[meteorite-list] Swing by Asteroid Lutetia With JPL

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:32:40 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201006280432.o5S4WfiY022335_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=168

Swing by Asteroid Lutetia With JPL
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 25, 2010

The Rosetta Orbiter, a European Space Agency spacecraft heading for a
2014 encounter with a comet, will be flying close to asteroid Lutetia on
Saturday, July 10. Classes and clubs are invited to NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory from 2 to 4 p.m. that day to see first-ever,
close-up images of Lutetia, talk to a NASA/JPL Rosetta project manager
and participate in educational activities.

Lutetia is a large metal-rich asteroid and part of the main asteroid
belt between Mars and Jupiter. Rosetta will make its closest approach to
Lutetia at 9:10 a.m. (Pacific Time), flying within 3,200 kilometers
(just under 2,000 miles) of the asteroid's surface. This encounter will
be Rosetta's first observations of a metal asteroid. The suite of NASA
instruments aboard Rosetta will record the first-ever ultraviolet view
of such an asteroid, make measurements that will help scientists
understand the properties of the asteroid's surface crust, record the
solar wind in the vicinity and look for evidence of an atmosphere.

Beginning at 2 p.m. at JPL, NASA's project manager for U.S. instruments
on Rosetta, Art Chmielewski, will review first images with students and
discuss the asteroid encounter. There will also be educational
activities about comets and asteroids. The JPL events will be geared to
students in grades 3 - 8.

To sign up for this event, contact Andrea Angrum at 818-354-6775.

The European Space Agency will be webcasting events starting at 8 a.m.
More information about the webcast and the Rosetta Mission's 2014
encounter with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko can be found at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/ .
Received on Mon 28 Jun 2010 12:32:40 AM PDT