9/20/09

Shuttle Discovery exits California on a jet plane's back 9.20.09

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Today there are major storm systems and heavy clouds bedeviling the state of Georgia, but that's okay because my home state isn't on NASA's Look Up list anyway. I now turn you over to...

Space Weather News for Sept 20, 2009

BE ALERT FOR THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Space shuttle Discovery is flying across the United States today atop a specially modified NASA 747 airliner. The trip is necessary because at the end of its last mission Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and must now be returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Sky watchers along the flight path (particularly in Texas, Louisiana and Florida) should be alert for the extraordinary sight of a spaceship flying through blue sky on top of an airplane.

Check SpaceWeather for details.

FARSIDE SUNSPOT: NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft is tracking an active region over the sun's eastern horizon that could be a large, new-cycle sunspot. We can't yet see it from Earth, but the sun's rotation is turning the region toward us, and it could pop into view as early as Sept 21. Readers with solar telescopes should monitor the sun's eastern limb for developments.

Images and updates may be found at SpaceWeather.com.

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