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 SPY-SAT
HIT: Last night, the US Navy successfully
hit spy satellite USA 193 with a missile over the Pacific Ocean:
video.
The strike occured at 10:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 20th. "Due to
the relatively low altitude of the satellite at the time of the
engagement, debris will begin to re-enter Earth's atmosphere immediately,"
says
the US Dept. of Defense. "Nearly all of the debris will burn
up on reentry within 24-48 hours." [comment]
SIGHTING: From the
summit of Maui's Haleakala volcano, not far from the Navy ships
that struck USA 193, Rob Ratkowski may have photographed fragments
of the shattered satellite. Read
his report.
TOTAL
LUNAR ECLIPSE: Last night, the shadow of
Earth fell across the full Moon producing a lovely red lunar
eclipse. Mohammad Taher Pilevar sends this stunning photo comes
from Hamedan, Iran:
Sky watchers from
Persia to Hawaii witnessed the spectacle, which won't repeat
itself for nearly three years. The next total eclipse of the Moon
comes in Dec. 2010. Clouded out? Browse the gallery to see what
you missed:
Lunar
Eclipse Photo Gallery
[Interactive
World Map of Eclipse Photos]
ACID
IN THE SKIES: The UK, Netherlands, Germany
and Scandinavia are experiencing a series of unusually bright and
colorful sunsets. "It looks very mysterous," reports Michiel
de Boer of the Netherlands. "The sky does not turn the usual
twilight-blue. Instead, it remains yellow even after sunset and
only slowly fades." He offers this snapshot taken Feb. 18th:
"I took the picture using my Canon
350D," he says. "Here's
another showing the sky 50 minutes after sunset."
What is going on? Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains:
"Volcanic ash high in the stratosphere
can give us similar twilights but is not the cause this time. A
more likely explanation is Type1 polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
These clouds are located 15-25km (9-16 miles) above the earth and
they can be illuminated by the sun even after 'sunset.' The exceptionally
low temperatures needed to form Type 1 PSCs have existed over Europe
for the last day or so."
"Type1 PSCs are composed of nitric acid compounds and are
less colourful and bright than the better known Type2 or nacreous
clouds made of ice crystals. Sometimes we see nacreous clouds
embedded
in their less colourful acidic neighbors."
More images: from
Rob Stewart at Mull loch na keal, Western Scotland; from
Jacob Kuiper of De Bilt, The Netherlands; from
Martin Mc kenna of Maghera, Co. Derry, N. Ireland; from
Eva Seidenfaden of Trier, Germany; from
Graeme Whipps of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK; from
Jeremy Housman of Ramsgate, Kent, United Kingdom; from
Vincent Phillips of Hale Village (Near Liverpool) England; from
Reinhard Nitze of Barsinghausen, North Germany;
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