Author Archives: liam

VESTA FIESTA! Celebrating NASA and the Dawn spacecraft as it Explores New World of protoplanet Vesta

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Artists Rendering showing DAWN orbiting the asteroid Vesta

Artists Rendering showing DAWN orbiting the asteroid Vesta. Image Credit JPL/NASA

This is an extra special treat for all who are interested in space/science in Southern California.

On this coming Saturday (Aug 6th 2011) from 1pm – 6:30pm you can attend a special celebration put on by JPL & NASA to share news and information about the Dawn spacecraft that has recently setup orbit around Vesta – the 2nd largest body in the Asteroid Belt.

Location: Pasadena Convention Center.

EXTRA SPECIAL TREAT – Bill Nye (The Science Guy) will be there.   Don’t miss this!

More information on the event is available on the NASA/JPL site here.

Welcome to the Asteroid Belt! You and your family are cordially invited to VESTA FIESTA, a party dedicated to celebrating NASA’s Dawn Mission’s adventures as the spacecraft is captured into orbit around the protoplanet Vesta and begins the exploration of this thrilling new world. Dawn will spend about a year in orbit around Vesta, the second most massive object in the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter, before continuing on to orbit Ceres – the most massive body in the asteroid belt.

Bring your family! Watch Rosetta Mission scientist Dr. Claudia Alexander “Cook Up a Kitchen Comet” using dry-ice and her secret ingredients. Leap into hands-on science activities: ride along with Dawn’s ion propulsion system in a cool interactive, make your own asteroid model, and touch a genuine iron meteorite while checking out a vast meteorite collection—including one from Vesta! Meet real NASA scientists and ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask.

Let’s look at Saturn tonight.

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Where to find Saturn - 9pm on Jun 10th 2011

This is really the last month this year for a chance to witness Saturn and it’s breathtaking rings and inspiring moons.  As this month progresses Saturn is setting earlier each night and it will eventually be lost in the glare of the Sun.

The image above shows Saturn on the night of July 10th 2011 at 9pm.   Saturn is the medium/bright “star” in the SW at about 37 degress high.   Far above Saturn shines the brightest star in the sky this night – Arcturus.   To Saturns left is the bright start Spica and to the left of that is the Moon.

I’ll be setting up my telescope tonight in Grant Park near Caltech in Pasadena as a treat to some of my park friends.  Anyone is welcome.  I’ll be setup at around 8pm (although it won’t really be dark until 8:30pm or later).  I’ll be there until about 9:30pm.

More great views of the International Space Station

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The International Space StationThe International Space Station will be visible again in the sky above southern California every night for the coming week.

The ISS will be visible as one of the brightest (mostly the brightest) star-like object in the sky as it passes approx 200 miles overhead at over 17000 mph.

The table below gives a lot of information about each visible pass including when and where to look.

Date Mag Starts Max. altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
12 Jun -3.5 21:45:19 10 SW 21:48:11 71 NW 21:51:04 10 NE
13 Jun -2.6 20:34:47 10 S 20:37:13 25 SE 20:39:40 10 ENE
13 Jun -0.7 22:10:10 10 W 22:12:22 20 NW 22:14:35 10 NNE
14 Jun -2.2 21:14:14 10 WSW 21:17:10 44 NW 21:20:08 10 NE
15 Jun -3.3 20:09:13 10 SSW 20:12:11 52 SE 20:15:11 10 ENE
15 Jun 0.1 21:46:18 10 WNW 21:48:01 14 NNW 21:49:44 10 N
16 Jun -1.3 20:39:58 10 WSW 20:42:44 31 NW 20:45:32 10 NNE
17 Jun -0.4 21:12:36 10 NW 21:13:35 11 NNW 21:14:34 10 N

Click on the date to get a star chart and other pass details.

note: above predictions provided by the web site http://www.Heavens-Above.com.  

As the above table shows the predications as captured on Jun 11th the information may not remain accurate.  Please check the latest predictions here.  These predictions are centered for an observer near Los Angeles, CA and will work reasonably well for anyone in Southern California.  If you live further away please select your own location on the Heavens-Above.com web site.

ISS visible over SoCal every night for the next week.

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The International Space StationThe International Space Station will be visible again in the sky above southern California every night for the coming week.   Currently the ISS has a newly docked Russian supply vehicle.   Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was supposed to launch on Friday, may launch on May 8th – however NASA has not released an official launch date yet.

The ISS will be visible as one of the brightest (mostly the brightest) star-like object in the sky as it passes approx 200 miles overhead at over 17000 mph.

The table below gives a lot of information about each visible pass including when and where to look.

Date Mag Starts Max. altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
2 May -1.1 20:49:55 10 N 20:51:27 13 NNE 20:52:23 12 NE
3 May -2.7 21:13:07 10 NNW 21:15:39 37 NNE 21:15:39 37 NNE
4 May -1.2 20:02:58 10 N 20:04:34 14 NNE 20:06:10 10 ENE
4 May -1.8 21:37:09 10 WNW 21:38:55 30 W 21:38:55 30 W
5 May -2.8 20:26:04 10 NNW 20:28:49 39 NE 20:30:43 17 ESE
6 May -2.8 20:49:59 10 WNW 20:52:44 42 SW 20:54:00 25 S
7 May -0.6 21:15:40 10 WSW 21:16:21 11 SW 21:17:03 10 SW
8 May -2.6 20:02:32 10 WNW 20:05:18 41 SW 20:08:02 10 SSE
9 May -0.5 20:28:13 10 WSW 20:28:46 10 SW 20:29:20 10 SW

Click on the date to get a star chart and other pass details.

note: above predictions provided by the web site http://www.Heavens-Above.com