The Sky is Waiting.
Search AstroGuyz
Custom Search
Advertise on Astroguyz!
|
|
|
 |
|
Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
Astro-Vid of the Week: Watch the Launch of NROL-76
A successful static fire test on Tuesday.
Credit: Space X
Ready for a Sunday morning rocket launch? We’ve got ‘em, as SpaceX is set to round out the month of April with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center with NROL-76 for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The 120 minute launch window opens at 11:00 UT / 7:00 EDT, and the start of the window occurs just 20 minutes after local sunrise, assuring a spectacular post-dawn launch. This is SpaceX’s first classified payload for the U.S. government, meaning the tracking TLEs post launch are classified, though amateur satellite spotters are sure to be on the hunt. Most of the NROL payloads in the past were destined for elliptical Molniya type orbits, and NROL-76 is likely to be no different.
And word is that SpaceX will once again land the Falcon-9 1st stage back at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station shortly after launch from the newly refurbished pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX conducted a successful static fire test of the Falcon-9′s Merlin engines on Tuesday April 25th ahead of Sunday’s launch:
SpaceX will also webcast the launch, both with a narrated and technical webcast on Sunday; watch this space (bad pun intended) as we’ll be dropping the webcast in when the time comes.
One thing we’ve noticed following satellites and space launches over the years: military payloads outnumber science missions three to one. So much for the erroneous belief that our military in the United States is somehow depleted or under-funded… for every Hubble looking out at the cosmos, three more unnamed space telescopes are looking back.
Sobering thoughts to consider, as NROL-76 takes to the skies on Sunday on its clandestine mission.