Comet ISON starting to light up

November 10, 2013 TopSpacer

Comet ISON is brightening up enough to see it with binoculars: Spaceweather.com – Nov.9.13 –

COMET ISON NOW A BINOCULAR OBJECT: Comet ISON is brightening as it approaches the sun. Multiple observers now report that it is a binocular object. “I finally saw Comet ISON for the first time using small binoculars!” says pilot Brian Whittaker. He was flying 38,000 feet over the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 8th when he took this picture showing where to look:

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“It was faint, but is predicted to brighten and move each day,” he adds. “Exciting! “

“I have made my first confirmed binocular sighting of C/2012 S1 ISON as well,” reports Pete Lawrence of Selsey UK on Nov. 9th. “ISON’s head appears small and stellar through a pair of 15x70s optics.”

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Events, Living in Space

Olympic torch lit up in space today

November 9, 2013 TopSpacer

Two Russian Cosmonauts made a spacewalk today at the International Space Station and lit a flame within a special device to represent the Olympic flame. This is in commemoration of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, that start on Feb. 7, 2014.

Exoplanets, SpaceCasts

Video: A galaxy full of earth-like planets

November 9, 2013 TopSpacer

Hank Green explains the recent exoplanet results from the e Kepler space telescope (see earlier post):

Rockets, Space Systems

Morpheus lander does takeoff and landing test

November 8, 2013 TopSpacer

Project Morpheus flew their vertical takeoff and landing rocket vehicle today. While still on a tether, it started from the ground and ended on the ground for the first time. They will now move the vehicle from NASA JSC in Houston to the Kennedy Space Center for untethered flights.