Activity

ESO launches visitor programme for scientists working in Ukraine. More at https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann22005/

There was an open letter of the Russian scientists, I saw it on March 3, now it’s gone, see https://trv-science.ru/en/2022/02/we-are-against-war/ But, hey, it’s archived at Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20220309075848/https://trv-science.ru/en/2022/02/we-are-against-war-en/

Does anyone have a binoviewer like this?

https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Orion-Binocular-Viewer-for-Telescopes/rc/2160/p/52071.uts?keyword=Binoviewer

I would love to have a chance to take a look through one…

It is disturbing to think Dr. Dudnik and other Ukrainian scientists may have to suspend their work because of the Russian invasion.  Even Russian scientists are against this war…[Read more]

Jupiter, approaching solar conjunction, appears now in SOHO’s C3 camera field of view https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.html.

Yes, the SpaceX website that Bob references is fantastic.  It has real time coverage and really interesting commentary on the history, engineering, and current launch details – before, during, and after the launch.  Despite the plethora of information and nice photos, the NASA websites are not very well curated and are very tardy in posting c…[Read more]

So glad you guys got to see this launch!  Seems to be a great observation site (Kayak Beach), however difficult to get to.  Followed it on the Space X website and as usual the live coverage was awesome https://www.spacex.com/launches/cosmo-skymed/

Bob

Fifth time is a charm. Kathy, my friend Mike, and I have been driving 3 hours back and forth from Cape Kennedy to see a Space X Falcon 9 rocket launch, but the flight encountered a host of problems. The first day the launch was scrubbed because of torrential rain. The next day the launch was scrubbed due to upper atmosphere turbulence. The 3rd day…[Read more]

John, did you get to see the Space X launch of the Italian satellite on the 31st ?  I know it was scrubbed 4 days in a row.  Sad if you missed it.

Bob

Thanks John and Kathy for the picture info!  Hoping your weather and SpaceX are ‘go’ for today’s launch!

Kathy used a Sony a-350 DSLR 70-300 zoom telephoto.  I estimate the distance from our location to the launch pad was about 13 miles.  Get this, she shot those photos with no tripod; just hand-held.

Stay tuned because we are going to Cape Kennedy this Thursday to watch another Space-X launch carrying an Italian satellite.  This time we hope to be…[Read more]

Very nice John and Kathy.  What kind of camera/lens was Kathy using?

I’m officially a rocket nerd.  On Tuesday evening, from the tennis court outside our condo in Kissimmee, my wife, Kathy, and I watched a Space-X depart from Cape Kennedy carrying dozens of StarLink satellites.  On Friday, we drove 60 miles to a Walmart parking lot in Titusville to watch the launch of a Space Force Atlas V carrying two sur…[Read more]

Would love to see a launch also John.  Very nice observation!

Another interesting observation appears in the SOHO C3 camera video (2 posts back) covering the last 3 days. On the 20th Mercury appears at the 10 o’clock position and moves to the right against the background stars of Capricorn.  As it does it appears to disappear!  So little of it…[Read more]

really cool John! thanks for sharing.

Drove to Kissimmee Florida. Our condo is 73 miles from Cape Kennedy, but I was still able to capture this image with my cell phone camera of the night launch of SpaceX carrying the StarLink G4-6 satellite group from our tennis court! The moon is the white object at the top center. The SpaceX rocket is the orange flash on the left just above the…[Read more]

Brilliant Venus, approaching inferior conjunction, is now visible in C3 SOHO fov.  See above for a video (over the next 10 days) of the planets conjunction with the sun.  See also https://spaceweather.com/ for photos and details of the conjunction.