“Astronomy taught us our insignificance in Nature.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

CONTENTS•MysteriousDarkPatchesin

Venus’Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

•NASAInvitesStudentstoName

NextMarsRover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

•A3-DPrintedTelescope:The

AnalogSkyDrifter. . . . . . . . . . . . 2

•NASA’sJWSTHasBeenAssembled

fortheFirstTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

•NASA’sMarsHelicopter

AttachedtoMars2020Rover . . .3

•AlienLifeMayOccurOnIcy

Moons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

StartingTuesday,K-12studentsinU.S.public,privateandhomeschoolscanentertheMars2020NametheRoveressaycontest.Onegrandprizewinnerwillnamethe rover andbe invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 fromCapeCanaveralAirForceStationinFlorida.

The Name the Rover contest is part of NASA’s efforts to engage students inthe STEM enterprise behind Mars exploration and inspire interest in science,technology,engineeringandmathematics.

The naming contest partnership is part of a Space Act Agreement betweenNASA,BattelleofColumbus,Ohio,andFutureEngineersofBurbank,California,ineducationalandpublicoutreachefforts.

1

What the dark patches are is still amystery, thoughastronomersdatingback to Carl Sagan have suggestedthey could be extraterrestrialmicroorganisms.

The planet’s hot, harsh atmosphereis thick with carbon dioxide andsulfuric acid. Atmospheric gasescirculateamidcloudlayersaccordingtopatterns that scientistsdon’t fullyunderstand. And Venusian cloudsalso contain strange, dark patches,called“unknownabsorbers”becausethey absorb large amounts of solarradiation.

No one has yet determined whatthesedarkpatchesare,butscientistshave speculated that theymight beformsofsulfur,ferricchlorideorevenmicroscopiclife.

Mysterious Dark Patches in Venus’ Clouds Are Affecting

the Weather There

Astronomy.comAstro Newsletter

NASA.gov

Volume 12, Issue 13 September 4, 2019

NASA Invites Students to Name Next Mars Rover

2 Astro Newsletter

A 3-D Printed Telescope: The Analog Sky Drifter

Aunique3-Dprinted telescopenamedthe Analog Sky Drifter may spark arevolutioninamateurtelescopemaking.Inpastyears,thepriceofseriousbackyardtelescopes has dropped considerably.Backuntilthe1960s,asix-inchapertureNewtonian was a ‘big scope,” and theonlyoptiontogainaccesstosomethinglarger was to build it yourself. But theadventoftwoinnovationsthatcameonthesceneinthe1970s—theDobsonianmount and the Schmidt-Cassegrainreflector—put serious optics in thehandsofbackyardobservers.

Now 3-D printing technology mayjust bring things around full circle. Sowhy build a telescope today? Often,constructing your own telescopecan give you those one of a kindfeatures that aren’t available on mass-produced telescopes. In the case ofRobertAsumendi,hisquestbeganwithlooking for a telescope that addressedhis severe astigmatism. The result: TheAnalog Sky Drifter, a unique binoculartelescopeconstructedalmostentirelyof3-D-printedparts.

Robert’s innovation addresses thesewithbrilliantresults.Andhedidn’tevenstart with a workshop; he outsourcedthe designs on 3DHubs at first, beforegetting his own 3-D printer. And heck,thedesignjustlooksfuturistic,aswell.

Reaching a major milestone,engineers have successfullyconnected the two halves ofNASA’s James Webb SpaceTelescope for the first time atNorthropGrumman’s facilitiesinRedondoBeach,California.

Once it reachesspace,NASA’smost powerful and complexspace telescope will explorethe cosmos using infraredlight,fromplanetsandmoonswithin our solar system tothe most ancient and distantgalaxies.

To combine both halves ofWebb, engineers carefullylifted the Webb telescope(which includes the mirrorsand science instruments)above the already-combinedsunshield and spacecraftusingacrane.Teammembersslowly guided the telescopeinto place, ensuring that allprimarypointsofcontactwereperfectly aligned and seatedproperly.

The observatory has beenmechanically connected;next

steps will be to electricallyconnect the halves, and thentesttheelectricalconnections.Both of the telescope’smajorcomponentshavebeentestedindividuallythroughallof theenvironments they wouldencounterduringarocketrideandorbitingmissionamillionmilesawayfromEarth.

Now that Webb is a fullyassembled observatory, itwill go through additionalenvironmental anddeployment testing toensuremissionsuccess.Thespacecraftisscheduledtolaunchin2021.

Webb will be the world’spremier space scienceobservatory. It will solvemysteries inour solar system,lookbeyondtodistantworldsaroundotherstars,andprobethemysteriousstructuresandorigins of our universe andour place in it. Webb is aninternational project led byNASA with its partners, ESA(EuropeanSpaceAgency),andtheCanadianSpaceAgency.

A 3-D Printed Telescope: The Analog Sky Drifter NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Has Been Assembled for the First Time

Phys.orgTechnology.org

3

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Attached to Mars 2020 Rover

Astro NewsletterSpace.com

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Attached to Mars 2020 Rover Oneof the key determinants ofwhich

worlds can host life may lie in themotion of their oceans. Right now,calculating thatmotion is a challenge.After all, scientists can’t just dip theirtoesinthewater.Butnewresearchpullstogether informationaboutfourofthemostintriguingoceanworldstoinformmodelsofwhattheirsubsurfaceoceansmightbedoing.

“These oceans are really interesting inand of themselves,” Krista Soderlund,an expert on planetary fluid dynamicsat the University of Texas at Austinand author of the new research, toldSpace.com. “You often are first drawntoasatellitebywhatitlookslikeonitssurface,butIthinkthatwhatisgoingonbeneath the surface is just as excitingandinteresting.”

Andaccordingtohernewcalculations,thereisindeedplentygoingonbeneaththe surface of the solar system’s icymoons.SoderlundfocusedonJupiter’smoons Europa andGanymede and onSaturn’smoonsEnceladusandTitan.

In each case, she tried to understandhow factors like the world’s rotationrate,thethicknessofitsiceshellandthedensityofitsseawatermightaffecthowmuchwatermovesaround thehiddenoceans.

On Icy Moons, Alien Life May Go with the Flow of

Ocean Currents

MarsDaily.com

Engineers attached NASA’sMars Helicopter, which willbe the first aircraft to fly onanother planet, to the bellyof theMars 2020 rover in theHighBay1 clean roomat theJet Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena,California.

The twin-rotor, solar-poweredhelicopter was connected,alongwiththeMarsHelicopterDelivery System, to a plateon the rover’s belly thatincludesa cover to shield thehelicopter fromdebris duringentry, descent and landing.The helicopter will remainencapsulated after landing,deployingtothesurfaceonceasuitableareatoconducttestflightsisfoundatJezeroCrater,therover’sdestination.

The Mars Helicopter isconsidered a high-risk,high-reward technologydemonstration. If the smallcraft encounters difficulties,the science-gathering of theMars 2020 mission won’t beimpacted. If the helicopterdoes take flight as designed,

future Mars missions couldenlist second-generationhelicopters to add anaerial dimension to theirexplorations.

TheMars2020rover,withtheMars Helicopter aboard, willlaunch on a United LaunchAllianceAtlasV rocket in July2020 from Space LaunchComplex41atCapeCanaveralAir Force Station in Florida.WhenitlandsatJezeroCrateron Feb. 18, 2021, the roverwill be the first spacecraftin the history of planetaryexplorationwiththeabilitytoaccuratelyretargetitspointoftouchdownduringthelandingsequence.

JPLisbuildingandwillmanageoperations of the Mars 2020roverandtheMarsHelicopterfor NASA. NASA’s LaunchServices Program, based atthe agency’s Kennedy SpaceCenterinFlorida,isresponsiblefor launch management.Lockheed Martin Spaceprovided theMars HelicopterDeliverySystem.

Whatarethosebrightlightsintheskyahead?WhenhikingahighmountainpassinnorthernItalythreeweeksago,aconjunctionbetweenourMoonandthedistantplanetJupiterwasvisibletowardthesouthjustaftersunset.ThepicturesquemountainsinthedistanceareTreCimediLavaredo(ThreePeaksofLavaredo),aUNESCOWorldHeritage Site and three of thebest knownmountainpeaks in Italy, theDolomites, and the entireAlps. In theforegroundontheleftisLocatelliHut,arefugefortiredhikersasitislocatedoveranhourfromnearestparkinglot.ThebrightskyobjectontheupperleftisSaturn.Theentirescenewascapturedonasingle8-secondexposure.JupiterandSaturnwillremainprominentinthesouthwesternskyaftersunsetthismonth,whiletheMoon,initsmonthlyorbitaroundtheEarth,willpassnearJupiteragaininaboutfourdays.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

6 Astro Newsletter

apod.nasa.gov

The Moon and Jupiter over the Alps Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer (Cortina Astronomical Association)

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Astronomy Picture of the Day