Can you drop a probe on a comet? A new iPhone game from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory puts you in control of the Rosetta spacecraft as it prepares to intercept Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Download it now. |
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MIDNIGHT
ROCKET PLUMES: On Tuesday, March
27th, between midnight and 5 am EDT, NASA plans
a rapid-fire launch of five sounding rockets from
the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The rockets
will deliver a chemical tracer to the upper reaches
of Earth's atmosphere, forming milky white plumes
that reveal high-speed winds at the edge of space.
The display should be visible to the naked eye from
coastal areas between South Carolina and New Jersey.
[full
story] [updates]
CELESTIAL
TRIANGLE: They're at it again.
Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon are in conjunction,
forming a bright triangle in the sunset sky. On
Sunday evening, March 25th, Alexandre Croisier photographed
the trio from the Pointe of Dinan in Brittany, France:
"They are easy to see with the
naked eye," says Croisier, "and they look
great through a telescope, too."
The triangle will appear again on
Monday evening, March 26th, although the vertices
will be shifted as the Moon glides from Jupiter
to Venus. Observing tip: Look before the sky fades
completely black. Bright planets are extra-beautiful
when they are framed by twilight blue. Sky
maps: March
25, March
26.
more images: from
Petr Horálek at Lichnice castle, Podhradi, Czech
republic; from
Sylvain Weiller of Saint Rémy lès Chevreuse,
France; from
M. Raşid Tuğral of Eymir Gölü, Ankara, Turkiye;
from
Piotr Potepa of Torun, Poland; from
Martin McKenna of White Park Bay Beach, Antrim
Coast, N. Ireland; from
Stefano De Rosa of Turin (Italy); from
P-M Hedén of Waldemars Cape, Stockholm Sweden;
from
Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Paloznak, Hungary; from
Roger Schneider of Brugg Switzerland; from
Szymon Seweryn of Cracow, Poland; from
Alan C Tough of Elgin, Moray, Scotland; from
Christophe Stolz of Köniz, Switzerland; from
Stephan Brügger of Lübeck, Germany
ROBOT
SPACESHIP CHASES ISS: Europe's
robotic supply ship, the Edoardo
Amaldi (ATV-3),
is chasing the International Space Station (ISS)
around Earth. Marco Langbroek saw it at daybreak
on March 24th flying over the rooftops of his neighborhood
in Leiden, the Netherlands:
"The ATV-3 was very bright and
easily visible to the naked-eye, nothwithstanding
the bright twilight (the sun was less than 7o
below the horizon)," says Langbroek. "It
was about magnitude 0 to -1.5, and somewhat orange
in color. A video of the flyby may be found here."
Launched on March 23rd laden with
almost 7000 lb of supplies, the cargo carrier is
expected to dock with the ISS on March 28th. As
the two spacecraft converge, it might be possible
to see them both in the sky at once. Check SpaceWeather.com's
Simple Satellite Tracker or
your cell phone
to see if you are favored with a double flyby.
February
2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Februaries: 2011,
2010,
2009,
2008,
2007, 2006,
2004, 2003,
2002]
