Update: The DAWN spacecraft approaches Mars on its way to Vesta and
Ceres. See article below.
Bob N.
******************************************************************
Feb. 12, 2009
FROM:
Ed Stiles
Public Information Office
Planetary Science Institute
520-248-7119
psinews@...
AS DAWN APPROACHES MARS, PSI SCIENTISTS GEAR UP FOR GRaND TESTS
The Dawn spacecraft, which began its journey to the asteroid
belt in 2007, is now nearing Mars, and scientists at the
Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute (PSI) are preparing
to use the encounter to tune up Dawn's GRaND instrument.
Dawn's instrument payload includes a visible-light camera, a
visible-light and infrared mapping spectrometer, and GRaND
(the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Detector).
The GRaND team will be involved in several activities during
MCA (the Mars encounter). These include:
-- Pre-encounter testing and optimization of the instrument.
-- Measurement of background noise levels caused by comic rays
and, possibly, by energetic particles.
-- Acquisition of neutron and gamma-ray data from Mars.
-- Calibration of the instrument by comparing GRaND's
measurements of the Martian neutron and gamma-ray output to
data acquired by the Odyssey spacecraft, which has been
orbiting Mars for the past seven years.
"The main task between now and MCA is to make final adjustments
to instrument parameters," said Tom Prettyman, a senior scientist
at PSI and the lead investigator for GRaND. "Only minor adjustments --
if any -- are needed. The instrument has performed consistently
since it was first turned on following launch."
Dawn won't loiter at Mars. This encounter is only a slingshot
flyby in which the spacecraft will speed past Mars and use the
red planet's gravitational pull to increase its velocity by
about 2,500 mph relative to the sun.
Dawn is headed for Vesta and Ceres, the two most massive bodies
in the asteroid belt, which is located between Mars and Jupiter.
Scientists hope the encounters with Vesta and Ceres will help
them journey back in time to answer many questions relating
to the solar system's early formation.
GRaND will measure the energy spectra of neutrons and gamma rays
coming from the surfaces of Vesta and Ceres to determine the
geochemistry of these protoplanets.
The quantities of various elements on the protoplanets' surfaces
will provide scientists with clues to the formation and thermal
evolution of Vesta and Ceres, including the role of water in
planetary development, Prettyman said.
The neutrons and gamma rays that GRaND measures are emitted by
the decay of long-lived radioactive elements and during the
subatomic collisions that result from cosmic rays slamming
into the protoplanets' surfaces.
These same cosmic rays hit the spacecraft and its detectors,
creating background signals that must be subtracted from the
instrument's readings to arrive at accurate numbers for the
neutrons and gamma rays coming from Vesta, Ceres or Mars,
said PSI Senior Scientist William Feldman
"Galactic cosmic rays are mostly energetic protons that interact
with the spacecraft structural materials to make neutrons and
gamma rays, just as they would on a planetary surface," Prettyman
added. "The neutrons and gamma rays propagate through the
spacecraft and wind up in our instrument. In addition,
cosmic-ray interactions produce radioactive isotopes in the
spacecraft structures that contribute to the background
radiation measured by GRaND."
Since Odyssey has been orbiting Mars for seven years, scientists
know the amount of neutron and gamma-ray radiation coming from
the planet's surface, and the spectroscopy data from Odyssey
will be used to calibrate GRaND, Prettyman said, noting that
both he and Feldman also are on the Odyssey science team.
While the data acquired during the flyby will be used to
calibrate the instrument, it also has value for Mars research,
Prettyman said.
"Any time you compare data sets, there is the potential to find
something new," he said. "For Instance, Odyssey points right at
the center of Mars. We don't have a lot of data where Odyssey is
tipped relative to Mars like GRaND will be during the flyby. So
one of the things we might learn is that we need to refine our
background radiation models for Odyssey, which could ultimately
have an impact on Odyssey's discoveries and our understanding of
the distribution of water on Mars and the abundance of carbon
dioxide and other compounds."
Dawn will make its closest approach to Mars, flying within about
300 miles of the Martian surface on February 18 (Pacific Coast
Time), before speeding off toward Vesta, which it will begin to
orbit in 2011. After mapping Vesta, Dawn will fly on, making a
three-fourths orbit around the sun before reaching Ceres in 2015.
GRaND was developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory, and key
sensor components were manufactured by eV Products, Eljen
Technology, and Proteus, Inc. PSI is responsible for operating
the instrument and analyzing data acquired during the post-launch,
science phase of the mission.
Dawn isn’t an acronym. Instead, it reflects the mission's
purpose -- gathering data related to the dawn of our solar system.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Dawn mission for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate. Christopher T. Russell, professor of
geophysics and space physics at UCLA, leads the overall mission.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
CONTACT:
Tom Prettyman
Senior Scientist
520-622-6300
prettyman@...
William Feldman
Senior Scientist
505-667-7372
feldman@...
PSI INFORMATION:
Mark V. Sykes
Director
520-622-6300
sykes@...
PSI Homepage
http://www.psi.edu
PSI Press Releases
http://www.psi.edu/press/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Several posts have been made with no identification of who you are
other than the email name - some are very cryptic and offer no clue as
to who you are.
Could those who post please sign their postings with their names so we
know who we are talking with. Last names don't need to be specified,
just a first name and initial will do fine.
Thanks.
Bob Napier - Moderator
Tracey,
I just uploaded two animated gif files of C/2007 N3 Lulin and of C/2006 OF2
Broughton. I think you need to view the larger version to see the animation.
I also uploaded a still image of comet Lulin from last night.
Bob F.
---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> Hello Group, Has anyone took any images of comet Lulin? There are some
> nice images of the comet on Spaceweather.com
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
Bob,
What is the elapse time of the image of Lulin?
Lloyd
________________________________
From: "bforgiel@..." <bforgiel@...>
To: skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com
Cc: T Haley <thaley1968@...>
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 2:15:58 PM
Subject: Re: [skyscrapers_rias] Comet Lulin
Tracey,
I just uploaded two animated gif files of C/2007 N3 Lulin and of C/2006 OF2
Broughton. I think you need to view the larger version to see the animation.
I also uploaded a still image of comet Lulin from last night.
Bob F.
---- T Haley <thaley1968@yahoo. com> wrote:
> Hello Group, Has anyone took any images of comet Lulin? There are some
> nice images of the comet on Spaceweather. com
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi Bob, nice images, I have not got out of my warm house yet to do any imaging.
I guess I'm lazy as a bear this winter. My I'll get out this weekend if the
weather cooperates!
I am hoping to be available for the March 13th star party. I may have to skip it
for my son's birthday party, it all depends on when we can book his party. I'll
hopefully see you there.
Thanks for sharing your images!
Clear Skies
Tracey
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, <bforgiel@...> wrote:
>
> Tracey,
> I just uploaded two animated gif files of C/2007 N3 Lulin and of C/2006 OF2
Broughton. I think you need to view the larger version to see the animation.
>
> I also uploaded a still image of comet Lulin from last night.
>
> Bob F.
>
> ---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> > Hello Group, Has anyone took any images of comet Lulin? There are some
> > nice images of the comet on Spaceweather.com
> >
> > Clear Skies
> >
> > Tracey
> >
>
Hello all, I just looked over Orion's two new imaging products and thought you
might be interested.
StarShoot Solitaire AutoGuider:
http://www.astropho toinsight. com/node/ 1639
They also announced the new StarShoot Pro v2
http://www.astropho toinsight. com/node/ 1638
Tracey
each frame is a 30 second exposure
---- Lloyd Merrill <lbmerrill001@...> wrote:
> Bob,
>
> What is the elapse time of the image of Lulin?
>
> Lloyd
>
> Â
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "bforgiel@..." <bforgiel@...>
> To: skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: T Haley <thaley1968@...>
> Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 2:15:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [skyscrapers_rias] Comet Lulin
>
>
> Tracey,
> I just uploaded two animated gif files of C/2007 N3 Lulin and of C/2006 OF2
Broughton. I think you need to view the larger version to see the animation.
>
> I also uploaded a still image of comet Lulin from last night.
>
> Bob F.
>
> ---- T Haley <thaley1968@yahoo. com> wrote:
> > Hello Group, Has anyone took any images of comet Lulin? There are some
> > nice images of the comet on Spaceweather. com
> >
> > Clear Skies
> >
> > Tracey
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
The NASA Kepler mission is scheduled to launch March 6 at about 10:49:57 EST.
Here is the web site with the countdown and details about the mission.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html
Bob Napier
NASA Solar System Ambassador
I have posted an image of Comet Lulin in the Photos section under Scituate
Observatory.
It was taken near opposition on 2/27/09 with my a Meade 14" at f/6 and an ST9E
CCD camera. The exposure is 30 seconds and field size is about 17 X 17
arc-minutes.
The very asymmetric coma is quite evident. A guider image taken with a 4" Meade
SCT shows a wider extent of coma size in a field of about 24 X 30 arc-minutes.
Bob Napier
For updates and more info, check http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle
The message below is from fellow ATMoB member, Steve Mock.
If the sky remains clear according to the Clear Sky Chart, it should be a
spectacular view this evening of the STS-119 as it ascends over the east coast
into orbit. Using binoculars, you may even get to see MECO (Main Engine Cutoff)
as the Shuttle comes up over the southern horizon and the attitude control
thrusters firing as it descends over the curvature of the earth in the eastern
sky....spectacular event!
Bob N.
********************************************************************
A reminder that the Space Shuttle DISCOVERY is scheduled for a 7:43 pm
lift-off TONIGHT Sunday March 15th !!
Its mission includes delivery and installation of the final set of solar arrays
to power the facilities aboard the International Space Station.
When rendezvousing with the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION {ISS},
the SPACE SHUTTLE launch trajectory takes it northward up the East Coast.
SUNSET IS AT 6:52 THIS EVENING.
FROM THE GREATER BOSTON AREA, NIGHT-TIME LAUNCHES
are EASILY VISIBLE to the UNAIDED EYE
and the VIEW THROUGH BINOCULARS IS GREAT !!!
(all you'll need is a good view low to the southern and southeastern horizons)
WHEN LAUNCHED AT NIGHT TO MEET UP WITH THE ISS,
the Shuttle appears as a moving yellow-orange star
about 15 degrees above the southern horizon.
It attains maximum elevation 20 degrees above the southeastern horizon:
continuing to travel eastward until finally becoming lost to view in the Earth's
shadow.
IN BINOCULARS,
the bright orange exhaust plumes from the Shuttle's three main engines
are easily visible from about 8 to 9 1/2 minutes after launch.
Main engine cut-off is followed 10 seconds later by release of the main fuel
tank:
signaled by a bright flash. This is all followed by short bursts of the
Onboard Maneuvering System engines as the Shuttle is propelled
away from the released fuel tank into the desired orbit
for rendezvous with the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.
For updates and more info, check http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle
I just watched the fly over of the Space Shuttle STS-119. After watching the
blastoff from the Cape on NASA WEB TV, I walked up the road about 1/5 mile into
a my neighbor's farm field just in time to see it come over the southern
horizon, then track toward the southeast and then over the horizon to the east.
In binoculars, I could see the MECO (Main Engines Cutoff) and then many blasts
from sterring and attitude control jets as the Shuttle turned eastward and over
the horizon. When the main engines were firing it looked just like a red-orange
bunsen burner.
This is the third early evening launch I have observed from my location in
Scituate not far from Seagrave Observatory.
It is really a spectacular event!
Bob N.
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "starman361" <bob_napier@...> wrote:
>
> For updates and more info, check http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle
>
> The message below is from fellow ATMoB member, Steve Mock.
> If the sky remains clear according to the Clear Sky Chart, it should be a
spectacular view this evening of the STS-119 as it ascends over the east coast
into orbit. Using binoculars, you may even get to see MECO (Main Engine Cutoff)
as the Shuttle comes up over the southern horizon and the attitude control
thrusters firing as it descends over the curvature of the earth in the eastern
sky....spectacular event!
>
> Bob N.
>
>
> ********************************************************************
>
> A reminder that the Space Shuttle DISCOVERY is scheduled for a 7:43 pm
> lift-off TONIGHT Sunday March 15th !!
> Its mission includes delivery and installation of the final set of solar
arrays
> to power the facilities aboard the International Space Station.
> When rendezvousing with the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION {ISS},
> the SPACE SHUTTLE launch trajectory takes it northward up the East Coast.
>
> SUNSET IS AT 6:52 THIS EVENING.
> FROM THE GREATER BOSTON AREA, NIGHT-TIME LAUNCHES
> are EASILY VISIBLE to the UNAIDED EYE
> and the VIEW THROUGH BINOCULARS IS GREAT !!!
> (all you'll need is a good view low to the southern and southeastern horizons)
>
> WHEN LAUNCHED AT NIGHT TO MEET UP WITH THE ISS,
> the Shuttle appears as a moving yellow-orange star
> about 15 degrees above the southern horizon.
> It attains maximum elevation 20 degrees above the southeastern horizon:
> continuing to travel eastward until finally becoming lost to view in the
Earth's shadow.
>
> IN BINOCULARS,
> the bright orange exhaust plumes from the Shuttle's three main engines
> are easily visible from about 8 to 9 1/2 minutes after launch.
> Main engine cut-off is followed 10 seconds later by release of the main fuel
tank:
> signaled by a bright flash. This is all followed by short bursts of the
> Onboard Maneuvering System engines as the Shuttle is propelled
> away from the released fuel tank into the desired orbit
> for rendezvous with the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.
>
> For updates and more info, check http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle
>
I have posted 3 images I took of NEO 2009 FH in the Photos Section under
Scituate Observatory.
Roger Forsythe sent out an email a couple of days ago about an asteroid passing
quite close to the earth on 3-17-09, a NEO (Near Earth Object).
The NEO asteroid passed withing about 50,000 miles of earth on the morning of
3-17-09, which is about twice the distance of geo-synchronos earth orbiting
satellites. The NEO was only about 50 feet in size and was moving quite rapidly
across the sky as it was so near the earth. It's magnitude was only about 14,
even at its nearest distance from earth.
I set up my scope to track the NEO's rapid sky motion as that was the only hope
I had of taking several images of it to verify its positions. NEOs are newly
discovered and therefor orbital elements, if they exit at all, are unreliable.
Only ephemeris data (positional data at specific time intervals) is available
for such objects until more astrometry data is available to determine rough
orbital elements.
Using the early and very limited ephemeris data from the Minor Planet Center's
web postings and from the MPML (Minor Planet Mailing List Yahoo discussion
group), I set up my ACP automation observing software to interpolate the
asteroid's ephemeris positions for its rapid motion and the camera automatically
took a series of exposures as the asteroid moved. The telescope was
automatically moved under software control to keep the asteroid in the field of
view of the CCD camera for each exposure.
I was quite surprised to find that the 14th magnitude NEO was clearly visible,
although trailed during the 20 seconds exposures in the images taken with an
ST9E CCD through my 14" Meade LX200 SCT.
Bob Napier
Great asteroid hunting!
In astronomical terms, 50K miles is as good as a hit!
graham
_____
From: skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of starman361
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 04:41
To: skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [skyscrapers_rias] NEO 2009 FH - Near Earth Object Images
I have posted 3 images I took of NEO 2009 FH in the Photos Section under
Scituate Observatory.
Roger Forsythe sent out an email a couple of days ago about an asteroid
passing quite close to the earth on 3-17-09, a NEO (Near Earth Object).
The NEO asteroid passed withing about 50,000 miles of earth on the morning
of 3-17-09, which is about twice the distance of geo-synchronos earth
orbiting satellites. The NEO was only about 50 feet in size and was moving
quite rapidly across the sky as it was so near the earth. It's magnitude was
only about 14, even at its nearest distance from earth.
I set up my scope to track the NEO's rapid sky motion as that was the only
hope I had of taking several images of it to verify its positions. NEOs are
newly discovered and therefor orbital elements, if they exit at all, are
unreliable. Only ephemeris data (positional data at specific time intervals)
is available for such objects until more astrometry data is available to
determine rough orbital elements.
Using the early and very limited ephemeris data from the Minor Planet
Center's web postings and from the MPML (Minor Planet Mailing List Yahoo
discussion group), I set up my ACP automation observing software to
interpolate the asteroid's ephemeris positions for its rapid motion and the
camera automatically took a series of exposures as the asteroid moved. The
telescope was automatically moved under software control to keep the
asteroid in the field of view of the CCD camera for each exposure.
I was quite surprised to find that the 14th magnitude NEO was clearly
visible, although trailed during the 20 seconds exposures in the images
taken with an ST9E CCD through my 14" Meade LX200 SCT.
Bob Napier
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
While powering up and initializing my 14" Meade for remote observing and
intending to image the two new observatory telescopes, Herschel and Planck, just
launched on May 14 by ESO/NASA. I found this NEO (Near Earth Object) going
through the field of the scope while doing the CCD focus routine. The object's
track was in the area of the bright star, Spica (Alpha Virgo) at about 13.4 RA,
and
-11.2 DEC. It was manually tracked for about 8 minutes and took about 8 images.
A stack of three of the images is in the Photos section under Scituate
Observatory folder. Each exposure was 3 seconds.
The previous NEO I imaged (see a previous post) was about 50,000 miles away.
Judging from the the length of the trail of that NEO for a 10 second exposure
and the three second exposure of this object with almost the same trail length,
I would estimate that this object was much closer to the earth, perhaps in the
15,000 to 20,000 mile range.
As far as I know, this NEO was not announced on the Minor Planet Center
Confirmation Page. Perhaps no one saw it except me....
Bob N.
Mike Brown's Planets blog has an interesting story this week.
He talks about Heavens Above (www.heavens-above.com), which is linked from
Skyscrapers' web page.
Many of us use the Heavens Above to look up local passages of
spacecraft, but Mike Brown talks about a different perspective that some of us
might find interesting.
Here is Mike's blog address:
http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/
Bob N.
There is a composite of 3 images of 30 second exposures each that I took of the
Herschel and Planck Observatories on their way to the Earth's L2 orbit point.
The images are in the Scituate Observatory folder in the Photos section.
The L2, or Lagrange 2 point is a gravitationally stable area where the two
observatories will orbit. The L2 point is about 1.5 million km away from the
Earth in the opposite direction of the Sun.
See the description here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point
The two observatories were about 315,000 km from earth at the time I took the
exposures. Details of the observatories is here:
http://sci.esa.int/home/herschelhttp://sci.esa.int/home/planck
My images were taken with a Meade 14" f/6 and an ST9XE CCD. The exposures were
only 30 seconds each and reached between 15 and 17th magnitude (through hazy
thin clouds). A couple of the images show three objects (and perhaps more) at
the limit of detectability.
There is quite a bit of confusion about the number of objects, in some cases up
to 7 or 8 objects in the observatories' cluster. What the extra objects are is
still somewhat of a mystery. At times the object fade to invisibility and at
other times they are bright. Speculation by some is that the spacecraft broke up
after launch into several pieces. Some think that perhaps the 3.5 meter diameter
Herschel telescope mirror broke into several pieces. Others speculate
that some of the extraneous objects are secret military satellites.
Quite an exciting launch event.
Bob N.
Hello Skyscrapers, I ordered one of the Galileo scope kits for my kids. I
thought it would be fun for them to assemble and use. Here is the link to the
website: https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/
The scopes are only $15.00 each. They aren't APO's but they look like fun.
They were designed and manufactured for the "2009 year of astronomy."
I'll write a little review of the scope once it arrives!
Clear Skies
Tracey Haley
On Sunday, May 31st my wife and I visited the University of Virginia,
Charlottesville. Umong the many historic places we visited was the Leander
McCormick observatory. Unforunately the observatory was open on Friday of that
week. I got to walk around the grand dome and see this historic building in
person. It houses one of the remaining few Alvan Clark Refractors in the world
today.
The University of Virginia operates the McCormick Observatory, located on the
campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. The observatory was
constructed after a gift from Leander J. McCormick to build one of the largest
telescopes in the world. The 26-inch astrometric refractor was the second
largest telescope in the world when it was dedicated on April 13, 1885 (Thomas
Jefferson's Birthday). The telescope was the primary research instrument for the
department until the 1960's and was used for astrometry into the 1990's. In
recent years, however, extensive hardware upgrades and instrumentation efforts
have transformed the observatory into a more modern facility capable of optical
CCD imaging and spectroscopy in conjuction with courses, and public outreach
programs. Currently, most of the department's local research has moved to the
Fan Mountain Observatory, south of Charlottesville
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/McCormick.php
Clear Skies
Tracey Haley
Jacoby Observatory (CCRI in Warwick) is having a first light public observing
for its new 16" Meade on Wednesday June 10.
http://www.ccri.edu/physics/observ.shtml
The LCROSS Lunar mission (one of two such satellites going to the moon) was
launched this afternoon approximately 5:32 PM EST. Its trajectory will soon be
available on the JPL Horizons web site:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results
Quote below from that JPL web page:
"After launch, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V's Centaur upper
stage rocket will execute a fly-by of the moon and enter into an elongated Earth
orbit to position LCROSS for impact near a lunar pole.
On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The
Centaur will impact, creating a crater about 20 meters in diameters and a debris
plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Following four minutes behind, the
shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris
plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar
surface and creating a second debris plume.
The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based
telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger."
Bob N.
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