DOOMED SPACECRAFT: Jules Verne is about to become a fireball. On Sept. 29th, with NASA airplanes looking on, the 22-ton European spacecraft will plunge into Earth's atmosphere over the south Pacific Ocean. Jules Verne recently spent five months docked to the space station where it delivered supplies, used its engines help the station avoid a piece of space junk, and served as an impromptu bedroom for the ISS crew. Mission accomplished, the doomed spacecraft is now making its final orbits around Earth. If you'd like to see it, check the Simple Satellite Tracker for viewing times. COOL DUO: The International Space Station (ISS) is so bright, you can see it through trees. Don Bradbury took this picture last night among the pines of Weaverville, California: "As I shot the ISS using my Canon 30D, I also caught another satellite traveling perpendicular to it--a cool duo by accident!" says Bradbury. "This photo demonstrates just how bright the ISS can be in relation to ordinary satellites orbiting our planet." The space station is flying over many US towns and forests this weekend. Its amazingly easy to see. Check the Satellite Tracker for viewing times. more images: from Bill Gucfa of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; from David McKune of Lansing, Kansas; SUN PILLAR: When the sun went down this evening in Frankfurt, Germany, a blood-red column of light lept up to signal its exit. Horst Templin snapped this picture using his Nikon Coolpix 4500: This is a sun pillar and it is a sign of ice in the sky. Flat, plate-shaped ice crystals fluttering down like leaves from high clouds caught the red rays of the setting sun and redirected them into a vertical column of light. Sun pillars may be seen whenever icy clouds drift across the sunset. Look for your own this evening! more images: from Alan Barrington of Hammerfest, Norway; from Jon Hayden of Indian Trail Springs, Oregon; from Marek Nikodem of Kcynia, Poland; from John Stetson of Sebago Lake, Maine; from Mike Sessions of Mauna Kea, Hawaii; Sept. 2008 Aurora Gallery [Aurora Alerts] [Night Sky Cameras] |