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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.
Rocket Lab USA’s Electron Rocket Lights Up New Zealand Skies
The inaugural flight of the Electron Rocket.
Credit: Rocket Lab USA
There’s a new player in the space launch business in town. No, we’re not talking about SpaceX, or even Blue Origin or Orbital Sciences or the numerous myriad of other private start-ups hoping to make it into space.
We’re talking about Rocket Labs USA, whose innovative Electron rocket made a brief sub-orbital flight earlier this week, from the very first privately-owned space port Mahia Peninsula Launch Complex 1 located on the eastern tip of the north island of New Zealand earlier this week.
True, this first launch failed to reach orbit, but you have to remember that space is hard, and SpaceX’s very first Falcon 1 launch barely cleared the beach. The two-stage, carbon composite rocket went through staging and fairing separation as planned and reached an undefined apogee above the 100 kilometer Kármán Line three minutes later before atmospheric reentry. A sub-orbital splashdown isn’t quite a “Sputnik moment” for Rocket Labs, but it’s darned close. Check out this video to see what all of the excitement is about:
The Electron rocket lifted off from the New Zealand Launch Complex 1 Space Center at 4:20 Universal Time on Thursday, May 25th. Rocket Lab aims to put a boiler plate test mass in orbit on the next shot, scheduled for later this year. The firm hopes to launch commercial payloads after two more test launches. This is a huge step; remember, companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are sending spacecraft to the International Space Station under NASA government contract, while Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Rocket Labs are privately funded.
What’s next? Well, located at latitude 39 degrees south, the New Zealand launch site is ideal to place satellites in retrograde and sun-synchronous Earth-observing orbits, similar to the USAF’s Vandenberg launch site. This is a favorite placement for Earth-observing and military spy satellites, though we don’t think we’ll see any privately funded super-villains orbiting their own spy sats anytime soon. Rocket Lab plans on lofting an amazing 50 payloads a year once they get up to full steam… and remember, the U.S. completed 22 launches in 2016, and there were 82 launches worldwide last year.
This week’s launch was low key, with information and updates trickling out over Twitter. Hopefully, the company will start providing live webcasts of launches soon. Rocket Lab USA is the new space startup that you’re not watching, but should be!