News, Tuesday, 25 July 2006 SLAS Meeting Tonight SLAS will be holding it's monthly public meeting this evening in the north building of the Salt Lake County Complex beginning at 7:30 p.m. Ken Harris will announce plans for the upcoming official opening of the Refractor House and dedication of the refractor (the latter to be named in hour of late SLAS member Andy Bogdan). Joan Carman will speak on the mythology and lore of the night sky. http://slas.us/displayevent.asp?EventID=811 +++++ SPOC Update The memorial plaque for former SLAS member Andrew "Andy" Bogdan was installed on the refractor at SPOC yesterday in preparation for the upcoming dedication. See images 38 through 40 at: http://www.trilobyte.net/paw/slas/REFRACTORHOUSE04.HTML +++++ SLAS Website Update SLAS webmaster Ken Warner reports that he's added three new pages to the club's web site. 1) Recent star party at Snowbird: http://slas.us/gallery/events/Snowbird2006.htm 2) John Gregory's visit to SPOC: http://slas.us/gallery/events/JohnGregory.htm 3) Sean O'Leary's picture gallery: http://slas.us/gallery/member_profiles.htm +++++ Lakes on Titan The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2214 +++++ Gemini Captures Close Encounter of Jupiter's Red Spots A high-resolution image released today by the Gemini Observatory shows Jupiter's two giant red spots brushing past one another in the planet's southern hemisphere. http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=196 +++++ Iranian Woman Blazes Trail Into Space Anousheh Ansari, who grew up in Tehran and watched reruns of Star Trek, is set to become the world's first female space tourist. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Iranian_Woman_Blazes_Trail_Into_Space_999.... +++++ Mars's Next Explorers: Jumping, Baseball-Size Robots? Swarms of small, bouncing robots could hop across the surface of Mars to search for signs of life, researchers say. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060724-mars-robots.html +++++ CALIPSO's First Images Offer New Dimension to Air Quality and Climate Research The CALIPSO spacecraft collected its first data recently, a major milestone for one of NASA's newest satellite missions. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/calipso/news/First_Light.html +++++ Planet-Forming Disks Might Put the Brakes on Stars Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have found evidence that dusty disks of planet-forming material tug on and slow down the young, whirling stars they surround. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2006-094 http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0007E984-47D2-14C1-8... +++++ Latest Images from Inside Genesis I http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/out_there/index.php +++++ Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday in this embattled Midwestern state. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39512 +++++ ************************************************** ************************************************** Images and Data From Cassini-Huygens At: 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