Color pictures taken from Martian orbit feature the landing spots for two of NASA's dearly departed probes on the Red Planet. Can you spot the Spirit rover's landing platform in the picture?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell


The panoramic camera on NASA's Spirit rover looks back at its landing platform just after rolling onto the Martian surface in 2004.

Bonneville Crater is easy to find: That was Spirit's first big destination after its landing in January 2004, and it took weeks for the six-wheeled robot to get there. But it's harder to make out the three-petal lander that was Spirit's home base for the airbag-cushioned landing.

If you haven't spotted it yet, the lander is the small bright object in the lower left corner of the picture above, captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's high-resolution camera on Jan. 29. The reddish tint suggests that Mars' red dust is accumulating on the platform.

Read More

Scientists have discovered a planet about five times bigger than Earth flying the right distance from its parent star for liquid water to exist on its surface, a condition believed to be necessary for life.

The newly found planet circles a star dimmer than the sun that is located 22 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius (also known as Scorpio.) It passes around its parent star in 28.15 days.

While far closer to its star than Earth is to the sun, the planet’s parent star, known as GJ 667C, is a small dwarf star that emits most of its light in infrared radiation. That means GJ 667C's so-called "habitable zone" -- the region where surface water can exist in liquid form -- is closer than our sun's region.

Read the full article

See the full article for the dates selected to be discussed at our next meetings for time and places for upcoming events. This list is still a work in progress.

send us any questions or concerns about any of the dates listed...

February 17th at TAMUCC 4th floor. Business meeting.

February 4 PINS 730pm
February 11 Mustang Island 7pm
February 17 TAMUCC 7pm
February 25 club night 730pm (club members and guests only)

March 17 PINS 730pm
March 24 Janet F. Harte Public Library (Universe)6pm
March 31 Mustang Island 7pm


April 15-22 (Texas Star Party)
April 21 club night (club members and guests only) 8pm
April 28 PINS 8pm

May 19 club night (club members and guests only) 8pm


June 16 club night (club members and guests only) 830pm


It's time to get back to it.

Look forward to hearing from you on the schedule.

Dear CC Stargazers,

I just wanted to thank you all for putting on a fantastic program at Mustang Island State Park tonight. As people were leaving the parking lot they came up and thanked me for having you out and for having such a fun and informative program for them at the park. You guys and gals make me look very good at doing my job. I loved having you out to Goose Island when I was there and I’m looking forward to having you out to Mustang Island again and again. Thanks again and remember, “Life’s better outside”.



Mike Mullenweg

Park Interpreter

Mustang Island State Park

have found more real-life versions of Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine from "Star Wars" — alien worlds that see two suns rise and set each day instead of one. And these two newfound worlds are also extremely close to the habitable zones of their parent stars, scientists say.

The discovery cements what appears to be a new class of twin sun alien planets and may help astronomers estimate how many of such binary stars possess planets. The finding also suggests that many planets might lie in the habitable zones of such systems, researchers said.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/0 ... mp=obinsite#ixzz1k6aiJQFh