SKY HIGHLIGHTS provides information about things happening in the sky for the upcoming month.
The information here is a rough transcript of information covered on the popular CBC Radio
One Calgary Eyeopener "Eye on the Night Sky"
segment presented by Calgary Centre member Don Hladiuk and heard on the CBC radio morning show
the first Tuesday of each month at 6:22 AM. Don is a life member of the Royal Astronomical Society
of Canada and was twice President of the Calgary Centre. Since June 1984, Don has had a regular radio spot on
the Eyeopener describing monthly Sky Highlights to southern Albertans.
For additional sources of sky information see the list of links below this month's article.
For information about the Calgary Centre of the RASC, please
visit our web site at http://calgary.rasc.ca/ or contact one of
the Calgary Centre Executives.
ASTRONOMICAL HIGHLIGHTS
February 2010
Last Shuttle Night Launch http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Credit: NASA
Unless President Obama grants NASA more funding in the budget, the US Space Shuttle will be grounded by the end of this year. The current launch schedule has the last shuttle mission scheduled for September 2010.
The next shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to launch in the predawn hours of Super Bowl Sunday on February 7. Based on this launch schedule, this is the last night shuttle launch to light up the Florida skies. According to Florida residents, a night launch turns night into day and is an event you will not forget.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch at 4:39 am EST with a crew of six. Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts Jr. will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space. Endeavour will deliver a third connecting module - the Tranquility node - to the station and a seven-windowed cupola to be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.
STS-130 is the 32nd shuttle mission to the station and Endeavour's 24th flight. Landing is scheduled to occur on February 19.
Late January and early February has not been great for NASA as 2 shuttles (Challenger - January 28/86 and Columbia - February 1, 2003) were lost plus the Apollo 1 fire (January 27, 1967) occurred at this time of year. This period is known as the Days of Remembrance - Honoring NASA's fallen heroes.
Spirit Rover Stuck in Sand Trap http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html
Credit: NASA/JPL
After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful. The venerable robot's primary task in the next few weeks will be to position itself to combat the severe Martian winter. If Spirit survives, it will continue conducting significant new science from its final location. The rover's mission could continue for several months to years. Ten months ago, as Spirit was driving south beside the western edge of a low plateau called Home Plate, its wheels broke through a crusty surface and churned into soft sand hidden underneath.
After Spirit became embedded, the rover team crafted plans for trying to get the six-wheeled vehicle free using its five functioning wheels - the sixth wheel quit working in 2006, limiting Spirit's mobility. The planning included experiments with a test rover in a sandbox at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., plus analysis, modeling and reviews. In November, another wheel quit working, making a difficult situation even worse. Recent drives have yielded the best results since Spirit became embedded. However, the coming winter mandates a change in strategy. It is mid-autumn at the solar-powered robot's home on Mars. Winter will begin in May. Solar energy is declining and expected to become insufficient to power further driving by mid-February. The rover team plans to use those remaining potential drives for improving the rover's tilt. Spirit currently tilts slightly toward the south. The winter sun stays in the northern sky, so decreasing the southward tilt would boost the amount of sunshine on the rover's solar panels. At its current angle, Spirit probably would not have enough power to keep communicating with Earth through the Martian winter. Even a few degrees of improvement in tilt might make enough difference to enable communication every few days.
Even in a stationary state, Spirit continues scientific research. One stationary experiment Spirit has begun studies tiny wobbles in the rotation of Mars to gain insight about the planet's core. This requires months of radio-tracking the motion of a point on the surface of Mars to calculate long-term motion with an accuracy of a few inches. Tools on Spirit's robotic arm can study variations in the composition of nearby soil, which has been affected by water. Stationary science also includes watching how wind moves soil particles and monitoring the Martian atmosphere.
Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004. They have been exploring for six years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Opportunity currently is driving toward a large crater called Endeavor and continues to make scientific discoveries. It has driven approximately 12 miles and returned more than 133,000 images.
Listening for Phoenix http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
The Canadian built weather station on the Phoenix lander last sent data from Mars in November 2008. As winter approached on Mars, the sun's altitude at the Martian pole was too low to keep the solar powered spacecraft alive. Now that spring has arrived at the Martian landing site and the sun is above the horizon, NASA is starting to listen for signals from the lander. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has completed 30 relay overflights of the Phoenix landing site that were scheduled for Jan. 18 to 21, and heard nothing from the lander. Additional listening campaigns will be conducted in February and March. The Phoenix landing site will be receiving more sunshine during those periods, but the lander is still unlikely to be able to reawaken after the harsh Martian winter conditions that it was not designed to withstand. Phoenix operated for two months longer than its planned three-month mission on Mars in 2008.
What's Up in the Sky in February
In the evening sky - Jupiter will soon be too close to the sun to be seen easily but Venus will emerge as the new evening planet by the end of the month. On February 16, the two planets can be seen in conjunction low in the west southwest just after sunset (must have a clear western horizon). Looking to the east after sunset, one will see Mars rising in the east between the head of Leo the Lion and Gemini. Mars reached opposition with the earth (i.e. closest to the earth) on January 27. About 9:00 pm, Saturn rises in the east in the constellation of Virgo. Saturn's magnificent ring system is one of the best sights viewed in a small telescope.
In mid February, the ISS will be making several spectacular passes right over southern Alberta in the predawn hours. For dates and times go to:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
Just a reminder that there is free telescope viewing at the Telus World of Science on Friday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 pm (weather permitting). For more info, go to:
http://www.calgaryscience.ca/schedules/stargazing.php
Dates to Remember:
February 11 - Daytime solar viewing at the Telus World of Science
February 12 - Daytime solar viewing at the Telus World of Science
February 16 - Look for Jupiter and Venus close together very low in the west-southwest sky after sunset
February 18 - Free public lecture at the Telus World of Science entitled "World's Oldest Star Atlas"
February 18 - 70 years ago today, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto
February 20 - RAO Open House - http://www.ucalgary.ca/rao/
February 25 - Look for Mars near the Moon in the evening sky
March 1 - Grade 9 Teacher's workshop at the RAO
March 1 - 400 years ago Galileo published Sidereus Nuncius, the Starry Messenger, the book that contained the first descriptions of what objects in the sky looked like through a telescope.
Previous Sky Highlights:
Other Sources of Current Sky Information:
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