Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.
MILD AURORAS: A solar wind stream hit Earth on Oct. 13th and sparked mild auroras over Scandinavia and Canada. A better display is possible on Oct. 19th or 20th when a more powerful solar wind stream is due.
WILD SUN: No, it's not science fiction. Space artist Mark Seibold really did see this through his solar telescope on Oct. 13th:
Rendered in pastel: the view through a SolarMax40 solar telescope.
It's a prominence--a glowing cloud of solar hydrogen held together by magnetic force fields. All weekend long, it danced along the sun's limb, mesmerizing photographers and artists alike. "I couldn't resist making this spirited pastel sketch," says Seibold.
Bad news: It's gone now--erupted! But don't put away your pastels. Big prominences pop up every week or so.
more images: from Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland; from Franck Charlier of Marines, Val d'Oise - France; from Robert Arnold on the Isle of Skye, Scotland; from Joel Bavais of Ath, Belgium; from Britta Suhre of Dortmund, NRW, Germany; from Rob Greaves of Warboys, UK; from John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine; from Erika Rix of Zanesville, Ohio;
CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: If this happened at midnight, it would be big news for sky watchers. Instead, it's happening at noon, and no one can see it.
"It" is a convergence of Venus, Mars and the bright star Spica. The three have surrounded the sun in a triangle only a few degrees wide:
Photo credit: Mila Zinkova in Pacifica, California.
Humans can't see the convergence, but SOHO can. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has an onboard coronagraph, which blocks the glare of the sun to reveal nearby stars and planets. The celestial triangle will be most compact on Oct. 17th. Join SOHO for a ringside seat.