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March 2004 -
Autumn
Skies Downunder
• Backyard Viewing: The Five Planets
At the end of March, you can view five planets in the sky at the same time. Here's a sky map which shows where the planets are placed at 6.40pm on March 22nd, 2004. Mercury can be spotted just after sunset, a wee dot slightly north of the sun. Of course, you have to hope that there are no clouds in the sky.
Saturn
as Hubble sees the Shining One
Click thumbnail image for larger
image and explanation
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ASTRONOMY
IN THE NEWS
February, 2004
• Mars Spirit Rover and Opportunity Rover Land:
Oi! They actually did it! I'm IMPRESSED! Yep, the Rovers have
landed! I thought at first it would be another fizzer but nope, we have
touch-down! Well, actually, bounce-down but who's being picky?! The
photos from the Rovers are breathtaking and show Mars landscape - flat and arid - and the Sun. OK, so where
are the pics?! Here we go:
The
view of the Mars landscape and Sun from the Rover(30k).
The
Spirit Rover on Mars taken from its navigation camera overhead.
The Rust
colour of Mars soil as stored on the Rover's memory (just an
interesting tid-bit!).
- What is the goal of
Spirit and Opportunity?
Spirit Rover is one of two Rovers which have landed on Mars.
On January 25th, Opportunity Rover also landed. The NASA team are searching for climate and water history on
Mars. Whereas Spirit Rover has gone to Gusev Crater, Opportunity Rover
is at Meridiani Planum. Meridiani Planum is about halfway
around Mars from Gusev Crater. Meridiani has an outcropping of grey
haematite, a mineral which normally forms where there is liquid water.
The Rovers' instruments will study whether conditions in those areas
may have been suitable for life (as we know it).
Thank you, Nasa, for making the
images available. Here's Nasa's
Mars Rover Homepage.
• Some Mars Trivia
The seasons on Mars are much longer than on Earth. It may go through
its own versions of climate extremes. The Mars Rover and telescopes are
currently trying to find this out.
Did Galileo ever see "canals" on Mars? No! He saw
fuzzy, continental
markings on Mars but about 140 years ago, astronomers could see linear
markings on Mars and these looked like channel systems. These may have
had water running through them many years ago.
The dust on Mars is as fine as talcum powder so the
motors in the
Rovers are sealed well to prevent them getting clogged up. Scientists
think that the dust is so fine through the effects of chemical
weathering, the never-ending fall of debris from space and the presence
of so many volcanoes and Martian winds.
There is three kilometres of deep ice at the polar
caps on Mars.
This is where frozen life in the form of microbes may still be present.
We don't know this yet.
Mars
image from Hubble as it passed close to Earth
June 26,2001
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Stephan's
Quintet Mosaic Photograph,
stars in collision
July, 2001
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Our thanks to the ingenuity of
the Space Technical Science Institute.
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 DEEP IMPACT!
Now this has gotta be a cool fun thing to do. NASA is sending a rocket
to collide with Comet Temple 1 in 2004. You can have your name put on
the disc which will be on the spacecraft. If you want to do it, read about
adding your name here. Have I done it? Yep! And I've printed the
certificate off which proves it!! :) Oh, and btw, you can download a fact sheet about the mission, too.
SORRY GUYS, THIS IS NOW ENDED. If you haven't added your name, you've missed out. You can still read about it, though, at the above link. Also, Deep Impact may have more opportunities coming up so keep checking in!
May, 2003 - Japan reaches for a hunk of asteroid
Japan's rocket launch may be the first to find
out if viruses or bacteria or any life could be carried on asteroids.
October,
2001- Ever wondered why the Earth's ozone hole is over the South Pole?
Find out about the ozone hole here
Looking for
old news items from this page? Go to the
News Items Archives Pages
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