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Journal of the Amateur Astrono mers Association of New York March 2012 Volume 60 Number 3 ISSN 0146-7662 AAS Conference Focus New Kepler Exoplanet Discoveries
By SANDRA WAYNE
Our spectacular universe has more secrets than we could ever have perceived. The detection of two doubl e-sun planets, or circumbinary planets was just one of the extraordinary topics discussed at the American Astronomical Societ y (AAS) Conference on January 11. The double-sun planets, Kepler-34b and Kepler -35b are Saturn-like in mass and orbit a pair of stars (aka binary stars`). All three bodies (a planet and binary stars) are in motion. While the planet orbits the binary stars, the gravitationally bound pair of stars (binaries) orbit around each other. In presenting his research at the AAS conference, Dr. William Welsh , associate professor of astronomy at San Diego State University stated: It was once believed that the environment around a pair of stars would be too chaotic for a circumbinary planet to form, but now that we have confirmed three such planets. We know that it is possible, if not probable, that there are at least millions in the galaxy. The circumbinary planets were identified using data retrieved from observations conducted on several continents, previous data that had been collect ed several decades ago, and through precise analysis of measurements using the transit detection method. The transit method measures the reduction in a star`s luminosity as a planet passes in front of that star. If the dimming occurs at regular intervals and lasts a fixed length of time, it often means that a planet is transiting` that star. The findings also indicate that Kepler -34b eclipses ever y 4 weeks and that approximately 45% of the light is lost during those eclipses. Kepler-34b orbits two Sun -like stars every 289 da ys, while the two stars in question orbit and eclipse each other ever y 28 days. Both planets are considered as being out of the habitable zone and will more than likely have extreme weather patterns and seasonal changes that are unlike anything scientists can imagine. And so, we wonder, what other remarkable planetary worlds are out there. What new configuration might we come across? For now, we will have to wait....at least until summer, as Kepler`s next data release is scheduled for June, 2012. For more on information on the Kepler mission, see Tony Hoffman's "IN DEPTH" column on Page 4

EYEPIECE
Witnessing The Last Space Shuttle Launch
By AMY WAGNER
Several years ago I made a promise to mys elf: I was going to see a space shuttle launch in my lifetime. After all, what in the world has humankind ever achieved that is greater than the ability to fly off of this world? But last spring I realized I was running out of time ­ the shuttle program was canceled and would come to a close in August. So I planned. For 30 years, NASA`s Space Transportation System gave the world exhilarating triumph, agonizing heartbreak, and enduring hope. For science fiction fans like me, it validated our fascination with the mysteries of the universe and technological possibilities for the future and, for true closure, it gave us an orbiter called Enterprise (Despite naming the first test space shuttle Constitution in 1976, a massive write-in campaign from Star Trek fans persuaded NASA to change its mind). The final launch of Atlantis` mission STS-135 was scheduled for 11:26 a.m., Friday, July 8. Scheduled is the operative word here as there is no guarantee that the launch will occur as planned. Down to the very last seconds of the countdown a launch can be scrubbed, so one has to be prepared for disappointment. Fearlessly, I bought a plane ticket and booked a shuttle tour from Orlando to Cape Canaveral with admission to the Kennedy Space Center and a ticket to view the launch from the Causeway, a strip of land 6.5 miles across from the launch pad ­ the closest position available to the public. Since Columbia`s mission STS-1 launched on April 12, 1981, 355 people from 16 countries have flown 852 times aboard five shuttles, traveled more than 542 million miles, and conducted more than 2,000 scientific experiments. For this final mission, Atlantis would deliver spare parts, equipment, and supplies to the International Space Station, including enough food to sustain station crew through 2012. The day before launch, two lightning strikes hit near the launch pad, one 515 feet from Atlantis. Forecasters predicted stormy weather over the next 24 hours, with only a 30% probability of a go for Frida y`s launch. Sunday would be the final da y in the shuttle's launch window. If weather remained a problem STS-135 would not go up at all. The shuttle program would be over. I tried not to think about that. I was here to witness history. Shuttles aren`t the only cra ft a ffected by bad weather. My 4:30 p.m. flight from LGA is grounded when I arrive to begin my journey. I am going to miss my Atlanta connection and my own personal mission could be scrubbed. This is too important. I cut my losses and purchase a direct flight to Orlando. We have liftoff. Touching down at 1:15 a.m., I reach the tour bus site just
Last Space Shuttle Launch continues on page 5


EYEPIECE

March 2012

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observer's Guide for March 2012 By RICHARD ROSENBERG

AAA LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS
Lensing Physicist and Planet-Hunting Pioneer By DAN HARRISON
The AAA will have two lectures this month. On Frida y, March 2, Dr. Charles Keeton II, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Rutgers University, and faculty director of the Aresty Research Center, will speak on A Ray of Light in a Sea of Da rk (Matter). On Friday, March 30, Dr. Debra Fischer, Yale professor of astronomy, will discuss Searching for Earthlike Worlds. Lectures begin at 6:15 p.m. in the Kaufmann Theater at AMNH. Keeton tells Eyepiece: In the 1930s, Einstein used his theory of relativity to predict that the bending of light by a star`s gravity could create multiple images of a more distant star. Toda y there are many observed cases where the gravity of a distant galaxy bends the light from an even more distant quasar. This gravitational lensing provides a unique opportunity to study the invisible dark matter thought to surround all galaxies, and even to detect galaxies we cannot see. The search for invisible galaxies with gravitational lensing will provide important clues about the nature of the exotic substance that pervades the universe. After earning a B.A. from Cornell and a Ph.D. from Harvard, Keeton did research at the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago before joining the Rutgers faculty in 2004. He`s observed with the Hubble Space Telescope as well as obs ervatories in Arizona, Hawaii and Chile. Keeton`s research has been featured by National Public Radio, MSNBC.com and New Scientist magazine. In 2010, Keeton received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama. On Searching for Earthlike Worlds, Fischer notes that astronomers have been discovering exoplanets for the past two decades. Most detected exoplanets are fairly massive gas giants, reflecting a bias in discovery techniques. However, the ra ce is on to detect smaller worlds that orbit at distances where liquid water might pool on the surface and provide an environment similar to the one on Earth where life has flourished. I will discuss factors that have lead to a habitable world here and highlight efforts to find planets that remind us of our home world. Fischer began hunting for exoplanets in 1997, measuring tiny periodic shifts in radial velocities of stars. She discovered the first known multiple planet system in 1999 and contributed to the planet formation theory by quantifying the impact of chemical composition on planet formation. From 2003 to 2008, Fischer led an international consortium to carry out a search for planets around metal-rich stars. That project alone detected more than 50 extrasolar planets. Some of these planets transit in front of their stars and the measured decrement in starlight reveals the mass, size and density of the planets. Fischer, who has been at Yale since 2009, is principal investigator for the Cerra Tololo Interamerican Observatory, a highresolution spectrometer, where her team is carrying out a search for rocky planets around our nearest stellar neighbors, the alpha Centauri A and B stars. Fischer`s team is developing nextgeneration instrument designs that aim to break current records and detect Earth analogs that will be targets in the search for life.

March's Evening Planets: This will be a spectacular
month. At dusk spot Venus - brilliant in the west and almost as bright as Jupiter when March begins. Watch as they approach each other, with Venus passing Jupiter on the 13th. For the first 10 days of the month, about a half hour after sunset, Mercury appears below Venus. In the east Mars is already up and at opposition on the 3rd and brightest two da ys later. Finall y Saturn rises about 10 p.m. as March begins, 8 p.m. as it ends.

March's Evening Stars: Orion and his cohorts (Taurus,
Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major and Canis Minor) can still be found in the evening, moving west to make wa y for the spring constellations. The best-known of the spring stars is Leo the Lion with its bright star Regulus (and currently the planet Saturn). BoЖtes, the Herdsman, contains spring`s brightest star Arcturus. A number of open clusters can be seen in binoculars, including the Beehive cluster in Cancer the Crab and a large cluster in Coma Berenices (Berenice`s Hair).

March's Morning Planets: Most of the planets have set,
and we`re left with Mars and Saturn before sunrise. Mars is soon swallowed up by the oncoming dawn, while Saturn is visible a while longer.

March's Morning Stars: The spring stars have moved into
the western part of the sky. Besides Leo and BoЖtes, we can spot Virgo the Virgin. She has a visitor - the planet Saturn. The late spring and early summer constellations can be seen as well. Corona Borealis, Hercules, and especially the Summer Triangle of Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila all fill the night sky.

March Day-by-Day
M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc arc h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h 3 5 5 6 7 8 10 11 13 14 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 30 Mars is at opposition Mars is closest to Earth Mercury is at greatest elongation from the Sun Moon is to the right of the bright star Regulus The Moon is lower right of Mars Full Moon at 4:39 a.m. (EST) Moon is near Saturn and the bright star Spica Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Venus passes near Jupiter in the evening sky Last Quarter Moon at 9:25 p.m. (EDT) Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere Mercury inferior conjunction with the Sun New Moon at 10:37 p.m. (EDT) A ver y thin crescent Moon rises in the west a half hour after sunset Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun The Moon is near Jupiter tonight Moon is near Venus and the Pleiades tonight Moon to the right of the bright star Aldebaran First Quarter Moon at 3:41 a.m.

Fischer is a University of Iowa graduate, has a master`s of science in physics from San Francisco State University and a doctorate in physics from the University of California.
AAA's final 2011-2012 lecture will be held May 4 when The Astronomical Future of Humankind will be discussed.

For more information go to: www.aaa.org/month1203 2


EYEPIECE

March 2012

A Message from AAA President Richard Rosenberg Hello Members: For nearly six years I have had the honor of being president of the AAA. I will not be running for that posit ion again this year, although I hope to remain on the board of directors. I am able to do so because several members have demonstrated their capabilit ies to beco me excellent presidents. AAA is fortunate to have a focused group of individuals committed to increasing our collect ive experiences in astronomy. During my t ime on the board, I have worked with a number of dedicated club members. Together we have increased our membership and visibilit y, added weekly observing at the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park, scheduled mo nthly out -of-town summer observing events, kept our financials in good shape, presented informat ive classes in astronomy, and restored the AAA seminar. Our outreach programs have touched both communit ies and schools. I know that our future is in good hands. As satisfying as the last six years have been, I have been fortunate recently to have a wonderful woman enter my life. In releasing my presidential responsibilit ies, I can dedicate more of my personal t ime to this relat ionship. I do this confidently knowing that the AAA has an abundance of talent to continue to move forward. I do intend to continue my What`s Up in the Sky column in Eyepiece and AAA website page. Sincerely

Rich Rosenberg, AAA President Email: president@aaa.org ; Telephone: (718) 522-5014 A Short Peek: Re-Introducing the Black Hole
In 1971, I was an associate editor of Ph ysics Toda y, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physi cs. The eminent Princeton astrophysicist John Archibald Wheeler had promised an article on the black hole to be written by him and his Italian collaborator Remo Ruffini, but months had passed...and nothing. So the editor -in-chief fired up his expense account and sent me to Princeton to get the story. Wheeler had promised to let me spend the day with him and he was as good as his word. The article appeared in the January, 1971, issue. It was the cover story: Introducing the Black Hole. The cover art was commissioned from a staff artist at the Hayden Planetarium (my thrifty editor -in-chief paid $500 for a one-time use). The original still hangs somewhere in the Rose Center, portraying a beam of light redshirting as it plunges into a ghostly black hole that resembles a cored apple. Wheeler, a visionary physicist and teacher, helped invent the theory of nuclear fission, gave black holes their name and argued about the nature of reality with peers of his time, Albert Einstein and his mentor, Niels Bohr. His article, ghosted by me, is available on-line at the Physics Toda y homepage. In 41 years much has changed, but much has also stayed the same. If Wheeler was still here (he died in 2008), he'd probabl y sa y "The black hole still has no hair." What he meant by that back in the 1970s was that a black hole is described full y by three numbers: its mass, its angular momentum, and its baryon number. Eyepiece has reached out to Neil deGrasseTyson, director of the Rose Center and David Helfand, professor of astronomy at Columbia for their perspectives on the question: Are black holes still bald? We await their re-

By Dr. David Weinflash
sponses for a follow-up article. The more we learn, the more we realize we have yet to understand. Just ask any string theorist or researcher following Einstein`s Theory of Relativity. Bending space and time? It`s out there for us to grab, but we do not yet have the answers t o m a k e t h e p u z z l e p i e c e s a l l fi t t og e t h e r . While we wait, let`s go back to the basics. Gravity is the weakest force in nature, but because it is attractive and universal, it wins out over the other forces. Gravitation contracts and the forces that resist are, one by one, defeated. Newton knew this. The result is the point mass, the abstraction that you use in orbit calculations, but this time, it's a real point mass. In Newton's theory, the force of gravity becomes infinite at an infinitesimal distance. In Einstein's theory, it's worse: you get the Schwarzschild solution, published in 1915 by astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild, father of Martin, noted astronomer. This is where the black hole started, but a serious paper wasn't published until 1939 by Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder. Eyepiece looks forward to additional installments by AAA member and contributing writer, Dr. David Weinflash

Black Holes-- A Long Time/A Brief History
1783 1916 1915 1939 1967 2011 English scientist John Michell hypothesizes concept Einstein's Theory of General Relativity released Schwarzschild solves Einstein's black hole equation Oppenheimer/Snyder Physics Review paper Archibald Wheeler coins the phrase Black Hole Black hole 10 billion times the Sun's size discovered 3


EYEPIECE

March 2012

IN DEPTH: Kepler: NASA's Exoplanet Sleuth
In last month's issue of Eyepiece, I described the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial Velocit y Planet Searcher) project, which has found approximatel y 150 exoplanets (worlds orbiting other stars). This month, it's NASA's Kepler mission's turn to be featured. Along with 61 con rmed exoplanet discoveries, the project has announced 2,326 planet candidates, many of them earth-sized and many within their star's habitable zone. It's alread y made some tantalizing discoveries, and the best are likely yet to come. Kepler is a spaceborne observatory. Launched March, 2009, into a heliocentric orbit, it perpetually examines the same star field. With a 372 -day orbit, the spacecraft is slowl y receding from the Earth. Its telescop e's mirror is 1.4 meters in diameter, and its sensors have a resolution of 95 megapixels. This is serious observing equipment. While HARPS uses spectroscop y to search for small changes in a star's velocit y caused b y the tug of an unseen planet, Kepler searches for minuscule dips in a star's brightness as a planet transits (passes across) the star's dis--a k phenomenon we'll b e treated to in our own celestial backyard on June 5 when Venus transits the Sun. Kepler uses a very sensitive photometer to monitor a star field containing 156,000 visible stars in Cygnus and Lyra. Ever y 29 minutes it takes an image of the field, recording precise brightness measurements for each of them. Kepler has compiled light curves--graphs for each star showing fluctuations in its brightness over time. Utilizing computer programs to search for periodic brightness indicative of planetar y transits, it has found them in abundance. Other phenomena can mimic transits: stellar variability; an eclipsing binary system in which a pair of stars eclipses each other in turn; and "contamination" of a star's light

By Tony Hoffman
curve b y a nearb y eclipsing binary. Although the vast majority of Kepler's candidate worlds are likel y to be planets, the y require final confirmation b y other methods. Although only a small p ercentage of Kepler's candidates have yet b een confirmed, the pace is increasing. On January 26, NASA announced Kepler's largest batch of planet con rmations yet, a trove of 11 multi-planet systems containing 26 worlds, plus several additional prospective planets. Kepler counts some intriguing discoveries among its growing list of discoveries. In Septemb er, NASA announced the discover y of Kepler-16b, a world that bears a superficial resemblance to the Star Wars home world of Luke Skywalker, Tatooine, as it orbits a nearb y double sun. Such circumbinar y planets are not uncommon, as Kepler has since announced two more of them. The hol y grail of exoplanetolog y is finding an earth sized planet orbiting a sun-like star in the aptly named habitable zone (aka the "Goldilocks zone") for b eing neither too hot nor too cold, but just right for water to exist in liquid form. Kepler-22b, announced on Decemb er 5, is a "supe-r Earth" 2.4 times the radius of Earth, and orbits a G-typ e star a little smaller and cooler than our Sun, every 290 days. If the planet has a greenhouse e ect similar to Earth's, it would have a surface temp erature of about 72 degrees. Scientists have no knowledge of the planet's atmosphere or comp osition yet, so it's premature to term it "earthlike", but a compelling find nonetheless. Another Kepler find, the Kepler-20 system, contains five planets, two of which are Earth-sized, though neither are in the habitable zone (they orbit their star in only 6.1 and 19.6 days, respectively). Even non-professionals are finding worlds in Kepler data. Citizen scientists in the Planet Hunters project scour Kepler light curves online for transits. If enough hunters find something suspicious in a light curve, the project's science team looks closer. Four promising Planet Hunters discoveries, missed b y the full-time Kepler team, have been written up in scientific papers, listing the volunteers as co -authors. These worlds await final confirmation. There are a numb er of other prospective planets flagged b y volunteers that have yet to be announced. It's a wonderful chance for the pub lic to get involved in cutting-edge scientific research. Kepler, which costs $18 million to op erate, is up for re funding this year as its 3-year mission concludes. NASA is under intense budget pressure, and there is no guarantee that Kepler will survive, but if there ever was a mission worthy of support based on its results to date and future potential, this is it. The longer Kepler can monitor its patch of sky, the more planets it will be able to detect and confirm, especiall y ones with longer-p eriod orbits (of Earth-length or longer), as you need at least 3 transits to confirm a planet. Kepler is already revolutionizing our understanding of the diversity of planetar y s ystems. Let's not leave Kepler's work mostly undone.

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EYEPIECE
Last Space Shuttle Launch continued from page 1

March 2012

in time to pick up my tickets. Since its inception, the shuttle program has faced criticisms and setbacks. Catastrophe struck twice, with disasters claiming the lives of 14 astronauts. In 1986, Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff as we all watched in horror. In 2003 Columbia disintegrated in the atmosphere upon reentry, the white trails of smoke and wreckage silently crossing the bright blue sky, all of it permanently etched in our minds. The shuttle program also struggled with budget, costing $200 billion with an average cost of about $1.5 billion per flight over the life of the program. At 4:00 a.m. our bus pulls into Kennedy Space Center. Thousands of people are waiting to share in this historic event. But it will be hours before busing to the Causeway, so I have time to grab a bite and explore the grounds. Fortunate for me, it`s the Summer of Sci-Fi ­ a presentation devoted to Star Trek. With luggage in tow, I check out memorabilia and visit a replica of the Enterprise`s bridge (well, of course I sit in the Captain`s chair). We are called to queue up to exit. Three hours later we are on our way to our viewing site. Despite its astronomical price and human cost, the shuttle program has made invaluable contributions to our understanding of the universe and how we live in space. The single most important contribution has been the delivery, repair, and maintenance of Hubble, which has extended our reach into the cosmos and back in time. Spacelab missions in biology and physiology have established the effects of microgravity on the human body. Additionally, items first invented for applications on the space shuttle are now widely a vailable for commercial use, including LED lights, carbon monoxide detectors, and sensors for harmful chemicals used in industry and manufacturing. We arrive to the Causeway about 2 Ѕ hours before launch time; plenty of time left to find a spot and buy some souvenirs. The crew of Atlantis ­ Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim board the orbiter. Speakers begin pla ying the broadcast from Launch Control at the Kennedy Space Center, with longtime NASA announcer George Diller narrating the dialogue between the launch team and the Atlantis crew. Over the past 24 hours, Go/No Go polls have been taken, and the final poll is completed at T minus 9 minutes: all are go for launch. NASA Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach calls Commander Ferguson: And Fergie, for the final time...Good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of this true American icon. Good luck, Godspeed, and have a little fun up there. Commander Ferguson replies, "Thanks to you and your team Mike, we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end. The crew of Atlantis is ready to launch." The spectators on the Causeway erupt in cheers. The shuttle program has proven that reusable space vehicles are possible, that people from different nations can explore space in a new era of cooperation, that humans can adapt to microgravity to live and work in space, that we can study the Ea rth as a single, complex s ystem from low-orbit, and that there is no glass ceiling in space ­ women can be astronauts. Elation ­ my series of misadventures are about to pa y off. But like all good storytellers, NASA has a gift for building tension toward the climax. At T minus 31 seconds, just before Atlantis's computers will take control of the flight, we hear the launch team request a hold; the countdown clock stops and Diller announces, We have a failure. The launch team cannot get an indication that the Gase-

ous Oxygen Vent Arm has retracted and properly latched. I can see it from here, says the guy next to me, looking through the high-powered lens of his camera. Just look out your window! shouts someone else in the crowd. We all laugh, but mostly out of nerves. With a window of only 10 minutes, they must find a solution or else the launch will be scrubbed. The launch team positions a closed circuit camera to verify that the GOV arm has separated, and after the longest 3 minutes and 16 seconds of our lives, we hear a series of voices announce, I concur, and the clock is reset, the countdown resumes, and control is given to the Atlantis crew for liftoff. "Two, one, zero and liftoff! The final liftoff of Atlantis ­ on the shoulders of the space shuttle, America will continue the dream," Diller signs off and the final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis has lifted off on Frida y, July 8, 2011 at 11:29:03.9 AM EDT to the cheers of nearly one million people in and around the Kennedy Space Center. The ground rumbles and roars. Seven seconds later, we hear the excited voice of Commander Ferguson: Houston, roll program! and the exuberant response from Houston: Roger roll, Atlantis! (The roll program rotates and tilts the vehicle to align it in the proper direction to meet up with the space station). Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston now has control for the duration of the 13-da y mission. A new narrator tells us, The space shuttle spreads its wings one final time for the start of a sentimental journey into history. And that`s exactly what it is now: history. Dismantling the shuttle program has left huge questions about the future of NASA and manned spaceflight. In 2010, President Obama canceled the planned Constellation program that would launch the next generation of spacecra ft, revealing instead a new plan to promote a commercial manned spaceflight initiative. Tears stream down my face. My own long journey and lack of sleep have surely contributed to my emotional state, but it`s hard to express feelings at the time. The crowd on the Causeway cheers, U-S-A, U-S-A! and while I`m filled with pride in America`s accomplishments and leadership in space, I know this achievement goes beyond nationality. To me, the shuttle program was the pinnacle of human endeavor. The shuttle exemplified our human desire to understand and explore the possibilities of the universe, the will to challenge our own abilities and intellect, and the acceptance of responsibility as caretakers of our planet. As a sci-fi geek, I am wired to believe a new era in space must be on the horizon. Now, if I could only scrape together $200K for Sir Richard Branson, so I can grab a seat next to Stephen Hawking on the next Virgin Galactic flight. Well...it`s good to have goals.

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EYEPIECE

March 2012

WHAT IF?

By Richard Brounstein NASA'S $100 BILLION BUDGET
nologies to move an asteroid a few thousand kilometers...just enough to miss the Earth. Repeated missions would harness resources from these objects. Imagine the rich minerals and other resources t hat could be returned to Earth or transported to an established space colon y. Mining in space will be essential to our long term survival. It begins with a single mission. Read Buzz Aldrin`s Unified Space Vision for a comprehensive look at what could be accomplished. Engineering economically safer wa ys t o and from Earth orbit is another mission critical goal. Let`s face it; the hardest and most dangerous element in manned missions is liftoff and re-entry. We must develop m ore reliable and flexible spacecraft. Once travel to and from Earth orbit is as convenient as fl ying across the ocean, private industry will invest heavily in space technologies. This is happening on a limited basis today, but not at a pace required to accelerate our reach to nearby planets and other celestial bodies. Mining lunar resources would eventually become profitable, so that a Moon base would not be something politicians just talk about but would be a productive business venture to benefit all. Another goal would be t o finally find those extra terrestrial life forms that almost certainly exist in our solar system. NASA could fund missions to probe the oceans of Europa around Jupiter and the geyser`s on Saturn`s moon, Enceladus. Follow the water and we will hopefull y find life forms. Studying new life forms would provide a unique perspective on how life ma y be forming across the universe. And let`s not forget to send a few probes to Titan to study this moon`s lakes and oceans. It looks so much like Earth, except that it is just a few hundred degrees colder. Most importantly, a $100 billion NASA budget has a hidden benefit for the United States. In order to achieve these loft y exploration goals, NASA would need to invest in our country`s education, retaining a new generation of scientists, engineers and technicians. Once our government increases investment in science-related education, individuals will create innovative solutions and develop private enterprises to execute those solutions. That`s exactly what occurred in the United States from the 1970s to the 1990s. Energy innovations, food production and countless other problems can be solved profitabl y when you have motivated and educated minds. So here we are today, with the government cutting NASA`s budget and removing science education and planetary exploration, two key elements that will contribute to the benefit of our country and our future. But think what we could achieve if money were not an issue. Can we all imagine such a world? ________________________ Richard Brounstein is a monthly contributor to Eyepiece, exploring what today seems improbable or impossible. Stay tuned for more fascinating concepts in "WHAT IF."

In February, the White House proposed NASA`s 2013 budget of $17.7 billion, $59 million below 2012`s budget and $707 million below 2011`s allocation. We are going in the wrong direction. You can check the Web for specific details, but allow me to summarize. Science education and planetary exploration are taking a hit, but most missions will continue at various funding levels. In this month`s What If, we explore the impact of dramatically increasing NASA`s budget instead of allowing it to continue its downward spiral. What does space exploration do for societ y anywa y, you ask? As AAA members, you are probabl y avid supporters of astronomy and space exploration. Unfortunately, we are all in the minority. Exploring the universe with a giant ground based or space-based telescope, sending astronauts back to the Moon or launching probes to Mars and Pluto may stir your passion for exploration and knowledge, but talk to the masses out there ­ as a group, they aren`t very excited at all. But the y should be. If nati