Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that
star? Get the answers from mySKY--a
fun new astronomy helper from Meade. AURORA
BOREALIS: Last night a solar wind stream hit Earth sparking
a mild geomagnetic storm and auroras as far south as Montana: gallery.
Earth is still inside the stream, but the storm has subsided and
more auroras are unlikely tonight.
SUNSPOT ARCHIPELAGO: Dynamic
sunspot 963 has morphed
into "a beautiful sunspot archipelago," says John
Stetson of South Portland, Maine. Yesterday, working with students
S. Dall and B. Morrissette, he snapped this picture:
The islands in the chain are as big as planets: the
large leading spot is about as wide as Neptune while the others
range in size from Mars to Earth. Magnetic fields connecting the
leader to the trailers are unstable and crackling with C-class
solar flares. It's a good show.
UPDATE: This morning
in Brazil, Rogerio Marcon used
his Coronado SolarMax40
to catch the sunspot in mid-flare: photo.
more images: from
Didier Favre of Brétigny sur Orge, France; from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida; from
John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland; from
Curtasu Mihai of Bucharest, Romania; from
Pavol Rapavy of Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from
Ettore Ruga of Italy; from
Michel Hersen of Portland, Oregon; from
David Lerner of Monmouth Junction, NJ;
COMET LINEAR VZ13: On July
11th, Comet Linear VZ13 glides by Edasich, a 3rd magnitude star
in the constellation Draco. Also known as iota Draconis, this star
is best known for its big
planet, a giant world 9 times more massive than Jupiter. Tonight,
consider it a guidestar to the comet. [sky
map] [3D
orbit] [ephemeris]
At 8th magnitude, Linear VZ13 is too dim for the naked eye, but
it materializes readily enough as a charming fuzzball in binoculars.
And "it is an easy target for backyard telescopes of all sizes,"
reports John Chumack who sends this picture from his
observatory in Yellow Springs, Ohio:
Photo details:
16-inch Newtonian telescope, SBIG ST9 CCD, 2 min. exposure
"It has a large coma and a very bright stellar nucleus,"
notes Chumack. "The comet's tail, however, is small and faint."
What makes the comet's atmosphere (coma) green? Answer: The coma
contains cyanogen (CN), a poisonous gas, and diatomic carbon (C2).
Both of these substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight--a
process called "resonant fluorescence."
more images: ; from
Günther Strauch of Borken, NRW, Germany; from
Vincent Jacques of Breil, France; from
Stanescu Octavian of Silagiu, Romania; from
Dalibor Hanžl of Brno, Czech Republic; from
Doug Zubenel of De Soto, Kansas.
2007 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
["Noctilucent
Cloud"--the song] [Night-Sky
Cameras]
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