Old 10-13-2014, 08:45 AM   #1081
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 13, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 13, 2014
-High-latitude auroras are possible on Oct. 14th when Earth crosses through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet. This is called a "solar sector boundary crossing," and NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of polar geomagnetic storms when it occurs.

-Look up at the Moon. The surface of Earth's satellite never seems to change. Indeed, planetary scientists have long thought that lunar volcanism came to an abrupt end about a billion years ago, and little has changed since. On Oct. 12th, NASA announced evidence to the contrary. A camera onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has found signs of eruptions that occurred no more than 100 million years ago. 100 million years may sound like a long time, but in geological terms it's just a blink of an eye. The volcanic craters LRO found were erupting during the Cretaceous period--the heyday of dinosaurs. Some of the volcanic features may be even younger, 50 million years old, a time when mammals were replacing dinosaurs as dominant lifeforms.

"This finding is the kind of science that is literally going to make geologists rewrite the textbooks about the Moon," said John Keller, LRO project scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center."

Using its high-resolution camera, LRO has found scores of these geologically "fresh" eruptions. The features are too small to be seen from Earth, averaging less than a third of a mile (500 meters) across in their largest dimension, but they appear to be widespread.

"These young volcanic features are prime targets for future exploration, both robotic and human," said Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) at Arizona State University.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 13, 2014


Source:
What causes sprite lightning? Mysterious bursts of light in the sky that momentarily resemble gigantic jellyfish have been recorded for over 25 years, but their root cause remains unknown. Some thunderstorms have them -- most don't. Recently, however, high speed videos are better detailing how sprites actually develop. The featured video is fast enough -- at about 10,000 frames per second -- to time-resolve several sprite "bombs" dropping and developing into the multi-pronged streamers that appear on still images. Unfortunately, the visual clues provided by these videos do not fully resolve the sprite origins mystery. They do indicate to some researchers, though, that sprites are more likely to occur when plasma irregularities exist in the upper atmosphere. Plasma Irregularities: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/14...comms4740.html
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Old 10-14-2014, 08:29 AM   #1082
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 14, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 14, 2014
-When the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in August, one of the biggest surprises was the boulders: The comet's core is littered with them. Rosetta's OSIRIS camera photographed this specimen, a 45-meter-wide behemoth named "Cheops," on Sept. 19th. On Nov. 12th, Rosetta will drop a lander onto the surface of the comet, and these boulders are a key hazard Philae must avoid.

But are they really boulders? "Maybe they only look like rocky boulders," says Art Chmielewski, the US Rosetta Project Manager at JPL. "Some scientists believe that they are 'flimsy' boulders. They may be more like dirty snow balls made in very cold weather. If so they are very fragile and would collapse under the lander. I hope Philae will not find out if that is true."

Claudia Alexander, the Project Scientist for the US Rosetta Project says the boulders could be telling us something new about the way comets "sublimate"--that is, the way sunlight converts cometary ices into jets of gas. "I personally wonder if we've gotten the sublimation process understood in the reverse. In other other words, instead of sublimation coming forth from a crack or fissure in the ground, sublimation emerges from cliff-sides, or 'spires' or vertical features, and then these features collapse when the vapor has been evacuated." Boulders could be debris from such a process.

"Obviously Rosetta is perfectly poised to make the measurements that will help us understand the physics of this process, and better understand cometary geology!"



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 14, 2014


Source:
Higher than the highest mountain lies the realm of the aurora. Auroras rarely reach below 60 kilometers, and can range up to 1000 kilometers. Aurora light results from energetic electrons and protons striking atoms and molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. Somewhat uncommon, an auroral corona appears as a center point for a surrounding display and may occur when an aurora develops directly overhead, or when auroral rays are pointed nearly toward the observer. This picturesque but brief green and purple aurora exhibition occurred last month high above Kvaløya, Tromsø, Norway. The Sessøyfjorden fjord runs through the foreground, while numerous stars are visible far in the distance.
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Old 10-15-2014, 07:58 AM   #1083
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 15, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 15, 2014
-This Sunday, Oct. 19th, Comet Siding Spring will pass only 140,000 km from Mars. The encounter is so close, the atmosphere of the comet could brush against the atmosphere of the planet. Will this spark auroras on Mars? A video below from NASA weighs the odds of some very strange space weather.

-Last-quarter Moon (exactly so at 3:12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises around midnight tonight, below Gemini. By early dawn on Thursday the 16th it's very high in the south — with Pollux and Castor above it, Procyon to its lower right, and bright Jupiter shining farther to its lower left.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 15, 2014


Source:
What is that changing object in a cold hydrocarbon sea of Titan? Radar images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn have been recording the surface of the cloud-engulfed moon Titan for years. When imaging the flat -- and hence radar dark -- surface of the methane and ethane lake called Ligeia Mare, an object appeared in 2013 just was not there in 2007. Subsequent observations in 2014 found the object remained -- but had changed! The featured image shows how the 20-km long object has appeared and evolved. Current origin speculative explanations include bubbling foam and floating solids, but no one is sure. Future observations may either resolve the enigma or open up more speculation.
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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 10-16-2014, 09:23 AM   #1084
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 16, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 16, 2014
-For the second day in a row, auroras are dancing around the Arctic Circle. The lights were sparked by a minor CME impact on Oct. 14th and amplified on Oct. 15th when Earth passed through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued polar geomagnetic storms on Oct. 16th.

-A sunspot capable of powerful eruptions is about to rotate onto the Earthside of the sun. It announced itself on Oct. 14th by hurling a spectacular CME over the sun's southeastern limb:

The underlying explosion was hidden behind the southeastern edge of the sun. Even in eclipse, however, the blast registered M2 on the Richter Scale of Solar Flares. The actual rating must have been must higher, perhaps even X-class.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 16, 2014


Source:
This Rosetta spacecraft selfie was snapped on October 7th. At the time the spacecraft was about 472 million kilometers from planet Earth, but only 16 kilometers from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Looming beyond the spacecraft near the top of the frame, dust and gas stream away from the comet's curious double-lobed nucleus and bright sunlight glints off one of Rosetta's 14 meter long solar arrays. In fact, two exposures, one short and one long, were combined to record the dramatic high contrast scene using the CIVA camera system on Rosetta's still-attached Philae lander. Its chosen primary landing site is visible on the smaller lobe of the nucleus. This is the last image anticipated from Philae's cameras before the lander separates from Rosetta on November 12. Shortly after separation Philae will take another image looking back toward the orbiter, and begin its descent to the nucleus of the comet.
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Old 10-17-2014, 10:42 AM   #1085
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 17, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 17, 2014
-Before dawn Saturday morning, Jupiter shines above the waning Moon, as shown at right. Although they look rather close together, Jupiter is 2,100 times farther in the background — it's at a distance of 47 light-minutes, compared to the Moon's 1.3 light-seconds.

-On Sunday, Oct. 19th, Comet Siding Spring will pass only 140,000 km away from Mars. For comparison, that's about 1/3rd the distance between Earth and the Moon. For a while last year, astronomers thought the comet might actually hit Mars, setting off a cataclysmic climate change experiment, but now we know it's going to be a near miss. Last night, only three days before closest approach, astrophotographer Damian Peach snapped this picture. "The comet is presently moving against the dense star clouds of the southern Milky Way," says Peach. "Soon, however, it will reach Mars."

An international fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers will observe the encounter from close range. The most interesting data could come from MAVEN, a NASA spacecraft that has reached Mars just ahead of the comet. MAVEN is designed to study the martian atmosphere. That's good, because when the comet arrives, the atmosphere of the comet will likely brush against the atmosphere of Mars, possibly sparking auroras on the Red Planet. MAVEN could record these alien lights.

"Just as exciting," adds comet researcher Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab, "is the prospect of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera being able to actually resolve (i.e. determine the shape of) the nucleus of the comet. ESA and NASA spacecraft have seen comet nuclei before, but comet Siding Spring is a little different. It's an 'Oort Cloud comet' on its first ever foray into our solar system. This means it is largely pristine and will likely not have undergone any major changes since it formed. We've never seen one of these comets up close. Never. We don't know exactly what to expect."

Experienced amateur astronomers with mid-sized telescopes and sensitive digital cameras should have no trouble photographing Comet Siding Spring in the nights ahead. It can be found glowing like a 12th magnitude star in the constellation Ophiuchus right next to ... you guessed it ... the planet Mars.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 17, 2014


Source:
This looks like a near miss but the greenish coma and tail of Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) are really 2,000 light-years or so away from the stars of open cluster Messier 6. They do appear close together though, along the same line-of-sight in this gorgeous October 9th skyscape toward the constellation Scorpius. Still, on Sunday, October 19th this comet really will be involved in a near miss, passing within only 139,500 kilometers of planet Mars. That's about 10 times closer than any known comet flyby of planet Earth, and nearly one third the Earth-Moon distance. While an impact with the nucleus is not a threat the comet's dust, moving with a speed of about 56 kilometers per second relative to the Red Planet, and outskirts of its gaseous coma could interact with the thin Martian atmosphere. Of course, the comet's close encounter will be followed intently by spacecraft in Martian orbit and rovers on the surface.
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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 10-18-2014, 10:19 AM   #1086
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 18, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 18, 2014
-Most rainbows are caused by light reflected once, or sometimes twice, inside raindrops. Larger numbers of reflections are possible, but the rainbows they create are very rare. After years of searching, atmospheric optics experts have sighted a rainbow caused by five reflections, the elusive 5th-order rainbow. Details here:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz1063.htm
Publication: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ao/abs...ri=ao-54-4-B26

-A large and active sunspot is rotating over the sun's southeastern limb on Oct. 17th. J. P. Brahic sends this picture of the behemoth to spaceweather.com from Uzès, France:

"I inserted a picture of Earth for scale," says Brahic. The sunspot's primary dark core could swallow our entire planet with room to spare.

This sunspot could cause a sharp increase in solar activity over the weekend. Earlier this week, while it was still hidden behind the southeastern limb, the active region unleashed several M-class solar flares and hurled a massive CME into space. Considering the fact that the blast site was partially eclipsed by the edge of the sun, those flares were probably much stronger than their nominal classification. Now that the sunspot has revealed itself, X-flares may be in the offing.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 18, 2014


Source:
Cosmic clouds form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster, Melotte 15. About 1.5 million years young, the cluster stars are toward the right in this colorful skyscape, along with dark dust clouds in silhouette against glowing atomic gas. A composite of narrowband and broadband telescopic images, the view spans about 30 light-years and includes emission from ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms mapped to green, red, and blue hues in the popular Hubble Palette. Wider field images reveal that IC 1805's simpler, overall outline suggests its popular name - The Heart Nebula. IC 1805 is located about 7,500 light years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.
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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 10-19-2014, 10:48 AM   #1087
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 19, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 19, 2014
-Today, Oct. 19th, Comet Siding Spring is buzzing Mars. The encounter is so close, the atmosphere of the comet could brush against the atmosphere of the planet. Will this spark auroras on Mars? Follow a webcast of the encounter courtesy of the Virtual Telescope project; watch in real time starting at 16:45 UT (12:45 p.m. EDT) today, or watch the recording later. LINK: http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2014/...-online-event/

-This comes as no surprise. Behemoth sunspot AR2192 has unleashed an X1-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast in this extreme UV image of the sun on Oct. 19th (0500 UT). A pulse of ultraviolet and X-radiation from the flare caused a brief but strong HF radio blackout on the dayside of Earth, mainly over Asia and Australia. Also, the explosion probably hurled a CME into space. This possibility has not yet been confirmed by SOHO coronagraph data. If a CME is forthcoming, it will probably sail wide of Earth due to the sunspot's location near the sun's eastern limb.

Big sunspots tend to produce big flares, and clearly AR2192 is no exception. More X-flares are likely as AR2192 turns toward Earth in the days ahead. Also, if you have a solar telescope, point it at the sun. This active region is a real beauty.






Astro Picture of the Day:
October 19, 2014


Source:
Comet McNaught was perhaps the most photogenic comet of modern times -- from Earth. After making quite a show in the northern hemisphere in early January of 2007, the comet moved south and developed a long and unusual dust tail that dazzled southern hemisphere observers. In late January 2007, Comet McNaught was captured between Mount Remarkable and Cecil Peak in this spectacular image taken from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand. The bright comet dominates the right part of the above image, while the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy dominates the left. Careful inspection of the image will reveal a meteor streak just to the left of the comet. Today, Comet Siding Spring may become the most photogenic comet of modern times -- from Mars.
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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 10-23-2014, 10:41 AM   #1088
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 20, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 20, 2014
-Big sunspot AR2192 has grown even bigger, spreading across 1/3rd more solar terrain today than it did yesterday. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the expansion. The chances of an explosion are growing along with the sunspot. On Oct. 20th, NOAA forecasters boosted the odds of an M-class flare to 60% and an X-flare to 20%.

Yesterday, the sunspot produced a long-duration X1-flare and a strong HF radio blackout over Asia and Australia. The next X-flare, if one occurs, will be even more geoeffective as the sunspot turns toward Earth.

If you have a solar telescope, now is a great time to look at the sun. AR2192 looks absolutely spectacular.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 20, 2014


Source:
Yesterday, a comet passed very close to Mars. In fact, Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) passed closer to the red planet than any comet has ever passed to Earth in recorded history. To take advantage of this unique opportunity to study the close interaction of a comet and a planet, humanity currently has five active spacecraft orbiting Mars: NASA's MAVEN, MRO, Mars Odyssey, as well as ESA's Mars Express, and India's Mars Orbiter. Most of these spacecraft have now sent back information that they have not been damaged by small pieces of the passing comet. These spacecraft, as well as the two active rovers on the Martian surface -- NASA's Opportunity and Curiosity -- have taken data and images that will be downloaded to Earth for weeks to come and likely studied for years to come. The featured image taken yesterday, however, was not taken from Mars but from Earth and shows Comet Siding Spring on the lower left as it passed Mars, on the upper right.





Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 21, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 21, 2014
-The biggest sunspot of the current solar cycle is turning toward Earth. This morning when astronomer Karzaman Ahmad of Malaysia's Langkawi Nagtional Observatory looked through the eyepiece of his solar telescope, he declared AR2192 a "monster" and snapped this picture. This behemoth active region is 125,000 km wide, almost as big as the planet Jupiter. These dimensions make it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes.

A few days ago, AR2192 unleashed an X1-class solar flare. Since then the sunspot has almost doubled in size and developed an increasingly unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field. It would seem to be just a matter of time before another strong explosion occurs. NOAA forecasters estimate at 60% chance of M-class flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on Oct. 21st.

-A high-speed stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, sparking bright lights around both poles. "This evening the auroras appeared everywhere," reports Anne Birgitte Fyhn, who photographed the display from a pond on Kvaløya island, Tromsø, Norway. "They were amazing," she says. "I ran around the pond a couple of times taking pictures from different spots. Finally, I decided to just sit down, look up, and enjoy the show."

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras on Oct. 21-22. NOAA forecasters estmate a 45% chance of geomagnetic storms as the solar wind continues to blow.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 21, 2014


Source:
Whatever hit Mimas nearly destroyed it. What remains is one of the largest impact craters on one of Saturn's smallest moons. The crater, named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel, spans about 130 kilometers and is pictured above. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. The above image was taken during the 2010 February flyby of the robot spacecraft Cassini now in orbit around Saturn. A recent analysis of Mimas's unusual wobble indicates that it might house a liquid water interior ocean.




Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 22, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 22, 2014
-Solar activity is high. During the past 48 hours, monster sunspot AR2192 has produced a series of seven M-class solar flares of increasing intensity. The eruptions crossed the threshold into X-territory with an X1-class flare on Oct. 22nd. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a powerful flash of extreme UV radiation in the sunspot's magnetic canopy at 14:30 UT. Remarkably, not one of the explosions so far has hurled a significant CME toward Earth. The primary effect of the flares has been to ionize Earth's upper atmosphere, causing a series of short-lived HF radio communications blackouts. Such blackouts may be noticed by amateur radio operators, aviators, and mariners.

Earth-effects could increase in the days ahead. AR2192 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for powerful explosions, and the active region is turning toward Earth. NOAA forecasters estimate at 65% chance of M-class flares and a 20% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

AR2192 is shaping up to be the biggest sunspot in many years. Its area is now approaching that of AR0486, the last great sunspot of the previous solar cycle, which covered 2610 millionths of the solar disc on Oct. 30, 2003. As of 0h UT today AR 2192 is 2410 millionths. (Thanks to Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory for this comparison.) The sun face from October 30, 2003 is shown below side-by-side with the sun face today for comparison.

Because the sunspot is so large--now about as wide as the planet Jupiter--people are beginning to notice it at sunset when the sun is dimmed by clouds or haze. Pilot Brian Whittaker took this picture on Oct. 21st while flying 36,000 ft over Resolute, Nunavut, Canada. "I was impressed to photograph the giant sunspot as the sun set over Arctic Canada," says Whittaker. "Actually, the sun was temporarily rising because of our great relative speed over the lines of longitude at N75 degrees! Note the green upper rim."





Astro Picture of the Day:
October 22, 2014


Source:
One of the largest sunspot groups in recent years is now crossing the Sun. Labelled Active Region 2192, it has already thrown a powerful solar flare and has the potential to produce more. The featured video shows a time lapse sequence of the Sun in visible and ultraviolet light taken yesterday and incorporating the previous 48 hours. AR 2192, rotating in from the left, rivals Jupiter in size and is literally crackling with magnetic energy. The active Sun has caused some spectacular auroras in recent days, and energetic particles originating from AR 2192 may help continue them over the next week. Tomorrow, the Sun will appear unusual for even another reason: a partial solar eclipse will be visible before sunset from much of North America.




Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 23, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 23, 2014
-On Thursday, Oct. 23rd, the Moon will pass in front of the sun, off center, producing a partial solar eclipse visible from almost all of North America. This animated visibility map shows when to look. LINK: http://shadowandsubstance.com/ The event will be particularly beautiful in the Central and Eastern time zones where maximum eclipse occurs at sunset.

The farther north and west you are, the deeper Thursday afternoon's partial solar eclipse will become.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 23, 2014


Source:
This wide, sharp telescopic view reveals galaxies scattered beyond the stars and faint dust nebulae of the Milky Way at the northern boundary of the high-flying constellation Pegasus. Prominent at the upper right is NGC 7331. A mere 50 million light-years away, the large spiral is one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. The disturbed looking group of galaxies at the lower left is well-known as Stephan's Quintet. About 300 million light-years distant, the quintet dramatically illustrates a multiple galaxy collision, its powerful, ongoing interactions posed for a brief cosmic snapshot. On the sky, the quintet and NGC 7331 are separated by about half a degree.
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Old 10-24-2014, 06:01 AM   #1089
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 24, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 24, 2014
-The afternoon sun over North America looked a little unusual on Thursday. It was crescent shaped. James W. Young photographed the phenomenon from Wrightwood, California. "What a beautiful eclipse," says Young. "Sunspot AR2192 made it extra special."

Millions of sky watchers in Canada, the USA and Mexico saw the Moon pass in front of the sun, covering as much as 70% of the solar disk over Alaska and as little as 12% over Florida.

-I've also included my own shot of the same sunspot group from my 300mm lens in Toronto, albeit not a impressive of a shot.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 24, 2014


Source:
As you (safely!) watched the progress of yesterday's partial solar eclipse, you probably also spotted a giant sunspot group. Captured in this sharp telescopic image from October 22nd the complex AR 2192 is beautiful to see, a sprawling solar active region comparable in size to the diameter of Jupiter. Like other smaller sunspot groups, AR 2192 is now crossing the Earth-facing side of the Sun and appears dark in visible light because it is cooler than the surrounding surface. Still, the energy stored in the region's twisted magnetic fields is enormous and has already generated powerful explosions, including two X-class solar flares this week. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with the flares have not affected planet Earth, so far. The forecast for further activity from AR 2192 is still significant though, as it swings across the center of the solar disk and Earth-directed CMEs become possible.
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Old 10-24-2014, 07:42 AM   #1090
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Hey, aren't those sun spots dangerous? I heard if the sun shot out a flare at the earth that it would act like an emp if it was a direct shot.
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Also why is "summon" in quotation marks as usually that signifies an alternate meaning like for example last night I "visited" your mother but it really means last night I "fucked her in the ass" so exactly what is the subtext of "summon" because I am not sure I am comfortable with the implications

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im usually the "nice guy" around these parts.. but this is bad, and you should feel bad. i would rather dip my balls in honey and hover them over a red ant hill than to ever hear such butchered crap.
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Old 10-25-2014, 09:28 AM   #1091
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Riotpolice View Post
Hey, aren't those sun spots dangerous? I heard if the sun shot out a flare at the earth that it would act like an emp if it was a direct shot.
For the most part, no. Earth has a magnetic shield that deflects most of the damage that can be inflicted by CMEs caused by flares from these sunspots. The exception to this is if the sunspots harbour the power to launch a massive flare deep in the X-Class range. Most sunspots never get this close, but the current sunspot group is one of the largest in over 10 years. The last major flare was an X10 fired away in 2003 by the sunspot group posted on the October 22 day, but even then, Earth was able to hold the fort just fine. Latey, flares have not been firing significant CMEs, and the blast ejecta instead has been falling back towards the sun. This means the greatest threat per se are immediate, but brief, radio blackouts on whichever region of the Earth was facing the sun at the time of the flare. I recommend giving the suspicious0bservers video for this week a watch for a graphic explanation of what happens with the flares / blackouts of today.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 25, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 25, 2014
-Giant sunspot AR2192 erupted again on Oct. 24th (21:40 UT), producing a powerful X3-class solar flare. Using a backyard solar telescope, Sergio Castillo of Corona, California, was monitoring the sunspot when it exploded, and he snapped this picture. "This flare was so intense that it almost shorted out my computer! Well ... not really," says Castillo, "but I knew right away that it was an X-class eruption."

A pulse of extreme UV radiation from the flare ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, causing a brief but strong blackout of HF radio communications over the dayside of Earth. Such blackouts may be noticed by amateur radio operators, aviators, and mariners.

Coronagraph data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) suggest that the explosion did not hurl a significant CME toward our planet. (Interestinngly, none of the X-flares from this active region has so far produced a major CME.) As a result, Earth-effects may be limited to the radio blackout.

-Sunspot AR2192, now facing Earth, is the largest sunspot of the current solar cycle. Sprawling across more than 200,000 km of solar terrain, wider than the planet Jupiter, this is the type of sunspot that comes along every 10 years or so. To put AR2192 in context, spaceweather.com reader Hagan Hensley of San Antonio TX placed it beside pictures of two other significant sunspots from the years 2001 and 1947.

"Using Photoshop, I created this composite image of three big sunspots: AR2192 (2014), AR9393 (2001) and the great sunspot of 1947, the largest ever recorded," explains Hensley. "Positions on the solar disk shifted somewhat to avoid overlap."

Spaceweather.com didn't exist in 1947, so we're not sure what happened then. In 2001, however, giant sunspot AR9393 was fully covered by the web site. In March of that year, the sunspot unleashed multiple X-flares, caused radio blackouts and radiation storms, and sparked red auroras seen as far south as Mexico.

-Despite shrinking by ~10% on Oct. 24th, sunspot AR2192 remains the largest and most active sunspot of the current solar cycle. By far. NOAA forecasters estimate an 85% chance of M-class flares and a 45% chance of X-flares on Oct. 25th.




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 25, 2014


Source:
A New Moon joined giant sunspot group AR 2192 to dim the bright solar disk during Thursday's much anticipated partial solar eclipse. Visible from much of North America, the Moon's broad silhouette is captured in this extreme telephoto snapshot near eclipse maximum from Santa Cruz, California. About the size of Jupiter, the remarkable AR 2192 itself darkens a noticeable fraction of the Sun, near center and below the curved lunar limb. As the sunspot group slowly rotates across the Sun and out of view in the coming days its activity is difficult to forecast. But the timing of solar eclipses is easier to predict. The next will be a total solar eclipse on March 20, 2015.
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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 10-26-2014, 08:40 AM   #1092
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 26, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 26, 2014
-Giant sunspot AR2192 is growing again, which means high solar activity is unlikely to subside this weekend. NOAA forecasters estimate an 85% chance of M-class flares and a 45% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours.

-Since Friday, AR2192 has produced two major X-class solar flares: X3 (Oct. 24 @ 2140 UT) and X1 (Oct 25 @ 1709 UT). An X2 erupted just 3 hours ago.

-On Oct. 23rd, just as the New Moon was about to pass in front of the sun, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a helium balloon carrying a Nikon D7000 camera. Their goal: to set the record for high-altitude photography of an eclipse. During a two-hour flight to the edge of space, the camera captured 11 images of the crescent sun. The final picture, taken just a split second before the balloon exploded, was GPS-tagged with an altitude of 108,900 feet.

To put this achievement into context, consider the following: Most people who photographed the eclipse carefully mounted their cameras on a rock-solid tripod, or used the precision clock-drive of a telescope to track the sun. The students, however, managed the same trick from an un-stabilized platform, spinning, buffeted by wind, and racing upward to the heavens at 15 mph. Their photos show that DLSR astrophotography from an suborbital helium balloon is possible, and they will surely refine their techniques for even better photos in the future.

Earth to Sky Calculus: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Earth...74490502634920




Astro Picture of the Day:
October 26, 2014


Source:
What would you see if you went right up to a black hole? Featured is a computer generated image highlighting how strange things would look. The black hole has such strong gravity that light is noticeably bent towards it - causing some very unusual visual distortions. Every star in the normal frame has at least two bright images - one on each side of the black hole. Near the black hole, you can see the whole sky - light from every direction is bent around and comes back to you. The original background map was taken from the 2MASS infrared sky survey, with stars from the Henry Draper catalog superposed. Black holes are thought to be the densest state of matter, and there is indirect evidence for their presence in stellar binary systems and the centers of globular clusters, galaxies, and quasars.
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Old 10-27-2014, 08:11 AM   #1093
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 27, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 27, 2014
-AR2192 is the biggest sunspot in nearly 25 years, and it is still growing. The active region now covers 2750 millionths of the solar disk, an area equivalent to 33 planet Earths skinned and spread out flat. It is so large that sky watchers are seeing it with the naked eye when the sun is dimmed by low-hanging clouds or, in this case, dense fog. Barry Freas took the picture on October 26th from Red Hill, Kentucky. "It was a very foggy morning," he says. "AR2192 was remarkable."

Big sunspots tend to produce strong flares, and AR2192 is no exception. It is crackling with magnetic activity. In the past three days alone it has unleashed 3 X-class flares and 8 M-flares. The most intense of these flares have caused HF radio blackouts and other communication disturbances on the dayside of Earth.

Usually, strong flares are accompanied by massive CMEs--billion-ton clouds of electrified gas that billow away from the blast site. So far, however, none of the eruptions from AR2192 has produced a major CME. Without a series of CMEs to hit Earth and rattle our planet's magnetic field, there have been no geomagnetic storms nor any widespread auroras.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 27, 2014


Source:
What's that in front of the Sun? The closest object is an airplane, visible just below the Sun's center and caught purely by chance. Next out are numerous clouds in Earth's atmosphere, creating a series of darkened horizontal streaks. Farther out is Earth's Moon, seen as the large dark circular bite on the upper right. Just above the airplane and just below the Sun's surface are sunspots. The main sunspot group captured here, AR 2192, is one of the largest ever recorded and has been crackling and bursting with flares since it came around the edge of the Sun early last week. Taken last Thursday, this show of solar silhouettes was unfortunately short-lived. Within a few seconds the plane flew away. Within a few minutes the clouds drifted off. Within a few hours the partial solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon was over. Only the sunspot group remains, but within a few more days even AR 2192 will disappear around the edge of the Sun. Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even unexpected alignments are surprisingly frequent.
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Old 10-28-2014, 06:35 AM   #1094
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 28, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 28, 2014
-Super-sunspot AR2192 produced another strong flare on Oct. 27th. The X2-category blast ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere and caused a strong HF radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean basin as well in South America and western Africa. The blackout started at ~10:15 am EDT (1415 UTC) and lasted for about an hour.

-High-latitude auroras are possible on Oct. 28th when Earth crosses through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet. This is called a "solar sector boundary crossing," and NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of polar geomagnetic storms when it occurs.

Astro Picture of the Day:
October 28, 2014



Source:
Why would Mars appear to move backwards? Most of the time, the apparent motion of Mars in Earth's sky is in one direction, slow but steady in front of the far distant stars. About every two years, however, the Earth passes Mars as they orbit around the Sun. During the most recent such pass starting late last year, Mars as usual, loomed large and bright. Also during this time, Mars appeared to move backwards in the sky, a phenomenon called retrograde motion. Featured here is a series of images digitally stacked so that all of the stars coincide. Here, Mars appears to trace out a narrow loop in the sky. At the center of the loop, Earth passed Mars and the retrograde motion was the highest. Retrograde motion can also be seen for other Solar System planets.
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Old 10-29-2014, 07:19 AM   #1095
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Default Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Daily Suspicious0bserver's Weather Post:
October 29, 2014


What's in the sky tonight?
October 29, 2014
-NASA's vision for future space flight includes using private companies to conduct routine launches of food and supplies to the International Space Station. Tuesday night's explosion of an Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) supply rocket reminds us that nothing about space flight is routine. "Launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking," said NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier after watching the spacecraft turn into a fireball moments after liftoff. Despite this setback, the US commercial space program seems to have a bright future. OSC successfully sent two rockets to the space station earlier this year, and SpaceX has sent four since 2012. Orbital's Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson says, "We will conduct a thorough investigation immediately to determine the cause of this failure and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of this incident."

-The biggest sunspot in nearly 25 years is about to leave the solar disk. This picture from Sergio Castillo of Corona CA shows AR2192 approaching the western limb on Oct. 27th. "For its final trick, AR2192 is going to treat us by mimicking a Giant Skull," says Castillo, one of many readers who has noted the resemblance between the sunspot and a skeletal face. "Say Happy Halloween as it gets ready to turn away from us. "

As AR2192 approaches the sun's horizon, it is no longer facing Earth. However, the odds of an Earth-directed radiation storm are higher than ever. The reason is, the western limb of the sun is well-connected to Earth. Solar magnetic fields springing out of that region spiral back to our planet. If a sunspot passing through the area explodes, those spiralling magnetic fields can funnel energetic particles in our direction.

In only a few days, the behemoth sunspot will begin a 2-week transit of the far side of the sun, carried around by the sun's 27-day rotation. However, that doesn't mean we've seen the last of this magnificent active region. Big sunspots typically persist for two or three solar rotations before they decay. After it departs in October, AR2192 will probaby return in November.



Astro Picture of the Day:
October 29, 2014


Source:
Sometimes your eclipse viewing goes bad in an interesting way. While watching and photographing last Thursday's partial solar eclipse, a popular astronomy blogger suffered through long periods of clouds blocking the Sun. Unexpectedly, however, a nearby cloud began to show a rare effect: iridescence. Frequently part of a more familiar solar corona effect, iridescence is the diffraction of sunlight around a thin screen of nearly uniformly-sized water droplets. Different colors of the sunlight become deflected by slightly different angles and so come to the observer from slightly different directions. This display, featured here, was quite bright and exhibited an unusually broad range of colors. On the right, the contrails of an airplane are also visible.
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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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