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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.
26.05.11: Farewell, Spirit…
Spirit: A self-portrait. (Credit: NASA/JPL).
This week, amid news of distant gamma ray bursts, daring spacewalks, and spacecraft redesigns, a small story came our way of the end of an era; earlier this week, NASA announced that it would no longer attempt to hail the Spirit Lander on the surface of Mars. Of course, we knew it was coming; Spirit had hobbled along the past few years, and was last heard from March 22nd of last year. A campaign to Free Spirit unfortunately ran up against the long Martian winter, which probably killed her solar charging batteries for good. Of course, the Mars Spirit and Opportunity rovers were a resounding success; Spirit landed on the Red Planet on January 4th, 2004 at the Gusev site later dedicated as Columbia Memorial Station and traveled 4.8 miles over 6 plus years… that’s way past her original 90 day warranty. Just stop and think, in YOUR household, early 2004 was how many cell phones/laptops ago? I think most of us were installing XP and bonding our shinny new Razors in those days… meanwhile Spirit kept chugging along towards Columbia Hills, overcoming software glitches, dust devils, and lame wheels. A whole generation of Martian surface science was performed by these little rovers that could. “Oppy” now carries the flag of human presence on the surface of Mars at Meridiani and is headed towards Endeavour Crater until the SUV-sized Curiosity skyhooks in, hopefully in August of next year. Farewell, old friend… hopefully, you’ll get dusted off by some future Mars explorer and placed in fitting tribute in a museum one day!