From: Majordomo Account <majordomo@www-onlab.jpl.nasa.gov> (by way of Jan Wee <jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov>)
Subject: JPL/ Marswatch Electronic Newsletter - October 1996
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 09:15:12 -0600
FYI -- Jan Wee O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> O-> THE INTERNATIONAL MARSWATCH ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ------------------------------------------------- Volume 2; Issue 3 (file imw.nov96) October 1996 Circulation: 315 <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O <-O CONTENTS--------------------------------------------------------- - - - Latest Images of Mars Downloaded to MarsWatch! - - HST Press Release Images of Martian Polar Dust Storms - - First HST Images of Mars Pathfinder landing site - - Mars Pathfinder on Schedule for a December Launch - - Mars Global Surveyor Successfully Launched - - Mars '96 Launch on Schedule - - Observatory Techniques Magazine's "MarsQuest" joins Marswatch project - Next HST images scheduled; Groundbased supporting images sought - Reminder about Marswatch-related WWW pages and addresses - ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latest Images of Mars Downloaded to MarsWatch --------------------------------------------- The latest and fifth series of images taken by Don Parker of Coral Gables, Flordia have been downloaded. These amazing images were acquired on November 8th using a Lynxx PC camera mounted on a 16-in Newtonian telescope. These images can be found at: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mpf/marswatch_images.html HST Press Release Images of Martian Polar Dust Storms ----------------------------------------------------- Spectacular new images from HST showing two polar dust storms have just been released by Phil James' HST Mars observing team and the Space Telescope Science Institute. This image and the press release text can be found at: http://marswatch.tn.cornell.edu/hst96.html This is the first time that small storms like these have been unequivocally observed near the receding north polar cap [Amateur observers: is this really true?]. Analysis and interpretation of these events would be greatly aided by any supporting groundbased data taken around the same dates. If you have any supporting observations, please submit them to the ftp archive! First HST Images of Mars Pathfinder landing site ------------------------------------------------ HST obtained its first views during this apparition of the Pathfinder landing site region on October 9. The images and all subsequent update images (as Mars increases in apparent angular diameter) can be found at: http://www.physics.utoledo.edu/~pbj/pathpage.html Mars Pathfinder on Schedule for a December Launch ------------------------------------------------- Mars Pathfinder is on schedule for a December 2, 1996 launch. The spacecraft has been buckled up, enclosed within its aeroshell and heatshield, combined with the cruise stage, fueled, spin balanced, tested, and is now ready to be mated with the Delta II launch vehicle. Last week we successfully completed a major Operations Readiness Test and everything is on schedule. MPF has created a Mars "sandbox" in the mission operation area to test the instruments and software for the lander. We have included a live camera feed, and this can be viewed on the following website: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/WEBCAMS/marsroom.html Mars Global Surveyor Successfully Launched! ------------------------------------------- MGS was launched from Cape Canaveral at 12:00:50 EST on November 7, and all indications are that the spacecraft is healthy and proceeding normally on course to an encounter with Mars next September. One of the solar arrays stopped about 20 degrees short of full deployment, but mission personnel do not see this as a threat to the mission and efforts are underway to resolve this minor anomaly. You can follow the details of the MGS cruise to Mars at: http://mgs-www.jpl.nasa.gov This is a very successful start to (at least) a decade-long program of intense Mars exploration! Mars '96 Launch on Schedule --------------------------- The Russian Mars-96 spacecraft continues on schedule for a launch on November 16 at 20:48 UT, on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. You can follow the countdown and mission progress on the WWW via: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/mars96/news.htm Observatory Techniques Magazine's "MarsQuest" joins MarsWatch project ----------------------------------------------------------------- >From Mike Otis, editor of Observatory Techniques Magazine: Observatory Techniques Magazine is merging its own MarsQuest with MarsWatch. The combination will allow members of either group to enjoy the benefits of both! You can post your latest mars images to the electronic web site via MarsWatch, then have your collection of images, observations, and results published in Observatory Techniques Magazine! Observatory Techniques is a quarterly magazine published by amateur astronomers about astronomy, observatories, fantastic projects, and new research. It covers the entire range of astronomy including "How to Build" projects. The magazine is library-classified as unique research. It's also heavy into CCDs, imaging, and sky projects. We are moving into our 6th year of publishing and preparing issue #20. More exciting things are planned for 1997, including the introduction of color, and a full merge with Modern Astronomy to support our rapid expansion. Observatory Techniques subscribers will also have free access to our new on-line robotic telescope, accessible through the Internet and CompuServe, once it is in full operation. We will print updates about the progress in Observatory Techniques. To learn about Observatory Techniques magazine, visit the web site at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/observatory For questions about Observatory Techniques, email the editor/publisher Mike Otis at 72674.471@compuserve.com. Next series of HST Mars Images Scheduled ---------------------------------------- HST will next observe Mars on November 29, between 17:58:55 and 18:44:35 UT (this is 12:58 to 13:44 U.S. Eastern Standard Time). The best chance for simultaneous groundbased observations will be from Australia, Japan, and the Far East. The images will be obtained using 9 filters from the UV to the near-IR and are designed to provide imaging of the Tharsis/Olympus Mons hemisphere. Groundbased observations of Mars before and after this time period may help to determine how the polar dust storm events (see images above) are evolving with time. If you are able to observe Mars during this time period, please submit your observations to the MarsWatch ftp archive. You can find out how to do this at URL: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/marswatch_ftp.html MarsWatch Web Sites ------------------- Just a reminder about some of the other URLs that you can link to in order to find more information and background on the MarsWatch project: Main 1996-97 MarsWatch Web site: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/marswatch.html Goals and Outline of the 1996-97 MarsWatch Project: http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/marsnet/imw/marswatch96.info HST Observations and MarsWatch: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mpf/hst.html 1994-95 HST Mars image archive: http://marswatch.tn.cornell.edu/hst_archive.html 1994-95 MarsNet Web site: http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/marsnet/mnhome.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Bell and Bob Anderson Editors, IMW Newsletter -----------------------------------------------------------------