On the east side of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) is a circular area of low clouds rotating counterclockwise. High clouds above it are moving clockwise. Deep convection is bursting near the center.
UPDATE: A satellite loop of the system described is in comment 1. Similar systems continue to appear. Below I've added self updating satellite images and surface maps of the area.
I'll add loops of similar systems that I see to the comments. Currently there are loops in comments 1 and 7.
Click on image for loop.
Click on image for loop.
Click on image for loop.
Locations of Visitors from the Past 24 Hours
Create your own visitor map!
Last launch of a Delta II after 22 years. It was a Heavy so the sound rolled on a while. It is carrying twin satellites that are headed to survey The Moon. Beautiful launch NASA!
Grail Moonbound on the last Delta II (
Skyepony)
Last launch of a Delta II after 22 years. It was a Heavy so the sound rolled on a while. It is carrying twin satellites that are headed to survey The Moon. Beautiful launch NASA!
A Super Scooper Fixed Wing Aircraft Makes A Water Drop Directly Behind A Home At The Wagon Fire.
Development Of A Severe Thunderstorm (
anvilhead)
I watched this storm develop for about an hour before it slowly bled off the mountains and turned severe in the Santa Clarita Valley. 60+ mph winds and dime sized hail. Wild weather day here !
Waxing Gibbous Moon (
Ralfo)
Full Moon on 10,11,11
Cagtripodi Sun Spots (
Ralfo)
Mr. Cagtripodi discovered these sunspots on the Sun today from Italy as shown here earlier before on this site. This is a picture angled from Yonkers, N. Y. USA. All credit and thanks Must go to Mr. Cagtripodi for making us aware of the phenomena
Longs Peak beneath the lunar eclipse (
PCG)
The moon is nearing entirely in the Earth's shadow as Longs Peak sits below.
Another near infrared image. The bright part of the mountain is bright because it is covered in snow still.
The clouds moved in and covered the moon just after I took this shot.
Everett, WA
I had to bundle up this morning as temps were in the teens..
Over the Santa Clarita Valley
Winter Solstice – The Shortest day of the Year (
Ralfo)
Every Year on the Winter Solstice for many years now I have taken the Sunrise. It is always in the same spot behind that Evergreen Tree. This year there are some clouds but you can still see the Sun Blazing through. Today is the shortage amount daylight. The Good News! We will start picking up daylight from now on! Happy Holidays, Make it The Best Ever! P.S. In the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice starts: Dec. 22, 12:30 A.M. EDT (05:30 UT*), Sun enters sign of Capricorn; winter begins.
A very bright meteor from the Quadrantids at 3:00:08 am EST captured by the wide field sky camera on the roof of Ladd Observatory.
Delta 4 rocket launching the Air Force's Wideband Global SATCOM 4 military communications satellite.
Because the night belongs to lovers. (
Altred)
Not the best due to all the local light pollution but still better than a black sky.
It was approximately 5 below with a slight wind while waiting for the lights to appear.
I did this in Charcoal. It is ~6"X8". It should be the first in a series of three.
I did this in pen & ink it is STS-120 Discovery, launched on October 23, 2007. It's ~6
Full Moon Tomorrow. 2/7/12.
Atlas 5 rocket launching the Navy's MUOS 1 mobile communications satellite.
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Click image to enlarge.
Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration
Naming contest adds to Moon mission's outreach to kids
That's very cool. Yes, my kids are into space as well as science. I'll have to show them this. What a neat idea to get kids involved! Btw, their interest in space kind of comes with the territory given that their dad is an aeronautical and aerospace engineer who helped design the guidance and navigational control systems of the International Space Station. FYI, my brother-in-law had much to do with designing and writing the software for the computer operating system that's aboard the twin Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. He takes great pride in the fact that they far outlasted their intended lifespans on Mars. :)
NASA Spinoff Homepage
Since 1976, NASA's Spinoff publication has featured over 1,750 NASA-derived technologies that improve your life.
The California Science Center in Los Angeles will be the first museum to take ownership of an orbiter, Endeavour, during a private title-transfer ceremony scheduled for next week.
(Seeing as they have decided to label it as such.)
Oh well, spiraling down circling the drain.
On a brighter side, we got rain. The trees really needed it before they go into autumn mode.
Hooray for Rain!
Good old rain, :^) I hope the trees get some more before it gets chilly.
The 2011 Great World Wide Star Count is here! Join us by making your obsevations between October 14th and 28th. Please be sure to download the Activity Guide to participate.
Northern hemispherers (hemispherians? hemispherics?) are doing Cygnus again this year. Hurray! I know where Cygnus is :)
There is still a week left to make your observations folks.
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Falling German satellite greater threat than UARS
Here are the information and graphics for the latest reentry prediction. The predicted window now spans 20 hours centered on
7:12am4:12am EDT 23 OCT 2011.Where over the world is the 2.6 ton ROSAT?
Reload to update image.
Image credit: Heavens-Above
Where on the world will it land (and when)?
Predicted Reentry Time: 23 OCT 2011 @ 11:12 UTC ± 10 hours
For clarity, ground track plot is limited to ± 6 hours
Legend
Yellow Icon - location of object at predicted reentry time
Orange Line - area of visibility at the predicted reentry time for a ground observer
Blue Line - ground track uncertainty prior to predicted reentry time (ticks at 5-minute intervals)
Yellow Line - ground track uncertainty after predicted reentry time (ticks at 5-minute intervals)
White Line - day/night divider at predicted reentry time (Sun location shown by White Icon)
Note: Possible reentry locations lie anywhere along the blue and yellow ground track.
Prediction, image and legend credit: Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies
MODIFY: Corrected my UTC to EDT time zone conversion.
Ruff!!
Pat You think of everthing! LOL
Image source: http://space.auburn.edu/
AubieSat-1
Spaceflight Now | Delta Launch Report | NPP: The next-generation weather watcher from space
Spaceflight Now | Delta Launch Report | Scientists counting on NPP amid programmatic turmoil Spaceflight Now | Delta Launch Report | Venerable Delta 2 rocket launch flawless again
Six small student built university research cubesats were also successfully deployed: AubieSat 1, a pair of DICE satellites, Explorer 1 (Prime) Unit 2, M-Cubed and RAX 2.
More on this story at
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Soyuz launch crucial to keeping space station staffed.
Live launch coverage on NASA TV via cable, satellite or the web begins at 6AM EDT, 1000 GMT. The launch is scheduled for 6:11am EDT, 1011 GMT.
..Im bored as all get out.
Our Grandchildren are watching.
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Agence France-Presse
8:22 am | Friday, September 23rd, 2011
WASHINGTON—Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, told lawmakers Thursday that the end of the space shuttle era has left the American human spaceflight program in an “embarrassing” state.
“We will have no American access to, and return from, low Earth orbit and the International Space Station for an unpredictable length of time in the future,” Armstrong told the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
“For a country that has invested so much for so long to achieve a leadership position in space exploration and exploitation, this condition is viewed by many as lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable.”
Armstrong was part of a four-member panel of space experts who told lawmakers that NASA needs a stronger vision for the future and should focus on returning humans to the Moon and to the International Space Station.
“A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain,” said the US astronaut, now 81, who was commander of Apollo 11 and walked on the Moon in 1969.
President Barack Obama canceled the Constellation program that would have returned humans to the Moon and called on NASA to instead focus on new, deep-space capabilities to carry people to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars by 2030.
The retirement in July of the three-decade-old space shuttle program brought an end to the US capability to send humans to space until private industry can come up with a new commercial space capsule to the ISS, maybe by 2015.
In the meantime, Russia’s Soyuz capsules are the only taxis for the world’s astronauts heading to low-Earth orbit, and a ticket to the ISS costs global space agencies between 50 and 60 million dollars each.
“Get the shuttle out of the garage down there at Kennedy (Space Center), crank up the motors and put it back in service,” said Eugene Cernan, who commanded the Apollo 17 flight and was the last man to walk on the Moon in 1972.
“You want a launch vehicle today that will service the ISS? We’ve got it sitting down there. So before we put it in a museum, let’s make use of it. It’s in the prime of its life, how could we just put it away?”
Cernan hailed the vision of John F. Kennedy, “a bold and courageous president who started us on a journey to the stars,” and said thousands of Americans have been inspired by the space race with the Soviet Union.
“Today, we are on a path of decay. We are seeing the book close on five decades of accomplishment as the leader in human space exploration,” Cernan said.
Cernan said Constellation has been replaced by a “mission to nowhere” and called on NASA to make plans to return to the Moon.
“As unimaginable as it seems, we have now come full circle and ceded our leadership role in space back to the same country — albeit by a different name — that spurred our challenge five decades ago.”
He added: “I take no solace in the failure of the last Soyuz booster.”
Due to technical problem with a Soyuz rocket in August, a Russian cargo ship failed to reach orbit and crashed back to Earth, prompting Russia to temporarily ground a part of its Soyuz program to do emergency checks.
Armstrong and others on the panel appeared to favor the unveiling earlier this month of a massive new launcher capable of powering manned space flights well beyond low-Earth orbit, the Space Launch System, which NASA called the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V rocket put US astronauts on the moon.
Maria Zuber, principal investigator on NASA’s unmanned GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission that launched earlier this month to orbit the Moon, said lunar study is valuable, but noted that her students are inspired by the notion of exploring Mars.
“The goal of human exploration of Mars is also the consensus opinion of the next generation who will carry out this challenge,” she said.
“Unfortunately Congress is cutting back NASA’s advanced technology work and it is not clear how the agency will be able to unfold new advanced missions without a more concentrated effort to develop new technologies.
Michael Griffin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, raised concerns about a new space race and called China, which wants to put a robot on the Moon in 2013 and build its own space station for 2015, “a near-peer competitor.”
“When the Chinese can reach the Moon and we cannot, I do not see why any other nation would regard us as a world leader,” he said.
IMO there are no lack of *potential* paths for the resurgence of Made-in-USA human spaceflight... if their funding isn't cut.
Roxie Hollywood, always the shining star (or ham),
posed very nicely for Halloween pics.
oh, btw, I think the Lindt 85% is a bit stiff/waxy unless it's at exactly 75 degrees.
Scharfen Bergers has a very smooth high cocao dark but it may be a bit sweet for your taste.
Happy Star Gazing!
2011 Meteor Showers
2012 Meteor Showers
Roxy is just too cute to scare me. :^)
Thanks for all the chocoknowledge and tips. I'll keep you updated on my personal research. :^)
Spaceflight Now | Shenzhou Mission Report | Shenzhou spaceship begins historic orbital pursuit
Pat We can always count on you. :^)
Spaceflight Now | Shenzhou Mission Report | Chinese docking system based on Russian design
Click for larger image and series.
Your tree ain't looking too good either...
Hope all is well.
54 years later and Aubie is the new Sputnik!
LOL
So they stuffed him in a green box and launched him huh?
How cool is that?
(and here I thought slinging cows from a trebuchet was fun!)
Hahaha!
Me too.
Really appreciate this blog. I used to be able to keep up with space news...don't know what happened.
Oh, well...almost 4:30 here. Gotta try to get things wrapped up for the day.
Take care.
I'm glad to hear the blog is appreciated. I'd like to keep up the blog more than I do lately but life has a way of interfering sometimes.
Just sharing :)
People can find flyovers for other areas, dates and satellites at
Spaceweather.com Flybys (simpler)
OR
Heavens-Above (more info and more satellites).
Spaceflight Now | Shenzhou Mission Report | Successful docking catapults China into elite space club
Standing atop a payload transporter, the Atlas V rocket payload fairing containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft rolls out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning the move to Space Launch Complex 41.
An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide will, astronomically speaking, narrowly miss Earth next week.
And while it is the closest an asteroid this size has come to the home planet since 1976, there's no need to call Bruce Willis ... yet.
"There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters.
But that doesn't mean the asteroid -- named 2005 YU55 -- won't be a threat to earth in the future.
Lance Benner, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a video from NASA (available below) that scientists haven't been able to reliably compute the asteroid's path beyond a couple of hundred years from now.
At its closest point, the space rock will be about 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) away, which is 0.85 the distance between the moon and the Earth. NASA says that the asteroid will reach this point at 6:28 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
"In effect, it'll be moving straight at us from one direction, and then go whizzing by straight away from us in the other direction," Benner said.
An asteroid this size -- which, according to Scientific American is larger than an aircraft carrier -- would cause widespread damage if it were to hit Earth, however. The Associated Press spoke to Jay Melosh, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University, who said that the asteroid would create a four-mile wide crater 1,700 feet deep. It could cause 70-foot tsunami waves and shake the ground like a magnitude-7 earthquake.
Even though the asteroid will be inside the orbit of the moon, NASA said that the space rock's gravitational pull shouldn't have any "detectable effect" on Earth's tectonic plates or tides.
Yeomans told HuffPost that the flyby will give astronomers a great view of 2005 YU55 and is an opportunity to do research into the asteroid's composition. He said that it's a C-Type asteroid, which means it contains carbon-based minerals which could potentially be used in future space exploration.
"These objects are important for science ... they're potential resources for raw materials in space that we may wish to take advantage of some day," he said.
The New York Times reported last month on proposed fuel stations in space that one study says could put astronauts on an asteroid by 2024.
This animation depicts the proposed test flight of the Orion spacecraft in 2014. During the test, which is called Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), Orion will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., perform two orbits, reaching an altitude higher than any achieved by a spacecraft intended for human use since 1973, and then will re-enter and land in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the United States.
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