alactic Observer GJohn J. McCarthy Observatory Volume 5, No. 2 February 2012 Belly of the Beast At the center of the Milky Way galaxy, a gas cloud is on a perilous journey into a supermassive black hole. As the cloud stretches and accelerates, it gives away the location of its silent predator. For more information , see page 9 inside, or go to http://www.nasa.gov/ centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/ blackhole_slumber.html. Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/Frederick K. Baganoff et al. The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observvvererer New Milford High School Editorial Committee 388 Danbury Road Managing Editor New Milford, CT 06776 Bill Cloutier Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117 Production & Design Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595 Allan Ostergren www.mccarthyobservatory.org Website Development John Gebauer JJMO Staff Marc Polansky It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatory has Josh Reynolds established itself as a significant educational and recreational Technical Support resource within the western Connecticut community. Bob Lambert Steve Barone Allan Ostergren Dr. Parker Moreland Colin Campbell Cecilia Page Dennis Cartolano Joe Privitera Mike Chiarella Bruno Ranchy Jeff Chodak Josh Reynolds Route Bill Cloutier Barbara Richards Charles Copple Monty Robson Randy Fender Don Ross John Gebauer Ned Sheehey Elaine Green Gene Schilling Tina Hartzell Diana Shervinskie Tom Heydenburg Katie Shusdock Phil Imbrogno Jon Wallace Bob Lambert Bob Willaum Dr. Parker Moreland Paul Woodell Amy Ziffer In This Issue THE YEAR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM ................................ 4 SUNRISE AND SUNSET .................................................. 11 OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT ............................... 5 ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ...................... 11 FRA MAURA ................................................................ 5 REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ........................................ 14 LRO SPECTACULAR .................................................... 6 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES ..... 14 REVISITING A FAMILY ALBUM ........................................ 7 SOLAR ACTIVITY ........................................................ 15 FEEDING TIME FOR OUR BLACK HOLE .......................... 9 COVER CREDITS ......................................................... 15 COURSE CORRECTION FOR THE RED PLANET ................. 9 NEW HORIZONS ........................................................... 9 AN ADVOCATE FOR PLANET PLUTO .............................. 10 FEBRUARY HISTORY .................................................... 10 SUPERNOVAS .............................................................. 10 A STAR CLUSTER FOR TREKKIES .................................. 11 SOVIET MOON PROGRAM ............................................ 11 FEBRUARY NIGHTS ..................................................... 11 2 • Feb 2012 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org January Astronomy Calendar and Space Exploration Almanac http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Orion Rules the Winter Sky Feb 2012 • 3 The Year of the Solar System NASA announced on Oct. 7, 2010 that the upcoming year would be “The Year of the Solar System.” The “Year,” however, is a Martian year and, as such, 23 months in length. Some of the highlights of the “Year” of exploration are: Date Mission Status 04 Nov 2010 Deep Impact encounters Comet Successful rendezvous; see Hartley 2 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ epoxi/index.html 19 Nov 2010 Launch of O/OREOS, a shoebox- Ground stations receiving data sized satellite designed to test the durability of life in space 19 Nov 2010 Launch of experimental solar sail Mission completed (successfully) (NanoSail-D) 07 Dec 2010 Japan's Akatsuki (Venus Climate Spacecraft fails to enter orbit around Orbiter) spacecraft Venus - now in orbit around the Sun 14 Feb 2011 Stardust NExT encounters Comet Successful rendezvous; see Tempel 1 http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/ 17 Mar 2011 MESSENGER enters orbit around First spacecraft to achieve orbit Mercury around Mercury; see http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ 18 Mar 2011 New Horizons spacecraft crosses 4+ more years to Pluto; see the orbit of Uranus http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ 16 Jul 2011 Dawn spacecraft arrives at the Orbit achieved; see asteroid Vesta http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ 05 Aug 2011 Launch of the Juno spacecraft to Successful launch/deployment; see Jupiter http://missionjuno.swri.edu/ 10 Sept 2011 Launch of twin GRAIL spacecraft Successful launch/deployment; see to map Moon’s gravitational field http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/ 08 Nov 2011 Launch of the Phobos-Grunt Successful launch/failure to leave sample-return mission low-Earth orbit/re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on January 15th 26 Nov 2011 Launch of Mars Science Successful launch/deployment; see Laboratory (MSL) http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ 05 Aug 2012 MSL lands on Mars Other notable events: • August 9, 2011 Opportunity reached the rim of Endeavour crater • March 3, 2012 Mars at Opposition • April 15, 2012 Saturn at Opposition • May 20, 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse (visible in southwest U.S.) • June 6, 2012 Venus Transit (visible before sunset on the east coast) • July 2012 Dawn spacecraft leaves Vesta for Ceres 4 • Feb 2012 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org P “Out the Window on Your Left” meters from the rim when they turned back), they did It’s been 40 years since we left the last footprint on manage to collect rock samples that provided a defi- the dusty lunar surface. Sadly, as a nation founded on nite age for the Imbrium impact (3.85 billion years ago). exploration and the The landing site shown on the following page is cov- conquest of new ered with furrowed material deposited by the Imbrium frontiers, we appear impact. Rilles (grooves or channels) and ridges traverse to have lost our will the craters Fra Mauro, Parry and Bonpland to the south. to lead as a space- Commander Alan Shepard was the oldest astronaut, faring nation. But, and the only one of the original Mercury Seven astro- what if the average nauts, to walk on the Moon. He persevered, despite citizen had the being grounded for four years with a medical issue. means to visit our His crew was originally scheduled to fly Apollo 13, but only natural satellite; was replaced in 1969 with the more experienced crew what would they see led by Jim Lovell, in the likelihood that Apollo 11 and out the window of 12 failed in their landing attempts. their spacecraft as Shepard is famous for stowing away a makeshift they entered orbit six iron golf club and two golf balls. He took several around the Moon? one-handed swings, claiming that he hit the second ball This column may provide some thoughts to ponder when “miles and miles and miles.” planning your visit (if only in your imagi- nation). The Fra Mauro region comes into view this month, just south of the Fra Mauro crater Copernicus. Blanketed with ejecta from the impact that created the Imbrium basin to the north, the area was targeted for study and sampling by the Apollo 13 crew. NASA subsequently retargeted Apollo 14 after the Apollo 13 mis- sion was aborted. The area was also visited by Apollo 12 to the west and the Ranger 7 spacecraft to the south (Mare Cognitum). Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed just to the north of the partially lava-flooded Fra Mauro crater. During two lunar excursions, 42 ki- lograms (93 pounds) of rock was collected. This last “walking” mission (before an electric powered rover was brought along) included an attempted traversal to the rim of Cone crater, while dragging a tool cart. The young crater was large enough to penetrate the surround- ing regolith and expose a more ancient geology. While the astro- nauts were not able to reach the rim (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photos show that they were only 30 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Feb 2012 • 5 LRO Spectacular by LRO has produced detailed maps of lunar topog- AUNCHED IN JUNE 2009, the Lunar raphy, created temperature profiles, shown the distri- Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided bution of potential ice deposits, as well as geologic the most detailed view of the Moon’s surface details of impact features. In November of 2011, LRO since astronaut Gene Cernan stowed his flew over the Aristarchus plateau only 26 km (16.2 L miles) above the surface. This recently released image camera and climbed aboard the Apollo 17 lunar mod- ule for the last time. With the ability to resolve indi- of the western wall of the Aristarchus crater shows vidual instrument packages left behind by the Apollo amazing detail on the 3,000 meter (9800 feet) high wall astronauts, LRO’s seven instruments have acquired al- of terraced pre-impact crust, including dark streaks of most 200 terabytes of data. The information gathered impact melt and the bright crustal rocks. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University 6 • Feb 2012 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Revisiting a Family Album ing images that are blurry, overexposed, haphazard, as Anyone who has looked through an old family photo well as those photos with only a part of the subject album can appreciate the intrinsic beauty of film, as (leg or arm) in the field of view. A couple of my favor- well as its limitations, long before instant cameras and ites from the Gemini XII mission that was launched in picture previews provided immediate gratification. The November of 1966 are shown below and on the fol- Johnson Space Center and Arizona State University’s lowing page. School of Earth and Space Exploration have teamed The first image shows the Agena Target Vehicle