Let's take a look at all of the things that need updating...
First of all, today was the peak of the Orionid Meteor Shower. If you wake up early (best: before dawn-4/5am) and look towards the constellation Orion, you will be able to see as many as 35 meteors per hour!! What are meteors???? What is a meteor shower???? When the Earth passes through a spot on its orbit that contains material left over from a comet or other celestial object a lot of debris enters the Earth's atmosphere. This debris burns up, due to friction, and produces "shooting stars" or meteors. Below are some pictures taken from www.spaceweather.com
New Rocket Test Flight!
NASA is going to be testing the Ares 1-X rocket which will be used in the new Constellation Program. The Constellation Program will be returning man to the moon with the goal of creating a lunar base and the eventual goal of gaining knowledge of sending man to Mars. Below is a beautiful photo (from www.nasa.gov) of the Ares 1-X rocket on the launch pad (launch pad 39B). The picture shows the Ares 1-X on the launch pad (with spotlights!) and the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
The rocket is scheduled to test launch on Thursday, Oct. 27 between 8am and noon. Maybe we can watch it in class!
Information regarding the Ares 1-x rocket and the image were taken from www.NASA.gov
The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off of the endangered list. There has been some recent data showing that this species of whale is making a comeback! We will try to keep an eye on this! Good for the whales! For any information on endangered or threatened species, check out the World Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.org)
The Nov. 12 STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis scheduled launch to the ISS (International Space Station) has been pushed back 5 days to allow extra time for test fights. The new targeted date/time for the launch is Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 2:28pm. Unfortunately, the Astronomy Club can't have a launch party, since the launch will take place during school, but we will see what we can do! We will try to watch the launch in class. Maybe we can have a launch party that day, during school!!! We will definitely keep an eye on this launch. For more information regarding NASA missions, visit the NASA web page at www.nasa.gov
As I said previously, NASA will soon be retiring its fleet of 3 active space shuttles (Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour). Last weekend, I was at the National Air and Space Museum and I overheard one of the workers say that they A&S Museum will most likely be getting the space shuttle Discovery! Can't wait to see that! We will have to take a trip!
NEW PLANETS!
European astronomers have discovered 32 new planets!!!! These planets, however, are located outside of our solar system. Apparently, some of these new planets are much larger that Earth, some are even larger that Jupiter!!!
This information was taken from Yahoo! News.
That is all that I have for now...must go grade some papers!
Remember to look out for the Orionid Meteor Shower!!!!
Next Astronomy Club meeting is 11/10/09
Keep an eye to the sky,
Ms. T
