Shoalhaven AstronomersABC Drive

1st September 2008

 

Emails about MARS are not true

 

An email that has circulated during July and August for several years is again hitting inboxes in 2009. The message informs recipients that the planet Mars will be passing very close to Earth in August. While this information was valid back in 2003, it is totally inaccurate for 2009. One of the 2009 incarnations of the hoax consists of a PowerPoint slide presentation that provides basically the same information as contained in the above email along with several more photographs of Mars

 

The year is not specifically mentioned in the message and a great many recipients therefore assume that the message refers to August, 2009. Virtually identical (and equally misleading) messages were circulating back in July and August 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The events outlined in the message were more or less true back in 2003 although they were a little hyped even then. According to NASA, on August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars were the closest they have been for around 60,000 years. Mars was indeed a spectacular site in the night sky during several months of 2003.

 

And, during 2009, the view of Mars will be far less than "spectacular". During the current mars apparition (period when Mars is visible and well placed for observation from Earth), the planet's closest approach to earth will occur on January 27 2010. On that date, Mars will be over 99 million kilometers from Earth, a lot further from the Earth than it was in 2003, when the distance between the planets was only around 56 million kilometers. Mars expert, Jeffrey D. Beish notes:

Closest approach occurs at 1844 UT on January 27, 2010 (43.8° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 14.11'' at a distance of 0.663989469429 astronomical units (AU) or 61,721, 554 miles (99,331,411 km). During closest approach in 2010 the apparent diameter of Mars will be more nearly 2 arcsec smaller than it was at the same period in 2007 and it will be nearly 5 degrees lower in the sky – not great for observing the Red Planet.

This message seems set to keep resurfacing every year and duping a whole new set of recipients into gazing rather fruitlessly at the night sky. But don't despair! Close encounters with Mars are not such uncommon events. The claim that "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!" is misleading. It is true that the next time Mars will be as close to Earth as it was in 2003 will be on August 28, 2287. In the mean time however, there will be plenty of other close approaches, so our children and our children's children are not likely to miss out altogether.

Perhaps by 2287 some of our descendants will be observing the close encounter from the Martian perspective.

 

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/mars-earth-close.html

 

 
Text Box: Proof that life came from space Scientists have identified a crucial building block of life in samples captured from a comet and returned to Earth by the spacecraft Stardust. The discovery lends support to the theory that key ingredients of life arrived on the early Earth from space, through a heavy bombardment of comets and asteroids. The samples were captured by Stardust on January 2, 2004, as the spacecraft passed by comet Wild-2, coming within 240 kilometers of its nucleus. For several hours as it flew through Wild-2's coma, Stardust was subjected to a barrage of rocks and grains from the comet, which battered but did not damage the spacecraft. Along the way, particles from the bombardment became embedded in the spacecraft's collector, made of aerogel tiles framed in aluminum foil. Once the ordeal was over, the collector was tucked into Stardust's sample return capsule and sealed inside. Two years later, on January 15 2006 Stardust swooped by the Earth, and released the capsule into the atmosphere, where it parachuted gently to the ground in the Utah desert. The contents of this capsule, the first ever samples from a comet collected in space and brought to Earth, have been occupying scientists around the world ever since. One remarkable discovery in the Stardust samples took place when Daniel Glavin and Jason Dworkin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight center found traces of glycine embedded in the collector's aluminum foil. Glycine is one of the amino acids that combine to form proteins – the building blocks of living organisms. The discovery of an amino acid in a comet would have profound implications as to the origins and prevalence of life, but scientists were cautious: it was possible, some argued, that the glycine came not from the comet but from contamination of the aluminum on Earth. Amino acids, after all are very common on our own planet. Fortunately, however, there is a way to distinguish Earthly glycine from the same compound originating elsewhere. The method involves analyzing the ratio of isotopes – elements with identical chemical properties but different atomic weights. Carbon, for example, comes in at least two forms: the most common isotope Carbon 12, which has 6 protons and 6 neutrons in its nucleus, and Carbon 13 which is heavier because it has an extra neutron in its nucleus. In any carbon sample taken on earth the ratio between these isotopes is fixed. Different isotopic ratios can only be found in samples that came directly from space, such as in meteorites. Like other amino acids glycine contains carbon, and this, according to Dr. Jamie Elsila of NASA Goddard was the key for determining whether the samples found in the Stardust collector truly came from space. If the isotopic ratios of were the same as elsewhere on Earth, then the glycine was most likely the result of contamination. But if the isotopic ratios were different, then the glycine almost certainly came from space, in this case from the comet Wild-2. Measuring the relative amounts of Carbon 12 and Carbon 13 in the Stardust glycine samples proved to be a daunting task. The samples were so tiny, Elsila found, that traditional measurement methods were simply not accurate enough. "We spent two years testing and developing our equipment to make it accurate and sensitive enough to analyze such incredibly tiny samples" she said. Finally, however, the results were in: the ratio of the two carbon isotopes in the glycine from Stardust differed by 2.9% from the ratios that prevail on Earth. This difference was sufficient for Elsila and her collaborators to conclude with a high degree of confidence that the glycine found in the collector came from comet Wild-2. "Glycine is an amino acid used by living organisms to make proteins" said Elsila, "and this is the first time an amino acid has been found in a comet." The implications of finding an amino acid on Wild-2 are far reaching. For one, it provides an important clue to the persistent question of just how prevalent life is in the universe. Ancient comets like Wild-2 are essentially balls of ice and debris left over from the formation of the solar system four and a half billion years ago. If even such primitive bodies contain amino acids it suggests that these building blocks of protein are most likely very commonplace, which may imply that life itself is also be quite common. "The discovery of glycine in a comet . . . strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare" commented Carl Pilcher, Director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute.

Hubble begins a new life

 

When the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis released the Hubble Space Telescope to return to orbit, concluding the final astronaut mission to upgrade and repair Hubble, astronomy fans around the world rejoiced. Hubble, renewed and equipped with new cameras, would now return to its work of revealing the universe.

 

But after the furor and high-profile feats of a servicing mission, Hubble sinks into silence. This time, a three-month hiatus will take place between the mission and any new images.

 

The quiet belies the intense activity going on behind the scenes. Engineers and scientists are conducting a slow, painstaking process of Servicing Mission Observatory Verification (SMOV) -- bringing the telescope to full functionality, making the adjustments and gathering the information that will allow them to provide the best, clearest, cleanest images. Once that's accomplished, Hubble will begin taking its Early Release Observations (EROs), images intended to demonstrate the telescope's new technology.

 

At the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., and Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., teams work together to make sure the telescope is pointing correctly and that its instruments are working with their intended precision.

 

Hubble's pointing is adjusted with the help of six gyroscopes, all of which were replaced during Servicing Mission 4. To ensure that the telescope is pointing accurately, engineers change the direction of the telescope in a measured way, and then examine the data generated from the gyroscopes. The data is then used to calibrate the gyroscopes to ensure precise pointing.

 

Next, engineers and scientists look at Hubble's instruments. The instruments are in the natural process of "outgassing" — the extra, unwanted molecules within them from their time on Earth are floating away due to the lack of atmospheric pressure.

 

The new instruments — weightless for the first time, and now in the vacuum of space — will be out of alignment. But that's expected, so the instruments are built with mechanisms that allow engineers to adjust them from the ground, often by moving small mirrors within the instrument itself. Each instrument needs a few weeks to go through the alignment process.

 

Finally, engineers take the instruments through a calibration process. Calibration is the process of identifying and dealing with data that belongs to the instrument, versus data that belongs to the sky.

 

Engineers observe a familiar astronomical object and compare the data they receive with the data they know should be there. They can then adjust the instruments to remove the data that comes from the instrument itself, or, more frequently, arrange to have it removed on the ground. Finding and identifying this erroneous data is a major part of the SMOV process.

 

Once all these tasks have reached a particular point in the plan, Hubble starts taking its Early Release Observations (EROs), the first high-quality images from the telescope. The targets have been chosen in advance by a team that selects them for their ability to showcase Hubble's new capabilities.

 

The targets are kept a mystery until their release, but the goal is to provide the most impressive views of a good mix of astronomical objects — some within the galaxy, some far beyond.

 

To those who know what to look for, the new images will be the first true display of the power of Hubble's new technology, dazzling amateur and professional astronomers with a wealth of new information. Scientists will immediately have access to the images for use in their research. These compelling images are expected to be released in September.

 

As the ERO images are completed, Hubble will go back to the day-to-day task of observing the universe. Equipped with new eyes and fresh technology, it will work ceaselessly, minute by minute, to answer the pressing questions of modern astronomy. Though the servicing missions may be over, Hubble's revelations will continue far into the future.

 

http://hubblesite.org/servicing_mission_4/whats_next_for_hubble/
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What’s out there in September?

 

As we move into Spring, the nights are getting warmer. The winter constellations of Libra Virgo and Corvus move west and give way to, Sagittarius, Capricornus and Aquarius.

 

Jupiter is the major planet for night viewing and will be close to the moon on the 2nd September in Capricornus. But as the moon is full on the 4th it will be too bright for good observing.

 

Early morning workers will be able to see Mars near the last quarter moon on the 14th September with Venus closer to the horizon in the north east sky near Leo and closer to Regulus and an almost new moon on 17th September.

 

Look at the tail in Scorpius and useyour maps to find M 6 & M7 open clusters. M6 is also known as the butterfly cluster and through a low powered eyepiece (26 – 40mm) you should be able to see the butterfly with a bit of imagination.