It's a Valentine's Gift from the stars: Authentic meteorite rings. Select your favorite from dozens of styles. |
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QUIET
OUTLOOK: The sun is peppered with
sunspots, but none of them is actively flaring.
Solar activity should remain low for the next 24
hours with only a slight chance of M-class
solar flares. Solar
flare alerts: text,
voice.
ISS-VENUS
ENCOUNTER: Last night, on Valentine's
Eve, the International Space Station paid a visit
to the Goddess of Love. "Just after sunset
on on Feb. 13th, I saw the ISS pass directly in
front of Venus," reports Glenn Wester, who
photographed the encounter over Long Island, New
York:
It could happen again tonight. The
space station is making a series of bright passes
over North America, zipping among the glittering
stars and planets of the winter sunset sky. Local
flyby times are available from SpaceWeather's Simple
Satellite Tracker and Flybys
App.
more images: from
Malcolm Park of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada; from
Robert Sparks of Tucson, Arizona
AURORA
WATCH: A slight disturbance in
the solar wind on Feb. 12-13 was enough to ignite
auroras around the Arctic Circle. On Moose mountain,
near Fairbanks Alaska, cross-country skiers Marketa
Stanczykova and Ronn Murray stopped to photograph
the display:
"The auroras were magical ...
like always," says Stanczykova.
By all accounts, it was a good night
to be out. "The sky was very clear, the moon
had not yet risen, and above all it was warm: near
+15!" reports LeRoy Zimmerman from Chandalar
Ranch, also near Fairbanks. "There was a Japanese
aurora tour on the property, and this was their
first view of auroras. It is always great to be
with a group of first-timers and hear the cheers
and squeals as they see this wonder for the first
time!" Zimmerman documented the event in a
series of panoramic
photos.
more images: from
Lurie Belegurschi of Iceland; from
Chad Blakley of Abisko National Park, Sweden;
from
Yuichi Takasaka of Chandalar Ranch, Two River,
Alaska; from
Greg Lacy on the Yukon River 150 miles from
Fairbanks, Alaska; from
Carlos López of Karasjok, Norway
January
2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010,
2009,
2008,
2007, 2005,
2004]
Comet
Lovejoy Gallery
[previous comets: McNaught,
Holmes,
Lulin,
Tuttle,
Ikeya-Zhang]
