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METEORS FROM HALLEY'S COMET: Today, May 6th, Earth is passing through a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. It's a mild but beautiful display best seen during the dark hours before sunrise. After the sun comes up, try listening for eta Aquarid echoes on Spaceweather.com's live meteor radar.
eta Aquarid images: from Tamas Ladanyi of Hegyestü, Hungary; from Samuel Todd near Huntsville, Alabama;
TWILIGHT BLASTERS: As northern summer approaches, nights around the Arctic Circle are growing brighter. Soon, the midnight sun will banish auroras altogether--but not yet. On May 4th in the Tombstone Territorial Park of Yukon, Canada, photographer Yuichi Takasaka witnessed a vivid green ribbon cutting through the twilight:
"The sun was only 9o below the horizon," says Takasaka. "Nevertheless, we could see the auroras. Between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock in the morning, I shot more than a thousand images, of which these nine were best."
The weekend outlook for more Northern Lights is not promising. Solar activity is low and a waxing Moon is about to add to the late-night glare. Fortunately, we still have the South Pole.
A FIREBALL THE SIZE OF EARTH: "When the sun rose on May 2nd, I was surprised to see a fully detached fireball prominence at the southwestern edge of the solar disk," reports amateur astronomer Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands. "Just imagine, a ball of fire with the size of the Earth thrown high in the solar skies!"
"I was stunned," he continues. "The prominence was rather faint, so I had to use a lot of gain to capture it, hence the noise: 'more gain = more grain.' But I am pleased that I captured it!"
more sun-shots: from Stephen W. Ramsden of Atlanta, Georgia; from John Minnerath of Crowheart, Wyoming; from Lyle Anderson of Duluth, Minnesota
April 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]