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 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised at Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for 2nd liftoff attempt on Tuesday, May 22 at 3:44 a.m. after repairs to first stage engine which caused a launch abort on May 19. Credit: Ken Kremer SpaceX engineers have successfully replaced a faulty valve in a first stage engine that triggered a launch abort on May 19 and that now clears the way for a second launch attempt of the firms Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft in the overnight hours early on Tuesday, May 22. Litfoff of the Falcon 9/Dragon duo on the first private rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) is slated for 3:44 AM on May 22 on the historic test flight mision dubbed COTS 2. "We are ready for blastoff on May 22," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Grantham told Universe Today during an interview at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida earlier today as the Falcon 9 rocket was standing erect at the pad under a brilliant blue sky. (...)
Read the rest of Repaired SpaceX Rocket Set for 2nd Blastoff Try on May 22 (641 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 10 comments |
Post tags: Commercial Space, commercial spaceflight, Dragon, Falcon 9, International Space Station (ISS), ISS, NASA, Space Shuttle, SpaceX, SpaceX Dargon
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We’ve added loads of images and videos to our eclipse gallery from last night annular solar eclipse, but this one stands on its own. An amazing timelapse video by Cory Poole was made from 700 photographs taken with a Coronado Solar Max 60 Double Stack telescope. Usually, the chromosphere can’t usually be seen due to the overwhelming brightness of the photosphere, and to see it requires special equipment. Thankfully, Poole has it: “The Telescope has a very narrow bandpass allowing you to see the chromosphere and not the much brighter photosphere below it,” Poole wrote on YouTube. Additionally, the special hydrogen alpha filter Poole used “only allows light that is created when hydrogen atoms go from the 2nd excited state to the 1st excited state.” The chromosphere is the red circle around the outside of the Sun; its red coloring is caused by the abundance of hydrogen. Watch how the chromosphere appears along the outline of the Moon, too!
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: eclipses, sun, Timelapse
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Most of our regular readers understand why astronauts and objects appear to float around on the International Space Station, but there are some misconceptions and preconceived notions out there on this topic that aren’t true and don’t represent a very good understanding of physics! This video provides an entertaining look at some of the ideas people have about the zero-gravity environment on board an orbiting spacecraft, and shows why the astronauts actually appear weightless. But let’s discuss it, too:
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Read the rest of Why Are Astronauts Weightless in Space? (721 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: ISS, vomit comet, weightlessness
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 A shadow over Earth near the maximum during the Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20-21, 2012. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory at UPR Arecibo, NASA, EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, University of Dundee. Here’s a few unique vantage points of seeing the annular solar eclipse on May 20/21 2012. Above, one of the geostationary satellites called MTSAT (Multi-Functional Transport Satellite) built by Japan was able to capture the shadow over Earth near the maximum of the eclipse of May 20-21, 2012. It’s rather amazing how small the shadow is! “This image was generated during a color test of our Visible Daily-Earth project,” wrote Abel Mendez Torres on the PHL@UPR Arecibo website “and was taken by the MTSAT on May 21, 2012 @ 000 UTC (May 20, 2012 @ 8:00 PM EDT). Color correction was based on NASA Visible Earth datasets.” The Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) is a research and educational virtual laboratory that studies of the habitability of Earth, the Solar System, and extrasolar planets, and @ProfAbelMendez is a very interesting person to follow on Twitter. Below are a couple of videos: even though you are not supposed to look directly at the Sun during an eclipse, the PROBA-2 satellite did with an awesome result, and astronaut Don Pettit’s exceptional view of the eclipse from the International Space Station, as well as a view from the Hinode and Terra satellites:
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Read the rest of The May 2012 Annular Eclipse as Seen From Space (173 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: eclipses, Proba-2, Satellites, solar eclipses
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 A montage of the May 20, 2012 annular eclipse as seen near Ikebukuro in Tokyo, Japan between 7:08 to 7:38 a.m. local time. Credit: Kim Nilsson What a view! Here are some awesome eclipse images and videos from around the globe as skywatchers in Asia, the northern Pacific region and western North America experienced the annular eclipse on May 20/21, 2012. Above is a stunning combination of shots from various stages of the eclipse in Tokyo, Japan from Kim Nilsson. For many of the images, click on them for the original source or for more info/larger sizes. We’ll be adding more images as they come in. If you want to have us add yours to this gallery, post your image to our Flickr group, or send us your images by email. Thanks also to everyone who joined in on the Virtual Star Party with Phil Plait, Fraser, Jason, Pamela Gay, and Nicole Gugliucci, along with a live telescope feed from Scott Lewis in Los Angeles. If you want to watch a replay, the video is embedded below.
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Read the rest of Eclipse Images from Around the World (506 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments |
Post tags: annular eclipse, Astrophotos, eclipses, solar eclipses
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 The May 20, 2012 "ring of fire" annular eclipse will be viewable from eastern Asia, the Pacific and western North America (Photo: NASA) As the eclipse is happening, we’ll try to dig up every online source we can find. Here’s what we’ve got so far. Can’t see tonight’s annular eclipse from your location? It’s ok, you can watch it here live in a feed provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior! The video (posted after the jump) will be broadcast from Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, NM, beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern / 6:00 p.m. Pacific. (...)
Read the rest of Watch Tonight’s Eclipse LIVE (104 words)
© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments |
Post tags: annular eclipse, live feed, May 20, Park Service, USDOI, video
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 A beautiful crescent Venus on May 14, 2012. Credit: John Chumack. Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus has never looked more gorgeous! Prolific and accomplished astrophotographer John Chumack captured this shot of a crescent Venus on May 14, 2012 as it moves in for a transit of the Sun. Just 14% of Venus’ face was illuminated, 22 Days before the June 5th Transit of Venus across the Sun. John used a DMK 21AF04 fire-wire Camera, 2x Barlow, & 10″ SCT telescope, and used 950 frames stacked to create this image. Thanks to John for sharing his image; see more of his work at his website, Galactic Images. Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Astrophotos, John Chumack, Venus
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 SpaceX engineers at work fixing failed rocket engine valve at Pad 40
A team of SpaceX engineers diligently assess the cause of the May 19 launch abort for the Falcon 9 rocket poised at Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Repairs to a malfunctioning rocket engine are now underway. Credit: Ken Kremer Today's (May 19) historic launch of the first ever privately developed rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was very surprisingly aborted at the last second when an engine glitch forced a dramatic shutdown of the Falcon 9 rockets 1st stage firing already in progress and as the NASA launch commentator was in the middle of announcing liftoff. SpaceX and NASA are now targeting liftoff of the mission dubbed COTS 2, for Tuesday, May 22 at 3:44 AM EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There is another launch opportunity on May 23.(...)
Read the rest of SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch (491 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 22 comments |
Post tags: Commercial Space, Dragon, Dragon capsule, Falcon 9, SpaceX, SpaceX Dragon
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