SATELLITE
FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into
a field-tested satellite tracker! Spaceweather.com presents
the Satellite Flybys
app. |
|
|
OLD TEACHINGS, BEWARE:
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is set
to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 10th at 10:30
am EST. Researchers expect SDO to rewrite
the textbooks on solar physics using a battery of advanced
cameras, telescopes, and magnetic sensors--some of which can
even peer beneath the sun's stormy surface. This is such a
big event, the staff of spaceweather.com has traveled 3000
miles to witness the launch. Stay tuned for first-hand reports.
RADIO-ACTIVE SUNSPOT:
Behemoth sunspot 1045 is crackling with M-class
solar flares--and that's not all. "There have been many
loud shortwave radio bursts over the past two days,"
reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico.
"Some of the bursts have completely saturated my receivers."
Just
listen to the sounds coming from the loudspeakers in his
observatory. (continued below)
Image credit: Mike Borman of Evansville,
Indiana [details]
The roaring sounds you just heard were mainly
Type
III radio bursts, caused by beams of electrons streaming
through the sun's outer atmosphere. Sunspot 1045 appears poised
to explosively accelerate more electrons in the days ahead
as the flare-show continues. Ham radio operators, point your
Yagis
toward the sun!
more images: from
Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from
Rogerio Marcon of Campinas Brasil; from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from
James Kevin Ty of Manila, Philippines; from
John Stetson of Portland, Maine; from
Steve Riegel of Sanata Maria, CA; from
Jo Dahlmans of Ulestraten, The Netherlands; from
Alan Friedman of Buffalo, NY
WHERE IS THE SHUTTLE?
Space shuttle Endeavour is in Earth orbit
following one of the most spectacular launches in the program's
30-year history. Thousands of onlookers on the NASA Causeway
clapped, gasped, shouted and cheered as the shuttle climbed
brilliantly into the pre-dawn sky at 4:14 am EST on Monday,
Feb. 8th. Photographer Gary Trapuzzano snapped this picture
of Endeavour hurtling into a layer of clouds over the Kennedy
Space Center:
Photo details:
Canon 50D, William Optics 66mm Triplet APO telescope
A split-second layer, the
shuttle emerged. "Watching this spectacular event
through the camera is something I will never forget,"
says Trapuzzano.
Endeavour is now completely outside Earth's
atmosphere chasing the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA says the two spacecraft will dock on Wednesday, Feb.
10th, at 12:09 a.m. EST and, after that, spacewalkers will
begin the task of installing the station's new Tranquility
node--a.k.a. "a
room with a view."
The ISS and Endeavour make a great combo in
the night sky. Check the Simple Satellite
Tracker to see if you are favored with a flyby. Flybys
are also available for the
iPhone!
more launch photos: from
Malcolm Park at the Kennedy Space Center Causeway, Florida;
from
Alberto Quijao Vodniza at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida;
from
Adam Bojanowski of South Titusville, Florida; from
Brent of Orlando, Florida; from
Frank J. Cernik of Schenectady, New York; from
Mark Staples at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida;
February
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Februarys: 2009,
2008, 2007,
2006, 2004,
2003, 2002]
|
