Michael Mitrano, Treasurer
Member renewals are coming in slowly and we are now at 60 members for the fiscal year that will end on June 30, 2013. Recent expenses included power washing and painting of the Washington Crossing Observatory rails and exterior. Our surplus so far for the fiscal year is about $1,000. Our insurance premium, due in January, will claim most of that but we will continue to receive dues payments.
On a cumulative basis, our surplus is about $23,000.
by Dr. Ken Kremer
Dr. Kremer with Orion Space Capsule at Kennedy Space Center
NASA is making steady progress toward liftoff of the inaugural space-bound Orion crew capsule. The agency aims for a Florida blastoff of the Exploration Flight Test-1 mission (EFT-1) in September 2014 atop a Delta 4 Heavy Booster. Orion will ultimately fly astronauts to deep space destinations including the Moon, Asteroids and Mars.
I recently inspected the Orion during an exclusive follow-up visit to the cavernous manufacturing assembly facility in the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where the vehicle is under construction by prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Since the welded shell structure arrived at KSC during my prior visit, Lockheed technicians have made noticeable progress preparing for the uncrewed EFT-1 mission.
Lots of hardware is arriving from contractors and subcontractors from all across the U.S. for integration with the crew cabin, said Jules Schneider, Orion Project manager for Lockheed Martin at KSC, during an interview beside Orion. Technicians were busily installing avionics, wiring, instrumentation and electrical components as the crew module was sitting inside the Structural Assembly Jig during my follow-up visit. The Jig has multiple degrees of freedom to move the capsule and enable assembly work.
“Since July and to the end of 2012 our primary focus is finishing the structural assembly of the crew module,” said Schneider. “That includes all the mechanical assembly inside and out on the primary structure and all the secondary structure including the bracketry. We are putting in the windows and gussets and installing the forward bay structure leading to the tunnel and the aft end components leading to the service module. We are also installing secondary subsystem components like avionics boxes, thruster pods, test instrumentation, strain gauges, accelerometers, thermocouples and other gauges to give us data as parts roll in here, since that’s what this flight is all about – this is a test article for a test flight.”
Read more about Orion at Universe Today, story by Dr. Kremer:
Astronomy Outreach by Dr. Ken Kremer
Ken Kremer: Spaceflight magazine & Universe Today
Please contact Ken for more info or science outreach presentations:
Email: kremerken@yahoo.com website: www.kenkremer.com
http://www.universetoday.com/author/ken-kremer/
compiled by Michael Wright, Secretary
Apollo 17 Celebration
Moon Zoo (http://www.moonzoo.org) is celebrating humanity’s final trip to the Moon, Apollo17. They are showing images of the Apollo 17 landing site, taken by NASA’s amazing Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in which the LEM base and rover tracks can be seen. Also, Moon Zoo is blogging the anniversary at http://blog.moonzoo.org.
NASA Johnson Style
What happens when NASA and pop culture collide? Check out this video parody from interns at NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sar5WT76kE
Space Images, JPL’s Mobile Image App, Reaches 1 Million Downloads
Space Images, the mobile app from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that puts visuals direct from space missions at users’ fingertips, has reached 1 million downloads. Just this year the app collected exciting images from many of the laboratory’s missions including the Mars Curiosity rover. Vibrant explosions from dying stars, the elegant choreography of Saturn’s moons, and the scarred and cratered surface of a giant asteroid are just a few of the other scenes users can discover through the app. Visit http://bit.ly/Ym9ir1 to download Space Images for Apple devices and http://bit.ly/T85EfG for Android devices. Explore more mobile offerings from JPL at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/apps.
Unleash Your Creativity
JPL Infographics, a newly launched website and resource database from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is inviting space aficionados and graphic wizards to take on a visual challenge by grabbing NASA data and transforming them into a scientific work of art.
The website provides extensive collections of NASA science and mission data, graphics and space images that the public can download and use to create their own infographics – creative illustrations of complex data. Users can then upload their infographics, have them reviewed by JPL experts, and share their creations in a public gallery on the JPL website. To sign up for a free account and to start creating and uploading your own creations, visit JPL Infographics at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/
Already there are many beautiful and fascinating infographics on the JPL site ready for downloading and printing. If you still have the 3D glasses from the December meeting, check out this one: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10918
Shot Away from its Companion, Giant Star Makes Waves
Zeta Ophiuchi. Photo Credit: NASA
Astronomers theorize that this star was once sitting pretty next to a companion star even heftier than itself. But when that star exploded, Zeta Ophiuchi was kicked away and sent flying. Zeta Ophiuchi, which is 20 times more massive and 80,000 times brighter than our sun, is racing along at about 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per second). For more: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/pia16604.html
David Letcher, Outreach Chair
The evening of Nov. 28th saw a group of AAAP members hosting a star party at the Millstone River School in Plainsboro, NJ. We had clear skies with a bright full moon. Jupiter was prominent too but located about a moon’s diameter to the north-east of the moon. We were still able to see its bands and moons however. The teachers gave our club their usual generous contribution too.
Many thanks go to Jeff Bernardis, Mary and Pat Hays, and Jim Poinsett and yours truly for helping out.
Our next star party will be held in the evening of Friday, December 7 at the Newell Elementary School in Allentown, NJ. This school is one of our regular customers. I’ll be sending out another reminder email about this event too.
That’s all for now!
Michael Mitrano, Treasurer
Member renewals continue to come in and, so far, the Association has 52 renewing and new members for the current year. Expenses thus far have been modest, and so revenues exceed expenses by a bit over $600.
On a cumulative basis, our surplus is about $22,000.
by Michael Wright, Secretary
The meeting was called to order by Director Ludy D’Angelo. He welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that five new members have joined since October. Ludy recognized the new members in the attendance. He announced that the committee planning the 50th anniversary dinner held a meeting on Sunday, November 11, and they are seeking volunteers. Ludy announced that the club has Astronomy magazine’s 2013 Deep Sky Mysteries calendars on sale for $10. He reminded all members that 2012-2013 due are due.
Kate Otto, Program Chair, introduced the speaker, Renée Hlozek, a Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow in the Astrophysical Sciences Department at Princeton University. In her talk entitled “The Cosmic Shopping List: Constituents and Symmetries in the Universe”, she explained how observations of the universe fit into our larger understanding of the universe on many different levels – from the very small to the largest scales.
After a brief break, Ludy reconvened the business portion of the meeting.
Ludy adjourned the meeting.
by Dr. Ken Kremer, AAAP, Spaceflight Magazine & Universe Today
Curiosity Self Portrait with Mount Sharp in Gale Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di
Lorenzo
See the glorious Martian terrain (in color and 3-D) revealed as you have never seen it before during my December 11 presentation at the AAAP monthly meeting – “Curiosity and the Search for Life on Mars in 3-D”. Watch as Mars is unveiled through NASA imagery and my custom mosaics placing Curiosity in context with her surroundings. I inspected Curiosity in the clean room prior to blastoff and watched the mission launch from the roof of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
Ken Kremer & Curiosity in the KSC Clean Room
Recently Curiosity snapped a never-before-seen panoramic vista showing a matchless self-portrait of her Mastcam ‘head’ and body combined with a thrilling scene of her eventual destination. Mount Sharp likely holds the key to understanding Mars’ watery past and over four billion year evolution that will tell us whether Mars ever possessed habitats favorable for the evolution of life.
My space and Mars imagery will be for sale at the December11 AAAP meeting. See my latest Curiosity mosaics featured at NBC & BBC News, Universe Today and the PBS Nova Mars documentary
More Astronomy Outreach by Dr. Ken Kremer
STAR Astronomy Club, Monmouth Museum, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ. Dec 6, 8 PM. “Atlantis, the Premature End of NASA’s Shuttle Program and What’s Beyond for NASA.
Website: http://www.starastronomy.org/events/meeting/star-december-meeting
Please contact Ken for more info or science outreach presentations.
Email: kremerken@yahoo.com website: www.kenkremer.com
http://www.universetoday.com/author/ken-kremer/
By Robert Vanderbei (http://tinyurl.com/ckjqglb)
10:55 EST, November 22, 2012
Canon XSi (450D) on 10″ RC, 4x-Powermate
Video acquired with EOS_movrec (“1/20” second exposures, ISO=1600)
60 seconds, 20 frames per second
Aligned, stacked, and sharpened with Registax6
An Editorial, by Michael Wright, Co-Editor
November 5, 1962: A few weeks before, the Cuban missile crisis had been resolved and the Soviets were removing their missiles from the island nation. Wally Schirra had just completed the fifth Mercury flight, but the US still lagged behind in the race to the moon. More US military advisors were going to Vietnam as the conflict there was escalating. Televisions were black-and-white and required turning a knob on the set to select among the handful of available channels. Johnny Carson had just begun his 30 year run as host of the Tonight Show. And a group of ten amateur astronomers met in the home of Robert Sanders to start the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton.
The world has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Some changes the AAAP founders might have had an inkling about, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Vietnam war. As space enthusiasts they were probably optimistic that the US would land on the moon “before the decade is out.” But who would have predicted the Chinese cultural revolution, Woodstock, Watergate, the environmental movement, gas rationing, the hostage crisis, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the collapse of the USSR, the European Union, the Gulf War, Oklahoma City, September 11, Iraq and Afghanistan, Dolly the sheep, the war on drugs, global warming, a black President, and legal gay marriage. The Earth is a smaller place due to fiber optics and geosynchronous communications satellites that flash our communications around the globe. Inexpensive air travel allows more travelers than ever to visit foreign counties. China and India, both nuclear powers, have emerged as major players in the global economy. Europe and the US remain leaders of the industrialized nations, but they have been suffering through “the Great Recession” for the past three years.
In 1962 Americans were fascinated with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It was going to improve our lives and take us to the Moon. While we don’t have personal jet packs and flying cars yet, STEM has delivered many unanticipated marvels such as Hubble, the Internet, and GPS. The US adequately funded STEM research and education 50 years ago. Now our scientists compete for limited basic research funding, and our infrastructure is crumbling because we neglected to fund maintenance and improvements. American’s enthusiasm and understanding of STEM has waned to the point that most do not have an inkling about the science and engineering that runs their favorite gadgets. Compared to other industrialized nations, US students are lagging on standardized test of math and science. Pseudoscience and superstition are rampant as evidenced by the popularity of psychics, ghost hunters and the occult. As Carl Sagan described in Demon Haunted World, science is a candle in the dark. It is not just a body of knowledge, but the best method of discovering the truth and disposing of myths and superstitions. Science should inform our decisions and solutions to the challenges that confront us individually and as a society.
Since 1962 the AAAP has grown nine-fold in membership, built two observatories, hosted over 400 lectures and 20 star parties, and undertaken thousands of hours of outreach at local schools and at our observatory in Washington Crossing State Park. Currently, we are considering installing a fully automated telescope and mount for remote astrophotography under a new dome at our Jenny Jump observatory. Members have kept our candle lit and will continue to kindle interest in science by sharing our passion for astronomy and space exploration.
On the 100th anniversary of AAAP in 2062, our grandchildren will be running the club. The world will be a far different place than what we can imagine. Will climate change reshape our civilization as some predict? Will mankind make another giant leap off the Earth to Mars, the Moon or an asteroid? If future Sidereal Times editors reflect on the next 50 years, I hope they will say that our generation carried the torch, and the world is an even better place than today.
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton 