This is so cool. You go to the link, just type in you zip code, and up pops a list of the satellites that will be zipping by over head any given night. Takes the guess work out of..????? is it a plane, a UFO, or a satellite? Ana

https://spaceweather.com/flybys/

In my area I'll have 7

Hubble Space Telescope
BRIGHTNESS: visual magnitude 2 (like stars in the Big Dipper)
The Hubble Space Telescope is visible to the unaided eye. It is about as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.
International Space Station
BRIGHTNESS: visual magnitude -3 (super-bright)
The International Space Station is the biggest, brightest object orbiting Earth. The station's solar arrays span 240-feet from tip to tip, almost as wide as a football field. The ISS outshines Venus; only the sun and Moon are brighter
Genesis 1

page: spaceports.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html

BRIGHTNESS: visual magnitude 3 (dim but visible)
Genesis 1 is a prototype space hotel room -- no kidding! Genesis was launched by Bigelow Aerospace as a test to see if inflatable satellites can be orbited and eventually connected together to create a sprawling space hotel. There are currently two modules in orbit: Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Both modules are faint, they shine like 4th magnitude stars, but they are easy to notice with the unaided eye because of their motion across the sky.

These are your 7 satellite flybys for the next ten nights.
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A new sunspot is trying to emerge in the sun's northern hemisphere. It's not a big one, but it may be significant as only the second sunspot of new Solar Cycle 24. Follow the arrow in this ultraviolet image taken earlier today by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:
There should be animation, if not it's pointing to that little yellow spot near top left on the sun. Or go to link
https://www.spaceweather.com/ 4/12/08



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Dusting yesterday, I was wondering how all this dust could be inside when all the windows have been closed this week? Now I know, it's from the moon...joking Ana (READ last sentence below:>)


Image credit: J. Halekas, G. Delory (U.C. Berkeley), B. Farrell, T. Stubbs (GSFC)

Unlike Earth, the Moon has no magnetic field to ward off charged particles from the Sun. Solar wind blows directly onto the lunar surface. Researchers have long suspected that electrons in the solar wind become embedded in moondust, causing the dust to "charge up" and giving the Moon a very bad case of static cling.
Strange things can happen when moondust gathers charge. For example, the dust might rise up and, propelled by electrostatic repulsion, rush in a diaphanous wind across the lunar surface. Imagine, dust storms on an airless world with no weather!

But it could be even stranger than that. NASA researchers have discovered that moondust peppered with solar wind electrons gain not a negative but a positive charge.
This unexpected and counterintuitive reaction makes it hard to predict what is really happening to dust on moon.

Get the full story from Science@NASA.
https://www.spaceweather.com/
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April 11 IAU Circular 8934, issued by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts a 7th-magnitude nova was discovered on April 10, 2008, by Koichi Nishiyama and Fujio Kabashima in Japan. It's time to observe!
The event is located in Cygnus, about one-third of the way from Albireo (β Cygni) to Sadr (γ Cygni) - RA 19 43 0 Dec +32 19. From early reports, it may still be continuing to brighten. Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero of Remanzacco, Italy confirmed the discovery before the IAU announcement was made and estimated the nova's magnitude at 7.5 at approximate 09:00:00 UT, 11 April 2008.

Go to https://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/11/supernova-alert/
to see where this event is located. ana
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For teachers and those who want to know more, check this out
Additional Resources

The Vision for Space Exploration
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/explore_main.html

President's Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond
https://www.moontomars.org

Planetquest
https://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov

Cosmic Collision
https://hubblesite.org/discoveries/cosmic_collision

The Golden Record
Voyager: Celebrating 25 Years of Discovery
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/flash/voyager_record/index.htm

Structure and Evolution of the Universe
https://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov

Origins Program
https://origins.jpl.nasa.gov

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