Old 09-5-2014, 06:13 AM   #1041
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 5, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 5, 2014
-Saturn, Mars, Delta (δ) Scorpii, and Antares form an equally-spaced ragged line in the southwest at dusk, as shown at right. Delta Scorpii used to be a bit dimmer than Beta above it. Then in July 2000 it doubled in brightness. It has remained bright, with slow fluctuations, ever since.
Look high above the Moon this evening for Altair.

-This Sunday, a house-sized asteroid named "2014 RC" will fly through the Earth-Moon system almost inside the orbit of geosynchronous satellites. At closest approach, Sept. 7th at 18:18 UTC, the 20-meter-wide space rock will pass just 40,000 km over New Zealand. This diagram from NASA shows the geometry of the encounter.

There is no danger of a collision with Earth.

Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaii. Follow-up observations quickly confirmed the orbit of 2014 RC: it comes from just beyond the orbit of Mars.

The close appproach of this space rock offers researchers an opportunity for point-blank studies of a near-Earth asteroid. Even amateur astronomers will be able to track it. Around the time of closest approach, it will brighten to magnitude +11.5 as it zips through the constellation Pisces. This means it will be invisible to the naked eye but a relatively easy target for backyard telescopes equipped with CCD cameras.

According to NASA, "[the orbit of 2014 RC] will bring it back to our planet's neighborhood in the future. The asteroid's future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified."

If you want to try and see this asteroid for yourself, use the following link for tracking information: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_...RC&commit=Show




Astro Picture of the Day:
September 5, 2014

Source:
This rich starscape spans nearly 7 degrees on the sky, toward the Sagittarius spiral arm and the center of our Milky Way galaxy. A telescopic mosaic, it features well-known bright nebulae and star clusters cataloged by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Still popular stops for skygazers M16, the Eagle (far right), and M17, the Swan (near center) nebulae are the brightest star-forming emission regions. With wingspans of 100 light-years or so, they shine with the telltale reddish glow of hydrogen atoms from over 5,000 light-years away. Colorful open star cluster M25 near the upper left edge of the scene is closer, a mere 2,000 light-years distant and about 20 light-years across. M24, also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, crowds in just left of center along the bottom of the frame, fainter and more distant Milky Way stars seen through a narrow window in obscuring fields of interstellar dust.
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Old 09-6-2014, 09:43 AM   #1042
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 6, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 6, 2014
-This is International Observe the Moon night! Zoom in on the map
http://observethemoonnight.org/
to find an event near you. Or set up your own telescope for the public, and add your event to the map so people can find you! The Moon is waxing gibbous, two days from full. (Just make sure it'll be in view from your site when you tell people to come!)

Also, look to the right of the Moon, by a little more than a fist-width at arm's length, for two faintish (3rd-magnitude) stars: Alpha and Beta Capricorni, one above the other. Alpha is the one on top. With sharp vision, you can barely see that it's double. Binoculars resolve it easily.

-NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 6th when a CME is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Astro Picture of the Day:
September 6, 2014

Source:
Like a rainbow at night, a beautiful moonbow shines above the western horizon in this deserted beach scene from Molokai Island, Hawaii, USA, planet Earth. Captured last June 17 in early morning hours, the lights along the horizon are from Honolulu and cities on the island of Oahu some 30 miles away. So where was the Moon? A rainbow is produced by sunlight internally reflected in rain drops from the direction opposite the Sun back toward the observer. As the light passes from air to water and back to air again, longer wavelengths are refracted (bent) less than shorter ones resulting in the separation of colors. And so the moonbow is produced as raindrops reflect moonlight from the direction opposite the Moon. That puts the Moon directly behind the photographer, still low and rising over the eastern horizon, a few days past its full phase.
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Old 09-7-2014, 09:32 AM   #1043
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 7, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 7, 2014
-Look for bright Vega passing your zenith in late twilight, if you live in the world's mid-northern latitudes. Vega goes right through your zenith if you're at latitude 39° north (near Baltimore, Kansas City, Lake Tahoe, Sendai, Beijing, Athens, Lisbon). How closely can you judge this?

-According to NOAA analysts, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 6th at 1525 UT. However, the impact was weak and did not spark geomagnetic storms.

Astro Picture of the Day:
September 7, 2014
Source:
Have you ever watched the Moon rise? The slow rise of a nearly full moon over a clear horizon can be an impressive sight. One impressive moonrise was imaged in early 2013 over Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. With detailed planning, an industrious astrophotographer placed a camera about two kilometers away and pointed it across the lookout to where the Moon would surely soon be making its nightly debut. The above single shot sequence is unedited and shown in real time -- it is not a time lapse. People on Mount Victoria Lookout can be seen in silhouette themselves admiring the dawn of Earth's largest satellite. Seeing a moonrise yourself is not difficult: it happens every day, although only half the time at night. Each day the Moon rises about fifty minutes later than the previous day, with a full moon always rising at sunset. A good time to see a moonrise will occur at sunset on Tuesday as the Moon's relative closeness to Earth during a full phase -- called a supermoon -- will cause it to appear slightly larger and brighter than usual.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-8-2014, 08:48 AM   #1044
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 8, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 8, 2014
-NOAA forecasters have raised the odds of an X-class solar flare today to 30%. Two sunspots turning toward Earth pose a threat for such eruptions: AR2157 and AR2158. Both are capable of strong geoeffective activity.

-On Sunday, Sept. 7th, house-sized asteroid 2014 RC flew past Earth. There was no danger of a collision, but the space rock was close. It sailed just underneath Earth's belt of geeosynchronous satellites and about 40,000 km over New Zealand. Using robotic telescope in Australia, a team of astronomers led by Ernesto Guido photographed 2014 RC zipping through the southern constellation Phoenix at 10 km/s (22,000 mph).

2014 RC came from the asteroid belt just beyond the orbit of Mars. According to NASA, "2014 RC will return to our planet's neighborhood in the future. The asteroid's future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified."



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 8, 2014

Source:
What is so super about tomorrow's supermoon? Tomorrow, a full moon will occur that appears slightly larger and brighter than usual. The reason is that the Moon's fully illuminated phase occurs within a short time from perigee - when the Moon is its closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. Although the precise conditions that define a supermoon vary, given one definition, tomorrow's will be the third supermoon of the year -- and the third consecutive month that a supermoon occurs. One reason supermoons are popular is because they are so easy to see -- just go outside and sunset and watch an impressive full moon rise! Since perigee actually occurs today, tonight's sunset moonrise should also be impressive. Pictured above, a supermoon from 2012 is compared to a micromoon -- when a full Moon occurs near the furthest part of the Moon's orbit -- so that it appears smaller and dimmer than usual. Given many definitions, at least one supermoon occurs each year, with the next being 2015 August 30.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-9-2014, 06:57 AM   #1045
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 9, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 9, 2014
-Arcturus is the bright star fairly high due west at nightfall. It's an orange giant 37 light-years away. Off to its right in the northwest is the Big Dipper, most of whose stars are about 80 light-years away.

-Reports are circulating of a meteorite strike in Nicaragua on Sunday, Sept. 7th. Because the timing coincides with the flyby of asteroid 2014 RC, some reporters have suggested a link. We are skeptical. The crater outside Managua looks more like it was dug by a backhoe than excavated by a high-energy meteoritic explosion. Also, no streak of light corresponding to a meteor was actually observed. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29106843

-The northern autumnal equinox is less than two weeks away. That makes tonight's full Moon the Harvest Moon, the full Moon closest to the beginning of Fall. Ruslan Merzlyakov sends this picture of the pumpkin-colored orb from Nykřbing Mors, Denmark:

"It was a very beautiful moonrise!" he says.

The name "Harvest Moon" harkens back to a bygone era. Before the days of electric lights, farmers relied on moonlight to harvest crops which ripened all at once in autumn. They couldn't afford to stop working at sunset, so "harvest moonlight" was essential to their operations. The flow of electricity has made the Moon obsolete as a source of practical illumination, but not as an object of beauty. Step outside tonight at sunset, look east and enjoy the view.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 9, 2014

Source:
This sky looked delicious. Double auroral ovals were captured above the town lights of Östersund, Sweden, last week. Pictured above, the green ovals occurred lower to the ground than violet aurora rays above, making the whole display look a bit like a cupcake. To top it off, far in the distance, the central band or our Milky Way Galaxy slants down from the upper left. The auroras were caused by our Sun ejecting plasma clouds into the Solar System just a few days before, ionized particles that subsequently impacted the magnetosphere of the Earth. Aurora displays may continue this week as an active sunspot group rotated into view just a few days ago.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-10-2014, 08:14 AM   #1046
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 10, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 10, 2014
-The gibbous Moon, still big, rises in the east in late twilight. Look well above it for the bottom corner of the up-tilted Great Square of Pegasus.

-NOAA forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm warning for Sept. 12th when a CME (described below) is expected to deliver a glancing but potent blow to Earth's magnetic field. The storm could reach moderate intensity (G2-class) with auroras visible across northern-tier US states such as Maine, Michigan, and Minnnesota.

-Yesterday, the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2158 erupted, producing an explosion that lasted more than 6 hours. The flare peaked on Sept. 9th at 00:30 UT with a classification of M4 on the Richter Scale of Solar Flares. Long-duration flares tend to produce bright CMEs, and this one was no exception. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory observed a CME racing out of the blast site at nearly 1,000 km/s (2.2 million mph).

Most of the storm cloud is heading north of the sun-Earth line, but not all. A fraction of the CME will deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field during the early hours of Sept. 12th. In the past few weeks, glancing blows from minor CMEs have sparked beautiful auroras around the Arctic Circle. This CME could spark even better displays. NOAA forecasters estimate a 79% (not a typo: 79%) chance of polar geomagnetic storming on Sept. 12th.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 10, 2014

Source:
It is not only one of the largest structures known -- it is our home. The just-identified Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies contains thousands of galaxies that includes our Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Group of galaxies, and the entire nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The colossal supercluster is shown in the above computer-generated visualization, where green areas are rich with white-dot galaxies and white lines indicate motion towards the supercluster center. An outline of Laniakea is given in orange, while the blue dot shows our location. Outside the orange line, galaxies flow into other galatic concentrations. The Laniakea Supercluster spans about 500 million light years and contains about 100,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. The discoverers of Laniakea gave it a name that means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-11-2014, 08:10 AM   #1047
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 11, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 11, 2014
-A pair of CMEs is heading for Earth. The two solar storm clouds were launched on Sept. 9th and 10th by strong explosions in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2158. NOAA forecasters estimate a nearly 80% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 12th when the first of the two CMEs arrives. Auroras are in the offing, possibly visible at mid-latitudes before the weekend.

-Sunspot AR2158 erupted on Sept. 10th at 17:46 UT, producing an X1.6-class solar flare. A flash of ultraviolet radiation from the explosion ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, disturbing HF radio communications for more than an hour. More importantly, the explosion hurled a CME directly toward Earth. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory photographed the expanding cloud.

Radio emissions from shock waves at the leading edge of the CME suggest that the cloud tore through the sun's atmosphere at speeds as high as 3750 km/s. That would make this a very fast moving storm, and likely to reach Earth before the weekend. Auroras are definitely in the offing.

-The X-flare of Sept 10th caused a radio blackout on Earth. Ironically, it also caused a blast of radio noise. Radio astronomers and hams in the Americas and across the Pacific Ocean heard static roaring from the loudspeakers of their shortwave receivers. "It was absolutely howling," reports Thomas Ashcraft, who sends this 3-minute recording from his amateur radio observatory in rural New Mexico.

"This is what I heard at the onset of the flare," he explains. "By the time the flare peaked, it became almost too intense for my ears."

Advice: Listen to the sound file using stereo headphones. The two channels correspond to two radio frequencies--22 and 23 MHz. Link: http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...shcraft_02.mp3

Radio emissions like these are caused by shock waves in the sun's atmosphere. Looking at the CME pictured in the news item above, it is easy to imagine how the fast-moving cloud would spawn shock waves in the atmosphere overlying sunspot AR2158. Those shock waves triggered plasma instabilities which, in turn, generated the shortwave radio emissions.

More radio bursts may be in the offing. Sunspots AR2157 and AR2158 have unstable magnetic fields that harboor energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of X-class flares and a whopping 85% chance of M-flares on Sept. 11th.




Astro Picture of the Day:
September 11, 2014


Source:
You might not guess it, but sunrise was still hours away when this nightscape was taken, a view along the eastern horizon from a remote location in Chile's Atacama desert. Stretching high into the otherwise dark, starry sky the unusually bright conical glow is sunlight though, scattered by dust along the solar system's ecliptic plane . Known as Zodiacal light, the apparition is also nicknamed the "false dawn". Near center, bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster seem immersed in the Zodiacal light, with Orion toward the right edge of the frame. Reddish emission from NGC 1499, the California Nebula, can also be seen through the tinge of airglow along the horizon.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-12-2014, 06:25 AM   #1048
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 12, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 12, 2014
-The first of two CMEs expected to hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 12th has arrived, and a minor (G1-class) geomagnetic storm is underway as a result of the impact. The second and potentially more powerful CME is still en route. NOAA forecasters say geomagnetic storming could become strong (G3-class) during the late hours of Sept. 12th and Sept 13th after the second CME arrives.

-Observers in Canada and several northern-tier US states saw mild green auroras after the first impact. Matthew Moses sends this picture from Munger, MN. "It was a somewhat subdued display," says Moses. "I am looking forward to see what the next CME treats us to."

The next CME, now only hours away, was launched by an X-class flare, so it is potent. However, not every potent CME produces a potent geomagnetic storm. It all depends on the inner magnetic architecture of the CME, which is unknown until the CME actually arrives. NOAA forecasters are estimating a 45% chance that strong magnetic disturbances will reach mid-latitudes on Sept 13--almost like a coin toss.

Sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 12, 2014

Source:
Driven by the explosion of a massive star, supernova remnant Puppis A is blasting into the surrounding interstellar medium about 7,000 light-years away. At that distance, this remarkable false-color exploration of its complex expansion is about 180 light-years wide. It is based on the most complete X-ray data set so far from the Chandra and XMM/Newton observations, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. In blue hues, the filamentary X-ray glow is from gas heated by the supernova's shock wave, while the infrared emission shown in red and green is from warm dust. The bright pastel tones trace the regions where shocked gas and warmed dust mingle. Light from the initial supernova itself, triggered by the collapse of the massive star's core, would have reached Earth about 3,700 years ago, though the Puppis A supernova remnant remains a strong source in the X-ray sky.
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10th in D5 of the 2010 5th Official FFR Tournament
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FMO AAA Count: 71
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
PS: Cool AAA's Terry
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Old 09-13-2014, 11:06 AM   #1049
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 13, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 13, 2014
-As predicted, a pair of CMEs hit Earth's magnetic field in quick succession on Sept. 11th and 12th. The result was a G3-class geomagnetic storm, the most intense of the year so far. At the peak of the storm on Sept 12-13, bright auroras ringed the Arctic Circle and spilled down over several northern-tier US states. The sky over Maine exploded in a rainbow of colors. "I took the picture from Casco, Maine, facing north towards the Presidential Range in New Hampshire," says photographer John Stetson. "Red, purple, green, blue--all the colors were there!"

The storm is subsiding now. Nevertheless, high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. NOAA forecasters estimate a whopping 90% chance of additional polar geomagetic activity on Sept. 13th as Earth passes through the wake of the double CME.

Sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.

-On Sept. 12th, Spaceweather.com was offline for more than 12 hours during the most intense geomagnetic storm of the year. Ironically, the outage was not caused by solar activity. A hardware failure in the network of our Internet service provider brought the web site down at the worst possible time. Webmaster Dr. Tony Phillips apologizes to our readers, alert subscribers, and advertisers for the outage. We are taking steps to make sure this cannot happen again.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 13, 2014

Source:
Now, as you sip your cosmic latte you can view 100 Hubble Space Telescope images at the same time. The popular scenes of the cosmos as captured from low Earth orbit are all combined into this single digital presentation. To make it, Hubble's top 100 images were downloaded and resized to identical pixel dimensions. At each point the 100 pixel values were arranged from lowest to highest, and the middle or median value was chosen for the final image. The combined image results in a visual abstraction - light from across the Universe surrounded by darkness. Hubble's Top 100 images: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100/
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Old 09-14-2014, 09:30 AM   #1050
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 14, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 14, 2014
-Sunspot AR2158, the source of last week's powerful X-flare, is decaying as it turns away from Earth. This is decreasing the chance of another geoeffective explosion. NOAA forecasters put the odds of an X-flare today at a waning 25%.

-While the web site Spaceweather.com was down during the most intense geomagnetic storm of the year, the webmaster shook off the stress by going outside ... and launching a space weather probe. Carried aloft by a helium balloon, the probe was prepared and released by the students of Earth to Sky Calculus just as the planetary K-index hit 7during the waning hours of Sept. 12th.

Inside the balloon's payload, there was a high-energy radiation sensor, a cryogenic thermometer, multiple GPS altimeters and trackers, and three cameras to record the flight. The launch was the latest in an ongoing series of suborbital balloon flights to measure the effect of stormy space weather on Earth's atmosphere from ground level to the stratosphere. Soon, the group will release an entire year's worth of data of interest to commercial aviation and space tourism.

After a 2.5 hour flight, the payload has parachuted back to Earth and landed in the Inyo Mountains of central California. A student team will recover the payload and its sensors this weekend.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 14, 2014

Source:
The first hint of what will become of our Sun was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, shown above in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star's gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf.
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Old 09-15-2014, 10:02 AM   #1051
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 15, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 15, 2014
-Last-quarter Moon (exactly last-quarter at 10:05 p.m. EDT). The Moon rises around midnight tonight under the horn-tips of Taurus. It stands high in the south over Orion by Tuesday's dawn.

-Another CME is en route to Earth. It was launched in our direction three days ago by the eruption of a magnetic filament near the center of the solar disk. The impact won't be as effective as the double-whammy of Sept. 12th, described below. Nevertheless, NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 16th when the CME arrives. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.

-At the peak of the September 11-12 storm, observers in Scandinavia witnessed stunning coronas and even a rare aurora-rainbow ensemble. A hint of auroras were even photographed in Arizona. The below image was taken by Kjetil Skogli of Tromsř Norway. His comments: "During a workshop I had for group of photographers we experienced a rare combination late evening. Northern lights above a rainbow. It was rainy in the lower part of a valley and we had the moon behind us. The rainbow stayed there for hours. For me this was the third time I experienced this during my 11 years as a Aurora photographer Every time it has been in the same valley." Link to image: http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv...load_id=101791



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 15, 2014

Source:
Spacecraft Rosetta continues to approach, circle, and map Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Crossing the inner Solar System for ten years to reach the vicinity of the comet last month, the robotic spacecraft continues to image the unusual double-lobed comet nucleus. The reconstructed-color image featured, taken about 10 days ago, indicates how dark this comet nucleus is. On the average, the comet's surface reflects only about four percent of impinging visible light, making it as dark as coal. Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko spans about four kilometers in length and has a surface gravity so low that an astronaut could jump off of it. In about two months, Rosetta is scheduled to release the first probe ever to attempt a controlled landing on a comet's nucleus.
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Old 09-16-2014, 06:43 AM   #1052
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 16, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 16, 2014
-Solar activity is low. However, sunspots AR2157, AR2158 and AR2164 have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for significant eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of M-class flares on Sept. 16th.

Astro Picture of the Day:
September 16, 2014


Source:
Galaxies, stars, and a serene reflecting pool combine to create this memorable land and skyscape. The featured panorama is a 12-image mosaic taken last month from the Salar de Atacama salt flat in northern Chile. The calm water is Laguna Cejar, a salty lagoon featuring a large central sinkhole. On the image left, the astrophotographer's fiancee is seen capturing the same photogenic scene. The night sky is lit up with countless stars, the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies on the left, and the band of our Milky Way galaxy running diagonally up the right. The Milky Way may appear to be causing havoc at the horizon, but those are just the normal lights of a nearby town.
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Old 09-17-2014, 07:16 AM   #1053
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 17, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 17, 2014
-A slow-moving CME propelled toward Earth by an erupting magnetic filament on the sun is expected to arrive today, Sept. 17th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of minor geomagnetic storms in response to the sluggish impact. High-latitude sky watchers, be alert for auroras.

-On Sept. 12th, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field, igniting the most intense geomagnetic storm of the year. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus quickly launched a helium balloon to the stratosphere to see what effect the storm was having on Earth's upper atmosphere. They expected to measure more radiation than usual. Instead, they measured less. This plot shows a sharp drop in high energy radiation on Sept. 12th compared to previous flights in May, June, and August.

What caused this counterintuitive drop? Answer: When the CME swept past Earth, it swept aside many of the cosmic rays that normally surround our planet. The effect is called a "Forbush Decrease," after American physicist Scott F. Forbush who first described it.

Wherever CMEs go, cosmic rays are deflected by magnetic fields inside the CME. Forbush decreases have been observed on Earth and in Earth orbit onboard Mir and the ISS. The Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have experienced them, too, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Now high school students have detected a Forbush Decrease in the stratosphere using little more than an insulated lunchbox and a helium balloon.

The balloon's lunchbox-payload is shown here suspended almost 110,000 feet above the Sierras of central California.

Inside the payload, there was a high-energy radiation sensor, a cryogenic thermometer, multiple GPS altimeters and trackers, and three cameras. During the 2.5 hour flight, the buoy collected more than 50 gigabytes of video and science data ranging in altitude from 8500 ft to 113,700 ft above sea level. The analysis is still underway.

The students wish to thank Caisson Biotech LLC for sponsoring this flight. Note their logo on the upper right corner of the payload!

-If you would like to sponsor an upcoming balloon launch, support the next generation of scientists, and have your logo flown to the edge of space, please contact Dr. Tony Phillips to make arrangements. The cost of sponsorship is $500. Sponsors receive a complete video of the flight along with advertising exposure on spaceweather.com.

Email:
dr.tony.phillips@gmail.com




Astro Picture of the Day:
September 17, 2014

Source:
It has been a good week for auroras. Earlier this month active sunspot region 2158 rotated into view and unleashed a series of flares and plasma ejections into the Solar System during its journey across the Sun's disk. In particular, a pair of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) impacted the Earth's magnetosphere toward the end of last week, creating the most intense geomagnetic storm so far this year. Although power outages were feared by some, the most dramatic effects of these impacting plasma clouds were auroras seen as far south as Wisconsin, USA. In the featured image taken last Friday night, rays and sheets of multicolored auroras were captured over Acadia National Park, in Maine, USA. Since another CME plasma cloud is currently approaching the Earth, tonight offers another good chance to see an impressive auroral display.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-18-2014, 07:41 AM   #1054
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 18, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 18, 2014
-A minor CME expected to hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 17th apparently did not. Either it sailed wide of our planet or its impact was too puny to detect. With no CME to rattle Earth's magnetic field, NOAA forecasters have downgraded the chances of a geomagnetic storm today to only 20%.

-Iceland's largest volcano is restless. The Bardarbunga volcano system, located under the massive Vatnajoekull glacier, has been rocked by hundreds of tremors daily since mid-August. Lava is currently spewing from fissures, prompting fears of a much larger eruption. Local photographers, meanwhile, are having a great time recording a rare mix of lava-red and aurora-green in the night sky. Thorsten Boeckel sends this photo from Mývatn, Iceland. "The red shine of the fissure eruption together with the green aurora provided a phantastic view," he says.

A full-fledged eruption of this volcano has the potential to be even more disruptive than the 2010 eruption of nearby Eyjafjallajokull, which threw air traffic into chaos across Europe. According to the Icelandic Met Office, there are no signs of decreasing magma output as of Sept. 17th. This means more lava is in the offing--along with more phantastic photo-ops as aurora season unfolds around the Arctic Circle.


Astro Picture of the Day:
September 18, 2014

Source:
In this crowded starfield covering over 2 degrees within the high flying constellation Cygnus, the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic Cocoon punctuates a long trail of obscuring interstellar dust clouds. Cataloged as IC 5146, the nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 4,000 light years away. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by the young, hot stars and blue, dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. But the long dusty filaments that appear dark in this visible light image are themselves hiding stars in the process of formation that can be seen seen at infrared wavelengths.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-19-2014, 06:13 AM   #1055
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 19, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 19, 2014
-No geomagnetic storm was in the forecast for Sept. 19th, but a storm occurred anyway. Sky watchers around the Arctic Circle saw the midnight sky turn green as magnetometers registered an unexpected G1-class disturbance between 0300 and 0600 UT. "Suddenly there were lots of Northern Lights above the Lofoten Islands of Norway," reports Eric Fokke, who put his camera on the ground to record the display through a patch of mushrooms.

"Unfortunately there was no Moon to illuminate the mushroms, so I had to take this picture under streetlights," says Fokke. "The auroras were bright enough to see despite the manmade glare."

The source of the display was a fluctuation in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). During the early hours of Sept. 19th, the IMF tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in to fuel the storm.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of more polar geomagnetic storms tonight. In other words, if you're an Arctic photographer, there's a 1 in 5 chance you should find a pumpkin patch.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 19, 2014

Source:
For astrobiologists, these may be the four most tantalizing moons in our Solar System. Shown at the same scale, their exploration by interplanetary spacecraft has launched the idea that moons, not just planets, could have environments supporting life. The Galileo mission to Jupiter discovered Europa's global subsurface ocean of liquid water and indications of Ganymede's interior seas. At Saturn, the Cassini probe detected erupting fountains of water ice from Enceladus indicating warmer subsurface water on even that small moon, while finding surface lakes of frigid but still liquid hydrocarbons beneath the dense atmosphere of large moon Titan. Now looking beyond the Solar System, new research suggests that sizable exomoons, could actually outnumber exoplanets in stellar habitable zones. That would make moons the most common type of habitable world in the Universe.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-20-2014, 09:28 AM   #1056
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 20, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 20, 2014
-Although the sun is peppered with spots, not one them has the type of complex magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a slight 20% chance of M-class solar flares during what should be a quiet weekend.

-In bright twilight, Mercury and fainter Spica are in conjunction 0.6° apart just above the west-southwest horizon. Use binoculars to scan for them about 20 minutes after sunset.

The eclipsing variable star Algol (Beta Persei) should be at its minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple of hours centered on 10:55 p.m. EDT.

In early dawn on Sunday the 21st, the waning crescent Moon shines far below Jupiter and closer to the right of Regulus, as shown below.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 20, 2014

Source:
Against dark rifts of interstellar dust, the ebb and flow of starlight along the Milky Way looks like waves breaking on a cosmic shore in this night skyscape. Taken with a digital camera from the dunes of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, planet Earth, the monochrome image is reminiscent of the time when sensitive black and white film was a popular choice for dimmly lit night- and astro-photography. Looking south, the bright stars of Sagittarius and Scorpius are near the center of the frame. Wandering Mars, Saturn, and Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) form the compact triangle of bright celestial beacons farther right of the galaxy's central bulge. Of course, the evocative black and white beach scene could also be from that vintage 1950s scifi movie you never saw, "It Came From Beyond the Dunes."
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Old 09-20-2014, 06:41 PM   #1057
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

I was just stopping by when I came across this thread. Cool idea. FWIW, I've got a PhD in astronomy. That doesn't make me an expert in every area of the field though, and I'm not currently working in the field (I try to keep up, but it can be tough), but I can try to answer questions and such if you have them. Just note that I'm not a regular visitor here anymore, so responses might take a while. If you want to make sure I see something, sending a PM should give me an e-mail notification, so I'll know to check here. Thanks, and I'm glad to see the general interest in astronomy here!
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Old 09-21-2014, 02:32 PM   #1058
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dronak View Post
I was just stopping by when I came across this thread. Cool idea. FWIW, I've got a PhD in astronomy. That doesn't make me an expert in every area of the field though, and I'm not currently working in the field (I try to keep up, but it can be tough), but I can try to answer questions and such if you have them. Just note that I'm not a regular visitor here anymore, so responses might take a while. If you want to make sure I see something, sending a PM should give me an e-mail notification, so I'll know to check here. Thanks, and I'm glad to see the general interest in astronomy here!
That's awesome to hear, I will definitely be in contact with you, cheers! Always nice to see people in the field.


Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 21, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 21, 2014
-On Sept. 23th the sun will cross the celestial equator heading south, marking the end of northern summer. That's good news for high-latitude sky watchers because, for reasons researchers do not fully understand, auroras love equinoxes. At this time of year when the seasons are changing, even gentle gusts of solar wind can spark a nice display of Northern Lights. Harald Albrigtsen took the picture on Sept. 19th from Kvalřya, Norway. There was no geomagnetic storm predicted that night, and indeed no CME struck our planet. Instead a relatively minor fluctuation in the magnetic orientation of the solar wind sparked the display.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept 21st, and the probability of Arctic auroras is probably even higher than that.

-Sky watchers in parts of California are finding that, suddenly, they can view sunspots without a solar telescope. Smoke from the epic King Fire is providing a natural filter. David Wheat photographed the fiery sunset from Tuolumne CA. "Notice the 3 sunspots on the upper left of the solar disk " points out Wheat.

The fire, which began a week ago in a canyon east of Sacramento, has ballooned in size to 80,000 acres, larger than the city of Portland. Dense smoke has grounded planes and choked the air for hundreds of miles around the blaze--including a Sierra peak where the headquarters of Spaceweather.com is located. Because the fire is only 10% contained, fiery sunsets will likely continue for days to come.





Astro Picture of the Day:
September 21, 2014

Source:
How would Saturn look if its ring plane pointed right at the Sun? Before August 2009, nobody knew. Every 15 years, as seen from Earth, Saturn's rings point toward the Earth and appear to disappear. The disappearing rings are no longer a mystery -- Saturn's rings are known to be so thin and the Earth is so near the Sun that when the rings point toward the Sun, they also point nearly edge-on at the Earth. Fortunately, in this third millennium, humanity is advanced enough to have a spacecraft that can see the rings during equinox from the side. In August 2009, that Saturn-orbiting spacecraft, Cassini, was able to snap a series of unprecedented pictures of Saturn's rings during equinox. A digital composite of 75 such images is shown above. The rings appear unusually dark, and a very thin ring shadow line can be made out on Saturn's cloud-tops. Objects sticking out of the ring plane are brightly illuminated and cast long shadows. Inspection of these images is helping humanity to understand the specific sizes of Saturn's ring particles and the general dynamics of orbital motion. This week, Earth undergoes an equinox.
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Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
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Last edited by Bluearrowll; 09-22-2014 at 10:30 AM..
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Old 09-22-2014, 10:25 AM   #1059
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 22, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 22, 2014
-NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 23-24 when a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Solar wind plasma piles up in these regions, producing density gradients and shock waves that do a good job of sparking auroras.

-The northern autumnal equinox is less than a day away. That's good news for sky watchers because, for reasons researchers do not fully understand, auroras love equinoxes. At this time of year even gentle gusts of solar wind can spark a nice display of Northern Lights. Igor Matveev took the picture on Sept. 19th from Monchegorsk, Russia. There was no geomagnetic storm predicted that night--and no meteor shower. Yet Matveev saw both. "What luck!" he says. "I caught the entire meteor streaking beneath the auroras."

No CME was required to spark the auroras. Instead, a relatively minor fluctuation in the magnetism of the solar wind caused the display. Tomorrow's CIR (co-rotating interaction region), explained above, could be even more effective.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 22, 2014

Source:
Earth is at equinox. Over the next 24 hours, day and night have nearly equal duration all over planet Earth. Technically, equinox transpires at 2:29 am Universal Time tomorrow, but this occurs today in North and South America. This September equinox signal that winter is approaching in the northern hemisphere, and summer is approaching in the south. At equinox, the dividing line between the sunlit half of Earth and the nighttime half of Earth temporarily passes through Earth's north and south spin poles. This dividing line is shown in clear detail in the featured video, taken by the Russian meteorological satellite Elektro-L during last year's September equinox. The Elektro-L satellite is in geostationary orbit over one spot on Earth's equator and always points directly toward the Earth. The featured video shows a time lapse for an entire day surrounding the equinox, with a new image taken every 30 minutes. Cloud motions are visible as well as the reflection of the Sun are visible as the equinox day progressed. The next Earth equinox is scheduled for March.
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10th in D5 of the 2010 5th Official FFR Tournament
10th in D6 of the 2011-2012 6th Official FFR Tournament

FMO AAA Count: 71
FGO AAA Count: 10

Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
PS: Cool AAA's Terry
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Old 09-23-2014, 07:20 AM   #1060
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
September 23, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
September 23, 2014
-Solar activity is low. However, new sunspot AR2172 threatens to break the quiet. Karzaman Ahmad photographed the behemoth active region on Sept. 22nd from the Langkawi National Observatory in Maylasia. The sunspot's primary dark cores are nearly as wide as Earth, and the entire group stretches more than 80,000 km from end to end. These dimensions make AR2172 an easy target for small solar telescopes. "I took the picture using an 11-inch telescope," says Ahmad.

Yesterday, for a while, the sunspot's magnetic field displayed an unstable mixture of polarities that harbored energy for strong explosions. Now the threat has subsided. As the situation shifts back and forth, NOAA forcasters estimate a 30% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares on Sept. 23rd.

-Today, Sept. 23rd at 0229 UT, the sun crossed the celestial equator heading south. The crossing marks the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere--a.k.a. the autumnal equinox. Equinox means equal night. With the sun near the celestial equator, we experience equal amounts of daylight and darkness, 12 hours of each. Good news for sky watchers: It's also the beginning of aurora season.



Astro Picture of the Day:
September 23, 2014


Source:
That's no sunset. And that thin red line just above it -- that's not a sun pillar. The red glow on the horizon originates from a volcanic eruption, and the red line is the eruption's reflection from fluttering atmospheric ice crystals. This unusual volcanic light pillar was captured over Iceland earlier this month. The featured scene looks north from Jökulsárlón toward the erupting volcano Bárđarbunga in the Holuhraun lava field. Even the foreground sky is picturesque, with textured grey clouds in the lower atmosphere, shimmering green aurora in the upper atmosphere, and bright stars far in the distance. Although the last eruption from Holuhraun was in 1797, the present volcanic activity continues.
__________________
1st in Kommisar's 2009 SM Tournament
1st in I Love You`s 2009 New Year`s Tournament
3rd in EnR's Mashfest '08 tournament
5th in Phynx's Unofficial FFR Tournament
9th in D3 of the 2008-2009 4th Official FFR Tournament
10th in D5 of the 2010 5th Official FFR Tournament
10th in D6 of the 2011-2012 6th Official FFR Tournament

FMO AAA Count: 71
FGO AAA Count: 10

Bluearrowll = The Canadian player who can not detect awkward patterns. If it's awkward for most people, it's normal for Terry. If the file is difficult but super straight forward, he has issues. If he's AAAing a FGO but then heard that his favorite Hockey team was losing by a point, Hockey > FFR
PS: Cool AAA's Terry
- I Love You


An Alarm Clock's Haiku
beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep
- ieatyourlvllol
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