingly violent the
> Universe can be. There are cataclysmic explosions and extreme
> environments beyond our imaginations. The Chandra X-Ray Telescope, The
> Hubble Space Telescope, and the Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope all give us
> pictures of the most violent places in the Cosmos. Come see what
> happens to stuff near a Black Hole. Learn how supernova explosions
> create super-dense stars. And see beacons of light so bright that they
> can be seen literally across the entire Universe. Come join us for a
> safe view of these wild corners of the sky.
>
> More information:
> http://www.moonbeam.net/InwoodAstronomy/events-uptownplanetarium.shtml
>
> About The Lectures
>
> As part of The International Year of Astronomy 2009, The Inwood
> Astronomy Project (IAP) is presenting twelve live Planetarium Show /
> Lectures at the New York Public Library, Inwood Branch. Supported by
> NASA's Solar System Ambassador Program, each planetarium show is a 90-
> minute space and sky slide show using Astronomy software with a
> digital projector. Each show will feature astonishing photos from the
> NASA's current space and planetary exploration missions and up-to-date
> research and ideas from Astronomy. It's a great way to learn Astronomy
> with a knowledgeable NASA/JPL volunteer to answer all your questions.
> All shows are free, open to the public, and suitable for kids and
> families. There will also be free NASA handouts, posters and
> lithographs for everyone who comes. All of the lectures will be at
> the New York Public Library, Inwood Branch in the downstairs
> auditorium, located at 4790 Broadway [near Dyckman St.], New York, NY
> 10034-4916. The library's phone number is 212-942-2445. It is right
> next to a car wash. To get there by train, take the "A" train to the
> Dyckman/200th Street stop. It is one block from the subway. You can
> also come by the "1" train, but the walk from the Dyckman Street stop
> over to Broadway is about 6 blocks.
>
> This is supported by the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors Program,
> with material support by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Fermi
> Gamma-Ray Space Telescope
>
> Jason Kendall
> Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
> http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
> NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
> http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm
>

An excellent night for stargazing!  Come join us in Inwood Hill Park!

Here is a map:

http://www.InwoodAstronomy.org

Jason Kendall
Director, Inwood Astronomy Project
http://www.inwoodastronomy.org
NASA/JPL Solar system Ambassador, New York City
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jason_Kendall.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "cpcomments" <cpcomments@...>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:00 PM
Subject: From Saturn: The Rite of Spring !
>
> September 21, 2009
>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
>
> Today, the Cassini Imaging Team takes enormous pleasure in bringing to
> you  ... for the first time ever ... detailed scenes from Saturn equinox.
>
> Go to ...
>
> http://ciclops.org
>
> ... and witness for yourself one of our solar system's most enchanting
> spectacles, and some of the most profound discoveries we have yet made
> in Saturn's rings.  It will be a very long time before any of us sees
> anything like this again.
>
> A summary of many of these findings can be found in the news release
> that was issued a moment ago and is attached to this email.
>
> And be sure to take a look tomorrow, in the Science Times section of the
> New York Times, where some of our images will be printed.
>
>
> Enjoy!!
>
>
> Carolyn Porco
> Cassini Imaging Team Leader
> Director, CICLOPS
> Space Science Institute
> Boulder, CO
>
> http://twitter.com/carolynporco
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolyn-Porco/116163229386
>



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


MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
CASSINI IMAGING CENTRAL LABORATORY FOR OPERATIONS (CICLOPS)
SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLORADO
http://ciclops.org
media@...

Joe Mason (720)974-5859
CICLOPS/Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

For immediate release: Sept. 21, 2009

SATURN EQUINOX PROVIDES HUMANITY RARE CLOSE-UP GLIMPSE OF PLANET'S RINGS

In a rare and breathtaking display of nature, the setting of the sun on
Saturn's rings, called equinox, has been captured in a series of striking
Cassini images, uncovering a heretofore hidden dimension to this fabled disk
of icy debris and highlighting new ring phenomena in the process.  The new
images, released today, have given excited Cassini scientists a truly unique
and revealing glimpse into the physical processes underlying the rings'
architecture and time-variability.

At the exact moment of equinox, which occurs twice every Saturn year (or
once every 14.8 Earth years), the sun is directly overhead at the equator
and illuminating the rings directly edge-on.  But a few months before and
after this moment, and especially during the four days surrounding exact
equinox, the sun's rays are only skimming the ring plane, significantly
darkening the rings, and disclosing out-of-plane structures by making these
features anomalously bright and causing them to cast long shadows.

It is these novel lighting conditions surrounding Saturn's August 11, 2009
equinox that have made possible the bounty of recent discoveries in a slate
of images released today by the Cassini imaging team.

The new images can be found at http://ciclops.org,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

Summing up the past several months of Cassini's exploration of Saturn during
this unusual celestial event, imaging team leader Carolyn Porco in Boulder,
Colo., said, "This has been a moving spectacle to behold, and one that has
left us with far greater insight into the workings of Saturn's rings than
any of us could have imagined.  We always knew it would be good.  Instead,
it's been extraordinary."

In one unexpected equinox discovery, imaging scientists have uncovered
evidence for present-day impacts onto the rings.  Bright, and hence
elevated, clouds of tiny particles, sheared out by orbital motion into
streaks, up to 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) long, have been sighted in the
A and C rings.  These clouds -- very likely thrown up by impacts -- rising
above the dark ring plane are more directly catching the sun's rays during
equinox, and are hence well lit and easily visible by contrast.

By the brightness and dimensions of the streaks, scientists estimate the
impactor sizes at roughly one meter, and the time since impact at one to two
days.  These equinox data now lend more confidence to the impact
interpretation of earlier Cassini images, taken in 2005, showing similar
streaks in the C ring.  In the 2005 images, the impactors are likely much
smaller than one meter, and yet have left a visible ejecta cloud.  All
together, these observations are heralded as the first visual confirmation
of a long-held belief that bits of interplanetary debris continually rain
down on Saturn's rings and contribute to their erosion and evolution.

Many of the images at equinox have yielded brand new insights into
discoveries made earlier in the Cassini mission.  Imaging scientists were
especially startled to find that a gentle, spiraling undulation with a
19-mile (30-kilometer) wavelength, discovered in 2006 extending across 500
miles (800 kilometers) of the D ring, is now seen dramatically highlighted
by the low-sun-angle illumination to extend fully across the C ring, right
up to the inner B ring. In total, it covers a radial distance of about
11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers).  This remarkable result calls into
question the initial conjecture that an early-1980s impact of an object a
few meters across into the D ring initiated the wave disturbance.  The
enormous extent of the corrugation now makes its existence more mysterious
than ever, and imaging scientists are struggling to understand its origin.
Dr. Matthew Hedman, an imaging team associate at Cornell University in
Ithaca, N.Y., said, "It looks like something happened in the early 1980's to
get this pattern going, but we are still trying to figure out what could
have disturbed such a large part of the rings."

The equinox season has brought with it a fuller appreciation of the behavior
of ring particles in regions perturbed by Saturnian moons. Early Cassini
images had clearly shown that particle aggregates, or clumps, several miles
or kilometers in extent, were formed in regions undergoing extreme, periodic
compression of ring material due to the resonant gravitational forcing by
Saturn's satellites external to the rings.  Examples of these regions are
the many strong density waves throughout the rings where very strong
satellite gravitational resonances are known to be controlling influences.
Now, narrow ring regions coincident with the excitation sites of these waves
have been observed to be unusually bright as well, and hence elevated above
the ring plane.  Here the forced compression that is the hallmark of wave
generation and propagation has resulted in vertical displacement.

Clumps have been observed in other perturbed ring locales, too, in the
recent collection of images.  The narrow ring in the Colombo Gap in the C
ring, previously believed to be longitudinally smooth, now clearly sports
clumps.  And clumps within the kinky, discontinuous ringlets of the Encke
Gap have in fact been spotted casting shadows long enough to reach across
the 200-mile (325-kilometer) -wide gap and onto the A ring.  Both regions
are known to be affected by the gravitational forcing of moons:
29-kilometer-wide Pan orbits alongside the ringlets in the Encke gap, and
Saturn's largest moon Titan controls the behavior of the Colombo Gap
ringlet.   Imaging scientists are seeing in all these observations the
opportunity to understand, better than ever before, the three-dimensional
response of planetary rings to external influences.

Yet another surprise has been the extreme heights to which the waves created
in the edges of the Keeler Gap by the 8-kilometer-wide ring moon, Daphnis,
can rise.   Earlier Cassini images revealed the vertical extent of these
waves to be about nine-tenths of mile, or 1.5 kilometers, high; one recent
equinox image has caught them reaching 2.5 times higher.  The most plausible
explanation for this is the possibility that Daphnis can get closer to the
inner gap edge, and can make an even greater disturbance there than
previously believed.

The unusual equinox geometry has also thrown into relief small moonlets
within the rings and the structures they create around them.  Propeller-like
features, a few kilometers long, centered on and created by the action of
small embedded moonlets only about 330 feet (100 meters) across, were
discovered early in the mission.  These findings constituted the first
recognition that bodies smaller than the 8-kilometer-wide ring moon,
Daphnis, in the outer A ring and bigger than the largest ring particles
(about 30 feet, or 10 meters, across) were present in Saturn's rings.

But the equinox images have revealed unusually large, 80-mile-long
(130-kilometer-long) propeller features in the outer A ring.  From the
220-mile (350-kilometer) length of the shadow cast by one of them, the
heights of these features above the ring plane can reach approximately 660
feet (200 meters) indicating the moonlet responsible for this propeller is
likely 1,300 feet (400 meters) across. A previously released early-equinox
image had also revealed a moonlet in the outer B ring about 1,300 feet (400
meters) across. It has since become a growing realization resulting from
Cassini's exploration of Saturn, that the objects forming Saturn's rings
very likely span the full spectrum of sizes, from the smallest dust-sized
ring particles to the ring-moons like Daphnis and Pan -- a significant
advance in divining the origin of Saturn's rings.

Finally, a full-system mosaic of Saturn and its rings -- in natural color,
taken a little over a day past exact equinox, showing one half of the rings
only dimly lit by sunlight reflected off the planet, the other in near total
darkness  -- caps this series of unique images.   Said Porco, "To know that
in this one image we are witnessing, for the first time, up close, one of
the solar system's greatest wonders is to feel truly blessed."

Cassini's Equinox Mission will continue through the end of September 2010.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed,
developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from
the U.S., England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and
team leader (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in
Boulder, Colo.

-end-

A list for asteroid and comet researcher"Richard Kowalski is the first
person in history to
possess a piece of an object that he discovered in space."

See messages below from the Minor Planet Yahoo group:

----- Original Message -----
From: mpml@yahoogroups.com
To: mpml@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 3:44 AM
Subject: {MPML} Digest Number 3299

A list for asteroid and comet researcher
Messages In This Digest (3 Messages)

1a. 2008 TC3 to Almahatta Sitta and back to Tucson From: Richard Kowalski
1b. Re: 2008 TC3 to Almahatta Sitta and back to Tucson From: Roy Tucker

2. Meteroids 2010 Conference From: Ron Baalke
View All Topics | Create New Topic Messages

1a. 2008 TC3 to Almahatta Sitta and back to Tucson
Posted by: "Richard Kowalski" kowalski@...   mpmlowner
Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:44 pm (PDT)

Hello all,

just a brief note to let you know that I have received my own piece of 2008
TC3
thanks to a number of people from all around the world.
I'd like to publicly thank all of you who donated money on my behalf and
especially Herbert Raab for making this come true. I am honored and humbled
by
your generosity!

I have uploaded a photo to two locations, of me holding the fully crusted,
2.1
gram individual in front of the Catalina Sky Survey's 1.5-m (60") telescope,
where 2008 TC3 was discovered last October.

Subscribers to MPML can view the image in the photo section for the list
under
the Catalina Sky Survey album and it can also be viewed via this direct
link.

http://fullmoonphotography.net/images/Meteorites/RAKowalski_G96_2008TC3-a.jpg

Thank you all.

--
Richard Kowalski
Catalina Sky Survey
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721


1b. Re: 2008 TC3 to Almahatta Sitta and back to Tucson
Posted by: "Roy Tucker" gpobs@...   roy_tucker2000
Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:47 pm (PDT)

Yahoo! It's official! Richard Kowalski is the first person in history to
possess a piece of an object that he discovered in space.

2. Meteroids 2010 Conference
Posted by: "Ron Baalke" baalke@...
Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:39 pm (PDT)

http://www.cora.nwra.com/Meteoroids2010/

Meteroids 2010
Brekenridge, Colorado
An International Conference on Minor Bodies in the Solar System
May 24-28, 2010

*_FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT_*

Call for contributed talks and posters
Early registration DEADLINE TBD
Registration fee increases after TBD

*Please pre-register in order to help us with the planning of the logistics
of the conference*
****Click here to pre-register****
<http://www.cora.nwra.com/Meteoroids2010/Form.html>

This conference will be the seventh in a series of meetings on
meteoroids and related topics, which have been held approximately every
three years since 1993. In 2007 the meeting was organized by the Institut
d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) and the /Institut de Ciencies de
l'Espai (CSIC) /and was held in CosmoCaixa, the science museum of the
Obra Social Fundacio La Caixa in Barcelona, Spain. The topics covered
during that meeting included the origin, nature, evolution and dynamics of
solar system minor bodies, with special emphasis on the study of
micrometer- to meter-sized fragments of comets and asteroids.

The 2010 meeting programme is expected to have sessions which cover the
following areas:

- Observational techniques and meteor detection programs

- Meteor shower activity and forecasting

- Dynamics, sources and spatial distribution of meteoroids including
sporadic, swarm and interstellar meteoroids

- Meteoroid interactions with Earth and planetary atmospheres;
ablation, fragmentation, deceleration.

- Atmospheric effects induced by meteors; Physics and chemistry of
meteor interactions processes in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere

- Astromineralogy: properties of meteoroids

- Interrelationships: meteoroids - IDPs - dust - micrometeorites -
meteorites

- Meteoroid flux and impact hazard; Hypervelocity impacts
on the moon and spacecraft

- Meteor studies in astrobiology: organics and delivery process

- New techniques for detections of meteors and fireballs

- Meteor detection including cameras, telescopes, lidar, seismic and
infrasound sensors

- Radar observations and large aperture radars

Both invited and contributed talks, will be included in the program. The
program schedule will encourage informal interchange between the different
research communities. Deadlines for registration and abstract submission
for contributed talks and posters will be
announced in the Fall of 2009.

----- Original Message -----
From: "cpcomments" <cpcomments@...>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 1:29 PM
Subject: More Good News!! [Fwd: Carolyn Porco to Receive 2009 Lennart
Nilsson Award]


>
> MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
> CASSINI IMAGING CENTRAL LABORATORY FOR OPERATIONS (CICLOPS)
> SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLORADO
> http://ciclops.org
> media@...
>
> Joe Mason (720)974-5859
> CICLOPS/Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
>
> Sabina Bossi, Press Officer
> Lennart Nilsson Award Foundation
> Tel: +46-8-524 860 66, +46-70-614 60 66
> Email: sabina.bossi@...
>
> For immediate release: Sept. 24, 2009
>
> THE BEAUTY OF THE UNIVERSE, FROM ABOVE AND FROM BELOW
>
> The 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award is to be presented to American planetary
> scientist Carolyn Porco and Iranian photographer and science journalist
> Babak A. Tafreshi in recognition of their photographic work, which - each
> from its own perspective - recalls humankind's place in the universe. The
> prize is the world's most prestigious distinction in scientific and
> medical photography.
>
> The annual Lennart Nilsson Award is presented in honour of the legendary
> Swedish photographer, who has been working with imagery at Karolinska
> Institutet in Stockholm for decades. Like Lennart Nilsson, this year's
> recipients, Carolyn Porco and Babak A. Tafreshi, have captured worlds that
> are otherwise hidden from human sight.
>
> The panel's citation reads as follows:
>
> "Carolyn Porco combines the finest techniques of planetary exploration and
> scientific research with aesthetic finesse and educational talent. While
> her images, which depict the heavenly bodies of the Saturn system with
> unique precision, serve as tools for the world's leading experts, they
> also reveal the beauty of the universe in a manner that is an inspiration
> to one and all."
>
> "Babak A. Tafreshi's photographs reclaim a night sky that most modern
> people have lost. He takes us to remote places where the stars still look
> like they did at the dawn of mankind. His work calls to mind the beauty of
> the universe and human life on our planet."
>
> Carolyn Porco was born in 1953 in New York. She earned her PhD in 1983
> from the California Institute of Technology's Division of Geological and
> Planetary Sciences. She is currently employed at the Space Science
> Institute in Boulder Colorado where she leads CICLOPS, the laboratory
> where images from NASA's and ESA's Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn are
> processed, captioned and posted for public release. Carolyn Porco and her
> scientific colleagues have published numerous groundbreaking scientific
> papers about Saturn and its rings and moons, and have discovered six
> moons, several rings and jets of water ice erupting from the south pole of
> Saturn's moon, Enceladus, all previously unknown to astronomers. She has
> previously worked with the Voyager probe and imaged Uranus and Neptune.
> Carolyn Porco is also a member of the group tasked with taking pictures of
> Pluto when it is finally reached by the New Horizons probe in 2015.
>
> Babak A. Tafreshi, photographer, science journalist and amateur
> astronomer, was born in Teheran in 1978. His photographs from his
> expeditions around the world have been published in foreign journals, on
> TV and on the NASA website, and have featured in a number of international
> exhibitions. From 1997 to 2007 he was editor, and later editor-in-chief of
> the Iranian astronomy magazine Nojum. Babak A. Tafreshi is a member of the
> board of Advisors of Astronomers Without Borders and a project coordinator
> for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. He is also the creator and
> the driving force behind TWAN (The World At Night), a project in which
> photographers from around the world capture images of night skies as seen
> above notable landmarks of the planet."
>
> The Lennart Nilsson Award was inaugurated in 1998 and is administered by
> Karolinska Institutet. The university's president, Professor Harriet
> Wallberg-Henriksson, serves as chairperson of the Lennart Nilsson Award
> Foundation and takes part in the selection of the prize winners, who are
> awarded SEK 50,000 (approx. USD 7,250) each. The names of this year's
> winners will be announced at the Goteborg Book Fair in connection with a
> seminar on Making the Invisible Visible. The award ceremony will be held
> in the Berwald Hall in Stockholm on 28 October to coincide with Karolinska
> Institutet's installation ceremony for new professors. Lennart Nilsson
> himself will also attend the festivities.
>
> Journalists are hereby invited to the ceremony. Please register by
> contacting Karolinska Institutet at pressinfo@....
>
> Images may be downloaded from www.lennartnilssonaward.se, and are free for
> publication solely in the context of the award ceremony.  Username: LNA.
> Password: spaceman.
>
> For press photographs of the prize winners and of Professor Lennart
> Nilsson, see: http://ki.se/pressimages
>
> Karolinska Institutet is one of the leading medical universities in
> Europe. Through research and education, Karolinska Institutet contributes
> to improving human health. Each year, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska
> Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. For more
> information, visit ki.se
>
> The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
> Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> (JPL), 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 and its two onboard cameras
> were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists
> of scientists from the U.S., England, France, and Germany. The imaging
> operations center and team leader (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space
> Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
>
> -end-

Casting an astronomy play for IYA.  We need people passionate about astronomy
(like you) to come be in our show.

-----

Donna Stearns, the executive producer of Shakespeare Saturdays is
producing and casting the world premiere of "Minding the Heavens" by Mark
Littmann.

Centered around Caroline Herschel, one of the most important women in the
history of
astronomy, this four-person play follows her life and tribulations as she gives
up her
career as an opera singer to help her brother, William, on his quest to become
the
greatest astronomer in Europe.  While they both succeed at their quest, and she
is
lauded worldwide for her breakthroughs in science, we see her confront terrible
prejudice, and watch her heartbreak as her stardom wanes in her love of singing.

Presented as part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, Shakespeare
Saturdays is
working on a wider release of this play during this year.

Seeking 2 actors for the roles:

1)  Elegant Woman, Servant, King George III, Lord Storker and John Herschel ---
(some singing involved) (seeking a male to play these roles)

2)  Reading Stage Directions and playing Archbishop (Archbishop is in 1 scene/no
lines)
--- (seeking male or female for this part)

Directed by Jerry Marco.

AUDITIONS WILL BE AN OPEN CALL on Monday, September 28th from 4:00 PM until 7:30
PM.  Casting will be ON-THE-SPOT.

Please be ready with a 1-2 minute contemporary dramatic monologue.  Please bring
headshot and resume.

Location of the OPEN CALL is The auditorium in the New York Public Library,
Inwood Branch: 4790 Broadway [near Dyckman St.].
Take the "A" train to Dyckman Street, and walk north 1/2 block.  East side of
the street.  Auditorium is in the
entryway to the main library.

1)  The play will be a staged reading (no memorization)
2)  All rehearsals and the reading will take place at The New York Public
Library, Inwood Branch.
3)  This is a non-AEA reading, seeking non-AEA actors.
4)  The playwright Dr. Mark Littmann will be traveling to NYC from Tennessee to
attend the reading.
5)  No pay.

Schedule:

Rehearsals at The Inwood Library
Mon., 9/28 - 6:00-7:45
Wed., 9/30 - 6:00-7:45
Sat., 10/3 - 10:15-4:45
Mon., 10/5 - 6:00-7:45
Wed., 10/7 - 6:00-7:45
Sat., 10/10 - 10:15-4:45
Wed., 10/14 - 6:00-7:45 - Dress Rehearsal
Sat., 10/17 - Reading Premiere  (12:00 noon call / 1:00 Go)



     Thank you

     Donna Stearns
     Exective Producer, Shakespeare Saturdays
     email: donna@...

     http://www.shakespearesaturdays.com
     http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141994086705
     http://groups.google.com/group/shakespeare-saturdays