Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, September 1, 2018

8

FOOD & DRINK

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 1, 2018 


TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com


I grew up in a waste not want not house hold, it 
meant eat what you have and you can always have 
more. Not a bad deal I’d say. My drink of choice 
when going out to restaurants is bubbles, champagne 
or sparkling wine. Remember it can only be called 
champagne if the grapes were grown in the region 
of Champagne France. There is wonderful eatery in 
Pasadena called “Pop”, and they specialize in (drum 
roll) sparkling wines and champagnes. They seem 
to be doing quite well with “mouse*” crowd, the 
story here is under different ownership a few years 
back they were open Wednesday through Sunday, 
I asked the bartender/sommelier Raphael what 
they did with the opened bottles of sparkling wine? 
He said they poured out in the sink; I shook and 
quivered at such a thought. We made a deal on the 
spot that I could come in on any Sunday night and 
for $15 (friends included) drink what otherwise 
would be thrown away. 

 Pop has changed hands since this great event 
but it got me to think about the wine that is sitting 
in your favorite restaurants refrigerator, how long 
has it been sitting there? As far as sparkling wines, 
there should still be a “pop” when your server takes 
off the “stopper” if you aren’t sure simply grab a 
utensil and see if you can stir up some bubbles. 

 White wines and red will stay fresh a day or two 
longer, but here is my tried and true suggestion. 
And not once have I had a no or a roll of the eyes. 
Simply ask the server when the bottle was opened 
and if they aren’t sure ask for a fresh bottle. The 
mark up on wines by the glass is in the restaurants 
favor, all you are doing is evening the odds. 

 There are a handful of restaurants that sell splits of 
sparkling wines, you get about a glass and a half from 
a split, though I don’ t and can’t recommend them 
there are no corks -- they are screw tops. Sparkling 
wine with a screw top? Dom Perignon would turn 
over in his grave. Wine by the glass? Check out the 
Parkway Grill or Flemings in Pasadena , I promise 
that there will be no eye rolling and they do rotate 
their wines by the glass program often. 

 Listen to Dining with Dills Saturday at 4:30PM 
KRLA AM 870.


OSIRIS-REX CAPTURES FIRST GLIMPSE OF ASTEROID BENNU


After an almost two-year journey through space, 
NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft, OSIRIS-
REx, caught its first glimpse of asteroid Bennu 
last week and began the final approach toward 
its target. On Aug. 17, the spacecraft’s PolyCam 
camera obtained the image from a distance of 1.4 
million miles.

 Led by the University of Arizona’s Lunar and 
Planetary Laboratory, OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first 
mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, survey the 
surface, collect a sample and deliver it safely back 
to Earth. The spacecraft has traveled approximately 
1.1 billion miles since its Sept. 8, 2016 launch, and 
is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on Dec. 3.

 “Now that OSIRIS-REx is close enough to 
observe Bennu, the mission team will spend the 
next few months learning as much as possible 
about Bennu’s size, shape, surface features and 
surroundings before the spacecraft arrives at 
the asteroid,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx 
principal investigator and professor of planetary 
science at the UA. “After spending so long planning 
for this moment, I can’t wait to see what Bennu 
reveals to us.”

 To boost itself onto Bennu’s orbital plane, 
OSIRIS-REx performed a slingshot maneuver, or 
gravity assist, around Earth 11 months ago. The 
craft is now zipping along at almost 32,000 mph 
relative to Earth, while catching up with Bennu at 
a little over 1,200 mph relative to the asteroid. The 
image was acquired using PolyCam, one of three 
cameras, all developed at the UA, that together 
comprise the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite, OCAMS 
for short.

 As OSIRIS-REx approaches the asteroid, the 
spacecraft will use its science instruments to 
gather information about Bennu and prepare for 
arrival. In addition to the OCAMS camera suite, 
the spacecraft’s science payload includes the OTES 
thermal spectrometer, the OVIRS visible and 
infrared spectrometer, the OLA laser altimeter and 
the REXIS X-ray spectrometer.

 During the mission’s approach phase, OSIRIS-
REx will:

* Regularly observe the area around the asteroid to 
search for dust plumes and natural satellites, and 
study Bennu’s light and spectral properties

* Execute a series of four asteroid approach 
maneuvers, beginning on Oct. 1, slowing the 
spacecraft to match Bennu’s speed and trajectory

* Jettison the protective cover of the spacecraft’s 
sampling arm in mid-October and subsequently 
extend and image the arm for the first time in flight

* Use OCAMS to reveal the asteroid’s overall shape 
in late October and begin detecting Bennu’s surface 
features in mid-November.

 After arrival at Bennu, the spacecraft will spend 
the first month performing flybys of Bennu’s north 
pole, equator and south pole, at distances ranging 
between 11.8 and 4.4 miles from the asteroid. 
These maneuvers will allow for the first direct 
measurement of Bennu’s mass, as well as close-up 
observations of the surface. These trajectories will 
also provide the mission’s navigation team with 
experience navigating near the asteroid.

 “Bennu’s low gravity provides a unique challenge 
for the mission,” said Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx 
project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight 
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “At roughly 0.3 
mile in diameter, Bennu will be the smallest object 
that any spacecraft has ever orbited.”

 The spacecraft will extensively survey the 
asteroid before the mission team identifies 
two possible sample sites. Sample collection is 
scheduled for early July 2020, and the spacecraft 
will head back toward Earth before ejecting the 
Sample Return Capsule for landing in the Utah 
desert in September 2023.

 

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.

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