| BEHOLD THE SUN:
Would you like to see fiery prominences and new-cycle sunspots
with your own eyes? On sale now: Personal
Solar Telescopes. |
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CANADIAN FIREBALL:
On Oct. 15th, with no warning, a small stony
entered Earth's atmosphere over eastern Canada where it exploded
some 37 km above the ground. Movies
of the fireball from seven different points of view have just
been released by the University of Western Ontario. Using the movies
to determine the asteroid's trajectory, researchers have figured
out where fragments of the asteroid may have landed; the hunt for
meteorites is underway: map.
ORIONID METEORS: Photographing
Orion in late October can be tricky. The problem is, meteors keep
getting in the way. Just last night, Oct. 26th, German photographer
Jens Hackmann was
wrapping up a 33 minute exposure when an orange meteor flashed by
the Hunter's shoulder:
Hackmann's camera, a Canon
40D, caught a piece of Halley's Comet hitting Earth's atmosphere.
Every year around this time, Earth crosses a stream of debris from
Halley and the encounter creates a meteor shower called the Orionids.
This year's display was not only strong (a maximum of 40
meteors/hr on Oct. 21st) but also persistent: The shower lasted
for five days and is only now subsiding. Browse the gallery for
more meteors "getting in the way":
2008
Orionid Meteor Gallery
[IMO meteor counts]
[2006 Orionids]
BONUS: Sometimes spaceships get in
the way, too: photo.
VOLCANIC SUNSETS:
Three months ago, Alaska's Kasatochi volcano
erupted, hurling more than a million tons of volcanic ash and sulfur
dioxide into the stratosphere. Much of that "stuff" is
still up there. It's drifting around the northern hemisphere causing
displays like this:
"After sunset on Oct. 26th, I saw a lovely purple colour in
the western sky," says photographer Pete
Glastonbury of Devizes, UK. "It lasted for about 15 minutes."
Purple is one of the telltale signs of a volcanic sunset. Fine
volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere scatter blue light which,
when mixed with ordinary sunset red, produces a violet hue. But
purple isn't the
only thing to look for, says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley.
In addition, he advises, "be alert for a very bright yellow
twilight arch,
fine cloud structure in
the arch seen through binoculars, and long diffuse rays
and shadows from the west."
One or more of these flags may signal a wisp of volcanic debris
drifting over your hometown. Go outside at the end of the day and
look west. Kasatochi could be waiting.
more images: from
Jeffrey Berkes of West Chester, PA; from
Liem Bahneman of Bothell, WA; from
John Flude of Lower Willingdon, East Sussex UK; from
Andy English in the Cibola National Forest of New Mexico.; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden;
Oct.
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Previous Octobers: 2007,
2006, 2004,
2003, 2002,
2001,
2000]
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