SKYWATCHERS Newsletter of the China Lake Astronomical Society Volume 42 No. 1 January 1, 2005 NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, January 3, 2005 Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest, California JANUARY 3 MEETING - EINSTEIN'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO ASTRONOMY Six of us were able to see the Albert Einstein exhibit at the Skirball Museum on December 16, 2004. We will report on what we observed and learned about Einstein's contributions to astronomy at our January 2005 meeting. Those wishing to learn more about Einsteins's life outside of astronomy may enjoy the exhibit themselves. DATES TO KEEP IN MIND Monday, January 3, 2005, 7:30 p.m.: Regular monthly meeting, see above Tuesday, January 18, 2005: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter Monday, February 7, 2005: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m. PUBLIC STAR PARTIES WILL RESUME IN MARCH 2005 THE SKY IN JANUARY (Roger Brower) 1. Venus remains brilliant in the morning sky and presents a fine view in the east for early risers. 2. During early January, Mercury continues to be close to Venus in the morning sky. 3. Saturn reaches opposition on the 13th and so will rise about sundown and be visible all night long. 4. Jupiter will rise about midnight on the 1st of January. 5. Mars also remains in the morning sky. 6. Comet Machholz should be the big event for the month as it rises from the south and passes just to the east of the Pleiades on January 8th. It is expected to reach 4th magnitude and so should be easily visible with the naked eye CANADIAN HANDBOOKS AND CALENDARS ARE ON HAND We have an ample supply of the Royal Canadian Astronomical Society's Observers Handbook for 2005, plus their Observer's Calendar. They will be available at the December meeting, or by calling Roger Brower (375-1181) or Carroll Evans (375-5681). These products are invaluable aids to observing, and are $15.00 for the Handbook, and $10.00 for the calendar. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Selection of the officers of the China Lake Astronomical Society for 2005 was held at the December meeting. All officers for 2004 agreed to continue for another year. TELESCOPE FOR SALE Celestron 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain w/ Starbright XLT Coatings, Celestron CI 700 Equatorial Mount, 9x50 Finder, NGC Lumicon Sky Vector Computer, Kendrick Dew Remover (Heater), Celestron Dew Shield, Celestron Hard Case for Optical Tube, Celestron 2" Star Diagonal, 2" 26mm Eyepiece, SLR Camera Mount $6000.00 or best Offer --Looking for a 10 Contact: Dr. Timothy Dawson (760) 375-8522 EARL TOWSON'S ASTRONOMICAL NEWS BULLETINS SHUTTLE SERVICING OF HUBBLE IS BEST OPTION: To ensure continuation of the extraordinary scientific output of the Hubble Space Telescope and to prepare for its eventual de-orbiting, NASA should send a space shuttle mission, not a robotic one, says a new congressionally requested report from the National Academies' National Research Council. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0412/08hstreport/ ROBOT FIX NOT LIKELY: There has been tremendous controversy ever since NASA announced that they wouldn't send astronauts to repair and upgrade the aging Hubble Space Telescope. An independent report delivered to the agency says that even sending a robotic mission to repair the observatory is probably a bad idea - it would be too costly and risky. A robotic mission might take $2 billion or more to develop, might not reach Hubble in time, and probably only has a 50% chance of succeeding - it would be more cost effective to launch a new observatory with the instruments built for Hubble. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6663928 REPAIR TECHNIQUES NOT REQUIRED FOR SHUTTLE RETURN: NASA remains on track for launching the shuttle Discovery on the first post-Columbia mission next May or June, managers said Monday. While certified techniques for on-orbit repair of tile or wing leading edge damage may not be available by then, efforts to minimize foam debris impacts, coupled with a variety of other safety upgrades and the "safe haven" provided by the space station, give managers confidence the shuttle can safely return to flight sometime next spring. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0412/06rtfupdate/ MAGELLAN GIANT TELESCOPE: When it's complete, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be the world's largest observatory, with a primary mirror 25.4 meters (83 feet) across - 4.5 times the collecting power of any telescope on Earth. The observatory will be built using 7 primary mirrors arranged in a flower pattern, and reuse the manufacturing equipment that helped build the Large Binocular Telescope mirrors now being conditions in Chile, such as at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory, are some of the best in the world. The GMT will have ten times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. With its powerful resolution and enormous collecting area, the GMT will be able to probe the secrets of planets that have formed around other stars in the Milky Way, peer back in time toward the Big Bang with unprecedented clarity, delve into the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and explore the formation of black holes-the most Important questions in astronomy today. http://carnegieinstitution.org/news_releases/news_0412_10.html MISSION TO NEPTUNE? With Jupiter and now Saturn getting attention, NASA is setting its eyes further out in the Solar System - on Neptune. A mission to this "ice giant" could launch in a decade, and arrive at the 8th planet by 2035. It would be powered by a nuclear-electric propulsion system, similar to the one being considered for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission. Because it is so far from the Sun, Neptune has had less interaction with the solar wind, asteroids and comets, so studying it would give scientists a better understanding of the conditions that led to the formation of the Solar System. http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/neptune.htm DEEP IMPACT: Engineers are making the final preparations for the launch of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, due to lift off from Cape Canaveral on January 12, 2005. The spacecraft will make a six-month journey to reach the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1, and then deploy a probe that will crash into it at 37,000 km/h (23,000 mph). The 1-metre square copper probe will completely vaporize, and should carve out a hole the size of the Roman Coliseum, which Deep Impact will be able to study as it passes the comet shortly afterwards. The impact will also be recorded by Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, and dozens of Earth-based observatories. The fireworks will be courtesy of a 1-by-1 meter (39-by-39 inches) copper-fortified probe. It is designed to obliterate Itself as it excavates a crater possibly large enough to swallow the Roman Coliseum. Before, during and after the demise of this 372-kilogram (820-pound) impactor, a nearby spacecraft will be watching the 6-kilometer-wide (3.7-mile) comet nucleus, collecting pictures and data of the event. "In the world of science, this is the astronomical equivalent of a 767 airliner running into a mosquito," said Don Yeomans, a Deep Impact mission scientist at JPL. "It simply will not appreciably modify the comet's orbital path. Comet Tempel 1 poses no threat to Earth now or in the foreseeable future." http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html ROCKET TROUBLE STALLS LAUNCH OF DEEP IMPACT MISSION: A manufacturing error discovered in a part of the Boeing Delta 2 rocket to launch NASA's Deep Impact comet striker will force on-pad repairs, further delaying liftoff that must occur during an inflexible one-month window. http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d311/041214delay.html CASSINI: NASA's Cassini spacecraft swept past Titan for the second time yesterday, this time on a more direct course, and passed by 1,200 kilometers above the surface. Once again the spacecraft's cameras took hundreds of images as Cassini drew closer to Titan, revealing the same surface features now associated with the landing site of the Huygens probe that is set to descend to Titan's surface in mid January. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/second_titan_flyby.html?14122004 As Cassini swung around to the dark side of the planet during its first close passage after orbit insertion, the intrepid spacecraft spied three ring moons -- Mimas, Janus and Prometheus -- whizzing around the planet. http://spaceflightnow.com/cassini/041211darkside.html SOME RAMBLINGS BY YOUR EDITOR (Carroll Evans) With this issue of SKYWATCHERS we are beginning the 42nd year of publication of the Newsletter. Let us reminisce a bit. The first issues were hand typed by either Curt Chaffin, or Keith Honey, I forget which. They made as many carbon copies as they could get away with, and then typed it again, and again. Then we "graduated" to ditto. Some of you are too young to remember the distinctive blue of the Ditto product, and the painful method of making corrections. After Ditto we went to the even more cumbersome mimeograph process, both methods still using a typewriter in the production. Somewhere along the way Jim McMahon became the editor of SKYWATCHERS, and it became his passion and a large part of his life. When Jim could no longer do it, I took over. And I am still here. It is a much smaller part of my life than it was for Jim. For that I can thank all of you who provide input. These days the newsletter is done in Microsoft word on a Macintosh computer, and Xeroxed by Spectrum Graphics in Ridgecrest. Most of you get hard copies in the mail. Some get email versions, and some get both. All issues depend on email for receiving content. Special thanks are due to former China Lake Earl Towson, now residing in San Diego. His excellent email missives provide what is needed to fill out the standard four pages of the newsletter. One more reminder. This is your newsletter, I am but the editor. There is plenty of room for your articles. MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION Basic CLAS dues are $20.00 per year, which includes the Skywatchers Newsletter. As a benefit of membership you may also receive Astronomy Magazine and/or Sky and Telescope Magazine. The fee schedule is as follows: Basic membership $20.00 per year Membership with Astronomy magazine $49.00 per year Membership with Sky and Telescope magazine $53.00 per year Membership with both S & T and Astronomy $82.00 per year Send your check to: Roger Brower, Treasurer, China Lake Astronomical Society, P.O. Box 1783, Ridgecrest, CA 93556. PRESIDENT - Earl Wilson - 760-876-5455 (email zearlw@gmail.com) VICE-PRESIDENT - Bruce Churchill - 760-375-7247 (email bchurchill@atsecure.net) SECRETARY - Ted Hodgkinson - 661- 824-2738 (email longeyes@antelecom.net) TREASURER - Roger Brower - 760-375-1181 (email brower@iwvisp.com) NEWSLETTER EDITOR - Carroll Evans Jr. - 760-375-5681 (email clevans@ridgenet.net) Meetings of the China Lake Astronomical Society are held at the Maturango Museum at 7:30 p.m. on the first Monday evening of each month, except when the first Monday is a holiday. SKYWATCHERS Newsletter of the CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY POST OFFICE BOX 1783 RIDGECREST, CA 93556-1783 NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m., MONDAY, January 3, 2005: "EINSTEIN AND ASTRONOMY" AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES AVE. WESTERN AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS WEB SITE CLAS WEB PAGE INDEX OF CLAS NEWSLETTERS