SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0325 * SpaceNews 25-Mar-96 * BID: $SPC0325 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MARCH 25, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * GET READY FOR COMET HYAKUTAKE! * ================================== The TSS tethered satellite deployed by the last Space Shuttle mission recently decayed into the Earth's atmosphere, but now there is a new object to look for in the night sky. For those living in the northen hemisphere, this week will offer the best conditions for viewing comet Hyakutake. Comet Hyakutake was discovered very recently by an amateur astronomer using binoculars on 30-Jan-96. Its tail has been estimated at being 7 million miles in length. Between 24-Mar-96 and 28-Mar-96, the comet will pass through the Big Dipper, and become circumpolar as it approaches Polaris, the north star. When this occurs, it will be visible all night, and at its closest approach on the 25th, its magnitude could reach -2. Under dark skies, the comet should be bright enough for viewing with the naked eye, however the extra light gathering ability afforded by binoculars or a small telescope could be a valuable asset in viewing the comet. The comet will slowly move towards the northwestern sky as it moves away from the earth and towards the sun after the 28th. Viewing conditions may become enhanced once again in late April when the comet grows in brightness due to its close proximity to the sun. The following are celestial coordinates and AZ/EL information by Gustavo, LW2DTZ, for observers located at 51 degrees North at 0300 UTC: Day RA DEC AZ EL LN MAG 1 1451 -2241 160 13 113 6.8 8 1454 -2004 166 17 120 5.7 15 1455 -1336 172 24 129 4.2 17 1455 -0951 173 28 132 3.6 19 1454 -0402 176 34 135 2.9 20 1453 0012 177 38 135 2.5 21 1451 0550 179 44 137 2.2 22 1450 1331 181 52 137 1.7 23 1447 2406 184 62 134 1.3 24 1443 3823 195 75 127 0.9 25 1433 5555 317 83 115 0.0 26 1406 7358 349 66 102 0.7 27 0853 8633 354 50 089 0.7 28 0357 7735 357 39 079 1.1 29 0330 6906 359 30 071 1.3 30 0321 6250 000 24 066 1.5 31 0316 5808 001 19 061 1.8 Additional information on comet Hyakutake, including maps, drawings, and photographs may be found at: http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/tips.html * COLLOQUIUM FOLLOW-UP * ======================== The 11th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th July 1996. Thursday will be devoted to International/IARU matters and other subjects will be structured across the following three days. There will also be the usual social events including: Command Station visits, the Annual Dinner and Auction, AMSAT-UK AGM, and other light-hearted fun. This is the final call from AMSAT-UK to invite authors to submit papers, about amateur radio space and associated activities, for this event. Organizers normally prefer authors to present the papers themselves rather than having someone unacquainted with the authors' work to read them in the authors' absence. Abstracts of Papers for presentation should be submitted by 15th May 1996. Full submissions need to be received by 15th June 1996 (-PLEASE-) in order to be included in the "proceedings" document which will be published in time for attendees to receive it at the event. Electronic submissions should be sent to: Chris Jackson, G7UPN via Internet at: G7UPN@amsat.org or via the UO-22 satellite. Submissions by mail should be sent to: Chris Jackson, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, University Of Surrey, Guildford, England GU2 5XH Up-to-date information about the Colloquium can be accessed via the Internet at either of these two World Wide Web sites: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/new/amateur/colloquium.html http://www.mcc.ac.uk/AMSAT/colloquium96.html [Info via Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL, and John Heaton, G1YYH] * STS-76 NEWS * =============== Space Shuttle ATLANTIS successfully lifted off a day later than originally scheduled due to high wind conditions at one of the emergency landing sites. A leak was detected shortly after liftoff, and there is a concern that this could affect Shuttle landing. The mission could be cut short if the leak is determined to be a serious matter. * MIR HEARD OVER US * ===================== Cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station were received on Monday 18-Mar-96 on 143.625 MHz by Keith Stein as the spacecraft passed over the NASA Wallops Flight Facility ground station. Keith reports that the crew was using Wallops as a relay station to talk with the Mission Control Center in Moscow and Mission Control Center in Houston. This is a rare event since radio hobbyists in North America have not heard much on this frequency since 1991 when Russia moved their tracking ships from the north to the south Atlantic Ocean. These ships were used as relays for two-communications between Mir and Mission Control in Russia. Hobbyists in the surrounding area of Virginia should keep an ear tuned to 143.625 MHz since it will be used a lot more over the U.S. once U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid is on board the station. [Info via Keith Stein] * CQ CQ CQ * ============ Egon Schlegel: A long lost friend at e-mail address "VGude@aol.com" is looking for you. He asks that you contact him if you can. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who provided news items and sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: LU2EGQ N5GOH LU6EX LW7DWN LU8EDH * SpaceNews AVAILABILITY * ========================== SpaceNews is available regularly on Usenet in the rec.radio.info, rec.radio.amateur.misc, and sci.space.news newsgroups, and on packet radio BBSs worldwide as well as the AMSAT-OSCAR-16 Pacsat satellite. It can also be retrieved using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) at pilot.njin.net (128.6.7.38) from the /pub/SpaceNews subdirectory. You may also "finger magliaco@pilot.njin.net" for a copy of the latest issue, or access it via the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/pilot.njin.net/magliaco/w. * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX