July 23rd Radio Show: Asteroids and Jupiter

Now available here, in addition to discussing all of the Astronomy news I missed while I was at COSPAR, I also covered some interesting new results asteroids and Jupiter, its rings, and its moons. On this program, I talked about:

• Phoenix Mars Lander: The latest activity, including:
  • July 8 - Second Sample delivered to the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) laboratory (link)
  • July 9 - The robotic arm tested different methods to collect large enough samples of the icy soil discovered near the Phoenix Mars Lander for analysis in its instruments (link)
  • July 10 - First measurements of the electrical properties of the soil near the Phoenix Mars Lander were made, as were the first images of Martian soil with the atomic force microscope
  • July 15 - Trench used to get soil samples extended by about 6 inches to make getting samples easier (link)
  • July 16 - To get a sample of icy soil large enough for analysis, robotic arms begins rasping frozen layer (link)
  • July 17 - Rasping successful, sample of icy soil collected for Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument (link)
• News: UK science budget finalized, large cuts to several Astronomy programs; first observations with the Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service (EXPReS) project which combines data from large radio telescopes across the world, including Arecibo, conducted successfully (link); Czech Republic joins European Space Agency (ESA); NASA and ESA complete joint study on what is required to support a permanent human outpost on the Moon; NASA announces winners of college student competition to design future aircraft (link,contest); Dr. Rob Strain appointed next director of Goddard Space Flight Center; EPOXI mission has begun a search for transiting extrasolar planets as it approaches a flyby of comet Hartley 2 (link) and filmed a movie of the Moon transiting the Earth (link); orbit of ESA's Venus Express modified to bring it deeper into Venus's atmosphere; ESA's Mars Express preparing for very close approaches to Mars's moon Phobos; recently launched GLAST has turned on its scientific instruments for the first time, and all appears to be well (link); hardware for final Hubble servicing mission arrives at Kennedy Space Center; calibration of ultraviolet instruments for upcoming Solar Dynamics Observatory to be done using high-altitude balloons (link); NASA and ESA issue report on what is needed to return a sample from Mars (report); new infrared detectors useful for future telescope designed to study high redshift universe developed (link); new materials being developed to protect future satellites from collisions with space junk (link); NASA developing longer-lasting, higher-altitude balloons for science / astronomy experiments.
• Calendar of upcoming Astronomy/science events in the greater Poughkeepsie, New York City area
• Asteroids: Acid rain supports meteorite interpretation of Tunguska event (link); source of most common meteorites discovered in the asteroid belt (link); the source of UFO-shaped and small binary asteroids believed to be the result of asteroids spinning faster from reflecting sunlight - the faster rotation period moves material from the poles to the equator, and in some cases the asteroids can rotate so quickly they fling material off which then coalesces into a smaller asteroid that orbits the larger one (link)
• Jupiter: Buckyballs can hold hydrogen as dense as the center of Jupiters, allowing scientist to determine (finally) the structure of Jupiter's core (link); winds in Little Red Spot in Jupiter's atmosphere observed to be getting faster (link); turbulence in Jupiter's upper atmosphere observed to continue - result of global climate change on Jupiter? (link); the three red spots observed in Jupiter's atmosphere pass near and distort each other (link,pictures); burst of low-frequency radio emission from Jupiter believed to be the result of Jupiter's rotation effected ionized particles released by volcano's on Io (link); aurora on Jupiter believed to be result of Io deflecting the path of charged particles orbiting Jupiter (link); bizarre features of Jupiter's outer rings caused by material moving in and out of Jupiter's shadow - when illuminated by sunlight, the ring material becomes ionized and feels the effect of Jupiter's magnetic field, and when it is in Jupiter's shadow it becomes neutral and no longer is affected (link); cracks on Europa's crust likely to be result of rotation poles of Europa changing - applying pressure to the icy crust through a liquid ocean underneath (link)

Thank you very much for listening. Hope you enjoyed and, as always, any and all feedback is appreciated.