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PLANETARY
TRIANGLE:
Set your alarm. Early tomorrow morning, Dec. 9th, Jupiter,
Mercury and Mars will gather together in a tiny triangle
about 1o wide. Look for them low in the eastern
sky beaming through the rosy glow of dawn. The view through
binoculars
should be especially fine: all three planets will fit
simultaneously in the field of view. [sky
map]
SOLAR
TSUNAMI:
When sunspot 930 exploded on Dec. 6th, producing an X6-category
flare, it also created a tsunami-like shock wave that
rolled across the face of the sun, wiping out filaments
and other structures in its path. An H-alpha
telescope in New Mexico operated by the National Solar
Observatory (NSO) recorded the action:
Credit:
NSO/Optical Solar Patrol Network telescope
"These
large scale blast waves occur infrequently, however, are
very powerful," says Dr. K. S. Balasubramaniam of
the National Solar Observatory. "They quickly propagate
in a matter of minutes covering the whole sun and apparently
sweeping away filamentary material." Researchers
are unsure whether the filaments were blown off or were
compressed so they were temporarily invisible. Get the
full
story from the NSO.
AURORA
WATCH:
Sky watchers, be
alert for auroras. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is
expected to brush past Earth tonight, sparking a mild
geomagnetic storm. The display will probably favor high
latitudes--e.g., Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska--but
it could descend as well to northern-tier US states such
as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. (continued
below)
Auroras over Finland on Dec. 8th.
Credit: Vesa
Särkelä
The
source of the CME is sunspot 930, which has been exploding
regularly since it first appeared on Dec. 5th. The sunspot
is slowly turning to face Earth. As it does, it might
send more CMEs our way, and they would hit head-on rather
than merely brushing past. By next week, Northern Lights
could reach deep into the United States. Stay tuned. (And
keep your fingers crossed.)
December
2006 Aurora Gallery
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