Metallic photos of the sun by renowned photographer Greg Piepol bring together the best of art and science. Buy one or a whole set. They make a stellar gift. |
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2012
TRANSIT OF VENUS: It won't happen
again until December 2117: On June 5th, 2012, Venus
will transit the face of the sun. The best places
to watch are in the mid-Pacific, but travel is not
required. The event is widely visible around the
world, including at sunset from the USA. [full
story] [video]
SOLAR
ECLIPSE THIS WEEKEND: On Sunday,
May 20th, the Moon will pass in front of the Sun,
producing an annular solar eclipse visible across
the Pacific side of Earth. The path of annularity,
where the sun will appear to be a "ring of
fire," stretches from China and Japan to the
middle of North America:
Image credits (left
to right): Hans
Coeckelberghs, Fred
Espenak, Dennis
Mammana
An animated
eclipse map prepared by Larry Koehn of ShadowandSubstance.com
shows the best times to look. In the United States,
the eclipse begins at 5:30 pm PDT and lasts for
two hours. Around 6:30 pm PDT, the afternoon sun
will become a luminous ring in places such as Medford,
Oregon; Chico, California; Reno, Nevada; St. George,
Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas.
Outside the narrow center line, the eclipse will
be partial. Observers almost everywhere west of
the Mississippi will see a crescent-shaped sun as
the Moon passes by off-center.
Because this is not a total eclipse,
some portion of the sun will always be exposed.
To prevent eye damage, use eclipse glasses, a safely-filtered
telescope, or a solar
projector to observe the eclipse. You can make
a handy solar projector by criss-crossing your fingers
waffle-style. Rays of light beaming through the
gaps will have the same shape as the eclipsed sun.
Or look on
the ground beneath leafy trees for crescent-shaped
sunbeams and rings of light.
Solar eclipse resources:
VENUS
TRANSFORMED: Something special
is happening to Venus in the evening sky. The second
planet is diving toward the sun for a much-anticipated
transit on June 5-6. As Venus turns its night
side toward Earth, the planet is transforming into
a beautifully slender and colorful crescent:
John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, took
the picture on May 14th using a 10-inch telescope.
"I was blown away by the sight of Venus,"
he says. "The planet was 14% illuminated, 47
arcseconds in diameter, and blazing at -4.43 magnitude."
The crescent shape of Venus is easy
to see in good binoculars or small
telescopes. No special observing experience
is required. Just find Venus in the western sky
after sunset (you can't miss it), point and look.
A good tripod to hold the optics steady is recommended.
As the evening wears on and Venus
sinks toward the horizon, the refractive effect
of Earth's atmosphere splits the crescent into the
colors of the rainbow. Kevin R. Witman of Cochranville,
Pennsylvania, observed the phenomenon on May 11th:
"Earth's atmospheric refraction of Venus's
ample light made a
beautiful image through my 10-inch telescope."
more images: from
Mark Marquette of Boones Creek, Tennessee; from
Philippe Vanden Doorn of Rixensart, Belgium; from
Luis Argerich of Buenos Aires, Argentina; from
Tomasz Gołombek of Tczew, Poland; from
Francesc Pruneda of Palamós, Catalonia (Spain);
from
Sadegh Ghomizadeh of Tehran, Iran;
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids ( PHAs)
are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that
can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the
known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet,
although astronomers are finding new
ones all the time.
On
May 20, 2012 there were 1293
potentially hazardous asteroids.
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on
the date of closest approach.
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The
official U.S. government space weather bureau |
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The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
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Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
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3D
views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Relations Observatory |
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Realtime
and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
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from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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the
underlying science of space weather |
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