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Bad Astronomy
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Dawn to launch, um, predawn Thursday

The launch of the Dawn spacecraft, which will visit the two largest asteroid Ceres and Vesta, has been postponed due to weather. Launch is now scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27 sometime between 7:20 a.m. to 7:49 a.m. EDT.

Given that I’m two hours earlier than that, I’ll wake up to the news. :-) You can keep up with the spacecraft news on the Dawn website. Launch will be on NASA TV too.

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September 24th, 2007 5:51 PM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, Cool stuff, NASA, Science | 8 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

8 Responses to “Dawn to launch, um, predawn Thursday”

  1. 1.   Mena Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    DVR, BA, DVR…
    (No, I’m not shouting.)

  2. 2.   Troy Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

    According to my calculations the sun rises in southern Florida at 7:11 a.m. on Thursday, so it will be a post-dawn launch. I hope it finally gets sent aloft!

  3. 3.   Remek Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 7:52 pm

    And if you can’t get NASA-TV or stream it online, you can follow almost up-to-the-minute updates from launch (actually from now) all the way through until spacecraft separation – just keep updating Spaceflight Now’s Delta Launch Report – Dawn Mission Status Center page.

  4. 4.   Jake Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 8:42 pm

    Isn’t Ceres a Dwarf Planet now? Not an asteroid?

  5. 5.   Quiet Desperation Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 8:51 pm

    I hate to say it but I’m a little bored of asteroid missions. The science is good, but I’m bored. :)

    We need a Europa lander or a GOOD set of pictures from the surface of Venus or something like that. Like the Titan lander. That was great! Or one of Saturn’s other moons. I want to see a picture with Saturn rising over some mountains.

    Yeah, I’m shallow.

  6. 6.   Wayne Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 9:44 pm

    @ Jake,
    I think the consensus is that Ceres, like Pluto, has “dual citizenship” as a dwarf planet and an asteroid (or in Pluto’s case, a Kuiper Belt Object). I suppose this will generally be the case with dwarf planets, since the primary reason for the “dwarf” status is that they are part of a population of bodies within their orbit.

  7. 7.   Niels Hovmöller Says:
    September 25th, 2007 at 3:08 am

    between 7:20 a.m. to 7:49 a.m. EDT.

    should be

    between 7:20 a.m. and 7:49 a.m. EDT.

    or perhaps

    from 7:20 a.m. to 7:49 a.m. EDT.

  8. 8.   Troy Says:
    September 26th, 2007 at 7:42 pm

    (Regarding Quiet Desperation)
    Yes most Asteroids do sort of have that been there seen that feel. But Ceres might even have a watery mantle and perhaps life. It is more planet than asteroid. Vesta is also unique, most asteroids don’t have enough heat to create igneous planes but Vesta does. They are also huge. The largest asteroid visited Mathilde (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mathilde.htm) about 35 miles compared to the gargantuan sizes of Texas and Arizona sized objects. These small worlds are not in the same league as the typical flying mountain.

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