Dirty Skies

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!