Rio Rancho Astronomical Society
Upcoming Events:
Friday June 2nd, 8:00 PM.
Monthly Public Meeting. RRAS memeber Jon Schuchardt will give a talk on “Observing Asteroids”
Asteroid observing is addictive. I’m willing to bet that once you start, you won’t want to quit until you’ve observed the 25 asteroids needed to earn a certificate from the Astronomical League. Some of you may even be inspired to “go for gold” with 100 asteroids. In this presentation, we’ll talk about how to wet your toes with some binocular observing, what tools are available to help locate brighter asteroids with a telescope, what to look for when hunting, and how to produce a sketch that will satisfy the Astronomical League that you captured your quarry. Please join us!
For more information, contact RRAS Vice-President, Melanie Templet at 505-220-5355.
Dwarf Planet Ceres
Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, with a diameter of about 950 kilometers (590 miles). Ceres is seen here in approximately true color, based on image data from the Dawn spacecraft recorded on May 4, 2015. On that date, Dawn's orbit stood 13,642 kilometers above the surface of the small world. Two of Ceres' famous mysterious bright spots at Oxo crater and Haulani crater are near center and center right of this view. Casting a telltale shadow at the bottom is Ceres' cone-shaped, lonely mountain Ahuna Mons. Presently some 385 kilometers above the Cerean surface, the ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft is now returning images from its closest mapping orbit.
Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day
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