THE WRIGHT STUFF Vol XVI w No 1 The Official Newsletter of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk w NCC-1659 Jan / Feb 2005 C O N T E N T S A VIEW FROM THE CATBIRD SEAT ................................3 J.R. Fisher ORIGINAL CAPTION RELEASED WITH IMAGE ON FRONT COVER .....3 NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute MEDICAL REPORT ...............................................4 Amy DeJongh SCIENCE REPORT ................................................4 Elaine Pischke Volume 16 - Number 1 SECURITY REPORT ...............................................5 Spring Brooks is a publication of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, the COMPUTER OPERATIONS REPORT .................................6 Raleigh, N.C., chapter of STARFLEET, an John Troan international STAR TREK fan organization. This publication is provided free of charge to BOOKS-A-MILLION OPENING .....................................6 all chapter members in good standing. ORIGINAL CAPTION RELEASED WITH SATURN IMAGE ..............6 Subscriptions for non-members are $12.00 per year (six issues). Please address all corres- NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute pondence to CATBIRD Publications, 5017 SATURN IMAGE ..................................................7 Glen Forest Dr., Raleigh, N.C. 27612. This NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute publication is a non-profit enterprise and is not meant to infringe upon any copyright or UPCOMING EVENTS ..............................................8 trademark held by Paramount Pictures, Gulf & Western, or any other holder of STAR TREK copyrights or trademarks. Unless otherwise noted, ENTIRE CONTENTS ARE COPYRIGHT Ó 2005 CATBIRD Publications, THE WRIGHT STUFF. Nothing in whole or in part may be used without the written permission of the publisher. THE WRIGHT STUFF assumes all material submitted for publication is gratis. The publisher and editors reserve the right to edit all submissions. Publisher ................... J.R. Fisher Editors .....................Jane Fisher John Troan TOOL BOX: Pentium IV-3.0GHz; HP LaserJet 1200 & DeskJet 722C; Lotus WordPro; Adobe Acrobat. IMAGES - Title Banner Wright Flyer from NASA/Ames PAO photo archive; U.S.S. Kitty Hawk (USN CV-63) from navicp.navy.mil; Constitution class cruiser from gwu.edu/~rljones/khawk. IMAGE - Featured Front Page False-color image of Saturn, taken by Cassini; from jpl.nasa.gov. (See page 3 for details.) A View From the Catbird Seat By J.R. Fisher Here it is the end of The nineteenth is our second night this can get together to do some of these February; the year is year so we will be sharing that night with before the weather gets hot. one-sixth gone. March the Moose. Please don't laugh or make fun Don't forget that we are planning a will be a busy month for of them in their funny costumes if they massive yard sale for late spring at the us as the meeting day, should happen to be wearing them. As far State Fairgrounds with the proceeds going the 12th, is also the first as our own dress is concerned, you may to the Raleigh Battered Women's Center. of our two Saturday wear a uniform to either night if you choose Save up all those things you are cleaning nights at the PBS to; if you have a Kitty Hawk shirt, it would out of your closets and cabinets and telethon at UNC-TV at 6:30 p.m. be nice to wear, but if you don't, please garages and let's have a great weekend. You will be interested to know that they wear a solid color top. The food will be Also, an effort is being made to have a have all new equipment for us now. More good as always. Please call me and let me blood drive for the crew. If you can give comfortable chairs, new modern know by March 10th if you will or will not be blood, let's plan a day when we can all go telephones with headsets and caller ID, and coming to these two events. and make a donation together. for the computer inclined, screens and Check your e-mail for a list of things to The April meeting will return to the first keyboards to expedite the information! do this spring, put together by Spring. Saturday. Bring your calendar and let's see when we Esse Quam Videri Original Caption Released with Front Cover Image A large, bright and complex convective storm and the radio bursts are related. Two of these subsequently merged with storm that appeared in Saturn's southern Scientists have concluded that the Dragon each other; the current to the north carried hemisphere in mid-September 2004 was Storm is a giant thunderstorm whose the third one off to the west, and Cassini the key in solving a long-standing mystery precipitation generates electricity as it does lost track of it. Small dark storms like these about the ringed planet. on Earth. The storm may be deriving its generally get stretched out until they merge Saturn's atmosphere and its rings are energy from Saturn's deep atmosphere. with the opposing currents to the north and shown here in a false color composite One mystery is why the radio bursts south. made from Cassini images taken in near start while the Dragon Storm is below the These little storms are the food that infrared light through filters that sense horizon on the night side and end when the sustains the larger atmospheric features, different amounts of methane gas. Portions storm is on the day side, still in full view of including the larger ovals and the eastward of the atmosphere with a large abundance the Cassini spacecraft. A possible and westward currents. If the little storms of methane above the clouds are red, explanation is that the lightning source lies come from the giant thunderstorms, then indicating clouds that are deep in the to the east of the visible cloud, perhaps together they form a food chain that atmosphere. Grey indicates high clouds, because it is deeper where the currents are harvests the energy of the deep and brown indicates clouds at intermediate eastward relative to those at cloud top atmosphere and helps maintain the altitudes. The rings are bright blue because levels. If this were the case, the lightning powerful currents. there is no methane gas between the ring source would come up over the night side Cassini has many more chances to particles and the camera. horizon and would sink down below the observe future flare-ups of the Dragon The complex feature with arms and day side horizon before the visible cloud. Storm, and others like it over the course of secondary extensions just above and to the This would explain the timing of the visible the mission. It is likely that scientists will right of center is called the Dragon Storm. It storm relative to the radio bursts. come to solve the mystery of the radio lies in a region of the southern hemisphere The Dragon Storm is of great interest bursts and observe storm creation and referred to as "storm alley" by imaging for another reason. In examining images merging in the next 2 or 3 years. scientists because of the high level of storm taken of Saturn's atmosphere over many The Cassini-Huygens mission is a activity observed there by Cassini in the last months, imaging scientists found that the cooperative project of NASA, the European year. Dragon Storm arose in the same part of Space Agency and the Italian Space The Dragon Storm was a powerful Saturn's atmosphere that had earlier Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a source of radio emissions during July and produced large bright convective storms. In division of the California Institute of September of 2004. The radio waves from other words, the Dragon Storm appears to Technology in Pasadena, manages the the storm resemble the short bursts of be a long-lived storm deep in the mission for NASA's Science Mission static generated by lightning on Earth. atmosphere that periodically flares up to Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini Cassini detected the bursts only when the produce dramatic bright white plumes orbiter and its two onboard cameras were storm was rising over the horizon on the which subside over time. One earlier designed, developed and assembled at night side of the planet as seen from the sighting, in July 2004, was also associated JPL. The imaging team is based at the spacecraft; the bursts stopped when the with strong radio bursts. And another, Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. storm moved into sunlight. This on/off observed in March 2004 and captured in a For more information about the pattern repeated for many Saturn rotations movie created from images of the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit over a period of several weeks, and it was atmosphere (PIA06082 and PIA06083) http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini the clock-like repeatability that indicated the spawned three little dark oval storms that imaging team home page, broke off from the arms of the main storm. http://ciclops.org. THE WRIGHT STUFF PAGE 3 JAN / FEB 2005 Medical Report Science Report By Amy DeJongh By Elaine Pischke Insomnia is rarely diagnosed as a w Lying in bed awake and trying harder The most tantalizing of space disorder in its own right, so it's impact on and harder to go to sleep only related ideas – the possibility of our society is not fully noticed. Insomnia increases anxiety and frustration that life on other planets – is again the is generally seen as part of some other makes the sleeping problem worse. disorder. Chronic insomnia can decrease topic of discussion, this time within w Oversleeping in the morning hours on productivity at work, impair concentration weekdays or weekends may not be a the European Space Agency. and attention, and may cause accidents problem for others but it has a harmful Scientists there say the evidence while driving or operating machinery.