November 26 Observatory Open House / Lecture /Public Star Night
On Monday, July 4 2016 After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet,
NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn.
Our Speaker this month is Tim Gasparrini, the Juno program manager for Lockheed Martin Aerospace who is the builder of the Juno spacecraft. Tim will tell us about the Juno spacecraft and it’s mission to investigate the unknowns of massive Jupiter.
Juno’s principal goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. With its suite of nine science instruments, Juno will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet’s auroras. The mission also will let us take a giant step forward in our understanding of how giant planets form and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar system.
The observatory is just north of the high school at 1600 Manford Ave. Park in the teacher’s parking lot between the high school and the observatory. The doors will open at 7:00 pm and the meeting will start at 7:30 pm. The presentation, including a question and answer period, lasts about an hour. After the presentation, weather permitting, we will look through our new 16 inch dome telescope at various celestial objects.