I came by these images via a NASA employee who is related to an acquaintance of my wife (got that?). Although I do not have the particulars of how they came to be taken or by whom, I’ve decided to post them because they are just too cool!

The NASA employee indicated that they are likely pubic domain due to the fact that NASA is a government agency. If this is not the case I will gladly remove them if legally notified to do so. I would love to be able to properly credit these images.

This batch is from the final Atlantis mission in May. They were taken from one of the f-15s patrolling the skies over KSC.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Here we go. I found one of these images on Discovery. I assume the same credit applies to all.

Lt. Col. Gabriel Green and Capt. Zachary Bartoe patrol the airspace in an F-15E Strike Eagle as the Space Shuttle Atlantis launches May 14, 2010, at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Colonel Green is the 333rd Fighter Squadron commander and Captain Bartoe is a 333rd FS weapons system officer. Both aircrew members are assigned to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. John Peltier)

click for larger

There is a chance I’ll be getting more so tune in again soon!

NASA has waved off the first landing opportunity of space shuttle Discovery because of weather.

The next landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is at 10:23 a.m. ET

via CNN

UPDATE:

The space shuttle Discovery will not land today. The last landing attempt for Kennedy will take place tomorrow at 7:34 a.m, then it’s on to plan B – Edwards Air Force Base in California.

UPDATE: She’s home!

This is the launch plume from the recent shuttle launch STS-131 Discovery just before sunrise. I of course missed what was a freaking amazing launch from my vantage point in the Tampa Bay area but about 30 minutes after the launch I went outside and saw this. It’s amazing how the upper level winds distort rocket exhaust and how long it lasts on some occasions. It was an amazing sight in the rising sun.

You can click through for the HD version!

I found this video over at NASA this morning. It’s called the 2009 Tour of the Cryosphere. Produced by the Goddard Space Flight Center, it combines the satellite imagery with computer animation to take the viewer on a brief tour of our planet’s frozen regions –- the cryosphere.

“The Tour of the Cryosphere 2009″ combines satellite imagery and state-of-the-art computer animation software to create a fact-filled and visually stunning tour that shows viewers the icy reaches of Antarctica, the glacier-pocked regions along the Andes Mountains, the winter snows of the American West, the drifting expanse of polar sea ice, and the shrinking Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland.

– NASA

The video is in .ASX format which leaves Mac users in the dark so I’ve re-encoded and mirrored it here. It’s a nice piece.

Crepuscular rays occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the sun’s rays. The name crepuscular means “relating to twilight” and these rays are observed at sunrise and sunset. Crepuscular rays appear to diverge outward from the setting sun, and are visible only when the atmosphere contains enough haze or dust particles so that sunlight in unshadowed areas can be scattered toward the observer.

The light rays are actually parallel, but appear to converge to the sun due to “perspective”, the same visual effect that makes parallel railroad tracks appear to converge in the distance. Crepuscular rays are often red or yellow in appearance because blue light from the sun is selectively scattered out of the beam by air molecules.

- University of Illinois

I live about 15 miles WSW of Tampa and crepuscular rays are a common occurrence. I suspect that what is causing them here are the buildings in downtown Tampa to the east in conjunction with the “flatness” of Florida. I’ve been observing them for years about 1/2 hour before sunrise and have never really considered them uncommon phenomena. It will be interesting over the next few days to see if they appear in the same configuration. If so then they are not caused by clouds… and CERTAINLY not by mountains.

This morning’s apparition.

…is another man’s good fortune.

I was fortunate enough to pick up an Orion 10-inch SkyQuest Dob, Orion 9 and 25 mm plössls, a Celestron 3.6mm plössl, and an Orion DeepView 35mm multi-coated lens for a measly $200 at a “we’re getting divorced get this the hell out of our house” sale.

Needs a little cleaning up but it’s all in GREAT shape! Now if I could only get first light for the brand new ETX125 AT I got for $200 two years ago at a clearance sale, I’d be happy!

Over the years of neglect endured by my blog’s software engine (if it ain’t broke right?) somehow my blogroll and all my links stopped appearing on my site. Apparently my software was so out of date that the original db calls we no longer supported!

Anyhoo, I’ve rectified this and verified/updated all my links. I hope nobody thought I had just deleted them from my blogroll… no one even told me.

I grabbed the camcorder last night and went out to watch the launch of NASA’s Kepler Telescope from my front yard located about 150 miles west-southwest of the Cape Canaveral. To my eyes the engine glow was quite red (atmospheric effect?). It was very clear and dark so there is nothing in the way of skyglow to put the image in perspective. I zoomed out and fiddled with the gamma a bit to try and give some.

At any rate, here it is. This was definitely one of those launches that looked ALOT better to the maked eye from my location and didn’t transfer well to video.

NASA’s Kepler Launch (from my front yard) 
(launches on YouTube in a new window)

 If you missed the NASA TV coverage, I’ve mirrored it here.

Once again I was on my way out at the right time and noticed this pairing in the sky. You’d think I’d be more informed right? So I ran back in and grabbed the camera for a few shots.

Mercury and Jupiter at 6:27 PM EST.