The Planetary Report, Page 10)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Issue 106, May 2006
37 th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference THE CONFERENCE IN REVIEW Attendance at the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) set yet another record for this conference, with 1546 participants from 24 countries attending the meeting held at the South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center in League City, Texas, on March 13–17, 2006 (see inset for attendance statistics). Rearrangement of the confi guration of the meeting rooms, along with additional overfl ow seating, allowed conference organizers and staff to accommodate the marked increase in attendance, thereby being able to maintain the current meeting venue and hence the low registration fee, which enables the high number of student attendees. LPSC continues to be recognized among the international science community as the most important planetary conference in the world, and this year’s meeting substantiated the merit of that reputation. More than 1400 abstracts were submitted in consideration for presentation at the conference, and hundreds of planetary scientists and students attended both oral and poster sessions focusing on such diverse topics as the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus; outer planets and satellites; meteorites; comets, asteroids, and other small bodies; Limpacts; interplanetary dust particles and presolar grains; origins of planetary systems; planetary formation and early evolution; and astrobiology. Sunday night’s registration and reception were again held at the Center for Advanced Space Studies, which houses the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Featured on Sunday night was an open house for the display of education and public outreach activities and programs. Highlights of the conference program, established by the program committee under the guidance of co-chairs Dr. -
Newsletter 14-2 Published on Division for Planetary Sciences (
Newsletter 14-2 Published on Division for Planetary Sciences (https://dps.aas.org) Newsletter 14-2 Issue 14-2, January 22, 2014 +-----------------------------CONTENTS--------------------------------+ 1) NOTE FROM THE CHAIR 2) MESSAGE FROM THE FEDERAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE (FRS) CHAIR 3) REMINDER: CALL FOR DPS 2014 PRIZE NOMINATIONS 4) REMINDER : 2014 ONLINE MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS 5) CALL FOR MISSION CONCEPTS FOR THE LARGE-SIZE 'L2' MISSION OPPORTUNITY IN ESA'S SCIENCE PROGRAMME 6) DRAFT SOLICITATIONS OF SOME PSD R&A SOLICITATIONS FOR ROSES14 RELEASED TO PUBLIC 7) MARS CRITICAL DATA PRODUCTS PROGRAM (ROUND IX) 8) JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES 9) UPCOMING MEETINGS +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1 NOTE FROM THE CHAIR Washington DC may be currently covered in snow, but warm fuzzies abound here as a 2014 budget has passed into law (more details in the note below from the Federal Relations Subcommittee). Take a deep breath, and think about our DPS community’s successes. We’ve secured $1.3 Billion dollars to do planetary exploration. Our missions are healthy: Cassini, Curiosity, MESSENGER, JUNO, and more. ESA’s ROSETTA mission successfully reawakened from hibernation, ready to go comet hunting. Europa got a big boost with the news from the Hubble Space Telescope hinting at tidally-driven water geysers. What have you done to share this news with your family, your community, your representatives in Washington? Drop me a line; I’d like to share some of your stories. Regarding NASA’s R&A reorganization, please communicate your thoughts with the members of the Planetary Science Subcommittee (PSS), as well as the members of the various assessment groups (OPAG, SBAG, VEXAG, MEPAG, LEAG, etc). -
The Planetary Report December Solstice 2011 Volume 31, Number 5
THE PLANETARY REPORT DECEMBER SOLSTICE 2011 VOLUME 31, NUMBER 5 www.planetary.org REMEMBERING THE YEAR IN PICTURES NEW (OLD) VENUS IMAGES C POLITICAL ACTION 2011 UPDATE C SHOEMAKER GRANT RECIPIENTS SNAPSHOTS FROM SPACE EMILY STEWART LAKDAWALLA blogs at planetary.org/blog. New images, old camera 1975 was a good-looking year for Venus VENERA 9 BECAME THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL satellite of Venus, and its lander was the first to photograph Venus’ surface, on October 20, 1975. One of its two cameras, a line-scanner that rotated in order to build a complete image, returned two views of a rock-strewn hillside. The scanner was angled from the spacecraft’s body, so this panorama shows the horizon at its edges and the Images: Russian Academy of Sciences/Don Mitchell Sciences/Don of Academy Russian Images: ground in front of the lander at its center. This view was reconstructed by Don Mitchell from data on tapes exchanged between the Soviet Union and Brown University. More recently, digital data have become available online, and Mitchell used those data to reconstruct a view of Venus (at right) captured by the Venera 9 orbiter on December 11, 1975. For more Venera photos, visit Mitchell’s website at MENTALLANDSCAPE.COM. —Emily Stewart Lakdawalla LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS IMAGE PLANETARY.ORG/SNAPSHOTS DIS COVER MORE ABOUT AMATEUR IMAGE PROCESSING PLANETARY.ORG/PROGRAMS/PROJECTS/AMATEUR SEE MORE EVERY DAY! PLANETARY.ORG/BLOG CONTACT US The Planetary Society 85 South Grand Avenue Pasadena, CA 91105-1602 General Calls: 626-793-5100 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: planetary.org 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT C DECEMBER SOLSTICE 2011 SNAPSHOTS FROM SPACE CONTENTS DECEMBER SOLSTICE 2011 The Year in Pictures Stunning photography of breakthroughs 6 in space science from the the past year. -
The Planetary Report June Solstice 2012 Volume 32, Number 2
THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2012 VOLUME 32, NUMBER 2 www.planetary.org DARK SKIES? LIGHT POLLUTION IS OBSCURING OUR VIEW OF THE STARS REMEMBERING RAY C ENTRY, DESCENT, AND LANDING C FISCAL YEAR 2011 ANNUAL REPORT SNAPSHOTS FROM SPACE EMILY STEWART LAKDAWALLA blogs at planetary.org/blog. Image: NASA/JPL/SSI/Gordan Ugarkovic Image: NASA/JPL/SSI/Gordan Saturn’s two largest moons Color cameras shine on board Cassini HAZE-SHROUDED TITAN SITS BEHIND ICY RHEA in a view captured by Cassini on November 19, 2009. Titan is almost exactly twice as far from Cassini as Rhea is, so Rhea’s size is exaggerated by a factor of two. Cassini takes “mutual event” photos featuring two or more moons in order to provide precise positional information for determining the moons’ orbits. Late in 2009, Cassini’s engineers switched from taking mutual event pictures in black and white to using the red, green, and blue filters necessary for composing color images. The result has been an explosion in the number of beautiful images like this one, of orange Titan (outlined in blue haze), yellow Saturn, and ocher rings paired with gray-brown moons. —Emily Stewart Lakdawalla CONTACT US LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS IMAGE PLANETARY.ORG/SNAPSHOTS The Planetary Society 85 South Grand Avenue Pasadena, CA 91105-1602 SEE MORE EVERY DAY! PLANETARY.ORG/BLOG General Calls: 626-793-5100 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: planetary.org 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT C JUNE SOLSTICE 2012 SNAPSHOTS FROM SPACE CONTENTS JUNE SOLSTICE 2012 In Memoriam 6 Louis Friedman reflects on the death of a longtime friend. -
Physics & Astrophysics 2014
Physics & Astrophysics 2014 press.princeton.edu Contents In a Nutshell 1 Princeton Frontiers in Physics 3 Graduate & Undergraduate Textbooks 4 Astronomy & Astrophysics 6 Princeton Series in Astrophysics 8 Princeton Series in Modern Observational Astronomy 10 Physics 10 Princeton Series in Physics 13 Quantum Physics 14 Condensed Matter 15 Landmarks in Mathematics & Physics 15 Mathematics, Mathematical Physics & Engineering 16 Science Essentials 17 Princeton Primers in Climate 18 Of Related Interest 20 Albert Einstein 22 Princeton Science Library 24 Index | Order Form 25 Cover illustration from the jacket of Why You Hear What You Hear, copyright 2012 Eric J. Heller What’s In a Nutshell? More of the best science than ever. In a Nutshell is a series of concise, accessible, and up-to- date textbooks for advanced undergraduates and graduate students on key subjects in the physical sciences. Part of Princeton University Press’s expanding presence in science textbook publishing, this high-pro le series will bring out the highest quality texts on subjects ranging from astrophysics, nuclear physics, and string the- ory, to particle physics, neutrino physics, electromagnetism, and magnetism. Crack open one of this season’s new titles to nd out just how much science ts In a Nutshell. New Elementary Particle Classical Einstein Gravity in Physics in a Nutshell Electromagnetism a Nutshell Christopher G. Tully in a Nutshell A. Zee “This is a remarkable book in its Anupam Garg “Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell breadth and depth, with many “This text provides a fresh, modern is a remarkably complete and beautiful and useful things in it. It look at electrodynamics. -
Issue #116 of the Lunar and Planetary
OOnene SSteptep CCloserloser ttoo CCompletingompleting tthehe CCopernicanopernican RRevolutionevolution — Dr. David C. Black Five hundred and fi fty-fi ve years ago, Nicolaus Copernicus published his seminal paper, De revolutionibus, showing that contrary to existing beliefs of the time, Earth revolved around the Sun. His work forever changed the place of humanity in the cosmos and shaped the nature of future astronomical research, yet until recently there was only one known planetary system: our solar system. One of the great successes of astronomical research over the past two decades is the discovery of planetary mass companions to other stars. These bodies are commonly referred to as extrasolar planets, or exoplanets. Since the fi rst planetary mass companion to another star was discovered in the 1990s, more than 300 such companions have been discovered. There are two general methods to detect planetary companions to other stars; one is “indirect,” whereby Legend has it that the fi rst printed copy of De one detects the presence of the companion by virtue revolutionibus was placed in Copernicus’ hands on the of some observable effect it has on its parent star. All Lvery day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his the systems discovered to date have been detected by life’s work. He is reputed to have wakened from a stroke- indirect techniques, primarily precise radial velocity induced coma, looked at his book, and died peacefully. measurements that reveal the companion via periodic shifts, with a period of the unseen companion’s orbit, in the spectral lines of the star. The other method is “direct,” whereby one detects radiation from the planet itself — either thermal radiation from the planet or refl ected light from its parent star (just as we see the Moon and Venus in our night sky). -
Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin, Issue 98
TTITANITAN –– IINTERNATIONALNTERNATIONAL MMOONOON OFOF MMYSTERYYSTERY — Ralph Lorenz, University of Arizona While the arrival of the Mars rovers has made 2004 a landmark year for planetary exploration, another mission has been quietly closing in on its target, one that may rival Mars in both scientific importance and public appeal. The Cassini mission, a joint endeavor between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), is about to arrive in the saturnian system, last visited fleetingly by Voyager 2 in 1981. This monster project involves a large Saturn orbiter spacecraft and a European-built probe named Huygens, which will descend to the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and promises a bonanza of scientific discoveries. While Saturn, adorned by beautiful rings and attended by a diverse zoo of moons, offers as much interest as the jovian system, it is Titan that is set to take center stage. TITAN:AN ICY GIANT WITH AN EXOTIC FAMILIARITY Titan is the second-largest satellite in the solar system (Jupiter’s Ganymede is slightly larger). Its radius is 2575 kilometers, between the sizes of the planets Mars and Mercury. What makes Titan particularly interesting is that it has a thick atmosphere, made mostly of molecular nitrogen, just like our own. Titan’s atmosphere is denser than our own — by a factor of 4 at sea level (a term that may apply literally!). Understanding how Titan acquired its atmosphere, and how that atmosphere evolved over time, is an important task. Titan’s gravity is 1.35 m s–2, about one-seventh that of Earth’s (very similar to our Moon). -
Griffin Makes First JPL Visit As NASA Boss
I n s i d e June 3, 2005 Volume 35 Number 11 News Briefs . 2 Odd Spot on Titan. 3 Special Events Calendar . 2 Letters . 4 Voyager 1 at Final Frontier . 3 Classifieds. 4 Jet Propulsion Laborator y the existence and nature of planets in other solar systems. It might be a couple thousand years before the human race has the capability to go to one of those places. But to know they’re out there, to possibly detect the signatures of life on such planets, would be an achievement almost beyond imagining.” Overall, how does the administrator see NASA’s future? “Over the next couple of generations, we’re going to go where the Griffin technology can take us—the moon, Mars, near-Earth asteroids,” Griffin offered. makes In answer to an inquiry about NASA’s intentions for new human explo- rations on the moon, he turned the question to the audience. “It will be in part up to those of you who are scientists. How can I first JPL enlist and enroll science as well as engineering? The model I have for our activities on the moon is similar to our Antarctic outposts. Given that we’re there, what kinds of things make sense to you to do, now that visit as we’ve expanded this range of human habitability?” Griffin’s vision for the moon includes geology, fundamental planetary physics and studies of the satellite’s origin. He said NASA should survey NASA the moon for onsite resources, which will be “crucial to establishing a true space economy and a space infrastructure, transitioning from funda- Dutch Slager / JPL Photolab mental science to engineering science.” boss “And then when we get to Mars, we’re going to expand our range even Twenty-six years after he left JPL more and do even neater things. -
Do They Have Your Numb3r? Strange Visions
SI J-F 07 Cover V1 11/13/06 12:32 PM Page 1 MARTIN GARDNER ON VACUUM ENERGY • WEIGHING THE SOUL • ENTITIES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON Volume 31, No. 1 • January/February 2007 • INTRODUCTORY PRICE U.S. $4.95 • Canada $5.95 New Do They Directions Have Your for Skeptical Numb3r? Inquiry Energy ID’s Pseudo- ‘Vise Strategy’ science Undone Mass Hysteria Strange in Schools Visions How Can SPECIAL Scientists REPORTS: Persuade? • World Trade Center Illness 01> • Gulf War Syndrome Published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry 0556698 80575 SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:24 AM Page 2 THE COMMITTEE FOR SKEPTICAL INQUIRY AT THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY–TRANSNATIONAL (ADJACENT TO THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO) AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, University at Buffalo Barry Karr, Executive Director Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director FELLOWS James E. Alcock,* psychologist, York Univ., Toronto and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy and Robert L. Park, professor of physics, Univ. of Maryland Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Albany, Oregon Professor of Law, University of Miami John Paulos, mathematician, Temple Univ. Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor-in-chief, New C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist, Harvard England Journal of Medicine David J. Helfand, professor of astronomy, Massimo Polidoro, science writer, author, Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, author, Columbia Univ. executive director CICAP, Italy consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human under- Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. -
WOMEN of the STARS: TWENTY-ONE REMARKABLE ASTRONOMERS with Dr
WOMEN OF THE STARS: TWENTY-ONE REMARKABLE ASTRONOMERS with Dr. Bill Thierfelder Professor of Arts and Humanities, Dowling College (Ret) Visiting Docent, American Museum of Natural History website: www.makingwings.net "We look at science as something very elite, which only a few people can learn. That's just not true. You just have to start early and give kids a foundation. Kids live up, or down, to expectations." --Mae Jemison: first Black woman in space, medical doctor, and astrophysicist INTRODUCTION Women have always studied the night sky. Five thousand years ago, priestesses studied the stars and planets as a way to forecast human and heavenly events. Yet the names of most of these women have been lost. One exception is EnHeduanna, a high-ranking astronomer-priestess in [ancient] Babylon, although it is her poetry [that] survives to the present. Better known by far is Hypatia of Alexandria. And even in her case, the amount of information we have is tiny compared to her status in the ancient world. It is as if we could see two thousand years into the future and find that no one remembers anything about Albert Einstein except his name. From Hypatia’s death around 370 CE to Caroline Herschel’s career in the late 1700s and early 1800s, information about women in science nearly disappeared from Western history. Belief in astrology largely replaced the study of astronomy. Most of those who observed the night sky looked for omens and portents. A few people tried to understand the motion of planets and stars [, but] they lacked the Women of the Stars Dr. -
NL#131 August
August 2006 Issue 131 AAS NEWSLETTER A Publication for the members of the American Astronomical Society PRESIDENT’S COLUMN J. Craig Wheeler, [email protected] 3 Hawaii Topical When I first contemplated accepting the nomination to run for President of theAAS, I thought, well, at least I will have the solid hand of Bob Milkey as Executive Officer to lead me through the thickets.Then Sessions Deadline I realized that not only was Bob intent on retiring, but our stalwart Senior Editor of the Astrophysical Journal, Rob Kennicutt, was decamping to Cambridge. The upshot is that we were scheduled to replace the 5 three top leadership positions in the AAS simultaneously. It is a distinct mark of the health of our Society Council Actions that this transition has gone very smoothly. Kevin Marvel is the new Executive Officer. Kevin has some bold ideas of where to lead the Society and the luxury to contemplate them thanks to the 6 solid foundation left by Bob Milkey. Ethan Vishniac is the new Senior Editor and while Rob Kennicutt’s Chambliss Awards shoes are large ones to fill, it is hard for me to think of a better replacement. Ethan is a superb scientist, Announcement full of common sense and sensitivity, and has a keen view of the potentials and perils facing scientific publishing. 7 There is a long interval between that call from the nominating committee and the time when one receives Preliminary Slate the gavel of office. The call is in November, the election in December, the vote tallied in January, formal assumption of the position of President-Elect in June and then a year in that office; 19 months.That is 7 why, I presume, in the Washington DC meeting, President Bob Kirshner properly protested he WAS still Prize Nomination the President. -
The Planetary Report
Volume xx On the Cover: Table of Number 6 In what part of our galaxy wi ll we first detect other forms of life? Simple logic dictates that starrier regions will have more planets, November/December 2000 thus more possibilities. But who knows? The answer may lie in the Contents wilderness of a nebula. John Gleason captured this image of the Orion nebula in October 1998 from the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern California. Features Image: (e) John Gleason, Ce lestial Images 4 Opinion: No Threat? No Way! We've expanded our usual Opinion section to encompass opposing views to Robert Zubrin's piece in our July/August issue. There, Robert expressed his view that neither human exploration of Mars nor samples returned from the Red Planet would pose a threat to life-forms on these worlds. We expect the controversy will be with us for a while, as it evidently touched Froln a deep chord among Planetary Society members. The Life Frotn Space? Testing Panspertnia With Editor B Martian Meteorite ALH84001 That one little rock from Mars-ALH8400 I-may be the most-studied conglomeration of minerals in scientific history, and it still has lots to teach us. Just four years ago, it caught e humans are a very egocentric the world's attention when researchers announced they had found traces of ancient Martian species. As we contemplate the vast W life within its recesses. Now it plays a role in another possible story about life-that of universe in which we float, we tend to focus panspermia, the transfer of life-forms between worlds.