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General Weather/Earth Sciences Topics => Earth Sciences => Topic started by: SlowModem on July 15, 2011, 04:14:20 PM
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Dawn spacecraft to orbit two asteroids. Story here (http://news.yahoo.com/dawn-craft-circle-giant-asteroid-1st-stop-092215445.html;_ylt=AmESE9BwoQIUh.idQjAf.w.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM4cTE3OWZlBHBrZwM1NzkxNWU3Ny04OGYyLTM5OGItYTVmMS1kODhkNzZiNGJiMTAEcG9zAzEzBHNlYwNUb3BTdG9yeSBGUAR2ZXIDNTRlOTIyMzAtYWVjNS0xMWUwLWFmZmItMzk1ZWM3MzkwYzNi;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3).
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I was excitited to read that in my NASA News Brief this morning. Vesta is magnitude 6.0 right now according to my The Sky Astronomy Software just visible to the naked eye in very, very dark skies. Not visible here but within the grasp of good binocs and a telescope. It becomes at a good elevation after 1 AM for my area and is in the constellation Capricorn. It is just passed it zenith in the southern sky at 4 AM. Thanks Greg for the article, it had some more info than my newsbrief.
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Very interesting story, plus being very cool. Thanks.
John
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Good reading there, thanks. One line that got me scratching my head this morning is "It's estimated that 1 out of every 20 meteorites found on our planet came from Vesta." I guess my coffee hasn't kicked in yet. :-)
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Good reading there, thanks. One line that got me scratching my head this morning is "It's estimated that 1 out of every 20 meteorites found on our planet came from Vesta." I guess my coffee hasn't kicked in yet. :-)
That does put a pucker in the brain cells no matter what time it is!!! ;)
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Orbit has been achieved. Story here (http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-spacecraft-enters-orbit-around-asteroid-vesta-space-132002226.html;_ylt=AhY0dLe6JHTvlKEIY3PqPgms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNkNjExbTV0BHBrZwNlOWIzMmFlZC05ZmU0LTNhNTctYmFiMS01ZDc3ZjYyOGU0NGQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA2xuX0xhdGVzdE5ld3NfZ2FsBHZlcgM3YWRiYjIxMC1iMDc3LTExZTAtOTdiOC0wMGIzZmU5NzA5ZWQ-;_ylv=3).
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Wow, that's a lot of number crunching. It's amazing how NASA can control the satellite's orbit to the point where it can pull out of it later using just the ion motor(s).
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Pic of Vesta from DAWN You can go to http://www.nasa.gov/dawn for full res pics.
I will never look at Vesta the same from now on. Very neat picture.