NEW SOLAR CYCLE PREDICTION: An international panel of experts has issued a new prediction for the solar cycle which takes into account the surprisingly deep solar minimum of 2008-2009. Read today's story from Science@NASA to find out when they think solar maximum will return. SOLAR ACTIVITY: NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, stationed over the sun's eastern horizon, is tracking a new active region. It is circled in this extreme ultraviolet image transmitted from STEREO-B just hours ago: The high-latitude of the region suggests it is a manifestation of new Solar Cycle 24. If so, this would continue a May trend of intensifying new-cycle activity. The active region is probably a proto-sunspot--a knot of magnetism struggling to form a fully-realized dark core. We'll know for sure in the next day or so when the hot spot turns to face Earth. Readers with solar telescopes, point your optics at the northeastern limb. JUPITER'S MOON SHOW: Every six years, Earth spends a number of months passing through the orbital plane of Jupiter's moons. During the passage, amateur astronomers get to see a rare display of "mutual occultations." Jupiter's moons eclipse one another in plain view of backyard telescopes. On May 25th, Mike Salway of Central Coast, Australia, watched Ganymede eclipse Io. Click on the still-frame to launch a 0.25 MB movie: Images like these are unprecedented. Although Jupiter's moons put on the same kind of show in 2002-2003, no one recorded such clear pictures. "Imaging techniques and equipment have improved immensely over the past 6 years," notes Salway. "So this is the first year where amateurs are recording these events and producing detailed, high-resolution images of the phenomena." If you missed the Ganymede-Io eclipse, don't worry. There are plenty more to come. Mutual occultations of Jupiter's moons will continue from now until nearly the end of the year. As part of the International Year of Astronomy, professional astronomers are organizing a worldwide observing campaign to record as many of these events as possible. Click here for details. more images: from Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; from Paul Maxson of Surprise, Arizona April 2009 Aurora Gallery [previous Aprils: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002] Explore the Sunspot Cycle |