 He
already has a neck tie. This year give Dad something truly heavenly
for Father's Day: SpaceWeather
PHONE. STORM WARNINGS:
Astronauts can breathe a little easier. A scientist using the Solar
and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has found a way to predict dangerous
solar radiation storms. The new alert system offers as much as one
hour advance warning, giving astronauts on EVA extra time to seek
shelter and avoid radiation sickness. Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
SOLAR SMOKESTACK: This morning
on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, Robert
Arnold pointed his Coronado Personal Solar Telescope toward
the sun and witnessed some "amazing, fast moving action."
He assembled eight snapshots to create a 40 minute-long movie:
This is a prominence--a triangular cloud of hydrogen
held above the sun's surface by solar magnetic fields. Prominences
resemble gigantic flames; this one even seems to be puffing smoke
from its tip. But the resemblance is illusory. Unlike the wick of
a burning candle, where oxygen is combined with hydrocarbons to
produce light and heat, no combustion is taking place inside a solar
prominence. Hydrogen-filled prominences glow simply because they
are hot (like a stovetop glows red when it gets very hot) and they
flicker because their magnetic fields are not quite stable. These
characteristics give prominences a flame-like appearance, but they
are not made of fire.
Prominences do, however, have one thing in common
with flames: they can wield a hypnotic power over anyone who stares
at them. If you have a solar
telescope, take a look!
NIGHT FLASHES: Last night,
Jens Hackmann went
outside with the intention of photographing star
trails over the Weikersheim Observatory in Germany. He had just
pointed his
camera north and opened the shutter when "this thunderstorm
intervened," says Hackmann:
Photo details: Canon
30D, 25mm, 5 min. exposure.
What are the odds of being interrupted thus? Better than you might
suppose. Lightning
strikes our planet about 100 times every second or almost 9 million
times a day. A long-exposure star trails photo stands a pretty good
chance of catching a distant thundercloud in action, especially
during summer, the season of thunder and lightning. Advice: if you
see such a cloud, take the picture, then take
cover.
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