Copper Breaks Star Walks….Richard Brown

NASA Notes …. Jim Timmons

NASA FLIGHTS NOT IN SUPPORT OF THE SPACE STATION (Helios) - Preparations are being readied at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards for a record setting flight by the Helios prototype in August. Helios  is an unmanned solar powered aircraft. The goal of reaching an altitude of 100,000 feet would set the altitude record for a propeller-driven aircraft and exceed the highest reported altitude by a jet in sustained horizontal flight. Plans for a long endurance flight in 2003 call for a four-day non-stop test above 50,000 feet.

JOVIAN WEATHER: STORMS - Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow (Cassini) - During its recent pass by Jupiter, the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft took photos of Jupiter's polar weather. About 1,200 images were taken using an infrared filter during the last three months of 2000. A movie clip covering 70 days shows small and numerous storms similar to the Great Red Spot.  The question of such long-lived storms at the disorganized

Looking for a special opportunity to be part of a fun Star Party this year? Would you like to have an alternative viewing site? Finally, how about a Star Party that provides you the telescopes and binoculars to use?

You'll find all of this at the monthly StarWalk at Copper Break State Park located 12 miles south of Quanah, Texas on Highway 6. Quanah is located on Highway 287, 90 miles northwest of Wichita Falls.

Thanks to the vision of Dr. Fred Koch, Quanah, Texas, Copper Breaks has an array of astronomical equipment not only for their monthly Star party called a StarWalk, but  the equipment  is available for High School and College Astronomy groups. Already R. L. Turner High School, Carrollton, Texas has had one Astronomy field trip to Copper Breaks. Several others are considering one in the future. Perhaps you know a school that would have interest in a field trip where the equipment is available.

A partial list of equipment includes Dob telescopes in sizes from 10 inches up, a four inch refractor, a 12.5 inch binocular telescope, and various size binoculars with special mounts. Some scopes will have equatorial tracking platforms and others will have database locating systems. This is the first State Park in Texas to have this variety of astronomical equipment available.

Your assistance is needed each month, as your participation adds to the success. Our attendance has ranged from 50 to 90 people each month. Here are the dates for the balance of 2001: August 18^th, September 15^th, October 20^th

The first part of each StarWalk is a visual orientation of the night sky conducted by Jeri Turner, wife of the Park Manager, David Turner. Then it is our turn as Skyguides to share the deep sky objects visible for the month. If you can assist on one of these dates, please contact me and I will provide full details. This is your opportunity to work with a variety of telescopes and binoculars while enjoying a dark sky location and having fun with the monthly StarWalk.

We have great plans for future StarWalks. Plan to be part of this successful program!

Richard Brown
Astronomy Advisor, Copper Breaks State Park
rabrow@aol.com

highest latitudes of Jupiter remains a mystery.

PLAN B (Cassini-Huygens) - In order to work around a design flaw in the Huygens communications system, NASA and the European Space Agency have developed changes to the original mission plan. Changes in the timing and geometry of the Huygens probe will help compensate for the Doppler shift between the two spacecraft. Shortening  Cassini's first two orbits around Saturn, adding a third orbit and flying more than 50 times higher over Titan than first planned will reduce the loss of data. Cassini is due to arrive at Saturn on July 1, 2004. The Huygens probe release has been moved back to December 25, 2004.