News, Monday, 19 June 2006 SLAS Has New Home SLAS president Lowell Lyon reports that he, Erik Hansen and Joan Carman recently toured various sites on the U of U campus and found an excellent venue which will be available for SLAS meetings beginning this fall. Look for more details at next week's SLAS meeting. +++++ Congratulations! Congrats to Fletcher Gross for completing the Ealing level 1 class at SPOC last Saturday night. +++++ Lost at SPOC Saturday Meade 40 mm 2 inch eyepiece in plastic storage case. Left on the ground (grass) at the Saturday June 17th Public Star Party in the area near where the fence is across from the observatory where scopes were set up. If found please contact SLAS member Nate Goodman 801.277.0193, ngoodman2lgcy.com. +++++ SLAS Loaner Scope Program When SLAS established the loaner scope program many years ago it was an active program with telescopes being borrowed all the time. But in recent years the program has not been all that popular despite repeated reminders of its existence here in News, in the Nova and at SLAS functions. The situation will be discussed at this month's SLAS board meeting. If you have an opinion on the matter you might want to be at the meeting. +++++ NASA Gives 'Go' for Space Shuttle Discovery's Launch NASA senior managers on Saturday cleared the Space Shuttle Discovery for a July 1 flight to the International Space Station. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2006/release-20060617.html +++++ Physicists Are Flying an Antimatter Observatory The first satellite built to detect antimatter in space launched safely yesterday, boosting the chances of identifying the mysterious 'dark matter' that makes up more than 80% of the stuff in the Universe. http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060612/full/060612-15.html +++++ Norway Impact Gentler Than Atomic Bomb The meteorite that struck northern Norway on June 7th was actually less energetic than observers originally thought. http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1742_1.asp +++++ First ESA Long-Duration Mission Onboard the ISS Given 1 July Start With NASAÂ’s announcement today of the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on 1 July, ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, from Germany, is set to spend six to seven months in space as a member of the permanent crew of the International Space Station. http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSMWK8IOE_index_0.html +++++ Pope Told Hawking Not To Study Universe's Beginning World-renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2006/06/15/1634406-ap.html +++++ Russian Mission To Martian Moon To Launch In 2009 Russia plans to send up a space exploration capsule to analyse the surface of Mars and collect test samples from one of the red planet's moons in 2009 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russian_Mission_To_Martian_Moon_To_Launch_... +++++ Virgin Galactic Updates on Plans For SpaceShipTwo Scaled CompositeÂ’s SpaceShipOne claimed the X-Prize when it reached an altitude of 100km for the second time in less than 2 weeks. Although this was a much simpler feat than reaching orbital altitude and velocities, many believed we were on the verge of a space tourism revolution. http://www.universetoday.com/2006/06/16/virgin-galactic-updates-plans-for-sp... +++++ ************************************************** ************************************************** 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 asked to be subscribed. 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://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/ 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://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/ 435.882.1209 801.918.9092