Tribute to the annular solar eclipse from northern Arizona!

Astrochemist Markus Hammonds (aka Invader Xan) has made a nice graphic over on Supernova Condensate showing the relative sizes of a bunch of spacecraft. As you can see, the International Space Station is really huge these days. He has also made another graphic that shows them in comparison to the Enterprise.

- taken from Astronomy Blog (www.strudel.org.uk/blog/astro/)

An official statement from SpaceX about the engine situation:

Update on SpaceX COTS 2 Launch

Today’s launch was aborted when the flight computer detected slightly high pressure in the engine 5 combustion chamber. We have discovered root cause and repairs are underway.

During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine. We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve. Those repairs should be complete tonight. We will continue to review data on Sunday. If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:44 AM Eastern.

Update: I see that besides the image and video galleries on the SpaceX website, they also have this site: spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com.

The Photo Gallery includes, for example, some pictures of their Vandenberg construction: Vandenberg Launch & Landing Site.

Copenhagen Suborbitals tomorrow ("Sunday, 7 PM Copenhagen Time") will test their TM65 LOX/Alcohol engine, which has 7 tons of thrust: TM65 Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine Ready - T Minus 21 Hours - Wired Science/Wired.com.

There will be a live webcast of the test.

Find a centerline location of the annular solar eclipse

The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 this morning was aborted at literally the last second — the sensors detected too high a pressure in a combustion chamber in one of the engines. Apparently this didn’t put the rocket in any danger, but it was outside the limits for an allowable launch so the computer shut things down.

[UPDATE: SpaceX is reporting a faulty valve caused the issue, and it's being replaced. They should be ready for the Tuesday launch window.]

Here’s video of the last few seconds of the countdown.

Ouch. My thoughts on this are pretty clear: it’s a bummer, but then again that’s all it is. Not a disaster, not a failure, just a setback. These are complicated, complex machines, and delays are inevitable.

The good news is there’s a backup launch date of Tuesday, May 22, at 07:44 UTC (03:44 Eastern US time), and another the next day, May 23, at 07:22 UTC. Hopefully, this glitch can be fixed and the rocket launched on one of those dates.

Related Posts:

- Space X set to launch on Saturday May 19
- Elon Musk of SpaceX on CBS’s 60 Minutes
- SpaceX ...

UPDATE:  Solved by Rob at 12:44 CDT

Greetings, and happy Saturday.  It’s approaching Summer here in North Central Texas.  The wind is blowing and we’re hitting 90F regularly.  We’ll break 100F next month.

Alright, kittens, Mamma says this is the last chance riddle before a bonus riddle.  Tom and I will run the bonus riddle at noon CDT May 25th.  The people eligible for the riddle so far are:  Ron, Patrick, David, Hugo, Roger, Editus, Jeff, Bruce, and Alex.  I’ll add the name of today’s puzzle winner to the list.  You should know the rules by now for a bonus riddle, but if not you can email me or Tom and we will explain them to you.  We’ll post at the first of the week to let you know what you’ll be winning this time.  It’s really cool.

By the way; if you’ve already solved a riddle this cycle, and your name is on the list, please DON’T solve in the comments.  You can still solve the riddle in my email, but give someone else a chance.

Now, on to the riddle.  I haven’t done this in a while, so you might have forgotten my “riddle style”.  You’ll survive.

Today we’re in the real world.

This is a thing, and an event.

It changed the course of history.

The entire world watched.

The remains of this thing can be found in the Smithsonian.

This was the beginning.

I think that’s sufficient.  You can answer with the thing or the event; I’ll name either correct.  You know where to find me.

Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) May 19, 2012
The 100th and 101st Lockheed Martin commercial geostationary communication satellites have been successfully placed in orbit after a dual launch aboard an Ariane 5-ECA launch vehicle. Both satellites are based on Lockheed Martin's A2100 geosynchronous satellite series. JCSAT-13, manufactured for SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation of Japan and VINASAT-2, manufactured for Vietnam Posts and Telecom

Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) May 19, 2012
Baby galaxies from the young Universe more than 12 billion years ago evolved faster than previously thought, shows new research from the Niels Bohr Institute. This means that already in the early history of the Universe, there was potential for planet formation and life. The research results have been published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters.

Munich, Germany (SPX) May 19, 2012
Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128, is a peculiar massive elliptical galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its heart. It lies about 12 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur) and has the distinction of being the most prominent radio galaxy in the sky. Astronomers think that the bright nucleus, strong radio emission and jet features of Centaurus

Hilo HI (SPX) May 19, 2012
A new Legacy Image from the Gemini Observatory reveals the remarkable complexity of the planetary nebula Sharpless 2-71 (Sh 2-71). Embroiled in a bit of controversy over its "birth parents" the nebula likely resulted from interactions between a pair of two old and dying stars. Legacy images like this one share the stunning beauty of the universe as revealed by the twin 8-meter Gemini telescopes

Paris (ESA) May 19, 2012
Observing Earth from far above, ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers is acting as a world ambassador for the WWF, which issued its flagship publication the Living Planet Report. The Living Planet Report measures changes in biodiversity by tracking 9000 populations of more than 2600 of the world's species. Andre wrote the foreword to the report and is doing his part to show how fragile our world really is

Santa Barbara CA (SPX) May 19, 2012
By combining the light of three powerful infrared telescopes, an international research team has observed the active accretion phase of a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy tens of millions of light-years away, a method that has yielded an unprecedented amount of data for such observations. The resolution at which they were able to observe this highly luminescent active galactic n

Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) May 19, 2012
Early this morning, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, JCSAT-13 and Vinasat-2, into their planned transfer orbits. Liftoff of flight VA206, the 62nd Ariane 5 mission, came at 22:13 GMT (00:13 CEST; 19:13 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 249.9 km, an apogee al

Kauai, HI (SPX) May 18, 2012
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin team successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target for the first time, using the second generation of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, known as Aegis BMD 4.0.1. This second-generation system, which was certified in March, introduces the Aegis BMD signal processor to improve target identification capabili

Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) May 19, 2012
SpaceX on Saturday scrubbed the highly anticipated launch of its Dragon capsule toward the Space Station due to a rocket engine problem. The last-second abort came when one of the Falcon 9's engines exceeded a technical limit that forced a shutdown of the launch attempt, which may be rescheduled as early as May 22. "Launch aborted: slightly high combustion chamber pressure on engine 5. Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days," SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweated.

Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) May 18, 2012
NASA says it will modify an existing and proven Delta IV rocket second stage to launch an Orion spacecraft on an unmanned test flight in 2017. A manned flight to lunar orbit is planned for four years after that, the agency said. The Boeing upper stage is "the only means available to support the immediate in-space propulsion needs" for the excursions, NASA said in a statement.

Seoul (AFP) May 18, 2012
North Korea on Friday denied it had jammed the GPS systems of hundreds of civilian aircraft and ships in South Korea, accusing the South of using problems with navigation equipment to smear the North. Pyongyang's telecommunications ministry spokesman said the South's allegations that the North jammed GPS signals from April 28 to May 13 were "sheer fabrication" aimed at slandering the communi

Bonn, Germany (SPX) May 19, 2012
An international research team led by Gerd Weigelt from the Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie in Bonn reports on high-resolution studies of an active galactic nucleus in the near-infrared. The observations were carried out with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The use of near-infrared interferometry allowed the team to resolve

Manhattan KS (SPX) May 19, 2012
Kansas State University physicists and an international team of collaborators have made a breakthrough that improves understanding of matter-light interactions. Their research allows double ionization events to be observed at the time scale of attoseconds, which are one-billionth of a billionth of a second. The physicists have also shown that these ionization events occur earlier than thou

Mojave CA (SPX) May 19, 2012
XCOR Aerospace has announced the grand prize winner of a trip aboard the Lynx Mark I suborbital launch vehicle. XCOR Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson made the announcement at the Spacecraft Technology Expo (STE) in Los Angeles, CA. "About two months ago, we were at an event called the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, where together with the Southwest Research Institu

Tucson, AZ (SPX) May 18, 2012
The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon a $313.8 million contract for low-rate initial production of Standard Missile-6 all-up rounds. SM-6 leverages the legacy Standard Missile airframe and propulsion elements, while incorporating the advanced signal processing and guidance control capabilities of Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz.; C

I wrote earlier about the annular eclipse happening this coming Sunday. It’s a solar eclipse, with the Moon blocking the Sun, but because the Moon is at apogee — the point in its orbit farthest from Earth — the Moon appears smaller in the sky, so it doesn’t completely block the Sun. We’re left with a ring of solar surface surrounding the Moon, the so-called Ring of Fire.

I got a couple of people asking me why this eclipse is happening at lunar apogee when we just had a "Supermoon", when the Moon was full at perigee (when it’s closest to Earth in its orbit). This is a good question! It’s not a coincidence. In fact, it must happen this way! Here’s why.

First, here’s a drawing of the Moon’s orbit, courtesy NASA:

The Moon orbits the Earth in an ellipse, so sometimes it’s closer to us, and sometimes farther. The ellipticity is exaggerated in the drawing; it’s actually about a 10% difference in distance between apogee and perigee. The Moon orbits the Earth once every 27.3 days, so ...

Right up to t-minus 0.5 seconds it looked like there was going to be a launch. Unfortunately the Falcon 9 computer shutdown the rocket just as it was set to launch due to a high pressure reading on engine number 5, one of nine engines on the Falcon 9 first stage.

The next launch attempt, assuming everything is ok with the rocket, will be at 07:44:34 GMT (3:44:34 a.m. EDT) Tuesday, May 22nd. If they can launch on the 22nd SpaceX has said they can try approximately every three days though they could also try on the 23rd.

SpaceRef also has a video, although with no launch it is overkill.

Credit: NAST TV via SpaceRef

b

T minus 1 minute and it looks good.

Hearing that familiar voice say “This is Falcon launch control” is a little weird.

Uh Oh, launch abort. There was a cut off by the computers right at firing.

There will be a minimum of a 72-hour turn around so next launch attempt will be no sooner than Tuesday at 3:44 am.  We should learn what happened in a little while.

Here’s the update from SpaceX:

All nine engines did light. and  the cut-off occurred at T minus 0.5 seconds and the problem was with chamber pressure in Engine 5 trending high. A similar situation occurred during the very first launch of the Falcon 9.

So were does that leave things?  It appears they will roll back and change out Engine 5 and the launch time will be as I said earlier on Tuesday at 3:44 am as they have to delay about 20 minutes per day due to the ISS pass timing.

 

Wow! Jupiter and its moons Callisto and Ganymede as seen in the LASCO C2 camera on the ESA/NASA SOHO satellite. Watch the video carefully for the labels to see where the moons are. Also watch for the suicide comet that flashes past. The long "spikes" on Jupiter are imaging artefacts.

Tip of the hat to the Bad Astronomer and Sungrazing Comets on Twitter.

• If you're up (and I won't be), you can watch the Falcon 9 launch on NASA TV.  Countdown coverage starts at 3:30AM EST with the launch currently scheduled for 4:55 AM EST.  Pucker factor is at a 10.
• Falcon 9/Dragon Launch: Yet more articles/commentary, RLV and Space Transport (5/18, Lindsey)
  
• Boeing presents airlaunched, mostly reusable, smallsat launcher concept, RLV and Space Transport (5/18, Lindsey) - 100lb payload, possibly launched from White Knight 2, 3 stage (2 air-breathing, one rocket), 1st stage returns and lands, 2nd is a 'Waverider' style scramjet, 3rd stage may return and land vertically too. (source is AvWeek)
  
• STAR Clipper derivative, Unwanted Blog (5/18/ Lowther) - Diagram of a proposed Space Shuttle concept.
  
• Space art by Don Dixon, High Power Rocketry (5/18) - Links to hundreds of items.
  
• Creating a Maker Culture at NASA, NASA Watch (5/17, Cowling)
  

Well, I decided to finish up the Air Serpent for this weekend's MDRA launch. I did so at the expense of some of the finishing details.  Some of these can be added should she fly and recover.

Photos of Hawk missiles abound on the Internet, but here are three that caught my eye recently. The first, found on the H.A.M.B., reportedly shows a deployment on the Florida coast during the Cuban missile crisis. The car is a 1961 Chevy Impala. After seeing photos of some of these launching, I wouldn't want to be driving by when they were launched!  As much as I like rockets, I also wouldn't want to see them deployed in my recreation area.



And here are a few from my ol' hometown. The fist two are from the Ft. Bliss Air Defense Museum and the last is from the War Eagles Air Museum outside of EP. Click through to see more of Joe Grossinger's excellent work (many are on-topic for the Dungeon). [These are copyrighted by Joe but are embedded via Flickr. Hey Joe, if this is bad, let me know and I'll take them down!]

It won't happen again until December 2117: On June 5th, 2012, Venus will transit the face of the sun. The best places to watch are in the south Pacific, but travel is not required. The event is widely visible around the world, including at sunset from the USA.

This is a composite of a series of images photographed from a mounted camera on the Earth-orbiting International Space Station, from approximately 240 miles above Earth. Space station hardware in the foreground includes the Mini-Research Module (MRM1, center) and a Russian Progress vehicle docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment (right). Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit said of the photographic techniques used to achieve the images: "My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then 'stack' them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure." A total of 47 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera were combined to create this composite. Image Credit: NASA

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd imaged with iTelescope T14 on 15 May, 2012. To the right is the galaxy NGC 2683, near top centre is the faint galaxy IC 2421. Click to embiggen (its big but it's worth it).

Finally got a shot of comet Garradd near the galaxy NGC 2683. I have a bunch of other Garradd shots I have just not had time to process yet, but I thought this one was the priority to get done.

Technically, it is a stack of 4 x 120 second luminance exposures, stretched in FITSliberator and stacked in ImageJ, the stacked SUMMED, then a square root process, followed by despeckling. I thought it came our rather well.

Just passed final launch review with @NASA. All systems go for liftoff on Sat morn. Webcast live at spacex.com.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2012

• Sunday's Solar Eclipse 'Ring of Fire': Where and How to See It, Space.com (5/17, Rao) - Won't be visible here on the right coast.
  
• Modifying Young’s Modulus or Tensile Strength of KNSB to Allow Casebonding, sugarshotsolidworks (5/15, Brockert) - In the shadow of the recent CATO of the SugarShot2Space test motor, this blog is investigating the mechanicl characteristics of sugar propellant. Too technical for me, but the plots are cool.
  
• Last Resort New TV series coming, Rocketaholic (5/16) - Follow the link to find the link. This show has a lot of potential.
  
• Rocket Electronics announces release of ROCKONTROLLER 1, Rocketry Planet (5/16) - Check out the new wireless launch controller from the dude that brought us the RockeTiltometer.
  

Had a chance to pass a HL today, 40%-off coupon in hand.  Wanted E12s...found none.  Back-up plan was E9's...found none.  Drooled over their new Pro-Series MPR kits, especially the 3" Leviathan.  They had one each F50, G40 and G80.  I suddenly realized that the F50-6 is what I'll need for the Air Serpent, so my decision was made. The motors are pretty expensive but get back down to Internet pricing with the coupon.  Actually, a tad better than Hobbylinc.

Now, I need to scramble to get the Serpent flyable for this weekend' MDRA launch.

...two tubes, 24" in diameter and 21' long. Follow the project here.

The Hubble telescope has produced some of the iconic images of space, and you can get lost going through the published images.

Yet there are thousands of images that have never been seen by the public. So Hubble is throwing open its archives to the public to look for interesting images.

Some assembly is required, you will need to do some processing of the image data. There is a series of tutorial to help you though.

There is even a competition with prizes (see here and here), but you have to hurry. The competition closes May 31!

More information from the Hubble site:

• How to find hidden treasures in the archive
• What is image processing?
• Hubble’s Hidden Treasures 2012 Contest
• Hubble's Hidden Treasures 2012 Image Processing Contest
• Who is organising this?

Hat tip to the Bad Astronomer.

What, you are still here? Hie thee to the Hubble site this instant.

NASA has just released a new count of asteroids that come close to the orbit of Earth and could survive entry through our planet's atmosphere. The data, gathered by an infrared space telescope named WISE, reveal important new information about the origin and make-up of these potentially hazardous space rocks.

You can find the large album of photos and videos [here] (along with older events too).

Click-through to see the history behind the photo. Good stuff!

I have a few additional comments on this primer.  Just in case I forget to tell myself not to buy more or if I find it on a really good sale :)

Space.com has an interesting photo essay on the hunt for meteorites generated by the April 22nd daytime fireball that thrilled Western Nevada and California.  What I found most interesting was the research aircraft!

NASA researchers Alan Ehrgott, Mike Koop, and Derek Sears wait to board the zeppelin Eureka for a meteorite hunt on May 3, 2012. (NASA photo)

• NASA Finds A New Way To Use Old Spacecraft, NASA Watch (5/16, Cowling) - NASA is lending their Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) to CalTech, who will operate it using private funding. I, like Keith, think this is pretty cool.
  
• Juggling Robot Takes on Two Balls With One Very Fast Hand, IEEE Spectrum (5/16, Ackerman)
  
• Boulevard Beauty Queens... Muller Bros. Oldsmoblie, Along for the Ride (5/16, Straub) - Presents a LIFE magazine photo document on the 1951 grand opening of a California car complex.  The PR photos feature women in bathing suits who are each dubbed 'Miss xyz'.  I got a good laugh at some of the categories.
  
• US DoD Missile Defense Agency
• US Army Lunar Lander, Unwanted Blog (5/13, Lowther) -  "In the late 1950′s, before NASA was created,..."
  
• USAAF Evaluation of Navy SWOD Mk 9 Bat Glide Bomb (1945), RetroMechanix.com (5/13)
  

This morning, Modern Mechanix features an interesting article by Willy Ley: Missile vs. Missile, A rocket expert looks at our chances of withstanding a missile invasion (09/1947).   This article, written in the shadow of the the V-2 and at near the start of the atomic age, provides an overview of long range ballistic missiles and makes the case for missiles as the only effective countermeasure.

Uncharacteristically, MM also provides a short comment on the current state of missile defense.  I couldn't resist posing this cool video of the free flight hover test of LockMart's Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV-L).

My rig setup was a Lunt LS60T-Ha telescope and the new TIS DMK 51AU02.AS in prime focus. I can capture a full disc with the 500mm Lunt in a single AVI file.

Steffen Benter

Carnival of Space #249 is now up at Riding With Robots. There's Saturn, the Transit of Venus, asteroid mining (of course) alternatives to Dark Matter,  Light Pollution, astronaut actors and much, much more. Ride on over and have a read.

The New Moon is Monday May 21. The transit of Venus is three weeks away. Venus is visible very low in the western evening sky close to the star Elnath. On the 22nd and 23rd the thin crescent Moon is close to Venus. Jupiter is lost in the twilight. Mars is in the eastern evening sky, close to the bright Star Regulus. Saturn is visible  near the star Spica. Mercury is visible in the morning sky. On the 19th Mercury is not far from the cresent Moon.

Evening sky looking North as seen from Adelaide at 8:00 pm local time on Saturday May 19 showing Mars, Regulus, Saturn and Spica and comet Garradd. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. The inset shows the telescopic appearance of Saturn  at this time. Click to embiggen.

The New Moon is Monday May 21.

Mars is in the constellation of Leo. It is the brightest object in the northern sky, and its distinctive red colour makes it easy to spot. Mars is rising before sunset and is at its highest in the northern sky around 7:20 pm local time.

Mars is close to the bright star Regulus in Leo. However, it continues to move away over the week.

Mars was at opposition on March 4, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. Sadly, this is a poor opposition and Mars will be fairly small in modest telescopes.

Saturn is above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. Saturn is high enough in the northern sky for telescopic observation in the late evening, being highest at 10:00 pm local time. local time. Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 16th of April, but now is still a great time for telescopic views of this ringed world.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garrad is visible in the northern sky. At magnitude 9, it isnow observable only in telescopes . It's still relatively low to the horizon and the effects of light pollution means that the best views nder dark sky condition.

Morning sky on Saturday May 19 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:00 am local time in South Australia. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)

Mercury is  visible above the eastern horizon by 6:00 am in the morning.

Mercury is sinking towards the horizon, but is still visible this week if you have a flat, unobstructed horizon (such as the sea).

On Saturday Mercury will be near the thin crescent Moon, low in the twilight.



Evening sky on Wedensday May 23 looking north-west as seen from Adelaide at 6:00 pm local time in South Australia showing Venus near the Star Elnath. The inset shows the appearance of Venus seen telescopically at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)

Bright white Venus is visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for about 3/4 of an hour.

You will need a clear , level horizon to see it at its best.  On the 23rd, Venus is below the thin crescent Moon (on the 22nd the thin crescent Moon is not far from Venus, but this may be a challenge to see).

Venus remains in Taurus this week. It starts the week not far from the star Elnath, and doesn't move very far away.

Venus is slowly sinking towards the horizon, and will become more difficult to see. It is a thin crescent in even small telescopes now. In three weeks tine Venus will cross the disk of the Sun in a rare transit, the last until 2117. More details on viewing the transit will be published later.


Jupiter is lost in the twilight.

With Mars past opposition and Saturn high in the sky, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEDST, Western sky at 10 pm AEDST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

On May 12th, 2012 members of our astronomical association gathered to share their experiences about astrophotography topics. Before others arrived, I managed to capture some images using the observatory's 200/2470 D&G refractor and the excellent DMK 41AU02.AS camera, with a Herschel wedge and Baader Continuum filter. The sky was a bit hazy but the image was very steady, I was suprised to see the small details.

Péter Molnár, Budapest, Hungary from Polaris Observatory

Astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured this image of the Solar Transit of Tiangong-1.  China's Tiangong-1 is around 50 times smaller than the ISS and the solar transit lasted under a second. So, while the resulting photo isn't as clear as one of the ISS, it certainly was no small feat. (via Spacewather)

ParabolicArc passes on a announcement from NASA Langley about the successful flight of the HIFiRE-2 (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program) vehicle, which is a joint effort between NASA, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). Boosed by a three-stage sounding rocket, the HIFiRE experiment features a hypersonic inlet, an hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet combustor and a dual exhaust nozzle. As it accelerated from Mach 6 to Mach 8, the flow through the compressor transitioned to supersonic, providing data that can’t be replicated in wind tunnels.

On May 10th, 2012 students at Hopewell Middle School in a suburb of Atlanta, GA witnessed and imaged the largest sunspot anyone has seen in years in Active Region 11476. We were able to capture this highly detailed image of the Umbra, Penumbra, granulation and surrounding "pores" or newly forming spots as they broiled with magnetic activity. The spot is now aimed squarely at Earth as spaceweather forecasters around the world try to determine what may happen next. We used an Explore Scientific 127mm APO refractor and a Lunt Solar Wedge with a DMK 41AU02.AS camera to image the region.

Stephen W. Ramsden, www.solarastronomy.org