- April 19, 2024
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Using a replica of the Juno solar orbiter, Lee Bentzley explains the mission to Jupiter to the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast. Photo by Jacque Estes
NASA Ambassador Lee Bentzley was the guest speaker at the July meeting of the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast. Photo by Jacque Estes
The opportunity to learn about Jupiter and the Juno mission to the planet, increased attendance at the July meeting of the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast. Photo by Jacque Estes
The opportunity to learn about Jupiter and the Juno mission to the planet, increased attendance at the July meeting of the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast. Photo by Jacque Estes
“When I was your age, Pluto was a planet,” was a window sticker on the side of a van parked in the Flagler County Public Library parking lot on Monday, July 11. Inside the library's meeting room, nearly every folding chair was filled for the monthly Astronomy Club meeting.
“This is a larger than usual turnout for us,” Skip Westphal, who lead the meeting, said. “We usually get about 20 and we’ve counted 34 tonight.”
Guest speaker and NASA ambassador Lee Bentzley may have been a part of the high attendance. A second draw was also the subject. The meeting coincided with a milestone in astronomy – the Juno Mission to Jupiter had arrived at the plant the week before, on July 4.
“It says it arrived July 5, 2016, but that’s Greenwich Mean Time,” Bentzley said. “It arrived on July 4, U.S. time.”
With props and slides, Bentzley explained the mission that launched on Aug. 5, 2011.
“The Juno mission is important for us to understand the giant planet’s formation and evolution,” Bentzley said. “They wanted to learn about how Jupiter was formed and how we got here.”
Powered by three solar panels, Juno is the first spacecraft to use solar power on a mission this distance from the Earth. During its multiple orbits of the planet, Juno will map the composition of the atmosphere; examine the auroras on the poles, and map the gravitational and magnetic fields of the interior of Jupiter.
Bentzley said NASA scientists expected to begin receiving data from the orbiter on August 22. The mission is scheduled to end in February 2017 when Juno will go into the atmosphere of Jupiter, intentionally destroying it to prevent interference with Jupiter’s moons.
The next meeting of the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast 6 p.m., Monday, Aug. 1, at the Flagler County Public Library. The club website is, astronomyclubpalmcoast.weebly.com/
