| Observing Location | Chief Dennis L. Devlin Park |
|---|
| Observational Period | 1200-1215 EDT |
|---|
| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Clear |
|---|
| Temperature | 34°F |
|---|
| Wind | Light Breeze |
|---|
| Humidity | Moderate |
|---|
| Barometric Pressure | 30.38" Hg
Falling |
|---|
| Feels Like | Cool |
|---|
|
|---|
| Instruments | Naked-eye - Charlie |
|---|
| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
|
|---|
| Target | Sunspots |
|---|
| Constellation | Aqr |
|---|
| Category | Solar |
|---|
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080309.1200 EDT |
|---|
| Comments |
Distance
Light Time | 0.993 AU
8m 16s |
|---|
| Angular Size | 32' 15.6" |
|---|
| Altitude | 43.1° |
|---|
Heliographic Latitude
(B0) | -7.23° |
|---|
Heliographic Longitude
(L0) | 135.65° |
|---|
Parallactic Angle
(P) | -23.55° |
|---|
Carrington rotation number
(CR) | 2067 |
|---|
Nothing Seen
| | Groups | Spots | R |
|---|
| North | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| South | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) |
|
|---|
|
The ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle safely lunched from the Pacific yesterday and is scheduled to dock to ISS on 3Apr08. There are some problems that have shut down some of the attitude control rockets and main engines but this is not supposed to impact the craft’s ability to reach and safely dock with the ISS. The vehicle will remain at the ISS for six month then will return to earth with waste material and burn up over the Pacific. From the looks of the images in the video at the bottom of the BBC article this is a huge satellite.
BBC
I found that CelestTrack has a
simulation of tomorrow’s launch that allows you to move around the launch pad to get different views. They also have simulations for various cities so I will be able to see what I probably won’t be able to see tonight since it is supposed to be mostly cloudy. A helper program (free) is required to make the simulation work. Both the simulation and the helper files are huge.
I have been looking a bit in my copies of the NASA Apollo 11 Mission Reports.
and particularly looking at the files on the included CDs. The Volume 1 CD has nearly 1500 images and Volume 2 has the video of the first moonwalk. The thing that strikes me about it is the difference between what went on then and what goes on at ISS. Almost all of the communications back in '69 were "Houston we are ..." where now it is "Endeavour you will ..." or "Houston, may we..."
