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LARRY, CURLY, AND
MO: There are three entertaining little prominences
on the sun's western limb today. Astrophotographer Alan Friedman
of Buffalo, NY, calls them "Larry,
Curly and Mo." Seriously! Train your solar
telescope on the edge of the sun to catch the show.
more images: from
Tom Hilger of Nashua, New Hampshire; from
Hank Bartlett of Near Yarker, Ontario; from
Patricia Cannaerts of Belgium; from
E. Signorelli and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine;
ETA AQUARID METEORS:
If you see a meteor flit across the sky tonight, it's probably a
piece of Halley's Comet. Earth is crossing through a stream of dusty
debris from Halley and this is causing the annual eta
Aquarid meteor shower. Sky watchers in the tropics and southern
hemisphere (where the shower is most intense) could see as many
as 70 meteors per hour during the dark hours before dawn on Monday,
May 5th, and Tuesday, May 6th. Sky maps: north,
south.
MERCURY RISING:
Lately, have you noticed a bright star hanging in the western sky
at sunset? That's no star--it's Mercury. The innermost planet is
emerging from the glare of the sun and putting on its best show
of 2008. Here is the view on May 4th from the Canary Islands:
"I took this picture about 30 minutes after sunset from a
spot 2400 meters high on the Teide
volcano in Tenerife," says photographer Dr. Fritz Helmut
Hemmerich. "My Sony
Alpha A700 was set to ASA 800 for the 8-second exposure."
Mercury will be visible every night for the next two weeks, but
there is one night better than the others: May 6th when the crescent
Moon glides by Mercury forming a beautiful and eye-catching duo.
Mark your calendar and take a look: sky
map.
more images: from
Tamas Ladanyi of Lake Little-Balaton, Hungary; from
Martin McKenna of Maghera, Co. Derry, N. Ireland; from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Günther Strauch of Borken, NRW, Germany;
GEMINI TRIPLET:
"After photographing Mercury and the Pleiades last night, my
attention was drawn upward to the striking asterism of Castor, Pollux
and Mars all in a line," reports Doug
Zubenel of Flint Hills, Kansas:
This starry image is not a telescopic view, just the result of
a 3 minute exposure at ISO 800 through Zubenel's Canon
Rebel XTi digital camera. "Note the color contrasts between
the three," he says. Mars is, of course, the
red one.
Readers, tonight after spotting Mercury, pause and glance up. The
Gemini Triplet awaits: sky
map.
April
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night-sky
Cameras]
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