Earth dodges spectacular blast

Space Weather News for Feb. 24, 2011
http://spaceweather.com

SPECTACULAR BLAST: A massive cloud of plasma exploded over the eastern limb of the sun this morning (Feb. 24th around 0730 UT), heralding the approach of a new active region. The spectacular blast, which produced strong radio emissions, a coronal mass ejection, and an M3-class solar flare, was not Earth-directed. Future eruptions could be, however, as the sun's rotation turns the blast site toward our planet in the days ahead. Check http://spaceweather.com for images and movies.

---

Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Discovery's final flight scheduled for Thursday

Received this info from Matt:

Discovery's final flight scheduled for Thursday



Weather and conditions permitting, space shuttle Discovery will lift off Thursday on its final flight, NASA announced Friday.

The six-member crew will deliver a storage module, a science rig and spare parts to the international space station during its 11-day mission.

Originally scheduled for November, Discovery's launch was delayed because of repairs to the external tank's support beams.

NASA, which is winding down the shuttle program, announced the February 24 launch a few weeks ago, but confirmed it after a meeting briefing Friday. This will be Discovery's 39th voyage.

The launch is scheduled for 4:50 p.m. at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Astronaut Steve Bowen was assigned to take the place of Tim Kopra, who was injured in a bicycle accident, NASA said.

The last scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour is currently on for April 19 and shuttle Atlantis is tentatively scheduled to launch during the summer.

---

Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

3 links of interest

Received these three cool links from Matt. Enjoy!

Scientists Building Largest Antimatter Trap Ever
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110219/sc_livescience/scientistsbuildinglargestantimattertrapever

Thunderstorms on Earth Hurl Antimatter Into Space
http://www.space.com/10602-antimatter-beams-thunderstorms-nasa.html

How Much Dark Matter Do Some Galaxies Need? 300 Billion Suns
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110220/sc_space/howmuchdarkmatterdosomegalaxiesneed300billionsuns

---

Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society