[Astronews] IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter

Sat Jun 30 22:23:40 EDT 2012

IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter
July 2012

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 smart phone, iPod or mp3 player and listen to the newsletter at your leisure. 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. http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html

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:
* Full Moon occurs on the 3rd.
* Last Quarter Moon occurs on the 10th.
* New Moon occurs on the 19th.
* First Quarter Moon occurs on the 26th.

* The Moon is at Perigee on the 1st, 225,164 miles from Earth.
* The Moon is at Apogee on the 13th, 251,518 miles from Earth.
* The Moon is at Perigee on the 29th, 228,239 miles from Earth.

Moon/Planet Pairs:
* The Moon passes 1.0° south of Pluto on the 3rd.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Neptune on the 7th.
* Venus passes 0.9° north of Aldebaran on the 9th.
* The Moon passes 5° north of Uranus on the 10th.
* The Moon passes 0.5° north of Jupiter on the 14th.
* The Moon passes 4° north of Venus on the 15th.
* The Moon passes 4° south of Mars on the 24th.
* The Moon passes 1.2° south of Spica on the 25th.
* The Moon passes 6° south of Saturn on the 25th.
* The Moon passes 0.9° south of Pluto on the 30th.

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 July - Look for Mercury at the beginning on the month low in the west. Mercury is followed by Mars and Saturn soon after sunset. Pluto, Neptune and Uranus follow in the late evening and early morning skies. Jupiter, Ceres and Venus gather together before sunrise. On the morning of the 15th, look for the waning crescent Moon between Jupiter and Venus.

* Mercury - Is stationary on the 14th. Mercury is in inferior conjunction on the 28th. Look for Mercury very low on the western horizon about 30 minutes after sunset during the first two weeks of the month. Mercury sets at 10:01 p.m. on the 1st and about 7:28 p.m. by month's end. Mercury is in the constellation of Cancer shining at magnitude 0.4.

* Venus - Is at greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7) on the 12th. Venus is visible in the early morning sky before sunrise. Venus rises at 3:43 a.m. on the 1st and about 2:45 a.m. by month's end. Venus is in the constellation of Taurus shining at magnitude -4.7.

* Earth - Is at aphelion (94.5 million miles from the Sun) on the 4th.

* Mars - Sets at 12:20 a.m. on the 1st and about 10:57 p.m. by month's end. Look towards the west to spot the Red Planet soon after sunset. Mars is in the constellation of Virgo shining at magnitude 1.0.

* Jupiter - Rises at 3:16 a.m. on the 1st and about 1:36 a.m. by month's end. Look for Jupiter in the early morning sky before sunrise. Jupiter is in the constellation of Taurus shining at magnitude -2.1.

* Saturn - Sets at 1:30 a.m. on the 1st and about 11:27 p.m. by month's end. Look for Saturn in the west soon after sunset. Saturn is in the constellation of Virgo shining at magnitude 0.7.

* Uranus - Is stationary on the 13th. Uranus rises at 12:37 a.m. on the 1st and about 10:35 p.m. by month's end. Uranus can be spotted after midnight once it rises above the horizon. Uranus is in the constellation of Cetus shining at magnitude 5.8.

* Neptune - Rises at 11:12 p.m. on the 1st and about 9:09 p.m. by month's end. Neptune can now be spotted in the late evening but is still best viewed after midnight. Neptune is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.8. 

Dwarf Planets
* Ceres - Rises at 3:27 a.m. on the 1st and about 2:03 a.m. by month's end. Ceres is still low on the eastern horizon but a small telescope should be able to resolve this ball of rock. Ceres is in the constellation of Taurus shining at magnitude 9.1.

* Pluto - Rises at 7:57 p.m. on the 1st and about 5:52 p.m. by month's end. Having just reached opposition at the end of June, Pluto still remains at its best. Pluto is in the constellation of Sagittarius shining at magnitude 14.0.

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

Astronomical Events

Meteor Showers
* The Southern Delta Aquarids - This meteor shower has a duration of July 14 - August 18. Maximum hourly rates of 15-20 occur on July 27.

* The Northern Delta Aquarids extends from July 16 to September 10. Maximum occurs on August 13. The hourly rates reach a high of 10.

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

Comets
* Comet 96P/Machholz is predicted to possibly reach 7th magnitude by the end of the month. However, comet brightness predictions are very tricky to forecast. Stay tuned into the internet and keep your the binoculars close at hand. Comet Machholz passes through the constellations of Leo and Leo Minor late in the month.

* 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
* No eclipse activity this month.

Observational Opportunities
* Watch Mars and Saturn descent to the western horizon as the month progresses.
* On the morning of the 15th before sunrise, catch the alignment of the waning crescent Moon in between Venus and Jupiter.

Asteroids (From west to east)
* Melpomene is in the constellation of Ophiuchus.
* Parthenope is in the constellation of Aquarius.
* Pallus is in the constellation of Pisces.
* Vesta is in the constellation of Taurus.

* 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 - June 25, 2012
Cassini Shows Why Jet Streams Cross-cut Saturn

"Turbulent jet streams, regions where winds blow faster than in other places, churn east and west across Saturn. Scientists have been trying to understand for years the mechanism that drives these wavy structures in Saturn's atmosphere and the source from which the jets derive their energy.

In a new study appearing in the June edition of the journal Icarus, scientists used images collected over several years by NASA's Cassini spacecraft to discover that the heat from within the planet powers the jet streams. Condensation of water from Saturn's internal heating led to temperature differences in the atmosphere. The temperature differences created eddies, or disturbances that move air back and forth at the same latitude, and those eddies, in turn, accelerated the jet streams like rotating gears driving a conveyor belt.

A competing theory had assumed that the energy for the temperature differences came from the sun. That is how it works in the Earth's atmosphere.

"We know the atmospheres of planets such as Saturn and Jupiter can get their energy from only two places: the sun or the internal heating. The challenge has been coming up with ways to use the data so that we can tell the difference," said Tony Del Genio of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y., the lead author of the paper and a member of the Cassini imaging team."

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 - June 01, 2012
It's a Sim: Out in Deep Space, New Horizons Successfully Practices the 2015 Pluto Encounter 

"The science instruments aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft were running at full tilt, with cameras snapping images, sensors scanning the space environment and the communications system trading radio signals with ground stations on Earth.

No matter that the target of this activity - the Pluto system - was still about three years and 850 million miles away. On May 29-30, New Horizons "thought" it was July 14, 2015, and carried out the most intense segment of its Pluto flyby as part of the mission's first onboard encounter simulation. The simulation was conducted at a distance of 23 astronomical units from the Sun - 23 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. When the real encounter happens in 2015, Pluto will be 33 AU from the Sun."

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 - June 14, 2012
Dawn Easing into its Final Science Orbit

"After successfully completing nearly five months scrutinizing the giant asteroid Vesta at its lowest orbit altitude, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin its final major science data-gathering phase at Vesta on June 15, at an average altitude of 420 miles (680 kilometers) above the surface.

This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn
spacecraft orbiting the giant asteroid Vesta. 
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Full image and caption

Over the past six weeks, Dawn has been gently spiraling up from its lowest orbit – 130 miles, or 210 kilometers, above the surface - to the final planned science orbit, known as high-altitude mapping orbit 2. Observations obtained from this orbit will provide a companion set of data and images to those obtained during the first high-altitude mapping orbit phase, completed in October 2011. A key difference will be that the angle of sunlight hitting Vesta has changed, illuminating more of its northern region. The principal science observations planned in this new orbit will be obtained with the framing camera and the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer."

Dawn's Virtual Flight over Vesta

A gallery of images can be found online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/multimedia/gallery-index.html.

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

* MESSENGER - June 22, 2012
MESSENGER Completes Its 1,000th Orbit of Mercury

"MESSENGER will complete its 1,000th orbit of the planet closest to the Sun at 11:22 p.m. EDT tonight [June 22, 2012]. "Reaching this milestone is yet another testimony to the hard work and dedication of the full MESSENGER team that has designed, launched, and operated this highly successful spacecraft," says the mission trajectory lead Jim McAdams of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

The spacecraft was inserted into orbit around Mercury in mid-March 2011, after traveling more than 15 times around the Sun through the inner solar system and completing six planetary flybys. "Since arriving at Mercury, MESSENGER took a little more than 15 months to reach this mark," McAdams notes. "But because the orbital period has been reduced from just under 12 hours to 8 hours, it will take only 11 months to complete the next 1,000 orbits."

During its primary mission, which concluded on March 17, 2012, MESSENGER performed the first global reconnaissance of the geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment of Mercury. The spacecraft is now more than one-quarter of the way into a one-year extended mission that is building on this knowledge to address new questions raised by the initial orbital observations."

The new app is available for download at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messenger-nasas-mission-to/id510144229?ls=1&mt=8.

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

Be A Martian

* 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 - June 26, 2012
Curiosity Rover on Track for Early August Landing

MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY MISSION STATUS REPORT

Curiosity: Robot Geologist and Chemist in One!

In this picture, the rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover's arm, which extends about 7 feet (2 meters).

"PASADENA, Calif. -- A maneuver on Tuesday adjusted the flight path of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for delivering the rover Curiosity to a landing target beside a Martian mountain.

The car-size, one-ton rover is bound for arrival the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time). The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate whether one of the most intriguing places on Mars ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

The latest trajectory correction maneuver, the third and smallest since the Nov. 26, 2011, launch, used four thruster firings totaling just 40 seconds. Spacecraft data and Doppler-effect changes in radio signal from the craft indicate the maneuver succeeded. As designed by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the maneuver adjusts the location where the spacecraft will enter Mars' atmosphere by about 125 miles (200 kilometers) and advances the time of entry by about 70 seconds."

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

* Mars Exploration Rover Mission (Spirit and Opportunity) - June 20, 2012

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: Opportunity Drives A Little - sols 2981-2989, June 12-20, 2012:

"Opportunity has been exploring the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater.

With Mars Odyssey still working to recover from their safe mode event, Ultra High Frequency (UHF) relay for the rover has been limited to just two UHF relay passes per week from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. From a combination of the limited MRO relay and the use of Direct-to-Earth X-band passes on the rover, Opportunity was able to perform some driving.

On Sol 2981 (June 12, 2012), the rover drove a little over 56 feet (17 meters) to the north, approaching the boundary between the Cape York geologic unit and the Meridiani plains. On Sol 2989 (June 20, 2012), Opportunity bumped just over 16 feet (5 meters) north to straddle the contact unit between Cape York and Meridiani, and position a candidate target within the work volume of the robotic arm. Opportunity also performed two atmospheric argon measurements on Sols 2982 and 2987 (June 13 and June 18, 2012), using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer.

The rover continues to benefit from solar array dust cleaning events, which have greatly increased the daily energy production. As of Sol 2989 (June 20, 2012), solar array energy production was 526 watt-hours with a lower atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.229 and an improved solar array dust factor of 0.684.

Total odometry is 21.43 miles (34,491.99 meters)."

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 - May 09, 2012
NASA Spacecraft Detects Changes in Martian Sand Dunes

"PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth.

This is unexpected because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth, is only about one percent as dense, and its high-speed winds are less frequent and weaker than Earth's.

For years, researchers debated whether sand dunes observed on Mars were mostly fossil features related to past climate, rather than currently active. In the past two years, researchers using images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera have detected and reported sand movement."

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 - June 27, 2012
Longest-Lived Mars Orbiter Is Back in Service
MARS ODYSSEY MISSION STATUS REPORT

"PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has resumed its science observations and its role as a Mars rover's relay, thanks to a spare part that had been waiting 11 years to be put to use.

Odyssey's flight team returned the orbiter to full service this week after a careful two-week sequence of activities to recover from a fault that put Odyssey into reduced-activity "safe" mode. Odyssey switched to safe mode when one of the three primary reaction wheels used for attitude control stuck for a few minutes on June 8, Universal Time (June 7, Pacific Time).

Engineers assessed the sticking wheel as unreliable and switched the spacecraft from that one to a spare that had been unused since before the mission's April 7, 2001, launch.

"Odyssey is now back in full, nominal operation mode using the replacement wheel," said Steve Sanders, lead engineer for the Odyssey team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. Lockheed Martin collaborates with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., in operation of Odyssey, which has worked at Mars longer than any other Mars mission in history."

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.asu.edu/gallery)

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.)

* Astronomy 2009 - http://www.surveillance-video.com/astronomy-sept-2009.html - This site has some good links a young, interested student wishes to share.

* "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 organizations 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

- Email Newsletter archives -
 http://ki0ar.com/pipermail/astronews_ki0ar.com/ 

- Full documentation of the online administration system is available at http://ki0ar.com/mailman/listinfo/astronews_ki0ar.com.

- The latest version of the newsletter is accessible from http://www.ki0ar.com/astro.html.

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: June 30, 2012

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