PREMIUM VALENTINE'S PENDANT: Are you looking for an unforgettable Valentine's Day gift? Consider the Always and Forever Space Pendent. Last night's successful launch of 3 small communication satellites from NASA's Flight Facility on Wallops Island is a good start. One of the most successful space start-ups since SpaceX, Rocket Lab hopes to sharply increase its launch rate from USA. Rocket Lab has launched many rockets from New Zealand last night was its first from the United States. Founded in Auckland in 2006 by New Zealander Peter Beck, the company established a second headquarters in Huntington Beach, California, in 2013. Rocket Lab is a private company launching small satellites to Earth orbit typical payloads weigh less than 1000 lb. "It was great that my buddy Erik had his dog with him, and he posed for the photo," says Carroll. Mike Carroll was walking along the beach in Highlands, New Jersey, when he saw it fly by: ROCKET LAB LAUNCH: Last night, small-satellite specialist Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket for the first time from Wallops Island, Virginia. More images: from Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway from Jónína Óskarsdóttir of Fáskrúðsfjörður, Iceland from Francois Guilhaume-Bohl of Nellim, Finland If you see one, it's definitely worth taking a picture. During a typical Arctic winter, PSCs appear no more than two or three times. However, the forecast (yellow) calls for warming as January comes to an end, so now is the time to look. NASA models of the polar stratosphere show that temperatures have indeed dropped into the very low range required for Type II PSCs: High-altitude sunlight shining through the crystals creates intense iridescent colors often likened to auroras. Then, and only then, can widely-spaced water molecules begin to coalesce into tiny ice crystals. PSCs form when the temperature in the Arctic stratosphere drops to a staggeringly-low -85 C. Earth's stratosphere is very dry and normally it has no clouds at all. Jökultindur is silhouetted by a sky-full of nacreous color." "We have been seeing these clouds for a couple of days," reports Óskarsdóttir. Jónína Óskarsdóttir photographed the display from Fáskrúðsfjörður, Iceland: ![]() A rare outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) is underway. POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS: Arctic skies are filling with color today-but it's not the aurora borealis. 1-2 around magnitude +5, an easy target for backyard astrophotographers. If current trends continue, the comet's brightness will peak on Feb. The comet's motion across the sky will accelerate as it approaches Earth, making it harder to track but easier to see. I'd estimate the comet's brightness at +5.3 with the gaseous ion tail extending more than 5 degrees." "The comet is now moving 9.8 arcmin/hour (the Moon's diameter in just 3 hours). "I saw it under near-perfect skies," he says. Jan Curtis of Oracle, Arizona, also photographed the comet last night. "Otherwise, the comet looked like a large fuzzy glow in binoculars." "The dust tail, anti-tail and long ion tail were visible to the camera, but in binoculars only a short stubby dust tail was obvious," Dyer says. He photographed it last night about midway between the Big and Little Dippers: "The comet is just visible to the naked eye- if you know where to look," reports Alan Dyer of Gleichen, Alberta. ![]() THE COMET REPORT: Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is approaching Earth for a close encounter (0.28 AU) on Feb. Europe's Virtual Telescope Project will live stream the flyby. ![]() ![]() On Jan 26th at 21:17 UTC (16:17 EST), the 5-meter-wide space rock will be just 3500 km above South America, well within our planet's belt of geosynchronous satellites. Newly-discovered asteroid 2023 BU will make an extremely close approach to Earth this Thursday. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining-a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays.ĮXTREMELY CLOSE ASTEROID FLYBY: There's no danger of a collision, but. Credit: SDO/HMIĬosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is beginning, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. None of them poses a threat for strong flares. The northern hemisphere of the sun is peppered with small sunspots.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |