Talking about Cassini

Last Friday night I had the honor and pleasure to give a talk on the Cassini-Huygens mission at the newly dedicated McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord.

I was not expecting this, but at the last minute our Astronomy club (New Hampshire Astronomical Society) got a call that the original speaker could not make it, and could we cover the talk.

The club's Educational Outreach Committee (which is fairly new, having met only about four times) came together in the clutch. One member set up web conferences so we could work on the presentation together. Another contacted Jane Houston Jones, JPL Outreach Senior Coordinator for the Cassini mission, who provided us with endless material. On Wednesday I put together an outline of the talk and that evening members of the committee signed up for various sections. Then each person combed through all the JPL presentations looking for the slide or video that best described each item, from launch through the Huygens probe landing on Titan, to the icy moons, Saturn itself, its rings, and finally the Equinox extended mission plans.

Three of us met at Panera's in Concord at 5pm on Friday and went over the talk, had a quick bowl of soup and then headed over to the Discovery Center. We had about 30 people attending including a troop of Boy Scouts who asked the most (and best) questions. We ended the evening with two NHAS members outside operating three scopes so all the kids and parents could see Saturn for real. It was a great ending to a really enjoyable evening.

Shuttle Discovery Launch from Rye, NH, and ISS pass

The shuttle launched tonight from Florida, and my son Jason called me to tell me he'd seen it go up (he lives in Orlando). Sure enough, about 8 minutes later we saw it from the beach in Rye, in the distant southeast, and watched it until it disappeared in the northeast.

Then about 30 minutes later, along came the International Space station, which Discovery will rendezvous with in 2 days. Here's a picture (60 second exposure) of the ISS going past Orion's belt. The exposure ended by lucky chance just as the ISS had reached the belt. Notice the small brightening along the streak - must be a glint from a window or a solar panel. If you look carefully you can see how the stars, normally pinpoints of light, have become streaks due to the earth's rotation. The camera was mounted on a photo tripod which did not make any counter-motion to the rotation of the earth as a telsecopic mount might do. Several families happened to be there so we made it a sidewalk astronomy night too!

Outreach at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

The NH Astronomical Society has a long-standing relationship with the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, where we provide public skywatches on the first Friday of every month.

Last Friday was extra special, because it was the grand opening and dedication of the new McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, which includes the original planetarium and much more including an observation dome with a 14" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

Although there were some clouds, we had a mostly clear night with around one hundred visitors between 6pm and 10pm. Four members of the NHAS had scopes set up, ranging in size from 4" refractors to 12" reflectors. Since the famlies were attending the opening of the Discovery Center, this was a very science-literate group and many of the kids knew a lot about the planets and moon already. We showed them Venus and explained why it was showing as a crescent, the lunar terminator and why craters were more clearly visible near sunrise on the moon, Saturn's rings, several star clusters, and a few other objects.

Sidewalk Astronomy in Portsmouth

Wednesday evening I set up the Zenithstar 110 refractor on the Minitower for about two hours of enjoyable sidewalk astronomy near the Parking Garage in Portsmouth. There were lots of very enthusiastic visitors.

I left the scope pointed at the Moon all evening since Saturn was hiding behind the garage most of the time. The "Straight Wall" (Rupes Recta) was easily visible and everyone was able to find it easily once I pointed it out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupes_Recta

Temperature was below 10F so I tried the new chemical heater pads for feet. My toes still got cold. Are electric socks in my future?