[Launch Alert] Web Site Updated

[Brian Webb]

		ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

				  Brian Webb, KD6NRP
			   Ventura County, California
			  E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net
		 Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp

					    2003 January 1 (Wednesday) 12:15 PST
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				WEB SITE UPDATED

I've just completed several updates to my Rawhide Space Page II web
site. For starters, I replaced the image on the main page with a time
exposure photo of the summer Milky Way. The URL for the main page of
my web site is:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp

This newsletter expresses time using the 24-hour military format. If
you have trouble converting from military time to regular time, you'll
probably like the conversion table located at:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/military.htm

Likewise, I've added a new page that explains UTC (also known as GMT
or Zulu) and contains a table for converting UTC to local time. You
can find it at:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/utc.htm

The Southern California Astronmical Events Calendar has been replaced
with a calendar for 2003. The URL for this page is:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/astrosked.htm

One of the most important things an amateur astronomer needs to know
is when it will be dark. A listing of astronomical twilight begin and
end times for 2003 can be found at:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/twilightdata.htm

The 2003 rise, transit, and set times and other data for several solar
system objects has also been added. Refer to the following pages:

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/sundata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/moondata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/mercurydata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/venusdata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/marsdata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/jupiterdata.htm

	http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/saturndata.htm

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	   The following is a news release from Vandenberg AFB

			TITAN II TO LOFT CORIOLIS MISSION

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.�Team Vandenberg launches a Titan II
booster from Space Launch Complex-4 West here Jan. 5 at 6:18 a.m. PST.
The launch window is open for 15 minutes.

This launch was rescheduled following multiple weather delays earlier
this month.

The joint government and industry project dubbed �Coriolis� will put
the Navy Windsat Radiometer and an Air Force Solar Mass Ejection
Imager in a low Earth, sun synchronous orbit.

The Windsat radiometer will provide meteorological information on wind
speed and direction at or near the surface of the ocean and the Solar
Mass Ejection Imager will provide  early warning of coronal mass
ejections that affect communications and power distribution systems on
earth.

Should the launch not occur Sunday morning, an additional launch
attempt is scheduled 24-hours later. Spacecraft separation is
scheduled to occur almost one hour after liftoff. The initial orbit is
scheduled to be 827 kilometers by 278 kilometers with a 98.7 degree
inclination.