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SEARCH OF MARS:
Looking for Mars? It's right beside the Moon! Step outside
tonight between 9 and 10 p.m.. You'll see Mars and the
Moon rising together in the east: sky
map. Mars has an orange color, so it looks like a
brilliant orange star. Two weeks from now, Mars will be
even brighter when it makes its closest approach to Earth
for the next 13 years: full
story.
DUST
ALERT:
There's a dust storm brewing on Mars big enough to see
through backyard telescopes: image.
Stay tuned for updates.
SOLAR
ACTIVITY:
On Oct. 16th, Larry
Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas, peered at the sun
through his Coronado MaxScope 90--a safely-filtered solar
telescope. "The sun looked inactive at first, but
upon further inspection I found two large prominances,"
he says. Here's one of them:
This
glowing magnetic arc
photographed by Alvarez is a remnant of old sunspot 798,
which in August and September was a mighty active region
that sparked widespread
auroras on Earth. The 'spot has since decayed, but
it's still putting on a good show for those who know how
to look.
LUNAR
ECLIPSE:
There's something strange about this full Moon, photographed
yesterday by Dan Bush
of Albany, Missouri. It's not round!
Part
of the Moon was blacked out by Earth's
shadow, or, as an astronomer would say, there was
a lunar eclipse. Total lunar eclipses occur when the Moon
plunges entirely into shadow. Yesterday's
eclipse was merely partial; only a fraction of the
Moon was shaded. Even so, it was a pleasing sight, widely
observed.
more
images: from
XR250 at Harbour Plaza, Hung Hom, Hong Kong; from
Mike Salway of Central Coast, NSW, Australia; from
Daisuke Tomiyasu of Kobe, Japan; from
William Biscorner of New Haven, Michigan; from
Johnny Layanata of Hong Kong; from
Dorothy Klockziem of New Ulm, Minnesota; from
Christie Ponder of Arcola, Texas;
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