Activity

Weather tonight does look much better. However I may not be able to attend. Not sure yet.

Weather tonight 4/1 will not cooperate, but tomorrow Saturday 4/2 there is at least hope. Cloud cover should be under 20%, see https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/mn/lanesboro

There was talk about observing at Eagle Bluff this weekend, but alas, looks like we’ll be thwarted by the weather once more.  Someday…

SOHO C3 showing an earth directed CME and Mercury approaching superior conjunction below.

How great to see the Falcon launch and then the first stage returning to Port Canaveral in person, John!  I am so envious!

On March 8th Kathy and I and some friends were very close to a Falcon 9 rocket launch that carried a group 4-10 Starlink satellites into orbit. We were so close in fact, that the deafening rumble set off car alarms around us. The first stage is then reused. Sometimes it lands on a barge way out in the ocean. Then it is towed back to Port Canaveral…[Read more]

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]