[SJAA-announce] FW: SJAA and NASA's LCROSS Mission

[Rob Hawley]

A contact at NASA alerted me to this event.

Unfortunately this conflicts with the SJAA General Meeting presentation on
double stars.  The club will be unable to participate. However, I am making
the members aware in case you want to go to the beginning of this and then
attend our presentation at 8 PM.


Rob Hawley 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian H. Day [mailto:bhday at mail.arc.nasa.gov] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 2:43 PM
To: robhawley at earthlink.net; president at sjaa.net
Cc: jvn at svpal.org
Subject: SJAA and NASA's LCROSS Mission

Hi Rob,

My name is Brian Day, and I am the Education/Public Outreach Lead for the 
LCROSS lunar impactor mission. I'd like to enlist the help of the SJAA and 
its members in getting the public involved in this mission. NASA's plans 
for returning to the Moon are in high gear. The scheduled launch of the 
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing 
Satellite (LCROSS) is now less than one year away. To help the public gain 
a better understanding of these missions and how they will help lead to an 
inhabited lunar outpost, NASA is planning a Return to the Moon Family Night 
at NASA's Ames Research Center on Saturday evening, November 17 from 4PM to 
9PM. Presentations will be given by mission experts, robotic rovers and 
Moon rocks will be on display, and educational activities will be provided 
for young people. If the weather permits, NASA Ames will make the parade 
ground available for amateur astronomers to set up their telescopes, show 
the public the Moon, and let the public know about the opportunities 
provided by their local amateur astronomy society. I was wondering if you 
could help me spread the word among SJAA members and encourage them to 
consider bringing their telescopes to NASA Ames and participating in this 
exciting event. It would be very helpful if any members planning to attend 
could notify me at Brian.H.Day at nasa.gov.

As an additional point of interest for your members, we are currently 
planning to have LCROSS impact one of the permanently shadowed craters at 
the lunar South Pole in early Feb of 2009. We estimate that the impact 
plume should be visible in amateur telescopes in the 10" to 12" range. NASA 
will be asking members of the amateur community to be active participants 
in this mission, imaging the spacecraft during its transit to the Moon, 
imaging the impact plume, and submitting their observations to NASA to be 
part of the mission data archive. I look forward to working with many 
members of the SJAA in the coming months.

Thanks,
Brian

P.S. A special hello to Jim Van Nuland, with whom I served on the board of 
SJAA many years ago!


Any opinions expressed in this message are strictly my own and do not 
necessarily reflect those of NASA, its contracting agencies, or any other 
life form in the Universe.

Brian H. Day
AETT Technical Lead
LCROSS E/PO Lead
Planners Collaborative
Mailstop 226-4
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
(650) 604-2605
bhday at mail.arc.nasa.gov