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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.
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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.
12.05.11: New Cosmic Minerals Part II.
A view of Krotite. (Credit: university of Hawaii/American Mineralogist).
Faster than you can say carbonaceous chondrite, another new meteorite-bound mineral was recently announced from the University of Hawaii. Readers of this space will remember the recent discovery of Wassonite last month. Now, enter Krotite, a low-pressure refractory inclusion with a chemical composition of CaAl2O4. If that sounds familiar, that�s because high-pressure versions are well known; this 2.75mm x 4.5mm inclusion is suggestive of an early cooling environment in a proto-solar nebula. The discovery was announced in the action-packed May/June issue of the American Mineralogist, and the discovery was approved by the letterhead-consuming Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association. The name Krotite honors Dr. Alexander N. Krot, a meteoriticist who completed pioneering work in the field of chondrules and the role they played in early solar system formation. Seen above, the egg shaped inclusion surrounded by olivine deposits was first identified in the meteorite NWA 1934, a carbonaceous chondrite that was recovered from northwest Africa.
Why care about old space rocks? Well, the study of the composition of these ancient minerals gives us a peek at what the proto-solar nebula that eventually formed Earth, me, you, and Justin Bieber may have been like. These inclusions may also go a long way in determining the pedigree of other meteorite falls� but if we find just one that fluoresces green, can we call it Kryptonite?