News, Tuesday, 22 AUG 2006 Welcome New SLAS Members Rick & Linda Kirkland Glen Stevens Jason Watson +++++ SLAS Meeting Tonight Nominations for next year's board will be taken and UVSC's Nal Morris will discuss archaeoastronomy at Utah's Parowan Gap. Meeting starts at 7:30 pm in the Salt Lake County Government Center's north building, located at 2001 S. State Street in SLC. http://slas.us/displayevent.asp?EventID=812 +++++ Attention SPOC Users The Service Agency has decided to no longer lock the gate. SLAS members are asked to please not lock the gate. +++++ NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter (Thanks to Joe Bauman for passing this on.) Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/aug/HQ_06297_CHANDRA_Dark_Matter.html +++++ NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter This composite image shows the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known as the "bullet cluster." http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/1e0657/ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/39/ +++++ Opportunity Observes 'Isabela' Opportunity is healthy and on the road to "Victoria Crater." Spirit drove 35.67 meters from "Beagle Crater" to a small sand dune, or ripple, to examine the dune with the robotic arm. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_opportunityAll.html#sol907 +++++ Spirit Checking 'Korolev' Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on its winter science campaign. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll.html#sol929 +++++ Cape Canaveral's Got Competition. Cape Breton is going to enter the space race. http://planetspace.org/lo +++++ NASA Invests In Private Sector Space Flight NASA is making an unprecedented investment in commercial space transportation services with the hope of creating a competitive market for supply flights to the International Space Station. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Invests_In_Private_Sector_Space_Fligh... +++++ Opposition Surge on the B Ring Two images of Saturn's A and B ring showcase the opposition effect, a brightness surge that is visible on Saturn's rings when the Sun is directly behind the spacecraft. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2238 +++++ Engineers Studying Spitzer Anomaly Engineers are studying data returned by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, to determine what caused the observatory to enter safe mode on Friday... http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/happenings/20060821/ +++++ STS Update http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/status-20060821.html +++++ ELV Update http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2006/elvstatus-2... +++++ ************************************************** ************************************************** 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 +++++ ************************************************** ************************************************** 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