LECTURE AT QUB Thu 31st, SMART Impact, Shuttle Launch, Pluto

From Terry:

Hi all,

1. Public Lecture: Sorry for the short notice - I've only just been told about this lecture by Pat O'Neill - thanks Pat:

"Rediscovered Hazards - Why Humans Have Always Feared Comets" By Prof Mike Bailie, QUB (author of "Exodus to Arthur" & "Comets in Irish Myth" & many papers on the subject). 6.30 p.m., Peter Froggett Centre, QUB, Belfast.

2. The European SMART-1 Spacecraft is about to be crashed into the Moon: The following details are from the SPA - reproduced with thanks.

Predicted impact on 3 September 2006, 02h UT with a 7 hour uncertainty (i.e., between 17h UT on 2 September and 09h UT on 3 September).

Possibility of impact flash and/or the resulting ejecta plume being observed/imaged from the UK (& Ireland)

On 2/3 September, ESA's SMART-1 spaceprobe will slam into the lunar surface in a dramatic end to its 18 month period of orbiting the Moon. The 285 kg (628 lb) spacecraft, traveling at a velocity of 7,200 km/h, is expected to crash onto the Moon's near side in Lacus Excellentiae (the Lake of Excellence), around 10° south of Mare Humorum, in the unlit lunar hemisphere, several hundred kilometres west of the lunar morning terminator.

The 9 day old waxing gibbous Moon will be south of the ecliptic, low in the constellation of Sagittarius on the date of impact, so UK observers will only have a narrow window of opportunity to monitor the Moon for signs of impact. From the UK the Moon is visible in a
darkening sky from around 19h, culminating at around 19:30 UT (at an altitude of some 8°) until it sets at around 22:40 UT on the evening of 2 September.

SMART-1's kinetic energy will be equivalent to that of a 1 kg (2.2 lb) meteoroid impacting the Moon at a velocity of 144,000 km/h. Therefore the explosion is likely to be rather faint in terms of its apparent magnitude (predictions range from magnitude 8 to 16) with a duration of a fraction of a second, so even though it takes place on the unilluminated lunar hemisphere, the impact flash itself is likely to elude even the most attentive of visual observers using large instruments under ideal conditions. However, should a plume of ejected material reach an altitude high enough to catch sunlight, it may produce a small temporary point that is bright enough to be visible through amateur telescopes for a short period.

See the SPA website at www.popastro.com for a graphic of the impact.

Please send video footage, CCD images and visual observations (whether they are positive or negative) to Peter Grego, SPA Lunar Section Director at lunar@popastro.com. All material will be compiled and submitted to ESA, and shared with other organisations involved in the observing project. A report on the event will appear in the SPA News Circular and Luna journal.
See also: science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30aug_smart1.htm?list724598

Find out about the Science@NASA Podcast feed at science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm .

3. Shuttle Launch: The Space Shuttle flight was delayed by a lightning strike and the impending arrival of hurricane (now tropical storm) Ernesto. The flight was to lift-off on 27 August, but the launch window for the mission to the International Space Station extends to 7 September. If NASA managers will allow a night-launch, the Shuttle could take off as late as 13 September. However, the situation is complicated by the need to avoid an operations conflict with a Russian Soyuz mission that is scheduled to ferry the next Expedition resident crew to the space station on 14 September.
During the 11-day STS-115 mission, the crew of six astronauts will resume construction of the station by installing the integrated P3/P4 truss segment with its two large solar arrays. Four spacewalks are planned during the complex operation to install and deploy the solar arrays.
The STS-115 crew consists of Commander Brent W. Jett Jr., Pilot Christopher J. Ferguson, Mission Specialists Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank, and Steven G. MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space Agency.

FURTHER INFORMATION: NASA Shuttle web site:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts115/

Spaceflight Now status updates: www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts115/status.html

4. If you haven't already heard: Prof Alan Fitzsimmons sent this (slightly edited) from the IAU, on the voting on 'planetary status'

A. The clear majority vote said Mercury to Neptune are planets, Pluto, Sedna, Charon, Ceres etc are "dwarf planets".
B. They voted by a clear majority against calling Mercury-Neptune "Classical planets".
C. They voted by 237 to 157 (30 abstentions) that Pluto is the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian dwarf planets.
D. They voted by 186 to 183 that the name of this category should not be "Plutonian objects".

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley