Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.
DARK FILAMENT: A dark filament is snaking across the sun today: image. Filaments are clouds of hydrogen held above the sun's surface by magnetic force fields. This one is remarkably long--more than 250,000 miles from end to end. If you have a solar telescope, take a look.
HARVEST MOON: Last night, the Harvest Moon tried to rise over the Atlantic coast of Maine, but the ocean wouldn't let go. John Stetson took this picture:
Eventually the Moon did break free. The distortion was just the temporary effect of Earth's atmosphere acting as a giant lens. A short time later, the window glass of a nearby lighthouse grabbed the Moon again. "Strange, indeed," says Stetson.
more images: from Dan Frissora at Century High School, Rochester, Minnesota; from Alfredo Garcia Jr of Tucson, Arizona; from Rob Ratkowski of Pukalani, Maui; from Steve Irvine of Big Bay, Ontario; from Tunç Tezel near Bolu, Turkey; from Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida;
ISS AND TYCHO: In Tracy, California, astrophotographer Ed Morana was watching the Harvest Moon, too, when the International Space Station flew by--almost eclipsing the crater Tycho:
ISS and Tycho: the view through a 10" Meade LX200-GPS.
Backlit by the Moon, the station resembles a letter T. The top of the T is formed by a new pair of solar arrays, delivered and installed by the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis last month. Spanning 240 feet from tip to tip and containing 130,000 individual solar cells, these wings supply up to 50 kW of power to the station--and they make a nice silhouette, too.