Would you like to hear about solar flares--while they're flaring? Get instant alerts from SpaceWeather PHONE. SUCCESSFUL FLYBY: Last night, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew over the cloud tops of Venus at a velocity of more than 30,000 mph. Mission controllers say onboard systems performed flawlessly, gathering approximately 6 gigabits of data. Playback begins on June 7th with a full color mosaic of Venus and a first look at the exciting laser experiment due on June 8th. Stay tuned! CRACKLING SUNSPOT: Sunspot 960 may be in decay, but it is still crackling with explosions. Earlier today, "I was looking at the spot through my Coronado solar telescope when suddenly a C9-flare erupted," reports Günter Kleinschuster of Styria, Austria. Scrambling to set up his camera, he captured this image: "It was so bright that the surface was overexposed. What fun to look at!" he says. Stronger flares are possible. Sunspot 960 has a "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class explosions; NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of an X-flare during the next 24 hours. more images: from Alcaria Rego of Almada, Portugal; from Jean-Marc Lecleire of Torcy, France; from Robert Morlan of La Porte, Indiana; from Efrain Morales of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. MIDNIGHT SUN: Last week on Dønna Island, Norway, photographer Andreas D. Skjervold decided to photograph the sunset. "I set my camera upon a hill 128m above sea level--and waited," he says. "But the sun never set." Here is the picture he took at midnight: Photo details: Nikon D70, 300mm focal length, 1/400, f/5.6 This apparition of the midnight sun is a bit of a puzzle because "Dønna Island is 40 km south of the Arctic circle," points out Skjervold. What happened? Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley has the answer: "Three effects made this unexpected midnight sun," he explains. "Firstly, the horizon dips lower the higher you climb. Even a few hundred feet have a surprisingly large effect. Secondly, the atmosphere acts like a giant lens which raises upwards the sun and stars near the horizon. Something else is happening, air temperature gradients have miraged the sun almost into a line and helped duct its light around the horizon. A far more extreme form of mirage ducting is the Novaya Zemlya effect where the sun rises quite unexpectedly during the long arctic night - another form of midnight sun!" |