Autumn
is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find
out what's up from Spaceweather
PHONE.
COMET
SWAN:
Where is Comet
Swan? Look northwest after sunset, and the handle
of the Big Dipper will guide you right to it: sky
map. Although the comet is too dim to see with the
unaided eye, it is an easy target for backyard telescopes.
The comet's pretty emerald color shows that it is rich
in cyanogen (CN), a poisonous gas, and diatomic carbon
(C2). Both glow green when exposed to sunlight:
photo.
SOLAR
ACTIVITY:
A giant prominence has just sprung up over the sun's southwestern
limb, "and it's evolving fast," says Les
Cowley, who made this sketch while looking through
the eyepiece of his Solar
Max60:
Prominences
are clouds of hydrogen held up by solar magnetic force
fields. They come in all shapes and sizes. The hole at
the base of this arch is big enough for Earth to fit through.
Croquet, anyone?
more
images: from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
John Candy of Whitley Bay, UK.
MOON
SHOTS: There's an alien
world in your backyard, visible in spectacular detail
through common binoculars and telescopes. It's the Moon.
To illustrate the point, Mike
Salway of Australia photographed a small region of
Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds) on Oct. 1st. His high-resolution
mosaic is peppered with lunar curiosities such as
the Davy Crater Chain:
The
view through a 10"
Dobsonian. Credit: Mike Salway.
The
chain formed
unknown millions of years ago when a fragmented comet
or asteroid hit the Moon, one piece after another. What
fragmented it? Tidal forces from the Earth-Moon system
ripped the impactor into a "string of pearls"
much like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that hit Jupiter in 1994.
Salway's
mosaic also highlights the dramatic Straight
Wall, a 70 mile-long fault best seen in the shadows
and light of a quarter Moon. Good luck: Tonight's moon
is a quarter Moon. Grab your telescope
and take a look.
SPACE WEATHER
SPACE WEATHER
