Friday, February 22, 2008

To space itself

Lots of things happening in space today. A U.S. warship in the pacific managed to bring down an old spy satellite using missile technology.
At 8.06 a.m. Central time (yes we have moved into the Central Time Zone) the Space Shuttle landed and I was listening out for the characteristic double sonic boom as it passed over us. However, I did not hear it.
Virgin announced that they are ordering 4 more Virgin Galactic Space Planes, because they think that it will be commercially viable.
Also at 9.00p.m. there was a total eclipse of the moon. I assume that it was visible anywhere on the dark part of the Earth, So you would have seen it in UK, although it would have been 3.00 in the morning. Now we did go out and have a look at that. It was fascinating to see the moon without direct sunlight on it. It looked quite red. Because of the shadowing it also takes on a really 3D shape. Took some photo’s but they were a little disappointing as it was difficult to get a sharp picture, partly because with a long exposure time (4 sec) the moon keeps moving. I tried some multi-exposure shots, but trees seemed to get in the way. It took a 2 minute delay between shots for the moon to move one diameter in the sky (yes I know that it is really the Earth rotating, not the moon. Well better luck next time.

No comments: