News, Tuesday, 15 AUG 2006 More New Pictures of Old SLAS Events Thanks to SLAS Webmeister Ken Warner a new page is now on the SLAS web site covering last year's Astronomy Day/Week declaration signing: http://slas.us/gallery/events/AstronomyDay2005.htm Thanks to Boyd McNeil an image showing the official opening (the ribbon cutting ceremony) has been added to the previously announced page covering last year's opening of the Harmons Observatory: http://www.trilobyte.net/paw/slas/SPOC2BUILD09.HTML +++++ SLAS New Member Booklet Updated Updates to the booklet reflect recent changes in the SLAS board and SLAS appointed positions. http://slas.us/docs\NEWMEM2006.pdf +++++ What's New With SLAS SLAS Webmeister Ken Warner has recently made a number of changes to the SLAS web site to bring it up to date. Among those are a number of additions to the "What's New With SLAS" page. http://slas.us/NEWS.HTM +++++ NASA Announces Dark Matter Discovery ' Astronomers who used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. MDT Monday, Aug. 21, to announce how dark and normal matter have been forced apart in an extraordinarily energetic collision. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/aug/HQ_M06128_dark_matter.html +++++ Pluto: Is It a Planet? An international panel has unanimously recommended that Pluto retain its title as a planet, and it may be joined by other undersized objects that revolve around the Sun. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5631291&ft=1&f=1003 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Astronomers_Take_Up_Planet_Debate_At_Inter... +++++ NASA's Spitzer Digs Up Troves of Possible Solar Systems in Orion Astronomers have long scrutinized the vast and layered clouds of the Orion nebula, an industrious star-making factory visible to the naked eye in the sword of the famous hunter constellation. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-16/release.shtml +++++ NASA Seeds Student Interest Astronauts deployed two new materials experiments and three million basil seeds outside the International Space Station. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2006/06-058.html +++++ Space Travel Will Take Off In Five Years Commercial flights to space could be taking off from Britain within five years, the head of the space travel firm Virgin Galactic said Wednesday. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_Travel_Will_Take_Off_In_Five_Years_9... ++++++ Eroded Structures in Jacobi Crater: A Window on the Past This high-resolution image, taken by ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, shows part of crater Jacobi in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM8A7BUQPE_index_0.html +++++ Volunteers Sought For Four-Month Arctic Mars Mission Simulation The Mars Society is seeking seven volunteers to participate as members of the crew of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station during an extended simulation of human Mars exploration. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Volunteers_Sought_For_Four_Month_Arctic_Ma... +++++ Planck Telescope Behaves Well In Cold Vacuum ESA's Planck space telescope was removed last week from the Large Space Simulator after a thorough two-week test in temperatures down to -178 degrees Celsius. http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMKMRY7QQE_index_0.html +++++ Digital Data – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow The amount of digital data being produced across various disciplines is increasing at an exponential rate, but this information may not be around for future generations... http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM2F5JZBQE_index_0.html +++++ Voyager Update http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm +++++ STS Update http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/status-20060814.html +++++ ************************************************** ************************************************** Free Telescopes For SLAS Members SLAS has several scopes available for free, long term loan to current SLAS members who have belonged to SLAS for at least 30 days. http://slas.us/membership_benefits.htm +++++ Images and Data From Cassini-Huygens At:s http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/latest/index.cfm http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-releases.cfm +++++ Information On The Mars Rovers At: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html +++++ SLAS 2006 Star Party Schedule http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/LOCAL.HTML +++++ SSA / UMNH 2006 Southern Utah Public Star Party Schedule http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/STARPARTIES.HTML +++++ ************************************************** News is being sent to you because of your affiliation with the Salt Lake Astronomical Society or because you are subscribed to the Utah Astronomy Listserve. To unsubscribe please send your request to paw at wirelessbeehive dot com. Check out my NASA Solar System Ambassador web site at: http://www.umnh.utah.edu/utahsky and mirrored at http://utahastro.info/ For astronomy clubs in Utah see: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/UTAHCLUBS.HTML For the Utah Astronomy Listserve see: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy ************************************************** -- Patrick Wiggins NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah & NE Nevada paw at wirelessbeehive dot com http://www.umnh.utah.edu/utahsky http://utahastro.info/ 435.882.1209 801.918.9092