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YOUNG ASTRONOMERS NEWSLETTER
Volume 18
Number 8
STUDY + LEARN = POWER
HAYABUSA RETURNS
Japan celebrated the homecoming of a space hero not an astronaut, but a battered machine limping back
from a seven-year odyssey to a distant space rock. With
only one of it's four engines still running and three years
behind schedule, it was still the longest voyage in space.
In a final achievement, Hayabusa ejected a container
that landed safely in Australia. About the size of a soccer
ball, It may contain the first fragments of an asteroid ever
brought to Earth.
EUROPA
Europa, which is roughly the size of Earth's moon, is
enveloped by a global ocean that may be about 100
miles deep. This ocean has an icy crust that may be only
a few miles thick. Recent findings even suggest the
ocean could be loaded with oxygen, enough to support
millions of tons worth of marine life like the type that
exists on Earth.
To see if any kind of life actually evolved on Europa,
future missions may drill through its outer shell, perhaps
using heat to melt through the ice and spinning blades.
After clearing away rocks, robot subs could explore the
ocean. Astrobiologists also envision landers scooping up
the ice and analyzing it.
MILKY WAY'S "BUBBLES"
Just as Earth has an atmosphere, the Milky Way is
surrounded by a thinner halo of stars, gas and 'dark
matter'. The halo clouds are 400 to 10 000 light-years
outside the Galactic disk.
Researchers have found that "bubbles" in the galaxy
burst and leave flecks of material in the form of clouds of
hydrogen gas. The region with lots of thick clouds is
where lots of stars form, while the region with fewer
clouds also forms fewer stars. But the halo clouds aren't
found exactly where stars are forming right now. Instead,
they seem to be linked to earlier star formation.
MOON ROBOT CONTEST
A Montana State University student-built robot won a
national contest at the Kennedy Space Center by digging
the most simulated-Moon dirt in 15 minutes. Defeating
robots from 21 other colleges and universities, the robot
removed 21.6 kilograms from a giant sandbox. That was
far above the 10 kilograms required to qualify in the
contest and far ahead of the nearest competitor.
EARTH VISITOR
A small object that safely passed Earth on May 21 was
more than likely an upper-stage of a rocket that carried a
spacecraft on an interplanetary trajectory. Its characteristics do not match any of the known asteroid types, and
it was probably only a few feet in size.
UNUSUAL ORBITS
Astronomers discovered a planetary system in the
constellation Andromeda where the orbits of two planets
are at a steep angle to each other. This surprising finding
will affect theories of how multi-planet systems evolve
and shows that some violent events can happen to
disrupt planets' orbits after a planetary system forms.
July 2010
STUDENT DISCOVERY
Sixteen seventh-graders in the science class at
Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California
discovered a mysterious cave on Mars. It was part of
their research project to study images taken by a NASA
spacecraft orbiting the red planet.
They found what looks to be a "Martian skylight"— a
hole in the roof of a cave where a small part of the roof or
a lava tube collapsed and opened the area below the
surface.
It was their class project in ASU's Mars Education
Program, which is run out of the Mars Space Flight
Facility on the Tempe campus. More than 50,000
students have participated since 2004.
EXTREME LIFE
Researchers have discovered that methane-eating
bacteria survive in a highly unique spring located on
Axel Heiberg Island in Canada's extreme North. The
subzero water is so salty that it doesn't freeze despite the
cold, and it has no consumable oxygen in it.
There are, however, big bubbles of methane that come
to the surface, which had provoked the researchers'
curiosity as to whether the gas was being produced
geologically or biologically and whether anything could
survive in this extreme hypersaline subzero environment.
They were surprised to did find very unique organisms
that survive by essentially eating methane and probably
"breathing" sulfate instead of oxygen.
It has been very recently discovered that there is
methane and frozen water on Mars, so this discovery
also provides a model of how bacteria could form in
frozen planets like Mars and also extra-solar planets.
BRIGHTEST GALAXIES
Astronomers discovered that the brightest galaxies
tend to be in the busiest parts of the Universe.
Thousands of these galaxies are packed together in the
center of large galaxy clusters. Their proximity means
that many of the galaxies will eventually collide with one
another. It is these collisions that stir up the gas and dust
in the galaxies and cause the rapid star formation.
EXOPLANET
For the first time, astronomers have been able to
directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves
from one side of its host star to the other.
The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly
imaged exoplanets, lying almost as close to its parent
star as Saturn is to the Sun. Scientists believe that it may
have formed in a similar way to the giant planets in the
Solar System.. Because the star is so young, this
discovery proves that gas giant planets can form within
disks in only a few million years, a relatively short time in
cosmic terms.
SALLY RIDE
On June 18, 1983, a young physicist from California
took her seat aboard the space shuttle and launched into
history. Sally Ride became the first American woman in
space as a mission specialist on STS-7.
What’s in the sky tonight? See - http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html
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UNIVERSE IN THE CLASSROOM
The Astronomical Society of The Pacific has an electronic
educational newsletter for teachers and other educators who want
to help students of all ages learn more about the wonders of the
universe through astronomy. See: http://www.astrosociety.org/
education/publications/tnl/tnl.html
PUT YOUR FACE IN SPACE !
NASA is inviting members of the public to send electronic images
of their faces into orbit aboard one of the final remaining space
shuttle missions. Visitors to the "Face in Space" website can
upload their portrait to fly with the astronauts aboard shuttle
Discovery's STS-133 mission and/or shuttle Endeavour's STS-134
mission. Participants will receive special certificates from the
Internet site once the mission is completed. To submit your image,
visit: http://faceinspace.nasa.gov
"JOURNEY TO THE STARS"
Supernovas will soon be going off in classrooms around the
country - no safety glasses required. It's done via a DVD called
Journey to the Stars. Teachers can request a free copy along with
supporting lesson plans and activity sheets at:
http://journeytothestars.org.
Scrambled Astronomy - In space
MECSOT __ __ __ __ __ __ TRSSA __ __ __ __ __ SNOMO
LESOH __ __ __ __ __
REMTESO __ __ __ __ __ __ __
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INTERNET SITES
__ __ __ __ __
(Answers on page 4)
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 ISS passes in front of the Sun - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1677.html

- http://www.spacedaily.com/images-lg/vista-ngc-253-spiral-galaxy-lg.jpg
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JULY MOON
******
Last Quarter: 7/4
New Moon: 7/11 First Quarter: 7/18
Full Moon: 7/26
Apogee: 7/1 6:13 AM 251,056 mi. (404035 km)
 The July Full Moon was called the Full Buck Moon,
Perigee
the Full Thunder Moon, and The Full Hay Moon
Apogee 7/28 7:51 PM 252,627 mi. (404954 km)
 Total Solar Eclipse 7/11 -- Southern Pacific area
 Best observing nights: 7/3 - 7/17
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PLANETS IN JULY
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VENUS shines very brightly, low in the west and is setting about 2 hours after the Sun. MARS in the west-southwest
west at dusk, fading and moving lower each evening. SATURN is a bright object in the west-southwest this month
and is moving lower each night The rings are about 3º from edgewise. JUPITER rises in east about 4 hours after
sunset and is high in the southeast at dawn. MERCURY is very low in the east-northeast morning twilight. It will be
behind the Sun on the 28th (superior conjunction). URANUS is an easy binocular sight this month. It stays about 2º to
the west of Jupiter. Look for a faint blue"cloud".
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METEOR SHOWERS
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NAME
DATES
BEST NIGHT PER HOUR
PEAKS
WHERE TO LOOK
DELTA AQUARIDS
7/12 - 8/19
7/28-29
20+
After midnight
Low in the southeast. This is a
southern shower with Aquarius below the horizon. July has minor showers that produce less than 5 meteors per hour.
Best view of a meteor shower? Away from the glow of city lights and toward the constellation where the meteors
will appear to radiate. Find a dark, secluded spot where car headlights will not ruin your sensitive night vision. Look for
state or city parks or other safe, dark sites. Is it dark enough? If you can see each star of the Little Dipper, your eyes
have "dark adapted," and your chosen site is probably dark enough and you will see plenty of meteors.
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LOOK FOR: >>>>> Venus, Mars and Saturn now spanning 8º by July's end. >>>>> Leo's Sickle above Venus
on the 4th. >>>>> Regulus only 2º left of Venus on the 8th.. >>>>> Saturn, Mars and Venus forming a small
group in the west 50 minutes after sunset on the 30th. .
BLACK HOLE 'SMOKING GUN'
The Swift satellite has helped astronomers solve a
decades-long mystery about why only about one percent
of black holes emit vast amounts of energy.
The new findings confirm that black holes "light up"
when galaxies collide, and the data may offer insight into
the future behavior of the Milky Way black hole.
The intense emission from galaxy centers, or nuclei,
arises near a supermassive black hole containing
between millions and a billions of the Sun's mass. Some
are the most luminous objects in the universe and
include quasars and blazars,
MARS ICE CAP
Data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has
helped scientists solve a pair of mysteries dating back
four decades and provided information about climate
changes. It also revealed subsurface geology that
allowed scientists to see the formation of a large canyon
and a series of spiral troughs on the northern ice cap.
The canyon is about as long as Earth's Grand Canyon
but deeper and wider. The northern ice cap is a stack of
ice and dust layers up to two miles deep, covering an
area slightly larger than Texas. The data now points to
both the canyon and spiral troughs being created and
shaped primarily by wind, rather than being cut into
existing ice very recently.
To view images and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
info, see: http://www.nasa.gov/mro
MARS PHOENIX LANDER
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations
after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were
unsuccessful. Earth-based research continues on
discoveries Phoenix made during summer conditions at
the far-northern site where it landed May 25, 2008. The
solar-powered lander completed its three-month mission
and kept working until sunlight waned two months later
THE HEART & SOUL NEBULA
The Heart and Soul nebulae is located about 6,000
light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It
is a vast star-forming complex that makes up part of the
Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
The nebula to the left is the Heart named after its
resemblance to a human heart. To the right is the Soul
nebula, also known as the Embryo nebula. The two
nebulae are both massive star-making factories, marked
by giant bubbles that were blown into surrounding dust
by radiation and winds from the stars.
In cooler and dustier crevices of clouds like these, gas
and dust are just beginning to collect into new stars.
These stars are less than a few million of years old youngsters in comparison to stars like the Sun, which is
nearly 5 billion years old. See: http://www.nasa.gov/
images/content/457046main_wise20100524-full.jpg
CLUE TO MARS' PAST
Rocks examined by the Spirit Mars Rover hold
evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment
that may have been favorable for life. An outcrop that
Spirit examined in late 2005 revealed high
concentrations of carbonate which originates in wet,
near-neutral conditions but dissolves in acid. The
ancient water indicated by this find was not acidic.
WISE
NASA's WISE space telescope is surveying the
infrared sky, building up a catalog of cosmic specimens everything from distant galaxies to "failed" stars - brown
dwarfs.
The mission is also providing an impressive collection
of asteroids and comets, some known and some never
seen before. Most are in the Main Belt between Mars
and Jupiter, but a small number pass within about 30
million miles of Earth's orbit. So far, the mission has
observed more than 60,000 asteroids - most were known
but more than 11,000 are new.
THE SUN AWAKENS, NASA IS WARY
The Sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and the
next few years could bring much higher levels of solar
activity. NASA is keeping a wary eye on the Sun as
officials meet in discuss the potential consequences of
stormy space weather.
AGE OF THE MOON AND EARTH
The Earth and Moon are the result of a giant collision
between two planets the size of Mars and Venus and is
thought to have happened when the solar system was 30
million years old - 4,537 million years ago. But new
research shows that the Earth and Moon must have
formed much later - perhaps up to 150 million years after
the formation of the solar system.
FALCON 9 LAUNCH
SpaceX announced that the inaugural flight of the
Falcon 9 launch vehicle successfully launched and
achieved Earth orbit right on target, marking a key
milestone for SpaceX and the commercial space flight
industry. SpaceX currently has over 30 contracted
missions, including 18 to deliver commercial satellites to
orbit. NASA contracts call for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle
and Dragon spacecraft to carry cargo (including live
plants and animals) to and from the ISS.
CARBONATE ON MARS
An outcrop of rock rich in carbonate minerals has been
found in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater on Mars.
Scientists have been searching for Martian carbonate
rocks for decades because such minerals are crucial to
understanding the early climate history of Mars and the
related question of whether the planet might once have
held life.
Scientists said, "Small amounts of carbonate minerals
have been detected on Mars before but the difference
this time is that we're seeing a couple of large outcrops
of rock poking through the soil of the Columbia Hills. The
rocks are about 25 percent carbonate by weight, by far
the highest abundance we've seen on Mars."
LUNOKHOD 1
A Soviet robot lost on the Moon for 40 years has been
found by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and is
returning surprisingly strong laser pulses to Earth.
Scientists sent pulses of laser light zeroing in on the
target coordinates provided by Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter. A laser retroreflector on Lunokhod 1 intercepted
the pulses and sent a clear signal back to Earth.
Almost forgotten in the lore of the Apollo-era space
race, Lunokhod 1 was one of the greatest successes
of the old Soviet lunar exploration program
WASP-12B
Like a moth in a candle flame, a doomed Jupiter-sized
planet in the constellation Auriga has moved so close to
its Sun-like parent star that it is spilling its atmosphere
onto the star. This happens because the planet gets so
hot that its atmosphere puffs up to the point where the
star's gravity pulls it in. The planet will likely be
completely devoured in 10 million years. The planet,
called WASP-12b, is the hottest known world ever
discovered, with an atmosphere seething at 2,800
degrees Fahrenheit.
JAPAN'S VENUS PROBE
Japan has launched IKAROS, a Venus probe, and a
kite-shaped "space yacht" designed to float through the
cosmos using only the power of the Sun. It is designed to
be propelled by the pressure of sunlight particles. Similar
to an ocean yacht pushed by wind, the device has a
square, ultra-thin flexible sail, measuring 46 by 46 feet. It
is only a fraction of the thickness of a human hair, and is
coated with thin-film solar cells to generate electricity.
A CRATER ON EARTH
Australian scientists discovered a crater deep beneath
the Timor Sea made during a heavy meteor storm which
may have altered the Earth's climate.
Australian scientists said seismic activity led experts to
Mount Ashmore and a study of fragments showed a
large meteorite hit just before the Earth's temperatures
plunged about 35 million years ago.
A meteorite hit Siberia at the same time, along with one
in Chesapeake Bay, followed by a large field of molten
rock fragments over northeast America.
JUPITER SPOT
In July 2009, an amateur Australian astronomer
discovered the presence of a large, black spot close to
the southern polar region of Jupiter.
An unknown object's impact had taken place 3 or 4
hours before the spot was seen on Jupiter's dark side (at
night), and this prevented it from being observed directly.
According to studies since then, the main spot, a very
black cloud comprising the waste materials produced by
the impact, reached a size of about 3000 miles in
Jupiter's atmosphere. It was surrounded by a halo
caused by the falling of material expelled from the
atmosphere of up to 5000 miles.
BINARY STARS
Our Sun may be an only child - most stars in the Milky
Way are actually twins that circle around each other, but
how twin stars form is an ongoing question in astronomy.
Do they start out like fraternal twins or do they begin life
in one cloud that splits into two?
Astronomers generally believe that widely spaced twin,
or binary, stars grow from two separate clouds, while the
closer-knit binary stars start out from one cloud. But how
this latter process works has not been clear.
MESSIER 83
ESO has released a new image of the Messier 83
galaxy in infrared light. The camera created one of the
sharpest and most detailed pictures of Messier 83 ever
taken from the ground. Messier 83 is one of the brightest
galaxies visible using binoculars.
See: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1020/
EARLY GALAXIES
For more than a decade, astronomers have been
puzzled by bright galaxies in the distant universe that
appear to be forming stars at phenomenal rates.
Scientists mapped the skies as they appeared 10
billion years ago and discovered that these galaxies
occupy regions of the universe containing more dark
matter and that collisions probably caused the abundant
star production. The project will continue to collect
images over larger areas of the sky to build up a more
complete picture of how galaxies have evolved and
interacted.
SOLAR STORMS
Solar storms have been recognized as a cause of
technological problems on Earth since the invention of
the telegraph in the 19th century.
Researchers discovered that even minor solar events
are never truly small scale. A large eruptive prominence
on the Sun's edge was followed by a filament eruption a
third of the way across the star's disk from the eruption
and they also observed a number of very small flares
that have generated magnetic instabilities.
Solar storms produce disturbances in electromagnetic
fields that can induce large currents in wires, disrupting
power lines and causing widespread blackouts. The
storms can interfere with global positioning systems,
cable television, and communications between ground
controllers and satellites and airplane pilots flying near
Earth's poles. Radio noise from solar storms also can
disrupt cell phone service.
NGC1313
The starburst galaxy NGC 1313 is a stellar incubator
delivering stars on a scale rarely seen in a single galaxy
of its size. Now a striking new Gemini Observatory image
reveals the multitudes of glowing gas clouds in the
galaxy's arms. Because the clouds of gas in stellar
nurseries emit light from ionized gas they shine brightly
and are the tell-tale sign of star-formation.
NGC 1313 is unusual in that it is a "drifter," without
neighbors, and far away from any other packs of
galaxies. The cause of its deformed shape and high rate
of star formation is not obvious. But, in radio studies of
the gas distribution to solve the mystery of this galaxy's
active star growth it appears that the edge of an
expanding "superbubble" is causing gas to pile up and
spur the star formation. See: http://www.aao.gov/
images/deep_html/n1313_d.html
BLACK HOLE DISPLACED
A team of astronomy researchers find that the
supermassive black hole at the center of the most
massive local galaxy (M87) is displaced from the galaxy's
center.
The most likely cause is a previous merger between
two older, smaller black holes. It is commonly believed
that supermassive black holes can become active as a
result of the merger between two galaxies.
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