From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Sat Sep 10 2005 - 02:54:58 UTC
----- Original Message -----
From: bulletins_at_SkyandTelescope.com<mailto:bulletins_at_SkyandTelescope.com>
To: ljk4_at_msn.com<mailto:ljk4_at_msn.com>
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 7:40 PM
Subject: S&T's Weekly News Bulletin for Sept. 9
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* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - September 9, 2005 * * *
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Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full stories abridged
here, and other enhancements are on our Web site, SkyandTelescope.com, at
the URLs provided. (If the links don't work, just paste them into your Web
browser.) Clear skies!
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DEEP IMPACT RESULTS
It's been two months since the Deep Impact spacecraft's impactor slammed
into the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1. And astronomers are continuing to
learn about the physics of the event, the nature of the excavated debris,
and how the experiment's results are changing what they know about comets
and the early solar-system conditions in which these ancient relics
formed. At this week's Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in
Cambridge, England, scientists from around the world described their
latest findings....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1589_1.asp
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SPIRIT ROVER SAMPLES HUSBAND HILL
For much of its nearly two-year mission, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover
Spirit has been the forgotten child. Its twin, Opportunity, was the first
to find geological layering and evidence for past liquid water, and its
landing site is covered by diverse rocks and soils. However, Spirit's
fortune changed when it reached the Columbia Hills in June 2004. Since it
began its trek up Husband Hill, the highest of the peaks, the intrepid
rover has found no fewer than five different classes of rocks....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1586_1.asp
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MAKING METHANE ON MARS
Mars keeps surprising the experts. Consider methane, for example. On Earth
some 90 percent of this gas comes from biological sources -- cows,
termites, rice plants -- so why is it also being made on (presumably)
sterile Mars? Geological processes such as volcanism contribute hardly any
methane at all.
A new study of Martian atmospheric chemistry by Sushil K. Atreya
(University of Michigan) implies that methane production might be quite
active on the Red Planet and that scientists cannot rule out a biological
source. Atreya examined possible abiogenic sources of Martian methane....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1585_1.asp
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LONGTIME S&T EDITOR HONORED
This week the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary
Sciences (DPS) presented the 2005 Harold Masursky Award for outstanding
service to planetary science and exploration to J. Kelly Beatty, executive
editor of Sky & Telescope and editor of Sky & Telescope's new sister
magazine, Night Sky. "For more than 30 years, Beatty has been a leading
communicator and interpreter of planetary science through his writing,
editing, broadcasting, and public speaking...."
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1584_1.asp
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THE MISSING MARTIAN CARBONATES
Ask any Mars expert what great mysteries still surround the red planet,
and you're likely to hear about the "missing carbonates." When Mars was
very young the planet was warm and liquid water flowed across its surface.
Mars also had a thick atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide (CO2), just like
ancient Earth. But on Earth, most of the early CO2 atmosphere dissolved
into the oceans and formed carbonate rocks, such as limestone.
If the red planet and blue planet were so similar as children, why isn't
the adult Mars full of carbonates like the adult Earth is? Jeffrey M.
Moore (NASA/Ames Research Center) makes the radical suggestion that
carbonates never had a chance to form on Mars in the first place....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1583_1.asp
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SUPERNOVA CHAMP MAKES 40th FIND
Legendary supernova hunter Robert O. Evans has made his 40th visual
supernova discovery, a world record. Evans spotted and recognized the new,
14th-magnitude star in the far-southern spiral galaxy NGC 1559 using his
12-inch Newtonian reflector -- and his prodigious memory for star
fields....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1580_1.asp
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY
* Venus and Jupiter shine low in west at dusk.
* Mars rises big and bright in late evening.
* First-quarter Moon on September 11th.
* There's a big, active sunspot in view.
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance
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