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fealeybob14.
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January 22, 2022 at 8:39 am #13644
really cool John! thanks for sharing.
January 22, 2022 at 2:22 pm #13645Would 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 its surface is illuminated today as it passes through inferior conjunction explaining its vanishing act!
January 23, 2022 at 10:28 pm #13646I’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 surveillance satellites departing from Cape Canaveral. Kathy took the photos. Note: you have to click on each photo to see the rocket detail.
January 25, 2022 at 3:06 pm #13651Very nice John and Kathy. What kind of camera/lens was Kathy using?
January 25, 2022 at 3:33 pm #13652Kathy 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 at a designated viewing location on the cape which is at a distance of only 6.2 miles. That’s as close as civilians can get. More later!
January 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm #13655Thanks John and Kathy for the picture info! Hoping your weather and SpaceX are ‘go’ for today’s launch!
February 1, 2022 at 11:20 am #13656John, 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
February 1, 2022 at 2:07 pm #13657Fifth 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 the scrub was due to 35 mph wind gusts. The following day, the 4th attempt, was aborted 33 seconds before launch because a Royal Caribbean cruise ship “Harmony of the Seas” entered the restricted zone. Finally, yesterday, we got to witness the launch. Very cool to see the first stage booster separate and fly back to Cape Canaveral and land.
Over the five days we tried many locations to view the flight and finally saw it from Kayak Beach near Port Canaveral. There are thousands of people who go to these launches, so it is quite stressful with traffic, parking fees, unfamiliar roads, etc. Should you decide to see a launch ask others for advice – and beware because there are many people who profess to have information but don’t have a clue what they are talking about.
The first two photos are the initial launch. The third is the rocket about 20 seconds in flight. The last photo is the first stage booster landing back on the Cape at a landing pad that is to the right of the launch pad.
February 3, 2022 at 11:25 am #13664So 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
February 3, 2022 at 6:51 pm #13665Yes, 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 current information on flights. Stick with the SpaceX website and not the NASA sites for any info on SpaceX technologies and launches.
February 26, 2022 at 12:28 pm #13668Jupiter, approaching solar conjunction, appears now in SOHO’s C3 camera field of view https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.html.
March 19, 2022 at 11:24 am #13677On 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 and trucked back to a refitting building before it goes back to the launch pad.
On the 13th we went to visit some other friends at Satellite Beach which is close to Port Canaveral. We went for a walk on the beach and saw the first stage from the launch we saw the previous week returning to port. There must have beensome bad weather which delayed its return. In the photograph, the deck of the barge is below the horizon but the two dark “side walls” can be seen on either side of the rocket. You can’t see them but there was also a tug towing the barge and three Coast Guard ships circling to keep other boats away. The objects on the far left are high-rise buildings at Port Canaveral.
March 21, 2022 at 1:46 pm #13678How great to see the Falcon launch and then the first stage returning to Port Canaveral in person, John! I am so envious!
March 29, 2022 at 12:58 pm #13679SOHO C3 showing an earth directed CME and Mercury approaching superior conjunction below.
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May 1, 2022 at 4:52 pm #13694Two possible coronal mass ejections (CME’s) from today (5-1-22)
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