The space shuttle is in orbit. We can call you when it's about to fly over your hometown: Spaceweather PHONE.
ZUBENELGENUBI: Just saying it will make you smile: "Zubenelgenubi" (zoo-BEN-al-je-NEW-bee). This funny-sounding word is the name of a double star in the constellation Libra. Tonight Zubenelgenubi is eye-catchingly close to Jupiter. Look southwest just after sunset: sky map.
SUNDAY PUZZLE: Can you guess what this is? Look carefully, then read on.... (continued below)
It's sunspot 904 partially eclipsed by a contrail. Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida, took the picture yesterday. "A jet passed directly through the field of view and left its contrail seconds before the shutter released," he explains. It just goes to show, you never know what might happen when you look at the sun.
SHUTTLE LAUNCH: Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center yesterday at 11:15 am EDT. High above Earth, NOAA's GOES-12 satellite was looking down on Florida at the moment of launch and photographed the shuttle's exhaust:
Animations: visible, infrared.
Atlantis is on an 11-day mission to visit and expand the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle's payload bay contains a 35,000-lb truss. Spacewalking astronauts will install the truss on the ISS, then unfold a new set of solar panels spanning 240 feet from tip to tip. These additions will increase the surface area of the station, making it easier than ever to see in the night sky.
Editor's note: Thank you, Jeff Umbarger of Plano, Texas, for bringing the GOES-12 image to our attention.
Sept 7th Lunar Eclipse Gallery
UPDATED Sept. 9, 2006