Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Jul 1

================================================== ======================

* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - July 1, 2005 * * *

================================================== ======================

Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full stories
abridged here, and other enhancements are on our Web site,
SkyandTelescope.com, at the URLs provided. (If the links don't work,
just manually type the URLs into your Web browser.) Clear skies!

================================================== ======================

WATCHING COMET TEMPEL 1 - AND DEEP IMPACT

Periodic comet 9P/Tempel 1, currently glowing at a dim 10th magnitude
in the evening sky near Spica, will be blasted by NASA's Deep Impact
probe (the cover story of the June SKY & TELESCOPE) this weekend.

The latest time prediction (updated June 29th) is that the impact will
occur at 10:52:12 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time Sunday night July 3rd,
plus or minus about 10 seconds, as seen from Earth (that's 5:52:12
Universal Time July 4th). Most of the American West, Mexico, and
Central America have a view of the comet in darkness at that time.
There may be a brief flash, and the resulting debris cloud may brighten
Tempel 1 dramatically for hours, days, or weeks....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing...cle_1522_1.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ONE BIG BALL OF ROCK

On Thursday a group of astronomers announced finding perhaps the most
bizarre extrasolar planet yet: an object with a core of heavy elements
that may amount to 65 or 70 times the mass of Earth.

The newfound body - not to be confused with another possibly rocky
planet announced two weeks ago with a much lower mass -- is a whole new
animal. It contains as much or more heavy elements (elements heavier
than hydrogen and helium) than all the planets and asteroids in our
solar system combined. Astronomers have assumed that virtually all the
exoplanets found to date are gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, with
heavy elements such as oxygen, silicon, carbon, and iron constituting
at most one-fourth of their masses. But the new planet appears to be
one-half to two-thirds heavy stuff. "This object is odd, even given the
weird zoo of planets found so far," says Alan Boss (Carnegie
Institution of Washington)....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1538_1.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

COMET DRESS REHEARSAL

In images that Hubble officials are calling a dress rehearsal of things
to come, astronomers used the space telescope to catch Comet Tempel 1
shooting out an unexpected jet of dust on June 14th. The same comet
will be in the eyepiece of many telescopes in the American West on the
evening of July 3rd (local time), when NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft
sends a probe slamming into its nucleus....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1536_1.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS

Long-Awaited Mars Radar Ready

Astronomers might soon have the answer to one of the largest lingering
questions about the history of Mars - what happened to all of its
water? Now a European instrument built to find deep subsurface ice is
ready to begin its observations.

On June 22nd, engineers working with the European Space Agency's Mars
Express orbiter completed the three-part deployment of the Mars
Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument
(MARSIS). The radar consists of two 20-meter-long (66 foot) booms and
one 7-meter-long boom. The instrument will undergo diagnostic testing
until July 4th. After that it will use radar to look for the signature
of frozen ice as deep as 5 kilometers below the surface....

Comet Award Winners

Two Americans will share the seventh annual Edgar Wilson Award for
amateur comet discovery. According to IAU CIRCULAR 8554 issued by the
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) last June 30th, the
winners are Roy A. Tucker (Tucson, Arizona) for discovering C/2004 Q1
and Donald E. Machholz (Colfax, California) for C/2004 Q2. In addition
to the honor and prestige associated with the award, each winner
receives a plaque and a cash prize typically worth several thousand
dollars.

Established in 1998 in memory of American businessman Edgar Wilson, the
award is given to amateur astronomers (or professional astronomers
acting in an amateur capacity) who, during the 12 months preceding June
10th each year, find one or more new comets using amateur, privately
owned equipment. Comets discovered using professional equipment or data
do not qualify.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1535_1.asp

================================================== ======================

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* Deep Impact meets Comet Tempel 1 at 5:52:12 Universal Time July 4th
(10:52:12 p.m. July 3rd Pacific Daylight Time) as described above.
* New Moon on Wednesday, July 6th.
* Jupiter (magnitude -2.0, in Virgo) glares in the southwest during
evening - the brightest "star" in the nighttime sky.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance

================================================== ======================

(Advertisement)

SPAIN: Caves, Corks, Cuisine, and an Annular Solar Eclipse
September 25 - October 4, 2005

Join us in Spain and witness the 4-minute long annular eclipse of the
Sun on October 3rd. Led by Spanish historian and wine and food expert
Cesar Higueras, and by SKY & TELESCOPE magazine associate editor Paul
Deans, you will explore several of Spain's finest prehistoric cave-art
sites, discover wonderfully preserved medieval villages, visit famous
museums, and experience an annular eclipse from Madrid, all the while
sampling northern and central Spain's finest regional foods and wines.

This program is limited to 26 travelers, so make your reservation now.
Call 800-830-1998, visit www.tq-international.com, or send email to


================================================== ======================

Copyright 2005 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is
provided as a free service to the astronomical community by the editors
of SKY & TELESCOPE magazine. Widespread electronic distribution is
encouraged as long as our copyright notice is included, along with the
words "used by permission." But this bulletin may not be published in
any other form without written permission from Sky Publishing; send
e-mail to or call +1 617-864-7360. More
astronomy news is available on our Web site at
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin or to S&T's Skywatcher's
Bulletin, which calls attention to noteworthy celestial events, go to
this address:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/shopatsky/emailsubscribe.asp

================================================== ======================

Stuart Goldman
Associate Editor http://SkyandTelescope.com
Night Sky Magazine http://NightSkyMag.com
49 Bay State Rd.
Cambridge, MA 02138