Erik Bakke, CWU Astronomy Club Secretary
For the week starting with Sunday, October 23, 2005
Greetings
everyone!!
This is Erik Bakke, your CWU Astronomy Club secretary for Fall
Quarter 2005,
filling you in on news that has been happening
and will be happening with the Astronomy Club.
The
next meeting of the CWU Astronomy Club during Fall Quarter 2005 will
be on
Be sure to
read Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition
of the Ellensburg Daily Record that is titled "What's Up In The Sky"
so that
you will know what will be available in
the night sky for the coming week.
Be sure to
check out the CWU Astronomy Club web site at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
A. Basic
Astronomy
B. CNN news
and link
C. MSNBC
news and link
D. NASA
news and link
E. Space.com
news and link
F. Sky
and Telescope news and link
G. Last
meeting and minutes (in brief)
H. Announcements
I. Local
Media
J. Close
A. Basic
Astronomy
On
at the Palomar Observatory's Samuel Oschin telescope by the three
men who discovered it: Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo,
and David Rabinowitz.
The current temproary name is 2003UB313, but has not been
officially named yet.
This planet
is 57 Astronomical Units (AU) beyond Pluto, whereas
Pluto is 40 AU
from the Sun.
This new
planet also has a moon!
Further
information can be found at these links:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/29jul_planetx.htm?list165102
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/index.html
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/moon/index.html
B. CNN news
and link
The Hubble
Space Telescope has taken a rare look at the moon to
gauge the amount of oxygen-bearing minerals
in the lunar soil that
could be mined by astronauts and used in a
new moon mission
Further
information can be found at this link:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/20/hubble.moon.ap/index.html
C. MSNBC
news and link
Some potential
stars just don't make it because they don't have enough
mass to trigger the thermonuclear fusion
that powers regular stars. They
are more massive than a planet but not as
hot as a star. Astronomers
call these failed stars "brown
dwarfs".
However, the
Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted planetary seeds
around brown dwarfs, and as such
the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST)
detects the ingredients needed to create a
planet.
Further
information can be found at this link:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9772274//
D. NASA
news and link
The Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is already breaking records!
MRO has set
the record for interplanetary missions, sending
back the
mosts data in a single day. The amount of data, the equivalent
of
13 CD's, was
returned by the MRO mission in a single day!
MRO was
launched on
Further
information can be found at this link:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/news/mrof-20051020.html
E. Space.com
news and link
The launch
date for
Express) was
to have been on
inspections by ESA officials, the actual launch
date will probably be
sometime in early to mid November, 2005.
Further
information can be found at this link:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051021_venus_exp_lnch_delay.html
F. Sky
and Telescope news and link
During mid to
late October 2005, look for Mars glowing low in the east
after
will be higher in the sky.
Mars will be
at its closest on the night of
43.1 million
miles (69.4 million kilometers) from our planets around
brilliant for a couple of weeks before and a
couple of weeks after
Further
information can be found at this link:
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1612_1.asp
G. Last
meeting and minutes (in brief)
October 17. 2005
Total Meeting time:
AGENDA
Note taker: Erik
Attendees: Tony, Erik, Kathy, and Eric
Postpone Stump The Astronomer to Nov. 14
Do Cart Races on Oct. 24
The next meeting of the CWU Astronomy Club during Fall
Quarter 2005 will
be on
H. Announcements
The
next meeting of the CWU Astronomy Club during Fall
Quarter 2005 will
be on
The next
activity for the CWUAC is Oct. 24
with Cart Races!
Be sure to
look at the CWUAC web pages, as they have been updated,
revised, and revamped (especially the Members,
Calendar, and the Links
pages), with thanks to Kathy.
I. Local
Media
The CWU
Astronomy Club web site can be found at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb ; send any
comments to Kathy.
The
Ellensburg, WA Daily Record can be found on line at www.kvnews.com.
Be sure to
read Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition
of the Ellensburg, WA Daily Record that is titled "What's Up In The Sky" so that you will know what will be
available in the night sky for the coming week, or view on line at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb or www.kvnews.com.
The CWU Astronomy
Club Newsletter can also be found on line at the CWU Astronomy Club web site,
which is www.cwu.edu/~astroclb/htmls/Newsletter.htm
.
People from
the Astronomy Club also have pictures that can be viewed at the
CWU Astronomy
Club web site at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb/htmls/pics.htm
A friend of
mine, Darryl Fuhrman, spent Labor Day weekend with friends
at the Oregon Star Party near
information and impressions of the Oregon Star
Party (OSP). He said that
it is a 5 hour drive, which is about 280
miles from
OSP site about
40 miles east of
The road is paved
to within about 2 miles of the OSP site, and is well maintained the rest of the
way. If you want to camp on site, set your tents
up on the west side of your vehicle. The areais
wide open with no tress and very little or no shade. There is a campground
about 2 miles down the road.
The people are
friendly and there are a variety of telescopes to look at, and if
you ask politely, you can look through the
telescopes. It is a great star party
and everyone has a great time.
Visibility at
night is great, as there are almost no city lights to disrupt your
night time viewing, other than maybe
Prineville or
Elevation is
5,000 feet, and the number of people at OSP is about the same
as the number of people that show up at
the Table Mountain Star Party in
For more informatin about the Oregon Star Party, check out this web
site:
http://www.oregonstarparty.org/
J. Close
If you want to
be removed from this list, e-mail the club secretary.
If you have
any comments or suggestions about the newsletter, or ideas for astronomy
related topics that you would like to see in the newsletter, please e-mail the
club secretary.
Be sure to
check your junk mail file (and filters) so that your copy of the newsletter is
not deleted and ensure that you have enough free hard drive space in your
computer’s e-mail system for the newsletter
As Fall Quarter 2005 continues, there will be more to talk about and
inform you as to what will be happening with the CWU Astronomy Club.
See you on
Monday night!!
Look to the stars and see what you can see....
Enjoy your fall,
Erik Bakke