GVolume 11, No. 7/8 · observers, several degrees lower in sky. Mars has the greatest variation in Opposition distances than any other planet. In 2018, the planet will appear at 94%

Clouds’ IllusionsWhat’s behind all that stormy weather on Jupiter?

Find out on page 29

John J. McCarthy Observatoryalactic Observer

July/August 2018Volume 11, No. 7/8G

http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org2 July-Aug 2018 JJMO

The John J. McCarthy ObservatoryNew Milford High School388 Danbury RoadNew Milford, CT 06776

Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595www.mccarthyobservatory.org

Route

It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatoryhas established itself as a significant educational andrecreational resource within the western Connecticutcommunity.

Galactic ObserGalactic ObserGalactic ObserGalactic ObserGalactic ObservvvvverererererEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial Committee

Managing EditorBill Cloutier

Production & DesignAllan Ostergren

Website DevelopmentMarc Polansky

Technical SupportBob Lambert

Dr. Parker Moreland

JJMO Staff

"OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT" ............................... 4APOLLO 12 LANDING SITE ............................................... 4MARS AT OPPOSITION ...................................................... 5DEADLY WEATHER ......................................................... 5LUNAR RELAY ............................................................... 8JUNO - MISSION EXTENDED .............................................. 8JOURNEY TO THE SUN ...................................................... 9MARTIAN ORGANICS ...................................................... 10MOMA ...................................................................... 10MAINTAINING ALTITUDE ................................................. 11MARTIAN HELICOPTER ................................................... 11FIRST WHEELED VEHICLE ON MOON ............................... 12SPACE SHUTTLE LEGACY ................................................ 13ENTERPRISE .................................................................. 15DISCOVERY ................................................................... 15ENDEAVOUR .................................................................. 15ATLANTIS ..................................................................... 16LOST ORBITERS ............................................................ 17

In This Issue

Jim JohnstoneCarly KleinSternBob LambertRoger MooreParker Moreland, PhDAllan OstergrenMarc PolanskyJoe PriviteraMonty RobsonDon RossGene SchillingKatie ShusdockPaul WoodellAmy Ziffer

Steve BaroneColin CampbellDennis CartolanoMike ChiarellaJeff ChodakBill CloutierDoug DelisleCecilia DetrichDirk FeatherRandy FenderLouise GagnonJohn GebauerElaine GreenTina Hartzell

SPACE SHUTTLE MEMORIAL ............................................ 17PLANNING YOUR VISIT ................................................... 17SUMMER ACTIVITIES ...................................................... 18JUPITER AND ITS MOONS ................................................. 19SATURN - JEWEL OF THE SUMMER SKY ............................. 20SUNRISE AND SUNSET ...................................................... 20ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ......................... 21COMMONLY USED TERMS ............................................... 28REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ............................................ 29INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES .......... 29

http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org July-Aug 2018 • 3JJMO

Living on Mars can be challenging enough, but when your essential systems are dependent uponabundant sunshine for power, dust storms can curtail operations and even incapacitate. NASA's MarsExploration Rover, Opportunity, has been exploring the Red Planet since landing on Meridiani Planumin January 2004. The intrepid, robotic geologist receives its power from two multi-panel solar arrays.The panels can generate up to 900 watt-hours of energy per Martian day (rating when the rover firstlanded and the panels were pristine). The electricity generated by the panels is used to conduct surfaceoperations and recharge its two batteries.

Now, more than 14 Earth-years later, the dust-coated panels are not nearly as efficient, particularlywhen the Sun is dimmed by dust in the atmosphere and in the winter when the Sun is low in the sky. Inthe summer of 2007, Opportunity was caught in a global dust storm. For almost a month, dust blocked99 percent of the available sunlight. On July 18th, output from the rover's solar panels dropped to itslowest point (128 watt-hours). The mission team, having already suspended all surface operations,were forced to curtail communications with Opportunity so as to maintain battery reserves for criticalsystems, such as equipment heaters. Fortunately, the storm abated and Opportunity emerged to rollagain across the Martian plains. The summer of 2018 appears to be equally, if not more, challenging withemerging dust storms as Mars nears its closest approach to the Earth and Sun and the planet warms.

July and August Calendarand Space Exploration Almanac

Opacity of Martian Sky during the 2007 Dust Storm Opportunity's location is marked by a white circleImage credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS


Mare Serenitatis

"Out the Windowon Your Left"

IT'S BEEN MORE than 45years since we left the last footprint on the dusty lunar

surface. Sadly, as a nation foundedon exploration and the conquest ofnew frontiers, we appear to havelost our will to lead as a space-far-ing nation. But, what if the aver-age citizen had the means to visitour only natural satellite; whatwould they see out the window of

their spacecraft as they entered or-bit around the Moon? This columnmay provide some thoughts to pon-der when planning your visit (ifonly in your imagination).

Alan Bean, Apollo 12 lunarmodule pilot and Skylabcommander, passed away on May26th at the age of 86, after a shortillness. Following his retirementfrom NASA in 1981, Bean devotedhis life to recording his experiencesas an astronaut and with the spaceprogram through art. His paintingsdepict lunar exploration scenes andevents, both real and imaged. Heworked with his former comrades tocapture the human spirit. Bean'sunique style included bits of moondust and fragments of spacecraftmaterials blended into the pigments.

Apollo 12 was launched onNovember 14, 1969. Lightning dis-charges at 36.5 seconds after liftoff,and again at 52 seconds as the rocket

passed through a low cloud layer,caused major electrical disturbancesin the Command Module, triggeringalarms and knocking systems offline.Fortunately, the discharges did notadversely affect the Saturn V boosterwhich stayed the course. Except fora few non-critical systems, there wasno permanent damage and Apollo 12was able to set course for the Moon.

Commander Pete Conrad and lu-nar module pilot Bean guided theIntrepid to a pinpoint landing onOceanus Procellarum (the Ocean ofStorms), at the edge of SurveyorCrater and only 600 feet from theSurveyor III spacecraft, which hadlanded two years earlier. Conrad andBean spent a total of almost 8 hours,in two excursions, exploring the

lunar surface, setting up experimentsand collecting samples. The samplesreturned by Apollo 12 (75 pounds or34 kilograms of 45 rocks, regolithand cores) were different than thosereturned by Apollo 11. Almost all ofthe Apollo 12 samples were basaltsthat formed 3.1 to 3.3 billion yearsago, approximately 500 millionyears later than the Apollo 11samples. The Apollo 12 basaltsformed at depths at least 100 to 150miles (150 to 250 km) below thesurface.

The regolith samples included,what is likely, ejecta from theimpact that created Copernicuscrater to the north. The ejecta datedthe impact to 800 million yearsago. The most unusual rock

Apollo 12Landing Site


returned was known as KREEP, anacronym for rocks rich in theelements potassium (K), rare earthelements (REE), and phosphorus(P). The formation of KREEP isassociated with the crystallizationof the Moon's primal, global magmaocean over 4 billion years ago.

Mars at OppositionThe Earth will come between

Mars and the Sun on July 27th(EDT), an arrangement calledOpposition. On that day, Mars willrise as the Sun sets and will be atits highest after midnight. At clos-est approach, Mars will be approxi-mately 35.9 million miles (57.8km) from Earth (the distance atOpposition can vary from 34.6million miles to 63 million milesdue to Mars' highly elliptical orbit).The planet will appear larger thanin its previous 2016 Oppositionbeing almost 13 million milescloser, but for northern hemisphereobservers, several degrees lower insky. Mars has the greatestvariation in Opposition distancesthan any other planet. In 2018,the planet will appear at 94% ofits maximum size (at the closestOpposition). Observers in thesouthern hemisphere, whereMars will be much higher in thesky, will have the best view.

Mars can be found in theconstellation Capricornus duringthe month of July, just to the eastof Saturn. The planet will brieflyenter Sagittarius near the endof August before returning toCapricornus. Mars will be relativelybright with an apparent magnitudeof -2.8 (equaling Jupiter inbrilliance). For telescopic observersattempting to view the planet'ssurface features, Martian weatherreports can be found on the MalinSpace Science Systems website(http://www.msss.com/). The genesisof local and regional dust stormsis closely watched since they canquickly propagate to engulf theentire planet for months, as theydid in 2001. Mars rotates onceevery 24 hours and 37 minutes, so

the view will change little if youobserve at the same time each night.To see the entire planet, you will needto observe at different times of thenight or over a relatively long periodof time (a month or more). On nightsof good seeing (steady atmosphericconditions), the bright polar ice capsshould be visible. In July, it is latespring in the southern hemispherewith the south pole tipped towardsEarth.

Surface markings are difficult todiscern on Mars due to the planet'srelatively small size and greatdistance, even in the largesttelescope. A map or guidebooksuch as William Hartman's "ATraveler's Guide to Mars" can behelpful in identifying those Mar-tian landmarks that are visible.

JPL's Solar System Simulatorhttp://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

Deadly WeatherThe Mars Reconnaissance

Orbiter's (MRO) Mars Color Im-ager (MARCI) acquires almost 300images each week, using three dif-ferent color filters. The images areused to monitor changes in theMartian weather. As the planetmoves closer to the Sun in itshighly elliptical orbit, the addi-tional heating of the surface canspawn dust storms (around perihe-lion, sunlight can be 20% moreintense than average). Dust stormscan grow exponentially over a

matter of days, with global duststorms occurring every three Mar-tian years, on average.

During the week of May 28th,MARCI recorded two large re-gional dust storms in the northernhemisphere. By mid-week, a newdust storm had formed over theAcidalia Planitia region and waspropagating eastward. By weekend, the storm covered an areaequivalent to North America andwas affecting surface operations ofthe Mars Exploration Rover, Op-portunity, at Endeavor crater.


Conditions at Endeavour craterquickly deteriorated as middaybecame dark as night. Tau values(a measurement of the clarity ofthe sky) exceeded 10 (the highestrecorded value during the 2007storm was around 5.5). SinceOpportunity is solar powered, allsurface operations were sus-pended to conserve power re-serves. By June 10th, the outputof the rover's solar arrays haddropped to 22 watt hours (from ahigh of 645 watt hours prior tothe storm) and all communica-tions from the rover ceased.

At a power level this low, onlythe rover's mission clock wasrunning, with the rover in aprogrammed sleep mode. Below22 watt hours, a mission clockfault would occur and the roverwould have to periodically checkthe output from the solar arraysto determine if the Sun was in thesky (once conditions improve).If the mission clock is lost,the rover can't call home ata predetermined time. As aprecaution, NASA has requestedemergency assistance from theDeep Space Network, so whenconditions improve and powerlevels allow communications,NASA is able to respond whenOpportunity calls.

Unlike Spirit (Opportunity'stwin) that entered a low powerfault condition in the winterand was unable to recover,it 's spring in the southernhemisphere. The atmospheredust also provides some insulationagainst temperatures droppingtoo low. As such, the missionteam does not expect tempera-tures at the Endeavour site todrop below the design limits forthe rover. The rover´s essentialsystems are contained within aWarm Electronics Box (WEB),which is designed to operate

The Sun in the Martian sky for increasing tau values (1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and11 from left to right). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU

within a temperature range of -40º F to +104º F (-40º C to +40ºC). At night, when outsidetemperatures can drop to -140º F(-96º C), eight radioisotopeheater units provide a total of 8watts to warm the WEB throughthe decay of a plutonium isotope.

While the Curiosity rover isnuclear powered and therefore not

affected by the darkening skies, therover has experienced record dustlevels in the atmosphere, despitebeing almost 5,200 miles (8,400km) east of Opportunity's location.

The last data transmissionbefore Opportunity went intohibernation reported a WEBtemperature of -20° (-29° C). Thestorm has continued to grow and

This graph shows how quickly the current storm (green spike)developed as compared to the 2007 storm (red profile) and thecorresponding tau values (vertical axis). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU


Atmospheric Changes over three Martian Sols in Gale Crater (June 3 and 7)Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

on June 19th, almost three weeksafter it was first detected, thestorm was officially classified asa "global event," as it circled theplanet. The storm itself is not aslarge as the one Opportunity

encountered in 2007. It is also moredispersed and asymmetrical than pre-vious global storms that completelyobscured the globe.

As of June 20, no signal has beenreceived from Opportunity as the

rover continues to hunker downin Perseverance Valley on thewest rim of Endeavour Craterand wait. The storm shows nosigns of subsiding.

To be continued …

Energy production of Opportunity's solar arrays (in watt-hours) compared to tau value from December 26,2017 through June 10, 2018 when Opportunity was engulfed in a dust stormCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/New Mexico Museum of Natural History


Lunar RelayThe communication satellite

launched on May 20th from China'sXinhua space center arrived at theEarth-Moon L2 Lagrange point onJune 14th. The 900 pound (400 kg)Queqiao spacecraft, which nametranslates to "magpie bridge," iscurrently positioned in a haloorbit at the gravitationally-stablepoint, 280,000 miles (450,000 km)from Earth. Queqiao was accom-panied by two microsatellites, oneof which successfully enteredlunar orbit.

Queqiao will provide a commu-nication link for the Chang'e 4lunar lander which is currentlyscheduled to be launched inDecember. The lander is destinedfor the Von Kármán Crater, locatedin the South Pole-Aitken impactbasin on the Moon's far side. TheChang'e 4 lander was built as abackup for the Chang'e 3 mission,which was launched in December2013 and soft-landed in MareImbrium (Sea of Rains). TheChang'e 4 lander will likely includea rover, as did its predecessor.

Juno - MissionExtended

Images captured by NASA'sJuno spacecraft during its twelfthclose pass, or perijove, provided adifferent perspective of Jupiter andits south polar region. In this view,the Great Red Spot, which is lo-cated deep in the southern hemi-sphere, appears near the top of thefield of view.

The images used to constructthese colorful composites werecaptured by the JunoCam imageras the spacecraft had completed itshigh-speed pass and was movingaway from Jupiter. The distance tothe cloud tops ranged from 10,768miles (17,329 km) to 42,849 miles(68,959 km).

Credit: CAST and ISSE

Image generated by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Lunar OrbiterLaser Altimeter or LOLA instrument. The boundaries of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin are identified by the black oval, the location of theMoon's south pole by a white circle, and the Von Kármán Crater by awhite rectangle. SPA is one of the largest impact basins in the solarsystem with a diameter of approximately 1,600 miles (2,600 km). Thebasin is approximately 5 miles (8 km) in depth, an excavation that mayreveal relics of the Moon's lower crust and mantle. The Von KármánCrater is 110 miles (180 km) in diameter and filled with basalt lava flows.

Image credit: NASA/Goddard

Kilometers above or below mean elevation


Juno's original mission wasscheduled to end this year, however,due to concerns with its main en-gine, it was decided to leave thespacecraft in its original, highlyelongated 53.5-day orbit ratherthan lowering Juno into a morecircular 14-day orbit. As such, byJuly, the spacecraft will have onlyexecuted 14 of the planned 32perijoves needed to complete itsmapping mission.

NASA recently elected toextend Juno's mission three yearsto 2021, or longer depending uponthe health of the spacecraft (thesensitive electronics and circuitryare being slowly degraded by eachpass through Jupiter's intenseradiation field). NASA still plansto destroy the spacecraft at sometime in the future, plunging it intoJupiter. Deliberate destruction ofthe spacecraft (much like thetermination of the Cassini mission

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/GeraldEichstad/Sean Doran

at Saturn) is being done to precludecontaminating Jupiter's moonEuropa. With an ocean that maycontain twice the water on Earth,and the recent discovery of icy

plumes, Europa is being targetedby two separate missions (ESA'sJUpiter ICy moons Explorer orJUICE and NASA's EuropaClipper) for habitability assessments.

Journey to the Sun

Sun's corona visible duringthe 2017 solar eclipse

Photo: Bill Cloutier

NASA's launch of the ParkerSolar Probe is currently scheduledfor no earlier than August 4th, witha launch window that remains openuntil August 19th. The spacecraftwill be carried into orbit by a DeltaIV Heavy rocket booster from theKennedy Space Center in Florida.Using Venus to modify its orbit, theprobe will make seven flybys of theSun in seven years.

In its last three orbits, the space-craft will come as close as 3.8million miles (6.1 million km) of theSun's surface (10 times closer thanthe planet Mercury). At that distance,the spacecraft's solar shield will ex-perience temperatures as high as2,500° F (1,377° C).

The Parker Solar Probe willgive scientists a close-up look atthe inner workings of the Sun and,in particular, the solar corona. Thecorona is the Sun's outer atmosphere

and more tenuous than the lower,denser regions. It is generally onlyvisible from Earth during a totalsolar eclipse when the Mooncompletely covers the brighterregions. The corona is also millionsof degrees hotter than the Sun'ssurface (the photosphere). Thiscontradiction is not fully understood.

Life on Earth is dependent uponthe Sun's energy. However, whenthe Sun's output becomes chaoticand explosive, events such as flaresand coronal mass ejections candisrupt communications on Earth,overload electrical grids, damageorbiting satellites, and exposeastronauts to dangerous levels ofradiation.

The four instruments carriedby the Parker Solar Probe willstudy the solar wind (stream ofcharged particles that floods thesolar system), measure the Sun's


magnetic field, and characterize theplasma and energetic particles in theSun's outer atmosphere. At closestapproach, the spacecraft will betraveling at speeds approaching430,000 mph (700,000 kph).

Martian OrganicsTwo papers published in the

June 8th issue of Science (Volume360, Issue 6393), fortify the argu-ment for life, past and present, onMars. The first paper describes thediscovery of organic molecules insamples analyzed by NASA'sCuriosity rover from three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks in Galecrater. Organic molecules can becreated by non-biological processes,but their presence bodes well forfuture missions with more ad-vanced diagnostic capabilities.

Curiosity detected the organicsin mudstone (formed from siltdeposited in an ancient lake). Thesedimentary material extracted bythe rover's drill was heated in anon-board oven to 900° F (500° C)to liberate the molecules. WhileCuriosity's drill has a limited range(depth), future rovers will be ableto extract samples from muchgreater depths where organicswould be shielded from destructivesolar and cosmic radiation.

The second paper describesseasonal variations in methane

over the three Martian years thatCuriosity has spent on Mars. Thedata was collected by the rover'sSample Analysis at Mars (SAM)instrument. Methane is a powerfulgreenhouse gas, but is quicklyremoved from the atmosphere(within 12 Earth-years) by achemical reaction. Detectionof methane would imply anactive source, either biological orfrom rock chemistry. SAM haschronicled an increase in themethane concentration in thesummer and corresponding declinein the winter season.

The discovery of organicmolecules near the surface and thecyclical trends in atmosphericmethane are just two of the manydiscoveries made by the rover inGale crater that support an ancientMars where conditions were muchmore hospitable to life. Curiosity'sdiscoveries are also beingincorporated into the planning forthe next Mars' missions, includingNASA's Mars 2020 rover andESA's (European Space Agency's)ExoMars rover.

Curiosity's surface operationshave not been without challenges.Its drill, which is also used to feedsamples to its mineralogy laboratory,had not been used for over a yearafter a mechanical problemdeveloped. Drilling resumed in

May after JPL's engineers developeda new, percussive technique usingthe permanently extended drill bit.With a revised sample deliveryprocedure, the rover's onboardlaboratory is now back in operation.

MOMAExoMars Rover, a joint mission

between the European SpaceAgency (ESA) and the Russianspace agency, Roscosmos, isscheduled to launch in 2020 fromthe Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan. Two landing sites arecurrently being evaluated inwestern Arabia Terra: Oxia Planumand Mawrth Vallis. The sites havean abundance of clay that may haveadsorbed and trapped organicmaterial from a time period inMars' history when liquid waterwas present on the surface (late-Noachian/early-Hesperian periods,3 to 4 billion years ago). The areawas subsequently covered by lavaflows which have since eroded,exposing the ancient clays.

The rover's drill will be able toextract samples from depths up tosix feet (two meters), whereorganic compounds would beshielded from solar radiation andcosmic rays. The samples will beprocessed by the Mars OrganicMolecule Analyzer or MOMA, atoaster oven-sized chemistry lab.MOMA uses a Gas Chromatographand Mass Spectrometer to identifythe abundance and type of organicmolecules in the gas producedwhen the samples are heated in anoven. For molecules where heatcould be destructive, MOMA isequipped with a laser. The laser isable to vaporize some organicmolecules without total dissociation.The by-products are then sent tothe mass spectrometer for analysis.NASA Goddard is providing amass spectrometer and associatedelectronics for MOMA.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSS


The rover will work with theExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, whicharrived on orbit in 2016 to searchfor methane and other trace gasesthat could be biosignatures (NASA'sCuriosity rover has recorded sea-sonal fluctuations in atmosphericmethane). The orbiter will alsoserve as a communication relayfor the surface platform, rover,and for other Mars missions.

Maintaining AltitudeThe vacuum of space is not

completely devoid of matter,particularly, in low-Earth orbitwhere there are enoughatmospheric molecules to pro-duce a drag on orbiting objectsas large as the International SpaceStation (ISS). The lower the alti-tude, the greater the concentra-tion of molecules, the greater thedrag. On average, the ISS canlose 300 feet (100 meters) eachday in altitude and at even agreater rate during periods ofhigh solar activity that causes theEarth's atmosphere to expand. Tocounteract this, the station is pe-riodically reboosted, primarily,by visiting spacecraft (the ISSdoes have thrusters that can ma-neuver the station forhazard avoidance). Since theretirement of the space shuttle,reboosts have primarily been

accomplished by the RussianProgress resupply spacecrafts.

On May 24, 2018, OrbitalATK's OA-9 Cygnus cargospacecraft arrived at the ISS with3 metric tons of supplies. Thespacecraft is expected to stay onstation for two months. Oncereleased, the spacecraft will bereturned to Earth, to burn up inthe atmosphere.

With the uncertainty as toRussia's future participation in ISSoperations, NASA is evaluatingother options for station reboost.Prior to the departure of Cygnus,and as a demonstration, thespacecraft's thrusters will be usedto boost the station's altitude whilestill attached to the Unity node.This will require the station to beorientated to align Cygnus' mainengine with the station's forwarddirection of travel. While thrustingwill be along the station's center ofgravity, the thrusters on thestation's Russian segment will beengaged to maintain alignment.

The one-minute test burn (atypical Progress boost can last upto 15 minutes) is expected tochange the station's velocity byabout 5 feet per second (1.5meters per second). If the test issuccessful, the Cygnus spacecraftcould be upgraded (for example,with a more powerful engine and

additional fuel), should NASAelect to use it to reposition thestation in the future.

Martian HelicopterAs a demonstration, NASA will

include a small, autonomous rotor-craft with the Mars 2020 rover,scheduled to launch in July 2020.The rotorcraft weighs about fourpounds (1.8 kg) with twin, 48 inch(1.21 meter) counter-rotating blades(the counter rotating blades negatethe need for a tail rotor,saving space). With the thinMartian atmosphere (equivalent toan altitude of nearly 100,000 feet onEarth), the blades will rotate at amuch higher rate (about 10 times)than an Earthly counterpart. Solarcells will recharge its lithium-ionbatteries that power the rotorcraft'sinstruments, essential systems, anda heater for the cold nights. Carbonfiber and tubing are used in the con-struction to keep the overall vehiclemass as low as possible.

The rotorcraft will be mounted onthe undercarriage of the 2020 roverand lowered onto the surface afterlanding. It will be capable of autono-mous operations, with the distancebetween the Earth and Mars creat-ing a several light minute lag in com-munications.

NASA is planning on a 30-dayflight test, with incrementally longer

ExoMars Rover Copyright: ESA

Photo Credit: NASA

Cygnus spacecraft captured by the station's robotic arm


duration flights and distances. Its firstflight will be a short, 30 second hoverat a height of 10 feet (3 meters). Ifthe demonstration proves successful,helicopters could be included in fu-ture missions as advanced scouts orto explore terrain inaccessible towheeled vehicles.

First Wheeled Vehicleon Moon

Forty-seven years ago, astronautDavid Scott became the first personto drive a vehicle on the Moon. TheCommander of the Apollo 15 mis-sion used an electricpowered vehiclethat had been specifically designedand built (by Boeing and Delco) tooperate in lunar conditions (lowergravity, vacuum, and on loose, frag-mented regolith). The Apollo 15Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was thefirst of three rovers driven on theMoon. It covered a total of 17 miles

(27.9 km) in three separate excur-sions, carrying the astronauts up to3 miles (5 km) from the landing site.

The LRV's chassis was con-structed from aluminum alloy tub-ing and was hinged so that it couldbe folded for storage on the outside

Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott at thecontrols of the Lunar Rover Vehicle

NASA

Artist depiction of the Mars RotorcraftCredits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

of the Lunar Module. Its four wirewheels were constructed of wovensteel strands and titanium chevronsfor traction. Each wheel wasequipped with its own electric mo-tor for a top speed of approximately8 miles per hour (13 km/hr).

Astronaut David Scott (center) watches as technicians fit check thefolded Lunar Rover Vehicle in an exterior bay of the Lunar Module.The rover was deployed by the astronauts once on the Moon's sur-face using a system of pulleys, ropes and cloth tapes.

Photo Credit:NASA

NASA


The LRV was designed tocarry the two astronauts and theirlife support systems, communi-cations and scientific equipment,photographic gear and up to 60pounds (27 kg) of lunar samplesas they explored their surround-ings. However, NASA restrictedthe rover's range to the distancethe astronauts could walk backto the Lunar Module in the eventof an emergency.

Space Shuttle LegacyThe dramatic success of the

Apollo program was also respon-sible for its demise. OnceKennedy’s challenge had beenmet and the Soviet Union bested,Congress quickly lost interest infunding NASA’s ambitious andexpansive exploration programs,including an expedition to Mars,development of a nuclear rocket,construction of a space stationand deep space bases, and aspace shuttle to service orbitingfacilities.

Less than six months after NeilArmstrong had stepped onto theMoon, NASA began to cancelfuture missions due to draconianbudget cuts. Apollo 20 wascancelled in January 1970,followed by two additionalcancelations by the followingSeptember. One-by-one, cancela-tion of the other programsfollowed.

If not for the political supportof the Air Force, the shuttlewould have met the same fate.The Air Force, after havingseveral of its own spaceprograms canceled in the 1960s,including Dyna-Soar and theManned Orbiting Laboratory,was interested in a low-costmeans of launching reconnais-sance satellites and militaryhardware. Air Force support onCapitol Hill, however, did not


come without a cost. The priceof their support was the redesignof the shuttle from a straight wingto a delta wing for greater cross-range capability (for example, toexecute a one-orbit mission fromVandenberg Air Force Base,polar orbit and short-durationcapture missions (capturingSoviet satellites in flight)). Thechange in flight profile and wingconfiguration would significantlyincrease the reentry temperature -and therefore the demands on the

shuttle’s thermal protectionsystem - which would one dayhave disastrous consequences.

The space shuttle that flewwas a compromise, designed tomeet Air Force requirements andthe Office of Management andBudget’s constraints. It waslikely a much different (and moreexpensive) vehicle than if NASAhad been allowed to pursueits fully reusable, potentialhot-metal, straight-wing, initialdesign.


The space shuttle (or orbiter) isonly one component of the SpaceTransportation System (STS). Thethree main engines of the reusableorbiter, carrying crew and cargo intoorbit, are powered by 143,000 gal-lons of liquid oxygen and 385,000gallons of liquid hydrogen containedwithin an expendable external tankduring the first 8½ minutes of flight.Two solid rocket boosters (recover-able) provide an additional 2.6 mil-lion pounds of thrust during the firsttwo minutes of flight. The solid rock-ets return to Earth (ocean) by para-chute. The orbiter returns in anunpowered glide to a runway landing.

Six orbiters were built atRockwell International’s facility inPalmdale, California. The first, En-terprise, was used for atmospherictesting, the other five for travel to,and for long-duration stays in, low-Earth orbit. Between April 12, 1981and July 21, 2011, the five space-worthy orbiters (Columbia, Chal-lenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeav-our) completed a total of 135 missions,carried 355 men and women, flew over500 million miles, and spent more than1,300 days in orbit.

The orbiters rendezvoused withRussia’s Mir space station ninetimes, the International Space Sta-tion more than 35 times, and theHubble Space Telescope five times.They carried to orbit satellites, spacestation components, space tele-scopes, laboratories and laboratoryexperiments, and spacecraft to ex-plore the solar system.

Unfortunately, the STS never de-livered as a low-cost transportationsystem. The greater concern, how-ever, was the loss of two shuttles andcrew. The loss of the Columbia uponreentry on February 1, 2003prompted a comprehensive reevalu-ation of the program. The ColumbiaAccident Invstigation Board con-cluded that: “Because of the risks in-herent in the original design of the

Space Shuttle, because that designwas based in many aspects on now-obsolete technologies, and becausethe Shuttle is now an aging systembut still developmental in character,it is in the nation’s interest to replacethe Shuttle as soon as possible as theprimary means for transporting hu-mans to and from Earth orbit.”Shortly after the release of theBoard’s findings, President Bushannounced the remaining spaceshuttle fleet would be retired oncethe construction of the InternationalSpace Station was complete.

The landing of Atlantis on July21, 2011 signaled the end of theshuttle program and the beginningof the effort to prepare the orbitersfor a new life on public display.Toxic fuels were drained, hazard-

ous materials and toxic chemicalsneutralized, pyrotechnics dis-armed, the main engines removedand preserved for future use andthe shuttle’s control systems placedin a safe configuration.

The Smithsonian requested theDiscovery as the oldest and mosttraveled orbiter for display at its Na-tional Air and Space Museum,Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. TheEnterprise, which had been on dis-play at the Udyar-Hazy Center, wasmoved to the Intrepid Sea, Air &Space Museum in New York City.

NASA awarded Endeavour to theCalifornia Science Museum in LosAngeles, close to the Palmdale fa-cility where it was built. Atlantisstayed close to home and put on dis-play at the Kennedy Space Center.


EnterpriseThe Enterprise, designated Or-

bital Vehicle (OV)-101, was a testvehicle. It was not intended forspaceflight but provided criticaltest data on the orbiter’s handlingwithin the atmosphere, neededfor a successful return fromflight. It flew several capturedflights (attached to the top of aBoeing 747) and five free flightsat the Edwards Air Force Base.The orbiter was originally to benamed Constitution; however, awrite-in campaign by viewers ofthe Star Trek television show per-suaded the administration tochristen OV-101: Enterprise.

Once the Smithsonian ac-quired Discovery, the Enterprisewas transported by barge to theIntrepid Sea, Air & Space mu-seum where it went on display onJuly 19, 2012.

Enterprise Discovery

Photos: Bill Cloutier

DiscoveryDiscovery was NASA’s third

orbiter (OV-103) and flew moremissions than any of the other or-biters - 39 flights between 1984and 2011. It was the workhorse ofthe fleet and the orbiter that flewthe “return-to-flight” missions af-ter the Challenger and Columbiaaccidents. Discovery delivered theHubble Space Telescope to orbitand flew two of the follow-on ser-vicing missions in 1997 and 1999.The orbiter made two flights to theRussian space station Mir and 13flights to the International SpaceStation. The name Discovery waschosen to honor historic sailingships of the past.

Discovery was delivered to theSmithsonian (near Dulles Airport)in April 2012 mounted atopNASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, amodified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. It

is displayed in a landing configu-ration with its gear deployed.

EndeavourEndeavour (OV-105) was the

last orbiter to join the fleet, builtto replace the Challenger. Itsmaiden flight was on May 7, 1992- the first of 25 missions. Endeavorcarried the “corrective optics” inthe first servicing mission to theHubble Space Telescope. The or-biter also delivered the first U.S.component, the Unity Module, to theInternational Space Station. The or-biter is named after the British HMSEndeavour, the ship commanded byCaptain James Cook on his first ex-pedition to Australia and NewZealand between 1769 and 1771.

The California Science Centerwas selected to display the Endeav-our, based, in part, on its proximityto Palmdale. The orbiter was deliv-


ered to the Los Angeles InternationalAirport by the Shuttle Carrier Air-craft on September 21, 2012. Threeweeks later, the orbiter was towed12 miles through the streets of LosAngeles to the museum. Endeavoris on temporary display until a per-manent home can be constructed. Itis currently mounted in an elevatedhorizontal position, allowing visitorsto walk beneath the orbiter. The or-biter will eventually be displayed ina vertical, launch configuration.

The California Science Centeralso acquired two solid rocketboosters from the Kennedy SpaceCenter in 2012 (currently in stor-age at NASA’s Armstrong FlightResearch Center). The museumhad planned to use a replica for theexternal tank, since the tanks usedfor flight were not recovered. How-ever, by happenstance, one tankwas never used (it was too heavyto be used for ISS construction). In-



stead, the tank became a test articleand even considered for future useon the Space Launch System. Ulti-mately, it was recently decided notto repurpose the tank, making itavailable to the California ScienceCenter. The tank was transportedfrom NASA’s Michoud AssemblyFacility in Louisiana by barge,through the Panama Canal to LosAngeles, arriving on May 18, 2016.Once the new 188,000 square footaddition to the California ScienceCenter is complete (the SamuelOschin Air and Space Center), thetank will be joined to the orbiterand solid rocket boosters and liftedinto place. The exhibit is scheduledto open in 2019.

AtlantisAtlantis was NASA’s fourth or-

biter (OV-104), named after thetwo-masted boat that served as theprimary research vessel for the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutefrom 1930 to 1966. It benefited fromthe lessons learned in the construc-tion of its predecessors, being com-pleted in half the hours spent onColumbia and weighing in at 3.5 tonslighter (allowing it to carry morepayload).

Atlantis was the first orbiter todock with the Russian Mir space sta-tion. It carried to orbit planetaryprobes that would explore Venus(Magellan) and Jupiter (Galileo) andthe Compton Gamma Ray Observa-tory. Atlantis delivered the U.S. labo-ratory module Destiny and the JointAirlock Quest to the InternationalSpace Station, as well as sections ofthe Integrated Truss Structure (thestructural backbone of the ISS).

Atlantis is on display at theKennedy Space Center’s VisitorCenter. It is displayed as in flight,with payload doors open and itsCanadarm (robotic arm) extended.


Lost OrbitersColumbia

Columbia (OV-102) was NASA’sfirst space-worthy orbiter. It lifted offon its maiden voyage on April 12,1981, piloted by mission commander(and former Gemini and Apollo as-tronaut) John Young and pilot Rob-ert Crippen. The orbiter was namedfor the first American ship to circum-navigate the globe in 1790 as wellas the Apollo 11 command module.Among its many accomplishments,Columbia carried the Chandra X-rayObservatory into orbit in July 1999.

The orbiter and crew were lostduring reentry on February 1, 2003when hot gases entered a hole inthe orbiter’s left wing. The holehad been created by a small pieceof foam shed by the external tankon takeoff. The hot gases meltedthe airframe, causing the vehicle tobreak up in the atmosphere.

ChallengerChallenger (OV-099) was origi-

nally built as a test vehicle. In 1979,Rockwell International received acontract to convert the orbiter forspace flight (NASA believed Chal-lenger to be a less complex conver-sion than Enterprise). Challengerarrived at the Kennedy Space Cen-ter in 1982, joining the Columbia.

The orbiter was named after theBritish Naval research vessel HMSChallenger that sailed the Atlanticand Pacific oceans during the 1870s.

Challenger made her maidenvoyage on April 4, 1983. That mis-sion included the first spacewalkfrom an orbiter, as well as the de-ployment of the first satellite in theTracking and Data Relay SatelliteSystem (TDRSS) constellation. Sev-eral spacelabs were carried into or-bit in Challenger’s payload bay. SallyRide, the first American woman inspace, rode to orbit aboard theChallenger.

Challenger was the first orbiter tobe launched at night and the first toland at the Kennedy Space Center(prior missions had landed at eitherthe Edwards Air Force Base in Cali-fornia or at White Sands, NewMexico).

The orbiter and crew (includinghigh school teacher Sharon ChristaMcAuliffe) were lost when a sealfailed in the right rocket booster. Theopen joint allowed burning fuel toescape from the rocket booster andbreech the external tank. Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, the orbiterwas destroyed in an explosion from

the failure of the hydrogen and oxy-gen fuel inner tanks.

Space ShuttleMemorial

Last year (June 2015), a perma-nent memorial, “Forever Remem-bered,” opened at the KennedySpace Center Visitor Complex.The memorial honors the crewslost on the Challenger (1986) andColumbia (2003) space shuttles.Personal items from the crewmembers are included, as well asdebris from both orbiters neverbefore displayed in public.

[1] Endeavour is on temporary display while its permanent home isunder construction

[2] Best available information and subject to change. Does not include special attractions, tours or access to traveling exhibits

[3] $2 timed reservation is required on weekends, holidays, and thehigh attendance periods

Reference Websites for Additional Information:

Enterprise http://www.intrepidmuseum.org//Discovery https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/Endeavour http://californiasciencecenter.org/Atlantis https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com

Planning Your Visit


· Summer ActivitiesSummer ActivitiesSummer ActivitiesSummer ActivitiesSummer ActivitiesSummer is a great time to enjoy the night sky. Some suggestions for this summer:1. Attend a star party. Star parties are gatherings of amateur astronomers where the general public is invited

to share the wonders of the night skies with skilled observers and through telescopes of every size andshape. A calendar of dates and locations across the United States is available at www.skyandtelescope.com.Closer to home, the McCarthy Observatory hosts a star party on the second Saturday of each month. Please joinus on July 9th and August 13th with your family and friends for a memorable evening under the stars.

2. Take in a meteor shower. With no telescope required, this naked-eye activity can be enjoyed in a lawnchair and a warm blanket. While an occasional meteor can be spotted at anytime, August 12th is thenight to catch the Perseids meteor shower. A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through acloud of debris usually left behind by a comet. Comet Swift-Tuttle is the source of the small grains ofdust that create the Perseid shower. As one of the most famous showers, the Perseids meteor showerusually delivers an impressive display. Expect dark skies as moonlight will not be a problem this year.

3. Locate the Summer Milky Way. Our solar system resides in one of the outer arms of a very large, rotatingpinwheel of 200-300 billion stars called the Milky Way Galaxy. During the summer, we can see the inner armsof the pinwheel in the direction of the galactic core. Unfortunately, a dark sky is required, as excessive lightingis ruining the natural inky black of the celestial sphere. However, it can be seen from parts of New Milford, lateat night and once the moon has set. If you have never seen the Milky Way:Locate the Big Dipper (the mostprominent asterism in the northern sky). The last two stars in the bowl of the Dipper point to the North Star.

· Imagine a line extended from the two Dipper stars, through the North Star and an equal distance beyond.You should now be between the constellations Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is shaped like a W orand is the starting point for our journey down the Milky Way.

· The Milky Way flows from Cassiopeia south to Cygnus (the Swan or Northern Cross). Cygnus can berecognized by its brightest star Deneb (at the tail) and the three bright stars that form the wing.

· Continuing south, the bright star Altair provides the next navigation aid, directing us to Sagittarius,an asterism shaped like a teapot. On a dark night, the star clouds of the Milky Way appear like steamfrom the spout of the teapot. The spout is also in the general direction of the center of our galaxy(26,000 light years away).

Double Jovian Moon TransitPhoto: Bill Cloutier


"Teapot" asterism in Sagittarius and star clouds of the Milky Way. Photo: Bill Cloutier

From a good observing site, you should see a band of cloudiness through this area of the sky. Through binocu-lars, the “clouds” can be resolved into bright areas populated by stars and darker areas with few or no stars. Thedarker patches are regions of gas and dust that obscure our view of the galactic center.

4. Find the Apollo landing sites. July marks the anniversaries of two moon landings. Apollo 11 landed on thesouthwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. Apollo 15 landed in the foothills of the ApennineMountains on July 30, 1971. The southwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquility is visible 5 days after a NewMoon. The Sun rises on the Apennine Mountains around the First Quarter Moon.

Jupiter and its MoonsJupiter reached Opposition in

early May when the two planets wereat their closest. During the monthsof July and August, Jupiter is stillwell placed in evening sky after sun-set. Jupiter will be at its highest ap-proximately 30 minutes after sunseton July 1st (9 pm) and almost twohours earlier by month's end. As theEarth moves ahead of Jupiter on itsinside orbit, Jupiter willdiminish slightly in brightness andapparent size. As one of the bright-est star-like objects in the night sky,Jupiter can be found in the constel-lation Libra.

Double Jovian Moon TransitPhoto: Bill Cloutier


One of the more interesting and easier events toobserve through a telescope is the projection of ashadow from one of Jupiter's moons on the Joviandisk as the moon passes in front of (or transits) theplanet. On nights of good visibility thefollowing events should be visible through amoderately-sized telescope.

The Red Spot is a large cyclone in the upper Jovianatmosphere. The rapid rotation of this gas giant (10 hours)may be responsible for the longevity of this storm, whichhas been observed for over 300 years. The Red Spot willcross the center line of the planetary disk on the follow-ing evenings during the hours between 8 pm to midnightlocal time.

Jovian Moon Transits Red Spot Transits

Sunrise and Sunset (from New Milford, CT)Sun Sunrise SunsetJuly 1st (EDT) 05:23 20:32July 15th 05:33 20:26July 31st 05:47 20:12August 1st 05:48 20:11August 15th 06:02 19:53August 31st 06:19 19:28

Saturn - Jewel of the Summer Sky

The Earth and Saturn were clos-est on June 27th when only 841.1million miles (1.35 billion km)separated the two worlds. Saturncan be found in the constellation

Sagittarius. During the months ofJuly and August, Saturn is still wellplaced in evening sky after sunset.Saturn will be at its highest justafter midnight on July 1st (12:38am) and almost two hours earlierby month's end.

Saturn's axial tilt is almost 27°(as compared to Earth's 23.5° orJupiter's 3°). The axial tilt pro-duces seasons which last morethan 7 years, since it takes Sat-urn almost 29½ years to completean orbit around the Sun. It wassummer in the southern hemi-sphere when the Cassini space-

craft arrived in 2004, with theplanet's north pole in perpetualdarkness. Saturn's Vernal equi-nox occurred in August 2009with both hemispheres experi-encing equal amounts of sunlight(at equinox, the rings appear al-most edge on). Since that time,our view of the rings has im-proved. With the northern sum-mer solstice in May 2017, therings are wide open with theplanet's north pole sunlit andtipped towards Earth. This yearthe ring tilt is one of the best at26° (slightly less than in 2017).



July1st Centaur Object 10370 Hylonome at Opposition (23.011 AU)

1st History: opening of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum (1976)

1st History: NASA officially activates the Launch Operations Center on Merritt Island,Florida; later renamed the Kennedy Space Center (1962)

1st History: 100 inch diameter mirror for the Hooker Telescope arrives on Mt. Wilson (1917)

1st History: discovery of asteroid 6 Hebe by Karl Hencke (1847)

2nd Amor Asteroid 1916 Boreas closest approach to Earth (0.657 AU)

2nd History: launch of European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft to Comet Halley (1985)

3rd Aten Asteroid 2005 MF5 near-Earth flyby (0.083 AU)

3rd Kuiper Belt Object 307261 (2002 MS4) at Opposition (45.689 AU)

3rd History: launch of the ill-fated Nozomi spacecraft to Mars by Japan (1998)

3rd History: launch of the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX)by a Scout rocket (1992)

4th Aten Asteroid 2016 NB1 near-Earth flyby (0.068 AU)

4th History: Juno enters orbit around Jupiter (2016)

4th History: impact of Comet Tempel 1 by Deep Impact's impactor (2005)

4th History: Pathfinder spacecraft, with rover Sojourner, lands on Mars (1997)

4th History: Chinese astronomers record a "guest star" (supernova) in the constellation Taurus;visible for 23 days and 653 nights (1054); the remnant (Crab Nebula) later catalogued byCharles Messier as Messier 1 or M1

5th Apollo Asteroid 2018 AJ2 near-Earth flyby (0.091 AU)

5th Aten Asteroid 2340 Hathor closest approach to Earth (0.532 AU)

5th Centaur Object 55576 Amycus at Opposition (19.831 AU)

5th History: Isaac Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" published,describing the laws of motion (1687)

6th Last Quarter Moon

6th Earth at Aphelion, furthest distance from the Sun (1.017 AU or 94.5 million miles)

6th History: discovery of Jupiter's moon Lysithea by Seth Nicholson (1938)

7th Amor Asteroid 1915 Quetzalcoatl closest approach to Earth (2.248 AU)

7th History: launch of the Mars Exploration Rover B (Opportunity) (2003)

8th Atira Asteroid 418265 (2008 EA32) closest approach to Earth (0.589 AU)

8th Atira Asteroid 2010 XB11 closest approach to Earth (0.726 AU)

8th Kuiper Belt Object 486958 (2014 MU69) at Opposition (42.237 AU)

8th Kuiper Belt Object 2014 PN70 at Opposition (42.932 AU)

8thh History: launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) to the International Space Station;final space shuttle flight to low-Earth orbit (2011)

9th Centaur Object 10199 Chariklo at Opposition (14.913 AU)

9th History: closest pass of Jupiter's cloud tops by the Voyager 2 spacecraft (1979)

Astronomical and Historical Events


Astronomical and Historical Events for July (continued)

9th Scheduled launch of a Russian Progress cargo-carrying spacecraft to the InternationalSpace Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

10th Apollo Asteroid 65803 Didymos closest approach to Earth (1.296 AU)

10th History: flyby of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup by the European Space Agency's Giottospacecraft following its close encounter of Halley's Comet (1992)

10th History: flyby of asteroid 21 Lutetia by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft (2010)

10th History: launch of Telstar 1, prototype communication satellite designed and built by BellTelephone Laboratories (1962)

10th History: Alvan Graham Clark born, optician and telescope maker (1832)

11th History: launch of the Soviet Gamma Observatory (1990)

11th History: Skylab re-enters into the Earth's atmosphere (1979)

12th New Moon

12th Mercury at its greatest eastern elongation - apparent separation from the Sun in the earlyevening (26°)

12th History: launch of the High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAO-1), designed to surveythe entire sky for x-ray emissions (1977)

12th History: launch of Soviet Mars orbiter Phobos 2 (1988)

13th Moon at Perigee (closest distance to Earth)

13th Dwarf Planet 134340 Pluto at Opposition (32.584 AU)

13th History: Soviet Union launches Luna 15, a lunar lander and sample return mission, in anattempt to upstage Apollo 11; crashed during landing (1969)

13th History: Langley Research Center's birthday (1917)

14th Second Saturday Stars - Open House at the McCarthy Observatory

14th History: flyby of the dwarf plant Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft dwarf planet and itslargest moon Charon (2015)

14th History: flyby and first close-up view of Mars by the Mariner 4 spacecraft (1965)

15th History: the Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the asteroid 4 Vesta (2011)

15th History: Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to enter the main asteroid belt (1972)

16th Scheduled flyby (13th science pass) of Jupiter's cloud tops by the Juno spacecraft

16th History: over twenty fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, with diameters estimated at upto 2 kilometers, collide with Jupiter between July 16th and the 22nd (1994); the comet hadbeen discovered a year earlier by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy

16th History: launch of Badr-A, first Pakistan satellite (1990)

16th History: launch of Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin andMichael Collins, first manned lunar landing (1969)

16th History: first launch of a Proton rocket by the Soviet Union (1965)

16th History: first photo of a star other than our Sun (Vega) taken at the Harvard CollegeObservatory (1850)

17th Apollo Asteroid 9162 Kwiila closest approach to Earth (0.831 AU)

17th History: docking (and crew handshake) of an Apollo spacecraft with astronauts ThomasStafford, Vance Brand, and "Deke" Stayton with a Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonauts AlexeiLeonov and Valeri Kubasov (the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP)) (1975)



17th History: William Bond and John Adams Whipple take the first photograph of a star (Vega)at the Harvard College Observatory (1850)

18th History: John Glenn born, first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 (1921)

18th History: launch of Rohini 1, India's first satellite (1980)

18th History: launch of Gemini X, with astronauts John Young and Michael Collins (1966)

18th History: launch of Soviet Zond 3 spacecraft; first successful flyby of Moon; transmittedphotographs that included the far side (1965)

18th History: Allan Sandage born, astronomer specializing in observational cosmology (1926)

19th First Quarter Moon

19th Apollo Asteroid 5011 Ptah closest approach to Earth (1.450 AU)

19th History: launch of the Explorer 35 spacecraft into an elliptical lunar orbit; designed to studyinterplanetary plasma, magnetic field, energetic particles, and solar X-rays (1967)

20th History: discovery of Jupiter's moon Callirrhoe (2000)

20th History: Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule (Liberty Bell 7) retrieved from the Atlantic Oceanfloor at a depth of 15,000 feet, 38 years after it had sunk after splashdown (1999)

20th History: Viking 1 lands on Mars (1976)

20th History: Apollo 11 lands on Moon at 4:17 pm EDT; first step onto the lunar surface at 10:56 pm (1969)

21th Apollo Asteroid 2012 BV26 near-Earth flyby (0.053 AU)

21th Atira Asteroid 413563 (2005 TG45) closest approach to Earth (0.236 AU)

21th History: launch of the Soviet Mars mission Mars 4 (1973)

21th History: launch of Mercury-Redstone 4 with astronaut Virgil (Gus) Grissom; secondsuborbital flight by the United States (1961)

21th History: discovery of Jupiter's moon Sinope by Seth Nicholson (1914)

22th History: first dogs (Dezik and Tsygan) to make a suborbital flight aboard a Soviet R-1rocket (wore pressure suits and acrylic glass bubble helmets) (1951)

22th History: landing of Soviet spacecraft Venera 8 on Venus (1972)

23rd Apollo Asteroid 2135 Aristaeus closest approach to Earth (1.507 AU)

23rd History: launch of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-93) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory(1999); first mission commanded by a woman, Eileen Collins

23rd History: discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp by Alan Hale and Tom Bopp (1995)

23rd History: discovery of Neptune's rings (1984)

23rd History: launch of Landsat 1 into a near-polar orbit to obtain information on Earth'sresources, environmental pollution, and meteorological phenomena (1972)

24th History: launch of the Geotail spacecraft, a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study themagnetic environs of Earth (1992)

24th History: first rocket launch from Cape Canaveral (Bumper/V-2 rocket) in 1950

25th Apollo Asteroid 2014 WO371 near-Earth flyby (0.060 AU)

25th Aten Asteroid 2018 GR4 near-Earth flyby (0.098 AU)

25th History: Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space (1984)

25th History: launch of Soviet Mars orbiter Mars 5 (1973)



26th History: launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-114) "Return to Flight," 907 days afterthe loss of Space Shuttle Columbia (2005)

26th History: launch of Apollo 15 with astronauts David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden;fourth lunar landing (1971)

26th History: launch of Syncom 2, first geosynchronous satellite (1963)

27th Full Moon (sometimes called Buck Moon)

27th Moon at Apogee (furthest distance from Earth)

27th Mars at Opposition

27th Atira Asteroid 1998 DK36 closest approach to Earth (0.594 AU)

27th Kuiper Belt Object 2017 OF69 at Opposition (42.791 AU)

28th History: launch of Skylab-3 astronauts Alan Bean, Jack Lousma and Owen Garriott (1973)

28th History: launch of Ranger 7; Moon impact mission (1964)

29th South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower peak

29th Apollo Asteroid 439313 (2012 VE82) near-Earth flyby (0.068 AU)

29th History: deorbit and destruction of the Salyut 6 space station; first of the Soviet's second-generation space station design (1982)

29th History: Deep Space 1 flyby of asteroid Braille (1999)

30th History: discovery of the asteroid 951 Gaspra by Grigory Neujmin (1916); the Galileo spacecraft passedwithin 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of Gaspra on October 29, 1991 on its way to Jupiter

30th History: the Cassini spacecraft arrives at Saturn after a seven year journey (2004)

30th History: launch of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP); mapped theCosmic Microwave Background radiation and determined the age of the universe to be13.73 billion years old to within one percent (2001)

30th History: Apollo 15 lands on Moon at 6:16 pm EDT (1971)

30th History: discovery of Jupiter's moon Carme by Seth Nicholson (1938)

30th History: Galileo observes Saturn's rings (1610)

31th Asteroid 55 Pandora closest approach to Earth (1.588 AU)

31st History: impact of the Lunar Prospector (1999)

31st History: flyby of Mars by Mariner 6 (1969)

August1st Peak of the Alpha Capricornids meteor shower

1st Apollo Asteroid 420591 (2012 HF31) near-Earth flyby (0.072 AU)

1st History: discovery of Martian meteorite (shergottite class) SAU 051 in Oman (2000)

1st History: launch of Lunar Orbiter 5, last of the Lunar Orbiter series; photographedpotential Apollo and Surveyor landing sites and captured the first image of a nearly fullEarth from space (1967)

1st History: Maria Mitchell born, first woman to be elected as an astronomer to the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences (1818)

2nd Kuiper Belt Object 2013 AT183 at Opposition (63.748 AU)

3rd Amor Asteroid 1580 Betulia closest approach to Earth (1.620 AU)



3rd Centaur Object 83982 Crantor at Opposition (17.832)

3rd History: launch of the MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury (2004)

4th Last Quarter Moon

4th Earliest scheduled launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe aboard a Delta 4 Heavy rocketfrom the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

4th Apollo Asteroid 428694 Saule closest approach to Earth (0.806 AU)

4th Apollo Asteroid 4183 Cuno closest approach to Earth (1.743 AU)

4th History: launch of the Phoenix polar lander spacecraft to Mars (2007)

5th Aten Asteroid 398188 Agni near-Earth flyby (0.060 AU)

5th Amor Asteroid 6456 Golombek closest approach to Earth (0.341 AU)

5th History: launch of the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter (2011); scheduled to arrive on July 4, 2016

5th History: flyby of Mars by the Mariner 7 spacecraft (1969)

5th History: astronaut Neil Armstrong born (1930); Commander of Apollo 11 and first personto step out on the lunar surface

6th Southern Iota Aquarids meteor shower peak

6th Aten Asteroid 2011 FQ6 near-Earth flyby (0.094 AU)

6th History: the Rosetta spacecraft and her robotic lander companion Philae arrive in orbitaround Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a 10-year journey (2014)

6th History: landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL or Curiosity) at the base of MountSharp inside Gale Crater (2012)

6th History: launch of Vostok 2 and cosmonaut Gherman Titov; second man in Space (1961)

6th History: Chinese astronomers first observe supernova in Cassiopeia; remained visible formore than 6 months (1181)

7th Apollo Asteroid 6063 Jason closest approach to Earth (2.795 AU)

7th Kuiper Belt Object 2008 OG19 at Opposition (37.703 AU)

7th History: Brett Gladman, et al's discovery of Saturn moons Ymir, Paaliaq and Kiviuq (2000)

7th History: announcement of possible microfossils found in Martian meteorite ALH84001 (1996)

7th History: Viking 2 arrives at Mars (1976)

8th History: launch of Genesis spacecraft, solar particle sample return mission (2001)

8th History: launch of Pioneer Venus 2 (1978)

8th History: launch of the Soviet Zond 7 Moon probe (1969)

9th Apollo Asteroid 2008 HU4 closest approach to Earth (1.236 AU)

9th History: launch of the Soviet Luna 24 spacecraft, third attempt (and only successfulattempt) to recover a sample from Mare Crisium (1976)

9th History: Henry Draper obtains the first spectrum photograph of a star (Vega) to showdistinct lines (1872)

10th Moon at Perigee (closest distance to Earth)

10th 83nd Convention of Amateur Telescope Makers (Stellafane), Springfield, Vermont(through the 12th), see https://stellafane.org/convention/2018/index.html

10th Apollo Asteroid 11500 Tomaiyowit closest approach to Earth (0.462 AU)

10th Apollo Asteroid 1566 Icarus closest approach to Earth (0.551 AU)


Astronomical and Historical Events (continued)

10th Amor Asteroid 3352 McAuliffe closest approach to Earth (1.531 AU)

10th History: launch of TOPEX/Poseidon Earth-monitoring satellite, joint venture betweenCNES and NASA that measured ocean surface topography to an accuracy of 4.2 cm (1992)

10th History: launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to Mars (2005)

10th History: launch of Kitsat A, first South Korean satellite (1992)

10th History: the Magellan spacecraft enters orbit around Venus; radar mapped 98% of theplanet over the following two years (1990)

10th History: launch of the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft; photographed smooth areas of thelunar surface for assessing future landing sites and captured iconic image of the Earthrising above the lunar surface (1966)

11th New Moon

11th Second Saturday Stars - Open House at the McCarthy Observatory

11th History: Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Deimos (1877)

12th Peak of the Perseids meteor shower (into the morning of the 13th)

12th Apollo Asteroid 306367 Nut closest approach to Earth (3.399 AU)

12th Centaur Object 52872 Okyrhoe at Opposition (9.793 AU)

12th History: launch of the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite into a heliocentricorbit. Renamed International Comet Explorer, (ICE), it became the first spacecraft to visit a comet,passing through the plasma tail of comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1985 (1978)

12th History: launch of the High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAO-1) to monitor x-raysources (1977)

12t History: Soviet spacecraft Vostok 4 launched one day after Vostok 3 - first time multiplemanned spacecraft in orbit, although they did not rendezvous (1962)

12th History: launch of Echo 1, the first experimental communications satellite (1960)

13th Apollo Asteroid 2008 AG4 near-Earth flyby (0.094 AU)

13th Aten Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) closest approach to Earth (0.143 AU)

13th Kuiper Belt Object 2015 UH87 at Opposition (80.788 AU)

13th History: discovery of Mars' south polar cap by Christiaan Huygens (1642)

13th History: discovery of long-period variable star Mira, (Omicron Ceti) by David Fabricius (1596)

15th Amor Asteroid 2011 UA near-Earth flyby (0.081 AU)

15th Apollo Asteroid 85585 Mjolnir closest approach to Earth (1.273 AU)

16th Scheduled launch of a Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (unmanned cargo vehicle) to theInternational Space Station from the Tanegashima Space Center

16th History: launch of Explorer 12 spacecraft, measured cosmic-ray particles, solar windprotons, and magnetospheric and interplanetary magnetic fields (1961)

17th Venus at its Greatest Eastern Elongation (46°), apparent separation from the Sun in theevening sky

17th Aten Asteroid 2016 JJ17 near-Earth flyby (0.065 AU)

17th Apollo Asteroid 4341 Poseidon closest approach to Earth (1.912 AU)

17th History: launch of Venera 7; Soviet Venus lander (1970)

17th History: launch of Pioneer 7 (1966)


17th History: Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos (1877)

18th History: launch of Suisei; Japan's Comet Halley mission (1985)

18th First Quarter Moon

19th Apollo Asteroid 5786 Talos closest approach to Earth (0.766 AU)

19th History: launch of first Philippine communications satellite Agila 2 (also known asMabuhay 1 or ABS 5) (1997)

19th History: launch of Soviet Sputnik 5 spacecraft with dogs Belka and Strelka (1960)

19th History: discovery of S Andromedae (SN 1885A), supernova in the Andromeda Galaxy andthe first discovered outside the Milky Way Galaxy; discovered by Irish amateur astronomerIsaac Ward in Belfast on the 19th and independently the following day by Ernst Hartwig atDorpat (Tartu) Observatory in Estonia (1885)

19th History: Orville Wright born (1871)

19th History: John Flamsteed born; English astronomer known for his accurate astronomicalobservations and first Astronomer Royal (1646)

20th Aten Asteroid 2017 FR63 near-Earth flyby (0.099 AU)

20th History: launch of Voyager 2 to the outer planets (1977)

20th History: launch of Mars orbiter/lander Viking 1 (1975)

20th History: Ernst Hartwig's discovery of S Andromedae Supernova (1885)

21st History: launch of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-3, Copernicus, with a UVtelescope and X-ray detector (1972)

21st History: launch of Gemini V with astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad (1965)

22nd Aten Asteroid 2015 QM3 near-Earth flyby (0.063 AU)

23rd Moon at Apogee (furthest distance from Earth)

23rd History: Lunar Orbiter 1 takes first photo of the Earth from the Moon (1966)

24th History: Pluto reclassified as a Dwarf Planet (2006)

24th History: launch of the Soviet Luna 11 spacecraft to analyze the Moon's chemicalcomposition, study gravitational anomalies and measure radiation levels (1966)

25th Northern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak

25th Apollo Asteroid 2005 QQ87 near-Earth flyby (0.089 AU)

25th Apollo Asteroid 2012 BD14 near-Earth flyby (0.100 AU)

25th Apollo Asteroid 54509 YORP closest approach to Earth (0.704 AU)

25th History: flyby of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft (1989)

25th History: launch of the Spitzer Space Telescope (2003)

25th History: launch of the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft to study energeticparticles from the solar wind, the interplanetary medium, and other sources (1997)

26th Full Moon (sometimes called Sturgeon Moon)

26th Mercury at its Greatest Western Elongation (18°), apparent separation from the Sun in themorning sky

26th Amor Asteroid 2016 RW17 near-Earth flyby (0.069 AU)

26th History: flyby of the planet Saturn by the Voyager 2 spacecraft (1981)

27th Kuiper Belt Object 225088 (2007 OR10) at Opposition (87.061 AU)



Commonly Used Terms· Apollo: a group of near-Earth asteroids whose orbits also cross Earth’s orbit; Apollo asteroids spend most

of their time outside Earth orbit.· Aten: a group of near-Earth asteroids whose orbits also cross Earth’s orbit, but unlike Apollos, Atens

spend most of their time inside Earth orbit.· Atira: a group of near-Earth asteroids whose orbits are entirely within Earth’s orbit· Centaur: icy planetesimals with characteristics of both asteroids and comets· Kuiper Belt: region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune (30 AUs to 50 AUs) with a vast

population of small bodies orbiting the Sun· Opposition: celestial bodies on opposite sides of the sky, typically as viewed from Earth· Plutino: an asteroid-sized body that orbits the Sun in a 2:3 resonance with Neptune

27th History: launch of the Mariner 2 spacecraft to Venus; first successful planetary encounter (1962)

28th Aten Asteroid 2016 GK135 near-Earth flyby (0.043 AU)

28th Apollo Asteroid 358744 (2008 CR118) near-Earth flyby (0.099 AU)

28th Apollo Asteroid 12711 Tukmit closest approach to Earth (0.652 AU)

28th History: flyby of the asteroids Ida and Dactyl by the Galileo spacecraft (1993)

28th History: discovery of Saturn's moon Enceladus by William Herschel (1789)

29th Aten Asteroid 1998 SD9 near-Earth flyby (0.011 AU)

29th Aten Asteroid 2016 NF23 near-Earth flyby (0.034 AU)

29th History: discovery of a bright nova in the constellation Cygnus (Nova Cygni 1975); visible tothe unaided eye for about a week (1975)

30th Apollo Asteroid 2018 DE1 near-Earth flyby (0.039 AU)

30th Kuiper Belt Object 408706 (2004 NT33) at Opposition (38.293 AU)

30th History: discovery of first Kuiper Belt Object (1992 QB1) by David Jewitt and Jane Luu

30th History: launch of Japanese satellite Yohkoh (Sunbeam) to observe phenomena taking placeon the Sun (1991)

30th History: launch of STS-8 and astronaut Guy Bluford; first African-American in space and firstnight launch and landing by a shuttle (1983)

31th Aten Asteroid 136818 Selqet closest approach to Earth (0.290 AU)

31th Kuiper Belt Object 307982 (2004 PG115) at Opposition (37.432 AU)

31th History: President Kennedy signs the Communications Satellite which created theCommunications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) and committed the U.S. to building aglobal communications system (1962)

31th History: first photo showing Moon's shadow on the Earth during Solar Eclipse taken bystratospheric balloonist Captain Albert Stevens (1932)

Tentatively Scheduled for August?? Launch (first) of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the

Kennedy Space Center (unmanned)

27th Launch (first) of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from theCape Canaveral Air Force Station (unmanned)



Image CreditsFront page design and graphic calendar: Allan Ostergren

Second Saturday Stars poster: Marc Polansky

All other non-credited photos were taken by the author: Bill Cloutier

Lagrange PointsFive locations discovered by mathematician

Joseph Lagrange where the gravitational forces ofthe Sun and Earth (or other large body) and theorbital motion of the spacecraft are balanced, al-lowing the spacecraft to hover or orbit around thepoint with minimal expenditure of energy. The L2point (and future location of the James Webb tele-scope) is located 1.5 million kilometers beyond theEarth (as viewed from the Sun).

References on Distances" the apparent width of the Moon (and Sun) is approximately one-half a degree (½°), less than the width

of your little finger at arm's length which covers approximately one degree (1°); three fingers span approxi-mately five degrees (5°)

" 1 astronomical unit (AU) is the distance from the Sun to the Earth or approximately 93 million miles

International Space Station/Iridium SatellitesVisit www.heavens-above.com for the times of visibility and detailed star charts for viewing the Interna-

tional Space Station and the bright flares from Iridium satellites.

Solar ActivityFor the latest on what's happening on the Sun and the current forecast for flares and aurora, check out

www.spaceweather.com.

On the CoverAn image of the restless cloud belts and vortices of Jupiter’s northern hemisphere taken by the Juno space-

craft on May 24 this year. The view was from a position of 9,600 miles (15,500 kilometers) above the cloudtops and 56 degrees north latitude of the planet’s restless atmosphere.

Ammonia and water, along with a mixture of other chemicals, likely make up the bright clouds of the upperatmosphere, while the darker shades originate from elements deeper within the planet’s interior. Since Jupiteris a gas planet and devoid of solid matter, there is no physical land surface to tame and direct the endless danceof whirling gases bounded by its immense gravity. Scientists identify the “surface” of Jupiter as the layer whereatmospheric pressure equals the pressure of the Earth at one bar.https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/cha-otic-clouds-of-jupiter.

Circulation in the Jovian atmosphere is driven by similar forces as on the Earth. However, the predominentflow (90 percent) is anticyclonic (clockwise) and is concentrated in zones more than 2000 km (1,242 miles) indiameter. and with an average duration ranging from a few days to hundreds of years.

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran

For more information, go to https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/chaotic-clouds-of-jupiter; https://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.

Contact Information The John J. McCarthy Observatory P.O. Box 1144 New Milford, CT 06776 New Milford High School 388 Danbury Road New Milford, CT 06776 Phone/Message: (860) 946-0312 www.mccarthyobservatory.org

www.mccarthyobservatory.org

@McCarthy Observatory

@McCarthy Observatory

[email protected]

@JJMObservatory

Route 7

July 2018Celestial Calendar

Impact ofthe LunarProspector

(1999)

Impact of theLunar Prospector

(1999)

Mariner 6Mars flyby

(1969)

Launch of the WilkinsonMicrowave Anisotropy ProbeWMAP); mapped the CosmicMicrowavebackgroundradiation anddeterminedthe age of theuniverse 2001)

Tunguskaexplosion

event(1908)

Death of 3cosmonautsin Soyuz 11

when capsuledepressurizes in

reentry (1971)

Launch of MarsExploration Rover

B Opportunity(2003)

MarsPathfinder

landing(1997)

SmithsonianAir & Space

Museumbirthday(1976)

100-inch mirrorfor Hooker

telescope arrivesat Mt Wilson

(1917)

Launch ofill-fatedJapaneseNozomi

spacecraft toMars (1998)

Crab nebulaviewed byChinese

astronomers(1054)

Probe ofcometTempel 1 byDeep Impactimpactor (2005)

A. E. (Andrew Ellicott)Douglass ,an American

astronomer who discovered acorrelation between tree ringsand the sunspot cycle. (1867)

Launch of the SolarAnomalous and

Magnetospheric ParticleExplorer (SAMPEX) by a

Scout rocket (1992)

IsaacNewton'sPrincipiapublished

(1687)

Discovery ofJupiter's moon

Lysithea bySeth Nicholson

(1938)

AlvanGraham

Clark born,telescope

maker(1832) Launch of

SovietGamma

Observatory(1990)

LangleyResearchCenter

Birthday(1917)

SovietspacecraftLuna 15launched,lander tocrash onMoon (1969)

Close pass of Jupiter's cloudtops by Voyager 2 spacecraft

(1979)

Soviet Mars orbiterPhobos 2 launched (1988)

Launch of theSpace ShuttleAtlantis (STS-135) to theInternationalSpace Station;final spaceshuttle flight to low Earthorbit (2011)

Flyby of Asteroid 21 Lutetiaby EuropeanSpace Agency'sRosettaspacecaft(2010)

launch of Telstar 1,prototype

communicationsatellite designedand built by Bell

Telephone Laboratories (1962)

Skylab re-enters intothe Earth'satmosphere

(1979)

First close-up view ofMars by Mariner 4Spacecraft (1965)

Apollo 11Moon

missionArmstrong,

Aldrin, Collins(1969)

Launch ofApoll0 18 andSoyuz 19 injoint U.S./

Soviet mission(1975)

Schoemaker/Levy Cometfragments

impact Jupiter(July

16-22, 1994)

Allan Standageborn, cosmologist

(1926)

Apollo 11lands on

Moon (1969)

Viking Ilands on

Mars (1976)

Rohini I, India's 1st

satellite, failed atlaunch (1980)

Gus Grissom'scapsule LibertyBell raised after

30 years onocean floor

(1999)Docking and handshakes of Apollo

18 and Soyuz 19 crews (1975)

Launch of Zond5, 1st successfulMoon flyby 1965)

The Dawnspacecraftenters orbitaround theasteroid 4

Vesta (2011)

Gemini X with JohnYoung and MichaelCollins (1966)

Edward Charles Pickering born- Harvard astronomer

and physicist who discoveredthe first spectroscopic binarystars, later used to measurecosmic distances. (1846)

first photo of astar other thanour Sun (Vega)

by HarvardUniversity

(1850)

Launch ofExplorer 35

spacecraft intoan elliptical lunar

orbit, to studyinterplanetary

plasma, magnetic field, energeticparticles, and solar X-rays (1967)

Virgil (Gus)Grissom,2nd U.S.suborbitalflight(1961)

Launch ofSovietMars 4mission(1973)

Alan Haleand Tom

Boppannounce discovery of

comet Hale- Bopp(1995)

Bumper V-2, first rocketlaunch from Cape

Canaveral (1950)

SvetlanaSavitskaya

becomes firstwoman to

walk in space(1984)

Launch ofSovietorbiterMars 5(1973)

Landing of Sovietspacecraft Venera 8

on Venus (1972)

Launch of ShuttleColumbia and ChandraX-ray Observatory; firstmission commanded bya woman, Eileen Collins(1999)

Launch of Landsat 1 into anear-polar orbit to study

Earth's resources andmeteorological phenomena

(1972)

HenriettaLeavitt born;

measureddistances to fargalaxies (1868)

NASA officiallyactivates the

Launch OperationsCenter on Merritt

Island, Florida;later renamed theKennedy SpaceCenter (1962)

78th Convention ofAmateur TelescopeMakers (Stellafane),Springfield, Vt(through the 27th),

Launch ofSyncom 2, first

geosynchronoussatellite (1963)

ShuttleDiscovery(STS-114)"return to flight"(2005)

MonsignorGeorgesLemaître born;Belgian priestand astronomerwas first topropose expanding universe andBig Bang theory (1894)

Launch ofRanger 7,

Moon impactmission(1964)

South Delta-Aquarids

meteorshower peak

Sir George Biddell Airyborn - an Englishmathematicianand AstronomerRoyal whoworked onplanetary orbits,measuring themean densityof the Earth,and establishingGreenwich as the primemeridian (1801)

launch ofApollo 15,

fourth lunarlanding(1971)

Launch ofSkylab 3

(Bean, Pogue,Garriott)(1973)

2nd SaturdayStars Open

HouseMcCarthy

Observatory

Moon atperigee(closest

to Earth)

July 6 July 12

July 19 July 27

Phases of the Moon

Moon atapogee(farthest

from Earth)


distance to Earth)

August 2018Celestial Calendar

2nd Saturday StarsOpen HouseMcCarthy

Observatory

Launch of MESSEN-GER spacecraft toMercury (2004)

Maria Mitchellborn, firstwoman electedas an astronomerto the AmericanAcademy of Artsand Sciences (1818)

Launch ofLunar Orbiter

5, the last of theLunar Orbiterseries (1967)

Launch of PhoenixSpacecraft to Mars

(2007)

AstronautNeil

Armstrongborn (1930)

Viking 2 on Mars (1976)

Launch ofGenesisSpacraft(2001)

Martian meteorite found tocontain possible life (1996)

Launch ofPioneerVenus 2(1978)

Launch ofSoviet Zond 7moon probe

(1969)

Launch ofthe Juno

spacecraft toJupiter(2011)

Flyby ofMars by theMariner 7spacecraft

(1969)

GhermanTitov, 2nd

man inspace(1961)

CassiopeiaSupernova

observed byChinese(1181)

Valery Fyodorovich Bykovskyborn: Soviet cosmonaut flewthree manned space mission

space flights, spending five daysin orbit aboard Vostok 5 in 1963- a record for a solo flight. (1934)

Landing of MarsScience Lab (MSL

or Curiosity)inside Gale Crater

(2012)

Launch of Soviet Luna24 spacecraft, third (and only

successful attempt) torecover a sample from Mare

Crisium (1976)

Launchof Mars

ReconnaissanceOrbiter (2005)

Magellanspacecraft

orbits Venus(1990)

Asaph Halldiscovers Martian

Moon Deimos(1877)

Perseidmeteor

showers atpeak

Launch ofEcho 1A,communi-

cations satellitein 2ND attempt

(1960)

Discoveryof long-

period variable starMira, OmicronCeti by David

Fabricius (1596)

Discovery ofMars' southpolar cap byChristiaanHuygens(1642)

Educator astronaut BarbaraMorgan leads a Q&A sessionwith children in Boise, Idaho

from the space shuttleEndeavour, fulfilling legacy ofChrista McAuliffe, who died

in the 1986 Challengerdisaster (2007)

Launch of Explorer 12spacecraft, measuredcosmic-ray particles,

solar wind protons, andmagnetospheric and

interplanetary magneticfields (1961)

President Reaganannounced his support for

the construction of anorbiter to replaceChallenger (1986)

Launch of theHigh EnergyAstronomicalObservatory(HEAO-1) tomonitor x-ray sources (1977)

Asaph Halldiscovers

Martian MoonPhobos (1877)

Launch ofPioneer 7

(1966)

launch ofVenera 7;

Soviet Venuslander (1970)

Launch of Suisei,Japan's Comet Halley

mission (1985)

Birth of OrvilleWright (1871)

Launch ofVoyager 2to outerplanets(1977)

Launch ofGemini V with

astronautsGordon Cooper

and CharlesConrad (1965)

Launch ofSputnik 5,

with dogs Belkaand Strejka (1960)

Sir JohnFlamsteed born,

Englishastronomer (1646)

Launch ofMars

orbiter/lander

Viking 1(1975)

Lunar Orbiter 1 takesfirst photograph of Earth

from Moon (1966)

Dmitri IvanovichMendeleev rises to

11,500 feet (3.5 km) toobserve an eclipse in

Russia (1887)

Launch of theOrbiting

AstronomicalObservatory-3,

Copernicus,with a UV

telescope andX-ray detector

(1972)

Neptune was found tohave a continuous ringsystem by the Voyager

2 spacecraf (1989)

Plutoreclassifiedas a dwarf

planet (2006)

Launch of the Soviet Luna 11spacecraft toanalyze theMoon'schemistry,gravitation andradiation levels(1966)

Meteor shower (NorthernIota Aquarids peak)

flyby of Neptune by theVoyager 2 spacecraft (1989)

Launch of STS-8 andastronaut Guy Bluford,1st African-American in

space (1983)

Flyby of Saturnby Voyager 2

spacecraft (1981) Flyby of asteroids Ida andDactyl by the Galileo

spacecraft (1993)

Discoveryof Saturn's

moonEnceladus

by WilliamHerschel (1789)

Discovery of NovaCygni in the

constellation Cygnus(1975)

Discovery offirst KuiperBelt object,

1992 QB1, by DavidJewet and Jane Luu

launch of the Mariner 2spacecraft to Venus; first

successful planetaryencounter (1962)

US Naval Observatoryauthorized by an act of

Congress (1842)

First recordedoccurrence - cometHoward Koomen-

Michels impacts sun(energy of 1 million

hydrogen bombs) (1979)

Peak of theAlpha

Capricornidsmeteorshower

Aug 4 Aug 11

Aug 18 Aug 26

Phases of the Moon

Moon atapogee(farthest

from Earth)


distance to Earth)

Documents

GVolume 11, No. 7/8 · observers, several degrees lower in sky. Mars has the greatest variation in Opposition distances than any other planet. In 2018, the planet will appear at 94%