Featured articles...
The Mars Exploration Spacecraft are on their way! The first one, named Spirit, launched on June 10,
and the second, named Opportunity, was scheduled to launch on Saturday night. There was some insulation
cracking and flaking off the first stage rockets. This has delayed the launch until at least Wednesday,
July 2, at around noon. Hopefully, all will be repaired and ready for launch by then.
Spirit is on its way, and flying gracefully towards its destination. The first course corrections have been made
a little over a week ago. I have been asked about the course corrections: "Is it going the wrong way? Is there
something wrong with the way it is flying?" Not at all! The course corrections are planned for and expected.
The launch of a spacecraft, while very precise, is a powerful event, with lots of 'wiggle room'. The launch of the
rocket is intended to push the spacecraft towards Mars. The launch sequence is more of a 'slingshot' -- we are just
shoving it as hard as we can in the right general direction. It is quite easy and reasonable for the spacecraft to be
off by a few degrees once the last stage of the the module has been detached from the rocket boosters that put it in space.
The launch is more about force than finesse.
As we watch the path that Spirit is taking, we can see if it is actually on the right course -- heading 'down the pipe'
towards Mars. There are small engines on the module that allow members of NASA to nudge it a little to put it and keep
it on course. The first Trajectory Correction Manuever (TCM) was a complete success, and it looks to be sliding just
right towards our planetary next-door neighbor.
If all goes well, Spirit will touch down sometime around the very end of this year, or the beginning of next year, with
Opportunity touching down a little after that. At that time, we will be receiving the best photos and most comprehensive
study of the surface of that planet ever! Stay tuned to the Digital Skyline for updates on the progress of the intrepid
travelers to Mars.
Up-to-date information on the launch and progress of this exciting mission is available here.
The Space Shuttle program was intended to provide a low-cost, reusable way to ferry people and equipment into space.
The intention was to partner with private business and to have it nearly pay for itself. This was never fully realized,
and though the Space Shuttle program has had tremendous success, it has been an expensive venture, with much less support
from private industry as originally planned.
The Russian space agency has used the idea of 'space tourism' to bring some income. A new business was realized when
Dennis Tito paid $20 million to become the first civilian to buy his way onto a space mission. That price tag for an
8-day trip to space is a bit out of reach for most of us.
But a trip to space is of great interest to many people -- currently only an infinitesimal percentage of the human
population has made it up to space. A little over 60 miles above the Earth is where true outer space begins: the
sky below is blue, but above, the brilliance of a dark starry sky is all you see. Few have ever seen this phenomenal sight.
The X-Prize is a contest which is intended to accelerate the quest for a cheap, rapid-reusable space tourism spacecraft.
$10 million is offered to the first team which successfully private finances the building and launch of a spacecraft capable
of carrying at least three people to 62.5 miles above the Earth's surface, returns that spacecraft safely to Earth, and repeats
that procedure with the same ship within 2 weeks.
The belief is that this will promote the space program among private industry; not keep it relegated solely to government agencies.
It is thought that this may create a space program that is more easily accessible to businesses and to the general public.
This idea is not without precedent. In the early 1919, Raymond Orteig, a hotel owner in New York offered $25,000 to the first
person to fly non-stop from New York to Paris. At that time, no plane was built capable of such a feat. A flurry of invention
and improvements on aircraft occurred. The most famous flyer, the one who won the prize, Charles Lindbergh, successfully made
the journey in 1927. His plane was one of 9 made by private companies in order to win this coveted prize.
A true revolution had begun!
Charles Lindbergh became a sort of poster-child for aviation. His flight across the Atlantic created a meteoric rise in the interest
and popularity of air travel. By 1930, the amount of airline passengers rose from about 5,000 to nearly 175,000. Airports and
airline companies were popping up everywhere. It is said that the airline rage in the late 1920's was similar to the rise of computer
use and the Internet in the late 1990's. His flight is nearly singularly credited as being the source of today's multi-billion dollar
airline industry.
The X-Prize hopes to have a similar effect on space travel. The current drive is for a craft used mainly for space tourism, but
their goals include inspiring and educating the public towards an interest and enthusiasm in space science and space travel.
Already more than 20 teams from around the world have thrown their hats into the ring, trying to be the first to move us into a new
age of tourism, exploration and study. It is possible that, in our lifetimes, a trip to space will be as common as a passenger
plane across the country. The people supporting the X-Prize certainly hope so!
Jupiter and Mars are 'holding steady'!
The biggest planet in our Solar System is low in the western part of the sky right after sunset. Jupiter has been there creeping
around the western sky in the evening for months now, and it's still providing a great show for the naked eye -- it's the brightest
thing over there, by far -- and especially for those with telescopes. The moon is pretty easy to spot with a telescope, but the
logical next step is to try to spot Jupiter. If you can manage to get your telescope focused on this tremendous beauty, you will
be able to see features of Jupiter and some of its moons, AND you are certainly on the road to more difficult things to spot like
star clusters, nebulas, and galaxies. Jupiter will not be visiting is for very much longer, so take the opportunity to see it during July!
If you're a veteran to the Digital Skyline, you know that Mars is the highlight of the summer season. It is rising in the east
right around midnight, and gracing the southwestern sky until the sun comes up. It will continue to brighten through this month
becoming a glorious magnitude of -2.3 by the end of July. We orbit the sun more rapidly than Mars, and we will be gaining on the
red planet until the end of August when we become neck-and-neck. The viewing of Mars will be best throughout August. We will then
drift past Mars, leaving behind the greatest view of Mars we will have in our lifetime.
If you can manage to get up in the early morning hours of July, try to catch Mars in your telescope. It is still just an orangey-rust
spot, but this is your time to practice. You will certainly want to check out Mars in August when, hopefully, some of the surface
features will be visible through a backyard telescope.
This month we will check out a small constellation with some bright highlights: Lyra the Lyre!
What is a "Lyre" you ask?? Dictionary.com provided this: “A stringed instrument of music; a kind of harp much used by the ancients,
as an accompaniment to poetry. NOTE: The lyre was the peculiar instrument of Apollo, the tutelary god of music and poetry. It gave name
to the species of verse called 'lyric', to which it originally furnished an accompaniment.”
Lyra
Lyra is a small constellation high in the sky. It has some dim stars marking its main body, which is basically shaped like a parallelogram.
But off to one side of the parallelogram is the bright star called Vega. Vega is of magnitude zero -- which means it's visible immediately
after the sun goes down. Vega turns out to be the DEFINITION of a zero magnitude star -- it is the star around which all other brightnesses were
measured. Any star brighter than Vega was given a negative magnitude, any dimmer and it is positive.
The dim star below and to the left of Vega in the picture is something called Epsilon Lyrae, and it's actually not a single star at all --
it's actually FOUR stars. On a very clear dark night, with a pair of binoculars you can see it resolved into two spots, but with the average
telescope, you'll be able to see each of those spots resolve into a pair! They are 2 pairs of stars that orbit each other, and the two pairs
orbit a common center of gravity. They are quite far apart; it appears that it takes millions of years for the two pairs to complete a revolution.
Lyra is a tiny little gem of a constellation with some glittering jewels inside of it! Try to find it if you can!
Feel free to find out more about Lyra and its mythology.
Remember, the moon is a great place to start learning to use your telescope! You can see craters, of course, but also flatlands,
mountains, and giant rocks are visible with an average telescope. Take some time to explore our neighbor, The Moon!
The phases for this month:
 First Quarter: July 7
 Full Moon: July 13
 Last Quarter: July 21
 New Moon: July 29
Until next month.... Enjoy the skies!
Please come and enjoy one of our monthly programs at the Planetarium!
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