January 2004 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Mars life
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

http://planet.state.ut.us/temp/MARSLIFE.JPG :-)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Winter observing
by Jim Gibson 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

A couple of cool pictures of the Orion area http://www.pbase.com/image/24653952 http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Oriondeepfield.html --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Winter observing
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

Chuck, Well, the sun is a star but you have to get above the fog to see anything. I bet you could make a lot of money if you invented a fog filter. I'm thinking of having a star party at the old Fort Pierce in Warner valley in February around new moon. I'm hoping to check out the Fornax galaxy cluster this winter and the galaxies in Eridanus. It's nice to have somebody with a large aperature scope in the area. Of course, that could cost me a lot of money if I decide to upgrade to a larger aperature scope. Oh, what a hobby! Debbie

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EDL data
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

A few more bits of Entry, Descent and Landing data from a recent NASA-TV news conference: Craft was traveling just under 1,500 km/hr when the chute opened. Chute opened at 7,500 meters. Descent rate under the parachute was 245 km/hr. Braking rockets fired at 104 meters. Bridal cut at 8.5 meters (only 1.5 airbag diameters!). Horizontal (across the ground) velocity at touchdown was about 35 km/hr. First bounce reached a height nearly equal to bridal cut height. Bounced 28 times (craft did not roll) over 57 seconds, possibly up hill. Distance from first bounce to where it came to rest was about 300 meters. Patrick

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MER's airbag "tracks"?
by Chris Clark 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

Hi everyone, While perusing one of the big (eleven-thousand-pixel-wide) panoramic images assembled from the individual images sent back by Spirit ( http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia05049 ), I'm wondering why I don't see "tracks" left in the surface by the airbag-encased lander as it bounced and rolled to a halt. Are "tracks" there and I'm just failing to notice them? Is the surface so hard that no tracks would have been left? Have any such tracks been erased by wind? Other ideas? On a slightly different topic, when looking at the Mars images, is there a method one can use to orient the images (i.e. how do we tell which way is, say, "north")? Is information regarding image "orientation" available on the web? If I knew which way was "north", say, and if I knew the (azimuth of) the trajectory of the lander when it impacted the surface, then I presume I'd know where to look for any airbag "tracks". Chris

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] MER's airbag "tracks"?
by Kim Hyatt 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

Good questions, Chris. I haven't a clue... ;) -----Original Message----- From: Chris Clark [mailto:cpclark@xmission.com] Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2004 3:40 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] MER's airbag "tracks"? Hi everyone, While perusing one of the big (eleven-thousand-pixel-wide) panoramic images assembled from the individual images sent back by Spirit ( http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia05049 ), I'm wondering why I don't see "tracks" left in the surface by the airbag-encased lander as it bounced and rolled to a halt. Are "tracks" there and I'm just failing to notice them? Is the surface so hard that no tracks would have been left? Have any such tracks been erased by wind? Other ideas? On a slightly different topic, when looking at the Mars images, is there a method one can use to orient the images (i.e. how do we tell which way is, say, "north")? Is information regarding image "orientation" available on the web? If I knew which way was "north", say, and if I knew the (azimuth of) the trajectory of the lander when it impacted the surface, then I presume I'd know where to look for any airbag "tracks". Chris _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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Russia mulls missions to Moon and Mars
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Jan '04

17 Jan '04

Another "space race"? In an echo of the Cold War space race, Russia said Thursday that it had the know-how to relaunch its space exploration programs, a day after Washington laid out ambitious plans to return to the Moon and press on to Mars. http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040115162118.8ffpi9bk.html

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More on gullies
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Jan '04

16 Jan '04

Just returned (can you image hyper active Patrick stuck on a boat for 4 days with limited vegetarian food, $45 per hour email and no NASA TV? AUGH!!!). Am reading through all of the Utah Astronomy traffic and am trying to find the text of the president's speech (I heard tonight he may pay for his Moon/Mars plan in part by trashing HST). In the mean time, here's the latest gullies image (per a recent thread here). http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/01/12/index.html Patrick

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Mars Colors
by Paul Witte 16 Jan '04

16 Jan '04

When my friend first sent me the following link I thought, "Oh great, another conspiracy theorist". Upon looking at the photos though (especially the sundial), and checking the photos on JPL's website it looks like there may be something to this. Patrick, can you verify or refute this? I suppose it isn't a big deal, but if they are altering the colors what is the purpose? http://fire.prohosting.com/cleoger/marscolors/

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Beyond the Moon: Inside Bush's space plan
by Dale Hooper 15 Jan '04

15 Jan '04

Beyond the Moon: Inside Bush's space plan (Part 1 of 3) http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=915

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