WHAT'S FOLLOWING THE ISS? So you just saw the International Space Station? Wait a minute. There's another spacecraft following it. It's Progress 33, a Russian supply ship trailing the ISS by 60 seconds. On July 12th, Progress 33 will close the gap to test a new automated docking system. The maneuver should be visible to the naked eye. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times and get two spaceships for the price of one. images and videos: from Pawel Warchal of Cracow, Poland; from Ralf Vandebergh of Wittem, the Netherlands; from Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario (Fetter's video shows Progress 33 passing by the 3rd magnitude star Sulafat in the constellation Lyra). SUNSPOTS FOR BREAKFAST: "Today, when I looked at sunspot 1024 through my Coronado H-alpha filter, the active region reminded me of two enormous breaking egg yokes," reports Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas. "There were long snakelike arms reaching from one yoke to the next in an egg-citing tug of war." He calls this snapshot Sunspots for Breakfast: Breakfast is almost over. Sunspot 1024 is approaching the sun's western limb where it will disappear in 24 hours. That will bring an end to the best display of sunspots in nearly two years. Fortunately for astrophotographers, sunspot 1024 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24 and it probably heralds more to come. Solar activity is not eggs-tinct, after all. more images: from David B.V. Tyler of Buckinghamshire UK; from K.Greene, G. Harmon and J.Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Juan Miguel González Polo of Cáceres, Spain; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands; from Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from Steve Boyce of Sidmouth Devon, UK; from Paul Haese of Blackwood, South Australia; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Fulvio Mete of Rome, Italy; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from Andy Yeung of Hong Kong; from John Nassr of Baguio, Philippines; from Ehsan Rostamizadeh of Kerman, Iran; BLUE MOON OVER IRAN: A severe dust storm so large that it is visible from space is blowing across Iran. Government officials have closed schools, cancelled flights, and warned the elderly and children to stay indoors. The only good thing about the storm is that it is turning the Moon a pleasing shade of blue: Amir H. Abolfath took the picture from Tehran on July 7th. "I thought blue moons were a myth," he says, "but there it was." Yes, blue moons are real. They appear when the air is filled with fine particles of dust (or other aerosols) about 1 micron in diameter. This is just the right size to make dusty air act as a blue color filter. Because the dust storm is so large, blue moons could be a regular fixture in the Persian sky for some nights to come. more images: from Farzad Zamanfar of Tehran, Iran; 2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery [See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery] 2009 Noctilucent Photo Gallery [previous years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003] Explore the Sunspot Cycle |