SHUTTLE LAUNCH--DELAYED AGAIN: For the second day in a row, thunderstorms have delayed launch of space shuttle Endeavour. Check NASA's launch blog for updates. LIGHTNING STRIKE: On Friday night, July 10th, space shuttle Endeavour was poised to blast off for the International Space Station when a thunderstorm rolled in and lightning struck the launch area at least 11 times. Gene Blevins of the LA Daily News photographed one of the most dramatic strikes through a rain-splattered lens: Photo credit and copyright: Gene Blevins, LA Daily News Lightning did not hit the shuttle itself. The powerful bolts were intercepted by the shuttle's lightning protection system. Nevertheless, NASA postponed the launch until Sunday, July 12th at 7:13 p.m. EDT, to give engineers time to assess any possible damage. The weather forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of fair weather. NASA has plenty of experience with lightning. The Kennedy Space Center is located in Florida, lightning capital of the USA. Modern lightning suppression systems have kept the shuttle safe, but back in November 1969, an Apollo mission had a very scary moment. Apollo 12's Saturn V rocket was struck by lightning twice during launch. The spacecraft guidance system lost its attitude reference, dozens of cockpit warning lights were illuminated, and telemetry to Mission Control was garbled. Amazingly, the mighty rocket continued unperturbed; astronauts cooly reset their control systems and the Apollo 12 mission was a success. Who's afraid of a little lightning? CREPUSCULAR RAYS: On Saturday evening, July 11th, Alan Dyer was watching a nice purple volcanic sunset from Gleichen, Alberta, when two giant rays split the sky: "These shadows diverging from the sunset point were likely created by distant storm clouds over the horizon to the west,"days Dyer. "It was one of the best displays of crepuscular rays I've ever seen." "The image is a High Dynamic Range stack consisting of three exposures, each one 1-stop apart, to record both the darker ground (a field of yellow canola) and details in the brighter sky," he notes. "I used a Canon 5D MkII and a 16-35mm lens." 2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery [See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery] 2009 Noctilucent Photo Gallery [previous years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003] Explore the Sunspot Cycle |