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DOCKED: Space shuttle Atlantis
arrived at the International Space Station today, and now the two
spacecraft are docked together. Amateur astronomers are encouraged
to turn their telescopes to the pair when
they pass overhead. Considerable detail can be seen, as shown
in this movie of
the ISS alone on June 3rd recorded by Ralf
Vandebergh using a 10-inch telescope in his backyard in the
Netherlands. Stay tuned for more; two spaceships are better than
one!
ACTIVE SUNSPOT: Decaying
sunspot 960 continues to erupt. The flares aren't big enough to
threaten astronauts in Earth orbit, but the activity is lovely to
behold, as shown in this June 9th photo from Gianluca Valentini
of Rimini, Italy:
Sunspot 960, the view through a Coronado solar
telescope
There is something curious about this double sunspot. Sunspots
are giant magnets, and like all magnets they have a north magnetic
pole and a south magnetic pole. Looking at sunspot 960, we would
expect one dark core to be north, and the other south. The two cores,
however, are both south. This
SOHO magnetogram shows the strange magnetic topography of the
region. Sunspot 960 does indeed have a north pole, but it is spread
over a wide area and does not resemble a pole at all. Strange!
more images: from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from
Michael Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from
Mike Taormina of Palatine, Illinois; from
Enrico Perissinotto of Premariacco (Udine) Italy.
AURORAS VS. NLCs: Dr. Francisco
Diego was flying from Los Angeles to London on June 9th when he
looked out the window and witnessed this colorful display over Hudson
Bay:
On the left is the aurora borealis, caused by charged
particles from the sun hitting Earth's upper atmosphere. The color
comes from oxygen molecules glowing green on impact. Auroras are
located 80 km to 500 km above the ground.
On the right is a bank of electric-blue noctilucent
clouds (NLCs), caused by ... what? No one knows precisely what
causes these clouds; a NASA mission named AIM
is in orbit to investigate. Noctilucent clouds are located about
80 km above the ground.
"The aurora was very dynamic. I took three pictures
a few seconds apart by pressing a small digital camera against the
plane's window and holding it there by hand," says Diego. Images:
#1,
#2,
#3.
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