Metallic photos of the sun by renowned photographer Greg Piepol bring together the best of art and science. Buy one or a whole set. They make a stellar gift. |
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THE
LUNAR IONOSPHERE: How can a world
with no air have an ionosphere? Somehow the Moon
has done it. Researchers have been puzzled by the
lunar ionosphere for more than 40 years. With the
recent publication of a paper in Planetary and
Space Science, the mystery may have been solved.
Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
SNAP!
ERUPTING FILAMENT: For the past
few days, astronomers around the world have been
monitoring a dark filament of magnetism sprawled
more than 1,000,000 kilometers across the face of
the sun. Make that 750,000 km. On Nov. 14th the
filament snapped and flung a fraction of itself
into space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded
the action:
The eruption hurled a cloud of plasma
into space, but not toward Earth. The only effect
on our planet would be to disappoint observers hoping
for a longer filament.
Meanwhile, a wall of plasma towering
over the sun's SE limb is seething
with activity and may be poised to erupt as
well. Readers with solar
telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
Solar
flare alerts: text,
phone
more images: from
Sylvain Weiller of Saint Rémy lès Chevreuse,
France; from
John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine; from
Chris Hetlage of Deerlick Astronomy Village,
Georgia; from
David Cortner of Rutherford College, North Carolina;
from
Jo Dahlmans of Ulestraten The Netherlands; from
Francisco A. Rodriguez of the Canary Islands;
from
Ron Cottrell of Oro Valley, Arizona; from
Gianfranco Meregalli of Milano Italy; from
Roel Weijenberg of Wilp, Gelderland, Netherlands;
from
Andy Burns of Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK
ASTEROID
PARALLAX: "On November 9th,
asteroid 2005 YU55 passed so close to Earth that
viewers at separate locations saw the interloper
appear in slightly different spots against the background
star field," says amateur astronomer Mike Harms
of San Francisco. To illustrate this parallax
effect, he combined his own observations with
those of Dennis di Cicco across the country in Boston:
At the time of the flyby, the 400m-wide
space rock was only 324,600 kilometers away, about
85% the distance from Earth to the Moon. This allowed
amateur and professional astronomers alike to study
the asteroid in unprecedented
detail.
In Australia, where the Boston vs.
Brisbane parallax effect was even greater, Dennis
Simmons video-recorded the
flyby: "It was quite sobering to be able
to view the almost full Moon some 20 degrees away,
knowing that this lump of rock was now nearer to
me than our Moon," he says. "I was astonished
at how bright the NEO appeared, having read that
results from the Arecibo radar indicated it to be
a very dark, nearly spherical object some 400 meters
in diameter."
more images: from
Conrad Jung of Oakland, California; from
Libor Vyskocil of Observatory Upice, Czech Republic;
from
Rolando Ligustri of Talmassons (Italy); from
William Wiethoff of Port Wing, Wisconsin; from
Marco Langbroek of Markleeberg, California
