Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - August 2020

— Continued from previous page
The radiant of the meteors is from constellation
Auriga located north of Orion and west of Gemini.
Venus is also shining brightly in the east.
Wednesday, September 2nd
The large orange Moon rising will appear quite full
on September 1st. However, the Moon doesn’t really
become full until after 0100 hours on September 2nd.
Might as well have two back-to-back Full Moon parties
this month. Want another excuse to celebrate? This is
the third and last Full Moon of summer.
Planning is key for any manned mission to Mars.
Today is Mars’ Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere.
Winter on Mars lasts four (Earth) months. So
if astronauts had wanted to get to Mars by spring
(February 7th, 2021), they should have left Earth by
the first of April because the trip can take nine
months. That is assuming the astronauts want to conserve
enough fuel for the voyage back to Earth.
The optimal time to launch the spacecraft is when
Mars is 44 degrees ahead of Earth in its orbit. The next
best launch date could be September 2022 for an
approximate Mars arrival in June 2023 during spring.
The summer solstice on Mars is July 12th, 2023.
Saturday, September 5th
It may be hard to identify Mars this evening because
it appears very close to the Moon. A pair of binoculars
may be required to find the red planet north of the
Moon just off the Ocean of Storms. When you look at
the Moon, note that the diameter of the Ocean of
Storms is 2568 Km (about 1600 miles).
Wednesday, September 9th
The September Epsilon Perseids meteor shower produces
its peak rate of shooting stars tonight. There will
be about two hours of viewing time before the Last
Quarter Moon begins to rise. The best time to spot a
few meteors is between 2200 hours and midnight.
Monday, September 14th
In the pre-dawn hours yesterday the Moon was
gradually moving out of its position in Gemini. This
morning the waning crescent Moon is locked in the
claws of the constellation Cancer the Crab. Also located
a few degrees away in Cancer is Venus.
In the News
Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
is beginning to open digitally signed signals that
authenticate transmissions from the constellation of
Galileo satellites. This system lets GNSS receivers
ensure that the satellite signals they receive are from
Galileo satellites. Social networks, web pages and
mobile phone communications are protected by some
method of authentication, but this is not yet the case
for satnav data. The first step to minimize the risks of
hacking, jamming or spoofing satellite data is the
addition of Navigation Message Authentication (NMA)
to their open service. Encrypted signal transmission
from Galileo for the general public is expected to start
in mid-2020 while full service is planned to be available
in 2021. NMA will be compatible with older GPS
units.
All times are given as Atlantic Standard Time (AST)
unless otherwise noted. The times are based on a viewing
position in Grenada and may vary by only a few
minutes in different Caribbean locations.
Jim Ulik sails on S/V Merengue.
Above:
Europe’s Global
Navigation Satellite
System (GNSS).
Right:
The STEREO mission
to study the Sun has
observed some
unusual comet-like
features exhibited by
the planet Mercury.
ESA - P. Carril
august 2020 CARIBBEAN COMPAss pAGE 29
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