SATELLITE
FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into
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FINAL NIGHT LAUNCH
OF THE SHUTTLE: On Feb. 7th at 4:39 am EST,
space shuttle Endeavour will blast off from the Kennedy Space
Center on a mission (STS-130)
to the International Space Station. It will be the final night
launch of NASA's soon-to-be-retired shuttle program. After
STS-130, only four
missions remain and all of them will leave Earth in broad
daylight. Readers, if you are ever going to travel to Florida
to witness a launch, Feb. 7th would be a good choice.
BIG SUNSPOT:
Sunspot 1040 (a.k.a. old sunspot 1035) is growing again and
is now at least four times wider than planet Earth. A blink
comparison of SOHO images shows how the sunspot has expanded
in the past 24 hours:
Backyard astronomers with solar
telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
more images: from
Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from
Matt Wastell of Brisbane, Australia; from
Alcaria Rego of Almada, Portugal; from
Monty Leventhal OAM of Sydney, Australia; from
Karzaman Ahmad of Langkawi National Observatory, Malaysia;
from
Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from
Paul Schneider of Wilton, Connecticut; from
J. Maciaszek, C. Cusack, J. Stetson of South Portland,
Maine; from
Gianfranco Meregalli of Milano, Italy
ISLAND SNOW:
Last week when NASA's Terra satellite orbited over Europe,
it saw something very unusual. The normally temperate British
Isles were completely covered by snow. On Jan. 7th, from an
altitude of 420 miles, Terra's MODIS (Moderate-resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer) camera snapped this picture:
It's not only Britian. Heavy snowfall and record-low
temperatures have spread across Europe, closing schools, paralyzing
airports, and downing power lines. Much of North America and
parts of Asia are experiencing the same brutal cold.
The cause of the phenomenon could be the Arctic
Oscillation (AO). The AO is a seesawing strengthening and
weakening of semi-permanent areas of low and high atmospheric
pressure in the Arctic and the mid-latitudes. One consequence
of the oscillation’s negative phase is cold, snowy weather
in Eurasia and North America during the winter months. The
extreme negative dip of the Arctic
Oscillation Index in December 2009 was the lowest monthly
value observed for the past six decades.
On the bright side, these conditions are ideal
for many forms of atmospheric optics and fantastic patterns
of frost on the ground and other surfaces. Browse the links
below for examples of what to look for.
more images: from
Peter Rosén of Stockholm, Sweden; from
Andrew Greenwood of Kerridge on the edge of the Peak District,
UK;
from Evan Ludes of Omaha, Nebraska; from
Tyler Burg of Omaha, Nebraska; from
Dan Bush
of Albany, Missouri; from
Doug Zubenel of De Soto, Kansas; from
Julia Ponce of Papillion, Nebraska; from
Kyle George of Omaha, Nebraska;
January
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Januarys: 2009,
2008, 2007,
2005, 2004,
2001]
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