FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Thursday Photo Op

[ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi All-
The enclosed came across my e-mail yesterday.  For those of you who have
never seen a roclet launch during dusk, it can be quite impressive as the
rocket/plume gets up into direct sunlight.  Check it out!

-Dean




                            LAUNCH ALERT

                                    Brian Webb
                         Ventura County, California
                        E-mail: kd6nrp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                 Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info

                 2005 September 20 (Tuesday) 04:36 PDT
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                       VANDENBERG DUSK LAUNCH

The first Vandenberg AFB dusk launch in nearly three years is slated
for Thursday, September 22. The Minotaur booster is scheduled to lift-
off from south Vandenberg at 19:24 PDT, the start of a 16-minute
launch window.

Several minutes later, the rocket will place the Defense Advanced
Research Project Agency's Streak satellite into a polar orbit.

As seen from Santa Barbara, lift-off occurs 29 minutes after sunset.
The Minotaur is expected to climb into sunlight during the second
stage burn at about T+90 seconds. The exhaust plume will be
illuminated by the sun and may create a nice display visible across a
large part of the Southwest and western Mexico.

The launch may be visible until nearly T+13 minutes. For information
on launch viewing and photography, refer to:

  www.spacearchive.info/vafbview.htm
  www.spacearchive.info/vafbphoto.htm

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