This Week’s

ASTRO SPACE NEWS

Weird, Wild & Breaking News Stories in Space and Astronomy from around the World 24/7 each Week

Here’s a selection of Astronomy/Space related stories you may find interesting. Be sure to sign up for your own copy of Astro Space News, delivered automatically to you each week. I absolutely do not disclose your address to anyone! Feel free to forward this information to your friends and colleagues for their use. There is no cost and no obligation for this service. Anyone can subscribe by completing the opt in form just over there … see it, do it now!

We work 24/7/365 to report the most relevant ‘Astro-Space’ news back to you … virtually as it breaks. Bookmark this page and check back regularly.

For The Media

If you are interested, an interview with astronomer, writer, educator and public lecturer representing Australasian Science Magazine and Editor of Astro Space News, Dave Reneke(Astro-Dave) can be arranged by contacting Dave by Phone/Fax(02) 65 85 2260 Mobile: 0400 636 363 or email Dave for an instant reply to davereneke@gmail.com. David is well experienced talking to the media and presents information in an easy to understand, up to date and informative manner. Interviews can be on any subject, tailored to your requirements.If you experience problems and need a printed copy email me and I’ll get a copy to you.

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AUSTRALASIAN SCIENCE MAGAZINE

Get your science news straight from the scientists themselves. No hype, no spin, no bull: just the facts.Australia’s most inspiring scientists choose to write about their world-class discoveries in Australasian Science, Australia’s only monthly science magazine.

Australasian Science is dedicated to Australian and New Zealand science, providing a unique local perspective on scientific developments and issues that other science magazines can’t match. Australasian Science boasts Australia’s most experienced team of science journalists, including Australia’s only two international Science Journalism Laureates.

Its Patrons are Nobel Laureate Prof Peter Doherty and renowned science broadcaster Robyn Williams, representing excellence in science and its communication. Written in simple language, Australasian Science is a unique and independent source of news and commentary on local scientific developments.

Check out the latest issue NOW: http://www.australasianscience.com.au/

For school & institution rates please contact Control Publications on 03 9500 0015.Fax: (03) 9500 0255 Email science@control.com.au

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Letters To Dave

Dear David,

Thank-you so very much for your excellent astronomy presentation last night. I read a report in the local newspaper and decided to attend. The local community is indeed privileged to have the benefit of your knowledge and expertise and I commend you sincerely for your interest in promoting this awareness throughout the schools and making science such an ‘alive’ and interesting feature. Warmest Regards, Joy-Elaine Lewis   Port Macquarie NSW

Dear Dave and Robin,

Thanks for Saturday night.  The kids (and us) really enjoyed it – they are still talking about it.  It seems they were a bit apprehensive at first because they thought it was going to be like school (boring), but were really surprised because you made it soooo interesting, and you talked to them at their level (and dealt with blonde questions really well!! Sandy c/o St Josephs High School Wauchope NSW

Hi Dave

Received dvd’s and e-book.A great read, couldn’t stop till finished. Thank you. Regards, Kevin

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This Week’s Top Story

Kepler Detects Atmosphere of Hot World

NASA’s new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope’s extraordinary scientific capabilities.

“As NASA’s first exoplanets mission, Kepler has made a dramatic entrance on the planet-hunting scene,” said Jon Morse, director of the Science Mission Directorate’s Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Detecting this planet’s atmosphere in just the first 10 days of data is only a taste of things to come. The planet hunt is on!”

Launched March 6, 2009, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching for planets as small as Earth, including those that orbit stars in a warm “Goldilocks zone” where there could be water. It will do this by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars, which occur when orbiting planets transit, or cross in front of, the stars.

“When the light curves from tens of thousands of stars were shown to the Kepler science team, everyone was awed; no one had ever seen such exquisitely detailed measurements of the light variations of so many different types of stars,” said William Borucki, the principal science investigator and lead author of the paper.

The observations were collected from a planet called HAT-P-7, known to transit a star located about 1,000 light years from Earth. The planet orbits the star in just 2.2 days and is 26 times closer than Earth is to the sun. Its orbit, combined with a mass somewhat larger than the planet Jupiter, classifies this planet as a “hot Jupiter.” It is so close to its star, the planet is as hot as the glowing red heating element on a kitchen stove.

HAT-P-7 was known before Kepler turned its attention to the planet. Kepler’s measurements are so precise, however, they show something new: a smooth rise and fall of the light caused by the changing phases of the planet, similar to the phases of our own Moon. Kepler could also see the planet’s light vanish completely when it passed behind its parent star. This vanishing act is called an “occultation.”

The new Kepler data can be used to study this hot Jupiter in unprecedented detail. The depth of the occultation and the shape and amplitude of the light curve show the planet has an atmosphere with a day-side temperature of about 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit. Little of this heat is carried to the cool night side. The occultation time compared to the main transit time shows the planet has a circular orbit. The discovery of light from this planet confirms the predictions by researchers and theoretical models that the emission would be detectable by Kepler.

The observed brightness variation is just one and a half times what is expected for a transit caused by an Earth-sized planet. Although this is already the highest precision ever obtained for an observation of this star, Kepler will be even more precise after analysis software being developed for the mission is completed.

“This early result shows the Kepler detection system is performing right on the mark,” said David Koch, deputy principal investigator of NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. “It bodes well for Kepler’s prospects to be able to detect Earth-size planets.”

Stay tuned to Science@NASA for more results from Kepler.

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More Astro Space News

Expanding Spot on Venus Puzzles Astronomers

The expanding spot discovered on Venus last month may not have garnered as much attention as the meteor impact with Jupiter, but its cause is certainly more puzzling.

While astronomers are pretty sure that the new spot seen in Jupiter’s landscape is caused by impact, there is evidence that this is not true of the spot seen on Venus. New Scientist reports on why astronomers don’t think the spot of Venus was caused by a meteor:

“The spot is bright at ultraviolet wavelengths, which may argue against a meteoroid impact as a cause. That’s because rocky bodies, with the exception of objects very rich in water ice, should cause an impact site to darken at ultraviolet wavelengths as it fills with debris that absorbs such light, says Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the Venus Express team.”

Some of the reasons being advanced for the spot in Venus’ atmosphere include:

* Volcanic eruption. (This option is considered unlikely, since the thick atmosphere would likely block most volcanic activity from being visible to us.)

* Charged particles from solar interaction with Venus’ atmosphere.

* Atmospheric turbulence concentrating bright material in a confined area.

The other interesting point about the Venus bright spot is that it – like the Jupiter “scar” — was first noticed by an amateur astronomer. The fact that astronomy is so accessible to a wide range of people is interesting in terms of encouraging interest in the sciences.

PhysOrg.com

Astrologer Sues NASA For $300M

NASA’s mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust — it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer. Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday “ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe,” the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said. Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet’s orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth. The probe’s comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed. Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million — the approximate equivalent of the mission’s cost — for her “moral sufferings,” Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would “deform her horoscope.” NASA representatives in Russia and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., could not be reached for comment on the case. CBS News

Tool Bag Lost In Space Meets Fiery End

A tool bag lost by a spacewalking astronaut last year met its fiery demise in Earth’s atmosphere Monday after months circling ever closer to the planet. The $100,000 tool bag plunged toward Earth and burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Center tracking it and more than 19,000 other pieces of space junk in orbit today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. “Based on its size and composition, we expect the object to completely burn up before hitting the Earth,” center officials said in a statement. The tool bag was lost during a Nov. 18 spacewalk at the International Space Station. In addition to the Joint Operations Space Center, amateur skywatchers also tracked the bag as it silently circled the Earth. Center officials did not immediately have a specific time and location for the tool bag’s ultimate demise, but a Sunday report by the Web site Universe Today predicted the wayward space satchel would hit the Earth’s atmosphere at about 9:16 a.m. EDT (1316 GMT) over the Pacific Ocean, just west of Mexico. The tool bag weighed about 30 pounds (14 kg) and was about the size of a small backpack. It contained grease guns, trash bags and a scraper tool. Former NASA astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost the bag during a November spacewalk to repair a balky solar array joint on the International Space Station as part of NASA’s STS-126 shuttle mission. A grease gun leaked inside the bag, which apparently wasn’t secured properly, and it drifted free while Stefanyshyn-Piper was trying to clean up the mess. “There was that split second thinking that, maybe I can go jump for it and grab it. Then I realized that it would just make everything worse and then we’d have two floating objects, one of which would be me,” Stefanyshyn-Piper said in a televised Nov. 19 interview from space the day after losing the bag. “So the best thing to do was just to let it go.” Stefanyshyn-Piper, an active captain in the U.S. Navy, retired from NASA’s astronaut corps last month to return to her Navy duties.

Space.Com

Launch Your Own Personal Satellite for $8,000 USD

Want to launch something into space? You can now do just that for only $8,000 USD. The rocket company Interorbital Services (IOS) is offering their “TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit” that can carry 0.75-kg into orbit. The price includes a launch into low Earth orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle to 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly, and not contribute to orbital debris by being in a self-decaying orbit. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010. Interorbital says a TubeSat is designed to function as a basic satellite bus or as a simple stand-alone satellite. Each TubeSat kit includes the satellite’s structural components, safety hardware, solar panels, batteries, power management hardware and software, transceiver, antennas, microcomputer, and the required programming tools. With these components alone, the builder can construct a satellite that puts out enough power to be picked up on the ground by a hand-held HAM radio receiver. Simple applications include broadcasting a repeating message from orbit or programming the satellite to function as a private orbital HAM radio relay station. These are just two examples. The TubeSat also allows the builder to add his or her own experiment or function to the basic TubeSat kit. Possible experiments include Earth imagery, measuring the orbital environment, tracking something like migratory animals, testing hardware or software in the space environment, or doing on-orbit advertising. There are two different payment options. If you pay the full cost upfront, you will be placed immediately placed on a launch manifest according to the order in which the payment was received. If you pay half the cost upfront, and then pay the other half of the cost at a later date, you will be placed on a launch manifest according to the time when full payment is received. Good news: Interorbital takes Paypal.

Universe Today

How Many Galaxies Have We Discovered?

Astronomers think that there are hundreds of billions galaxies in the universe, however the exact number is not known. But astronomers should know how many galaxies we’ve actually seen and discovered, right? Well, not necessarily. “We don’t know,” says Ed Churchwell, professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We know it’s a very large number.” In just one image for example, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, above, there are about 10,000 galaxies visible. In our own galaxy, There are between  100-300 billion stars in the Milky Way. At most, 8,479 of them are visible from Earth. Roughly 2,500 stars are available to the unaided eye in ideal conditions from a single spot at a given time. But the number of galaxies will keep growing as our telescopes get better and can look out and back farther in time. “To count them all, you have to be able to look far enough back in time or deep enough in space to see when galaxies were formed,” Churchwell says. “We haven’t reached that point yet. It’s not a well-determined number, but at some point we’re going to reach it.”

The estimate of how many galaxies there are in the universe is done by counting how many galaxies we can see in a small area of the sky. This number is then used to guess how many galaxies there are in the entire sky. For the time being, the hundreds of billions in the tally are extrapolated from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, taken over a time period in 2003 and 2004. Pointed at a single piece of space for several months — a spot covering less than one-tenth of one-millionth of the sky — Hubble returned an image of galaxies 13 billion light years away.

“You look at that and say, ‘How many galaxies can I see?’” Churchwell explains. “And that turns out to be a very large number.” “Then you take that number of galaxies from that postage-stamp-sized piece of the sky and multiply it by the number of postage-stamp-sized pieces of sky,” Churchwell says. “And that turns out to be a much larger number.”In the first Hubble Deep Field image, taken in 1995, there are about 3,000 galaxies visible in the image.

Black Hole Baby Boom

Baby black holes gobbling hot gas in the cores of galaxies are more common today than they were ten billion years ago, a new census finds.. The discovery confirms that black-hole activity is alive and well in our cosmic backyard, rather than it being an exotic fossil of the time when galaxies first formed. Black holes lurk at the heart of most galaxies and are detectable because they emit x-rays. A research team found as many X-rays from small black holes nearby as from rare large ones afar. In fact, the number of small active black holes is increasing as the bigger ones fade and die, the researchers report. This is forcing theorists to rethink how the growth of super massive black holes occurs. Black holes were thought to form very early in the Universe’s history, seeding the galaxies around them and growing only after catastrophic events such as galactic collisions. NASA’s Space Infrared Telescope Facility which was launched last week could help. It will scour millions of galaxies for infrared signs of dust-smothered black-hole activity. The demographics of black holes might then have to be revised once more.

Nasa News

Join the big aussie star hunt! 15 – 23  August Can you find south without a compass? Can you spot the Emu in the Sky? Here’s your chance to learn about your night sky and help us measure light pollution in your local area.

If you join our Star Hunt Survey and enter our competition during National Science Week (15 – 23 August 2009) you could WIN $2000 of ABC Shop goodies! Visit the Big Aussie Star Hunt website to get ready for National Science Week. This week learn about the seven sky features in our virtual tour, and practice using our downloadable sky maps and audio tour.

More information visit this website; http://abcmail.net.au/t/581652/686964/11221/0/ ABC Science Updates

Space – It’s a load of Junk!

The space around Earth is becoming more cluttered every day with orbital junk that, if left unchecked, will pose an ever-increasing threat to current and future spacecraft. The US Department of Defence is currently tracking more than 19,000 objects in Earth orbit larger than 10 cm, but there could be as many as 300,000 objects larger than 1 cm in size circling Earth.

In just 30 years the amount of space traffic has quadrupled. Most of the man-made space junk stems from collisions in which old and defective spacecraft break apart, or simply explode.

Every satellite is at risk and that risk must be stopped and reversed. Time is running out! Experts estimate that within 20 years a chain reaction of debris collisions with operating satellites will lead to a thick shell of debris engulfing near-Earth space and preventing satellites from operating in low and high orbits. Left alone, the debris menace will overwhelm our ability to deal with it. There is little doubt that space must be cleaned up and the cost will be astronomical.

Maybe some future billionaire will develop a plan to save space for generations to come? Who knows. There are several ideas already out there. For example, each satellite owner might pay a “debris footprint” tax on every new satellite launched. A good idea! With typically 125 satellites launched each year over US$3 billion per annum would be collected, or something over US$30 billion per decade! Maybe enough to clean up the mess.

Dave Reneke

Benefits of the Space Program

Here are just soem of the things that have come from the space program:

Pacemakers – were made to operate satellites from earth. Scratch resistant lenses on glasses. The coating that makes them scratch proof was developed for satellites so that they wouldn’t be damaged by space debris. Smoke detectors and cordless tools. Were developed for manned missions as well as A device for measuring blood pressure was invented for the first us space mission when they wanted to see what effect lift off had on a human’s blood pressure. Water purification systems that sustain millions of people in third world countries only in existence today because a similar system was needed for space missions. Heart monitors – first made to track the conditions of astronauts. Satellites Flat screen televisions Sports bras were developed by Nasa! Fogless ski goggles came from a need to keep visors on EVS’s free of fogging. Weather forecasting aid – space shuttle environmental control technology led to the development of the baroratorwhich continuously measures the atmospheric pressure and calculates the instantaneous rate of change. Digital imaging … breast biopsy system Ultrasound scanners Breast cancer detection – a solar cell sensor is positioned directly beneath x-ray film, and determines exactly when film has received sufficient radiation and has been exposed to optimum density. Emergency response robot – remotely-operated robot reduces human injury levels by performing hazardous tasks that would otherwise be handled by humans. Personal alarm system – pen-sized ultrasonic transmitter/s based on space telemetry technology. Pen transmits a silent signal to receiver that will display the exact location of the emergency.

Download The Evening Sky Map:

The Evening Sky Map (PDF) is a 2-page monthly guide to the night sky suitable for all sky watchers including newcomers to Astronomy. AND its entirely FREE. Designed to print clearly on all printers, The Evening Sky Map is ready-to-use and will help you to:

• Identify planets, stars and major constellations
• Find sparkling star clusters, wispy nebulae & distant galaxies
• Locate and follow bright comets across the sky
• Learn about the night sky and Astronomy

The Evening Sky Map is free for personal non-commercial educational use. Astronomy Education and Outreach groups may freely distribute printed handouts of The Evening Sky Map subject to the Terms of Use. Follow Skymaps.com on Twitter. Receive news of updated sky maps, reminders of Sky Calendar events, and other noteworthy news for sky watchers. And it’s FREE! Sky Map Download

DVD Review

“Live from the Moon: The Story of Apollo Television”

Spacecraft Films, 2009 DVD and Blu-ray

In the new documentary, “Live from the Moon: The Story of Apollo Television”,  director Mark Gray sets out to tell in exquisite detail the side of the story we never hear about, the race to the moon as sent through the television lens. Before viewing the documentary I must admit, I never gave it much thought either. You just sort of took it all for granted. Until now, no one has really told the story of the television transmissions we saw that heralded in this new age of space, culminating in man’s first footsteps on another world.

Gray, through his company Spacecraft Films, has put together a complete record of the Apollo television transmissions .This is, in my opinion, the definitive work on this subject. Gray’s DVD represents seven years locating, remastering and restoring NASA footage from both the agency’s vaults and the National Archives from a time when live television from space was in its infancy. For a story of this magnitude the raw materials are in abundance. The painful part for a producer I guess would be making the cuts.

There are some really good aspects of the story that just needed to be included and Gray, mindful of continuity, has skillfully threaded these into a compelling and entertaining film. I loved it, and didn’t want it to finish! ‘Live from the Moon’ tells the story of live television from the Moon through an extensive series of interviews with astronauts and the technicians who developed the cameras that recorded their momentous steps.

Included in the documentary are real the stories and personal feelings from those who manned the ground stations in California and Australia and the obstacles they had to overcome. One was the obvious difficulties in developing black-and white and, later, color television cameras that could be flown on the missions and transmit images back to earth with the limited bandwidth available. As the Apollo missions progressed, advancements in both camera hardware and processing technology back on Earth resulted in greatly improved video quality.

Included are rare images from the first test of the lunar surface television cameras. ‘Live From The Moon’ also recalls how quickly the American people turned away from future telecasts – as if to say, “I’ve seen it all before.” Gray interviewed astronauts, flight directors, mission controllers, tracking station operators, historians and those who built the television cameras for the space program. ‘Live from the Moon’ is told with the insight of moonwalker Alan Bean; Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford; and flight director Chris Kraft, among others. “Every single one of them believed that the TV was one of the most important legacies of Apollo. And many of them admitted candidly that they didn’t give the TV much thought during the actual missions,” recalled Gray.

This DVD is compelling watching. Make no mistake about it, it will keep you riveted throughout its entire length. I personally rate it as one of the top three documentaries on genre I’ve ever seen! The last word must come from Gray himself. “Of all the times to be alive, I think of witnessing the Apollo television transmissions live as quite an honour. It was a magic time, and the story of how it was accomplished is worthy of being told,” I heartily agree!

Dave Reneke

== In The Sky This Week ==

The full Moon is Thursday August 6. Mercury is now visible in the western evening twilight. Mercury rises rapidly in the sky, closing in on Saturn. Saturn is visible in the early evening and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-western horizon but now sets around 9pm local time. Although Saturn is poorly placed for telescopic viewing, its rings are nearly edge on now. Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object above the eastern horizon from around 8pm local time. Jupiter will be at opposition, where it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, next week. Jupiter’s moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope. On Thursday August 6 the Moon is near Jupiter. Friday August 7 has an interesting alignment of moons. In the morning, Venus and Mars are readily visible in the eastern sky. Red Mars is below the A-shaped Hyades cluster, which forms the head of Taurus the Bull. Bright white Venus is well below Aldebaran, and forms a triangle with Aldebaran and red Betelguese in Orion. The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the morning of Thursday August 13. Only people north of Brisbane will have a decent chance of seeing meteors. Look to the north between 3am and 5:30am. http://abcmail.net.au/t/581652/682450/1764/0/

International Year of Astronomy 2009 reaches its six-month milestone As the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) reaches its six-month milestone, over a million people have already looked at the sky through a telescope for the first time, and even more have newly engaged in astronomy. This is just one of many achievements, as countless ongoing projects and planned initiatives indicate that the IYA2009 is well on the way towards achieving many of its goals.

The IYA2009 is a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, with events at national, regional and global levels throughout the whole of 2009. Now, halfway through 2009, much has been achieved and even more can be expected in the future. The Galileoscope project headlines the IYA2009. With the aim of providing low-cost telescopes that offer views far better than those obtained by Galileo Galilei some 400 years ago, the venture has picked up significant pace since the IYA2009 began.

By the end of July, the first 60 000 Galileoscopes will have been shipped, and a further 100 000 are currently in production. More than 4000 Galileoscopes have been generously donated by the IYA2009 and individuals to organisations and schools in developing countries. This gesture aptly demonstrates the commitment of astronomy enthusiasts to the IYA2009 goal of making the skies accessible to all.

But perhaps the most impressive figures for the IYA2009 have come from the national activities that have brought together hundreds of thousands of people in many countries for astronomy-themed events. For example, more than 400 000 people gathered for the Sunrise Event on New Year’s Day in Busan City, South Korea. In Brazil, more than 750 000 students participate from 32 500 schools. In Norway, every student from grades 5-11 will soon receive a free astronomy kit, including a Galileoscope and an educational guide. For the first time in postal service history, and in just six months, more than 70 postal agencies around the world have issued over 140 new stamps inspired by astronomy. IYA

ASTRO PIC OF THE WEEK

Shuttle Discovet Hit By Lightning

Yikes! No wonder the rollout of space shuttle Discovery took a little bit longer than usual. Lightning lit up the sky above Kennedy Space Center early Tuesday morning, providing a stunning backdrop for the shuttle’s crawl to the launchpad. Usually the trip takes about six hours, but various weather-related concerns slowed the move out past 11 hours. Lightning delayed Discovery’s exit from the Vehicle Assembly Building for about 2 hours, and then mud from recent thunderstorms forced the crawler to stop repeatedly so engineers could clean out the giant treads on the huge 5.5 million-pound (2.4 million-kg) vehicle that hauls shuttles out to the launch pad. Discovery is scheduled to launch on August 25 for the STS-128 mission to the ISS. Of interest is that this mission will bring the C.O.L.B.E.R.T treadmill to the station, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

Discovery will carry the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during STS-128, along with several refrigerator-sized racks with equipment and supplies, and a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott. The mission will be commanded by veteran astronaut Rick “C.J.” Sturckow, along with Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez, John “Danny” Olivas and Sweden’s Christer Fuglesang.

NASA/Universe Today

Events & Activities

* Tours: Some exciting news about a serties of New Zealand astronomy tours I’ve been invited to take part in with Grand Pacific Tours P/L and closer to the end of the year I have been asked to take part in and run a couple of back to back astro lectures and sky viewing travelling on Great Southern railway trains – namely the ‘Sourthern Star’. Stay tuned! * Book Reviews: I’ve recently been given the opportunity to become a book reviewer for some of the most respected publication houses in the world. This offer has been extended to the review and critique of DVDs as well so, in the coming months, I’ll be looking at a few new releases and giving you my impression of them in an impartial and non-biased manner. Any other publishers interested in having me review their material as well as are asked to contact me direct from any of the personal adresses on these pages. The first publication just receieved is the newly released hard cover book ‘The New Race For Space’ from Rosenberg Sales N.Y. followed by another new release ‘Rocket Men – The Epic Story Of The First Men On The Moon by Craig Nelson by the Penguin Group New York. Stay tuned!

Profiles – People, Events etc

Southern Cross Observatory – Tasmania, Australia.

If you are interested in Astro-Photography, at any level, then this is the site for you. Take note and learn from the experts!

Shevill Mathers is recognized as one of the world’se leading amateur astronomers and is a specialist in his field. His regular columns and newspaper articles are now augmented by a wide range of articles including ATM articles, Astro News items and Activities from Tasmania as well as reviewing a wide range of astronomical equipment.

Shevill is a regular contributor to many various magazines including the Tasmania 40 Degrees South magazine, Leatherwood On-Line, Discover Tasmania, Quasar Publishing ‘Astronomy Yearbook’, Universe Today and various overseas scientific forums. He is a local media source for TV, radio and the print media.

Shevill Mathers has been a keen amateur astronomer / telescope and camera builder in the UK since the early 60’s, with a special interest in astrophotography. A member of the BAA, London (Lunar Section), his photographic expertise was greatly encouraged by Patrick Moore, with whom he has maintained a lasting friendship. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1968.

Southern Cross Observatory – IYA – Two special sites have been established at the International ’Macedon Ranges Observatory’, in Victoria, to coordinate and share images, experiences and events around the world, the links are: http://www.southerngalactic.com/andhttp://www.northerngalactic.com/

Contact details:shevill.mathers@southernphone.com.au Shevillm@gmail.com Web:www.shevillmathers.id.au

The International Year of Astronomy for Everyday Folk

Astronomer Galileo Galilei made these drawings of the moon based on telescope observations made four centuries ago. Could you do any better? The Galileoscope project is planning a contest for sketchers and photographers. The International Year of Astronomy isn’t just for astronomers anymore: There’s a whole constellation of projects aimed at getting regular folks like you and me involved in celestial adventures.

“Anyone can be a space explorer, just by going outside at night and looking up with a little bit of a prepared mind,” said Andrew Chaikin, a former editor of Sky & Telescope magazine who wrote “A Man on the Moon,” the classic history of the Apollo moon effort.

Chaikin did a little bit of virtual exploration himself, after coming upon 40-year-old Apollo 11 imagery that revealed a little-seen side of moonwalker Neil Armstrong. Do-it-yourself space science extends far beyond archival searches. Some of the leaders of the citizen astronomy movement provided status reports on their own missions at this week’s American Astronomical Society meeting in Pasadena, Calif. Here’s just a sampling:

Galileoscope: Shipments of a high-tech, low-cost telescope, modeled after the instrument used by Galileo Galilei 400 years ago, are making their way from China to the United States and other destinations by boat. About 60,000 telescope kits have been sold in advance, at a retail price of $15 (less for bulk quantities). Buyers should be receiving the kits by the end of July. The next steps include figuring out how many more telescopes should be made before the production line is shut down (get your orders in now!) … and also setting up a contest for Galileoscope imagery. The idea is to solicit photos of celestial objects taken through the telescope, as well as drawings based on Galileoscope observations (a la Galileo, as shown above). Contest rules and submission procedures will be on the Galileoscope Web site when they’re ready for release. The first round of winners should be announced by the end of the year.

Galaxy Zoo: The Galaxy Zoo 2 project has recruited more than 200,000 participants to sort through online pictures of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and classify them according to their shape – something that human eyes and brains can do much more easily than computers. During the “100 Hours of Astronomy” celebration in April, more than 2.5 million classifications were made – and if you count up all the clicks since Galaxy Zoo 2 started in February, the classifications add up to 32 million. Combine that with Galaxy Zoo 1’s results, and you get more than 100 million galaxy checkups. The Galaxy Zoo team says that’s the equivalent of a Ph.D. student working for almost 20 years without sleep or a coffee break. The project already has spawned a dozen journal articles – relating to patterns in galaxy rotation, for example, or the effects of galaxy mergers.

Star parties galore: If you thought “100 Hours of Astronomy” was big, just you wait: IYA organizers are planning a collaboration with the Year of Science celebration starting in July, a worldwide moon-watching effort on Aug. 1 (linked to NASA’s LCROSS moon-smashing mission), a “Galilean Nights” festival on Oct. 23-24 (featuring Jupiter and its moons). They’ll take on a big role in this year’s Great World Wide Star Count in October as well. October also happens to be prime time for the year’s second round of Astronomy Day celebrations.

Social astronomy: Space fans are really catching on to social-networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. You can follow updates from Endeavour shuttle commander Mark Polansky, for example, or from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that’s slated for launch next week. (Today the plucky probe touts its “new movie trailer.”) One idea that’s circulating is to create a social network dubbed AstroTwitter to allow telescope handlers around the world to answer the question “What are you observing?” Another idea is to use Twitter as a way for observers to share their skywatching experiences online in real time, as British moon-watchers did during an experimental session last month.

Online astronomy: Much has been written about online astronomy programs such as the outward-looking side of Google Earth and Microsoft’s World Wide Telescope. (Microsoft is a partner in the msnbc.com joint venture.) Watch for further updates and grassroots enhancements in the future, including a fresh beta release for the WWT next month. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ MicroObservatory is also coming into play, along with other portals to remote-controlled telescopes.

Virtual-world astronomy: The virtual world known as Second Life boasts its own universe of astronomical projects. The online offerings have pushed light-years ahead in the two years since I first wrote about the virtual final frontier. To see how far things have gone, check outSecond Astronomy .

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