March Madness
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The month of march will be a busy month for the folks at NASA!
Photo Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
On March 9th, Endeavour will be making its final trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39A. Endeavour’s first motion out of the VAB is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the rollout. NASA TV’s Video File will broadcast highlights of the move. The shuttle’s 3.4-mile journey atop a giant crawler-transporter is expected to take approximately six hours.
During the 14-day mission to the space station, Endeavour’s astronauts will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays. The crew also will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 3, a platform that carries spare parts that will sustain station operations once the shuttles are retired later this year. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information about the STS-134 mission and crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html
On March 16th, NASA will be hosting a “behind-the scenes” NASA Tweetup with astronaut Doug Wheelock from 3:00-5:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 16, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. This NASA Tweetup is an opportunity to meet and speak with Wheelock, the people behind @NASA, and other space-exploration-minded participants. If you’d like to learn more about the NASA tweetups and/or register to participate, you can do so at: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/tweetup/tweetup_hq_03-16-2011.html
Image Credit: NASA
Next up, the Messenger spacecraft is scheduled for orbital insertion around Mercury on March 18th, Interestingly enough Messenger will be the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
Messenger’s path took the spacecraft through the inner solar system, flying by Earth then two passes of Venus and three Mercury passes. Utilizing the gravity of Venus, the craft was able to adjust its flight path closer to Mercury’s orbit in 2006 and 2007.
You can see Mercury in the low western sky shortly after sunset all this month, near Jupiter – both should appear as decently bright stars (Jupiter will be the brighter of the two), depending on your sky conditions.
On March 19th, you can participate with your your local astronomy club or science center and celebrate Sun-Earth Day. Have fun , but make sure you NEVER look directly at the sun, since you can easily damage your eyes.
With special solar-safe telescope filters, you can see sunspots on the sun. If you see any large sunspot groups, you can try to observe them over several days. You may be able to see them march across the sun’s photosphere as our star rotates.
Flares that explode and prominences that sometimes erupt into space from the sun can be seen with special H-alpha filters. These special narrow-band filters isolate only the hydrogen alpha wavelength. This filter blocks all the other color of light and reveals the sun’s chromosphere.
You can learn more about Sun-Earth Day events and hands-on activities at solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss, which stands for Year of the Solar System.
Source(s): NASA Podcast, NASA Press Release
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:05:47
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/03/02/march-madness/
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