[meteorite-list] Scenes from "Vestan nights"

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Hola everyone,

As Vesta and Earth accelerate away from each other, and Ron posts all these interesting NASA accomplishments, I wanted to share a somewhat more modestly priced remote sensing mission of my own that also yielded priceless results, and mention a little bit of mythology about the constellation Aquarius (And Pisces Australis).  And the good part is I was not only principal investigator, but this time my collaborating investigators were just a noisy bunch of coyotes that confined me hermetically sweating projectiles inside the main transport vehicle (15 year old Chevy) for a half hour in the solitude of (desert) space.

At first I used my binoculars from inside the principal vehicle, until life support systems started to fail and the windows fogged over and my tee-shirt became heavy with sweat.  And how fitting it was that the starboard view was gawking right at Aquarius, the "Water Bearer" who apparently was to busy attending Zeus (technically, Zeus=Jupiter, but it was New Moon, and no planets were in sight).

Most know that the most of the Jovian satellites (i.e. Jupiter's moons), are named after the philandering King of the Gods' secret hot consorts or women who suckled him as a baby.  They mostly take Greek names from Greek mythology even though Jupiter is the Latin version of Zeus.  So what does this have to do with Aquarius and my wanting a drink in the command module's sauna?

Well, the biggest moon of Jupiter, which is bigger than not only Pluto, but also than Mercury, is named Ganymede.  Ganymede's Latin named counterpart is basically - Aquarius.  While today's morality is definitely different than that of the Greeks, it isn't a secret that Hebe, Zeus' original female liquid pourer (I believe it was wine, not water) fell and hurt herself, and according to some accounts exposed her most private parts.  This caused celebration or consternation depending on whom you ask.  Older versions seem to suggest that accidentally exposing one's err...genitals was good luck, but other versions seem to say it was great chagrin.  Either way, asteroid Hebe (a prime candidate "body" for the Ordinary Chondrites, according to Harry McSween Jr.'s "Meteorites and their Parent Planets") hurt herself in the accident, so Zeus sent his Eagle (right above Aquarius is Aquila, the Eagle) to fetch the most beautiful and youthful lad on Earth to take her place as liquid pourer and Youthful perfection.  Why Zeus would worry about beauty seems to indicate he was in the mood for a male bedfellow – something considered rather normal at the time as most will see portrayed when Alexander the Great gets released this fall.  In any case, Zeus’ Golden Eagle fetched Ganymede, and Hebe and especially Juno (=Hera the wife) were snubbed as Ganymede/Aquarius satisfied Zeus' needs.  Back on Earth, Zeus sent an immortal stallion to the king of Troy, Ganymede's father, as a gift for the kidnapping.  (Ever wonder why Aquarius, Aqua and Aquila [èAguila è Eagle] and Aurum are similar words, not sure, but probably has to do with Ganymede/Aquarius liquid and the Golden Eagle).

Well, by midnight the heat inside the command module was unbearable, so I summoned up enough courage to get out and the first thing I did was throw the odiferous astro-food (chicken carcass) as far as I could.  When I heard chomping mandibles, I picked up lots of black looking stones (hey it was night) and unfortunately a black looking little barrel cactus to throw at the noises and I heard my non-value added collaborating investigators make their exodus as I removed lots of little spines from my fingers.

Fear now tossed aside by thoughts of hurt fingers and Vesta, I deployed the remote sensing equipment.  The equipment was my landlocked Nikon and and the detector whatever chemical dyes are in department store Kodak film these days.  Using a variation of Dave Freeman's meteorite hunting kit, I got out a protractor and string attached to a cane with a safety pin counter weight, used for orienting the main imaging barrel (a Nikon 100 mm lens).

But first a view through the pan-bins (5X opera glasses), as Fomalhaut glowed brightly in the Southern sky, and my equipment magnetically responded.  Time to go star hopping for the third night from Fomalhaut to the "reflected curves" to the "striking cobra" stars to then get a visual on Omega-2 Aquarii mag. 4.5 (and Omega-1 and HD8987).

While Fomalhaut is not really in the constellation Aquarius according to modern astronomers, it is the eye, head or mouth of Pisces Australis (The Southern Fish - not the zodiacal fishes), it is the end of the stream of water being poured from Aquarius's clay pot.  In the link that will shortly follow, Aquarius and Pisces Australis can be seen illustrated by the imaging team with actual mission results (Science and Nature magazines had a backlog of NASA papers, so I am publishing the good stuff here).  Please don't complain if it isn't a Hubble image, after all the Principal Investigator had to do it, not an imaging specialist coyote with NASA or at least an Acme instrument catalog.

After enjoying a beautiful view of Vesta through the pan-bins, I got out the has-bins (old 16X heavy astronomical scopes - Bushnell binoculars).  Wow was Vesta pretty.  I was sure she looked bluish, sitting there in the clock made by the Omega-2 centered, Omega-1 and HD8987 clock face...with Vesta now at the 1:30 position between Ome1 and Ome2.

As I waited until the celestial sphere's surface containing Vesta rotated further away from the glowing city light, I started to begin imaging.  Since the 100 mm lens was totally dark that is where engineering came in with the elementary school protractor, cane, string and pin.  No light could be seen through the camera lens, but analysis today showed that every picture in the 10 degree field was successfully oriented.  Accolades to the team...

After hearing an occasional coyote munching, or with night vision now able to see the bats when they swooped nearby, and an occasion chirping night bird, it was about time to abort the mission as I wondered if the mission commander would have enough energy reserves to make the perilous journey home.

So very quickly as a finale, I switched to the wam-cam (wide-angled monsterview camera) to try to record images of the principal investigator, command module and centered the lens near the Southern Fish's eye as the guide star.

After a few quick images, I again had ignition of the main liquid-gas phase internal combustion propulsion system, and left the solitude to the glutinous coyotes inhabiting that region of (desert) space, under an occasional yucca tree.

After the outsourced image processing team in the local food store processed the images, and ran them through an economical printer which is really not optical but digital, and then the Principal investigator scanned a print for posterity, with an ancient Taiwanese 6-year old US$60 scanner, I was able to prepare the image and explanations at the following link:
http://www.diogenite.com/vestad.JPG
It illustrates the constellations, stars and Vesta, all in the same picture with the principal investigator (I am sitting on the hood, but only a faint circle is visible down the mountainside recognizable where the stars are blocked, and command module which blend in with the mountainous horizon.  But such a large, dark swath of pretty night sky, almost clear (clouds to the right) is always a pleasure, especially when one of the little dots is Vesta and you know which one, as well as who else is in the neighborhood (all are labeled)! (the script "w" in the photo is Omega, i.e., Omega-1 is shown as w1).

Enjoy, Vesta-fiesta is still not over...until the Harvest Moon heavily materializes.
I’ll put up a typically bold image of Vesta with the 100 mm lens at this link shortly:
http://www.diogenite.com/Vesta100.JPG
These are all garden-variety cameras that by day take the pictures of some ugly mugs I know.  That is what is so special about Vesta for earthlings, besides the wonderful meteorites she provides (and came along for the ride of course)!  Hope she doesn’t stay too long in the sea (the part of the sky of Aquarius, fishes, whale, etc.

Saludos,
Doug