Last Space Shuttle Discovery Landing Wednesday; Sun Becoming Active
The Space Shuttle Discovery is (sadly) scheduled to land for the last time on Wednesday. The weather is not expected to interfere with Discovery's landing. Dry conditions will prevail at the Kennedy Space Center underneath partly sunny skies. The space shuttle has been in space since Feb. 24th. It unhooked from the International Space Station on Monday.
Following this mission, Discovery will be retired from service after 39 trips into space, including 13 visits to the International Space Station.
Please see a related AccuWeather.com story here.
Also, please take note of the sun.....it is becoming busy again! Not totally unexpected as the sun is entering an active phase that is expected to peak in early 2013. Check out solarcycle24.com for updates on solar activity.
AccuWeather facebook fanpage member Mark Combellack says,"keep an eye on the sun.... lots of flare activity today (actually yesterday now) and more to come. Probable earth directed CME today (yesterday) as well." Harry Frisby Jr, another amateur astronomer, stated, "HIGH SOLAR ACTIVITY: Solar Cycle 24 is heating up. No fewer than three sunspots (1164, 1165 and 1166) are crackling with M-class solar flares, and each of them has a delta-class magnetic field capable of producing even more powerful X-flares."
Daniel Vogler, amateur astronomer, added, "The CME was not squarely directed at Earth. Nevertheless, the cloud will probably deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on March 9th or 10th, possibly sparking polar geomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras."
We will have to keep an eye out for how impacting this solar event is going to be. Obviously last month's activity was not as disruptive as it was expected to be, but that does not mean anything for this event. Please keep checking this page (and the AccuWeather facebook fanpage as several devout solar followers are there) for updates. There are hints that are saying the solar activity may ramp up shortly.
This just in....South Africa has issued a solar flare warning. Read about it by clicking here.
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