Delta IV

I drove out to Port Canaveral to watch the Delta IV rocket launch on November 21, 2010. With the weather, I really didn't think it was going to go, but it did indeed launch. The rocket wasn't in view for long before disappearing into clouds, but it was still very nice. It really is thrilling to watch these incredible feats of engineering fly, especially as close as I was (7 miles). I also think I found a new favorite spot to watch the launches!

STS-131

Space Shuttle Discovery launched at 6:21am on April 5, 2010. It was definitely one of the coolest launches I've ever seen in a while. The shuttle formed a noctilucent cloud in it's contrail, then about 3.5 minutes in, it did this cool thing where what could be described as a wake or an aura formed around the shuttle as it started to dip below the horizon. At about 5 minutes, the sound waves finally hit and a faint rumbling could be heard...

Only three more launches of this awesomeness!

SDO, Sonic Booms, & Sun Dogs...

On February 11, 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory launched on an Atlas V Rocket. I attepted to watch the launch from my front yard, but there were too many clouds between where I was and the coast to get a good view. I was able to see the rocket for about five seconds through a hole in the clouds, but that was about it.

Being closer to the launch apparently provided an awesome show. Turn the video to 720p and turn on full screen. Wait until about two minutes in when the rocket is about to pass through the sun dog, and then the rocket goes supersonic while passing through the ice particles in the air. I've never seen anything quite like this!

Kepler Telescope Launch on a Delta II Rocket

The Kepler Telescope launched on a Delta II rocket at 10:49 pm on March 7, 2009. Kepler sounds like a very interesting project, and lets hope it finds plenty of earth-like planets. You can read more about it on NASA's website.

I think I'll go turn on my SETI@home software now and leave you with these two fifteen second exposures of the launch:

Delta 4 Rocket Launch (January 17, 2009)

A Delta 4 Rocket launched on January 17, 2009 from Cape Canaveral. I tried taking some pictures/video of the launch, but didn't have much luck. Insead, check out this video of the launch from Spacevidcast on Youtube:

Space Shuttle Launch from Above...

I came across this very cool video of a Space Shuttle Launch filmed from an airplane. The cameraman is a bit overexcited though...

NASA Space Monkey Retirement Home

Florida has its monkey legends, some of which are based in fact, while others are more myth. There are the packs of wild monkeys that roam the Ocala National Forest, especially near Silver Springs as well as the wild monkeys in Dania Beach that caused all sorts of conspiracy theories when the city was accused of coming in at night and killing the monkeys one by one. There are the mysterious Monkey Island legends where a group of lab monkeys were placed on an island somewhere in southwest Florida for experimental purposes, until the company that put them there closed up and abandoned the monkeys causing them to go insane. These crazy monkeys are rumored to kill and eat any boaters that don’t realize what island they are landing on. And who can forget the Skunk Ape, Florida’s version of Bigfoot. Recently though, I came across a bit of Florida monkey lore that I was completely unaware of and it actually exists too…

Not too long ago, I was virtually flying over Florida in Google Earth, when I came across a placemark that someone had posted pointing out a NASA Space Monkey retirement home. From Google’s satellite images, it looked like this place was a good sized compound consisting of several islands surround by canals. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by orange groves for miles. After finding out about this place, I decided that it was a must see on my next excursion through the area. What could be cooler than seeing the same monkeys that had rode in centrifuges simulating spaceflight, now sitting on a man-made island retired in Florida?

A few months later, I went and found the place. The only problem was that I didn’t see any monkeys. The whole place was surrounded by large dirt embankments behind a barbed wire fence and a canal. There were some signs telling what the place was though. Apparently what was behind those hills was the world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary. They gave a website: www.savethechimps.org, and in all caps the sign told you that the chimp sanctuary was NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

In one spot in the front of the place, I spotted what could be called a chimp playground over the hill. I got out of the car for a closer look, but I still didn’t see any chimps. I did hear them though at this spot. They were very noisy…

I didn’t get to see any chimps, but as I was stopped here I spotted an alligator basking in the sun on the opposite shore of the canal.

It was a bit disappointing that I didn’t see any of the chimps. It would be great if this place put up some sort of observation deck or something where you could see over the hill and possibly have a better chance of seeing a chimpanzee. I think people would be more interested in saving the chimps here if they could actually see the chimps.As I was leaving, there was a nice sunset to the west with the sound of chimps howling in the background…

Lunar Eclipse: February 20, 2008

On February 20, 2008, in Florida as well as many other parts of the world there was a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse started at 8:43 pm and was initially covered by clouds where I was watching. By the time the moon was totally covered by the shadow of the earth at 10:01 pm, the sky was clear providing an excellent view. The moon turned a nice red color in the shadow, and soon enough the earth's shadow began to recede. A little after midnight, the full moon was free from shadow and back to it's normal self!

Here are some pictures I took of the eclipse:

I took some video of the eclipse by leaving my video camera on a tripod with it's full exposure open and auto-focus turned off. I took two segments of footage, one between 9:45 and 10:15 when the moon was approaching it's full eclipse and another segment between 11:45 and 12:15 as the moon returned to normal.

It's amazing how fast the earth and the moon move in relation to one another when you are trying to track the moon with a stationary object. Every time you see the moon drift off of the picture in the videos is not due to the camera moving. The videos were sped up to 3 times their original speed.

Feb 20, 2008- 9:45pm-10:15pm


Feb 20, 2008- 11:45pm-12:15pm


The next one comes in 2010!