[Launch Alert] Monday Launch Observed
Brian Webb
[email protected]
Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:06:48 -0500
ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Brian Webb, KD6NRP
Ventura County, California
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp
2002 February 14 (Thursday) 20:35 PST
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Delta II/Iridium Launch Observed
A Delta II missile launched from Vandenberg AFB on Monday successfully
placed five Iridium communications satellites in orbit. I drove to
Santa Ynez Peak for the launch and was treated to a fine view of the
event. Santa Ynez Peak is a 4,290 foot high mountain located 40 miles
east-southeast of the pad.
The sky had a very thin layer of clouds at about 25,000 feet with some
haze near the horizon. It was also suprisingly warm (about 72 degrees
F) with no wind. It was clear enough for me to see the coast and I
could see the Delta II pad or a nearby structure on the base. The top
of the mountain was very quiet and still. I was a little suprised that
nobody else drove up for the launch.
A very busy air traffic corridor parallels the coast and lies west of
my viewing site. That morning there were several jets and contrails
visible. At T-45 minutes I noticed that there were no planes or vapor
trails visible in the west. This was obviously due to the airspace
west of Vandenberg having been closed.
Through my 135mm (2.6X) telephoto lens I could easily see ignition of
the solid rocket motors while the Delta was on the pad. The solids
produced a very bright orange flame and a thick, white smoke trail.
After lift-off, the vehicle climbed and the flame from the solids grew
longer. After the last solid motors were jettisoned, the Delta II
first stage created a hazy, mostly transparent contrail that was hard
to see.
I lost sight of the vehicle at about T+ 2 min. 20 sec. Shortly
afterward I heard a distant rumble from the launch. A few minutes
after that, I heard a faint popping noise from up in sky towards the
west-southwest*. This may have been from the solid rocket motors.
On my drive down the mountain, I saw three short, tadpole-shaped
contrails in the sky towards the west-southwest. The thick end of the
trails pointed downrange and were clear in the center (they looked
like the eye of a needle). These were probably caused by the jettison
of the solid rocket motors.
I had a view of the launch from ignition all the way through jettison
of the last solid rocket motors. It was a nice show.
*I heard a similar popping noise from Santa Ynez Peak following last
October's Titan IV launch.
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Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
As of 2002 February 14
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Comments
APR 00:01-06:01 Minuteman III ICBM test launch (non-orbital).
Payload is unarmed warhead(s).
Impact area is near Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. GT-178-GM
APR 18 02:54-03:05 Delta II Payload is NASA's AQUA
environmental satellite
Late APR 09:17-09:27 Titan II Payload is DMSP F-16 military
weather satellite
MAY 01:01-07:01 Peacekeeper ICBM test launch (non-orbital).
Payload is unarmed warhead(s).
Impact area is near Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. GT-31-PA
JUN 01:01-07:01 Minuteman III ICBM test launch (non-orbital).
Payload is unarmed warhead(s).
Impact area is near Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. GT-179-GM
JUN 25 11:22-11:32 Titan II Payload is NOAA M weather satel-
lite.
JUL 01:01-07:01 Minuteman III ICBM test launch (non-orbital).
Payload is unarmed warhead(s).
Impact area is near Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. GT-177-GM
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Colliding Storms on Jupiter
by SpaceWeather.com
Something extraordinary is happening on the planet Jupiter in full
view of amateur astronomers: Two gigantic storms are interacting. One
is a "white oval" -- a 70-year old hurricane nearly the size of Earth.
The other is the famous Great Red Spot -- a centuries-old tempest
twice as wide as our planet. Sky watchers with 6" to 10" telescopes
can view the action on clear nights with good atmospheric seeing.
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Ventura County Astronomical Society Meeting
The Ventura County Astronomical Society (VCAS) will hold its monthly
meeting tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the Moorpaark College Forum
(auditorium). VCAS member Dave Holland will be conducting a new
telescope user's clinic. If you recently received a telescope, but
don't know how to set it up or use it, this meeting is for you.
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Andromeda Society Events
The Andromeda Society (Yucca Valley) will hold its monthly meeting
tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the Yucca Valley Community Center.
The Andromeda Society invites the public to join a star party starting
at 5:50 p.m. Saturday at the Hidden Valley Nature Trail in the Joshua
Tree National Park. Among the sights will be the moons of Jupiter and
the rings of Saturn. Besides telescope viewing an introduction to
astronomy and a tour of the sky will be given by club members. The
International Space Station will be seen in the northwest about 7:13
p.m.
The party is co-hosted by the club and the park rangers. There is no
additional charge other than park entrance fees.
For more information, go to www.yuccavalley.com/organization/andromeda
or contact Sam at [email protected].
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Position Wanted
Dennis Neilsen, a subscriber to this newsletter, is looking for a job
as a software developer in the Los Angeles area. His background is as
follows:
BS, Computer Science
6.5 years of experience with Visual Basic and VBA
1 year SQL Server and T-SQL
2.5 years of Oracle/SQL
3 years of Access/SQL as well as SQL/400, COM/ActiveX, VB.Net, VSS,
ADO, DTS
Several years of software development experience.
If you know of an opening, contact Dennis at [email protected].