July 2016 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Last night's lecture
by Joe Bauman 12 Dec '18

12 Dec '18

Brent, speaking of the ISS, I have wondered if it could be put into an orbit that continuously cruised between Earth and Mars. When it swung by Mars it could drop off and retrieved crews. I don't see how the radiation would be any worse than the ISS crews are already exposed to. ------------------------------ On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 8:18 AM MST Brent Watson via Utah-Astronomy wrote: >I attended the lecture last night on trajectories. It was really a good, stimulating talk. Thanks for passing the word along. >There were some interesting side comments made about our launch capabilities and the Mars One effort. Mr. Adamo was not at all enthusiastic about the Mars One effort. His opinion is that the effort is doomed because there is not really a way to assure that folks going there would be safe - primarily from radiation. He has done some work with a former flight surgeon on designing a spacecraft to go to Mars. Their result is that in order to get sufficient shielding (using a water jacket), the spacecraft's mass would be around 380 metric tons. That is for a small crew, probably only about 5 members. For a point of comparison, the ISS mass is 400 metric tons. He made the comment that an astronaut who made this trip could only go to space once in this craft, and then he would be at the limit of radiation exposure for his life. The NASA limit is an increased risk of developing cancer of 5%. >That brings us to our current launch capability. Our latest heavy lift rocket - the one we are currently developing - will have the capability to lift 130 metric tons to a very low earth orbit. So low, in fact, that it would burn up at perigee. The Apollo 17 Saturn 5 rocket lifted 140 metric tons into earth orbit -- higher than the new rocket will go. (I am sorry, but my mind will not allow me to recall the name of our currently being designed rocket.) Recall that it took several dozen shuttle launches to assemble the ISS. The Mars One vehicle would require either a hugely more massive launch rocket or a similar effort to build the craft. >As I mentioned, it was a very intellectually stimulating lecture and did involve several ordinary differential equations. They were nicely explained in English by Mr. Adamo. This was the first time I have seen some real math put to Kepler's laws. There were many charts showing what it takes to leave the earth and go to the moon or Mars. It was a very well done lecture. >The above is my recollection of the lecture, and may not actually represent the opinions of Mr. Adamo. It is only my interpretation of what he said. He knows his stuff, that is apparent. Thanks Patrick and Dr. Sohl for passing the word along. >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >Send messages to the list to >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. > >To unsubscribe go to: >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

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L&O Saturday July 30
by Chuck Hards 29 Jul '16

29 Jul '16

A reminder that the Liver & Onions Subcommittee will be having a luncheon this coming Saturday, July 30, at the Left Fork Grill, 68W 3900S in Salt Lake. We'll start at 1:00 PM to avoid the lunch rush. Bring something for show-and-tell if desired. The TRAX station is conveniently located a block or so west of the restaurant, and there's plenty of on-site free parking. There are no SLAS events scheduled during the day. If you haven't RSVP'd already, let me know before the end of the week. I need a head count in order to reserve our table. Take a break from this week's heat wave and join us for an hour or two, all are welcome. See you there!

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Moon grazes Aldebaran this morning
by Chuck Hards 29 Jul '16

29 Jul '16

Did anyone else watch the moon glide just under Aldebaran early this morning? It was a beautiful sight. We didn't get an occultation here but folks living in the Eastern US did, with a graze occurring for some. Aldebaran is a huge star, physically, so this was one of those rare opportunities to observe a star as a physical disk, rather than point source. If an observer was positioned just right along the graze line, the star would have been seen to dim slowly, as the disk of the star passed behind the lunar limb. Most stars just wink out immediately. The Moon will occult Aldebaran again on August 25th, this time in daylight.

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Liver & Onions Time Again
by Chuck Hards 18 Jul '16

18 Jul '16

I've been meaning to organize another L&O before now, but my work schedule has just been a killer this summer. I had to schedule vacation time to be able to attend the last two SLAS meetings! I'm assuming that everyone is too busy for next weekend, due to the state holiday, so I'm proposing either Saturday July 30, or Saturday August 6. There is nothing on the SLAS calendar for either day. Probably some private star parties since there isn't much of a moon either weekend, but no sun parties during the day. Check-in and we'll go with the majority. "Doesn't matter" votes usually defer to the earlier date in the event of a tie. Thanks!

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