Keep Looking Up

Greetings all!

I know, I know, I'm a day late again.  Once again, the internets refused to let me in to my blog if I'm not at work.  I'm not sure what's broken, but I think I'm going to stop trying to fix it.

Things are still a little shaken up here at the museum as we work on recovering from the flood, but overall, we're trying to get everything settled down into something resembling a routine.  So I thought I'd go back to a routine here as well and just talk about what's visible in the sky right now.  Sometimes doing the "normal" things helps the most when things are decidedly not normal.

We're getting ready to make the transition into fall, with longer nights and cooler temperatures, thank goodness.  It's a pleasure to be outside in the evenings now...you might even find you need a light jacket if you plan to stay outside for any length of time.  What a wonderful thing!

It will still be a couple of months before the brilliant stars of winter begin to grace the evening skies, but until then you can enjoy the last hurrah of summer - The Summer Triangle.  Three bright stars form a brilliant triangle that sits high overhead just after sunset and descends towards the west as the evening passes on.  To the East, you'll find the familiar Great Square of Pegasus - four stars in an almost perfect square dominate the eastern sky and mark the location of the legendary winged horse.  Two simple bright shapes that are pretty tough to miss.

The Summer Triangle and its surrounds.  Courtesy the University of Illinois.  Note that the Milky Way passes directly through the center of the triangle.

Looking westward at sunset might allow you a final quick glimpse of the planets Mars and Saturn, both sinking rapidly towards the Sun.  By the end of the month, both planets will be lost to our view.  Mars will still be in the news regularly however, as Curiosity really gets rolling on its mission to explore the Red Planet.  Sadly, with Mars and Saturn so low, and both relatively dim, you might miss them if you have anything other than a totally clear flat western horizon...hard to come by on the east coast of the United States.

However, don't get too downcast just yet.  If you can stand an early morning wake up call, you can see a pair of beautifully brilliant planets in the early morning sky.  Head outside around 5am and look to the east to see Venus and Jupiter dominate the pre-dawn sky.  Jupiter stands high in the east (almost to the south) with Venus lower but still plenty high enough to be seen quite easily.  These two are the brightest of the planets visible to the unaided eye, and make a stunning pair.  Well worth the effort of rising before the Sun to enjoy them.

Venus, The Moon and Jupiter in the early morning sky.  Photograph by Alan Dyer.  The Moon is the brightest object in the field, with Venus slightly up and to the left.  Jupiter stands up towards the top of the image to the right of the Moon and Venus.

Ah.  Just talking about the beautiful skies of fall helps me feel a bit better.  There's plenty of work still to be done, but taking the time to enjoy the simple things in life really does renew your spirit.

See you in two weeks...and until then...
Carpe noctem!
Kelly

Mars Attacks!

Well, actually, when you get right down to it...we're the ones attacking Mars.

Even as I write, the latest in a long series of robotic explorers is on its way to the Red Planet.  The Mars Science Laboratory, with its already-famous rover, Curiosity, launched toward Mars on November 26 of last year and is expected to touch down on the Martian soil in the wee morning hours of August 6, 2012.  If you're a devotee of Mars-exploring robots, you can sit up and watch the landing at the Virginia Air & Space Center, NASA Langley's Visitor Center.  Some folks from the Virginia Living Museum will be on hand too, discussing the ever-popular question of whether life ever got a foothold on Mars.

Mars is a tough planet to land on.

The road to Mars is a hard one, and landing on the surface is an even greater challenge.  Kind of like the superstitions surrounding the Scottish Play in the theater world, there's a long-held fear of Mars in the space exploration community.  It is definitely picky about what probes it chooses to welcome.  Half of all the missions ever sent to the Red Planet have ended in failure.

Russia's Phobos (meaning fear; also the name of one of Mars' two moons) 1 and 2 both suffered from the "Mars Curse."  Phobos 1 died of a software glitch - it lost its lock on the Sun, and since it was running on solar power, that was the end of that.  Phobos 2 seems to have suffered a similar fate - after a successful Mars orbit insertion and just prior to the scheduled release of two landing probes, contact was lost and never regained.  While the official explanation is an onboard computer failure...the subject of alien tampering was raised, and has never really been silenced.

The last image taken by the Phobos 2 spacecraft.  The dark object is often claimed to be a UFO responsible for the loss of the craft, but is most likely a distorted shadow of the craft itself on the surface of Mars.

The U.S. craft Mars Observer was also mysteriously lost.  Three days before a planned Mars orbit insertion, engineers lost contact with the spacecraft.  We'll never know exactly what happened, but the most likely cause seems to have been a ruptured fuel tank which sent the craft into a massive tailspin.

Russia tried again with Mars 96, with disastrous results.  The fourth stage of the rocket failed to ignite, and the whole kit and caboodle came crashing back down to Earth.  The bulk of the craft seems to have landed in Chile, though no pieces of it were ever recovered.  Russian telemetry on the rocket was severely limited, and no specific cause for the crash was ever identified.

The Japanese tried reaching Mars with the Nozomi (meaning Wish or Hope) spacecraft, but a malfunctioning valve resulted in a loss of fuel so great that the poor craft was left with insufficient fuel to reach Mars orbit.  Some science did come out of the mission though - Nozomi was able to make 2 successful fly-bys of Earth and one of Mars.

Probably the most embarrassing loss of a spacecraft goes to the United States and Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO).  MCO was lost when it traveled out of communications by passing behind Mars 49 seconds earlier than expected.  Contact with the spacecraft was never re-established.  Turns out that while the spacecraft software was written expecting flight data in metric units, engineers on the ground were uploading the data in English units.  The spacecraft ended up flying too close to Mars, and likely disintegrated in the Martian atmosphere.  Oops.

We didn't do much better with Mars Polar Lander (MPL).  Contact with the spacecraft was lost during the descent phase as MPL tried to land at the Martian South Pole.  We never heard from the spacecraft again.  No trace of the craft was ever found, but the official explanation for the loss states that vibrations during the descent phase may have tricked the lander into thinking it was on the ground, and it shut off its thrusters, causing it to plummet the last 130 feet or so to a very hard, fatal landing.

Even the British have had trouble with Mars, losing a lander, Beagle 2 (named for the HMS Beagle, the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his famous voyages).  No explanation or cause has ever been agreed upon - the little lander simply disappeared and never made contact after descending towards the surface of the Red Planet.

Clearly, entry, descent and landing (EDL) is a tough time for a Mars-bound spacecraft.  NASA engineers often call the EDL phase the "7 minutes of terror."  This Saturday, we here at the Virginia Living Museum are going to be celebrating Mars with our monthly star party and laser light night...and we've got a special guest planned - NASA!  Exhibits all about Mars and Earth will be available, and Jill Prince, NASA's Mars EDL expert, will be giving a special talk about the 7 minutes of terror.  If the weather holds, we'll be looking at Mars with our telescopes all evening (plus peeking at Venus and Saturn too, I'm sure!), and there will even be a bit of Mars-themed music in the planetarium with Laser Mania!

So come join us for some Mars Mania this Saturday!  Mars activities and exhibits open at 5:30pm, Jill Prince speaks in the planetarium at 6pm, and observing begins after sunset.  All are FREE!  In the planetarium: at 7:30pm enjoy Virginia Skies (with a focus on Mars); 8:30pm see Laser Mania featuring "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars" by Weird Al Yankovic; finish the night with a Laser Pink Floyd double feature: The Wall at 10pm and Dark Side of the Moon at 11:30pm.  All planetarium shows are $6, $10 for any two.  Members are always half price!

Don't forget to watch the news for information on the Mars Science Laboratory landing in August...and let's hope the Great Galactic Ghoul keeps his mitts off this one.

Carpe noctem!
Kelly

The Year in Review

It's that time of year, isn't it folks?  Everyone is doing a "Year in Review."  Well, who I am to miss that bandwagon!  So in this final installment of Cosmic Strings for 2011, I give you my personal five favorite astronomy stories of 2011.  Enjoy!


The Total Lunar Eclipse of June, 15, 2011
2011 was a banner year for eclipses...we had 4 solar and 2 lunar eclipses.  I wish we could have seen them.  Sadly, all 6 eclipses were basically not observable from the United States.  But many of our international friends got to see some amazing sights...and of the the eclipses this past year, the June 15th lunar eclipse was likely the most wonderful.  It was a rare lunar eclipse where Moon passed through virtually the exact center of the Earth's shadow, making it not only a very long eclipse (the total duration was almost 6 hours!), but also one where the Moon took on a fabulous color.

The lunar eclipse of June 15, 2011 by Javier Algarra.  Courtesy Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Atmospheric scientists can tell a great deal about the Earth's atmosphere from lunar eclipses.  The reddish color of the Moon during a lunar eclipse is caused by sunlight bending through the Earth's atmosphere and striking the lunar surface even when it is in the shadow of the Earth.  Usually only deep reddish light gets through, but depending on the various particulates found in the atmosphere of the Earth, the Moon may appear bright red, copper colored, and even a yellowish-orange.  If you got to see this wonderful eclipse, count yourself lucky!

The Launch of Curiosity
It might seem odd to include a spacecraft launch in my list, but I can't help it.  I'm excited!  Another plucky robot has successfully made it off the Earth and is on its way to Mars.  Launch is a dangerous time...second only in danger to landing.  So Curiosity still has a long way to go before it can get to work...and the greatest danger lies ahead.  Mars has been a tough planet to explore...about half of the missions headed there have ended badly.  And yet, Mars is well worth the effort, as it is the place in the solar system most like the Earth.  If life is, or ever was, present in the solar system beyond the Earth, Mars is the most likely place for it.  The Spirit and Opportunity rovers have shown us definitive proof that Mars was wet in the past and likely still has a fair amount of water.  Perhaps Curiosity will be able to provide definitive evidence of Martian life!  If so, that will certainly make the list in 2012!

The launch of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, called Curiosity.  Courtesy NASA.

The Uncookable Comet Lovejoy
A late entry - but an amazing one!  Kreutz sungrazer Comet Lovejoy was discovered by Australia's Terry Lovejoy a bit less than a month before its close encounter with the Sun.  No one expected the cosmic chunk of ice and rock to survive its passage a mere 87,000 miles above the solar surface (Earth is on average 93 million miles from the Sun and I can still get a sunburn in the winter!) on December 16.  But as I write this, Comet Lovejoy is still kicking, headed away from the Sun and sporting an enormous tail.  Sadly, we can't see it very well from here in the United States, but its discoverer is still getting a nice view!  Southern hemisphere dwellers - get outside before the sunrise and enjoy the view of Comet Lovejoy in the east.  It's well worth the effort!

Comet Lovejoy after its incredible solar encounter by Kosma Coronaios. Courtesy spaceweather.com

Pluto May Not Be a Planet...But it is a Moon Magnet!
First among dwarf planets Pluto was back in the news again this year - sporting a newly discovered moon.  The intrepid Hubble Space Telescope was searching for rings around the tiny body, but instead discovered a fourth moon circling this enigmatic little world.  Officially announced on July 20, 2011, little S/2011 P4 doesn't yet have a proper name.  But its discovery confirms that this world, though no longer considered a major planet, will remain a target for scientific curiosity and discovery for years to come.  New Horizons will arrive in 2015, increasing our understanding of the Plutonian system exponentially.  I can't wait!

The discovery of Pluto's newest moon, S2011/P4.  Courtesy STSci.

The End of an Era: NASA Retires the Space Shuttle
For 30 years, manned spaceflight was synonymous with the Space Shuttle.  NASA's fleet of launch-like-a-rocket-land-like-a-glider spacecraft were amazing machines, completing 135 missions to space, launching innumerable satellites and spacecraft, conducting thousands of experiments, and performing 37 construction and service visits to the International Space Station.  Groundbreaking mission like those of the Galileo spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope started with a launch from the cargo bay of a space shuttle.  While we mourn the loss of the 14 astronauts who died in the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, we must also acknowledge that the shuttle's work record of 30 years is nothing short of extraordinary.

Space Shuttle Discovery.  Courtesy NASA.

Now the United States has no manned spaceflight capability,. and the future of human exploration of space has never looked more bleak.  No other space agency has the same level of experience which NASA has in manned spaceflight.  But we will lose those skills rapidly if we can no longer send people into space to use them.  While NASA is actively seeking new astronauts, I wonder what they will do, since they must rely on the faltering Russian space agency to successfully carry them into space.  Human space exploration fires the imagination like few other things can, and the technological spinoffs from such efforts are too numerous to detail.  I hope that our government will be willing to make an investment in a future they can't imagine now, and not let the problems of today kill the dreams of tomorrow.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season full of family, friends, love and joy.  And may 2012 be a truly stellar year for us all.
Carpe annum!
Kelly

The Little Robot that Could

Greetings all!

I've got a friend who loves little robots.  And no, it's not Grant Imahara.  She's a science educator here at the museum with me.  And I have to confess, I totally understand.

There's something wonderful about a little, plucky machine, doing its job despite all obstacles.  Maybe that's why we love movies like Wall-E so much - little robots are just so darn cute!  Okay, so I'm anthropomorphizing...a lot.  But I can't help it.  Because the subject of this post is a truly amazing little robot - MER-B, better known as the Mars-exploring robot Opportunity. 

An artist's conception of Opportunity on the surface of Mars.  NASA

It's hard to believe, but Opportunity and its twin sister, Spirit, arrived on Mars in January 2004.  That's right - this rover, which was designed for a 90-day mission, has now been traveling around on the surface of Mars for over seven years.  That right there is reason enough to love this intrepid little robot.

The science achievements from the Mars Exploration Rover program have been nothing short of extraordinary.  We've learned an incredible amount about Mars and its history.  Thanks to the rovers, we know that Mars did indeed have a wet past, and most certainly still has water which occasionally makes a surface appearance.  Opportunity discovered the first meteorite on another planet - Heat Shield Rock - while investigating the site where its own heat shield landed.  The rover has traveled about 20 miles across the surface of Mars, inspecting rocks, digging holes, taking photographs and measurements, and performing numerous other scientific tasks.  It has survived dust storms, a cranky shoulder joint, and even getting stuck in a sand dune for a time.  Its exploits are far too numerous to detail in this space, but I strongly encourage you to read about them.  Opportunity's story is an incredible one, full of achievement, drama, and most of all, the strength and determination of her human crew back here on Earth.

I felt it was time to interest people in the Mars rover again, because Opportunity has achieved quite a milestone in the past few days.  It has been traveling toward Endeavour Crater on Mars for three years, and at long last, arrived at the massive hole in the Martian surface just last week, sending back this lovely photo.

The far rim of Endeavour Crater as seen by Opportunity.  NASA.

Thus Opportunity begins another new chapter in its long and varied history.  Its twin, Spirit, sadly has ended its mission, and has been out of contact with NASA for more than a year.  But Opportunity seems to still be going strong.  I hope this "Little Rover That Could" keeps on keeping on for a long, long time to come.

If you'd like to see Mars, and wave hello to the rover, check your early morning skies.  Mars shines in the eastern sky before sunrise, looking like a dull orange or yellowish star.  Keep watching it, because Mars and Earth are now approaching each other rather than receding, so the Red Planet will grow steadily in size and brightness in the coming months.  While Opportunity may not be able to see you, nor you see it, it's incredible to think that as you look at a small planet millions of miles away, something made by human hands is driving along, helping us discover the wonders of another world.

Until next time,

Carpe noctem,

Kelly