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ASTEROID
FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid
2012 BX34 is flying past Earth today only 77,000
km (0.2 lunar distances) away. There is no danger
of a collision with the 14-meter wide space rock.
Advanced amateur astronomers might be able to observe
the flyby as the bus-sized asteroid brightens to
14th magnitude just before closest approach on Jan.
27th at 1530 UT. [3D
orbit] [ephemeris]
[images: #1,
#2,
#3]
X-FLARE:
Departing sunspot 1402 unleashed
an X2-class
solar flare today, Jan. 27th, at 18:37 UT. Click
on the image to view a movie of the extreme ultraviolet
flash recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
Sunspot 1402 is rotating onto the
far side of the sun, so the blast site was not facing
Earth. Nevertheless, energetic protons accelerated
by the blast are now surrounding our planet, and
an intensifying S1-class
radiation storm is in
progress.
The explosion also produced a spectacular
coronal mass ejection (CME): SOHO
movie. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather
Lab say the cloud raced away from the sun at 2500
km/s or 5.6 million mph. The CME is not heading
toward Earth, although it is too soon to rule out
some kind of glancing blow on Jan. 28-29. Stay tuned
for updates. Solar
flare alerts: text,
voice.
CORONA
CONJUNCTION: "Last night I
went outside to photograph the Venus-Moon conjunction,
and I got more than I bargained for," reports
Robert Arn of Fort Collins, Colorado. "The
Moon and Venus both had an incredible corona surrounding
them. The sight was beyond words (but not beyond
pictures)." He recorded the scene in this 5-second
exposure @ ISO 400:
Coronas are caused by tiny water
droplets in thin clouds, which diffract
the light of bright heavenly bodies to produce iridescent
halos, as shown above. Seeing one corona in the
night sky is not uncommon; however, seeing two in
close proximity is a rare treat. Another "corona
conjunction" could be in the offing. The Moon
is moving past Venus for a meet-up with Jupiter
on Jan. 29th. If the two align behind a moist, thin
cloud--voilà!
more Venus-moonshots:
from
Petr Horalek of the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic; from
Mike O'Leary of San Diego, CA; from
Francis Audet of Quebec City, Canada; from
Gregg Alliss of Marion, Iowa; from
Becky Ramotowski of Tijeras, New Mexico;
AURORAS
OVER THE USA: The geomagnetic storm
of Jan. 24th died out before night fell over North
America--or did it? According to reports still trickling
in, auroras were reported not only in Canada, but
also in some of the lower 48 US states. Shawn Malone
of Marquette, Michigan, took this picture looking
north from the shores of Lake Superior:
"I got to view a slice of the
aurora through a tiny opening in an otherwise completely
overcast sky," says Malone. "It appeared
to be a pretty decent display."
Prompted by the CME warning, Mike
Hollingshead of Nebraska drove 450 miles to the
Badlands National Park of South Dakota hoping to
catch a glimpse of the auroras. He got more than
he bargained for: "While I waited for some
sign of auroras, the most amazing
fireball I've ever seen blasts down. It flashed
brightly and illuminated the terrain around me."
Later, the auroras made a belated appearance, turning
the badland
sky green.
More auroras could be in the offing.
A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, due to
arrive on Jan. 28-29. NOAA forecasters estimate
a 15% chance of geomagnetic storms at high latitudes.
Aurora alerts:
text,
voice.
more images: from
Stephan Hoglund of Grand Marais, Minnesota;
from
Kimberly S Mietzah Damkoehler of Houston, Alaska;
from
Robert Berdan of Calgary, Alberta; from
Bob Conzemius of Lake of the Woods, Minnesota;
from
Matt Melnyk of Edmonton, Alberta; from
Sylvain Serre of Ivujivik, Nunavik, Quebec,
Canada;
January
2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010,
2009,
2008,
2007, 2005,
2004]
Comet
Lovejoy Gallery
[previous comets: McNaught,
Holmes,
Lulin,
Tuttle,
Ikeya-Zhang]
