SATELLITE
FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into
a field-tested satellite tracker! Spaceweather.com presents
the Satellite Flybys
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THE SUN IS A VARIABLE
STAR: The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO),
slated for liftoff on Feb. 9th, will make IMAX-quality movies
of solar explosions, peer beneath the stellar surface to see
the sun's inner dynamo, and--researchers hope--unravel the
mysteries of solar variability. Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
BIG NEW SUNSPOT:
A big new sunspot is rapidly emerging in the sun's northern
hemisphere. Rogerio Marcon sends this picture taken just hours
ago from his backyard observatory in Campinas, Brasil:
The active region is crackling with solar flares.
The strongest so far is an M2-class
eruption at 1900 UT on Feb. 6th. (See the
movie from NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft.) Each of the spot's
dark cores is about twice as wide as Earth, which makes it
an easy target for backyard solar
telescopes. Stay tuned for solar activity!
more images: from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Geir Øye of Ørsta, Norway; from
Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from
Keith Davies of Swansea, South Wales, United Kingdom;
LAST NIGHT LAUNCH
OF THE SHUTTLE PROGRAM: On Sunday morning,
February 7th, at 4:39 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]
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