=========================================================================<br /><br /> * * * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - July 12, 2002 * * * *<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />PANEL AIRS NEXT STEPS FOR IMPACT PROTECTION<br /><br />In the race to find all the interplanetary bodies that threaten Earth,<br />astronomers have tallied more than 600 asteroids with estimated diameters<br />of at least 1 kilometer. However, as several participants noted during a<br />"space roundtable" held July 10th in Washington, D.C., governments should<br />be doing more to find these and other near-Earth objects (NEOs). Titled<br />"The Asteroid Threat: Identification and Mitigation Strategies," the<br />roundtable was organized by ProSpace and the Space Frontier Foundation.<br /><br />Colleen N. Hartman, NASA's director of solar-system exploration, noted<br />that the space agency funds ground-based searches at roughly $4 million<br />annually toward its goal of finding 90 percent of large near-Earth<br />asteroids by 2008. But Brian G. Marsden (Minor Planet Center) expressed<br />concern that the projected total of such objects -- currently near<br />1,200 -- may be higher than thought. He explains that when the telescopic<br />census nears completion the discovery rate should start to tail off. Yet<br />astronomers continue to find about 100 kilometer-size objects per year,<br />with no sign of letting up....<br /><br />"We're at the point of needing to move away from an ad hoc response," says<br />aerospace engineer Warren Greczyn. He notes that the American Institute of<br />Aeronautics and Astronautics recommends the formation of a top-level<br />interagency group to advise the government on planetary-defense issues.<br />Rick Tumlinson, president of the Space Frontier Foundation, adds that such<br />oversight might well be integrated into proposals for a U.S. Department of<br />Homeland Defense. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who chairs the House<br />Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, likes the idea of utilizing<br />military-derived technology to hunt down threatening NEOs. "The potential<br />danger from global warming," he submits, "is nothing compared to the<br />potential danger from near-Earth objects."<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_663_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />REVIEW BOARD ENDORSES PLUTO-KUIPER MISSION<br /><br />After a year-long study, a National Research Council panel has concluded<br />that sending a spacecraft to several bodies in the Kuiper Belt, including<br />Pluto, should be NASA's highest solar-system priority in the coming<br />decade. The NRC study, conducted by 60 top U.S. planetary scientists and<br />released Thursday, also endorses a Europa Geophysical Explorer (EGE)<br />mission to place a craft in orbit around Jupiter's enigmatic icy moon<br />Europa, as well as several other missions. But the survey committee made<br />it clear that the Kuiper-Pluto mission's technical feasibility and lower<br />cost give it "clear advantages over EGE."<br /><br />The study's recommendations come as a welcome surprise to the team working<br />on the New Horizons mission, which could be launched as early as 2006 and<br />reach Pluto and Charon (its moon) by 2016. "This is great news," says S.<br />Alan Stern, the mission's principal investigator. "I've lost a lot of<br />sleep this past week." Edward J. Weiler, NASA's associate administrator<br />for space science, has stated that the space agency could not commit to a<br />Pluto-Kuiper effort unless the planetary-science community backed it. The<br />Bush administration excluded New Horizons from NASA's fiscal 2002 budget,<br />but Congress later authorized $30 million to begin its development. Nor<br />was it included in the president's fiscal 2003 budget, though Congress may<br />opt to fund the mission anyway.<br /><br />"Given the scientific value and the unique timing, we would be missing an<br />historic opportunity if we don't move forward with this project and make<br />this mission a reality," comments Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (Maryland), who<br />chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee responsible for NASA. "I<br />intend to restore funding again this year, despite NASA's failure to<br />include money for Pluto in the FY03 budget...."<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_662_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />U.K. JOINS EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY SUPER-CLUB<br /><br />In a significant milestone for U.K. and European astronomers, on Monday<br />Britain was welcomed as the 10th member of the European Southern<br />Observatory during a historic meeting of the ESO Council in London. This<br />means British astronomers will shortly have access to some of the world's<br />finest instruments, including the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro<br />Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert, complementing their share in<br />existing resources such as the 8-meter Gemini North telescope in Hawaii<br />and its twin, Gemini South, in Chile.<br /><br />But all this comes at a price. Britain's membership fee in ESO will<br />consist of approximately £50m ($75m), with an additional £30m ($45m) as<br />"in-kind" contributions. For the latter, Great Britain will turn over its<br />4-meter Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA) to Paranal<br />Observatory when it comes online in 2006 and meanwhile will supply survey<br />data from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope's (UKIRT) Wide Field<br />Camera (WFCAM). Observations from VISTA will eventually be part of an<br />e-Science program valued at approximately £7.6m.<br /><br />Then there is the matter of the £12m ($18m) annual subscription. In its<br />2000 spending review, the British government allocated an extra £10m per<br />year over the next decade to facilitate joining ESO. However, this still<br />leaves a financial shortfall to be made up by the Particle Physics and<br />Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the body that funds astronomical<br />research in the U.K....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_659_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER DOZENS OF SUPERNOVAE<br /><br />For Tim Puckett, amateur astronomy long ago transcended being a hobby.<br />Words like passion and obsession are more apt to explain Puckett's<br />dedication to the heavens. The most telling evidence is his homegrown<br />Puckett Observatory Supernova Search, affectionately referred to as POSS.<br /><br />To date, he and his team of more than a dozen volunteers have discovered<br />54 supernovae. Fifty of those finds were made in just 46 months. The<br />hunters winnowed their discoveries from more than 500,000 galaxy images<br />collected throughout the POSS project.<br /><br />The workhorse of the POSS program is Puckett's home-built 60-centimeter<br />reflector. The scope took some nine years to complete, going online<br />full-time in 1997. Like POSS, constructing the telescope was a labor of<br />love for Puckett. Many of the scope's "parts and pieces came out of<br />dumpsters," he says. For the past five years, the telescope has patrolled<br />the skies over Mountain Town, Georgia, from dawn to dusk, imaging some 900<br />galaxies nightly....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_661_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />TWO NEW NASA MISSIONS<br /><br />NASA has announced funding for two Small Explorer (SMEX) missions. The<br />purpose of the Explorer program is to frequently launch low-cost<br />spacecraft. One is an $89 million mission to map gas in the interstellar<br />medium. Known as Spectroscopy and Photometry of the Intergalactic Medium's<br />Diffuse Radiation (SPIDR), the craft has a planned launch date of 2005 and<br />is based at Boston University. The second mission, costing $92 million, is<br />Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM). Set for launch in 2006, it will<br />help look for long-term changes in Earth's upper atmosphere by analyzing<br />the temperature, atmospheric conditions, and water vapor content where<br />clouds form.<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_660_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY<br /><br />* Venus is brilliant and low in the western sky at twilight.<br />* First-quarter Moon is on July 16-17.<br />* Pluto occults a 12th-magnitude star for observers in parts of South<br />America on July 19th.<br /><br />For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />THE ROLEX AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE: APPLICATIONS FOR 2004 ARE NOW OPEN<br /><br />Do you have a project that will have a positive impact on our world? We<br />invite you to apply to the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. The Rolex Awards<br />identify and assist individuals embarking on new ventures or completing<br />ongoing projects. Typically working outside the mainstream, these pioneers<br />often do not have access to traditional funding sources. In 2004, five<br />such individuals will be selected and receive financial support to<br />implement their endeavours. To discover the Awards, please visit:<br /><br />>
http://www.rolexawards.com/news/discover.jsp?news=discover18<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />Copyright 2002 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided<br />as a free service to the astronomical community by the editors of SKY &<br />TELESCOPE magazine. Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as<br />long as our copyright notice is included, along with the words "used by<br />permission." But this bulletin may not be published in any other form<br />without written permission from Sky Publishing; send e-mail to<br />permissions@SkyandTelescope.com or call +1 617-864-7360. More astronomy<br />news is available on our Web site at
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