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SHUTTLE LAUNCH:
Carrying a crew of six astronauts and tons of supplies, space
shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center
today at 2:28 pm EST. The picture-perfect
launch kicks off an 11-day mission to the International Space
Station. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker
for viewing opportunities.
LEONID METEOR SHOWER:
The Leonid meteor shower peaks this year
on Nov. 17th. The shower begins on Tuesday morning around
0900 UT (4 a.m. EST; 1 a.m. PST) with a sprinkling of 20 to
30 meteors per hour over North America. The new Moon provides
ideally dark conditions for viewing this initial flurry. The
best place to be, however, is Asia, where forecasters expect
as many as 300 Leonids per hour. The predicted outburst occurs
between 2100 - 2200 UT, just before local dawn in that part
of the world:
Got clouds? If you can't see the show, you can try listening
to it instead. The Air Force Space Surveillance Radar is scanning
the skies above Texas. When a Leonid passes over the facility--ping!--there
is an echo. Tune into Spaceweather
Radio for a live audio feed.
more Leonid resources:
AURORAS AHOY!
"Who says one can't photograph the aurora from a moving
ship? Digital photography has made things possible of which
film shooters can only dream!" says traveling photographer
Dennis Mammana.
To prove it, he snapped this picture from the deck of the
MS Midnatsol
off the coast of Tromsø, Norway, on Nov. 12th:
When the auroras appeared, "I pulled out a 24mm f/1.4L
lens, opened it up all the way, kicked up the camera's ISO
to 3200 and shot 2 second exposures for the
faintest lights, 1 second exposures for the
brightest," Mammana explains. "I also made a
panorama of four 1 second exposures at ISO 1600."
"Digital noise is, of course, present in all images
at such high ISO settings, but thermal noise was minimized
by the cold ambient temperatures and could be reduced easily
by software."
So, readers, if you find yourself on a ship after dark off
the coast of Norway, now you know what to do.
November
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Novembers: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2004, 2003,
2002, 2001]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle |
