6 June 2007

Observing Location	SIBL
Observational Period	1145-1200 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 66°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Cool but pleasant It has been clearing off this morning and is supposed to be clear tonight. Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Tau Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070606.1145 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.014703 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'34.4" Altitude 67.2° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -0.03° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 192.20° Position Angle (P) -13.41° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2057 According to Space Weather there is still supposed to be a group preceeding Group 960 across the disc and Active Region Explorer even has a pore or something plotted between the two groups but I can’t see either of them.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 3 13 Total 1 3 13 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 960 Heliographic Latitude -6° Heliographic Longitude 197° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2057 Mcintosh System Eso The group is still huge but appears to be consolidating. The spot in the middle is not as pronounced today and the small trailing spots look more like a ring where the rice grain structure meets the edge of the void area surrounding the spots. I can’t say that I see either the rice grain structure or a void area today though.

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More information on Friday's launch of STS-117. This information from Starry Skies.

The launch window will run in two parts - from June 8th to the evening of June 12th when the shuttle must stand down for a June 14th Atlas launch. After that the windows opens again on the 17th. This first opening gives the standard four attempts in five days. If they have not launched by the 12th, they will replenish things such as liquid oxygen and hydrogen for the fuel cells to prepare for the 17th attempt.

The remainder of the launch window will run 17Jun-19Jul07.

Launch day activities

1:30 p.m. - Live launch commentary begins

Launch Day Crew Activities: (Times may vary slightly)

10 a.m. -- Crew wakes up (Not on NASA TV)
1:45 p.m. -- Crew photo opportunity
3:07 p.m. -- Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2) (Not on NASA TV)
3:17 p.m. -- Astronauts don flight suits
3:47 p.m. -- Depart for launch pad
4:17 p.m. -- Arrive at white room and begin ingress
5:32 p.m. -- Close crew hatch
7:38 p.m. -- Launch

Launch + 1 hour - Post-launch News Conference

• Rex Geveden, NASA associate administrator
• Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations
• John Shannon, chairman, Mission Management Team
• Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director

All or some of these activities should be rebroadcast on VHF frequency 145.430 MHz and streamed over NASA TV.

I checked the ISS and STS-117 schedules and the closest they come on a visible pass is 13 minutes in time.

If the mission goes as planned STS-117 will cross the disk of the Sun after separation on Sunday 17Jun07.

17h05m21.11s

Crosses the disk of Sun.
Separation=0.039° Position Angle=261.6°
Angular Velocity=35.8'/s. Transit duration=0.87s
Angular diameter=16.9" size=37.0m x 24.0m x 10.0m
Satellite at Azimuth=271.4° W Altitude= 35.8° Distance=553.5 km
Satellite apparently moves to clock-face direction 1:34 o'clock
Centerline, Closest Point: Longitude= 73°57'46" W Latitude=+40°46'44" Distance=0.47 km Azimuth=149.1° SSE Path direction: 59.1° ENE ground speed: 7.914 km/s width: 5.9 km max. duration: 0.9 s