Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Mar 19

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

* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - March 19, 2004 * * *

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

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

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

STARDUST'S PRECIOUS COMET CARGO

With all the excitement surrounding the Mars Exploration Rovers since they
landed in January, few people realize that another space triumph happened two
days before Spirit touched down on the red planet. On January 2nd a spacecraft
called Stardust successfully flew by Comet 81P/Wild 2, extended a
tennis-racket-shaped collector, and, as its name implies, caught bits of
cometary dust to return to Earth. On Tuesday March 16th, a standing-room-only
crowd of researchers at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston,
Texas, eagerly listened as the Stardust team members shared the early results
of the flyby.

The mission's primary goal was to bring back at least 500 particles bigger than
15 microns in size. According to Stardust's principal investigator, Donald
Brownlee (University of Washington), "We beat that by a factor of at least a
few." The spacecraft also took 72 images of the comet's nucleus from as little
as 240 kilometers (149 miles) away, spotting details with a resolution better
than 20 meters per pixel. These shots revealed a body covered with scarps,
vertical cliffs, and a "monument valley" complete with columns, pyramids,
cones, and 100-meter-high spires....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1213_1.asp

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

SMALL ASTEROID MAKES CLOSEST KNOWN FLYBY

On Thursday night, March 18th, a tiny, newly discovered asteroid made the
closest flyby of Earth ever predicted. The object, dubbed 2004 FH, is probably
only about 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter, the size of a small office
building. An electronic message issued late on March 17th by the Minor Planet
Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, indicated that it would pass by safely
about 42,500 kilometers (26,500 miles) from Earth's surface. That's one-ninth
the distance of the Moon -- and just a few thousand kilometers beyond the
orbits of most communications satellites....

According to the orbit calculated by Gareth Williams, the MPC's associate
director, 2004 FH belongs to the Aten class of asteroids. It circles the Sun in
just under 9 months in very nearly the same plane as Earth's orbit. At
perihelion it swings well inside the orbit of Venus; when at aphelion
(as it is now) it ranges just outside that of Earth....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1218_1.asp

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

FOLLOW THE HEMATITE

When planetary scientists reviewed potential landing sites for the Mars
Exploration Rovers, Meridiani Planum rose to the top of the list. Opportunity's
future destination was known from orbital studies to be covered by hematite --
a mineral often associated with water on Earth. Now, scientists have not only
verified that Meridiani is covered by hematite, they are closer to determining
how it got there.

When Opportunity arrived, opened its eyes, and looked around with its thermal
spectrometer, "Bang! We saw hematite right away," said MER principal
investigator Steven Squyres (Cornell University) at a Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference in Houston, Texas. The surface appeared covered with the
stuff, but there was very little inside the small crater where Opportunity came
to a rest. Moreover, Squyres notes, the bounce marks left behind by
Opportunity's air bags show no hematite.

Close inspection of the rover's surroundings found the region filled with
countless BB-sized pebbles affectionately dubbed "blueberries" by MER team
members....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1216_1.asp

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

FAR-FLUNG PLANETOID SHATTERS DISTANCE RECORD

The solar system's terra cognita just got a lot bigger, thanks to the discovery
of a large miniworld found about twice as far from the Sun as any known object.
The new body is nearly 13 billion kilometers (86 astronomical units) away.
Moreover, it's big, with a diameter of 1,200 to 1,700 km -- about half the size
of Earth's Moon and likely ranking as the largest solar-system find since the
discovery of 2,400-km-wide Pluto in 1930....

A check of older images turned up 2003 VB12 in frames acquired in 2001 by
another team with the same telescope. Using those positions and other follow-up
observations, Brian A. Marsden (Minor Planet Center) calculates that the body
has a remarkably large and eccentric orbit....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1214_1.asp

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

A LIGHT ECHO REVISITED

In early 2002, a relatively undistinguished star named V838 Monocerotis
embarked on a light-speed rise to fame. It flared twice in February and March
before fading away, but the aftermath of its outbursts continues to intrigue
astronomers and mesmerize the public. A series of five images (captured between
May 20, 2002, and February 8, 2004) were captured by the Hubble Space
Telescope. They show the outward journey of the light from the flares....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1205_1.asp

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* The equinox occurs on March 20th at 1:49 a.m. EST (March 19th at 10:49 p.m.
PST); spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere.
* New Moon occurs on the 20th
* Venus (magnitude -4.3, in Aries) is the brilliant white "Evening Star"
blazing in the west during twilight and much of the evening.
* On the 24th the crescent Moon is next to Venus.
* On the 25th the Moon is next to Mars.

For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/

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

GET ECLIPSED (Advertisement)
Three tours to the April 2005 total-annular (hybrid) solar eclipse

1) 25-Night Cruise-Tour on the World Discoverer, March 28-April 23, 2005
Cruise in luxury aboard the magnificent 150-passenger World Discoverer. Visit
Easter Island, Bora Bora, and Tahiti; see uninhabited atolls and authentic
villages where age-old customs endure; and witness a total eclipse of the Sun
on April 8th. A SKY & TELESCOPE editor will join a distinguished group of
expert lecturers who will discuss astronomy, ornithology, botany, and more.

2) 19-Night Cruise-Tour on the MV Discovery, April 3-19, 2005 Experience the
South Pacific aboard the newly rebuilt 600-passenger MV Discovery. Join SKY &
TELESCOPE editor in chief Rick Fienberg and Dr. E. C. Krupp, director of
Griffith Observatory, as we explore Easter Island, Tahiti, Papeete, and
Pitcairn Island, and view the total eclipse on the 8th.

3) 5-Night Panama "Ring of Beads" Annular Eclipse, April 4-9, 2005 Join us for
an "almost total" annular eclipse in the tropical paradise of Panama. Here the
eclipse will be just short of total, and a magical ring of sparkling solar
beads will surround the Moon during annularity. Our trip includes a visit to
Amador Causeway of the Panama Canal, sightseeing in historic Panama City, a
river-canoe ride, and walks through virgin rain forests.

Pick the one that suits your schedule and budget. Reserve your space today! For
more information call TravelQuest International at 800-830-1998 or visit:

http://www.tq-international.com

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

Copyright 2004 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 *
| Sky & Telescope |
* 49 Bay State Rd. Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Cambridge, MA 02138 Magazine of Astronomy |
*-----------------------------------------------------*