Astronomy For Kids.....

Can we make astronomy for children an easy subject?

What is astronomy?

 

Children ask this question while we say something about space or physics. Astronomy is a branch of physics. It studies about the celestial bodies. Most of the children love to learn this science because it induces the curiosity. A good teacher can use astronomy for kids to teach them how to read and understand science; perhaps astronomy can be considered as the window to the world of science. Stars, comets, satellite, solar system etc. always finds a place in the imagination of a kid.

Most of the kids may wonder when they realize the 'size' of the universe. Astronomy for kids starts from an answer to the question; what is space? U.F.O. are lots of definitions available for the term 'space'. However, anything that is beyond the atmosphere of our planet, earth, is considered as space.

A kid is interested in astronomy definitely raises a question, how big our universe is. Because, children are very much interested in colours, size, number etc. The answer is crucial for kids in order to stimulate the interest with the subject astronomy. Actually, scientists have put forward lots of theories about the size of the universe. We can explain to the children about the infinity theory and big bang theory to make astronomy for kids interesting. So, we are sure in one thing that we do not know the size of the universe. The most extreme object that we see with the naked eye is about 2,000,000 light years distant. We can gently ask the child to find out how big the universe is. It really sharpens the curiosity of the child about the universe and makes astronomy for kids something enjoyable.

Does the universe have an end? Or being it eternal? Ask such questions to the kid, and encouraging them to find the answer is definitely useful. There are hundreds of books available in the market about astronomy for kids. Providing these books to kids is useful. There are lots of softwares available in the market to teach astronomy. If children are getting in touch with such softwares, they would be able to visualize the universe with the help of pictures and videos included in the software.

Explaining astronomy to a child is obviously a tough task. The elders must include interesting stories and poems while explaining astronomy for kids. They can explain about the stars, black hole, a comet, and so on. Showing pictures, telling some stories from mythology etc. helps the child to grasp the nuances of astronomy.

SPA ENB No. 251

                ***********************************
                 The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
                ***********************************
        ====================================================
         Electronic News Bulletin No. 251    2008 August 31
        ====================================================


Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.  The SPA is Britain's liveliest astronomical society, with
members all over the world.  We accept subscription payments online
at our secure site and can take credit and debit cards. You can join
or renew via a secure server or just see how much we have to offer by
visiting  http://tinyurl.com/kogyx


PERSEIDS 2008 PRELIMINARY REPORT
By Alastair McBeath, SPA Meteor Section Director

The unexpectedly late Perseid maximum on August 12-13 reported last
time has continued to attract most attention. Visual Zenithal Hourly
Rates (ZHRs) in the International Meteor Organization's (IMO's)
preliminary online overview from this maximum have gradually
decreased as more results have come through, and seem now to have
stabilized somewhat at between 110-130 from about 01:00-02:30 UT
on August 13. There may have been submaxima within this interval, with
ZHRs peaking at ~120-130 around 01:00, 01:30 and 02:00 UT within
that band, but the 30-minute "periodicity" these might suggest could
have been an artefact of the analysis, rather than a genuine effect. There
is little evidence now for an IMO visual results' peak on August 11-12
that could have been due to the predicted, early, strong maximum near
05:30 UT on August 12. However, ZHRs of 60+ were present from
roughly 01:00 UT on August 12 till at least 06:30 UT on August 13. The
"normal" maximum time on August 12, due between 11:30-14:00 UT,
was not well-observed, though ZHRs around then were ~80.

Poor weather over the British Isles has led to disappointing amounts of
usable visual data coming through to the Section, but the following
people have contributed something between helpful notes through to
fully-detailed observing reports from the Perseids to us so far,
including those on the SPA Forums, and the UK Weather World's
Space Weather Forum (address via the SPA Observing Forum's
"Perseids 2008" topic, at http://snipurl.com/3lisu  ): "Aristarchus"
(Greece), Andy Ball (Worcestershire), "blobrana" (no location given),
Jeff Brower (British Columbia, Canada; radio results), Willy Camps
(Belgium; radio results), "coldfieldboundary" (Belgium), Assistant
Meteor Director David Entwistle (Lancashire; radio results), Dave
Hancox (East Ayrshire), "Maddie" (Cornwall), Tony Markham
(Staffordshire), Conor McDonald (Co. Derry), Martin McKenna (Co.
Derry), Matthew Phipps (Hertfordshire), "Pro]v[etheus" (Surrey or
Derbyshire), Jonathan Shanklin (Cambridgeshire), Enrico Stomeo
(Italy; video results), Rich Taibi (Maryland, USA), and the Director
(Northumberland).  Most grateful thanks are due to all these people for
their efforts in observing and providing their results to us so quickly.
Naturally anyone else who still has data to submit is most welcome to
do so.

David Entwistle's assessment of the three sets of radio reports in now
has indicated a more likely strong, main peak between roughly 01:50-
02:05 UT on August 13. The graphs were often rather spiky, which could
suggest short-lived bursts of meteors from time to time, an effect which
lasted from maybe 01:00 or 01:30 UT through to 04:00 UT or a little
after, also on August 13. The possible minor early maximum around
05:20 UT on August 12, identified last time, still awaits confirmation.

From the SPA's visual results, Perseid ZHRs were between 15 to 30
from August 3-4 till 10-11, which concurred with the IMO details for the
same period, gradually rising with time. The limited data from August
11-12 and 12-13 though suggest ZHRs were between 60-75 on both
nights in what our observers recorded, and may actually have been a
little better overall on August 11-12. There were too few results for these
to be at all definitive, however. The sole set of video data was made
under trying conditions on August 12-13 especially, but things were far
from perfect even on August 11-12. After adjusting for sky conditions,
the Perseid video rate was overall somewhat higher on August 12-13,
and may have peaked especially around 01:51-01:56 UT, though this
is difficult to be sure of. Four of a hundred video Perseids were fireballs
on August 11-12, compared to none of 47 on 12-13, which could
suggest the Perseids were less bright overall on 12-13. While the early
casual reports reaching us suggested a visually bright showing of
Perseids on August 12-13, what full visual observations are available
now do not support this, aside from the video data. Perseid magnitudes
were no different on August 12-13 than other dates during the shower
in the details submitted now, with overall mean magnitudes corrected
to a limiting magnitude +6.5 sky for the Perseids and sporadics
respectively having fairly normal values of +2.6 and +3.5, with a
reasonably average 32% of Perseids leaving persistent trains.

Thus apart from the oddly late, strong maximum, the Perseids appear
to have been quite similar to what we would usually expect. Why there
was such a peak on August 12-13 remains a mystery. The timing, if not
the strength, was not far from when the "tertiary peak", seen only in IMO
data from 1997-1999, might have recurred. The theoretical timing for
this peak would have been approximately 3 to 4 hours before the
August 12-13 peak, at ~21:30 UT on August 12. Professional
meteoricist Jeremie Vaubaillon, currently at the California Institute of
Technology, has recently indicated the unanticipated maximum may
have resulted from material that had spread unusually far from a
meteoroid stream laid down at parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle's 441
AD perihelion passage (as also reported in IAU Electronic Telegram
1480 of August 26; my thanks to SPA Vice-President Robin Scagell for
forwarding a copy). The Earth was expected to miss this trail, albeit
not by too great a distance, around 23:34 UT on August 12. This is not
an especially close match to what was observed, but no more
convincing candidate dust trails have been suggested as yet.
Investigations continue.


RECENT FIREBALLS
By Alastair McBeath, SPA Meteor Section Director

Two fresh fireball sightings have come through since ENB 250, an
event in daylight on August 19-20 at about 19:10 UT, probably of at
least magnitude -9 as spotted from just off the Hampshire coast, and
another at 21:08 UT on August 22-23, of roughly magnitude -4/-5, seen
from Cornwall. As ever, sightings of fireballs made from the UK or
nearby are always welcomed by the Section. Information on what to
record was given last time (see: http://snipurl.com/3litt ).


METEORITE--ASTEROID LINK SOLVED
MIT

For the last few years, it has seemed puzzling that the vast majority
of asteroids that come near the Earth are of a type that matches only
a tiny fraction of meteorites.  Since meteorites are supposed mostly
to be pieces of asteroids, that discrepancy was hard to explain, but a
solution has now been suggested.  The smaller rocks that most often
fall to Earth, it seems, come straight in from the main asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter, rather than from the 'near-Earth asteroid'
population.

In the main belt, the population is much more varied, and approximates
to the mix of types that is found among meteorites.  But why would the
things that most frequently hit us match that distant population
better than they match the objects that are right in our neighbourhood?
That's where the idea emerged of a fast track all the way from the
main belt to landing on the Earth's surface.  The fast track, it turns
out, is caused by a process called the Yarkovsky effect, which was
discovered long ago but whose significance has only recently been
recognized.

The Yarkovsky effect causes asteroids to change their orbits as a
result of absorbing the Sun's heat on one side and radiating it in a
different direction owing to their rotation.  That produces a small
thrust that operates continuously in one direction and can in time
alter the object's path.  Because the surface area of an object is
proportional to the square of its size whereas its mass goes as the
cube, the effect acts most strongly on the smallest objects.  Thus,
for rocks of boulder size and smaller, typical of meteorites, the
Yarkovsky effect can play a major role, moving them from anywhere in
the asteroid belt on to paths that can intersect the Earth.  For
larger asteroids a kilometre or so across, about which some people
have taken to worrying as potential threats to the Earth, the effect
is too weak to alter their orbits at all quickly.


'INNER OORT CLOUD' OBJECT?
Sloan Digital Sky Survey

A minor planet with the prosaic name 2006 SQ372 was discovered by the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) through the application of a searching
algorithm to data that were actually taken to look for supernovae --
an area of sky of about 200 square degrees was observed every clear
night in the autumns of 2005, 2006, and 2007.  2006 SQ372 has an
unusual orbit, an ellipse that is four times longer than it is wide;
the object is presently slightly closer to us than Neptune but is
beginning the outward leg of a 22,500-year journey that will take it
to a distance of something like 1600 times the distance from the Earth
to the Sun.  The only known object with a comparable orbit is Sedna --
a distant, Pluto-like dwarf planet discovered in 2003 -- but 2006
SQ372's orbit takes it more than half as far again from the Sun, and
its orbital period is nearly twice as long.

The new object is much smaller than Sedna, probably 30-60 miles across
instead of nearly 1,000.  It may be cometary in nature, but it never
gets close enough to the Sun to develop a long, bright tail of
evaporated gas and dust.  Even at its most distant turning point, 2006
SQ372 will be ten times closer to the Sun than the supposed main body
of the supposed Oort Cloud.  The existence of an 'inner' Oort cloud
has been suggested for many years, but SQ372 and perhaps Sedna are the
first objects found that could be deemed to have originated there.
2006 SQ372 was bright enough to find with the SDSS only because it is
near its closest approach to the Sun.  Since the SDSS survey observed
less than 1% of the sky, there could well be many similar objects to
be discovered.


XMM-NEWTON FINDS MASSIVE CLUSTER OF GALAXIES
ESA

The orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has discovered a very
massive cluster of galaxies in the distant Universe.  The newly
discovered cluster, called 2XMM J083026+524133, is estimated to
contain as much mass as a thousand large galaxies; much of it is in
the form of 100-million-degree gas.  It was first observed by chance
as XMM-Newton was studying another celestial object, and was placed
in a catalogue for a future follow-up.  Astronomers discovered the
cluster as they were analysing the catalogue, which is based on 3,500
X-ray images which together cover about 1% of the sky, and contains
more than 190,000 individual X-ray sources.  The team was looking for
extended patches of X-rays that could either be nearby galaxies or
distant clusters of galaxies.  J083026+524133 stood out because it was
so bright.  Images made in visible light by the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey did not show any obvious nearby galaxy in that location, but
when the team obtained a deep exposure with the Large Binocular
Telescope in Arizona they found a cluster of galaxies calculated to be
at a distance of 7.7 billion light-years.


DO GALAXIES HAVE A MINIMUM MASS?
New Scientist

The Milky Way's galactic companions all seem to have much the same
amount of mass in their cores.  A collection of at least 22 dwarf
galaxies orbits the Milky Way; the brightnesses range over a factor of
10,000.  Astronomers analysed the motions of stars in the innermost
1000 light-years, where they might expect common properties to emerge
if any existed, in 18 of the dwarf galaxies.  They measured the
velocities of hundreds of stars in orbit around the galaxies' centres,
which allowed them to calculate the masses of the galaxies' cores.
Surprisingly, the masses all came out about the same -- roughly 10
million solar masses.  What the 'New Scientist' is claiming is that
most of the mass is dark matter, and that the dimmest galaxies had
10,000 times more dark matter than visible matter.  It says that that
is an unusual ratio, and by way of an example says that the Milky Way,
for example, contains only roughly 10 times as much dark matter as
ordinary matter.  The similarity of the masses hints that the dwarf
galaxies must have at least that much mass in order to form.

The 'New Scientist' article goes on to speculate about the nature of
dark matter and to draw various conclusions that do not necessarily
follow from the observational facts.  There is a misunderstanding
whereby differences in the ratio of the mass to the luminosity between
different objects are assigned (as they are in the paragraph above) to
ratios of 'dark matter' to 'visible matter'.  A (normally unspoken)
assumption is that the proper ratio of mass to light is that exhibited
by the Sun.  If the Milky Way has ten times as much total mass in
relation to its total brightness it is said to have ten times as much
dark matter as visible matter.  But that is not a sensible way of
describing the situation.  A star of early-M spectral type is about
five magnitudes (a factor of 100) fainter than the Sun but has about
half as much mass, so it has a mass-to-light ratio of 50 in solar
units.  It does not seem helpful to conclude, as by analogy with the
assertions above one would be obliged to do, that an early-M star has
fifty times as much dark matter as visible matter, or that there is
anything mysterious about the former.


FIRST LIGHT FOR THE FERMI SPACE TELESCOPE
NASA

NASA has announced that its new gamma-ray telescope, formerly known as
GLAST, has passed its orbital checks and has been formally renamed the
'Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope' in honour of Prof. Enrico Fermi
(1901-1954), a pioneer in high-energy physics.  Scientists expect
Fermi, by observing gamma-rays, to make many discoveries involving
highly energetic sources such as pulsars and black holes.  Since the
spacecraft's launch on June 11, scientists have tested and calibrated
its two instruments, the Large-Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST
Burst Monitor (GBM).

The large-area telescope has obtained in four days an all-sky image
similar to the one that the now-defunct Compton gamma-ray observatory
took years of observations to produce.  It scans the entire sky every
three hours when operating in survey mode, which will occupy most of
the telescope's observing time during the first year of operations, to
allow scientists to monitor rapid changes.  The telescope is sensitive
to photons with energies ranging from 20 MeV (million electron volts)
to over 300,000 MeV. The high end of the range, which corresponds to
energies more than 5 million times greater than dental X-rays, is
little explored.  The spacecraft's secondary instrument, the GBM,
detected 31 explosions of the sort known as gamma-ray bursts in its
first month of operations.  The GBM is sensitive to less-energetic
gamma-rays than the LAT, giving it a complementary view of the broad
gamma-ray spectrum.


The SPA Electronic News Bulletins are sponsored by the Open University.

Bulletin compiled by Clive Down


(c) 2008 the Society for Popular Astronomy

Spaceflight Now | Destination Mars | Phoenix mission conductin...

Phoenix mission conducting extended activities on Mars
NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE
Posted: August 30, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, having completed its 90-day primary mission, is continuing its science collection activities. Science and engineering teams are looking forward to at least another month of Martian exploration.
 
Due to the spacecraft's sufficient power and experiment capacity, NASA announced on July 31 that the mission would continue operations through Sept. 30. Once the lander finishes collecting science data, the mission teams will continue the analysis of the measurements and observations.

"We have been successful beyond my wildest dreams, and we're not done yet learning from Mars about its secrets," said Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator from The University of Arizona, Tucson.

"We are still working to understand the properties and the history of the ice at our landing site on the northern plains of Mars. While the sun has begun to dip below the horizon, we still have power to continue our observations and experiments. And we're hoping to see a gradual change in the Martian weather in the next few weeks," he said.

Among the critical questions the Phoenix science team is trying to answer is whether the northern region of Mars could have been a habitable zone.

Phoenix has already confirmed the presence of water ice, determined the soil is alkaline and identified magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and perchlorate in the soil. Chemical analyses continue even as Phoenix's robotic arm reaches out for more samples to sniff and taste.

"It's been gratifying to be able to share the excitement of our exploration with the public through the thousands upon thousands of images that our cameras have taken. They have been available to the public on our web site as soon as they are received on Earth," Smith said. Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager, Robotic Arm Camera and microscope have returned more than 20,000 pictures since landing day, May 25.

The mission's meteorological instruments have made daily atmospheric readings and have watched as the pressure decreases, signaling a change in the season. At least one ice water cloud has been observed and consistent wind patterns have been recorded over the landing site.

The team is currently working to diagnose an intermittent interference that has become apparent in the path for gases generated by heating a soil sample in the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer to reach the instrument's mass spectrometer. Vapors from all samples baked to high temperatures have reached the mass spectrometer so far, however data has shown that the gas flow has been erratic, which is puzzling the scientists.

Meanwhile, plans call for Phoenix to widen its deepest trench, called "Stone Soup," to scoop a fresh sample of soil from that depth for analysis in the wet chemistry laboratory of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA). Stone Soup measures about 18 centimeters (7 inches) deep. The first attempt to collect a sample from Stone Soup, on Aug. 26, got 2 to 3 cubic centimeters (half a teaspoon) into the scoop. This was judged to be not quite enough, so delivering a sample was deferred.

In coming days the team also plans to have Phoenix test a revised method for handling a sample rich in water-ice. Two such samples earlier stuck inside the scoop.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

LYRA AND KAG COMET REPORT AND UPCOMING EVENTS FOR THE ONGOING SUMMER MONTHS......

Not much change from what i said last month although I have updated and added a few more things that maybe of interest and worth considering.....

COMETS:

Comet 17P/Holmes: has now faded to beyond magnitude 6 and is not Observable as it is in Conjuction with the Sun-I think by now we have all seen the best of that one.

 

C/2007 Comet Boattini which attained a reasonable Magnitude 9 by the beginning of May this year should return in the very early morning Twilight during mid July this month when it may attain a better Magnitude of 6.9 to 7, it should be a good small Telescope or Binocular object to be observed and picked out probably best to look in the Eastern early morning sky after mid Month around 01.00 Hours U.T in the Constellation of Cetus close to the border of Taurus but from then on it will fade and be beyond magnitude 10 by the end of the Summer around late August so it has not been a very good viewing window for this one either side of the Summer Solistice but its one I will be looking out for during this month-I didn't get to see this in the early part of May in the Western Evening skies but I hope to get to see this one in the early morning skies of July.

 

Comet Mc Naught 2008 A1 is brightning in the Southern Skies in the Consellation of Puppis and may become magnitude 7.6 during the latter part of September but will still remain a Southern sky Comet

 

Another Comet that may become Binocular Bright in 2009 of next year is Comet C/ N3 Lulin which will become Observable after the new year 2009 in January in the early morning skies around magnitude 8 becoming Binocular bright in the Winter skies of Feburary whilst entering the Evening skies around the 12th of that month and becoming a good viewing Object around magnitude 5.9 on the 20th moving from Virgo into Leo and not starting to fade much before mid March when it will be Magnitude 8.5.

 

There are still around 16 other Comets worldwide to be observed by amature astronomers at the moment but with Magnitude ranges of 11 to 14 are a little too faint to be seen in the Summer twilight skies for us amature Observers.

 

As I have reported once before if I do see and Observe any of these Comets I will send out text and Email alerts to notify Observers in where best to look for these Comets once they appear.

 

Jupiter: at opposition on 9th July (tomorrow) now well placed in the late evening skies to the South East and South-worth looking through a smal telescope to see its Galilean Moons that continually dance around the planet.

THE MOON: New Moon occured on 3rd July, First quarter will be on the 10th July, full Moon will occur on the 18th July, last quarter occurs on the 25th July and new Moon is on 1st of August making it 2 new Moons in the Month of August with the last new Moon occuring on 30th August.

 

Moonweek: will be 20th July to 26th July in 2009 to celebrate 40th anniversary of the Moon landings which will be in a years time (planning-ideas for Lyra?)

and also 2009 will be the International year of Astronomy (ideas?)

 

I.S.S Will be better seen in the latter part of this Month and there will be some good late evening passes worth looking out for towards the end of this Month into early August depending on how it is boosted to keep its Orbit-there are hardly any passes for August though. 

LIGHTING UP TIMES: (all times BST)

16th July will be 21.40 Hours

31st July will be 21.19 Hours

16th August will be 20.50 Hours

31st August will be 20.18 Hours

 

Good Clear skies.....

Spaceflight Now | STS-125 Shuttle Report | NASA sets schedule for remaining shuttle flights

NASA sets schedule for remaining shuttle flights
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: July 7, 2008
NASA today unveiled a revised manifest for the final 10 flights in the space shuttle program, reflecting previously forecast delays across the board because of post-Columbia external tank safety upgrades that have stretched out deliveries. But shuttle Program Manager John Shannon said he's confident NASA can complete the space station and retire the shuttle fleet in 2010 as planned.

"There are challenges with that, that's really a no-contingency-days, no-big-problems kind of schedule," he told CBS News in a telephone interview. Even so, he added, "I think we have a very credible plan to get done, with some margin at the end of it."
Two more shuttle flights are planned this year, in October and November, five in 2009 and a final three missions in the first half of 2010 to bring the program to a close.
NASA had planned to retire the shuttle Atlantis after a final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in October, but the orbiter will make two more flights beyond that, one in 2009 and another in 2010, to provide additional processing margin. Atlantis and Discovery will fly three more times each and the shuttle Endeavour will make four more flights, including the 10th and final mission.
"The original rationale (for retiring Atlantis) was that we would take Atlantis down, it would save some money for the program and we would use it as a spares option for us," Shannon said. "We looked at our spares posture, and it was pretty good, it did not look like there was any pressing need to retire Atlantis.
"From a money standpoint, we were able to continue flying and continue processing Atlantis at no additional cost to the program and that is because we were ramping down all of our return-to-flight efforts and we had gotten more efficient in ground ops processing. So it did not cost us any additional money and on the positive side, it gives us a tremendous amount of manifest flexibility. It makes it much more feasible to finish the program on time."
Unlike Endeavour and Discovery, Atlantis is not equipped with a space station-to-shuttle power transfer system to tap into the station's solar power grid. But Shannon said the two station flights planned for Atlantis do not require the additional docked time the power transfer system provides and "it made a lot of sense to keep Atlantis flying."
Here is the revised manifest:

2008
08/10/08: STS-125/Atlantis
Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission No. 4; 5 spacewalks
10/11/08: STS-126/Endeavour/ISS-ULF2
Starboard solar array rotary mechanism servicing; logistics/resupply; 4 spacewalks
2009
12/02/09: STS-119/Discovery/ISS-15A
S6 solar arrays; 4 spacewalks
15/05/09: STS-127/Endeavour/ISS-2JA
Kibo Exposed Facility; solar array batteries; 5 spacewalks
30/07/09: STS-128/Atlantis/ISS-17A
Multi-purpose logistics module; lab racks; 3 spacewalks
15/10/09: STS-129/Discovery/ISS-ULF3
Spare gyros, other spares; at least 3 spacewalks
10/12/09: STS-130/Endeavour/ISS-20A
Node 3 connecting module, cupola; at least 3 spacewalks
2010
11/02/10: STS-131/Atlantis/ISS-19A
Multi-purpose logistics module; science racks; at least 3 spacewalks; Atlantis' last flight
08/04/10: STS-132/Discovery/ISS-ULF4
Russian research module; spares; at least 3 spacewalks; Discovery's last flight
31/05/10: STS-133/Endeavour/ISS-ULF5
Spares; at least three spacewalks; Endeavour's last flight

During a May 1 briefing to preview the just-completed flight of the shuttle Discovery, Shannon announced that STS-125, the Hubble servicing mission, would slip from August to October and the subsequent flight, STS-126, would slip from October to November. He said STS-119, which had been scheduled for launch in December, would move into 2009, all because of external tank processing issues. At that time, no other target dates were revealed pending additional assessment of tank delivery schedules.
The tank used by Discovery for the most recent shuttle launch on May 31 was the first to be built from scratch with post-Columbia safety upgrades and it took engineers at Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans additional time to perfect and implement required manufacturing techniques.
Those issues were compounded for the upcoming launch of Atlantis on NASA's final planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Shuttle crews bound for the international space station have the option of "safe haven" aboard the lab complex, where they can await rescue by another shuttle if any Columbia-class problems occur that might prevent a safe re-entry. That is not possible for the Hubble repair crew because the telescope is in a different orbit and the shuttle cannot reach the station from there.
As a result, NASA plans to have a second shuttle ready for launch on short notice in case of any major problems and that, in turn, means two tanks will be needed.
In May, Shannon said the changes to the way external tanks are built "added about four to five weeks of processing time on those two tanks. The tank team has done a really nice job of taking the lessons learned processing the tank that's about to fly, and the Hubble tank. So I don't expect that to (expand the time needed) on each of the downstream tanks. They have a mitigation plan in place so that the 2009 tanks come in more on a normal template. So we're going to take a one-time hit of this four to five weeks, it will move pretty much all of the tanks in series, the next 10 tanks that will come out, about that four to five weeks."
Even so, Shannon said today that starting with STS-127 next May, the external tank team at Michoud will need to shave about a month off the time needed to manufacture each tank to keep the program on track.
"The schedule we've put together challenges the Michoud Assembly Facility production on the external tanks by about a month per tank," he said. "We partnered with them very closely to try and understand what production efficiencies we're going to have as we go through the next several builds of tanks. And we think we'll be able to get a month back. But that's not proven yet."

To provide as much margin as possible to cope with unexpected problems, the shuttle program wants to keep the shuttle Endeavour on track across its four upcoming flights. As it now stands, the final flight is targeted for launch on May 31.
NASA managers may opt to move up the next two flights by a few days, in part to provide additional margin for Endeavour. Based on ground processing alone, the Hubble mission likely could be moved up five to six days, Shannon said. But because of payload issues and crew training "they might get two or three days, it doesn't look like much more than that."
But that likely would enable NASA to launch Endeavour on mission STS-126 a few days ahead of the current Nov. 10 target. That's important because it would provide a few additional days of margin to get Endeavour off before a so-called beta angle cutout begins around Nov. 25. If the shuttle isn't off the ground by then, thermal issues caused by the angle between the sun and the plane of the station's orbit would prompt a significant launch delay.
"The beta ends in the middle of December, but we wouldn't launch then because of workforce issues, it would probably be the middle of January or early February," Shannon said. "Right there, you lose two months, almost three months off your critical path and we'd have to really struggle to make that up."
As a result, "we would really like to get 126 off before the beta cutout," Shannon said. "If we move Hubble up a few days, that would make us think we could move 126 up a few days and get a few more days before that beta angle constraint. That's really important to us because we want to keep on the timeline for the (Endeavour) flights."
As with all post-Columbia missions, NASA will have a set of boosters and an external tank available to support an emergency "launch on need" rescue mission for Endeavour's final flight. Congress is considering a plan to use that hardware for one additional flight, a mission to carry a high-tech physics experiment to the space station.
In the wake of the Columbia disaster and the 2010 deadline for completing shuttle operations, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, payload lost its ride to the station. Congressional supporters are considering whether to add a flight and Shannon said the agency was protecting that option.
"Right now, we don't have any direction to go fly the AMS from Congress or the White House," he said. "We've protected the option. We've put together a cargo layout that would have the AMS flying, we have had people from the shuttle program involved in integration to determine the long-lead integration items that we need in order to put it in the shuttle payload bay and be able to go fly it. And I am going to have, at the end of the program, hardware available to not only fly an additional flight but I would also have launch-on-need capability for that flight."
He said external tank 122, which was damaged in Hurricane Katrina, could be upgraded and prepared for launch-on-need use if needed. A set of boosters would have to be procured, but "I don't have to make the decision for configuring ET-122 or the extra boosters until the middle of next year," Shannon said. "So we'll wait and see what everybody wants to do."

The Science Behind the Summer Solstice - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

With 8 inches of hail falling in parts of Nebraska this week and Arizona reaching triple digit temperatures last week, it may seem rather arbitrary to call June 20 the first day of the summer this year, aka the summer solstice. But scientists really do have a reason.

 

It's all about Earth's cockeyed leanings and some celestial configurations that even the ancients understood.

 

Our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees on its spin axis. On June 20 this year (some years it's June 21), the North Pole is pointing toward the sun as much as is possible.

 

Imagine Earth as an apple sitting on one side of a table, with the stem being the North Pole. Tilt the apple 23.5 degrees so the stem points toward a candle (the sun) at the center of the table. That's summer for the top half of the apple.

 

Now keep the stem pointing in the same direction but move the apple to the other side of the table: Now the stem points away from the candle, and it's winter on the top half of the fruit.

 

The setup at June solstice puts the sun as high in our sky as it can go, yielding the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

Scientists put the exact moment of the solstice this year at 7:59 p.m. EDT on June 20 (keep in mind that the sun is always up somewhere, and the gods don't favor the Eastern time zone) 23.50 Hours UT or 00.50 BST (June 20-21st).

 

As long ago as the fourth century B.C., ancient peoples in the Americas understood enough of this that they could create giant calendars driven by sunlight.

 

They built observatories of stone to mark the solstices and other times important for planting or harvesting crops. Shrines and even tombs were also designed with the sun in mind.

 

The sun comes up each day (except at or very near the poles) because our planet rotates once on its axis every 24 hours or so. It is Earth's tilt, and our 365-day orbit around the sun, that explain much about how our world changes during the year.

 

Seasons: As Earth orbits the sun, the orientation of the planet's axis, in relation to the sun, changes constantly. A quarter of the way around in the orbit, fall sets in.

 

By winter, we'll be on the other side of the sun, with the North Pole pointing away from the sun. That winter solstice, around Dec. 21 each year, will be the Northern Hemisphere's shortest day, and researchers in Antarctica will be basking in 24-hour sunlight.

 

Shifting stars: As we orbit the sun, the part of the night sky that's in our view changes. A given star sets about 4 minutes earlier each night. Over a month, this amounts to two hours.

 

In winter, this all means that we're looking at stars that during the summer were in our daytime sky, overwhelmed of course by the glare of the sun. Since we complete a circle every year, the stars of summer, such as the Big Dipper, are always the stars of summer.

 

Endless summer: At the North Pole, the sun rises once a year, around March 19. It rises until the summer solstice, then sinks but does not truly set until around Sept. 24.

During summer on the top half of Earth, our planet is actually farther from the sun than during winter, a fact owing to our non-circular orbit around the sun.

 

 

The difference is about 3 million miles (5 million kilometers), and it makes a difference in radiant heat received by the entire Earth of nearly 7 percent.

But the difference is more than made up for by the longer days in the Northern Hemisphere summer with the sun higher in the sky.

 

 

Which brings up a common question: If the June solstice is the longest day of the year, why are the dog days of August typically hotter?

 

It takes a while for the oceans to warm up, and a lot of weather on land is driven by the heat of the oceans.

More 3D Mars Landing Site Pictures

LYRA AND KAG COMET REPORT AND UPCOMING EVENTS FOR THE SUMMER M...

Not much change from last month although I have updated and added a few more things that maybe of interest.....

COMETS:

Comet 17P/Holmes: has now faded to beyond magnitude 6 and has expanded into the dark background of the sky now in the Constellation Of Auriga on the border with Gemini-it is now very diffuse and difficult if not impossible to pick out against the North Western Evening Twilight.

 

C/2007 Comet Boattini which attained a reasonable Magnitude 9 by the beginning of May this year is now lost to the South Western Evening Twilight and on June 20th it should reach its best brightness of 5.5 although it will be in a daylight sky and won't be able to be Observed in the Constellation of Lepus underneath Orion and too close to the Sun to be seen around this time of the year, when it returns in the very early morning Twilight during mid July at Magnitude 6.9 to 7 it may be a good small Telescope or Binocular object to be observed and picked out, from then on it will fade and be beyond magnitude 10 by the end of the Summer around late August so not a very good viewing window for this one either side of the Summer Solistice but its one I will be looking out for during the Summer months-I didn't get to see this in the early part of this Month though.

 

Another Comet that may become Binocular Bright in 2009 of next year is C/2007 N3 Lulin which will become Observable after the new year 2009 in January in the early morning skies around magnitude 8 becoming Binocular bright in the Winter skies of Feburary whilst entering the Evening skies around the 12th of that month and becoming a good viewing Object around magnitude 5.9 on the 20th moving from Virgo into Leo and not starting to fade much before mid March when it will be Magnitude 8.5.

 

There are around 16 other Comets worldwide to be observed by amature astronomers at the moment but with Magnitude ranges of 11.5 to 14 are a little too faint to be seen in the Summer twilight skies for us Northern Observers.

 

As I have reported once before if I do see and Observe any of these Comets I will send out text and Email alerts to notify Observers in where best to look for these Phenomena.

 

JUNE PHENOMENA:

 

7th June: Mercury at Inferior Conjuction

8th June: Mars is 1.1 Degrees North of the Moon and a daylight Occultation from New Zealand

9th June: Venus is in Superior Conjuction Saturn is 3 Degrees North of the Moon

16th June: Possible June Lyrids although maybe very unfavourable due to azure twilight as well as a Gibbous Moon in the way

17th June: Antares is 0.2 Degrees North of the Moon

19th June: Mercury is Stationary

20th June: Midsummers day and the Summer Solstice at 23.50 hours U.T an Interesting and noting point this year about the Mid Summer Solstice is that it occurs just before midnight in G.M.A.T so therefore in affect the Solstice happens on 2 days one for 20th (23.50 Hours G.M.A.T) and one for the 21st (00.50 Hours B.S.T) Jupiter is 2 Degrees North of the Moon, Pluto is Stationary

23rd June:Neptune will be 0.8 Degrees South of the Moon

25th June: Uranus is 4 Degrees South of the Moon

26th to 27th June: Possible June Bootids maybe several per hour around the Early morning at 02.30 U.T for U.K Observers-worth checking out for.

27th June: Uranus Stationary

 

SKYLIGHT: The lighter Evenings will not give way much to deep sky viewing this Month but there is still the Moon and Planets such as Saturn and Mars in the Evening sky and Jupiter now becoming very prominent in the South East around Midnight

 

PLANETS:

Mercury: passes through Inferior Conjuction this month and is not Observable.

Venus: Passes through Superior Conjuction on June 9th and also will not be Observable.

Mars: Still reatains a reasonable Evening Observing window amongst the stars of Leo but as the Month proceed the viewing window will be reduced in the Evening Twilight and setting before Midnight at the end of June.

Jupiter: Is in the South Eastern sky and is unmistakeably very bright heading for the evening skies and an oppisition in July.

Saturn: Still in Leo and Mars will close in on this but only in the the low evening Twilight at the end of this month.
Uranus and Neptune: Uranus: now moving away from the South Eastern Morning Twilight and may be visible with Binoculars before Nautical Twilight, Neptune is now reasonably placed in the Morning skies in the Constellation of Capricornus and can be seen with a good Telescope.

Dwarf Planet Pluto: At opposition on 20th June low in sagittarius and Observable all night

THE MOON: First quarter was on the 10th June, full Moon will occur on the 18th June, last quarter occurs on the 26th June and new Moon is on 3rd of July.

Perigee: 3rd June at 13.25 U.T, Distance: 357.254 km, Diameter: 33' 27"

Apogee: 16th June at 17.30 U.T, Distance 406,225 km, Diameter 29' 25"

 

Space Shuttle Mission: Blasted off from Kennedy space center at 21.02 Hours G.M.T 5.02 pm EDT on May 31st to return to the ISS for 3 space walks to assemble various parts and has already delivered Japans Science logistics Laboratory Kibo which is quite large and weighs several Tons.

 

LIGHTING UP TIMES: (all times BST)

15th June Will be 21.49 Hours

30th June will be 21.51 Hours

16th July will be 21.40 Hours

31st July will be 21.19 Hours

 

Good Clear skies.....

Mars Phoenix Images in 3D

Spaceflight Now | Delta Launch Report | Phoenix science investigations

Phoenix science investigations
FROM NASA PRESS KIT

The Phoenix Mars Lander will investigate a site in the far north of Mars to answer questions about that part of Mars, and to help resolve broader questions about the planet. The main questions concern water and conditions that could support life.

The landing region has water ice in soil close to the surface, which NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter found to be the case for much of the high-latitude terrain in both the north and south hemispheres of Mars.

Phoenix will dig down to the icy layer. It will examine soil in place at the surface, at the icy layer and in between, and it will scoop up samples for analysis by its onboard instruments. One key instrument will check for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soil samples in tiny ovens and examining the vapors that are given off. Another will test soil samples by adding water and analyzing the dissolution products. Cameras and microscopes will provide information on scales spanning 10 powers of 10, from features that could fit by the hundreds into the period at the end of this sentence to an aerial view taken during descent. A weather station will provide information about atmospheric processes in an arctic region where a coating of carbon- dioxide ice comes and goes with the seasons.

Mars is a vast desert where water is not found in liquid form on the surface, even in places where mid-day temperatures exceed the melting point of ice. One exception may be fleeting outbreaks that have been proposed to explain modern-day flows down some Martian gullies. Today's arid surface is not the whole story, though. Previous Mars missions have found that liquid water has persisted at times in Mars' past and that water ice near the surface remains plentiful today.

Water is a key to four of the most critical questions about Mars: Has Mars ever had life? How should humans prepare for exploring Mars? What can Mars teach us about climate change? How do geological processes differ on Mars and on Earth? Water is a prerequisite for life, a potential resource for human explorers and a major agent of climate and geology. That's why NASA has pursued a strategy of "follow the water" for investigating Mars. Orbiters and surface missions in recent years have provided many discoveries about the history and distribution of water on Mars -- such as minerals that formed in wet environments long ago and liquid flows that are still active today in hillside gullies.

The landing site and onboard toolkit of Phoenix position this mission to follow the water further. The mission's three main science objectives are:

1. Study the history of water in all its phases.

On a time scale of billions of years, ice near the surface where Phoenix will land might be the remnant of an ancient northern sea. Several types of evidence point to plentiful liquid water on ancient Mars, and the northern hemisphere is low and smooth compared to the southern hemisphere. Much of the water that could have remained liquid when ancient Mars had a thicker atmosphere may now be underground ice.

On a time scale of tens of thousands to a few million years, ice near the surface where Phoenix lands might periodically thaw during warmer periods of climate cycles. The tilt of Mars' axis wobbles more than Earth's, and the shape of Mars' orbit also cycles over time, from rounder to more elongated. Currently, Mars is about 20 percent farther from the sun during northern summer than during northern winter, so the summers are relatively cool in the north. As the orbit varies, the northern ice cap will enjoy warm winters on a 50,000-year cycle. The wobble of Mars' axis may also cause the climate to change on a time scale of 100,000 to millions of years.

On much shorter time scales, the arctic ground "breathes" every day and every season, converting tiny amounts of ice into water vapor on summer days and condensing tiny amounts of frost from the atmosphere at night or in winter. In this way, the ice table slowly rises and recedes as the climate changes.

Phoenix will collect information relevant for understanding processes affecting water at all these time scales, from the planet's distant past to its daily weather.

2. Determine if the Martian arctic soil could support life.

Life as we know it requires liquid water, but not necessarily its continuous presence. Phoenix will investigate a hypothesis that some ice in the soil of the landing site may become unfrozen and biologically available at times during the warmer parts of long-period climate cycles. Life might persist in some type of dormant microbial form for millions of years between thaws, if other conditions were right.

The spacecraft is not equipped to detect past or present life. However, in addition to studying the status and history of water at the site, Phoenix will look for other conditions favorable to life.

One condition considered essential for life as we know it is the presence of molecules that include carbon and hydrogen. These are known as organic compounds, whether they come from biological sources or not. They include the chemical building blocks of life, as well as substances that can serve as an energy source, or food, for life. Phoenix would be able to detect even very small amounts and identify them. Two Viking spacecraft that NASA landed on Mars in 1976 made the only previous tests for organic compounds in Martian soil, and they found none. Conditions at the surface may be harsh enough to break organic molecules apart and oxidize any carbon into carbon dioxide. Phoenix will assess some factors in those oxidizing conditions, and it will check for organic chemicals below the surface, as well as in the top layer. Organic chemicals would persist better in icy material sheltered from sunshine than in surface soil exposed to harsh ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Phoenix will also be checking for other possible raw ingredients for life. It will examine how salty and how acidic or alkaline the environment is in samples from different layers. It will assess other types of chemicals, such as sulfates, that could be an energy source for microbes.

3. Study Martian weather from a polar perspective.

In Mars' polar regions, the amount of water vapor in the thin atmosphere -- the humidity -- varies significantly from season to season. Winds carrying water vapor can move water from place to place on the planet. The current understanding of these processes is based on observations from orbit and limited meteorological observations from earlier Mars landers closer to the equator. Phoenix will use an assortment of tools to directly monitor several weather variables in the lower atmosphere at an arctic site.

Phoenix will measure temperatures at ground level and three other heights to about 2 meters (7 feet) above ground. It will check the pressure, humidity and composition of the atmosphere at the surface. And it will identify the amounts, altitudes and movements of clouds and dust in the sky above.

Over the course of the mission, this unprecedented combination of Martian meteorological measurements will help researchers evaluate correlations such as whether southbound winds carry more humidity than northbound winds; whether drops in air pressure are associated with increased dust; and how the amount of water vapor at the bottom of the atmosphere changes from late spring to mid-summer or later.