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. | | | ANTARCTIC SOLAR ECLIPSE: On Nov. 25th the Moon will pass in front of the sun, slightly off-center, producing a partial solar eclipse visible from Antarctica, Tasmania, and parts of South Africa and New Zealand. Maximum coverage occurs about 100 miles off the coast of Antarctica where the sun will appear to be a slender 9% crescent. [animated map] QUIET SUN : Solar activity is low, but this could change with the emergence of triple-sunspot group AR1356. This morning in Brisbane, Australia, Dennis Simmons photographed the sunspot's three dark cores rotating over the northeastern limb: 
Just a few days ago, while it was still on the farside of the sun, this active region erupted and hurled a bright CME toward Venus. Could Earth be next? NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-flares during the next 24 hours, and this sunspot group is a likely source. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: text, phone. LAST SUNSET: As northern winter approaches, darkness is enveloping the countries of the Arctic. In fact, yesterday in Tromsø, Norway, night fell less than ten minutes after sunrise. Fredrik Broms photographed the sun during its few minutes above the horizon: 
"After a long slow dawn, the sun rose for one of the last times of the year today," says Broms. "My girlfriend and I went out to say a last goodbye to the sun and minutes after sunrise the dusk began. Here in Tromsø the polar night period lasts from November 25 - January 17, but because of the surrounding mountains, the sun is due to set on November 22. Together with several other people who attended to pay a last farewell to the Sun today, we say thank you for 2011, sun. We'll see you again in January." Potentially Hazardous Asteroids ( PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time. On November 21, 2011 there were 1256 potentially hazardous asteroids. Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Mag. | Size | | 2011 FZ2 | Nov 7 | 75.9 LD | -- | 1.6 km | | 2005 YU55 | Nov 8 | 0.8 LD | 11.2 | 400 m | | 2011 UT91 | Nov 15 | 9.9 LD | -- | 109 m | | 1994 CK1 | Nov 16 | 68.8 LD | -- | 1.5 km | | 1996 FG3 | Nov 23 | 39.5 LD | -- | 1.1 km | | 2003 WM7 | Dec 9 | 47.6 LD | -- | 1.6 km | | 1999 XP35 | Dec 20 | 77.5 LD | -- | 1.0 km | | 2000 YA | Dec 26 | 2.9 LD | -- | 80 m | | 2011 SL102 | Dec 28 | 75.9 LD | -- | 1.1 km | Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach. | | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | | the underlying science of space weather | | 
