Titan featured in March 2010 issue of Scientific American !!

Read a brief summary of the article The Moon That Would Be a Planet

About my Hubble Research of Titan

Index of pages about my Hubble Research

Need UV lists of molecular absorptions between 2900 A - 2960 A (290-296nm)
GOT UV SPECTRA ? see the readme.pdf click here if you research in Ultraviolet spectra (molecular) maybe we can collaborate and share some resources

Links pertaining to the Cassini mission to Saturn, Hubble, RTGs

Information about RTG's (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators) also Assorted files(PDF), images and references of RTG's
NASA's Fact Sheet: Spacecraft power for Cassini RTG's (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators)
Cassini mission to Saturn - Home Page
Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS), the hub of the Cassini Imaging Science Team
JPL Picture Archive - Cassini
Hubblesite.org news release of myself and the other 2nd Cycle amateurs
Website of Amateurs
My proposal with technical information

United States now has Stamps out on the Hubble Telescope !!! as of Mar 21 2000
Look for myself and the other amateurs in the June 1997 issue of Sky & Telescope(p. 97) !!
Back on May 30th I was involved in an online talk about my work on Prodigy
here is a transcript of the discussion

see my SPACEPLACES site for pics of 'space' related palces I've visited

CLICK here to send me an email
Sign My Guestbook View My Guestbook

Assorted Web sites regarding Cassini/Titan and Huygens

Welcome amateur astronomer number

After I read about the Cycle 2 call for amateur proposals to use the Edwin P. Hubble telescope in late 1990 I devoted 7 months researching and preparing for it. I then submitted my proposal back in early 1991 for AMATUER use of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope to research the atmosphere of img of saturn Saturn's largest moon img of titan Titan and after a long anxious wait it was ACCEPTED in 1993. This is what the application looked like .

Using spectroscopy I researched Titan's atmosphere in the middle ultraviolet (UV) spectrum using the Hubble's Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS/GHRS) . This method is also called reflectance spectroscopy since I am seeing a reflection of our Sun on Titan and most of my spectra is the Sun.

The compound I was (and still am) searching for is formaldehyde (CH₂O) ch2o remember that "stinky" gas from your biology class with those specimens you dissected ? Well thats what I'm looking for. While I was researching I found a connection with hydrogen cyanide (HCN) ( discovered by the Voyager 1 spacecraft More on Voyager ) and formaldehyde . When they combine purines can form that can possibly lead to adenine which is a base for DNA. Titan is probably the most Earth-like body in our solar system , which is the reason why I became so mesmerized and interested in Titan.

Just like our precious Earth - Titan also has an atmosphere which is dominated by molecular nitrogen (N₂), along with hydrogen (H₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Also Titan is believed to have continents, oceans, and even a greenhouse effect.

Finally Methane (CH ₄) shares the same characteristics as water does on Earth by existing in 3 forms (solid,liquid and gas), known as the triple point...an amazing body right here in our own solar system only 1,277,566,066 kilometers away.

Sorry I dont have any pretty pictures to show all of you from the Hubble. But, I do have a target image of Titan from Hubble (taken thru WFPC1) , but its nothing fancy. Astronomical spectroscopy is just as valuable to astronomy as images are - if not more. Even though imaging is quite easier, spectroscopy tells us valuable info about the composition, velocities, atmospheres, doppler/red shifts and lots more.

More about the history of the Amateur Program and the AAWG

Amateur Astronomers and the Hubble Space Telescope .

Two other New Jersey Amateurs also did work on the Hubble

MORE THAN ANY OTHER STATE!!!!
New Jersey Hubble Amateurs

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The Electromagnetic Spectrum is rather large area of radiation ranging from the RADIO to GAMMA RAYS. We are used to seeing the visible spectrum , but our Sun produces many other forms of radiation most commonly known to us is the visible spectrum (the rainbow & prisms ) which Isaac Newton discovered. The region I studied was the Ultraviolet or UV region of which we cannot observe from the ground. Rockets, sattelites, or high-altitude balloons are the only ways we can observe this region.
This is a good site of Spectra and spectral sequencing .
Spectra can appear in many forms. Here are a few examples:

. I got more to come as I find them. No its not my heartbeat!!!

Click here for various images of our Milky Way taken at different regions of the spectrum (x-ray, gamma, etc)

The Cassini mission to Saturn

In 1997, NASA and ESA (hopefully) will launch the Cassini spacecraft to perform more research on Saturn and its moons. And also to drop the Hugen's probe to crack Titan's atmosphere and possibly reach its surface. As you can see in the image of Titan above from the Voyager missions a heavy haze covers Titan's blocking whatever surface features may exist.

I plan on watching the launch and I was invited to witness the probe being dropped into Titan at JPL also ! Here is another link for more info on the Cassini mission .

Below are key dates for the Cassini mission

launch, 6 October 1997 using a "Titan" rocket!!! (how appropriate) I'll be there!!!
arrival at Saturn, 1 July 2004
release of Huygens probe from Cassini, 6 November 2004
Probe's entry into Titan's atmosphere, 27 November 2004. I'll be at JPL!!

Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQaA's) and Answers

Click here the FAQ&A page . Some are the questions are a blast!!

Images of me and my Observation along with references

Click here for images of me and my observation along with references for additional reading. I now have my photos of the Shuttle launch and the target image of Titan on this page.

Here is a diagram of how my observation occured.

Some of the commands for my observation are here with other observations for the day (look for LEWYCKY)

Click here for my Wide Web of Astronomy page

Click here for the page I created for my Princeton astronomy group (AAAP) or Amateur Astronomer's Inc (AAI) also of NJ .

About the Hubble and its operations

The Hubble Space Telescope is a joint NASA and ESA collaboration and is controlled at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The scientific end of the Hubble is performed at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) also in Maryland

HST was placed in orbit on April 24, 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-31.
The first servicing mission was done by Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-61. Just recently STS-82 mission the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope was just completed.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images and other sites

Images from the Space Telescope Institute , also Latest Releases and more public information

HST images by object .

Space Telescope's European Coordinating facility - HST's UK Support Facility

**My Current Schedule of Presentations**
Date	Location
04/27/96	UACNJ Observatory,Jenny Jump Hope NJ (8pm)
05/25/96	National Space Society's ISDC Convention, Grand Hyatt, New York City
04/02/97	S.T.A.R. Astronomy CLub, Holmdel Park Activity Center, Holmdel,NJ
04/22/97	Union County College (Sperry Observ) Continuing Educ. class (8pm)
04/24/97	Rutger's Univ/Camden Astronomy class (~7pm)
05/30/97	Prodigy online chat, 9:30 p.m. ET Astronomy Chat Room here is a transcript of the discussion
sometime in '97	UACNJ Observatory,Jenny Jump Hope NJ (8pm)
04/09/98	MMAS - Morris Musuem Astronomical Society, Morristown,NJ (~8pm)
09/12/98	UACNJ Observatory,Jenny Jump Hope NJ (4 pm)

Contact me by email if you need more information about these events, or if you would me like to speak to your group. (Depending on the date, time and location)

Some of the other Cycle 2 amateurs who also used the Hubble that you can email to are

Harald Schenk of Wisconsin with Jim Secosky. Their research was searching for OH emissions in asteroids to see if they were dying comets. using the FOS (Faint Object Spectrograph)

Karl Hricko also of New Jersey . His research was searching for a bridge connection between a Galaxy and Quasar. using the WFPC (Wide Field Planetary Camera)

Click here to see a group photo of the Cycle 2 amateurs and some staff members of the Space Telescope Science Institute . This was from a dinner we had on the campus of Johns-Hopkins during our orientation.

Some of the other Amateurs from other cycles

Jim Flood (also from New Jersey) Currently he is the LAST amateur scheduled. His research is the Morphology of the active nucleus and radial filaments of NGC 1808, using the WFPC2 instrument (scheduled for August 1997 )

Ray Sterner (cycle 1) or his WWW Page

Here is brief listing of all 13 amateur programs by Max Mutchler at STSci .

I was very fortunate to have the assistance throughout my research from many professional astronomers and scientists worldwide. Many of whom I met and was inspired by....

Special thanks to: Toby Owen, Dennis Matson, Ellis Miner, Arthur Lane, Carl Sagan, Gerhard Herzberg, Peter Smith, Rob Kurucz, Gail Anderson, Janet Mattei, John Westfall, Steve Edberg, Keith Noll, Peter Reppert, Tad Pryor, Gordy Bjoraker, Max Mutchler, Krista Rudloff, Ray Villard, Cheryl Gundy, and many others for all their inspiration, patience, guidance and assistance in this once in a lifetime opportunity.

And most of all Riccardo Giacconi for making the opportunity for us amateurs!