IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/306498286059167/
Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
NASA Spacecraft Detect Mysterious Force Shaping Solar Wind
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250911073154.htm
Solar Wind and Earth Magnetosphere
https://www.sciencedaily.com/images/1920/solar-wind-and-earth-magnetosphere.webp
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Scientists just found the hidden cosmic fingerprints of dark matter
Lyman-alpha Emissions (JWST – F150W and HST – F160W)
https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/Lyman-Alpha-early-Universe-1024×671.jpg
Cosmic Evolution Survey Deep Field (COSMOS)
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1MQw1x.img?w=768&h=442&m=6
3D COSMOS Dark Matter Rendering
https://cdn.sci.esa.int/documents/34247/35306/1567218132130-heic0701b410.jpg
Article:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/images/1920/dark-matter-fingerprints.webp
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
A RING-SHAPED SUNSPOT: Normally, sunspots are dark in the middle and bright on the outside. Sunspot 4220 is just the opposite.
https://spaceweather.com/images2025/20sep25/ring_strip.jpg
NASA’s Hubble Sees White Dwarf Eating Piece of Pluto-Like Object
Space-Related Birthdays
Sept 14 – 20
Eugene H. Trinh: Sept 14, 1950 STS-50
John Herrington: Sept 14, 1958 (STS-113)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Herrington.jpg/220px-Herrington.jpg
Kevin Kregel: Sept 16, 1956 (STS-70, STS-78, STS-87, STS-99)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/KevinRKregel.jpg
Warren Hoburg: Sept 16, 1985: Warren Hoburg (SpaceX Crew-6-Exp 68/69)
Thomas P. Stafford: Sept 17, 1930 (Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, Apollo–Soyuz Test Project)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Thomas_Stafford.jpg
Edgar Mitchell: Sept 17, 1930 (Apollo 14)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Edgar_Mitchell_cropped.jpg
Samuel Durrance: Sept 17, 1943: (STS-35, STS-67)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Samuel_Durrance.jpg
Pamela Melroy: Sept 17, 1961(STS-92, STS-112, STS-120; current Deputy Administrator of NASA)
Charles Veach: Sept 18, 1944 (STS-39, STS-52)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Charles_Veach.jpg
Richard Linnehan: Sept 19, 1957 (STS-78, STS-90, STS-109, STS-123)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Richard_Linnehan.jpg
Sunita Williams: Sept 19, 1965 (STS-116/117-Exp 14/15, Soyuz TMA-05A-Exp 32/33, Boeing Crewed Flight Test/SpaceX Crew 9-Exp 71/72)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Sunita_Williams_in_2018.jpg
Kayla Barron: Sept 19, 1987 (SpaceX Crew-3-Exp 66/67)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Kayla_Barron%2C_official_portrait_%282021%29.jpg
James Pawelczyk: Sept 20, 1960 (STS-90)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/James_A_Pawelczyk.jpg
This Week in Space History
Sept 14 – 20
Gemini 11 Launched for Record High-apogee Earth Orbit
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Capricorn the Sea Goat
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
NET September 21 Falcon 9 • Starlink 10-27
Launch time: 5:20 a.m. EDT (0920 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1085, launching for an 11th time, will target a landing on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: September 18
September 22 Falcon 9 • NROL-48
Launch time: Window opens at 10:23 a.m. PDT (1:23 p.m. EDT / 1723 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the NROL-48 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The flight will be the 11th mission supporting the agency’s proliferated architecture, a constellation believed to consist of Starshield satellites. SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 booster, tail number B1081, which will launch for an 18th time. Eight minutes after liftoff, B1081 will target a landing back at Landing Zone 4. Delayed from Sept. 21.
Updated: September 18
NET September 23 Falcon 9 • IMAP
Launch time: 11:32 a.m. EDT (1532 UTC)
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a rideshare mission carrying two spacecraft for NASA and one for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The primary payload is NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), which will use its 10 science instruments to study the boundary of the Sun’s heliosphere. Along for the ride are NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, designed to observe the ultraviolet light from the Earth’s geocorona, and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), which will monitor the Sun for key space weather activity. All three spacecraft will be sent toe Lagrange Point 1 (L1), which is about a 1.5 million km from Earth and is positioned in between the Earth and the Sun.
Updated: September 15
September 25 Falcon 9 • Starlink 10-15
Launch time: 4:36 a.m. EDT (0836 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1080, launching for a 22nd time, will target a landing on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: September 15
NET September 25 Atlas 5 • KA-03
Launch time: 8:09 a.m. EDT (1209 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 551 rocket will launch 27 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. The spacecraft will be deployed at an altitude of 280 mies (450 km) in altitude and will eventually raise to an operating altitude of 392 miles (630 km). The Kuiper Atlas 3 mission is the fifth launch of Kuiper satellites to date, following two missions using ULA’s Atlas 5 rockets and two missions on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. This launch will give Amazon a total of 129 satellites in LEO.
Updated: September 18
September 25/26 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-11
Launch time: 6:57 p.m. PDT (9:57 p.m. EDT / 0157 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1063, launching for a 28th time, will target a landing on the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean. Delayed from Sept. 24/25.
Updated: September 18
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
You can use the http://www.heavens-above.com website to find out what’s in orbit and
where to look during fly-overs
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
ISS
Sep 27
Sep 28
Sep 29
Tiangong
Sep 21
Sep 23