SATELLITE FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into a field-tested satellite tracker! Spaceweather.com presents the Satellite Flybys app. | | | NIGHT LAUNCH RESCHEDULED: More than five thousand people gathered along the "NASA Causeway" early Sunday morning, Feb. 7th, to watch a spectacular night launch of space shuttle Endeavour. With just minutes left on the countdown clock, however, the 4:39 am launch attempt was scrubbed. "On a long, cold and windy night, the only thing that got off the ground was clouds," reports Terry Allshouse, who photographed the beautiful yet disappointing scene. NASA will try again on Monday morning, Feb. 8th, at 4:14 am. Stay tuned. BIG NEW SUNSPOT: In less than 24 hours, a monsterous sunspot group has materialized in the sun's northern hemisphere. Rogerio Marcon sends this picture of new sunspot 1045 taken earlier today from his backyard observatory in Campinas, Brasil: "There are some beautiful magnetic arcs swirling around the sunspot's dark cores," notes Marcon. "This big active region is an easy target for amateur solar telescopes." The arcs in Marcon's photo are unstable and they have already erupted at least six times this weekend, producing a series of C- and M-class solar flares. These flares have caused brief ionization events in Earth's upper atmosphere, but little else so far. There is a 5% chance of a much more powerful X-flare in the next 24 hours, according to NOAA forecasters, so bigger things could be in the offing. more images: from John Stetson of Portland, Maine; from Steve Riegel of Sanata Maria, CA; from Jo Dahlmans of Ulestraten, The Netherlands; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from James Kevin Ty of Manila, Philippines; from Cirioni Davide of Cilavegna, Pavia, Italy; from Kristian Molnar of Blahova, Slovakia; from Luigi Manganotti of Verona, Italy; from Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, KY LAST NIGHT LAUNCH OF THE SHUTTLE PROGRAM: Monday morning, February 8th, at 4:14 am EST, space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled lift off from Kennedy Space Center on a 13-day mission to the ISS. There are only five missions left before NASA ends the shuttle program, and this will be the last one to launch at night. Endeavour's previous night launch looked like this: The spectacle attracted sightseers from hundreds of miles around. If you plan to be in Florida this weekend, here are some places you can watch the launch in person. Otherwise, tune in to NASA TV for full coverage. EXTRA: "And if you can arrange to be at azimuth 40 degrees (WNW) of the launch site, you'll have a crescent moon in the background," notes University of Kentucky astronomer Timothy Knauer. "Photo-Op alert!" Endeavour Launch Blog [recommended viewing sites] [NASA TV] February Northern Lights Gallery [previous Februarys: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002] |