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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
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