National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tim Livengood presentation to Student Spaceflight Experiment Program

In July, Tim Livengood made a presentation at the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) National Conference on The Accidental Observatory. The meeting was held July 6-7 (2011) at the National Air and Space Museum. Watch Tim's presentation below.

Tim Livengood visits Walter Johnson High School

Tim Livengood spoke at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, at the induction ceremony for new members in the Science National Honor Society. WJHS is the high school of a recently-graduated student intern, Thomas Wyderko, now at University of Maryland, who worked with the HIPWAC group for the past two summers.

University of Maryland Astronomy Club visit

Tilak Hewagama spoke to the University of Maryland Astronomy Club (AstroTerps) about spectroscopy and the EPOXI mission on 11/10/2010 in the Department of Astronomy, UMd, College Park. The topic was "Dreams of an Extrasolar Earth." Multimedia aids prepared by Kelly Fast and Tim Livengood were very popular with the audience. Most of the participants were students with majors outside Astronomy, but with a strong interest in the field.

Remote seminar in Sri Lanka

Tilak Hewagama gave a remote seminar on 11/10/2010 to a group of high school students and teachers in Sri Lanka. The topic was "Exploring the Atmospheres of Planets." The students and teachers, nearly halfway across the planet, were well aware of NASA missions and activities, and enthusiastic about recent discoveries. The students had specifically requested an astronomy related talk. NASA web resources and multimedia aids prepared by Kelly Fast and Tim Livengood were also very popular with the students. The communications time lag was less than a second and tolerable.

HIPWAC arrives at new home in Bldg 34

The High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy Group headed by Ted Kostiuk welcomed Goddard's HIPWAC spectrometer to its new home in Bldg. 34 on 10/27/2010. HIPWAC was shipped in the summer of 2009 from its previous home in Bldg. 2 to be used in three different field campaigns supporting five observing programs at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.

HIPWAC at DPS 2010

• Kelly Fast presented a paper entitled "Modification of Jupiter's Stratosphere Three Weeks After the 2009 Impact" at the 42nd annual AAS Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Pasadena, the week of October 4-8. Coauthors include Theodor Kostiuk, Timothy Livengood, Tilak Hewagama, and John Annen.
• Kelly Fast and Tim Livengood attended the tour of the SOFIA airborne observatory on 10/03/2010 and participated in a workshop on the status of SOFIA and prospects for early scientific observations on 10/04/2010.

Ted Kostiuk addresses NATO Advanced Study Institute

Ted Kostiuk was an invited lecturer at the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "Special Detection Technique (Polarimetry) and Remote Sensing" held in Kyiv, Ukraine. He delivered a lecture on "Ultra-high Resolution Spectroscopic Remote Sensing: a Microscope on Planetary Atmospheres." The ASI is part of the Science for Peace and Security Programme, which supports collaboration of scientists in NATO, Partner and Mediterranean Dialogue countries on priority research areas. A NATO Advanced Study Institute is a high-level teaching activity where a carefully defined subject is treated in depth by lecturers of international standing, and which include new advances in the subject not yet in university courses. While in Kyiv he also visited the Main Astronomical Observatory and the Institute of Semiconductor Physics, both of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Titan paper accepted

The paper High Spectral Resolution Infrared Studies of Titan: Winds, Temperature and Composition, by Theodor Kostiuk, Tilak Hewagama, Kelly E. Fast, Timothy A. Livengood, John Annen, David Buhl, Guido Sonnaben, Frank Schmülling, Juan D. Delgado and Richard Achterber has been accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science and can be viewed on-line:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2010.08.004.

Kelly Fast attends meetings in Washington, DC

Kelly Fast served as a member of the Joint Management Operations Working Group for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and for the NASA participation at the W. M. Keck Observatory, Sept. 10-11, 2010, Washington, D.C.

Venus meeting in Madison, WI

Collaborators Guido Sonnabend and Manuela Sornig attended the "Venus: Surface to Thermosphere" meeting in Madison, WI, 10/30/2010-09/02/2010. Presentations included HIPWAC data and results.

HIPWAC team wraps up IRTF observations

Ted Kostiuk and Tim Livengood wrapped up a very successful observing run at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Monday morning 10/23/2010. Targets included Jupiter aurora and the site of the Jupiter impact that was detected during the run, and Venus dynamics.

All observations used GSFC's HIPWAC spectrometer. On-site team members include Kelly Fast, John Annen, and Stephen Cumming. The observations were coordinated with observations of Venus and Jupiter at the McMath Solar Telescope, led by Manuela Sornig and Guido Sonnabend (University of Cologne, Germany). In addition, these observations were an element of the internationally coordinated Venus-observing campaign in support of the ESA Venus Express and JAXA Akatsuki missions.

During this run, the observers on Mauna Kea were visited by Imke de Pater and her student Kathie de Kleer (UC Berkeley), as well as by Heidi de Hammel (Space Science Institute).

HIPWAC team says good-bye to intern Aditi Shenoy

INSPIRE intern Aditi Shenoy completed her summer internship with 693's High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy group. Ms. Shenoy worked with Kelly Fast to reduce and perform preliminary analysis of infrared heterodyne spectra of ozone on Mars acquired with GSFC's HIPWAC in coordination with Mars Express. She also learned about the practical side of research by supporting Fast's and Theodor Kostiuk's funding proposal efforts through participation in proposal preparation and a red team review.

HIPWAC team welcomes Stephen Cumming

Stephen Cumming (DFRC), aerodynamics and acoustics lead on SOFIA, began a detail with 693's High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy Group as part of his participation in NASA's Mid-Level Leadership Program.

HIPWAC at Mauna Kea/IRTF

Theodor Kostiuk and Timothy Livengood are at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility preparing for Jupiter aurora and Venus dynamics observing programs with GSFC's HIPWAC spectrometer, supported by Kelly Fast, John Annen, and Stephen Cumming.

Summer intern science panels

Kelly Fast served on the Science Panel for the three high school summer intern programs at Goddard. During the breakout Q&A sessions, when asked, "Captain Kirk or Captain Picard?" she hesitated only because other favorite crew members came to mind, but she finally and confidently replied "Captain Kirk!" Other, more serious topics were discussed, such as communication between scientists and engineers and the role of the Ph.D. degree in science careers.

Observing programs accepted at IRTF

The following observing programs were accepted by the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility for the 2010B semester using GSFC's HIPWAC spectrometer:

• Theodor Kostiuk, "Sun-Jupiter Connection: Aurora, Constituents, and Temperature Beyond Solar Minimum" Co-Is: K. Fast, J. Annen, T. Livengood, T. Hewagama.
• Timothy Livengood, "Mesospheric Winds of Venus". Co-Is: T. Kostiuk, K. Fast, J. Annen, T. Hewagama, M. Sornig.

Kostiuk reviews IRHS in France

Ted Kostiuk presented an invited review of Venus science with IR heterodyne spectroscopy at the International Venus Conference in Aussois, France, June 21-25, 2010. Also attending were frequent collaborators Guido Sonnabend and Manuela Sornig (U of Cologne), presenting work including HIPWAC data and results.

EGU Conference in Vienna

Kelly Fast attended the EGU Conference in Vienna, Austria, May 3-7 , 2010. She presented results from observations on the site of the 2009 impact on Jupiter.

Fast presents at European Geosciences Union

Kelly Fast presented a solicited talk entitled "High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Stratospheric Ethane Following the Jupiter Impact of 2009" at the 2010 European Geosciences Union meeting. Coauthors include Theodor Kostiuk, Timothy Livengood, Tilak Hewagama and John Annen.

Classroom visit

Kelly Fast visited a local second grade classroom and took the students on a tour of the solar system.