Vandenberg AFB rocket launch tonight

Vandenberg Air Force Base will be launching a Delta II rocket tonight carrying the COSMO-SkyMed 3 earth observation satellite. The Delta II rockets climb fairly slowly and fly towards the south, so if the sky is clear and the launch goes well, we could have quite a show in L.A. county. Launch time is tonight at 7:28:21 p.m. with a launch window of 1 second (!). So either it goes or it doesn't. I would watch for the next ten or fifteen minutes after launch time, looking more or less to the south west. Sunset is at about 6:07 p.m., so it's possible that the rocket will not be visible until it climbs out of earth's shadow into the sunlight. Or it may show a fairly bright exhaust plume during the ascent. It sounds to me like a potentially good show, worth looking for. Cheers, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la