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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Sodankyla, Finland,
Kiruna, Sweden,
Yellowknife, Canada (click on CONNECT AURORAMAX LIVE)
& Poker Flat, Alaska
Aurora activity is currently faint on the
Sodankyla, Finland cam and vigorous on the Kiruna, Sweden cam. The Yellowknife, Canada cam won't be activated until it gets dark there. The Poker Flat, Alaska cam may be inactive for a longer term.
Cool!
Thanks for the links!
The Yellowknife, Canada cam has been activated and bright green marbling is showing in the sky.
http://www.earthcam.com/cams/iceland/reykjavik/
next is a cam aimed at a volcano but when weather clears, will catch the night sky
http://www.ruv.is/katla
Ally You're welcome. I think you and I and a lot of other people have that item in common.
goofyrider Thank you so much for those additional cams. I'm going to update the live aurora cam list.
Sodankyla, Finland,
Kiruna, Sweden,
Reykiavik, Iceland,
Yellowknife, Canada (click on CONNECT AURORAMAX LIVE)
& Poker Flat, Alaska
The entire sky is currently green on the
Sodankyla, Finland cam. It appears the aurora is illuminating a thin overcast or fog.
The Kiruna, Sweden cam is currently not loading. Please close that window if you have it open.
It's currently raining at Reykiavik, Iceland.
The Yellowknife, Canada cam won't be activated until it gets dark there.
The Poker Flat, Alaska cam may be down until the next NICT activity there.
Guess I'll be able to take my tinfoil hat off for a few hours soon.
;^)
Live Aurora Cams:
Sodankyla, Finland
Kiruna, Sweden
Jokkmokk, Sweden (cam 4)
Jokkmokk, Sweden (cam 5)
Abisko, Sweden,
Reykiavik, Iceland
Yellowknife, Canada (click on CONNECT AURORAMAX LIVE)
Poker Flat, Alaska
This morning I was joking about it with Angie on the phone. This evening, before she came home I took one of my old straw Panama hats and covered it with foil and was sitting out here on the deck wearing it when she got home. Gave her a much needed laugh after a long day at work.
Guess I'll just have to be content to live vicariously through the cams. There is a reason why my Viking ancestors left the northlands and moved to Florida!
(translation: Rob don't do cold well)
Delta V around sunset is exciting. Maybe noctilucent cloud event..
Do miss living up north during the solar flares. Okay we didn't know that was what was making the northern lights pulse over the Minneapolis skyline. I learn so much on WU.
Like the links!
Rob I can relate. My last name has taken a long journey from Norway via England but I don't do cold either. The January I was at the Snowbowl Ski Resort in Flagstaff, AZ I spent the entire time in the lodge sipping hot chocolate watching the Miami Dolphins defeat the Minnesota Vikings. The gods have given us a sign.
Skye Glad you found one working.
Karen Aurora tours are a big industry in Alaska. There are nice accommodations and other interesting things to see and do when you aren't looking at the lights. Check them out.
GG It's easier up north for sure but if you're really tuned in it's possible to see something in Texas or California. There was one day in the last solar cycle where there were even reds with the greens right here in Southern California.
Remembering Apollo 1
On January 27, 1967, Apollo 1's crew--Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee--was killed when a fire erupted in their capsule during testing. Apollo 1 was originally designated AS-204 but following the fire, the astronauts' widows requested that the mission be remembered as Apollo 1 and following missions would be numbered subsequent to the flight that never made it into space.
Image credit: NASA
Just weeks before, Gus Grissom had said in an interview:
"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business ... The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."
For NASA, a day to honor fallen astronauts - Technology & science - Space - Space.com - msnbc.com
The Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center
Photo credit: NASA
.... honors the 24 U.S. astronauts who gave their lives for space exploration. ....
Back on October 28th, a bunch of satellites were launched from VAFB on a Delta II, I think. Here on your blog, LC, the focus was on Aubie, naturally :) There was also a weather sat called Suomi NPP on that boat. Now there are pictures! Here's an amazingly detailed shot of most of North America (very large file) - I can see Anacapa Island - and here is the Flickr gallery.
[Seen at and swiped from WEIT]
pat, thanks for the reminder.
Thankfully, no one was injured
Eggner Ferry Bridge Hit By Delta Mariner Ship In Kentucky (PHOTOS)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. The voyage of a cargo boat that carries space rocket components to Florida's coast for NASA and the Air Force has stalled in a western Kentucky river after it slammed into an aging traffic bridge.
The bow of the Delta Mariner was covered in twisted steel and chunks of asphalt from the two-lane bridge. The boat hit the bridge Thursday night on the Tennessee River on its way to Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has promised speedy work to begin replacing the structure, formerly known as Eggner's Ferry Bridge. The five-story high Delta Mariner was too tall to pass through the portion of the bridge that it struck, and the resulting collision left a 300-foot wide gap.
"We were very fortunate that no one was on the span at that time," Beshear said Friday.
I don't always post, but I do check in here almost daily.
You are correct, it is worth the risks, and those who make the journey understand it and are willing to risk it for an adventure that most can only dream about. We honor and remember their deeds and their bravery, and will press ever onward, respecting the past but looking to the future.
Time for me to go stretch the kinks out of my back.
Later...
Kinda cool. Hey, maybe our great-great-great...grandfathers could've been neighbors a thousand years ago!
Thanks for the awesome image and slideshow.
Pat My rational mind objects but it gives me an eerie feeling just the same. As you said though, "Thankfully, no one was injured".
Rob All that time and now we're neighbors... thousands of miles apart. :^) Have a good stretch.
"First Communion on the Moon As we remember the first men on the moon, let's not forget the first supper on the moon -- the Lord's Supper, served and received by an elder in the Presbyterian Church, Apollo 11 astronaut Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin.
"This is the (lunar module) pilot," Aldrin said on July 20, 1969. "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way."
Aldrin's way was to serve himself communion, using a kit provided by the pastor of Houston's Webster Presbyterian Church. Aldrin's brief and private Christian service never caused a flap, but it could have. Aldrin has said that he planned to broadcast the service, but NASA at the last minute asked him not to because of concerns about a lawsuit filed (later dismissed) by atheist Madelyn Murray O'Hare after Apollo 8 astronauts read from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. Did NASA do the right thing by making Aldrin keep his religious beliefs to himself? As an elder in the Presbyterian church, Aldrin had the authority to conduct what is called an "extended serving" of the Lord's Supper.
But Aldrin was representing the United States of America that day, and in many ways, all of his fellow earthlings. Should he have even conducted a private religious service?
"In the radio blackout," Aldrin wrote in Guideposts magazine in 1970, "I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup.
Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.' "I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility.
It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.""
I very much respect Aldrin's decision to give thanks in his own way while not forcing it on every person in rapt attention to that culmination of the American space effort.
Here is what a couple of space industry executives have to say:
Excerpt from President Ronald Reagan's speech to the Nation after The Challenger Loss.
We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.
We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.
I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."
There's a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
Thank you.
LowerCal~ Thought you might like this.
I like it a lot!
Good job!
Very nice! I'm featuring that at the end of the blog entry and looking forward to the next in the series.
Rob I totally agree.
The following are just barely possible at the current funding level and only if the funding continues at that level.
President Bush's speech on the Loss of Columbia and her crew.
Their mission was almost complete and we lost them so close to home. The men and women of the Columbia had journeyed more than 6 million miles and were minutes away from arrival and reunion. The loss was sudden and terrible, and for their families the grief is heavy.
Our nation shares in your sorrow and in your pride.
We remember not only one moment of tragedy, but seven lives of great purpose and achievement.
To leave behind Earth and air and gravity is an ancient dream of humanity. For these seven it was a dream fulfilled. Each of these astronauts had the daring and discipline required of their calling.
Each of them knew that great endeavors are inseparable from great risk. And each of them accepted those risks willingly, even joyfully, in the cause of discovery.
Rick Husband was a boy of four when he first thought of being an astronaut. As a man and having become an astronaut, he found it was even more important to love his family and serve his Lord.
One of Rick's favorite hymns was "How Great Thou Art," which offers these words of praise: "I see the stars. I hear the mighty thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed."
David Brown was first drawn to the stars as a little boy with a telescope in his backyard. He admired astronauts, but as he said: "I thought they were movie stars. I thought I was kind of a normal kid."
David grew up to be a physician, an aviator who could land on the deck of a carrier in the middle of the night and a shuttle astronaut. His brother asked him several weeks ago, what would happen if something went wrong on their mission? David replied, "This program will go on."
Michael Anderson always wanted to fly planes and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. Along the way, he became a role model, especially for his two daughters and for the many children he spoke to in schools.
He said to them, "Whatever you want to be in life, you're training for it now."
He also told his minister, "If this thing doesn't come out right, don't worry about me, I'm just going on higher."
Laurel Salton Clark was a physician and a flight surgeon who loved adventure, loved her work, loved her husband and her son. A friend who heard Laurel speaking to mission control said, "There was a smile in her voice."
Laurel conducted some of the experiments as Columbia orbited the Earth and described seeing new life emerge from a tiny cocoon. "Life," she said, "continues in a lot of places, and life is a magical thing."
None of our astronauts traveled a longer path to space than Kalpana Chawla. She left India as a student, but she would see the nation of her birth, all of it, from hundreds of miles above.
When the sad news reached her hometown, an administrator at her high school recalled, "She always said she wanted to reach the stars." She went there and beyond.
Kalpana's native country mourns her today and so does her adopted land.
Ilan Ramon also flew above his home, the land of Israel. He said, "The quiet that envelops space makes the beauty even more powerful, and I only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my country."
Ilan was a patriot, the devoted son of a Holocaust survivor, served his country in two wars.
"Ilan," said his wife Rona, "left us at his peak moment, in his favorite place, with people he loved."
The Columbia's pilot was Commander Willy McCool, whom friends knew as the most steady and dependable of men. In Lubbock today, they're thinking back to the Eagle Scout who became a distinguished naval officer and a fearless test pilot.
One friend remembers Willy this way, "He was blessed, and we were blessed to know him."
Our whole nation was blessed to have such men and women serving in our space program. Their loss is deeply felt, especially in this place where so many of you called them friends, the people in NASA are being tested once again.
In your grief, you are responding as your friends would have wished, with focus, professionalism and unbroken faith in the mission of this agency.
Captain Brown was correct, America's space program will go on. This course of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose. It is a desire written in the human heart where that part of creation seeks to understand all creation.
We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness and pray they will return. They go in peace for all mankind, and all mankind is in their debt.
Yet, some explorers do not return, and the law settles unfairly on a few.
The families here today shared in the courage of those they loved, but now they must face life and grief without them. The sorrow is lonely, but you are not alone.
In time, you will find comfort and the grace to see you through. And in God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come.
And to the children who miss your mom or dad so much today, you need to know, they love you, and that love will always be with you.
They were proud of you, and you can be proud of them for the rest of your life.
The final days of their own lives were spent looking down upon this Earth, and now, on every continent, in every land they can see, the names of these astronauts is known and remembered.
They will always have an honored place in the memory of this country, and today, I offer the respect and gratitude of the people of the United States.
May God bless you all.
May we remember their Courage, their Inspiration, and their Lives well Lived"...
From then until now -
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | From tragedy to the gap: How America got here
I'm just peeking in to see what's up.
I AM really trying to get around to a few more blogs now.
Seems like the days used to be longer. Totally forgot to stop for lunch today until a friend called and reminded me.
Hope all is well. Back soon.
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | SpaceX fires powerful abort thruster for manned Dragon
Uploaded by spacexchannel on Jan 31, 2012
SpaceX successfully test fires SuperDraco, a powerful new engine that will play a critical role in efforts to change the future of human spaceflight. These engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make Dragon the safest spacecraft in history and enable it to land propulsively on Earth or another planet with pinpoint accuracy. In a series of tests conducted at SpaceX's Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, the SuperDraco sustained full duration, full thrust firing as well as a series of deep throttling demonstrations.
Larger Image
Hubble Zooms in on a Magnified Galaxy
Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.
This observation provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of a galaxy vigorously forming stars when the universe was only one-third its present age.
Viewing: 501 - 551
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