A new generation of robotic lunar explorers is revolutionizing our understanding of the Moon. We will look ahead to NASA’s upcoming Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission, scheduled to launch in 2013, and explore how amateurs can directly participate in and contribute to the science of these missions.

Join Dr. Aaron Clevenson for a look at the Kepler Mission. We will talk about the details of the mission and discuss some of the milestones it has achieved. Kepler is the observatory that is looking in the vicinity of Cygnus in an attempt to identify Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.

Dr. Aaron Clevenson is a member of the North Houston Astronomy Club. He is also an Astronomy Professor at Lone Star College, Montgomery. He is a National Observing Program Coordinator for the Astronomical League, and is the coordinator for the Constellation Hunter, Solar System, Galileo, and Carbon Stars Observing Programs. He will also be coordinator for the new for next year Special Observing Program: Planetary Transits.

Tom Lapen will present recent research of martian meteorites that constrain important planetary-scale processes including the initial formation and differentiation of Mars to much more recent volcanism on Mars.

On the morning of August 20 I set up for the Moon and was rewarded with both the scope acting good and the local seeing settling down for about half an hour to the best I have ever had here in San Antonio. The result was image resolution that shows craters as small as one kilometer. I finally had time to prepare a web page for these images and have it up at http://www.robertreeves.com/Moon20Aug2011.htm.