VOLUME 2, Nº 9
DATE: MAY 2017
Reach the Sky Bulletin Light Pollution Poem I look up to the sky. Not many stars to see. Warm night, wind is dry. Gazing up from a tree. Only a few stars visible tonight. Eerie sounds create confusion. Sky black with half-moon, an ordinary sight. Figuratively I remember the cause, light pollution. Even though I despise the common environmentalist, A century ago the sky was filled with moon and stars. When it comes to agenda I'm not much of a fundamentalist, But consideration must be made, for visible shall be Mars. I look out to the city on this warm, delightful eve. The buildings tall and glow, rise to the darkness spread. Such feat is amazing, it is not to be deceive. Saddens me that such wonder could affect my overhead. (https://allpoetry.com/poem/10056531-Light-Pollution-by-TamikaSomething) Romanian Team
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was born in March 23, 1912 and died in June 16, 1977) He was a German, later American, aerospace engineer and space architect. He was inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany and the Saturn V for the United States. He was leader in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, where he was a member of the Nazi Party and the SS. After end of World War II, he was moved to the United States, along with about 1,500 other scientists and engineers as part of Operation Paperclip, where he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1, and the Apollo program manned lunar landings. In his twenties, von Braun worked in Germany's rocket development program, where he helped design and develop the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War
II. Following the war, von Braun worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile (redstone rocket that carries nuclear warhead) program before his group was assimilated into NASA. Under NASA, he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.
https://Wernher_von_Braun#/media/File:V-2_rocket_diagram.svg https://Wernher_von_Braun#/media/ File:Wernher_von_Braun_1960.jpg https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun https://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/vonbraun.html
Timotej Cerjak Šalamon, Slovenia
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Myths and Legends: Sol Sol was a goddess in the Norse mythology. She represented the sun. She first appeared alongside her brother Mani who represented the moon. They both emerged when the cosmos were being created. According to the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century, Mundilfari was the father of Sol and Mani. They were both so beautiful that Mundilfari named them Sol after the sun and Mani after the moon. The gods were not happy by that so as punishment they were forced to ride horse-drawn chariots through the sky. Svalinn rides with the goddess with a shield between her and the Earth. If something were to happen to him the world would be set on fire. Her chariot is pulled by two horses Arvak, which means early riser, and Allsvinn, which means swift. They ride through the sky quickly because they are pursued by Fenrir's sons Skoll and Hati. The wolves overtake them when the events of Ragnarok happen. Ragnarok is a series of events, during which a lot of important figures in the Norse mythology die including Sol. She is caught by the wolf Skoll. Along with her death the Sun is also destroyed and most of the humans die. After Ragnarok only a few gods remain including Sunna the daughter
of Sol. Sunna is believed by some to be Sol. They believe that Sunna is just another name for Sol, but some believe that she was actually the daughter of Sol and her husband Glenr. Not much is known about her husband. Sol also had a sister Sinthgunt the goddess of the flow of time. We know that she was powerful and at times terrifying. Even though Sol wasn't such an important goddess, Sunday originated in her honor.
Luka ValenÄ?ak, Slovenia
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Astronomical news: Cassini Finale
After 13 years in Saturns orbit and almost 20 years in space the Cassini-Huygens probe is going to enter its final chapter. On the 22 April the probe sucessfuly flew close to the largest moon of Saturn, Titan. The probe launched in 1997 and reached Saturn in July 2004 during which it released ESA's huygens probe on Saturns moon Titan. The mission will officially end on 15 September. There has been no other mission that has explored this fascinating region. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will go on a daring set of orbits between the planet and it's beautiful rings. With this it will collect very precious information which was to risky to try and obtain earlier in the mission. The reason it is taking these orbits now is because it is going to run out of fuel. Over its long 13 year old mission Cassini will cover about half of Saturn's oribt. The probe even detected water and organic material on Saturns icymoon Enceladus. The chances of this final mission being a succes is about 97% which may sound very safe but NASA has said it would never take a flagship or any other mission on such a course unless the mission was about to end. Of course if it will succed it will offer the highest resolution pictures of the planet and its rings. The orbits will also give the chance to examine in situ which is the material in the rings and plasma environment around the planet. Scientists expect the new data will allow them to disentangle the gravity of the planet. It will measure saturn's gravitational field as close as 3000 km from the
upper cloud layers of the planet. This will greaty improve the current models of the plannets interior and winds in its atmosphere. Cassini could have problems if there is dust in the area between the rings and planet as even a small piece of it could take out one of its instruments or if it hit the wrong spot it could trip up the entire spacecraft. Models of saturn do suggest there is no dust there but there is always a possibility that the models are wrong which is also one thing Cassini's instruments will test. So when it will pass through the gap its large dish shaped antenna will serve as a shield for the rest of the probe. After its final adventure Cassini will cruise into Saturn's atmosphere and as NASA scientists say disintegrate. They want the probe to disintegrate to avoid the possibility of Cassini someday colliding into potentially habitable moons around Saturn. Some members of the Cassini team are starting to feel sad that their time on Saturn will finally come to an end. “We, humankind, through this mission, have been at Saturn for 13 years,” Maize said. “Unfortunately, there’s not going to be a substitute for that for a long time.” “We, humankind, through this mission, have been at Saturn for 13 years,” Said Earl Maize, Cassini’s project manager. “Unfortunately, there’s not going to be a substitute for that for a long time.” after saying this he paused and finally said “It’s been the ride of a lifetime.” http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/CassiniHuygens/Countdown_to_Cassini_s_Grand_Finale http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/CassiniHuygens/Countdown_to_Cassini_s_Grand_Finale https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/ http://bgr.com/2017/03/31/water-on-mars-nasa-study/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/04/nasacassini-spacecraft/100020728/ https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens
Luka Jezovšek, Slovenia
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TEAM COUNTRY CURIOSITY ARTICLE – Romania I was in Romania for five days. Before I went there I thought that the country is poor, families are unkind and poor too, so I was really worried how will be in Romania, but anyway I couldn't wait to met the students, who are also in this project. Finally it came a day to go there. When we came there, I was really surprised how friendly are this people. It was hard to decide which day is my favorite because I like all days there, but I decide that the best day was Monday, first day at school. We had a breakfast at seven in the morning and then we went to school.when we arrived there we ate a traditional bread with salt and saw there traditional clothes. Then we had presentations about Romania. Some of them were really interesting. We also play a game, where we describe yourself and your family and had a Sally Ride EarthKAM. After this we had a snack. I was
really surprised when they said that they don't have a snack or lunch at school. When we finished all the things at school we went home where we had a lunch. In the afternoon we had a tour of Pecica and we visit the mayor of Pecica. Then we went to Buffalo farm when we saw buffalos and had presentations about astronomy. We had a little free time so we were playing on the playground there. Then we ate a buffalo goulash. I never eat so good goulash. At the end of the day we were tired so we went home to sleep. Actually you can't imagine how interesting was this day. We had a lot of fun especially at dinner, when we sat with Spanish girls. This was the best experience and I hope that one day I could see my friends again. Neža Vrečko, Slovenia
TEAM COUNTRY CURIOSITY ARTICLE – Tenerife My best day on Tenerife was the day when we went to Loro Park. This is a park full with animals and different attractions. The day started at 8 o'clock and then Maja and me had breakfast. After that we prepare our rucksacks. I took some money, an umbrella and a jumper with me. Kathrin, my host, her brother Igmar and her aunt Isabela went with us. And then finally at 10 a.m. we started our trip. Aunt Isabela drove us in her car and after 45 minutes of drive we arrived to Loro Park. At first we all bought our tickets and then everything started. Aunt Isabela gave me a Loro Park hat and then we made our first photo. At the beginning we saw a gorilla and then we went to the building with penguins. It was quite dark and cold inside, but beautiful. At the exit I bought a small penguin for my little sister and then we walked to building with orcas. There we saw those amazing animals through Orca Show. They were splashing water on us so we were very, very wet. But still the show was amazing. After that we went outside and it was raining so I bought a raincoat. That was a very clever decision, because it was raining all day. And of course I bought a mini orca too, this one was for my brother. After that we had a small snack.
We watched some other shows too, like parrot show, show with dolphins, show with sea lions … I liked orca show and show with dolphins the most. I saw a lot of wild animals too, like black panther, a lot of different sorts of parrots, flamingos, meerkats, giant tortoises, Siberian tiger, nutrias, sharks, medusas and a lot of animals more. We went to the cinema in the park too. There we saw a movie about parrots. It was quite interesting and I found out some new things about those animals. This nice trip ended at 7 o’clock. In evening me and Maja prepare some Slovenian pancakes for Kathrin's family, because they said they have never ate them – they know only American ones. They liked them a lot and I spent some funny moments in their kitchen with Kathrin and her sister Lindsay. At the end of the day I was quite tired and Maja too, so we had a shower and then we fell asleep. It was a wonderful day and I think I will never forget it. So I can just hope that I’ll visit Tenerife again. Neža Mastnak, Slovenia