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Alactic Observer John J alactic Observer John J. McCarthy Observatory G Volume 6, No. 4 April 2013 Hi! Here's a self-image at "John Kline" drill site in Gale Crater, where I've been probing for signs of ancient water. You can see more of what I've been up to at the next Second Saturday Stars program on April 13 at JJMO. Rover NASA The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observer 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 JJMO Staff John Gebauer It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatory Marc Polansky has established itself as a significant educational and Josh Reynolds recreational resource within the western Connecticut Technical Support community. Bob Lambert Dr. Parker Moreland Steve Barone Bob Lambert Colin Campbell Parker Moreland, PhD Dennis Cartolano Allan Ostergren Mike Chiarella Marc Polansky Route Jeff Chodak Joe Privitera Bill Cloutier Bruno Ranchy Cecilia Dietrich Josh Reynolds Randy Fender Monty Robson John Gebauer Don Ross Elaine Green Gene Schilling Tina Hartzell Katie Shusdock Tom Heydenburg Jon Wallace Jim Johnstone Paul Woodell Amy Ziffer In This Issue OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT ................................ 4 ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ..................... 13 TRIESNECKER AND HYGINUS RILLS ................................ 5 REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ......................................... 14 CURIOSITY UPDATE ....................................................... 6 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES ... 14 14,000 FEET BELOW THE ATLANTIC ............................. 6 SOLAR ACTIVITY .......................................................... 14 WEATHER REPORT FROM SATURN .................................. 7 COVER PHOTO AND OTHER CREDITS ............................. 14 MISSED OPPORTUNITY ................................................... 8 APRIL GRAPHIC CALENDAR .......................................... 15 LUNAR RESOURCES ....................................................... 9 SECOND SATURDAY STARS ............................................. 16 TWENTY-THREE YEARS IN SPACE .................................. 9 OUR MYSTERIOUS MOON ............................................. 10 LIFE WITHOUT THE MOON ............................................ 11 APRIL HISTORY ............................................................ 11 APRIL SHOWERS ........................................................... 12 SUNRISE AND SUNSET .................................................... 12 APRIL NIGHTS .............................................................. 12 COMET HISTORY .......................................................... 12 2 • Mar 2013 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org April Astronomy Calendar and Space Exploration Almanac http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Mar 2013 • 3 “Out the Window on Your Left” possibly created from ancient lava flows. Arcuate or con- centrate rilles appear near the outer edges of impact ba- T’S BEEN OVER 40 YEARS since we left the sins and are theorized to have been created when the last footprint on the dusty lunar surface. Sadly, weight of the mare lava near the center caused fracturing as a nation founded on exploration and the con near the edges. Straight rilles can be grabens, formed quest of new frontiers, we appear to have lost when the terrain drops between parallel faults or frac- I tures due to pressure from subsurface magma chambers. our will to lead as a space-faring nation. But, what if the average citizen had the means to visit our only natu- The rilles east and north of the 26 km diameter ral satellite; what would they see out the window of their crater Triesnecker are not easily characterized. They spacecraft as they entered orbit around the Moon? This don’t appear to be associated with any volcanic fea- column may provide some thoughts to ponder when plan- tures — they have straight runs, as well as some tight ning your visit (if only in your imagination). curves — and several are radial to the Imbrium basin while others are not. The crisscrossing pattern indi- cates that the rilles formed over time rather than in response to a singular event. To the north of the Triesnecker crater and rille com- plex is the diminutive crater Hyginus. At only 9 km in diameter, Hyginus is unusual in that it may not be an impact feature, but a volcanic caldera. The rille radi- ating from either side of Hyginus is composed of rimless pits, possibly formed from the collapse of an underlying lava tube. Sinus Medii, a small patch of lava southwest of Triesnecker, is unremarkable except that it represents the center of the Moon for Earthbound observers. It was the landing site of Surveyor 6, the fourth of the Surveyor spacecraft to successfully land on the Moon (on November 10, 1967). It returned almost 30,000 images and confirmed that the surface was primarily basaltic in composition and able to support manned landings. The view this month is a small, but attention-grabbing area bounded by Mare Serenitatis (the Sea of Serenity) to the north and Mare Vaporum (the Sea of Vapors) to the west. The area was battered by ejecta from the impact that cre- ated the Imbrium basin 3.85 bil- lion years ago. The area is notable for the nu- merous rilles that crisscross the lava plain. The term “rille” (or the Latinized version: rima) is used to describe a long, narrow depres- sion. On the Moon, rilles gener- ally fall into one of three catego- ries: sinuous rilles, arcuate rilles or straight rilles. Sinuous rilles that meander like ancient river beds are A straight rille was photographed by the Apollo 10 crew in 1969 during their thought to be volcanic features, historic approach to only 14-kilometers above the lunar surface. 4 • Mar 2013 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org TriesneckerCassini atand Sunrise Hyginus Rills Cassini at Sunrise http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Mar 2013 • 5 Curiosity Update In a first on Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, drilled a hole into the bedrock at the base of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, collecting gray tail- ings from inside the rock for analysis. Drilling oc- curred near an ancient streambed that the rover had discovered earlier in its survey of the surrounding area. Curiosity’s onboard chemistry and mineralogy in- struments detected the presence of clay within the sample, indicative of the reaction of fresh water with igneous (volcanic) minerals. Elements, e.g., calcium sulfate, found along with the clay suggest that the water that ran through the site was relatively neutral, unlike at other Martian landing sites where conditions were found to be too acidic or salty. Additional elements detected in the sample included sulfur, nitrogen, hy- drogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. Encouraged by the analysis, NASA investigators believe that the Curiosity has provided the first direct evidence that ancient conditions on Mars were once suitable for life. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/MSSS 14,000 Feet Below the Atlantic The Saturn V rocket, as tall as a football field is long, was the workhorse of the Apollo program. Weighing over 6 million pounds at liftoff, the large payload capacity of the rocket made travel to the Moon possible. The first stage, 33 feet in diameter and 138 feet long, was pow- ered by five F-1 engines, producing a total of 7,500,000 million pounds of thrust. The engines burned the entire contents of the first stage’s fuel tanks (203,000 gallons of kerosene and 331,000 gallons of liquid oxygen) in just 2½ minutes. In that short time, the five F-1 engines carried the Saturn V to an altitude of approximately 38 miles. With tanks emptied, the 300,000 pound first stage was cast off, falling back to Earth and impacting the At- lantic Ocean at approximately 5,000 miles per hour be- F-1 Thrust Chamber (above) and Saturn V's First fore settling in more than 14,000 feet of water. Stage (S-IC) Skeletal Remains (below). Photos Thirteen Saturn V rockets were launched from the Credit: Bezos Expeditions Kennedy Space Center between 1967 and 1973. Un- til recently, the relics from those launches remained in perpetual darkness on the deep ocean floor, unseen for over 40 years, until recently discovered by state- of-the-art deep sea sonar on an expedition privately funded by Jeff Bezos. Mr. Bezos is the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, a startup rocket company. Using a remotely operated vehicle, the expedition recovered components from two F-1 engines during a three week effort. On March 21st, the engines returned to the Kennedy Space Center after more than 40 years. While still the property of NASA, the components will be stabilized to prevent further corrosion and prepared for public display. 6 • Mar 2013 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Weather Report from Saturn was recorded by Cassini’s infrared spectrometer. Scientists have been using the Cassini spacecraft The instrumentation detected large releases of en- to monitor atmospheric conditions on Saturn since ergy by the storm, creating temperature spikes in the spacecraft arrived in 2004. Diligence was re- the atmosphere 150 degrees above normal. Coinci- warded when a large storm began to take shape in dent with the energy discharges was the appearance December 2010. For the next seven months, the of a large amount of ethylene gas, a gas not typi- storm grew in size and intensity, eventually wrap- cally observed on Saturn. While this is the first storm ping itself
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