To The Moon, Newt!

A viewer of Current TV's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" wrote in to ask what Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had in mind when he stated that "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. And it will be American."

As a contributor to the program for astronomy and space topics, their booking producer asked my opinion of what I thought of Gingrich's declaration. Here's my response to the producer and the viewer who wrote in:

"On one hand, I commend him for two things: 1. Looking for something to ignite the imagination and the enthusiasm of our youth and;  2. Thinking of using our space program as a way to drive tech STEM education and tech development in the US in the future.

On the other hand, let's pretend this story has come up on an episode of  'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'. Rogers' question would be: "Children, can you say 'pandering'?"

By 2020, huh? Let's add Newt's promise to discussions about the length of time an ice cube could exist in hell, or the possibility of flying pigs, etc.
We currently do not have a plan for the establishment of a lunar base. We don't have the specialty manufacturing base necessary to build the equipment (that hasn't been designed yet). Congress has hasn't been presented with any sort of logical rationale for the enormous expenditure it would take to accomplish such a task in eight years. I'm not saying it couldn't be done BUT such an effort would have to command the direct and complete commitment of Congress to provide a blank check to NASA and require the country to completely re-focus its attention away from overseas conflict, the financial recovery, international terrorism, energy issues and above all, the Washington partisan politics, bickering, backbiting and frozen non-functioning. To do what Newt is suggesting, the country's leadership would have to be convinced that mounting such an effort would do something not only miraculous – like something on the level of how JFK's declaration was meant to squash the Soviet threat – but it would also have to benefit every congressional district or else who but those who have the space industries in their districts would support it?

Newt's tactic here? Tell the Floridians whatever they want to hear to get their vote. He'll just screw them later. It's like coming to Pennsylvania and saying fracking for natural gas will be the nation's new energy policy once he's elected.

If we really hustle, we might get back to the moon by 2020. Permanent base? 2030 if we're really committed at the earliest.

Ad Astra,
Derrick (Still available for tonight) Pitts"

I gave a highly condensed version of this response last night as the No. 1 story on "Countdown".

The scary part is that the other Republican candidates railed against Gingrich's idea but for all the wrong reasons. In last night's debate, a week before the Florida primaries, Mitt Romney vaguely said he supports manned space exploration, then said it's too expensive and admitted he would fire anybody who came to him with a multi-billion dollar proposal to build a base on the moon. Rick Santorum said space is important but exploring space is too expensive. Ron Paul flatly said he doesn't think we should go to the moon, that there are more important issues to deal with here like healthcare, and that space research should be pursued for national defense purposes. None, except Gingrich, mentioned anything about the importance of the space program as a driver of American technological development or world technological and economic leadership. True, at one time, the importance of the space program was primarily for military supremacy but since the end of the Apollo program,  the space industry's importance has become far greater than its military importance for the nation's educational, research, industrial and military complexes.

Three things any presidential candidate must remember about the importance of and need for a robust space program of any sort are: a clear vision is an absolute must, congress will fight you tooth and nail, and it will be beneficial - not during your term or terms as president, but only in the long run, maintaining this country's superiority and security.

Quadrantid Shower Peaks Tomorrow Morning, January 4

The expectation for the Quadrantids this year is an hourly rate of 120 per hour(!), with a waxing gibbous moon setting in the west during the pre-dawn hours. The region of radiant for this shower is northern Bootes, formerly known as Quadrans Muralis 150 years ago – hence the name of the shower, the Quadrantids. Since Bootes rises around 1 a.m., your best bet for viewing between midnight and sunrise tomorrow morning. The moon will be setting (with Jupiter) just as Bootes has come up in the east, along with Saturn.  Mars is already well up in the east. Spica is the bright star south of Saturn.

Best bet for viewing? Anywhere away from city lights. Two of the darkest locations around near Philadelphia are the NJ Pine Barrens and what I call 'the back route' to Cape May – down Rt. 55, south through the Vineland –Millville area towards Belleplain State Forest. The sky is very dark and it's not too far a drive.

As much as we might like to be open to observe meteor showers here at The Franklin Institute, with light pollution from city buildings and street lights, we can't see enough of the meteors to make it worthwhile for an audience to come here. Planets, stars, the moon - and even a few nebulae and star clusters we can see but meteors are very difficult.

While there are several minor showers this spring, the next big shower after the Quadrantids is the Perseid shower on August 12.

Close Asteroid Pass on Nov. 8th. Feel the Breeze!

Asteroid 2005 YU 55 and the Earth-Moon System, November 8, 2011

An exciting event takes place at 6:28 p.m. EST this evening when a 400-meter long asteroid passes within 202,000 miles of Earth. This distance is about 85% of the 238,000-mile distance between Earth and the moon. While it might be a cause of concern for some, astronomers agree that the object will not come any closer to Earth and have eliminated the possibility that Earth will be struck by 2005 YU 55.

The actual trajectory of the asteroid shows it traveling from the general direction of the sun toward the Earth-Moon system, but tangent to the moon’s orbital path just inside the moon’s orbit. The moon will be almost 90 degrees from the asteroid and moving away at the time YU 55 passes and, most important, the asteroid will pass well above the orbital plane of both the Earth and the moon.

Covering nearly nine degrees of sky per hour as it passes, YU 55, comes at us from the direction of the sun and passes on out beyond us, anti-sunward toward the outer solar system. As we would see it (if we could), it will travel from west to east across the evening sky as it heads out into the deep solar system. Its orbit actually brings it around this region every 15 months or so, but current studies of its orbital path indicate no impact encounters for us over the next several hundred years.

Due to the timing of its passage, only viewers in western Europe and eastern North America have the best chance to see it.

Because of its small size and low brightness (far below naked-eye visibility), it will be difficult to see with anything less than a 6-inch telescope under dark skies. Even then, you’ll have to know exactly where to look and even if you have some skill as an observer, you may miss it.

Asteroid 2005 YU 55 was identified six years ago. When its orbit was calculated by astronomers, it was determined that YU 55 had passed even closer to earth in 1976 but at that time was unknown to exist. Since its discovery, radar measurements taken during its 2010 pass indicate its size to be rather small as asteroids go - more like a large rock rather than a ‘monster’ asteroid. During this pass scientists will examine it more closely and with better instrumentation, hoping to image finer details of the surface that may shed light on its origin.

For more information, check out the diagrams found here:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/133013563.html

- Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer, Franklin Institute Science Museum, dpitts@fi.edu, 215 448 1234.