PazMiniBits FOR AUGUST 2010 
 -------------------------
 John Pazmino 
 NYSkies Astronomy Inc 
 www.nyskies.org 
 nyskies@nyskies.org 

Introduction 
 ---------- 
    PazMiniBits welcomes news about home astronomy and other matters 
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because only the current issue is in the website. It is replaced by 
next month's issue.

Current news 
 ----------  
    Parts of NYC enjoyed rare sweet-smelling rain on 2010 Jul 10 mid 
afternoon. Drops were tiny, almost like from spray can, and dampened 
ground with no puddling. Aroma was like from a forest, some report it 
as ozone. Lasted about 1hr over only scattered sections of City. 
    NYC suffered torrid weather in 2010 end Jun-end Jul. 100% 
humidity, hi 30Cs temp, hitting 40C a couple times. Air was thick & 
heavy, pushing astronomers into indoor acclimated events, like NYSkies 
Seminars. 
    NYSkies Astronomy Seminar on 2010 Jul 2 heard Dr Marcelo Magnasco, 
Rockefeller U, speak about 'Did Homer describe an eclipse in the 
Odyssey?'. He discussed Greek litterature, beginning of writing, 
Trojan Wars, eclipses, planet motions. Audience put up good Q&A on 
ancient monuments, astronomy awareness, transferring stories without 
writing. Postlecture supper explored decaying state of education in US 
from high school thru graduate school.
    NYSkies Astronomy Seminar on 2010 Jul 16 discussed 'Jupiter, 
Uranus, and the Double Pulsar'. Audience studied charts and diagrams 
of Jupiter moons and belts, explored rotation of belts and Great Red 
Spot, compared path of Jupiter and Uranus moons. It saw how Jupiter 
apparitions slide one month later each year. Seminar reviewed basic 
neutron star and pulsar astronomy and general relativity effects. We 
spent extra time on the bending of starlight and Shapiro delay. 
    Update on S&T magazine [PMB 10 Jul] showing effects of Depression. 
Paid circulation, lagging calendar by several months, dropped sharply 
in 2009 Dec. Page count is held to 88. Advertisers stayed low. 
    +----------+--------+-----+-----+ +--------+---------+---------+ 
    | issue    | close  | pgs | adv | | issue  | copies  |  sold   | 
    +----------+--------+-----+-----+ +--------+---------+---------+  
    | 2007 Aug | 07 May | 104 | 114 | | 06 Dec | 151,204 |  86,437 | 
    | 2007 Sep | 07 Jun | 104 | 112 | | 07 Dec | 144,859 |  89.687 | 
    | 1007 Oct | 07 Jul | 114 | 110 | | 08 Dec | 142,362 |  86,656 |  
    | 2007 Nov | 07 Aug | 106 | 116 | | 09 Dec | 100.835 |  76,717 | 
    | 2007 Swx | 07 Sep | 114 | 116 | |                            | 
    | 2008 Jan | 07 Oct | 114 | 118 | |                            | 
    | 2008 Feb | 07 Nov | 106 | 118 | |                            | 
    | 2008 Mar | 08 Dec | 106 | 104 | |                            | 
    | 2008 Apr | 08 Jan |  98 | 118 | +--------+---------+---------+   
    | 2008 May | 08 Feb |  98 | 118 | 
    | 2008 Jun | 08 Mar |  98 | 118 | 'issue' is the cover month.   
    | 2008 Jul | 08 Apr | 106 | 110 | 'close' is month when issue is   
    | 2008 Aug | 08 May |  98 | 108 |     sent out for printing   
    | 2008 Sep | 08 Jun |  98 | 110 | 'pgs' is page count, with covers 
    | 2008 Oct | 08 Jul |  98 |  96 |     but not wraps and inserts   
    | 2008 Nov | 08 Aug | 106 |  98 | 'adv' count from "List of adver-   
    | 2008 Dec | 08 Sep | 114 | 102 |     tisers' in each issue   
    | 2009 Jan | 08 Oct | 114 | 100 | 'copies' is 'Net press run' in   
    | 2009 Feb | 08 Nov |  98 |  96 |     December issue   
    | 2009 Mar | 09 Dec |  90 |  96 | 'sold' is 'Total paid circula- 
    | 2009 Apr | 09 Jan |  88 |  84 |     tion' in December issue  
    | 2009 May | 09 Feb |  84 |  84 | 
    | 2009 Jun | 09 Mar |  88 |  66 |     The Depression set in during  
    | 2009 Jul | 09 Apr |  88 |  70 | fall 2008 and persisted so far in   
    | 2009 Aug | 09 May |  88 |  66 | this current month.  
    | 2009 Sep | 09 Jun |  88 |  66 |     S&T is only one of the many 
    | 2009 Oct | 09 Jul |  88 |  68 | astronomy businesses suffering  
    | 2009 Nov | 09 Aug |  88 |  68 | from the Depression. 
    | 2009 Dec | 09 Sep |  88 |  68 | 
    | 2010 Jan | 09 Oct |  88 | (no advertiser index) 
    | 2010 Feb | 09 Nov |  88 |  76 |
    | 2010 Mar | 09 Dec |  88 |  64 | 
    | 2010 Apr | 10 Jan |  88 |  70 |
    | 2010 May | 10 Feb |  88 |  72 |
    | 2010 Jun | 10 Mar }  88 |  68 | 
    | 2010 Jul | 10 Apr |  88 |  68 |
    | 2010 Aug | 10 May |  88 |  62 |
    | 2010 Sep | 10 Jun |  88 |  68 |
    +----------+--------+-----+-----+  
    NYC may have suffered the hottest July on record with some 15 days 
with temps over 35C! Heat wave of late June persisted almost unbroken 
all thru the month with only momentary relief from rain or cool spell.  
Essentially no starviewing was done, except for the Moon, planets, 
double stars. a few deepsky targets. 
    Washington DC felt a rare earthquake on 2010 Jul 16 05:04 EDST. 
Centered under Germantown/Gaithersburg MD about 5km deep. Most places 
around DC felt rumbling like heavy machinery or truck traffic. No 
reports of damage or injuries. 
    Dr Ron Vervack,, Johns Hopkins U, &a reported on 2010 Jul 15 on 
MESSENGER's work at Mercury. Team found atmospheric leak of ions. They 
IDed Na, Ca, Mg in various part of planet during probe flyby in 2009 
Sep. Also found were remains of volcanos and magnetic storms induced 
by the Sun. MESSENGER will enter Mercury orbit in 2011 Mar. 
    Sea Launch Co on 2010 Jul 28 inked a 95% share sale to RSC 
Energia, Russia, as part of revival from bankruptcy in 2010 summer. 
Sea Launch orbits small payloads from floating platform on high seas. 
It suffered failures leading to bankruptcy. Energia has part ownership 
and builds many parts of the Zenit rockets used by Sea Launch. 
    Excavators at WTC on 2010 Jul 13 dug out 18th century cargo boat 
under Washington St, Liberty St-Cedar St. Area was not before worked 
on for WTC reconstruction. The 9m long hull seems to have an oven or 
furnace in the keel. It may be a deliberately sunk vessel filled with 
dirt as landfill to extend Manhattan. Preserved under mud, it'll 
decompose rapidly in open air. Urban archaeologists are documenting the 
relic and assessing parts for salvage. 
    NYC local astronomers John Bortle and Sam Storch will be honored 
at Stellafane, 2010 Aug 7. Bortle receives the Walter Scott Houston 
Award for his comet & variable star work and writing for S&T and other 
magazines. Storch, moving to Florida later in year, gets the Special 
Service Award for his work with Astro Soc of LI, class at Hayden Plm, 
teaching in NYC's Murrow HS. Ceremony performed by Northeast Region of 
Astro Lg. 
    NASA on 2010 Jul 1 put off remaining Shuttle flights into 2011. 
Change is due to delay in preparing Discovery's payload in time for a 
original Sep 16 launch. New schedule: 
        --------------------------------------------- 
        Shuttle   | orignl | revisd | payload for ISS 
        ----------+--------+--------+----------------
        Discovery | Sep 16 | Nov  1 | Robonaut-2 humanoid robot . 
        Endeavour | Nov 27 | Feb 26 | Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 
        Atlantis  |  ----  | Jun XX | left over parts & supplies 
        -------------------------------------------------------- 
    NASA on 2010 Jul 1 reported possible water ice in shadowed 
nameless crater at lunar north pole. Crater, 8km diam at lat 84N, lon 
157W, is inside crater Rohzdestvensky. Lunar Recon Orbiter found it 
has radar echo and polarization for ice. India's Chandrayaan-1 probe 
picked the crater for further study by LRO. 
    Dr Andrew Steele, Carnegie Instn, &a on 2010 Jul 7 showed graphite 
whiskers in Apollo-17 lunar rock. He believes they come from meteor 
and was then severely heated by  the impact. It wasn't previously seen 
in sample because team applied newly perfected Raman spectrometry. 
    Japan reported on 2010 Jul 7 that its Hayabusa probe does have 
dirt inside its sample capsule [PMB 10 Jul]! It could be a scoop of 
soil from asteroid Itokawa, but testing is underway. Probe was damaged 
at asteroid, raising concern that sample collection failed, altho 
craft returned safely to Earth.
     Dr Robert Soria. Univ Coll London, &a on 21010 Jul 8 showed 
largest-ever jets from a stellar blackhole. They come from the center 
of galaxy NGC7793, only a few Sun mass, but reach out some 6 light 
years.
    Dr Gracjan Maciejewski, Jena Univ, Germany, &a on 2010 Jul 9 
described new method of finding small exoplanets. Altho these are too 
small to wobble central star they can perturb star's other planets. 
Perturbance shows as displaced times of transit across star. Team 
tried method on planet WASP-3b, ~2 Jup mass, to find new planet WASP-
3c, ~1 Ura mass, that does not cross the star. Technique is under 
study for Kepler and CoRoT missions. 
    Mars closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years comes again in 
2010! Annual hoax started circulating in 2010 late Jul claiming two 
'moons' in sky on Aug 27. Story endures because the year and weekday 
are omitted. Graphic with text is lurid view of two generic moons. 
    Discovery of 700+ new planets by Kepler announced during 2010 Jul, 
along with speech by Sasselov at Oxford U. Claim based on 1st month of 
probe's operation in 2009. Many finds asserted to be Earth-size, which 
news media turned to 'Earth-like' and 'Earths'. News ignited debate on 
data integrity and withholding. 
    Dr William Borucki, Ames Resrch Ctr, &a on 2010 Jul 23 issued 
updated report on 700ish new planets found by Kepler probe. Discusses 
causes of Kepler target light variations. List of 305 candidate stars 
with Kepler Input Catalog designations. lanl.arxiv.org/1006.2799v2. 
    NYSkiers, other astronomers, attended two major lectures in 2010 
Jul. On Jul 21 was 'Solar sailing', part of symposium at NYC Technl 
Coll, Bklyn. Dr Kawaguchi, Japan, reported on IKAROS sail project. It 
is now running under pressure from sunlight. On the 26th was report at 
Amer Musm Natl Hist on MESSENGER probe. It presented latest news from 
recent swingby showing planet is more complex than believed. 
    NASA on 2010 Jun 28 reported on space junk, under new program to 
beef up monitoring and mitigation efforts. Table shows 11 incidents 
that account for ~1/3 of known debris in Earth orbit. 
        --------------------------------------------
        year | craft           | elev   | cause 
        -----+-----------------+------- +------ 
        1965 | OV-2-1 rocket   |  740km | explosion 
        1970 | Nimbus-4 rocket | 1075km | explosion 
        1986 | SPOT-1 rocket   |  805km | explosion 
        1996 | STEP-2 rocket   |  625km | explosion 
        2000 | CBERS-1 rocket  |  740km | explosion 
        2001 | TES rocket      |  670km | explosion 
        2007 | Proton Breeze-M |  500km | break apart 
        2007 | Fenhyun-1C      |  850km | antisat target 
        2008 | Cosmos 2421     |  410km | [not disclosed] 
        2009 | Comos 2251      |  790km | collide with Iridium-33 
        2009 | Iridium-33      |  790km | collide with Cosmos 2251 
        ----------------------------------------------------------
    NASA on 2010 Jul 8 began study to use ISS, with extended life thru 
2020, for phys/astro programs. So far only one major program is 
planned, Alpha Mass Spectrometer to be installed in 2011. Station 
offers, ample electric, space for large instruments, stabile platform, 
strong data comms to Earth.
    ESA on 2010 Oct 22 shifts its Envisat to new orbit to extend life 
thru 2013. Orbit drops from 799.8 to 782.4km, requiring ~33kg fuel 
burn. This leaves sat with only ~40kg left for future operations, then 
it retires to becomes a 8-ton space debris. 
    US DOE and NASA on 2010 Jun 28 put out new plan to resume Pu238 
production. Precious plan was rejected by Congress in 2009 [PMB 09 
Nov]. Agencies now seek 2kg/yr output, $90 million startup funds, 5-6 
yr preparation. Stock on hand runs out by 2020. NASA's needs: 
        ------------------------------------------------------
        spacecraft       | powr | pu238 
        -----------------+------+------
        New Horizons     | 300W | 11  kg, in flight 
        Mars Sci Lab     | 100W |  3.5kg, 2011 launch 
        --------------------------------
        Discovery-12     | 280W |  1.8kg ) 
        Lunar Precursor  | 280W |  1.8kg )--launch 2015-2019 
        Mars             | 280W |  1.8Kg ) 
        --------------------------------
        Maj Out Plant    | 612W | 21.3kg ) 
        Discovery-14     | 280W |  1.8kg )--launch 2020-2024 
        New Frontiers-4  | 280W |  1.8kg ) 
        --------------------------------
        New Frontiers-5  | 280W |  1.8kg )--launch 2025-2029 
        Discovery-16     | 280W |  1.8kg ) 
        --------------------------------
    Dr Shannon Coffey, Naval Resrch Lab, in 2010 Jul described new 
electrodynamic propulsion. Conducting wire joins 2 sats for launch in 
2011, As they fly thru Earth plasma, magnetic field pushes on tether 
to manoeuver sats in orbit. Scheme replaces fuel jets.
    NYC Transit reported that as at 2010 Jun 1 all 1,662 of the new 
R160 subway cars are in service. Some silly statistics: 
        -----------------------------------------------
        event                    | route/#s  | rremarks 
        -------------------------+-----------+--------- 
        first set in service     | route N   | 2007 Feb 19 
        2nd to last set in svc   | 9959-9962 | 2010 Nay 25 
        next to last set in svc  | 9963-9966 | 2014 May 27 
        last set entered service | 9967-9974 | 2010 Jun  1 
        -------------------------+-----------+------------ 
        homed at East New York   | J L M Z   | 372 cars 
        homed at Coney Island    | N Q W     | 480 cars 
        homed at Jamaica         | E f R V   | 810 cars 
        -----------------------------------------------
    Intelsat;s Galaxy-11 telcomm sat continued drift east in 2010 Jul 
[PMB 10 Jul]. It passes only other Intelsat birds, avoiding serious 
interference by manouevers and signal manipulation. By late Aug 
Galaxy-11 may lose solar energy, drain its batteries, become a dead 
space junk. Passes are: 
        ------------------------------------------
        date        | other satellite 
        ------------+---------------- 
        2010 Jul 12 | Galaxy-13
                 30 | Galaxy-14 
             Aug 20 | Galaxy-18 (approx date, depends on drift rate)
                 25 | Galaxy-23 (approx date, if G-11 is still alive) 
        -------------------------------------------------------------
    Boeing on 2010 Jul 19 showed its plan for human space capsule. 
Based on Apollo and Orion, it'll fly to ISS and Bigelow stations or 
freefly at 100km elev. It carries up to 7 crew and can fit on Atlas-5, 
Delta-4, Falcon-9 rockets. 1st flight is set for 2014. 
    Dr Frederic Courbin, Ecole Polytechnique, France, &a on 2010 Jul 
16 showed 1st-ever gravity lens by quasar! It, SDSS J0013+1523, lenses 
galaxy ~7.5Gly away. Quasar is ~1.5Gly away. Team searched Sloan 
Digital Sky Survey for candidates and examined them with Keck Obsy. 
    Dr Paul Crowther, U of Sheffield, UK, &a on 2010 Jul 13 showed 
most massive single star. It, R136a1, in cluster RMC-136a in Tarantula 
neb, is 365 Sun. Star is only ~1 My old with 40,000K temp. Team used 
Hubble archive and VLY images to see internal motion of other cluster 
stars induced by star's gravity. 
    NYC got a grand show in 2010 Jul when new Willis Av bridge sailed 
into into town. It replaces old bridge over Harlem Rv and swivels to 
pass water traffic. It was loaded on barge in Port of Albany on Jul 
13, floated down Hudson Rv, stopped in Bayonne NJ for outfitting. On 
Jul 26 it sailed up East Rv. Unit is 110n long, 20m tall, 25m wide, 
2,400 ton. It lifts onto new pier and hooks up roads in Aug, then old 
bridge is demolished. 
    DeLorme Mappimg Co on 2010 Jul 8 unveiled new GPS text/map unit. 
It, PN-60w, allows 41-char text via satellite to anywhere in North 
America. It allows DL of sat images and USGS topo sheets, also in No 
Amer. Handheld unit is $550, plus various subs for text and maps. 
    Dr Rasha Abbashi, UW-Madison, &a on 2010 Jul 28 reported on new 
use for IceCube neutrino obsy, Antarctica. It also records cosmic 
wind, usually treated as noise in neutrino data. Team discovered it 
revealed a hotspot over the Vela SN remanent, a possible nearby source 
for the cosmic influx. Not finished yet, IceCube will have 86 drilled 
wells with 5,000 sensors in ice cap in a 1km3 array.  

Last update on 08 Aug 2010