COSMIC RAYS HIT SPACE AGE HIGH: NASA spacecraft are measuring record-high levels of cosmic rays--a side-effect of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. This development could have implications for the amount of shielding astronauts need to take when they explore deep space. Science@NASA has the full story. FIRST FIRE-EATER IN SPACE: Fire-eater. Stiltwalker. Space tourist. What do those three occupations have in common? They all describe Cirque du Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberté, who blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station: Laliberté reportedly paid as much as $35 million to visit the ISS as a "spaceflight participant" (NASA-speak for "space tourist") in a deal with the Russian Space Agency arranged through Space Adventures Ltd. He is accompanied by cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and astronaut Jeffrey Williams, two new members of the ISS crew. The trio and their Russian Soyiz spacecraft will dock to the ISS on Friday, Oct. 2nd. Night sky watchers may be able to see the Soyuz rocket approach the space station just prior to docking. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flybys. NIGHT LIGHTS: Last night, the sun set but the sky did not grow dark. A pair of bright lights continued to illuminate the heavens: "It was the Moon and Jupiter very close together," says photographer Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprém, Hungary. "The beautiful pair twinkled brightly above our town's viaduct, no matter how the streetlights tried to overshine them." The scene was repeated in evening skies around the world (see the images below). Did you miss it? It will happen again on Oct. 26th. Reminder calls are available from Spaceweather PHONE. more images: from Mustafa Erol of Antalya, Turkey; from John Stetson of Portland, Maine; from Valentin Grigore of Targoviste, Romania; from Jens Hackmann of Bad Mergentheim, Germany; from M. Raşid Tuğral of Ankara, Turkey; from Wioleta Zarzycka of Iceland; from Christopher Calubaquib of El Sobrante, California; from Peter von Bagh of Porvoo, Finland; from Giuseppe Pappa of Mascalucia, Sicily, Italy; from Christophe Stolz of near Bern, Switzerland; from Trey Lynch of Cisco, Texas; from Sean Scully of Akureyri, Iceland; from Enrico Perissinotto of Premariacco Italy Sept. 2009 Aurora Gallery [previous Septembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001] Explore the Sunspot Cycle |