[Launch Alert] Saturday Minuteman III Launch

Thu Feb 23 23:10:14 EST 2012

                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                  launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
                        www.spacearchive.info

                             2012 February 23 (Thursday) 20:05 PST
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                    SATURDAY MINUTEMAN III LAUNCH
                            by Brian Webb

A Minuteman III ICBM is scheduled for launch from north Vandenberg
AFB on the morning of February 25 between 02:01 and 08:01 PST.

In past Minuteman III launches from Vandenberg, the Air Force has
tried to launch at the instant the launch window opens. However, a
launch can be delayed by problems at Vandenberg or downrange and can
therefore happen at any time during the six-hour window.

If Saturday's launch occurs before dawn, the launch could be visible
to the naked eye as far away as Oregon, most of Nevada, western
Arizona, and northwestern Mexico.

The Moon will be a crescent and below the horizon during the early
morning and therefore will not impact launch visibility.

If liftoff occurs late enough in the window for the vehicle exhaust
plume to be illuminated by the sun, but before sunrise at your
location, you may be treated to an impressive visual display.

For information on Vandenberg launch viewing (including a Minuteman
III visibility plot), go to:

  www.vandenberg.af.mil/questions/topic.asp?id=745

  www.spacearchive.info/vafbview.htm

For information on photographing Vandenberg launches, go to:

  www.spacearchive.info/vafbphoto.htm

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  COLD AND SPELLBINDING: AN ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS IN THE SUNSET SKY
                          by Dr. Tony Phillips

Reprinted from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/
2012/17feb_winterplanets/

Feb. 17, 2012: Note to sky watchers: Put on your winter coats. What
you're about to read might make you feel an uncontrollable urge to
dash outside.

The brightest planets in the solar system are lining up in the evening
sky, and you can see the formation-some of it at least-tonight. 

Go out at sunset and look west. Venus and Jupiter pop out of the
twilight even before the sky fades completely black. The two brilliant
planets surrounded by evening blue is a beautiful sight. 

If you go out at the same time tomorrow, the view improves, because
Venus and Jupiter are converging. In mid-February they are about 20
degrees apart. By the end of the month, the angle narrows to only 10
degrees-so close that you can hide them together behind your
outstretched palm. Their combined beauty grows each night as the
distance between them shrinks.

A special night to look is Saturday, Feb. 25th, when the crescent Moon
moves in to form a slender heavenly triangle with Venus, Jupiter and
the Moon as vertices. One night later, on Sunday, Feb. 26th, it
happens again. This arrangement will be visible all around the world,
from city and countryside alike. The Moon, Venus and Jupiter are the
brightest objects in the night sky; together they can shine through
urban lights, fog, and even some clouds.

After hopping from Venus to Jupiter in late February, the Moon exits
stage left, but the show is far from over.

In March, Venus and Jupiter continue their relentless convergence
until, on March 12th and 13th, the duo lie only three degrees apart-a
spectacular double beacon in the sunset sky. Now you'll be able to
hide them together behind a pair of outstretched fingertips. 

There's something mesmerizing about stars and planets bunched together
in this way-and, no, you're not imagining things when it happens to
you. The phenomenon is based on the anatomy of the human eye.

"Your eye is a bit like a digital camera," explains optometrist Dr.
Stuart Hiroyasu of Bishop, California. "There's a lens in front to
focus the light, and a photo-array behind the lens to capture the
image. The photo-array in your eye is called the retina. It's made of
rods and cones, the organic equivalent of electronic pixels."

There's a tiny patch of tissue near the center of the retina where
cones are extra-densely packed. This is called "the fovea."

"Whatever you see with the fovea, you see in high-definition,"
Hiroyasu says. The fovea is critical to reading, driving, watching
television. The fovea has the brain's attention.

The field of view of the fovea is only about five degrees wide. Most
nights in March, Venus and Jupiter will fit within that narrow cone.
And when they do-presto! It's spellbinding astronomy.

Standing outdoors, mesmerized by planets aligned in a late winter
sunset, you might just forget how cold you feel. Bring a coat 
anyway....

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