Astro events for the evening of July 8, subject to the changes from the afternoon monsoonal cloud pattern: Event #1 - 7/9/2006 00:50am MDT (7/9/2006 6:50 UTC): Sky and Telescope << http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_107_2.asp
is showing a GRS transit at 6:50 UTC. GSR, Jr. is close to the GSR and will pass shortly.
Event #2 - 7/8/2006 9:05 MDT (7/9/2006 3:05 UTC): Calcsky http://www.calsky.com/ is listing an ISS-Docked Shuttle overpass for Salt Lake City at -0.4 mag. Appears 20h59m54s 9.8m az:298.8d WNW Transit 21h04m36s -0.4m az:223.0d SW h:31.8d in constellation Virgo dist:610.0km alt:342.3km Disappears 21h09m05s 1.3m az:147.8d SSE h:1.1d However, sunset is at 21:01 MDT, so visibility is questionable. The Calsky chart shows the ISS rising out of the setting sun in the northwest (Sun crossing is not indicated), with the satellite moving through Leo, Virgo and Libra, and then setting just below the rising moon in the southeast. May be worth setting a watch alarm and sitting your head outside at the appropriate time. Event #3 - 7/8/2006 5:00PM MDT continuing (7/8/2006 23:00 UTC): CME passage Spaceweather.com is listing a CME ejected 7/6/06 as approaching the Earth with expected high-latitude aurora on the nights of 7/7 and 7/8. http://www.spaceweather.com Everything has looked quite at the Space Enivronment Center. http://www.sec.noaa.gov/index.html But the UofAlaska Geophysical GSE Forecast Simulator is predicting the CME will hit, with the Earth in a favorable alignment in the solar magnetic field at 23:00 UTC. http://gse.gi.alaska.edu/recent/javascript_movie.html After dark it may be worth keeping an eye on the Space Environment Center control panels or the ACE Magnetic Sweep control panel to see if there is any increased solar magnetic activity (the Bz south line). http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ace/MAG_SWEPAM_7d.html Although this is a low-probability event, if there is any increased activity, it may be worth keeping an eye out north for auroral activity. - Canopus56 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com