Central Arkansas Astronomical Society
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I’m sorry to announce that the state-wide cloud cover, lightning and light rain pretty much put the kibosh on the star party this evening. Carl, Sand & Pat, my wife and daughter were there for a while with Mr. Mullins just in case but we wrapped up the evening around 9:30. So far this year, CAAS is 0 and 2 for public star parties. Maybe the two next month will do better.
Jim Dixon
By Dr. Tony Phillips
Congratulations! Youâre an oceanographer and youâve just received a big grant to investigate the Pacific Ocean. Your task: Map the mighty Pacificâs wind and waves, monitor its deep currents, and keep track of continent-sized temperature oscillations that shape weather around the world. Funds are available and you may start immediately.
Oh, thereâs just one problem:Â Youâve got to do this work using no more than one ocean buoy.
âThat would be impossible,â? says Dr. Guan Le of the Goddard Space Flight Center. âThe Pacificâs too big to understand by studying just one location.â?
Yet, for Le and her space scientist colleagues, this was exactly what they have been expected to accomplish in their own studies of Earthâs magnetosphere. The                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                magnetosphere is an âoceanâ? of magnetism and plasma surrounding our planet. Its shores are defined by the outer bounds of Earthâs magnetic field and it contains a bewildering mix of matter-energy waves, electrical currents and plasma oscillations spread across a volume billions of times greater than the Pacific Ocean itself.
âFor many years weâve struggled to understand the magnetosphere using mostly single spacecraft,â? says Le. âTo really make progress, we need many spacecraft spread through the magnetosphere, working together to understand the whole.â?
Enter Space Technology 5.
In March 2006 NASA launched a trio of experimental satellites to see what three âbuoysâ? could accomplish. Because they weighed only 55 lbs. apiece and measured not much larger than a birthday cake, the three ST5 âmicro-satellitesâ? fit onboard a single Pegasus rocket. Above Earthâs atmosphere, the three were flung like Frisbees from the rocketâs body into the magnetosphere by a revolutionary micro-satellite launcher.
Space Technology 5 is a mission of NASAâs New Millennium Program, which tests innovative technologies for use on future space missions. The 90-day flight of ST5 validated several devices crucial to space buoys: miniature magnetometers, high-efficiency solar arrays, and some strange-looking but effective micro-antennas designed from principles of Darwinian evolution. Also, ST5 showed that three satellites could maneuver together as a âconstellation,â? spreading out to measure complex fields and currents.
âST5 was able to measure the motion and thickness of current sheets in the magnetosphere,â? says Le, the missionâs project scientist at Goddard. âThis could not have been done with a single spacecraft, no matter how capable.â?
The ST5 mission is finished but the technology it tested will key future studies of the magnetosphere. Thanks to ST5, hopes Le, lonely buoys will soon be a thing of the past.
Learn more about ST5âs miniaturized technologies at nmp.nasa.gov/st5. Kids (and grownups) can get a better understanding of the artificial evolutionary process used to design ST5âs antennas at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/st5/emoticon.
This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Caption:
The Space Technology 5 micro-satellites proved the feasibility of using a constellation of small spacecraft with miniature magnetometers to study Earthâs magnetosphere.
President John Reed called the meeting to order at 7 PM. There were 22 members present and one visitor. Kevin Floyd from Cabot came to check us out. Welcome, Kevin, we hope you come back.
Old Business:
Our Astronomy Day event on May 10 was officially canceled due to a large front of thunderstorms rolling through. However, that did not stop our most reliable star party goers Bill sanders, Sandy & Pat Morris, and Carl Freyaldenhoven. They were there at Pinnacle Mountain with bubble soap at the ready. They had a few visitors who also braved the weather. Thanks to you four for your committment.
Since the last meeting, we’ve had two star parties in Beebe. The first was at a church there for cub scouts and the other at their junior high school. The first star party was clouded over but John, Don F, & Stacy brought the show indoors and entertained the scouts. The second party had better weather. John, Carl, Don F, Jason, and Rocky represented CAAS very well. This was a group of 5th-7th graders. There was too much light pollution but they were able to show the kids the brighter objects in the sky.
Last weeked, several members went to Mulberry Mountain for an camping, astronomy event. From what I hear, the skies were good once they stopped lighting up the hot air balloons.
The RRAC Burger Burn in Nashville was also a big success with clear skies and good friends.
New Business:
The 2008 MSRAL Convention is coming up next weekend. At this time, we know of John Reed and Jim Fisher attending.
In coming weeks, CAAS has committed to three star parties:
We’ve also had a request to hold a star party on August 5 for the Wakefield Neighborhood Association. We will discuss it further to see if we have people available after all of our other committments.
If you haven’t heard, we recently paid off the note on the classroom. Like any mortgage, this has been drain on CAAS (though well worth it) for years and now it is all ours!
Presentation:
Jason Wallawine gave a presentation on perhaps the greatest physicist that you’ve never heard of Burkhard Heim. Starting in the 40s, he developed theories of the physical universe that have only recently been taken seriously as they appear to do a better job of predicting field and particle attributes than other theories. Hopefully, Jason will make his presentation avaialble to this website. Thank you, Jason.
After the meeting, members retired to the observing field to visit and see what the nearly full Moon could not defeat.