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. | | |
BIG SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR1416 tripled in size this weekend and, in the process, developed a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-flares during the next 24 hours. Any such eruption would likely be Earth-directed as the sunspot is facing our planet. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
IRANIAN SATELLITE: On Feb. 3rd, Iran launched the country's third satellite. Named "Navid," the 110-pound mini-spacecraft is meant to stay in orbit for 18 months, sending back images to Iran as it completes a revolution of Earth every 90 minutes. On Feb. 10th, veteran satellite observer Marco Langbroek photographed Navid as it passed over his home in Leiden, the Netherlands:
"It was a clear evening and I had a 71 degree elevation pass of Navid, which moves in a 250 x 375 km orbit," says Langbroek. "The satellite was invisible to the naked eye (I estimate its magnitude as +7), but my camera was able to record its faint trail moving just south of the alpha Persei star association. Measuring only 50 x 60 cm, Navid is the smallest object in orbit I have ever photographed."
Readers, although you can't see Navid, you can find out when it is flying overhead and possibly photograph it as Langbroek did. Local flyby times are available from SpaceWeather's Simple Satellite Tracker and Flybys App.
THE VIEW FROM ABOVE: On Friday, Feb. 10th, NASA released a new set of videos from the International Space Station that officials said was among "the most spectacular night imagery ever taken from space of the United States." After watching the following movie (48 MB), you might find it hard to disagree:
NASA describes the footage: "The sequence of shots was taken January 30, 2012 from 06:13:36 to 06:23:09 GMT, on a pass from northern Mexico to northwest New Brunswick. The video begins looking northeast over Texas, where cities like San Antonio, Houston, and the Dallas/Fort Worth area can be seen. Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and St. Louis are easily distinguished as the ISS continues northeast over the Great Plains. The video concludes with Chicago illuminating the southern edge of Lake Michigan, and auroras shimmering in the distance over Canada."
The auroras in the video appeared on a relatively uneventful night, geomagnetically speaking, when a CME completely missed Earth. Apparently, even the quiet nights are spellbinding onboard the ISS. Aurora alerts: text, voice.
January 2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004]
Comet Lovejoy Gallery
[previous comets: McNaught, Holmes, Lulin, Tuttle, Ikeya-Zhang]