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ASTEROID
FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid
2012 BX34 will fly past Earth on Jan. 27th only
77,000 km (0.2 lunar distances) away. There is no
danger of a collision with the 14-meter wide space
rock. Advanced amateur astronomers might be able
to observe the flyby as the asteroid brightens to
14th magnitude just before closest approach on Friday
at 1530 UT. [3D
orbit] [ephemeris]
SUNSET
PLANETS: For the second day in
a row, Venus and the crescent Moon are shining together
in the sunset sky. Look west at the end of the day
for a beautiful view. New images:
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4,
#5,
#6,
#7,
#8,
#9,
#10,
#11,
#12.
MORE
SOLAR ACTIVITY: Sunspot AR1402,
the source of this week's powerful M9-class solar
flare, is acting up again. On Jan. 26th between
0100 UT and 0600 UT, a sequence of C-class
magnetic eruptions around the active region hurled
a bright coronal mass ejection over the sun's north
pole, shown here in a coronagraph image from the
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:
The cloud is not heading toward Earth,
at least not directly. This and future eruptions
from AR1402 are unlikely to be geoeffective as the
sunspot is turning away from our planet. By week's
end it will be on the far side of the sun, blasting
its CMEs toward planets on the opposite side of
the solar system.
AURORAS
OVER THE USA: The geomagnetic storm
of Jan. 24th died out before night fell over North
America--or did it? According to reports still trickling
in, auroras were reported not only in Canada, but
also in some of the lower 48 US states. Shawn Malone
of Marquette, Michigan, took this picture looking
north from the shores of Lake Superior:
"I got to view a slice of the
aurora through a tiny opening in an otherwise completely
overcast sky," says Malone. "It appeared
to be a pretty decent display."
Prompted by the CME warning, Mike
Hollingshead of Nebraska drove 450 miles to the
Badlands National Park of South Dakota hoping to
catch a glimpse of the auroras. He got more than
he bargained for: "While I waited for some
sign of auroras, the most amazing
fireball I've ever seen blasts down. It flashed
brightly and illuminated the terrain around me."
Later, the auroras made a belated appearance, turning
the badland
sky green.
More auroras could be in the offing.
A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, due to
arrive on Jan. 28-29. NOAA forecasters estimate
a 15% chance of geomagnetic storms at high latitudes.
Aurora alerts:
text,
voice.
more images: from
Stephan Hoglund of Grand Marais, Minnesota;
from
Kimberly S Mietzah Damkoehler of Houston, Alaska;
from
Robert Berdan of Calgary, Alberta; from
Bob Conzemius of Lake of the Woods, Minnesota;
from
Matt Melnyk of Edmonton, Alberta; from
Sylvain Serre of Ivujivik, Nunavik, Quebec,
Canada;
January
2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010,
2009,
2008,
2007, 2005,
2004]
Comet
Lovejoy Gallery
[previous comets: McNaught,
Holmes,
Lulin,
Tuttle,
Ikeya-Zhang]
