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LAUNCH UPDATE:
Space shuttle Endeavour is in launch position at the Kennedy Space
Center and the countdown clock is ticking for liftoff at 5:40 a.m.
EDT on Wednesday, June 17th. There is an 80% chance of favorable
weather for liftoff, say forecasters. Endeavour's 16-day mission
to the ISS will feature five spacewalks and complete construction
of the Japan's Kibo laboratory. [more]
NIGHT-SHINING CLOUDS:
Last night, June 16th, a bank of intense,
electric blue noctilucent clouds rippled across the North Atlantic.
"It was the best display I've seen so far this year--fairly
bright and active," reports Dave Lillis of Limerick city, Ireland.
He took this picture using his Canon
300D:
"Hopefully, we'll get more like it," he says.
We might. For reasons no one fully understands, noctilucent clouds
tend to be most intense during years of solar minimum. 2009 is such
a year. The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly
a century, and many researchers expect a banner year for these mysterious
clouds. Browse the gallery for more of last night's display:
UPDATED: 2009
Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003]
ISS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT:
After 11 years of construction, the International
Space Station has grown so large you can see it in broad daylight.
"On June 13th, I was watching a red-headed woodpecker's nest
when the ISS passed overhead," says Brooke O'Klatner of Charlotte,
North Carolina. Follow the curved branch to find the spaceship:
The station's brightness will increase even more when space shuttle
Endeavour arrives later this week. Endeavour will deliver a new
"space porch" for Japan's Kibo science lab. It is a platform
where science experiments requiring exposure to hard vacuum and
radiation can be set outside. The Endeavour+ISS combo will pierce
the blue sky of daytime with ease--and just imagine how they will
look at night!
Readers, check the Simple Satellite Tracker
for flyby times.
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