Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. | | | SPY SATELLITE: Doomed spy satellite USA 193 is still orbiting Earth and making evening flybys of US towns and cities. Last night it passed over El Cajon, California, "fairly bright and right on time," reports Mike O'Leary who snapped this picture. The US Navy plans to hit USA 193 with an Aegis missile after space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth (out of harm's way) on Feb. 20th. Stay tuned for updates. [flyby alerts] [comments] [more images: #1, #2] TWO SPACESHIPS: The streak of light in this photo is about to split in two: "The International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Atlantis flew over Nishapur, Iran, on Feb. 16th," says photographer Saeid Aghaei. "The docked spaceships appeared as a single streak of light through the branches of a Khayyam grape vine." On Monday morning, Feb. 18, at 4:26 am EST, Atlantis will undock from the ISS, causing the streak to split. This is big news for many sky watchers across the United States who will be able to see Atlantis and the ISS on Monday evening as distinct points of light gliding in tandem across the twilight sky--an unforgettable sight. Flyby alerts are available to subscribers of Spaceweather PHONE. more images: from Steve Newcomb of Oakland, MD; from Joseph Westerberg at the Joshua Tree National Park, California; from Kirk Benson of Yorba Linda, California; from Matt Ridley of Gaithersburg, Maryland; from Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands; PARALLAX: Last week, Mila Zinkova photographed the sun through a thick San Francisco fog. Inspecting the photo, "I noticed that the sun's reflection in the pond appears at the tip-top of a street light--but the actual sun in the sky is much higher than the street light." What's going on? Scroll down for the answer. Atmospheric optics expert Andrew Young explains: "The answer is parallax. The reflection in the water shows the view as seen from a 'reflected camera'--that is, a point that is the camera's reflection in the water, as far below the surface as the real camera is above it." From that point of view, the streetlight has moved up to partially cover the sun. "These perspective effects are always present in pictures of reflections in water -- but not often as obvious as in Mila's picture, which is a 'textbook example' of the effect." |