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GRAND CENTRAL SPACE
STATION: On July 11th,
space shuttle Endeavour will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center
on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). On July
12th, a Russian supply ship (Progress 33) will approach
the ISS for docking tests. On July 13th, Endeavour
itself will rendezvous with the ISS. Stay tuned to the Simple
Satellite Tracker for a busy series of flybys.
GOOD-BYE SUNSPOT
1024: The biggest, most active sunspot in
two years is about to disappear. Sunspot 1024 is approaching the
sun's western limb and, later today, it will go around the bend.
Pavol Rapavy sends this photo from Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia:
Readers with solar
telescopes should train their optics on the edge of the sun.
Even minor eruptions from sunspot 1024 could hurl photogenic blobs
of hot plasma high over the limb where they would shine in beautiful
relief against the black of space beyond. The parting shots could
be the best of all.
more images: from
Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from
David B.V. Tyler of Buckinghamshire UK; from
D. Booth, T. Emerson, J .Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from
Andy Yeung of Hong Kong; from
Stephen Yeathermon of Santa Fe, Texas;
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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