archive-1: SETI [ASTRO] Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Jan 15, FWD from
SETI [ASTRO] Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Jan 15, FWD from
Larry Klaes ( lklaes@bbn.com )
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 19:18:39 -0500
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>Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 16:30:22 -0600
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>From: rybskip@idcnet.com (Paul M. Rybski)
>Subject: [ASTRO] Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Jan 15, FWD from
[Stuart Goldman
> <sgoldman@skypub.com>]
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>
>SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN
>
>JANUARY 15, 1999
>
>ARIZONA LIGHT POLLUTION BATTLE WON
>
>This week, Tucson, Arizona's Whipple Observatory and the Smithsonian
>Astrophysical Observatory won a major battle against Arizona developer
>Fairfield Homes who had threatened to sue the observatories for $900
>million over their opposition to a proposed 6,100 home development at the
>base of Mount Hopkins. Had the development been approved by the Pima County
>Board of Supervisors at a January 12th hearing, the MMT and Whipple
>observatories on peak would have been severely impacted by increased light
>pollution. Even with strict light-pollution controls the proposed
>development, known locally as Canoa Ranch, would have increased light
>pollution 8 to 14 percent according to Smithsonian officials.
>
>After a raucous and contentious debate, the supervisors voted 4-1 against
>rezoning Canoa Ranch. "This is the first time in 25 years that the Pima
>County Board of Supervisors have turned down a request for development,"
>according to University of Arizona astronomer Mark Sykes who mounted an
>Internet-powered petition drive in support of the observatories. The Board
>cited the need to preserve the observatories and the optics industry in the
>Tucson area.
>
>For more information, see the special report at Sky & Telescope's Web site
>(http://www.skypub.com/).
>
>ESO'S WIDE EYE ON THE SKY
>
>Today the European Southern Observatory released pictures illustrating what
>its latest CCD camera can do. The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is a mosaic of
>eight CCD chips yielding more than 67 million picture elements (pixels).
>The camera, which has a field of view more than a half-degree square
>(larger than the full Moon), was installed on the 2.2-meter reflector at La
>Silla, Chile. The world's largest optical telescopes generally have narrow
>fields of view to best scrutinize individual objects. However, wide-field
>views help astronomers turn up new objects to study. The WFI will likely be
>used for surveys of quasars and distant galaxies, minor planets, and
>supernovae. Such a wide-field detector may also prove instrumental in
>identifying gamma-ray bursts before they fade from view.
>
>FIRST COMET OF 1999
>
>The new year's first comet was spotted by Australian Justin Tilbrook on the
>evening of January 12th. Comet C/1999 A1 appeared as a tailless
>10.5-magnitude smudge when it was swept up by Tilbrook with an 8-inch f/6
>reflector. The comet is slowing fading and will likely be an exercise in
>futility to observe for Northern Hemisphere observers. Those below the
>equator will fare better. Here are positions for the coming week for 0
>hours Universal Time (2000.0 coordinates):
>
> R.A. Dec.
>
>January 16 23h 41m -32.9 deg.
>January 18 23h 42m -35.0 deg.
>January 20 23h 42m -36.9 deg.
>
>SPACECRAFT SLUMP
>
>It's been hard times lately for scientists involved with several spacecraft
>programs.
>
>Japan's Nozomi ran into engine trouble on December 20th that will cause it
>to reach Mars four years late. The craft had already been in orbit around
>Earth for six months in an elliptical track that extended beyond the Moon.
>On December 18th a lunar pass flung the spacecraft inward, and it skimmed
>1,000 km above Earth's cloudtops just two days later. At that moment the
>probe fired its main engine to target it for Mars, but the engine's
>performance was well below expectations. A large make-up firing the
>following day preserved the Mars encounter but not the planned rendezvous
>date in October. To conserve what fuel remains, Japanese space officials
>decided to delay the craft's arrival until December 2003.
>
>The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is having more troubles after
>returning from the brink of disaster last summer. On December 21st, SOHO's
>last attitude-controlling gyroscope failed, and solar physicists were left
>once again without data from their outpost at the Earth-Sun Lagrangian
>point. SOHO remained under ground control while in safe mode, and it is
>being pointed at the Sun (to keep the solar panels fully illuminated) using
>manually commanded thruster firings.
>
>The Jupiter-orbiting Galileo spacecraft has failed to collect complete data
>on its last three flybys of Europa due to malfunctions. Engineers think
>that the increase in problems is due to the accumulated dose of radiation
>from Jupiter's magnetic field. Galileo's final flyby of Europa will be on
>January 31st. It will then make four flybys of Callisto in preparation of
>two flybys of Io.
>
>On a brighter note, Lunar Prospector, which has been in orbit around the
>Moon for a full year, completes its primary mission today. But the mission
>isn't over yet. During the past several weeks, flight controllers have
>lowered its altitude from 100 km above the surface to 40 km. Today they
>will inaugurate an extended mission by lowering the orbit further to 30 km,
>which will provide higher-resolution data from the spacecraft's five
>instruments. The extended mission will continue until June.
>
>
>THIS WEEK'S "SKY AT A GLANCE"
>
> Some daily events in the changing sky, from the editors of SKY &
>TELESCOPE.
>
>JAN. 17 -- SUNDAY
>
> * New Moon (exact at 10:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time).
>
> * Saturn is at quadrature, 90 degrees east of the Sun in the evening sky.
>
> * Seen in a medium-sized telescope, Jupiter's Great Red Spot should cross
>Jupiter's central meridian (the imaginary line down the center of the
>planet's disk from pole to pole) around 7:55 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
>Lately the spot has been very pale tan. For a list of all predicted Red
>Spot transit times, see
>http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/redspot.html.
>
>JAN. 18 -- MONDAY
>
> * Some doorstep astronomy: Orion, the signature constellation of winter,
>strides high in the southeast these evenings. Orion's brightest stars are
>orange-red Betelgeuse (marking his left corner) and white Rigel (marking
>his rightmost corner). Midway between them is a diagonal row of three
>stars: Orion's Belt.
>
>JAN. 19 -- TUESDAY
>
> * Look for the thin crescent Moon low in the west-southwest at dusk.
>Venus is below it.
>
> * Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 9:34 p.m. EST.
>
>JAN. 20 -- WEDNESDAY
>
> * The red long-period variable stars V Cassiopeiae and S Canis Minoris
>should be at maximum brightness (7th or 8th magnitude) this week.
>
>JAN. 21 -- THURSDAY
>
> * The bright "star" shining near the Moon this evening is Jupiter.
>
>JAN. 22 -- FRIDAY
>
> * Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 7:05 p.m. EST.
>
>JAN. 23 -- SATURDAY
>
> * The "star" above the Moon tonight is Saturn.
>
>
> ============================
> THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
> ============================
>
>MERCURY is hidden in the glow of sunrise.
>
>VENUS is low in the west-southwest during dusk, very far to the lower right
>of Jupiter. A line from Saturn through Jupiter points down to Venus.
>
>MARS, shining at magnitude +0.7 in Virgo, rises around midnight and is high
>in the south by dawn. The similarly-bright star to its right is Spica;
>they're about 5 degrees apart. In a telescope Mars is still only a tiny 7
>arcseconds in apparent diameter.
>
>JUPITER, magnitude -2.2, is the big, bright "star" in the southwest during
>and after dusk. It sets around 9:30 p.m.
>
>SATURN, magnitude +0.3, is the yellowish "star" far to Jupiter's upper
>left. The two planets appear about 31 degrees apart, on opposite ends of
>Pisces.
>
>URANUS and NEPTUNE are hidden behind the glare of the Sun.
>
>PLUTO, magnitude 13.8, is in Ophiuchus in the southeast before dawn.
>
>(All descriptions that relate to the horizon or zenith are written for the
>world's midnorthern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude
>are for North America. Eastern Standard Time, EST, equals Universal Time
>minus 5 hours.)
>
>More details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each
>month in SKY & TELESCOPE, the essential magazine of astronomy. See our
>enormous Web site at http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies!
>
>SKY & TELESCOPE, P.O. Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02478 * 617-864-7360 (voice)
>
>===========================================================================
>Copyright 1999 Sky Publishing Corporation. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin and
>Sky at a Glance stargazing calendar are provided as a service to the
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>
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