[astronews] IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter

IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter
April 2009

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The International Association for Astronomical Studies provides this newsletter 
as a service for interested persons in the Denver Metro area. The astronomical 
data presented here is not only useful in Colorado but in other parts of the 
world as well.

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This newsletter is published on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.ki0ar.com/astro.html - The Home of KI0AR - and is received 
nationally and internationally. An MS Word formatted downloadable version of 
the newsletter is at http://www.ki0ar.com/current_nl.doc.

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An Open Invitation - For amateur radio and scanner enthusiasts, when in the 
Denver metro area, please join the Colorado Astronomy Net on the Rocky Mountain 
Radio League (http://rmrl.hamradios.com/ ) repeater on a frequency of 146.94 
MHz on Tuesday nights at 7 P.M. local time.

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Special Notice to Denver, CO area residents and visitors to the area: The 
Plains Conservation Center in Aurora hosts Full Moon Walks every month weather 
permitting on or near the night of the full Moon. Visit 
http://www.plainsconservationcenter.org for more information and directions.

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Excerpts from JPL mission updates are provided as a public service as part of 
the JPL Solar System Ambassador / NASA Outreach program.

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In This Newsletter...

* The Moon
* The Planets
* Astronomical Events
* Planetary/Lunar Exploration Missions
* Web Sites of Interest
* Acknowledgments and References
* Subscription Information

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The Month At-A-Glance at http://www.ki0ar.com/ataglance.html
A calendar displaying the daily astronomical events.

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The Moon

Phases:
* New Moon on the 24th.
* First Quarter Moon on the 2nd.
* Full Moon on the 9th.
* Last Quarter Moon on the 17th.

* Perigee on the 1st, 229,916 mi. from Earth.
* Apogee on the 16th, 251,178 mi. from Earth.
* Perigee on the 28th, 227,446 mi. from Earth.

Moon/Planet Pairs:
* The Moon passes 6° south of Saturn on the 7th.
* The Moon passes 0.4° north of Antares on the 13th.
* Mars passes 0.5° south of Uranus on the 14th.
* Venus passes 6° north of Mars on the 18th.
* The Moon passes 2° north of Jupiter on the 19th.
* The Moon passes 2° north of Neptune on the 19th.
* The Moon passes 5° north of Uranus on the 22nd.
* The Moon passes 1.1° north of Venus on the 22nd.
* The Moon passes 6° north of Mars on the 22nd.
* The Moon passes 1.9° north of Mercury on the 26th.

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The Planets & Dwarf Planets
Planetary Reports generated by "TheSky" software. 
(http://www.ki0ar.com/planrpts.html) These reports provide predicted data for 
the planets for the first of each month for the current year. The rise and set 
times for the Sun and the Moon for each day of the month are also included in 
the reports.
(All times are local unless otherwise noted.)

* Planetary Highlights for April - This is a great month for planet watching 
for all early risers. For those of you who get up before sunrise, there are 5 
planets to observe (In order of appearance): Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Uranus and 
Venus. However, for those of us who are evening viewers, only Saturn is visible 
until later in the month when Mercury returns to the evening sky. Although, 
Mercury will present its best evening appearance for the year this month.

* Mercury - Is at greatest eastern elongation on the 26th. Mercury is at its 
best evening viewing for northern hemisphere observers at this time. Look for 
Mercury during the last two weeks of April. Mercury sets at 6:24 p.m. on the 
1st and about 6:46 p.m. by month's end. Mercury moves from the constellation of 
Capricornus through Pisces and Aries into Taurus this month shining at 
magnitude 0.7.

* Venus - Has returned to the morning sky this month. Venus rises at 4:51 a.m. 
on the 1st and about 4:18 a.m. by month's end. If you live in the western 
two-thirds of the US, you may be able to see the Moon as it occults Venus in 
the early morning twilight on the morning of Wednesday the 22nd. Venus is in 
the constellation of Pisces this month. Venus shines at magnitude -4.6.

* Earth - N/A.

* Mars - Rises at 4:43 a.m. on the 1st and about 4:40 a.m. by month's end. Look 
for Mars low in the east before sunrise. Mars moves from the constellation of 
Aquarius into Pisces this month shining at magnitude 1.2.

* Jupiter - Rises at 3:38 a.m. on the 1st and about 2:53 a.m. by month's end. 
Jupiter continues to climb higher in the morning sky as the month progresses. 
Jupiter is in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude -2.1.

* Saturn - Rises at 4:04 p.m. on the 1st and about 2:59 p.m. by month's end. 
Saturn is well positioned for evening viewing by the time the Sun sets. Saturn 
is visible all evening this month. Saturn is in the constellation of Leo 
shining at magnitude 0.7.

* Uranus - Has returned to the morning sky along with Mercury, Mars, Jupiter 
and Neptune. Uranus rises at 5:05 a.m. on the 1st and about 4:11 a.m. by 
month's end. Uranus is in the constellation of Pisces shining at magnitude 5.9.

* Neptune - Can also be spotted in the morning sky before sunrise. Neptune 
rises at 3:54 a.m. on the 1st and about 2:58 a.m. by month's end. Neptune is in 
the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.9.

Dwarf Planets  
* Ceres - Rises at 2:18 p.m. on the 1st and about 12:30 p.m. by month’s end. 
Ceres is in the constellation of Leo shining at magnitude 7.7.

* Pluto - Rises at 12:32 a.m. on the 1st and about 11:29 p.m. by month's end. 
Pluto is in the constellation of Sagittarius shining at magnitude 14.0.

Good luck at spotting these two, a large telescope and dark skies will be 
needed.

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Astronomical Events

Meteor Showers
* The Lyrid Meteor Shower - The Lyrids are typically visible between April 16 
and 25. Maximum occurs during April 21-22. Although the maximum rate is about 
10, there have been instances during the last 200 years when rates were near or 
over 100 per hour. The average magnitude of the meteors is near 2.4 and the 
speed is described as rapid. About 15% of the meteors leave persistent trains.

* For more information about Meteor Showers, visit Gary Kronk's Meteor Showers 
Online web page at http://meteorshowersonline.com/.

Comets
* Comet Lulin is in the constellation of Gemini, Comet 17/P Holmes is in the 
constellation of Cancer and Comet C/2003 W3 is in the constellation of Pegasus, 
however, these comets will be difficult to spot from urban and suburban skies 
as none are much brighter than about 10th magnitude. Dark skies and medium to 
large telescopes will be needed to spot these comets.

* For information, orbital elements and ephemerides on observable comets visit 
the Observable Comets page from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 
(http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/index.html ).

* For more information about Comets, visit Gary Kronk's Cometography.com web 
page at http://cometography.com/.

Eclipses
* No eclipse activity this month.

Occultations
* For observers in the western two-thirds of the US (Northern hemisphere), the 
Moon will occult the planet Venus. Occultation will begin at approximately 6:20 
a.m. Mountain Daylight Time on Wednesday, April 22, an hour later for Central 
time zone observers and an hour earlier for west coast observers. Binoculars 
may help to observe the occultation but be extremely careful not to point them 
too close to the Sun.

* Information on various occultations can be found at 
http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm , the International Occultation 
Timing Association's (IOTA) web site.

Asteroids (From west to east)
* Vesta is in the constellation of Taurus.
* Pallas is in the constellation of Monoceros.
* Amphitrite is in the constellation of Virgo.
* Irene is at opposition on the 20th in the constellation of Virgo.

* Information about the Minor Planets can be found at 
http://www.minorplanetobserver.com the Minor Planet Observer web site.

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Planetary/Lunar Exploration Missions
(Excerpts from recent mission updates)

* Cassini - March 30, 2009
Clumpy Construction
Full-Res: PIA11459 (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11459)

"The Cassini spacecraft reveals a remarkable amount of structure in the outer 
portion of Saturn's A ring.
The granular look of the outer edge of the A ring, first discovered soon after 
Cassini's orbit insertion, is likely created by gravitational clumping of 
particles there. As ring particles round the planet in their orbits in this 
region, they also become perturbed by the gravitational forcing of Saturn's two 
moons, Janus and Epimetheus. The resulting gravitational resonance at the A 
ring's outer edge periodically forces the particles close together, promoting 
clumping (see Scrambled 
Edge(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/imagedetails/index.cfm?imageId=3060)). 
Similar clumping is seen at the outer edge of the B ring where a resonance with 
Mimas has a similar effect on the ring particle orbits (see Perturbed 
Edge(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/imagedetails/index.cfm?imageId=3138)).

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 206,000 kilometers 
(128,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 
108 degrees. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 64 
degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the 
Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 2, 2008. Image scale is 901 
meters (2,960 feet) per pixel."

Cassini Imaging Team's website - http://ciclops.org.

For the latest mission status reports, visit 
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The speed and location of the 
spacecraft can be viewed on the "Present Position" web page.
(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm)

* New Horizons - March 12, 2009
New Horizons Detects Neptune’s Moon Triton

"Add another moon to the New Horizons photo gallery: the spacecraft’s Long 
Range Reconnaissance Imager detected Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 13 known 
moons, during the annual spacecraft checkout last fall.

New Horizons was 2.33 billion miles (3.75 billion kilometers) from Neptune on 
Oct. 16, when LORRI, following a programmed sequence of commands, locked onto 
the planet and snapped away.

“We wanted to test LORRI’s ability to measure a faint object near a much 
brighter one using a special tracking mode,” says New Horizons Project 
Scientist Hal Weaver, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics 
Laboratory, “and the Neptune-Triton pair perfectly fit the bill.” LORRI was 
operated in 4-by-4 format (the original pixels are binned in groups of 16), and 
the spacecraft was put into a special tracking mode to allow for longer 
exposure times. “We needed to achieve the highest possible sensitivity,” Weaver 
adds."

New Horizons gallery http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/.

For more information on the New Horizons mission - the first mission to the 
ninth planet - visit the New Horizons home page: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.

* Dawn - No new news since February 26, 2009
Dawn Finishes Mars Phase

Mission Status Report: NASA's Dawn Mission

"With Mars disappearing in its metaphorical rearview mirror, NASA's Dawn 
spacecraft's next stop is the asteroid belt and the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn 
got as close as 549 kilometers (341 miles) to the Red Planet during its 
Tuesday, Feb. 17, flyby. 

Dawn's navigators placed the spacecraft on a close approach trajectory with 
Mars so the planet's gravitational influence would provide a kick to the 
spacecraft's velocity. If Dawn had to perform these orbital adjustments on its 
own, with no Mars gravitational deflection, the spacecraft would have had to 
fire up its engines and change velocity by more than 9,330 kilometers per hour 
(5,800 miles per hour). 

The achieved goal of the flyby was to obtain this orbital pick-me-up, making 
possible its voyage to asteroid Vesta and, later, the dwarf planet Ceres. But 
Dawn's science teams used this massive target of opportunity to also perform 
calibrations of some of the scientific instruments. Calibration images were 
taken by Dawn's framing camera, and the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector also 
observed Mars for calibration. These data will be compared to similar 
observations taken by spacecraft orbiting Mars."

For more information on the Dawn mission, visit the Dawn home page: 
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html.

* MESSENGER - March 20, 2009
MESSENGER Team Remembers Dr. Mario H. Acuña

"Mario H. Acuña, a senior astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 
and Co-Investigator on the MESSENGER mission, died on March 5, 2009, after a 
long battle against multiple myeloma. During his four decades at NASA, he 
played a critical role in many NASA endeavors, serving as principal 
investigator or key developer of experiments flown on more than 30 missions to 
every planet in the solar system, as well as the Sun.

Acuña had been involved in the MESSENGER from its inception, 13 years ago. "He 
became an enthusiastic participant as soon as I mentioned MESSENGER to him, 
when it was just an idea without an acronym," notes Stamatios M. Krimigis, 
chair of MESSENGER's Atmosphere and Magnetosphere Group. "His deep technical 
knowledge and scientific insight, coupled with his absolute honesty and 
integrity made him an indispensable member of any technical review and a 
critical player when hard decisions had to be made."

Acuña contributed to the development of the Magnetometer (MAG) and the analysis 
of MAG observations from MESSENGER's first two flybys of Mercury. "He brought 
with him a wealth of experience that was truly irreplaceable," says Brian 
Anderson, MESSENGER’s Deputy Project Scientist. "He was a fountain of knowledge 
about anything concerning magnetic fields and magnetometer instrumentation. His 
breadth of understanding was astonishing. From arcane properties of materials 
to the intricacies of the electronics design in his instruments, you could 
count on Mario to have gems of wisdom to offer. To work with Mario on any 
project was to learn from him. We did our best to be good students, but it will 
be difficult knowing that we can no longer pick up the phone when we feel the 
need of his advice."

For more information on the MESSENGER mission, visit the MESSENGER home page: 
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/.

* Pack Your Backpack
Calling all explorers! Tour JPL with our new Virtual Field Trip site. Stops 
include Mission Control and the Rover Lab. Your guided tour starts when you 
select a "face" that will be yours throughout the visit. Cool space images and 
souvenirs are all included in your visit.
+ http://virtualfieldtrip.jpl.nasa.gov/ 
* Past, Present, Future and Proposed JPL Missions - 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions.

* For special JPL programs and presentations in your area visit the JPL Solar 
System Ambassador web site at http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html.

Mars Missions

* Mars Odyssey Orbiter - March 11, 2009
Spacecraft Reboots Successfully

"PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter properly followed commands 
today to shut down and restart, a strategy by its engineers to clear any memory 
flaws accumulated in more than five years since Odyssey's last reboot.

The procedure also restored Odyssey's onboard set of backup systems, called the 
spacecraft's "B side," allowing its use in the future when necessary.

"For nearly two years, we have not known for certain whether the backup systems 
would be usable, so this successful reboot has allowed us to ascertain their 
health and availability for future use," said Odyssey Project Manager Philip 
Varghese of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 

Odyssey has been orbiting Mars since 2001 and has never switched from its 
primary set of components, the "A side," to the backup set, which includes an 
identical computer processor, navigation sensors, relay radio and other 
components. In March 2006, the B-side spare of a component for managing the 
distribution of power became inoperable. Analysis by engineers identified a 
possibility that rebooting Odyssey might restore that component, which proved 
to be a side benefit of today's procedure to refresh onboard memory."

"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online 
at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/odyssey/20060313.html.

The fly-through plus tools for wandering across and zooming into the large 
image are at http://themis.asu.edu/.";

DAILY MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) web site: 
(http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html)

The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established 
by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/ 

Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page at 
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html.

* Mars Exploration Rover Mission (Spirit and Opportunity) - March 26, 2009

SPIRIT UPDATE:  Distance Record for Five-Wheel Driving - sols 1852-1858, March 
19-25, 2009:

"Spirit is making good progress around Home Plate to the west. After getting 
clear of troublesome rocks, Spirit drove 13.8 meters (45.3 feet) on Sol 1854 
(March 21, 2009). The next drive, on Sol 1856 (March 23, 2009), achieved a new 
distance record for five-wheel driving. Spirit drove 25.82 meters (84.7 feet), 
beating the old record by about a meter. Spirit completed another drive of 12.9 
meters (42.3 feet) on Sol 1858 (March 25, 2009).

The sol ahead will see the building of the new R9.3 flight software on board 
the rover. The rover will boot the new software on the subsequent sol.

As of Sol 1858 (March 25, 2009), Spirit's solar array energy production is 233 
watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) remains elevated at 1.15. The dust factor 
on the solar array, 0.309, means that 30.9 percent of sunlight hitting the 
solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. The rover is 
in good health in spite of dusty skies. Spirit's total odometry is 7,665.02 
meters (4.76 miles)."


OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Brushing and Examining an Outcrop - sols 1852-1858, March 
19-25, 2009:

"Opportunity remains positioned on an exposed rock outcrop, continuing an "in 
situ" (contact) science campaign with the robotic arm (IDD).

On Sol 1832 (March 20, 2009), the first part of a rock abrasion tool (RAT) 
brushing activity was performed. Using a new work-around for the failed RAT 
Z-encoder, the RAT successfully performed a seek-scan to locate the rock 
surface. On the next sol, the RAT successfully brushed the surface. The 
Microscopic imager (MI) took images to document the brushing. The Mössbauer 
(MB) spectrometer was placed on the brushed target, and several sols of 
integration were performed. On Sol 1836 (March 24, 2009), the alpha particle 
X-ray spectrometer (APXS) was placed on the brushed target to measure the 
elemental composition. On Sol 1837 (March 25, 2009), another RAT seek-scan was 
performed to set up for a RAT grind on the next sol.

As of Sol 1837 (March 25, 2009), Opportunity's solar array energy production is 
336 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) remains elevated at 1.145. The solar 
array dust factor is 0.497, meaning that 49.7 percent of sunlight hitting the 
solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. Opportunity 
is in good health. Its total odometry remains at 15,051.44 meters (9.35 miles)."

Landing sites link - http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/ 

Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page at
 http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html.

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission - March 25, 2009
Images of an Unearthly Spring

"New images from the high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance 
Orbiter show intriguing patterns where dusty gas released by thawing dry ice 
bursts through overlying ice near Mars' south pole. 

Mars' seasonal cap of carbon dioxide ice has eroded many beautiful terrains as 
it sublimates (goes directly from ice to vapor) every spring. In the region 
where the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's 
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image, we see troughs that form a 
starburst pattern. In other areas these radial troughs have been refered to as 
spiders, simply because of their shape. In this region the pattern looks more 
dendritic as channels branch out numerous times as they get further from the 
center. 

The troughs are believed to be formed by gas flowing beneath the seasonal ice 
to openings where the gas escapes, carrying along dust from the surface below. 
The dust falls to the surface of the ice in fan-shaped deposits."

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/.


More information about the MRO mission is available online at 
http://www.nasa.gov/mro.

* Phoenix Mars Lander Mission - No new news since February 19, 2009
Award to Recognize Phoenix Mars Lander Team

"The team that developed and operated NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission will 
receive the 2009 John L. "Jack" Swigert Award for Space Exploration from the 
Space Foundation. 

During five months of operations at a Martian arctic site after landing on May 
25, 2008, the Phoenix spacecraft confirmed the presence of frozen water just 
below the surface, identified potential nutrients and other substances in the 
soil, and observed snow in the atmosphere. 

The Space Foundation, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., announced Feb. 19 
[http://www.spacefoundation.org/news/story.php?id=658] that it will present the 
award to the Phoenix team on March 30, during the foundation's 25th National 
Space Symposium, in Colorado Springs."

Full image and caption 
(http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/phx-20090102.html)

Visit the Phoenix Mars Lander Mission pages at 
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html.

* Mars Missions Status - New Mars missions are being planned to include several 
new rover and sample collection missions. Check out the Mars Missions web page: 
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/ and the Mars Exploration page: 
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/.

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Links and Other Space News
(If you have a link you would like to recommend to our readers, please feel 
free to submit it.)

* "TheSky" Software - http://www.bisque.com 

* A Short Guide to Celestial Navigation - http://www.celnav.de/ 

* Astrogirl Homepage - http://www.astrogirl.org 

* Astronomical Lexicon - http://www.ki0ar.com/astrolex.html 
Many of the astronomical terms used in this newsletter are defined here.

* Astronomy Picture of the Day - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html 

* Celestron Telescopes - http://www.celestron.com/c2/index.php - New beta 
website

* Cloudbait Observatory, Guffey Colorado - http://www.cloudbait.com - Submit 
your fireball reports here. Interesting, knowledgeable site.

* The Constellations and Their Stars - 
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations.html 
Good site for finding out more about the 88 constellations and their associated 
stars.

* Denver Astronomical Society - http://www.denverastrosociety.org 

* Distant Suns - http://www.distantsuns.com/ 
Desktop Astronomy package for PCs.

* Eric's Black Sun Eclipse website -
http://www.ericsblacksuneclipse.com 

* Groovy Adventures - http://www.groovyadventures.com 
Unique adventures and vacations including astronomy related vacations.

* The International Dark-Sky Association - http://www.darksky.org
To preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark 
skies.

* JPL Solar System Ambassador Program -
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/front.html

* JPL Solar System - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/ 

* Meade Advanced Products Users Group - http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/ - 
Mapug-Astronomy Topical Archive & information resource, containing a massive 
335 page archive of discussions about Meade equipment, and much more: 
observatories, observing lists, permanent piers, equatorial wedges, remote 
operations, software, eyepieces, etc.

* My Stars Live - http://www.mystarslive.com/ 
Interactive Star Chart

* NASA Science News - http://science.nasa.gov/ 

* Northern Colorado Astronomical Society - http://ncastro.org/ 

* Sangre Stargazers - http://sangrestargazers.skymtn.com/ - New astronomy club 
in the Wet Mountain Valley of Custer County (about 45 miles due west of Pueblo, 
CO).

* Sky and Space - http://www.skyandspace.com.au/public/home.ehtml 
Astronomy from Down Under - The Southern Hemisphere's first astronomy and space 
magazine.

* Skywatch Sightings from NASA - 
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ 
This site gives you the best times to watch the ISS pass over or near your 
location.

* Southern Colorado Astronomical Society - http://www.scasastronomy.info/

* Space.com - http://space.com 
Interesting space and astronomy articles.

* Space.com - Sky Watch Calendar -
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/sky_calendar.html 

* Spaceflight Now - http://spaceflightnow.com/ 

* "SpaceRef.com" - http://www.spaceref.com/ - SpaceRef's 21 news and reference 
web sites are designed to allow both the novice and specialist alike to explore 
outer space and Earth observation.
This site includes links to planetary updates such as Mercury Today, Venus 
Today, Earth Today, Moon Today, Mars Today, Jupiter Today, Saturn Today, Pluto 
Today, etc.

* Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org
Free, downloadable planetarium/astronomy software.

* Universe Today - http://www.universetoday.com

* Wikisky - http://www.wikisky.org
WIKISKY is a non-commercial project. The main purpose of WIKISKY is to 
consolidate astronomical, astrophysical and other information about different 
space objects and astrophysical facts.

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Acknowledgments and References

Much of the information in this newsletter is from "Astronomy Magazine" 
(Kalmbach Publishing), JPL mission status reports, the Internet, "Meteor 
Showers - A Descriptive Catalog" by Gary W. Kronk, Sky & Telescope web pages 
(S&T), and other astronomical sources that I have stashed on my book shelves.

The author will accept any suggestions, constructive criticisms, and 
corrections. Please feel free to send me any new links or articles to share as 
well. I will try to accommodate any reasonable requests. Please feel free to 
send questions, comments, criticisms, or donations to the email address listed 
below. Enjoy!

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Keep looking UP!
73 from KI0AR

Created by Burness F. Ansell, III
ki0ar@xxxxxxxxx

COO, Director of Aerospace Technologies, IAAS
JPL Solar System Ambassador, Colorado
Last modified: April 01, 2009

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