For the other Astronuts out there

Since I've gotten off-track so to speak thought I better put up another sky viewing link. For Aurora watching;
NOAA POES Auroral Activity

 

WHEW !! Missed !












[h=1]Asteroid to pass close to Earth today[/h] An asteroid about the size of a school bus will pass close to Earth today, but it poses no danger to the planet, NASA astronomers say.
The huge rock, called Asteroid 2012 BX34, will close to within about 36,750 miles of Earth, or about .17 times the distance between the Earth and the moon, according to a Twitter post from Asteroid Watch, which is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Near Earth Object Office.

"It wouldn't get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try," an Asteroid Watch tweet says of the 37-foot diameter rock.
The asteroid makes its closest approach about 10:25 a.m. ET, according to NASA.

 

Heads up for Northern Lights tomorrow night.
Solar storms ramp up, take aim at Earth - The Washington Post

Another Aurora viewing site to go along with the one posted in post #21 (which is currently off line)

http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/

 

Well that was a waste of a few hours sleep. Nothing much happened here last night. Just a general glow in the sky and a few wisps. Once or twice they started to shine bright but diminished. According to the site info' the view line was along the 45 degree Lat. so many should have been able to see something if they had clear skies.
Oh well try again tonight.

 

Might be a good night for looking out the windows for our friends in Northern Europe. Solar flares kicking in and exciting the ions again. Raining here and snow melt is making it foggy so once more we'll be missing the show.

 

For rogues along the East coast NASA will launch five rockets in succession tomorrow night if weather conditions are favorable.





WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. (AP/WAVY) - The launch of five NASA rockets has been rescheduled for no earlier than Saturday, March 17.
The suborbital rockets will allow scientists to learn more about the little-understood jet stream current at the edge of space.
The launch, originally set for March 14, was canceled because of an internal radio frequency interference issue with one of the rockets.
The rockets will release a chemical trail to track winds that circle the planet at up to 300 miles per hour in the thermosphere about 65 miles up.
Officials say the long, milky-white clouds should be visible for about 20 minutes from Myrtle Beach, S.C. to southern New Hampshire, and as far west as Morgantown, W.Va.
That covers major cities like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, although it depends on ground lighting, cloud cover and the rockets' trajectory.

 

That's sure to excite a few calls to 9-1-1.

 

Last I heard they will try Sunday night. Between the weather and the "glitches" could be anytime through April?

 

Shuttle Discovery lands for the very last time.

The world's most traveled spaceship took off at daybreak from Cape Canaveral, Fla., bolted to the top of a modified jumbo jet for the trip. Three hours later, the pair took a few spins around Washington at an easy-to-spot 1,500-foot altitude before the retired shuttle was grounded for good.

Discovery salutes nation's capital

 

Just stepped outside and watched "Something" blazing across the night sky. First I thought it must be the ISS but the Station happened to be passing South of Chile at the time (checked the NASA Realtime site). Sooo, found a new website for all things flying overhead. Well almost - All things anyway. Wasn't a Meteorite - lasted too long. After referencing this site Spaceweather.com's Simple Satellite Tracker: International Space Station, spy satellites, Hubble Space Telescope I've come to the conclusion it must have been an unknown Super Secret intelligence gathering 'eye-in-the-sky'. Speed was nearly twice what I've watched the Space Station travel overhead. I'm somewhat confident it was not an Alien spacecraft.
If you click on the site above and put in your "Zip Code' it will list any satellites visible, with time of pass and inclination.