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(meteorobs) Excerpts from "CCNet, 14/2000 - 2 February 2000"
Shawn Silovitz, FLL network circuit tech 954-527-2107
------- Forwarded Message
From: Benny J Peiser <b.j.peiser@livjm.acdot uk>
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.acdot uk
Subject: CCNet, 2 February 2000
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 11:01:09 -0500 (EST)
CCNet, 14/2000 - 2 February 2000
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QUOTES OF THE DAY
"During its yearlong orbital mission, NEAR is expected to take=20
images from as close as nine miles away =97 and even attempt a=20
landing. Eventually, data from NEAR could help scientists learn=20
how to divert an asteroid from colliding with Earth if such a=20
situation ever arose."
-- Alan Boyle, MSNBC
[...]
(2) NEW VIEWS ON EROS
MSNBC, 1 February 2000
[...]
(4) SPACE CHEMISTRY
European Space Agency <sciweb@estec.esadot nl>
[...]
============================================================
(2) NEW VIEWS ON EROS
>From MSNBC, 1 February 2000
http://msnbc.com/news/204520.asp?cp1=3D1
Lovely new images of an asteroid
NEAR spacecraft heads for Valentine's Day rendezvous
By Alan Boyle
MSNBC
Feb. 1 - From millions of miles away, the Near Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous spacecraft is beaming back images and movies, leading up to
its close encounter with the asteroid Eros this month. Right now Eros
looks like a pebble slowly rolling in the blackness of space, but
scientists expect it to grow to a screen-filling extravaganza.
AFTER ALMOST exactly four years of space flight, NEAR is due to go into
orbit around the micro-world Feb. 14. The Valentine's Day arrival
time is strangely fitting, since Eros is named after the Greek god of
love (also known by his Roman sobriquet, Cupid).
In preparation for the rendezvous, the 18.3-foot-wide (5.6-meter-wide)
spacecraft started taking pictures of the asteroid in mid-January, when
Eros was still 27,200 miles (35,300 kilometers) away. As of Tuesday,
NEAR had closed to within 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) of Eros.
The spacecraft and the asteroid are both roughly 165 million miles (265
million kilometers) from Earth - and experts emphasize that there's
absolutely no danger that Eros will collide with our planet, at least
for the next few million years or so.
NEAR was originally scheduled to start swinging around the asteroid a
year ago. Engine problems forced a course change, however, meaning that
the spacecraft could come no closer than 2,375 miles (3,830 kilometers)
to Eros during its December 1998 flyby.
Despite the disappointment, scientists learned a great deal about the
rock from that earlier pass. They determined that the asteroid was
slightly smaller than previously thought - about 21 by 8 by 8 miles
(33 by 13 by 13 kilometers). And they saw variations in surface color and
reflectivity indicating that the asteroid has a diverse surface makeup.
Scientists said Eros appeared to be about as dense as Earth's crust,
and twice as dense as asteroid Mathilde, which NEAR flew past in June
1997. It also has two medium-size craters and a prominent ridge that
extends as far as 12 miles (20 kilometers).
All this suggests that Eros is a rocky object rather than a floating
rubble pile, as scientists believe Mathilde to be. Images taken during
an earlier flyby in December 1998 (top row) were used to develop
computerized renditions of Eros' contorted shape (bottom row). Eros'
shape has been compared to that of a shoe, a battered boat or a cosmic
peanut.
This month's encounter with Eros is sure to be more intimate, so to
speak. That's the reason why mission managers are interested in the
approach pictures: They help confirm Eros' position and rate of
rotation, and would also eventually show whether there were any
mini-moons or other material floating around the asteroid. In the past,
satellites have been detected orbiting other asteroids, such as Ida and
Eugenia.
If Eros has a moon, we surely wish to know about it before we go
into orbit, NEAR mission managers explained in a status report.
Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory is overseeing
the $211 million NEAR mission on NASA's behalf.
During its yearlong orbital mission, NEAR is expected to take images
from as close as nine miles away - and even attempt a landing.
Eventually, data from NEAR could help scientists learn how to divert an
asteroid from colliding with Earth if such a situation ever arose.
Earthlings won't have to worry about Eros specifically for a long
time, said project scientist Andy Cheng.
Eros is in a chaotically changing orbit that will within the next
few million years most likely become an Earth-crossing orbit, he told
MSNBC. He estimated that the asteroid might have a 5 percent chance of
hitting Earth at some point in the next 100 million years or so.
But if such a collision ever occurred, it would pack a catastrophic
wallop, Cheng said. Eros is actually bigger than the asteroid that
ended the age of the dinosaurs, he said.
Copyright 2000, MSNBC
============================================================
(4) SPACE CHEMISTRY
>From the European Space Agency <sciweb@estec.esadot nl>
The stars are the chemical factories of the Universe: they synthesise=20
in their cores new chemical elements that combine in the stellar=20
outskirts to produce new molecules, and these will become part of the=20
raw material out of which more stars, planets, and maybe even living=20
organisms will form. ESA's infrared space telescope, ISO, has=20
identified many of these compounds in space.=20
About 150 astronomers, including many experts in space-chemistry, will =
present and discuss results in the field at ESA's Villafranca station,=20
in Madrid, Spain, from 2 to 4 February.=20
Full story: =
http://sci.esa.int/missions/newsitem.cfm?TypeID=3D18&ContentID=3D9071
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THE CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE NETWORK (CCNet)
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February 1997 on, can be found at
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