LPI Earth and Space Science Newsletter
June 2007
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Artist's conception of the Phoenix Mission on Mars |
July 7 – Dawn Mission new launch date
Aug 3 – Phoenix Mission launches to Mars
Aug 12 – Perseid Meteor Shower
Aug 28– Total Lunar Eclipse early before sunrise
Phoenix Mission Educator Conference
Teachers are invited to head to the Space Coast in Florida for three days of a Phoenix Mars educator conference! Conference participants receive hands-on activities and curriculum, classroom resource materials; presentations from Phoenix scientists and engineers, a tour of Kennedy Space Center, a VIP viewing of the mission launch, and more! Registration deadline is July 20, 2007.
LPI/ NASA ARES Workshops at Harris County
The 2007-2008 calendar of workshops offered jointly by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) and NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) is now available, with one and two-day workshops on the Moon, Mars, the Solar System, plate tectonics, and more at the Harris County Department of Education. There is also a one-week workshop for summer 2008 on the rock cycle
– sign up now!
Project Astro Workshop 2007
This workshop on September 14-15, hosted by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, forges partnerships between teachers in grades 3 through 9 and astronomers. Together they bring hands-on, inquiry-based lessons in astronomy to the classroom as the astronomer visits four times during the academic year. The application deadline is August 24.
GLOBE Watershed Project Educator Workshop
GLOBE and The Geographic Data in Education (GEODE) Initiative at Northwestern University are looking for middle-high school science teachers to participate in an Earth system science education project that connects students with real scientific data sets. Participants use My World GIS™ a geographic information system (GIS) specifically designed for educational use to investigate the inter-relationships between precipitation, evaporation and surface runoff on a regional and national scale. Participants will attend a workshop from August 7-9th in Boulder, Colorado; travel support may be available.
LPI's Family Space Day
Children between the ages of 5 and 8 are invited to bring their families to explore space science with hands-on activities. This free monthly event is held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston; while usually held from 10 am - 1 pm on the third Saturday, it is peridically held in the evening to include a public telescope observing session. Upcoming topics include the Hubble SpaceTelescope, rockets, and comets.
X PRIZE Cup Air and Space Exposition and Student Competition
The Wirefly X PRIZE Cup is an annual two-day air and space exposition. This year the Cup will be held in conjunction with Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM to create the first ever Air & Space Expo with “live” fire / fly demonstrations and competitions. This event is free and open to the public and will be held on October 27th and 28th from 10am to 5pm. The X PRIZE Foundation also announced an education competition in the fields of space, science and technology. The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award, will be presented to the high school team that develops the most creative, new space concept to benefit the emerging personal spaceflight industry. The preliminary registration deadlinefor the competition is August 3rd.
11th Annual GLOBE Conference
From July 29 to August 3rd, Texas
Educators, scientists, and government officials from across the world will come together to address the key ideas for improving education through the GLOBE Program. The conference in San Antonio will highlight GLOBE's new Earth system science projects as well as promote collaborative research related to regional projects. Participants will also have the opportunity to interact with scientists who are using GLOBE data in their own research, learn about new technology and science education, and discuss effective methods to enhance and implement GLOBE. Conference sessions will offer discussions on strengthening and sustaining the GLOBE Program, with particular attention paid to building regional consortia that strengthen and empower GLOBE coordinators and learning communities with top scientists and educators from around the world.
The Universe in the Classroom
The latest issue of this education journal by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific is How Fast Are You Moving When You Are Sitting Still? It is now available on-line. Topics include: daily and yearly motion, the Sun's motion within the Milky Way Galaxy, the galaxy's motion through the universe, classroom activities, and more.
Ordering Imagine the Universe Materials
There are order forms at the Imagine the Universe Web site to order free cd's, posters, and booklets. You can also download great presentations, lesson plans, and activities.
Food in Space Video and Activity
This video discusses the issues of diet and nutrition for astronauts on short trips and planning for longer trips to Mars. There is an accompanying mathematics activity for middle school students on ratios in making smoothies. There are also other interesting videos that could be used in the classroom on the
The Futures Channel.
Solar and Planetary Radio Astronomy for Schools
In NASA's Radio JOVE Project, students and amateur scientists observe and analyze natural radio emissions of Jupiter, the Sun, and our galaxy. The project sells kits for students to build and use their own Decametric Radio Telescope; there are also activities and real data.
Science Education Posters
Many different posters created by the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University are available to educators when requested through the mail on school letterhead. Posters include the scale and size of object in the Universe, evolution of the cosmos, the structure of the Earth, and other science subjects.
On-line Video Series on Astronomy
STARFINDER is a 30-part video series with teacher guides, created by the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University. Programs are appropriate for junior high and high school students, and for beginning classes in astronomy at the college level. Some topics are more advanced and complex than others. Each program is accompanied by a teacher guide that provides pre- and postviewing activities, projects and experiments, and additional resources.
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Ceres may have a "differentiated interior," with a rocky inner core, a thick water-ice mantle, and a thin, dusty outer crust. NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) |
Dawn Mission to Explore Asteroids
Modified from http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/DawnMedia/press_info.asp and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/dawn_fact_sheet.pdf
On July 7, 2007 NASA will launch its next explorer into the Solar System. This spacecraft's destinations are the asteroids Ceres and Vesta, where it will help answer many unknowns about the formation and structure of these minor planets. According to current theories, the different properties of Vesta and Ceres are the result of these minor planets evolving in different parts of the Solar System. By observing both minor planets with the same set of instruments, Dawn will provide new answers to questions about the formation and evolution of the early solar system.
Vesta and Ceres are two of the largest asteroids in our Solar System, yet they are very different. Vesta appears to be dry and highly differentiated, with surface features ranging from lava flows to a deep crater near its southern pole. Ceres, in contrast, has evidence of water content, which has led scientists to suspect the presence of icy polar caps and a water-ice mantle. Vesta’s composition resembles the inner rocky planets, while Ceres is representative of the icy moons of the outer planets. By comparing these two minor planets, scientists will develop an understanding of the transition from the rocky inner to the icy outer regions of the Solar System.
Dawn will go into orbit around Vesta in July, 2011, spend a few years examining it, and then move on to Ceres. It will arrive at its second destination in February, 2015. This will make it the first spacecraft to ever orbit two different objects in the Solar System.
A Galaxy Without Stars
Modified from http://www.universetoday.com/2007/06/14/no-stars-shine-in-this-dark-galaxy/
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| Dark galaxy VIRGOHI21. NAIC |
Astronomers have new evidence that a recently discovered "dark galaxy" is made entirely of dark matter. Although the object has been observed since 2000, astronomers have been slowly ruling out every alternative explanation. In a new research paper, researchers provide updated evidence about this mysterious galaxy, with high-resolution observations using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronomers first suspected an invisible galaxy when they spied galaxy NGC 4254, which appeared to be a victim of a cosmic collision. All the evidence is there: gas has been pulled away into a tenuous stream, and one of its spiral arms has been stretched out. But the other partner in this collision is nowhere to be seen. The researchers calculated that an object with 100 billion solar masses must have careened past NGC 4254 within the last 100 million years, creating the gas stream, and tearing at one of its arms. A detailed search turned up a mysterious object called VIRGOHI21, located about 50 million light-years from Earth--not too far as far as galaxies go. But no stars are visible, even in the Hubble Space Telescope. It was only visible in radio telescopes, which could detect the radio emissions from neutral hydrogen gas located in the cloud.
It could be that there are many of these dark galaxies out there. A new sky survey, carried out with the Aricebo radio telescope in Puerto Rico should tease out more of these objects in the future.
More Moons Spewing Ice
Modified from http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMW43FVL2F_index_0.html
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| Photographs of Saturn's Moons, Tethys and Dione |
Saturn’s moons Tethys and Dione are flinging great streams of particles into space, according to data from the Cassini mission to Saturn. The discovery suggests the possibility of some sort of geological activity, perhaps even volcanic, on these icy worlds.
The electrically charged particles were traced to back as coming from the direction of Tethys and Dione. Until this result, among Saturn’s inner moons only Enceladus was known to be an active world, with huge geysers spraying gases hundreds of kilometres above the moon’s surface.
