ആസ്ട്രോ കേരളയുടെ തൃശൂര് ജില്ലാ ഘടകത്തിന്റെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തില് പ്രമുഖ ജ്യോതിശാസ്ത്രജ്ഞനായിരുന്ന സുബ്രമഹ്ണ്യം ചന്ദ്രശേഖറുടെ ജന്മശതാബ്ദി ആചരണം നടത്തി.അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ജീവിതത്തെയും സംഭാവനകളെയും കുറിച്ച് ആസ്ട്രോ തൃശൂര് ഘടകം ചെയര്മാനായ ശ്രീ.പി ആര് ചന്ദ്രമോഹന് വിദ്യാര്ഥികള്ക്കായി ക്ലാസ് നയിച്ചു.ഒക്ടോബര് 19 നു തൃശൂര് ഗവ.മോഡല് ഗേള്സ് ഹൈസ്കൂളില് വച്ചു നടന്ന പരിപാടിയില് ആസ്ട്രോ ഭാരവാഹി ശ്രീ അജയകുമാര്,സ്കൂള് ഭാരവാഹികള് തുടങ്ങിയവര് സംബന്ധിച്ചു.നിരവധി വിദ്യാര്ഥികള് പരിപാടിയില് പങ്കെടുത്തു
Tag Archives: Kerala
Kerala man in charge of NASA Mars Orbiter Project
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a new project manager: Phil Varghese, a native of Kerala, India.He came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1971 to study physics, earned his doctorate at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore., and then worked with computer and aerospace companies. He began his work at JPL as an engineer on NASA's Mars Observer Project and has managed another veteran NASA Mars mission - the Mars Odyssey orbiter - since 2004. Varghese has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., since 1989.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been examining Mars with six advanced instruments since 2006. It has returned more data than the total from all other NASA missions that have flown farther than the moon.
Mars Odyssey began orbiting Mars in 2001 and is the longest-active spacecraft studying the Red Planet. Varghese previously managed the Deep Space 1 technology demonstration mission, which flew past asteroid Braille and comet Borrelly using solar-powered ion propulsion.
JPL's Jim Erickson managed the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project from December 2006 to February 2010, succeeding the project's original manager, Jim Graf. Erickson now manages JPL's Deep Space Network and Mission Service Planning and Management Program. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Manager Dan Johnston served as acting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project manager for the past four months.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey for NASA.
AASTRO Monthly Meet @ Planetarium
AASTRO office bearers,members and enthusiasts , as a part of its monthly meet up, will gather at Kerala state Science & technology Museum on Wednesday, 5.30 PM. AASTRO will arrange public lectures and discussions regarding vivid topics in astronomy, astrophysics,physics, space science and allied subjects. For July, we have a presentation on Relativity theory by Shri.K.S.Skaria IPS followed by a discussion on it. Eminent personalities, AASTRO Members, planetarium officials, students and other subject enthusiasts will take part. the talk is open for public too. For more details, one can contact Shri.D.S.Vaishakahan Thampi , Ph : 9846608238
ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS FOR JULY 2010
JULY 1: Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 10h UT (distance 405,036 km; angular size 29.8')
JULY 3: Moon near Jupiter (morning sky) at 20h UT. Mag. -2.5.
JULY 4: Last Quarter Moon at 14:35 UT.
JULY 6: Earth at Aphelion (farthest from Sun) at 11h UT. The Sun- Earth distance is 1.01670 a.u. or about 152.1 million km.
JULY 8: Moon near Pleiades (morning sky) at 6h UT.
JULY 9: Moon near Aldebaran (morning sky) at 2h UT.
JULY 10: Venus 1.0° NNE of Regulus (evening sky) at 12h UT. Mags. -4.1 and 1.4.
JULY 11: Total Solar Eclipse visible from South Pacific Ocean. Path of totality includes parts of the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Tuamotu Archipelago, Easter Island, and southern Chile and Argentina. Greatest totality (5m 20s) occurs in open ocean at 19:34 UT.
JULY 11: New Moon at 19:40 UT. Start of lunation 1083.
JULY 13: Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 11h UT (361,115 km; 32.1').
JULY 14: Moon near Regulus (evening sky) at 13h UT.
JULY 14: Moon near Venus (evening sky) at 22h UT. Mag. -4.1.
JULY 16: Moon near Mars (evening sky) at 0h UT. Mag. +1.4.
JULY 16: Moon near Saturn (evening sky) at 14h UT. Mag. +1.1.
Sky map for July
JULY 18: Moon near Spica (evening sky) at 6h UT.
JULY 18: First Quarter Moon at 10:11 UT.
JULY 21: Moon near Antares (evening sky) at 20h UT.
JULY 26: Full Moon at 1:37 UT.
JULY 27: Mercury 0.3° SSW of Regulus (25° from Sun, evening sky) at 22h UT. Mags. +0.1 and +1.3.
JULY 29: Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 0h UT (distance 405,955 km; angular size 29.3').
JULY 31: Moon near Jupiter (morning sky) at 2h UT. Mag. -2.7.
JULY 31: Mars 1.8° SSW of Saturn (evening sky) at 6h UT. Mags. +1.5 and +1.1.
Astronomy Events for June 2010
June 3 : Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 17h UT (distance 404,266 km; angular size 29.4').
June 4: Last Quarter Moon at 22:13 UT.
June 6: Moon near Jupiter (morning sky) at 4h UT. Mag. -2.3.
June 7: Mars 0.8° NNE from Regulus (74° from Sun, evening sky) at 6h UT. Mags. +1.2 and +1.3.
June 8: Jupiter 0.44° SSE from Uranus (77° from Sun, morning sky) at 8h UT. Mags. -2.3 and +5.9.
June 10: Mercury 5.9° SSE of the Pleiades (19° from Sun, morning sky) at 16h UT. Mag. -0.4.
June 10: Moon near Pleiades (morning sky) at 23h UT.
June 11: Moon near Mercury (morning sky) at 1h UT.
June 12: New Moon at 11:15 UT. Start of lunation 1082.
June 15: Moon near Venus (evening sky) at 4h UT. Mag. -4.0.
June 15: Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 15h UT (365,931 km; 32.7').
June 15: Moon near Beehive cluster (M44) (evening sky) at 17h UT.
June 17: Moon near Regulus (evening sky) at 4h UT.
June 17: Moon near Mars (evening sky) at 15h UT. Mag. +1.3.
June 19: First Quarter Moon at 4:29 UT.
June 20: Venus 0.7° from Beehive cluster (M44) (evening sky) at 20h UT. Mag. -4.0.
June 21: Moon near Spica (evening sky) at 1h UT.
June 21: June solstice at 11:29 UT
ie.The time when the Sun reaches the point farthest north of the celestial equator marking the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
June 24: Moon near Antares (evening sky) at 12h UT.
June 26: Full Moon at 11:30 UT.
June 26: Partial Eclipse of the Moon from 10:17 to 13:00 UT, mid-eclipse at 11:38 UT. Visible from the Americas, the Pacific and eastern Asia.
June 28: Mercury at superior conjunction with the Sun at 12h UT. The planet passes into the evening sky.
All times are in terms of Universal Time (UT).
V S/AASTRO
Trivandrum Chapter Meet on 13th May
AASTRO Thiruvananthapuram Chapter will have a meet on Thursday,13th may at Kerala State Science & Technology Museum and Priyadarshini Planetarium,PMG junction.AASTRO President Prof.K.Pappootty will preside the meeting and Planetarium director Shri.Arun Jerald Prakash and other eminent personalities will make their presence.upcoming and ongoing activities and programmes will be reviewed and plans for school & college activities will be shaped on the course. AASTRO is planning to contribute for the Museum in vivid ways and this will be one of the mainstream agendas.All AASTRO members are requested to take part and more details are available with district point of contact Ph :+91-9846608238