[Astronews] IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter

[IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter]

IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter
December 2011


The International Association for Astronomical Studies provides this newsletter as a service for interested persons worldwide.



This newsletter is published on the World Wide Web at http://www.ki0ar.com/astro.html - The Home of KI0AR - and is received nationally and internationally. A PDF formatted downloadable version of the newsletter is at http://www.ki0ar.com/current_nl.pdf.

This newsletter is now available as an iTunes podcast. Visit http://www.apple.com, download and install iTunes (for either Mac or Windows). Search for "IAAS" and subscribe to the podcast. You may also go to http://www.ki0ar.com/astro.html and click on the Subscribe/RSS link. Update your iPod or mp3 player and listen to the newsletter at your leisure. Since this is a new feature, comments and constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated.

An Open Invitation - For amateur radio operators and scanner enthusiasts, when in the Denver metro area, please join the Colorado Astronomy Net on the Rocky Mountain Radio League's (http://rmrl.hamradios.com/) 146.94 MHz repeater on Tuesday nights at 7 P.M. local time.

Special Notice to Denver, CO area residents and visitors to the area: The Plains Conservation Center in Aurora hosts Full Moon Walks every month, weather permitting, on or near the night of the full Moon. Visit http://www.plainsconservationcenter.org for more information and directions.

Excerpts from JPL mission updates are provided as a public service as part of the JPL Solar System Ambassador / NASA Outreach program.

In This Newsletter...

* The Moon
* The Planets
* Astronomical Events
* Planetary/Lunar Exploration Missions
* Web Sites of Interest
* Acknowledgments and References
* Subscription Information

The Month At-A-Glance at http://www.ki0ar.com/ataglance.html
A calendar displaying the daily astronomical events.

The Moon

Phases:
* First Quarter Moon occurs on the 2nd.
* Full Moon occurs on the 10th.
* Last Quarter Moon occurs on the 17th.
* New Moon occurs on the 24th.

* The Moon is at Apogee on the 5th, 251,912 miles from Earth.
* The Moon is at Perigee on the 21st, 226,676 miles from Earth.

Moon/Planet Pairs:
* The Moon passes 6° north of Neptune on the 1st.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Uranus on the 4th.
* The Moon passes 5° north of Jupiter on the 6th.
* The Moon passes 8° south of Mars on the 17th.
* The Moon passes 7° south of Saturn on the 20th.
* Mercury passes 7° north of Antares on the 22nd.
* The Moon passes 3° north of Mercury on the 22nd.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Venus on the 27th.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Neptune on the 28th.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Uranus on the 31st.

For reference: The Full Moon subtends an angle of 0.5°.

The Planets & Dwarf Planets
Planetary Reports are generated by "TheSky" software. (http://www.ki0ar.com/planrpts.html) These reports provide predicted data for the planets on the first of each month for the current year. The rise and set times for the Sun and the Moon for each day of the month are also included in the reports. These reports have been optimized for the Denver, Colorado location, however, the times will be approximate for other locations on Earth.

(All times are local unless otherwise noted.)

* Planetary Highlights for December - Venus is visible in the early evening before sunset. Jupiter dominates the rest of the evening sky after Venus sets. Mars and Saturn are visible in the morning sky before sunrise, though Mars is rising before midnight this month. The Geminids meteor shower peaks mid-month and the Ursids peak just before Christmas. A total lunar eclipse is visible for observers from western North America, Australia, Asia and parts of Europe.

* Mercury - Is in inferior conjunction on the 4th. Mercury is stationary on the 13th. Mercury is at greatest western elongation (22° above the eastern horizon) on the 22nd. Mercury rises at 7:33 a.m. on the 1st and about 5:53 a.m. by month's end. Look for Mercury low on the eastern horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise during the last two weeks of the month. Mercury is in the constellation of Ophiuchus shining at magnitude 0.1.

* Venus - Sets about 6:21 p.m. on the 1st and about 7:29 p.m. by month's end. Venus is easy to spot in the early evening sky to the south-west all month. Venus moves from the constellation of Sagittarius into Capricornus shining at magnitude -3.9.

* Earth - The Winter Solstice occurs at 12:30 a.m. EST on the 22nd.


* Mars - Rises at 11:29 p.m. on the 1st and about 10:19 p.m. by month's end. Mars is visible in the late evening and early morning hours before sunrise. Mars is in the constellation of Leo shining at magnitude 0.5.

* Jupiter - Is stationary on the 26th. Jupiter sets at 3:57 a.m. on the 1st and about 1:52 a.m. by month's end. Third in brightness to the Moon and Venus in the evening sky, Jupiter remains in prime position for evening viewing. Jupiter moves from the constellation of Aries into Pisces shining at magnitude -2.7.

* Saturn - Rises at 3:22 a.m. on the 1st and about 1:33 a.m. by month's end. Saturn is visible in the morning sky before sunrise. Saturn is in the constellation of Virgo shining at magnitude 0.7.

* Uranus - Is stationary on the 10th. Uranus sets at 1:25 a.m. on the 1st and about 11:19 p.m. by month's end. Uranus, like Jupiter, is easy to observe in the evening sky. Look to the south soon after sunset to spot Uranus. Uranus is in the constellation of Pisces shining at magnitude 5.8.

* Neptune - Sets at 10:39 p.m. on the 1st and about 8:41 p.m. by month's end. Neptune is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.9.

Dwarf Planets
* Ceres - Sets at 12:07 a.m. on the 1st and about 10:38 p.m. by month's end. Ceres is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 8.9.

* Pluto - Is in conjunction with the Sun on the 29th. Pluto sets at 6:38 p.m. on the 1st and about 4:42 p.m. by month's end. For all intents and purposes, Pluto is not visible this month. Pluto is in the constellation of Sagittarius shining at magnitude 14.1.

As always, good luck at spotting these two, a large telescope and dark skies will be needed.

Astronomical Events

Meteor Showers
* The Geminids - This shower is active during the period December 6 to December 19. Upon reaching maximum activity during December 13 to 14, hourly rates are typically near 80. The meteors are described as rapid and yellowish, with about 4% displaying persistent trains. They possess an average magnitude of 2.4.

* The Ursids - Occurring primarily between December 17 and 24, this meteor shower reaches maximum on December 22. The maximum hourly rate is usually between 10 and 15. Meteors belonging to this stream are typically faint.

* For more information about Meteor Showers, visit Gary Kronk's Meteor Showers Online web page at http://meteorshowersonline.com/.

Comets
* Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd glows around 6th or 7th magnitude this month. Comet Garradd should be visible through backyard telescopes or binoculars under dark skies. Comet Garradd lies amidst the background stars in the constellation of Hercules. However, Comet Garradd hangs low to the western horizon, so the best time to observe this comet will be before 6 p.m. local time.  

* For information, orbital elements and ephemerides on observable comets visit the Observable Comets page from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/index.html).

* For more information about Comets, visit Gary Kronk's Cometography.com web page at http://cometography.com/.

Eclipses
* A total lunar eclipse occurs on the 10th for observers in western North America, Australia, Asia and parts of Europe. Note: Most of the US will miss this one as the Sun will have risen well before totality. More information at http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2011.html#LE2011Dec10T.

Observational Opportunities
* Venus appears higher and higher towards the west in the evening sky at the month progresses.
* Jupiter appears higher and higher in the east in the evening sky at the month progresses.
* A Total Lunar eclipse occurs on the 10th beginning about 1400 UTC.

Asteroids (From west to east)
* Vesta is in the constellation of Aquarius.
* Amphitrite is in the constellation of Aries.
* Harmonia is in the constellation of Cetus.
* Thyra is in the constellation of Perseus.
* Eunomia is in the constellation of Perseus.
* Eros is in the constellation of Leo Minor.

* Information about the Minor Planets can be found at http://www.minorplanetobserver.com the Minor Planet Observer web site.

Occultations
* Information on various occultations can be found at http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm , the International Occultation Timing Association's (IOTA) web site.

Planetary/Lunar Exploration Missions
(Excerpts from recent mission updates)

* Cassini - November 28, 2011
Titan's Kraken Mare
Full-Res: PIA14584 (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14584)

"The Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and spies the huge Kraken Mare in the moon's north.

Kraken Mare, a large sea of liquid hydrocarbons, is visible as a dark area near the top of the image. See Titan's Northern Polar Clouds and Titan's Northern Lake to learn more.
This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Titan (3,200 miles across, or 5,150 kilometers,). North on Titan is up and rotated 29 degrees to the left.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 14, 2011 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 26 degrees. Image scale is 7 miles (12 kilometers) per pixel."

Cassini Imaging Team's website - http://ciclops.org.

For the latest mission status reports, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The speed and location of the spacecraft can be viewed on the "Present Position" web page.
(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm)

* New Horizons - November 7, 2011
Is the Pluto System Dangerous?

"(http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspectives/images/11_07_2011_01_lg.jpg
Pluto's newest found moon, P4, orbits between Nix and Hydra, both of which orbit beyond Charon. Could there be still more moons of Pluto? Perhaps, and the New Horizons team plans to look harder to ensure that we don't run into something that could damage or destroy New Horizons.

New Horizons remains healthy and on course, now almost twenty two times as far from the Sun as the Earth is, and approaching six years into its 9.5-year journey to the Pluto system.)

We’ve taken the spacecraft out of hibernation to perform maintenance activities, and to re-point our radio antenna to compensate for Earth’s movement around its orbit. This "hibernation wakeup" started November 5 and will last until November 15. Then New Horizons will hibernate again until early January, when we’ll perform a more extensive, almost month-long wakeup."

Find New Horizons in the iTunes App Store here. (http://itunes.com/apps/newhorizonsanasavoyagetopluto)

New Horizons gallery http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/.

For more information on the New Horizons mission - the first mission to the ninth planet - visit the New Horizons home page: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.

* Dawn - October 12, 2011
NASA's Dawn Science Team Presents Early Science Results

"Scientists with NASA's Dawn mission are sharing with other scientists and the public their early information about the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta. The findings were presented today at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Minn. 
Dawn, which has been orbiting Vesta since mid-July, has found that the asteroid's southern hemisphere boasts one of the largest mountains in the solar system. Other findings show that Vesta's surface, viewed by Dawn at different wavelengths, has striking diversity in its composition, particularly around craters. Science findings also include an in-depth analysis of a set of equatorial troughs on Vesta and a closer look at the object's intriguing craters. The surface appears to be much rougher than most asteroids in the main asteroid belt. In addition, preliminary dates from a method that uses the number of craters indicate that areas in the southern hemisphere are as young as 1 billion to 2 billion years old, much younger than areas in the north."

For more information on the Dawn mission, visit the Dawn home page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html.

* MESSENGER - November 18, 2011
MESSENGER Recognized as "Best of What's New" by Popular Science

"MESSENGER was named a winner in Popular Science magazine's 24th annual "Best of What's New" in the Aviation and Space category. 

Founded in 1872, Popular Science is the world's largest science and technology magazine, with a circulation of 1.3 million and 6.8 million monthly readers. Each year, the magazine's editors review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year in 11 categories: automotive, aviation & space, computing, engineering, gadgets, green tech, home entertainment, security, home tech, health and recreation. The winners—the Best of What's New—are awarded inclusion in the much-anticipated December issue of Popular Science, the most widely read issue of the year since the debut of Best of What's New in 1987. 

"For 24 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us—those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our views of what's possible in the future," said Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. "The Best of What's New Award is the magazine's top honor, and the 100 winners—chosen from among thousands of entrants—represent the highest level of achievement in their fields."

"The MESSENGER team is honored to receive this recognition from Popular Science," says Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "The intensive exploration of the Sun's nearest planet has been an exhilarating adventure that we are delighted to share with the global public."

See what Popular Science had to say about MESSENGER by going online to http://www.popsci.com/bown/2011/product/nasajohns-hopkins-university-applied-physics-lab-messenger."

For more information on the MESSENGER mission, visit the MESSENGER home page: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/.

* Pack Your Backpack
Calling all explorers! Tour JPL with our new Virtual Field Trip site. Stops include Mission Control and the Rover Lab. Your guided tour starts when you select a "face" that will be yours throughout the visit. Cool space images and souvenirs are all included in your visit.
+ http://virtualfieldtrip.jpl.nasa.gov/ 
* Past, Present, Future and Proposed JPL Missions - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions.

* For special JPL programs and presentations in your area visit the JPL Solar System Ambassador web site at http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html.

Mars Missions

* JMARS - https://jmars.mars.asu.edu/
JMARS is an acronym that stands for Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing. It is a geospatial information system (GIS) developed by ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility to provide mission planning and data-analysis tools to NASA's orbiters, instrument team members, students of all ages, and the general public.

* Mars Science Laboratory - November 26, 2011
NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover To Mars

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST (7:02 a.m. PST).

"We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been."

The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life."

Visit the Mars Science Laboratory page at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

* Mars Exploration Rover Mission (Spirit and Opportunity) - November 22, 2011

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Remains Silent at Troy - sols 2621-2627, May 18-24, 2011:

"No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).

More than 1,300 commands were radiated to Spirit as part of the recovery effort in an attempt to elicit a response from the rover. No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). The project concluded the Spirit recovery efforts on May 25, 2011. The remaining, pre-sequenced ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay passes scheduled for Spirit on board the Odyssey orbiter will complete on June 8, 2011.

Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles)."

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Scouting Sites for the Winter - sols 2778-2783, November 17-22, 2011:

"In preparing for positioning Opportunity for the coming winter, the project has been scouting sites with favorable northerly tilt on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater.

There are two candidate sites for winter havens that indicate sufficient northerly tilt. Opportunity is investigating one of those two sites with the plan to spend the Thanksgiving holiday there. Because of the coming holiday, the project implemented multi-sol plans for the last three planning days before Thanksgiving.

On Sol 2778 (Nov. 17, 2011), the rover moved just under 39 feet (12 meters) to the south approaching the candidate location. Rover attitude increased to 10 degrees of northerly tilt. On Sol 2780 (Nov. 19, 2011), an atmospheric argon measurement was made with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). On Sol 2781 (Nov. 20, 2011), Opportunity bumped just under 10 feet (3 meters) to reach an interesting surface target with improved rover tilt. The northerly tilt increased to about 12 degrees.

On Sol 2783 (Nov. 22, 2011), Opportunity made a very small turn to move a surface target within the work volume of the robotic arm. Another atmospheric argon measurement was collected with the APXS later that sol. The plan ahead is to spend Thanksgiving at this location and to collect Microscopic Imager (MI) images of this new surface target, called "Transvaal" along with an APXS measure of the same.

As of Sol 2783 (Nov. 22, 2011), solar array energy production was 297 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.661 and a solar array dust factor of 0.463.

Total odometry is 21.34 miles (34,342.70 meters or 34.44 kilometers)."

Landing sites link - http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/ 

Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page at
 http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html.

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission - November 17, 2011
NASA Orbiter Catches Mars Sand Dunes in Motion

"PASADENA, Calif. -- Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet's sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought.

"Mars either has more gusts of wind than we knew about before, or the winds are capable of transporting more sand," said Nathan Bridges, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and lead author of a paper on the finding published online in the journal Geology. "We used to think of the sand on Mars as relatively immobile, so these new observations are changing our whole perspective."

While red dust is known to swirl all around Mars in storms and dust devils, the planet's dark sand grains are larger and harder to move. Less than a decade ago, scientists thought the dunes and ripples on Mars either did not budge or moved too slowly for detection."

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/.

More information about the MRO mission is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro.

* Mars Odyssey Orbiter 

Global Martian Map: http://www.mars.asu.edu/maps/?layer=thm_dayir_100m_v11.

"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/odyssey/20060313.html.

The fly-through plus tools for wandering across and zooming into the large image are at http://themis.asu.edu/."

DAILY MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) web site: (http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html)

The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/ 

Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html.

* Mars Missions Status - New Mars missions are being planned to include several new rover and sample collection missions. Check out the Mars Missions web page: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/ and the Mars Exploration page: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Links and Other Space News
(If you have a link you would like to recommend to our readers, please feel free to submit it.)

* "TheSky" Software - http://www.bisque.com - Astronomy software by Software Bisque.

* A Short Guide to Celestial Navigation - http://www.celnav.de/ - Celestial navigation is the art and science of finding one's geographic position by means of astronomical observations, particularly by measuring altitudes of celestial objects − sun, moon, planets, or stars.

* Astrogirl Homepage - http://www.astrogirl.org - Family-friendly educational astronomy website.

* Astronomical Lexicon - http://www.ki0ar.com/astrolex.html - Many of the astronomical terms used in this newsletter are defined here.

* Astronomy Picture of the Day - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html - A different picture of the cosmos every day.

* Black Hole Encyclopedia - http://blackholes.stardate.org/ - Excellent site from StarDate - University of Texas McDonald Observatory (http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/)

* Celestron Telescopes - http://www.celestron.com/ - Celestron telescopes.

* Cloudbait Observatory, Guffey Colorado - http://www.cloudbait.com - Submit your fireball reports here. Interesting, knowledgeable site.

* The Constellations and Their Stars - http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations.html - Good site for finding out more about the 88 constellations and their associated stars.

* Denver Astronomical Society - http://www.denverastrosociety.org - Promotes the enjoyment and understanding of astronomical phenomena, history and lore by providing educational and observing opportunities for our members, general public, and outreach activities at the University of Denver's historic Chamberlin Observatory, schools, and nature centers.

* Distant Suns - http://www.distantsuns.com/ - Desktop Astronomy package for PCs.

* Green Laser - http://www.greenlaser.com - If you're looking for a reasonably priced laser pointer that is great for astronomy work, visit this site.

* Groovy Adventures - http://www.groovyadventures.com - Unique adventures and vacations including astronomy related vacations.

* Heavens Above - http://www.heavens-above.com - As the name implies - What's up in the heavens, particularly satellite passes.

* The International Dark-Sky Association - http://www.darksky.org - To preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies.

* JPL Solar System Ambassador Program - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/front.html - "Volunteers Bringing the Solar System to the Public"

* JPL Solar System - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/ - Jet Propulsion Laboratory information on our solar system.

* Meade Advanced Products Users Group - http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/ - Mapug-Astronomy Topical Archive & information resource, containing a massive 335 page archive of discussions about Meade equipment, and much more: observatories, observing lists, permanent piers, equatorial wedges, remote operations, software, eyepieces, etc.

* My Stars Live - http://www.mystarslive.com/ - Interactive Star Chart

* NASA Science News - http://science.nasa.gov/ - NASA missions, updates, astronomy news, excellent resource.

* Northern Colorado Astronomical Society - http://ncastro.org/ - The purpose of our organization is to encourage the understanding & interest in the science & hobby of astronomy.

* Sangre Stargazers - http://sangrestargazers.skymtn.com/ - New astronomy club in the Wet Mountain Valley of Custer County (about 45 miles due west of Pueblo, CO).

* Sky and Space - http://www.skyandspace.com.au/public/home.ehtml 
Astronomy from Down Under - The Southern Hemisphere's first astronomy and space magazine.
 
* Skymaps.com - http://www.skymaps.com - Free sky maps each month.

* Skywatch Sightings from NASA - http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ - This site gives you the best times to watch the ISS pass over or near your location.

* Southern Colorado Astronomical Society - http://www.scasastronomy.info/ - Site under construction.

* Space.com - http://space.com - Interesting space and astronomy articles.

* SpaceLinks/Space Careers - http://www.spacelinks.com/SpaceCareers/ - SPACELINKS is a specialist staffing consultancy sourcing and supplying high caliber professionals for a wide range of world class organisations in the Space and Defense industry.

* Spaceflight Now - http://spaceflightnow.com/ - Launches and satellite news.

* "SpaceRef.com" - http://www.spaceref.com/ - SpaceRef's 21 news and reference web sites are designed to allow both the novice and specialist alike to explore outer space and Earth observation.

* Space Weather - http://www.spaceweather.com - Check out what the Sun is doing as seen from space.

* Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org - Free, downloadable planetarium/astronomy software.

* Universe Today - http://www.universetoday.com - Short, interesting articles about space and related topics.

* Wikisky - http://www.wikisky.org - WIKISKY is a non-commercial project. The main purpose of WIKISKY is to consolidate astronomical, astrophysical and other information about different space objects and astrophysical facts.

Acknowledgments and References

Much of the information in this newsletter is from "Astronomy Magazine" (Kalmbach Publishing), JPL mission status reports, "Meteor Showers - A Descriptive Catalog" by Gary W. Kronk and other astronomical sources that I have stashed on my book shelves.

The author will accept any suggestions, constructive criticisms, and corrections. Please feel free to send me any new links or articles to share as well. I will try to accommodate any reasonable requests. Please feel free to send questions, comments, criticisms, or donations to the email address listed below. Enjoy!

Subscription Information

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Keep looking UP!
73 from KI0AR

Created by Burness F. Ansell, III
ki0ar at yahoo.com

COO, Director of Aerospace Technologies, IAAS
JPL Solar System Ambassador, Colorado
Last modified: November 30, 2011

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