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. | | |
SOLAR FLARE: This morning at 1145 UT, an active region on the sun's western limb unleashed an M3-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the flash of extreme UV radiation:
Although the blast site was not directly facing Earth, radiation from the explosion nevertheless ionized Earth's upper atmosphere. This altered the propagation of radio signals around Europe, where it was high-noon at the time of the flare. "I detected a sharp change in signal levels from two radio stations on the VLF band," reports Rob Stammes of Lofoten, Norway.
In addition to the UV flash, the explosion also hurled a CME into space: SOHO movie. The cloud is not heading for Earth, so no auroras will result from this particular event. That's not to say, however, that no auroras are in the offing. Read on....
WEEKEND AURORAS: "I can tell that this aurora season is going to be mind-blowing," says photographer Brandon Lovett of Fairbanks, Alaska. "Night has completely returned to Fairbanks, and the aurora borealis has come out to take the place of the midnight sun." He took this picture on Sept. 3rd:
"The night began with scattered clouds and only a hint of the display taking place behind them," he says. "As the clouds cleared the aurora showed itself in full force. In a matter of seconds a thin glowing strip exploded into a display of pink and green dancing curtains. The ground matched the sky, casting shadows of my tripod and myself. It was spectacular to say the very least. All images are in un-retouched jpeg form."
More Northern Lights are possible on Sept 5th - 7th in response to the expected arrival of a minor solar wind stream. Arctic sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.
more images: from Chad Blakley of Abisko National Park, Sweden; from Bernt Olsen of Ersfjord, Troms, Norway; from B.Art Braafhart of Salla-Sallatunturi, Finnish Lapland; from Sylvain Serre of Ivujivik, Quebec, Canada; from Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway; from Helge Mortensen of Rekvik outside Tromsø, Norway; from Frank Olsen of Tromsø, Norway;
August 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Augusts: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]
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 September 4, 2011 there were 1244 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau |
| The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
| Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
| 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
| Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
| from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| the underlying science of space weather |
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