Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
And The Hits Just Keep Coming!
Just when you think we got our solar system down pretty well, all heck breaks loose and we end up dumbstruck to the fact that we really do not know diddly do about our little world. Headlines from the last few weeks read Mars may have had a thicker Atmosphere, Saturn has Giant ring Water found on Moon. So let's take a look at these for a moment and see where they fit in the big picture of things.
Ah Mars... This is the planet that launched their armada against us and then succumbed to a bad cold. This and countless other stories have been told about this intriguing red next door neighbor of ours. What do we know about Mars? Until recently, not very much. 50 years ago, it was all about what we could see in a telescope. Then came the probes. We have answered a lot of questions about who our neighbor is. The problem is for every question we answer we ask two more. The latest question asked by the Mars Rover Opportunity is: How could a meteor the size of a large watermelon have survived a fall to Mars without exploding and or leaving a large crater? Opportunity found this Iron Nickel meteorite in 2005 Some scientists have proposed that Mars had a much thicker atmosphere at one time this might have slowed the meteor down of that size and allowed it to land there as few as a thousand years or so ago. the atmosphere is trapped in the CO2 frozen at the poles. On the other hand this could be a meteorite that hit the surface tens of thousand of years ago and has come to the surface through erosion. Both are plausible answers. I tend to believe this meteor might have landed on Mars similar to how the Hoba Meteorite made it's way to Earth. The meteor took a low trajectory and skipped to a stop in front of Opportunities camera.This would answer many of the questions about this meteorite. I am interested to see how this turns out so stay tuned...
Saturn has a super-duper ring. The Spitzer Telescope locked onto it recently. This ring is huge with the bulk of the ring materials artist's rendering released by NASA shows the biggest but
never-before-seen ring around Saturn, spotted by NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope Photo: AP start about 3.7 million miles from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles. The ring is very thin and loosely filled with ice and dust. The temp goes about 316 below zero F. but still has a thermal signature Spitzer can "see" This ring is also tilted 27 degrees to the ring system. The ring might also answer: Why the heck is Iapetus shiny on one side and dark on the other? The ring circles in the same direction as
Phoebe, while Iapetus, ,the other rings and most of Saturn's other moons go the opposite way. Scientists think material from the outer ring moves inward and slams into Iapetus.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/07/saturn-new-ring-discovere_n_312301.html It has long been suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus This new ring provides real evidence of that relationship."They have never seen the ring because no one has put a infrared scope on Saturn before. There it was... We are always just that close to another big discovery.
The last but not least headline lately was Water Found on Moon! Not Earth shattering if you will excuse the pun. Water or Hydroxyl has been found on the moon in several experiments performed by NASA Probes including looking at some Apollo 15 rocks again. Water was found locked inside these rocks. Who would have thought? The real question was how much? Finding a substantial amount of water on the Moon would go a long way to establishing a base there. The water can be made into fuel and also provide potable water for crews etc...But Steve how will they extract this water if found? the good folks at Huntsville have been working on this problem and have come up with a very doable solution. They will use microwaves to extract the water from the moon "dirt" They have done experiments and have been able to get 95 % of the water back from the simulated lunar soil and using a cold trap. We will not know for two weeks or so how much water might be up there. On the outside looking in, the LCROSS probe seemed to have drilled a dry hole... The word is all the instruments were working. The pictures were a bit on the anticlimactic side. I am looking forward to finding some answers. but untill then...
Clear skies and Great seeing too!
Steve T
Ah Mars... This is the planet that launched their armada against us and then succumbed to a bad cold. This and countless other stories have been told about this intriguing red next door neighbor of ours. What do we know about Mars? Until recently, not very much. 50 years ago, it was all about what we could see in a telescope. Then came the probes. We have answered a lot of questions about who our neighbor is. The problem is for every question we answer we ask two more. The latest question asked by the Mars Rover Opportunity is: How could a meteor the size of a large watermelon have survived a fall to Mars without exploding and or leaving a large crater? Opportunity found this Iron Nickel meteorite in 2005 Some scientists have proposed that Mars had a much thicker atmosphere at one time this might have slowed the meteor down of that size and allowed it to land there as few as a thousand years or so ago. the atmosphere is trapped in the CO2 frozen at the poles. On the other hand this could be a meteorite that hit the surface tens of thousand of years ago and has come to the surface through erosion. Both are plausible answers. I tend to believe this meteor might have landed on Mars similar to how the Hoba Meteorite made it's way to Earth. The meteor took a low trajectory and skipped to a stop in front of Opportunities camera.This would answer many of the questions about this meteorite. I am interested to see how this turns out so stay tuned...
Saturn has a super-duper ring. The Spitzer Telescope locked onto it recently. This ring is huge with the bulk of the ring materials artist's rendering released by NASA shows the biggest but never-before-seen ring around Saturn, spotted by NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope Photo: AP start about 3.7 million miles from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles. The ring is very thin and loosely filled with ice and dust. The temp goes about 316 below zero F. but still has a thermal signature Spitzer can "see" This ring is also tilted 27 degrees to the ring system. The ring might also answer: Why the heck is Iapetus shiny on one side and dark on the other? The ring circles in the same direction as
Phoebe, while Iapetus, ,the other rings and most of Saturn's other moons go the opposite way. Scientists think material from the outer ring moves inward and slams into Iapetus.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/07/saturn-new-ring-discovere_n_312301.html It has long been suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus This new ring provides real evidence of that relationship."
The last but not least headline lately was Water Found on Moon! Not Earth shattering if you will excuse the pun. Water or Hydroxyl has been found on the moon in several experiments performed by NASA Probes including looking at some Apollo 15 rocks again. Water was found locked inside these rocks. Who would have thought? The real question was how much? Finding a substantial amount of water on the Moon would go a long way to establishing a base there. The water can be made into fuel and also provide potable water for crews etc...But Steve how will they extract this water if found? the good folks at Huntsville have been working on this problem and have come up with a very doable solution. They will use microwaves to extract the water from the moon "dirt" They have done experiments and have been able to get 95 % of the water back from the simulated lunar soil and using a cold trap. We will not know for two weeks or so how much water might be up there. On the outside looking in, the LCROSS probe seemed to have drilled a dry hole... The word is all the instruments were working. The pictures were a bit on the anticlimactic side. I am looking forward to finding some answers. but untill then...Clear skies and Great seeing too!
Steve T
And The Hits Just Keep Coming!
Just when you think we got our solar system down pretty well, all heck breaks loose and we end up dumbstruck to the fact that we really do not know diddly about our little world. Headlines from the last few weeks read Mars may have had a thicker Atmosphere, Saturn has Giant ring Water found on Moon.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Travel Companions That Never Let You Down
I love to travel and when I go I always try to take some kind of an instrument to look through to the heavens above. I had a Televue Ranger (telescope) that went with me everywhere I went and did what I needed for it to do. it was small compact and delivered very good images. There was one drawback for that scope. It had a helical focuser which some folks like but for me it was not quite my cup of tea. I eventually sold that beautiful scope for that reason. I broke a golden rule of mine. I never quit a job until I have one lined up and never sell a scope unless I have one to fill the void. I now limp along traveling without a travel scope. Right now I am out of town and through some circumstances I have my 8" Celestron CPC with me. This a very grumpy travel companion. Large and bulky but it is what I have with me now.
It had been raining every day fora good week but on Saturday the clouds parted and I was treated to clear skies for a few hours. I grabbed my scope and lugged it down stairs of the Hilton to my Truck and off I went to see what I could see. On the drive I was thinking of what travel scope I would get when I get back home. I have it narrowed down to a couple of brands now Astronomy Technologies and Williams. when I got to the site I set up and got out my two travel companions that I rely on every time I hit the road. They are the Sky and Telescopes Pocket Sky Atlas and the Deep Map 600. Those two items are small, very user friendly and jammed with great information.I use the Map alone sometimes. because it gives the big picture and has many targets on it to look at. I use it as an overall strategy builder for the night. After I have located what are I will be taking a peak in I open up the Pocket Sky Atlas (PSA). The PSA gives much more detail for the reg
ion of space I wish to explore. The People down at the Sky publishing building took a few months to get all the input of what to put in this small atlas and then went about producing it in house totally. My hat is off to the fine folks at Sky Publishing. You will find enough "stuff" to look at for the rest of your days using this atlas alone. Not only does this atlas have great Maps, It also has many lists of objects in the back. So... if you hear your comrades in scopes going on about NGC 3190 and how beautiful it was last night, you pick up the Atlas go to the list in the back look up NGC 3190 and Ah they are talking about a Galax
y located in Leo. Then you can ask: Did you get a good look at 3193 as well? ( in the same field of view) This book can make you look good!Seriously, you can learn a lot about the sky using this atlas. It is laid out very well . The maps in the atlas are big chunks of the sky so constellations are still recognizable. I have always said if you want to learn the sky take it one constellation at a time and explore it completely. This atlas helps you do just that.
The Deep map 600 is well made using plastic that feels like slick paper. So if you forget to take it in for the evening
no worries the de will dry off then you fold it and put the map away again for the next big outing. The Deep Map 600 has many lists on the back as well. Say you like gazing at Variables (Stars that brighten and dim on schedule) there is a list. I have traveled to many different lands using this combination and they have never disappointed me. and If I have a real hankering for Galaxies of magnitude 12 or more (dimmer) I have an Atlas on my Computer that can and does deliver. So as for how the observing went last night? I got a look at the face on Spiral M33 then the clouds came ... But I had a look at it! I have confirmed it is still there. Alas there will be other night and other targets for me to check out. One thing is for certain. My two little companions will be with me no matter what scope or binoculars I have, showing me the way. Until then My friends...Clear skies and great seeing too!
Steve T
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