AstroNews 2/2000

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Up This Month
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Early birds get to see the morning star.  This role is currently played by Venus, 124 million miles away from us. Because it's only 80% illuminated by the sun s small scope will show a 3/4 moon-shaped disc. Saturn and Jupiter are still chasing each other across the heavens. Oh, and February has 29 days!
 

EROTIC ENCOUNTER
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is approaching the minor planet 433 Eros for the second time. NEAR will RENDEZVOUS with Eros and is expected to become the FIRST PROBE TO ORBIT AN ASTEROID. When? On Valentine’s Day! How appropriate for an Eros encounter!  Get it? Eros is the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

ET Phone home! Try the long distance services offered by us at GlobalCom. Cheap calls (especially for calling abroad!), calling cards, callback service, and lots more telecommunication tidbits are at:
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OK, OK, you want to get to the good stuff right away! Good, then check out the some cool NEBULAS and the "Stars of Wonder" video:
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/slideshow/1999_1022_deathstar_/slideshow.asp

Now doesn't that make you want to go on your own rock-collecting trip in Southern California’s MOJAVE DESERT? Yeah! It could happen to you too - while walking around you spot a couple of dark basaltic rocks, scoop them up, take them home, put them in a box.

So how did astronomers tell such meteorites are of Martian origin? Two reasons. First, gases trapped in the rock match that of the Martian atmosphere. Second, the rock’s oxygen isotopic ratios are unlike other meteorites or any Earth rock, but they match the ratios found on Mars. The rocks were likely ejected from Mars during a large impact event, making their way to Earth in less than a million years.
 

NASA DREAMS ON
Two failed robotic expeditions to Mars in a row. NASA's biggest humiliation since... well, probably since Challenger blew up. Bruised but unbroken, NASA is planning BOLDER TRIPS, like drilling on Mars and submarine voyages in an extraterrestrial ocean.

Major cost-cutting and miniaturization was achieved for the failed Pathfinder missions - Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander. Both build by LOCKHEED under contract to NASA. With dramatically cheaper landing rockets. And a camera only 2% the mass of its predecessor. Both should find application in future space journeys. NASA turned to outside contractors and industries for LOW-COST COMPONENTS, some commercially available.

First the Climate Orbiter got lost in orbit because a technician failed to convert between English and metric units -- DUH! Then the Polar Lander disappeared in Mars orbit in early December. This loss is still unexplained. NASA is still looking for that darn robot. The cost of the recent Mars missions combined is about $300 million, compared to about $3.5 billion (in 1999 dollars) for the entire 1970s Viking mission.

Now NASA visionaries are busy pondering the possibility of even bolder future expeditions, including:

(1) A mission to recover rock samples from deep within Mars. This could shed light on the ORIGIN and EVOLUTION of Mars. Deep samples might also contain groundwater and even microbes. But this is still in the early planning stages. NASA is getting help from some oil companies on this project. Hey, that reminds me of recent movie ARMAGEDDON, where oil rig crews fly a shuttle to an asteroid to drill it!

(2) A robot that would orbit EUROPA, a moon of Jupiter. To space scientists, Europa is a particularly exciting place because it might have a DEEP, WATERY OCEAN. If so, that ocean might contain life, some speculate. Scheduled for launch in 2003 the probe would orbit Europa and try to determine once and for all whether it is, indeed, enveloped by an ocean. If so, another mission might drop a robotic "submarine" into the ocean to explore it. Jules Verne meets Buck Rogers!
 

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FAR OUT FACT
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FACT: a day on Venus can last over 200 earth days.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

DRESS WARM WHEN YOU STARWATCH!
 

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AstroNews is an electronic newsletter by Kahl Consultants. Stay abreast of astronomy and extraterrestrial news. 

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My god! It's full of stars!