As I mentioned in my blog post last night we were going to try to get some shots of the Milky Way Galaxy, and these above are what I ended up with last night. There are so many different aspects of creation but this one always blows my mind. I love how Paul puts it in Romans 8:20-25
…ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
The lights at night out where we live are always interesting. Some nights it’s so dark you really can’t see your hand in front of your face, but most of the time we have a good bit of “glow” from Auburn-Opelika on one side and several other cities on the other side, but they are farther away. The shots of the Milky Way above (the first three) were taken when it was very low in the night sky facing south east. Turn around and you see the difference between the glow facing south and the glow facing Auburn. That last image still shows a good bit of stars, but nothing like the shots from the other side of the sky, and that shot was an entire f-stop longer (in other words the shot in the direction of Auburn let in twice as much light as the shots facing the Milky Way and showed less stars). Still, either way, the number of stars visible is always just amazing to me. Thanks goes to my nephew Jake who stood in and modeled for the first shot and explained to me what I was looking at in the night sky.
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No, I did not actually take these images this time, but I found them to be so spectacular that I had to go ahead and post them as the image of the day. I was forwarded the information on these photos taken by those on the ISS and the Space Shuttle on their last mission.
The detail on the full size images (see link below) is just incredible, so if you would like to see them in their full version just click on the link below (please be aware they are very large and will take some time to load). [Full Size Images]
Credits for the information go to: Texas Jim – photos found here and from Karen [KI4NGX]. Thanks for sharing these with everyone.
If I can find any more data about when the images were taken and with what equipment I will post it here. I know that NASA uses a wide variety of Nikon and Canon digital SLR equipment and lenses from the images they take when they first arrive in orbit, but I don’t know body type, lens focal length etc. on these. 73, KI4WLR
These are just a sample of the images shown that were sent over to me, enjoy. [Full Size Images]
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There is so much to look at that effects the radio propagation and certainly a lot to learn if you are new at this, but I found this information interesting and wanted to post it. Thanks to Karen [KI4NGX] for the info. She always sends out a ton of really great stuff on space weather and ham radio. 73, KI4WLR
AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream is due to hit Earth tonight, possibly triggering a mild geomagnetic storm. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
NEW MEXICO FIREBALL: On Sept 13th at approximately 3 o’clock in the morning MDT, an extremely bright fireball streaked over New Mexico, “It was terrifying,” says eyewitness Susan K. Burgess. “I was stargazing outside my house near Santa Fe when the landscape started becoming very bright, as if a brilliant full moon was quickly rising from the southwest. The fireball itself [slowly moved] over the house and disintegrated with a great deal of scatter in the northwest sky.”
At the Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, a Sentinel all-sky video camera captured the fireball in flight:
Click to view the complete movie.
Based on data from the video, the visual magnitude of the fireball was -14.6, about four times brighter than a full Moon!
“The fireball was a pure emerald green, uncomfortably bright to look at,” adds Harald Edens located in the Magdalena Mountains west of Socorro, NM. “The object was disintegrating when I saw it, with pieces parallel-tracking and trailing the fireball. Those smaller pieces had all different colors–most notably red. I think it has been a piece of space junk.”
Amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft not only photographed the fireball, but also recorded echos of a distant radio station bouncing off the meteor’s ionized trail: movie. “This fireball turned night into day!” he says.
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I just read the ARRL news this morning and this looks great for this coming weekend. Coming this Saturday there is going to be a great propagation event for those of us on 2 meters who haven’t upgraded to our General yet, or just for those who are interested in making some new contacts.
The information about the shower can be found in several places but the need to know information is below. For a more detailed study of the meteor shower please see the links at the bottom of this post.
The information is posted here in reference to the 2 meter band, but it should provide some good propagation for some of the HF bands as well, I am just not as familar with the HF bands yet.
- Date – Saturday, September 1st, 2007
- Time – Peak 1137 UTC (+/- 20 minutes), which is 06:37 CT in the U.S.
- Frequency – 144.200 mhz for those using 2 meters (can spread out from there depending on results)
- Meteor Scatter – from Comet C/1911 N1 (Kiess)
This will be the first time I will try to make some contacts via a meteor scatter, so I hope to make some great “2 meter” dx contacts, if there is such a thing. Although it will not be visible from the east coast, we still should be able to take advantage of the propagation at the time (if it materializes).
This very rare shower will occur again on 1 September 2007. A brief shower of tens of meteors will radiate from the constellation of Auriga, many as bright as the brighter stars in the sky. The Earth will be in the thick of it during the one hour centered on 04:33 a.m. PDT. The shower will be visible by the naked eye from locations in the western United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, from Mexico, and from the western provinces of Canada. [Ames Research Center]
I would love to hear from anyone that makes any contacts on Saturday morning, I will be on the air around 1100 UTC (or 06:00 CDT) on 144.200 mhz. Good luck to everyone. 73, KI4WLR
Links of interest for the meteor scatter:
- http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/aurigids.html
- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/08aug_aurigids.htm
- http://aurigids.seti.org/
- http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7688 (ARRL article on comet)
- http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070817_ns_aurigid_meteors.html
- http://www.qsl.net/ve6bpr/page5.htm (meteor scatter contact info)
- http://spaceweather.com/ (always good info all around)
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Tonight the International Space Station (ISS) will be visible with the naked eye, and due to its brightness, should be easier to spot and show more detail than it often does. The Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-118, un-docked from the ISS for an early arrival due to hurricane Dean, so the observation will be only the ISS, not the scheduled ISS and Space Shuttle together. When viewed with a good pair of field binoculars you should be able to see some detail or shape of the ISS with its solar panels extended out.
The data listed below is only good when viewed from our location (Auburn, AL) or within a few hundred miles of our location, but there are many programs and look-ups to find your local time data (see below).
The graphical 3-d image of the horizon to the right (click image for larger view) shows how to locate the ISS in your part of the sky (image credit: (RSIS)/NASA) by degrees in elevation and the approach and departure pattern for the given data for the viewing. Again, the pass details shown below were taken from a calculation for our location (32.6042°N, 85.4583°W) and date from heavens-above.com and the actual viewing data listed below can be seen directly from their site here. The forecast from NOAA for our area (here) for tonight also looks good with clear skies.
The sky chart shown below is like a star chart you use to use as a kid. the chart’s east and west are not backwards, when you hold it up to the sky, over your head, to the north, it aligns up properly for viewing. To print out the chart below just click on the link, then click on it again to bring it to a blank page and then print the chart.
Pass Details
|
Date: |
Tuesday, 21 August, 2007 |
| Satellite: | ISS |
| Observer’s Location: | auburn, al usa (32.6042°N, 85.4583°W) |
| Local Time: | Central Daylight Time (GMT – 5:00) |
| Orbit: | 336 x 347 km, 51.6° (Epoch 20 Aug) |
| Sun alt at time of max pass altitude: |
-19.2° |
Time Data
| Event | Time | Altitude | Azimuth | Distance (km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rises above horizon | 20:49:33 | -0° | 314° (NW ) | 2,141 |
| Reaches 10° altitude | 20:51:34 | 10° | 315° (NW ) | 1,300 |
| Maximum altitude | 20:54:11 | 70° | 325° (NW ) | 368 |
| Enters shadow | 20:54:11 | 70° | 325° (NW ) | 368 |
Amateur radio operators often use a satellite acquisition software to determine when and where a satellite will be to make contact through one of these satellites using amateur radio equipment. One of the popular satellite location sites for ham radio operators is AMSAT, which will also give you tracking data by just entering your latitude and longitude. Other sites for satellite viewing are:
- Heavens Above
- Skywatch from NASA
- NASA Space Shuttle and Satellite Viewing
- NASA Tracking JAVA Realtime
- Logger32 by K4CY – amateur radio logging software
If you have a favorite site for viewing time data please leave a comment below. I am sure there are several more than just the ones listed above, those are just the ones I use. 73, KI4WLR
