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DOUBLE FLYBY: The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to undock from the ISS tonight at 5:09 pm EST. The two spacecraft will then fly side-by-side over the United States where many people can see the pair in the evening sky. Check Heavens Above for flyby times or sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE to receive personalized flyby phone calls.
AURORAS FROM SPACE: How bright were the auroras of Dec. 14th? As bright as city lights and easily seen from space. A US Air Force DMSP satellite took this picture from orbit 830 km above the United States:
The bright arc stretching from Montana to Maine is the aurora borealis. In many places it completely overwhelms the city lights below.
"The DMSP satellite has the ability to detect auroral light at night," says Paul McCrone of the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. "These images are mosaics of various DMSP overflights on Dec. 12-13, Dec. 13-14, and Dec 14-15. The Dec. 14th image is quite striking."
December 2006 Aurora Gallery
Updated: December 18th
WHEN THE ISS MEETS SATURN: On Dec. 7th, the International Space Station (ISS) flew over Beijing, China--and right by the planet Saturn. Three astronomers, Xiang Zhan, Xin Li and Jin Zhu of the Beijing Planetarium, photographed the encounter through a 4-inch telescope:
Click to view a 9-frame movie
"Although the two objects looked so close," says Zhan, "the ISS was about 400 kilometers above us while Saturn was over 1.3 billion kilometers from Earth."
Their video illustrates something not widely known: The ISS looks wonderful through a backyard telescope. Solar wings and living quarters are clear and distinct. Seen from Earth, the station is wider than the rings of Saturn!