[AZ-Observing] Re: Thursday Photo Op

Absolutely amazing.  First time I've witnessed a Vandenberg launch
before, and only saw it due to sheer luck.  I turned into my
neighborhood (no streetlights allowed) and first saw what I believe was
the second stage as a bright "star" with a huge cone of light trailing.
In it's wake was the remnants of the first stage already weaving a
curled, glowing "snake" of noctilucent-like light with fringes of color.
I jumped out of my truck, grabbed the wife from the house, and we ran
out to view it.  Within the course of 5 minutes, the whole scene had
substantially dissipated.  She saw only the fading minutes of the show,
but even that was exciting to her (or at least she feigned it for my
benefit).  Great stuff, can't wait for the next one.

- Bernie



-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 9:01 AM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Thursday Photo Op

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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