Mars information

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Space/Astronomy SPA-3874

 SKY & TELESCOPE NEWS BULLETIN

 NOVEMBER 9, 1990

MARS

We're now less than two weeks away from Mars's closest approach to Earth until

early in the next century.  On the night of November 19th and 20th the red

planet will be high in the northern sky and just 48 million miles away, offering

telescopic observers superb views of its 18.1-arc-second disk.  We've been

hearing reports from a number of amateur astronomers who have found that Martian

winds are kicking up some dust.  Yellowish dust clouds seem to be forming mainly

inside and southeast of Solis Lacus, blowing around for a few days, and settling

back to the surface.  Then new clouds form and the cycle repeats, alternately

covering and uncovering various dark markings on the planet's surface.  A

complete guide to viewing Mars during this apparition appears on page 130 of

last August's Sky & Telescope.

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Space/Astronomy SPA-4696

Mars is a striking sight in the east-northeast on these cold November evenings. 

It shines a brilliant yellow-orange about a third of the way up by 10 p.m. local

time, near the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters in Taurus.

VESTA

The asteroid Vesta passes through the same area of sky over the next few months.

A finder chart is on page 521 of the November Sky & Telescope.

SATURN

Don't wait too late to view Saturn, which by mid-evening is already getting

fairly low in the southwest, where it shines yellow-white and much dimmer than

Mars.  Saturn's Great White Spot continues to delight observers.  A report from

the European Southern Observatory on IAU Circular 5131 notes that the main spot

now girdles the entire equator, while a very bright smaller spot continues to

swirl at the site of the original eruption.  Here are Universal dates and times

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Space/Astronomy SPA-4698

when the spot's nucleus crosses Saturn's central meridian while the planet is

conveniently placed for observations from at least some parts of the United

States: On November 10th, 4:37; on the 11th, 1:06; on the 13th, 4:16; on the

14th, 0:44; on the 15th, 7:27; and on the 16th, 3:55.

JUPITER

Jupiter is the November sky's other planetary attraction. It rises in the

east-northeast in the middle of the night and is high up by dawn.  Gleaming

white, it's a bit brighter than Mars.

Last page !

Space/Astronomy SPA-22

SKY & TELESCOPE NEWS BULLETINS

 1 November 23, 1990

 2 November 16, 1990

 3 November 9, 1990

 4 November 2, 1990

 5 October 26, 1990

 6 October 19, 1990

 7 October 12, 1990

 8 October 5, 1990

 9 September 28, 1990

10 September 21, 1990

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Space/Astronomy SPA-2333

 SKY & TELESCOPE NEWS BULLETIN

 NOVEMBER 23, 1990

MARS

Last week Mars made its closest approach to Earth until the year 2001.  This

week the red planet reaches opposition, the point in its orbit almost directly

opposite the Sun in our sky.  On Tuesday evening, November 27th, Mars rises when

the Sun sets, and then it sets when the Sun rises on Wednesday morning the 28th.

By the end of evening twilight Mars has climbed well up into the

east-northeastern sky.  It hangs like a fiery orange beacon among the stars of

Taurus, far outshining the reddish star Aldebaran, which is below it and

slightly to the right. For the next few weeks the red planet remains a fine

sight to behold in small telescopes.  Its visible disk, now 18 arc seconds

across in apparent size, displays a variety of dark surface markings, but these

shadings are subtle and require careful observation.  A complete guide to

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Space/Astronomy SPA-2334

observing Mars, along with a map of the surface markings, appears on page 130 of

SKY & TELESCOPE for August.

SATURN

Saturn is in the news again following last week's release by NASA of stunning

images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The pictures show amazing detail in the

Great White Spot, a giant storm that was first seen by amateur astronomers on

September 24th and has been raging ever since.  While the rings are always

spectacular, the planet itself usually looks rather bland in a telescope,

especially when compared with Jupiter.  But after looking at the Hubble images

showing white clouds churning all around Saturn's equator, some astronomers

joked that perhaps Saturn is turning into another Jupiter.

The ringed planet shines yellow-white low in the southwestern sky at dusk, much

more faintly than Mars.  Even a small telescope will show the bright white band

cutting across Saturn's visible face.  Don't delay your observations, for Saturn

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Space/Astronomy SPA-2888

is rapidly sinking into the evening twilight and will soon be lost in the Sun's

glare.

JUPITER

Jupiter rises in the middle of the night and climbs high into the eastern sky by

dawn.  It glows creamy white, in stark contrast to Mars's fiery orange.  Like

Saturn, Jupiter has undergone major changes in its atmosphere in recent months. 

For example, the South Equatorial Belt virtually disappeared last year and is

now back, and the Great Red Spot has faded dramatically.

COMET TSUCHIYA-KIUCHI

Comet Tsuchiya-Kiuchi is heading from Hydra into Pyxis in the predawn sky. 

Observers report that it's around 7th magnitude.  An ephemeris appears on page

523 of Sky & Telescope for November.

Last page !

MARSBIBLIOGRAPHY

GUNN, T.,PLANETARY RESEARCH AGENCY (PRA),"Handbook For

           The Construction and Operation of a Profit-Making

           Private Manned Spacecraft Center", MAR 1968, (Proposed

           Joint Venture with LITTON INDUSTRIES), 300pp, PERLEX, INC.

           Proprietary Classified, Document is FOR SALE.

NASA,PLANETARY FLIGHT HANDBOOK,Vol.III, "Part 2 -

           Supplimentary Trajectory Data:  Earth to Venus and Earth

           to MARS", 1963, Marshall Space Flight Center, NAS 8-2469.

NASA,PLANETARY FLIGHT HANDBOOK,Vol.III, "Part 3 -

           Supplimentary Trajectory Data:  Venus to Earth and MARS

           to Earth", 1963, MSFC, NAS 8-2469.

TRWSYSTEMS COMPANY, MISSION TRAJECTORY CONTROL PROGRAM,

           Final Report, 01 AUG 1965, NASA/MSC, NAS 9-2938.

LOCKHEEDPROPULSION COMPANY, DESIGN STUDY OF A HYBRID

          HOVER MOTOR,"Development Plan and Cost Estimate",

           Final Report, 17 JAN 1964, Vol.II, LPC Pub. No. 593-F-1,

           NAS 7-143.

NASA,SPACECRAFT STERILIZATION TECHNOLOGY,Office of

           Technology Utilization, 1966, NASA SP-108, 567 pp.

MARSBIBLIOGRAPHY Continued...

   

JPL,DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR BALLISTIC INTERPLANETARY

          TRAJECTORIES,"Part 1.  One-Way Transfers To MARS and 

           Venus", 16 JAN 1963, Technical Report No. 32-77, 398pp,

           NAS 7-100.

GENERAL DYNAMICSASTRONAUTICS COMPANY, FOOD

          MANAGEMENT SYSTEM EVALUATION FOR SPACE FLIGHTS OF ONE

          YEAR DURATION,Revision A, 64-26209, 14 OCT 1963,

           NASA/Langley Research Center, 36 pp, NAS 1-2934.

PHILCO,DIV. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, AERONUTRONIC DIVISION, 

          STUDY OF A MANNED MARS EXCURSION MODULE (U),Volume I of

           III - Part II, Pub. No. C-2379, 20 DEC 1963, NASA/MSC,

           291 pp, NAS 9-1608.

UNITEDAIRCRAFT CORPORATION, HAMILTON STANDARD DIVISION, 

          MARS LANDING AND RECONNAISSANCE MISSION ENVIRONMENTAL

          CONTROL AND LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM SYSTEM,Vol.2 of 3,   

           "Subsystems Studies", SLS 414-2, 15 JUL 1963 through

           15 MAR 1964, NASA/MSC, 300 pp, NAS 9-1701.



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1

THE FOLLOWING FILE IS AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY SPOOF BASED ON THE

PUBLIC RADIO SERIES "STAR DATE", PRODUCED AT THE MCDONALD OBSERVATORY

IN TEXAS.   THE NAME OF THE AUTHOR APPEARS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FILE. 

THIS IS NOT COPYRIGHTED, BUT IT IS SIMPLE COURTESY TO INCLUDE AUTHOR

INFO IF YOU DISTRIBUTE THIS.

WHILE THIS IS A SATIRE, THERE IS A GOOD BIT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING IN

HERE, AND MIGHT MAKE A GOOD HANDOUT FOR A CLASS ON PLANETS.

I DOWNLOADED THIS FROM USENET -- NETWORK OF COMPUTERS AT RESEARCH 

INSTITUTIONS AROUND THE WORLD.

Carolyn Collins Petersen

***************

Stardate: March 32, 2187

The Martian Festival is held each vernal equinox.  More about the events

on Deimos -- after this.

March 32, 2187  The Great Escape

What good is a moon that's 15 km long - on it's longest axis?  About

the only use found so far is athletics.  For several Earth decades

now, Martian immigrants have been finding fascinating ways to take

advantage of Deimos' low gravity.  On each Martian vernal equinox, the

whole solar system turns it attention to the Great Escape.

This year's Escape has several events:

* The Classic

The original jump-off-the-moon event.  Deimos' escape velocity is too

high for all but a few athletes to jump off without a running start. 

The winner is the person to attain the highest terminal velocity.

* The Precision Jump

Several targets have been set up on Deimos for this event.  Entrants

choose two points and jump from one to the other.  Deimos's odd shape

has made this one of the favorite events.  Points are awarded on

accuracy and landing style, and are multiplied by a difficulty factor

for their jump.  Three jumps are made with the sum being the final

score.

* The Long Jump

Here the goal is to jump the highest - and return.  The winner is the

person who stays off Deimos the longest time.  Entrants who reach

terminal velocity are disqualified.

* The Low Jump

You can't jump directly into orbit because your trajectory will bring

you back to your starting point on the surface.  In this event,

entrants take a running start and jump into a shallow climb. 

Somewhere along the trajectory they throw a pair of hand-held weights

to gain a little more speed and inject themselves into a low orbit. 

The winner is the entrant whose orbit has the shortest period. 

Entrants are disqualified if they touch Deimos after their jump or if

they throw their orbit injection weights into orbit (hard to do, but

you really don't want to free fall into one!)  Since the winning

orbits are around Deimos' longest axis, officials require everyone to

jump in the same direction.

* The Relay

This is the only team event.  The object is to move a "baton" around

Deimos faster than orbital dynamics of free fall would allow. 

Contestants put themselves into highly elliptical orbits in the same

plane, but shifted by a large angle.  They're timed so that a

contestant heading out meets a teammate heading in.  The baton has a

guidance computer that controls a small thruster.  The outbound

contestants throw the baton to the next person and the baton rendevous

with him.  Therefore, the baton passes between people moving at speeds

well above the circular orbit velocity.  Each year race officials

further limit the amount of propellant, thereby increasing the

importance of accurate orbits and good passes.  Despite the annual

outcry from contestants, new a record is set each Escape.

---------

The officials in charge of the Great Escape report that they have

selected a new company to provide rescue beacons to the participants. 

Along with several more recovery vehicles, they are confident that

last year's debacle will not be repeated.

Script by Ric Werme, content by Werme and Dave Spain.  (c) Copyright

2187 McAuliffe Observatory, Olympus Mons, Mars

Addendum - Vital statistics of Deimos

Dimensions: 10 x 12 x 15 km

Density: 5.521 g/cm^3 (Most recent measurement)

  [Deimos' odd shape helps make the Great Escape the favorite part of

   the Martian Festival.  However, it plays havoc with computing the

   gravitational field.  Therefore, the following calculations have been

   done for a sphere 12 km in diameter.]

Escape velocity: 10.5 m/sec

Low altitude orbital velocity: 10.5/sqrt(2) m/sec

Period of above orbit: Easy, do-it-yourself calculation

:-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)

 A Pretty Realistic             Ric Werme

 & Informative Look             uucp: decvax!linus!alliant

 Focused On Olympic Leaps       

***********************



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