What's
the name of that star? Where's Saturn? Get the answers
from mySKY--a
fun new astronomy helper from Meade.
ASTEROID
FLYBY:
This week asteroid 1862
Apollo is flying past Earth. Closest approach: 11
million kilometers on May 8th at 1500 UT. Discovered in
1932, Apollo was the first asteroid recognized to cross
Earth's orbit. It measures 1.7 km wide and has a tiny
75 meter wide moon. In the nights ahead, southern hemisphere
astronomers with big backyard
telescopes may be able to photograph Apollo glowing
like a 13th magnitude star as it glides through the constellations
Microscopium and Grus: ephemeris.
GOODBYE
953:
Photogenic sunspot 953 is approaching the sun's western
limb where it will soon disappear, carried around the
bend by the sun's 27-day rotation. Photographers B.
Morrissette and J. Stetson took this picture today
from South Portland, Maine:
Sunspot 953: The view
through a Coronado SolarMax90
Note
the dark filament emerging from the core of the sunspot.
As the sunspot crosses over the limb, the filament briefly
will jut out into space, possibly creating a nice photo-op
for astronomers with solar
telescopes. Stay tuned!
3D
BONUS:
Using digital trickery, Emiel
Veldhuis of the Netherhands, transformed a flat photo
of sunspot 953 he took on May 2nd into a fun 3D anaglyph.
The filament leaps right out at you! Put on your 3D
glasses and take
a look.
more
images: from
Michael Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from
John C McConnell of Maghaberry, Northern Ireland;
from
Mike Strieber of Las Vegas, Nevada; from
Dave Tyler of Buckinghamshire, UK; from
Jörgen Blom of Stockholm, Sweden; from
Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
BLUE
IS GOOD:
At first glance, the Moon seems thoroughly gray, but astronomers
have long known that lunar terrain is full of subtle color.
Consider this picture of last week's full Moon taken by
Shahriar Davoodian of
Tehran, Iran:
Photo details: Canon
EOS 30D, ISO 200, 1/1000 exposure
"I
did not use any filter," says Davoodian. He didn't
need one; the colors are naturally present and only need
a bit of boosting with Photoshop to see. The method is
described here.
What
do the colors mean? Blue denotes areas rich in titanium,
while orange is titanium poor. The titanium-rich zones
are particularly interesting to NASA. Most lunar titanium
is bound to oxygen; the common lunar mineral ilmenite,
for instance, is rich in titanium oxides. This oxygen
may be easily
extracted, providing future explorers a source of
air to breath and oxidizer for rocket engines. Blue is
good!
SPACE WEATHER
SPACE WEATHER
