[jamsat-news:913] * SpaceNews 24-Aug-98 *

[John Magliacane <magliaco@email.njin.net>]

SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0824
* SpaceNews 24-Aug-98 *


BID: $SPC0824


			       =========
			       SpaceNews
			       =========


			  MONDAY AUGUST 24, 1998


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.



* NASA FIRE DAMAGES SPACECRAFT PARTS *
======================================
An Associated Press report indicates that parts of two spacecraft, including
panels that are to be installed in the Hubble Space Telescope, were damaged
in a fire at the Goddard Space Flight Center, officials said last Friday.
Phillip Z.Tapper, emergency coordinator for the NASA center, said heat 
protection panels for the telescope and for another spacecraft were exposed
to smoke and water last Thursday afternoon when a fire in an adjacent
structure spread into a laboratory building where the panels were being
processed.  Tapper said the exact damage to the spacecraft panels has not
been determined, "but we don't expect there will be any mission impact."

[Info via Bill Ford, WB5SXK]


* RS-12 NEWS *
==============
There's lots of DX to be found on the RS-12 satellite.  Rusty, NM1K, reports
working CY9AOE, EB8BTV, D44BS, TF3TK, XE1EWC, and XE2YVW via the RS-12
satellite over the past two weeks.
 

* PHASE 3D BANDPLAN URL *
=========================
Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, reports that the current version of the official
AMSAT P3D Bandplan for Uplink, Downlink and Beacons may be found at the
following URL:

	http://www.aball.de/~pg/amsat/p3dqrg.html


* AMSAT-ARGENTINA WEB SITE *
============================
Sergio Gorgone, LW7DXF, reports that AMSAT-Argentina now has a Web site.
The Web site may be found at the following URL:

	http://members.xoom.com/Amsat_LU/


* KITSAT-OSCAR-23 NEWS *
========================
Satellite users have reported that KO-23's downlink recently went silent.
Kyung-Hee Kim, HL0ENJ, a KITSAT satellite command station reports that
the transmitter "tripped" and went off the air on 1998-Aug-18.  It was
returned to service after 1998-Aug-20.  The reason for the "trip" is
not yet known, and HL0ENJ has asked that any stations who received KO-23
telemetry data between the 18th and 20th to please send that data to:
khkim@satrec.kaist.ac.kr


* NEW COMET DISCOVERED *
========================
The European Southern Observatory recently announced that a new comet was
discovered on 1998-Aug-10 by amateur astronomer Peter Williams of Heathcote
(near Sydney, Australia).  Having received information about this, other
observers on that continent sighted the new object the following day.

Official announcement of this discovery was sent to all observatories by
the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams on IAU Circular no. 6986.
The comet, provisionally designated as C/1998 P1, is seen in the southern
constellation Circinus (The Compass) and the magnitude is estimated at about
9.5.  This corresponds to about 25 times fainter than what can be seen with
the unaided eye.  The comet is easily visible in small telescopes.  The orbit
(and therefore the current distance) is not yet known.

The coma diameter is at least 6 arcmin and is almost spherical, with a
slight asymmetry on the tailside.  A very thin and quite faint plasma-tail
points in the lower left direction (position angle = 1170 = "8 o'clock"),
which is most likely close to the radial direction opposite to the Sun
(but this can only be confirmed when a first orbit has been computed).  The
visible plasma tail extends at least 6.5 arcmin (beyond the field of view)
and is produced by the emission of light from CO+ (carbon monoxide ions)
originating from sublimating ice of the cometary nucleus.  The presence of
this tail indicates that the comet is probably less than 1.5 AU (about 225
million km) from the Sun.

[Info via Ralph, DL2YED]


* THANKS! *
===========
Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews,
especially:

		GM2ASV		N2GJ		N8DDV


* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor
(John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below:
 
WWW       : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/
PACKET    : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET  : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19, KITSAT-OSCAR-25


      <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>
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/EX

--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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