SATELLITE
FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into
a field-tested satellite tracker! Spaceweather.com presents
the Satellite Flybys
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OLD TEACHINGS, BEWARE:
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is set
to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 10th at 10:30
am EST. Researchers expect SDO to rewrite
the textbooks on solar physics using a battery of advanced
cameras, telescopes, and magnetic sensors--some of which can
even peer beneath the sun's stormy surface. This is such a
big event, the staff of spaceweather.com has traveled 3000
miles to witness the launch. Stay tuned for first-hand reports.
GEOMAGNETIC STORM
WATCH: Over the past few days, active sunspot
1045 has hurled a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
toward Earth. These are not the kind of major CMEs that will
spark auroras over, say, Florida, but they could spark some
very nice lights around the Arctic Circle. (continued
below)
Image credit: Akhmetsafin Ruslan of Aykhal,
Russia [details]
High-latitude sky watchers should be
alert for Northern Lights on Feb. 9th through 11th when
the CMEs are expected to arrive. NOAA forecasters estimate
a 30% chance of some geomagnetic activity and as much as a
5% chance of a major geomagnetic storm over the next three
days.
February
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Februarys: 2009,
2008, 2007,
2006, 2004,
2003, 2002]
WHERE IS THE SHUTTLE?
Space shuttle Endeavour is in Earth orbit
following one of the most spectacular launches in the program's
30-year history. Thousands of onlookers on the NASA Causeway
clapped, gasped, shouted and cheered as the shuttle climbed
brilliantly into the pre-dawn sky at 4:14 am EST on Monday,
Feb. 8th. Photographer Gary Trapuzzano snapped this picture
of Endeavour hurtling into a layer of clouds over the Kennedy
Space Center:
Photo details:
Canon 50D, William Optics 66mm Triplet APO telescope
A split-second later, the
shuttle emerged. "Watching this spectacular event
through the camera is something I will never forget,"
says Trapuzzano.
Endeavour is now completely outside Earth's
atmosphere chasing the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA says the two spacecraft will dock on Wednesday, Feb.
10th, at 12:09 a.m. EST and, after that, spacewalkers will
begin the task of installing the station's new Tranquility
node--a.k.a. "a
room with a view."
The ISS and Endeavour make a great combo in
the night sky. Check the Simple Satellite
Tracker to see if you are favored with a flyby. Flybys
are also available for the
iPhone!
more launch photos: from
Malcolm Park at the Kennedy Space Center Causeway, Florida;
from
Alberto Quijao Vodniza at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida;
from
Adam Bojanowski of South Titusville, Florida; from
Brent of Orlando, Florida; from
Frank J. Cernik of Schenectady, New York; from
Mark Staples at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida;
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