|
FROSTY MOON:
There's a full Moon tonight and it has a special name--the
"Frosty Moon." It gets its name from northern autumnal
ground frost, which glistens beautifully in pale moonlight.
Go outside tonight, look up and down, and enjoy the
show.
RAINBOW AT NIGHT:
Have you ever seen a rainbow after dark?
It happened last night in Yorkshire, UK, where Christopher
Walker photographed a multi-colored band arcing over the countryside:
Rainbows appear when sunlight is reflected from raindrops.
But in this case, the sun was not required; the Frosty Moon
was bright enough to do the job on its own. "The moonlight
was so bright I could see red in the rainbow with my unaided
eye," says Walker. "A 30 second exposure with my
digital camera revealed [the full range of rainbow colors]."
Lunar rainbows aren't the only thing you might see when the
Frosty Moon is out. Be alert also for lunar
coronas, moon
rings, moondogs,
and, last but not least, your own moon
shadow.
more images: from
M-P Markkanen of Kuusamo, Finland; from
Ken Stenek of Shishmaref, Alaska; from
Mohamad Soltanolkottabi of Kashan, Iran;
BLUE ICE ON THE RED
PLANET: Wake up before dawn, go outside,
and look straight up. That eerie red "star" staring
back down at you is Mars. The red planet is approaching Earth
for a close encounter in January 2010 and it is already brighter
than a first-magnitude star.
Next, point a telescope at the red planet and you'll see
a surprising splash of icy blue:
"Mars' north polar cap is big enough and bright enough
to be seen though most backyard telescopes at medium to high
power," says Joel Warren of Amarillo, Texas, who took
the picture, above, on Halloween using an 11 inch Celestron
telescope.
On Mars, northern winter has just ended and clouds which
normally hover over the martian arctic are breaking up, allowing
the planet's great ice cap to be seen. "This apparition
will offer observers the best view of the North Polar Region
to be had in many years," notes Warren.
more images: from
Peter Garbett of Sharnbrook, UK; from
Rolando Ligustri of Italy using a remotely-controlled
telescope in New Mexico; from
Ed Lomeli of Sacramento, California;
UPDATED:
October
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Octobers: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2004, 2003,
2002, 2001]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle |
