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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LOW
SUNSET CONJUNCTION: If you have
a clear view of the western horizon, look there
tonight, Sunday April 22nd, just after the sun goes
down. Jupiter is shining close to an exquisitely-thin
crescent Moon. It's a nice photo-op. images:
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4.
METEOR
SHOWER RECAP: According to the International
Meteor Organization, the Lyrid meteor shower peaked
on April 22nd around 0000 UT with a maximum between
20 and 30 meteors per hour. This doesn't place the
Lyrids among the year's best showers, but many observers
were pleasantly surprised. "This year's Lyrid
shower was much better than I expected! I saw dozens
of meteors, mostly Lyrids, nice and quick ones,"
reports Monika Landy-Gyebnar, who caught this Lyrid
over the glow of her hometown Veszprem, Hungary:
The meteors were serenaded by nightingales.
"The birds arrived here about a week ago and
they were constantly
singing, which made the observation even more
memorable!" she adds. "Imagine being out
at night, surrounded by nightingales, with a bright
Milky Way and meteors falling through our atmosphere
- a wonderful celebration of Earth Day in 2012 which
coincided with the Lyrid maximum!"
more images: from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Shawn Malone near Marquette, Michigan; from
Jimmy Westlake of Stagecoach, Colorado; from
Darren Baskill of East Sussex, UK; from
Brian Emfinger of Ozark, Arkansas; from
Ivan Majchrovic of Marianka, Slovakia; from
Peter Meadows of Chelmsford, Essex, UK; from
Ireneusz Nowak of Wroclaw, Poland; from
Michael Noble of Alberta, Canada;
AURORA
BOREALIS: Northern sky watchers
on the lookout for meteors this weekend were surprised,
in many places, by a display of auroras. "Northern
Lights were visible most the night as a persistent
glowing arc low on the horizon," reports Shawn
Malone of Marquette, Michigan. "I spent a clear
moonless night on the shore of Lake Superior and
saw some nice Lyrid meteors cutting through the
auroras."
The auroras was caused by the interplanetary
magnetic field (IMF), which tipped south and opened
a crack in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured
in to fuel the display. A minor CME might have also
swept
past Earth during the early hours of Aprill
22nd, further amplifying the lights. Aurora
alerts: text,
voice.
For the record, Lyrid meteors disintegrate
in Earth's atmosphere a little lower than most auroras,
so the two phenomena do not entirely overlap. Visually,
if not physically, however, it was a beautiful coincidence.
Browse the links for more examples:
from
Yuichi Takasaka of Lumby, British Columbia,
Canada; from
Mark Nolan of Culdaff Beach, Ireland.
