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MYSTERY OBJECT:
Yesterday, astronomers in Arizona, New Mexico and Spain, all
hunting for near-Earth asteroids, discovered a "mystery
object" orbiting Earth. Temporarily named "9U01FF6,"
it is small and in an elongated, 31-day orbit. Experts say
it is probably a piece of an Apollo-era Moon mission. We'll
get a closer look on Oct. 29th when it zips past Earth about
82,000 km (0.2 lunar distances) away. Advanced amateur astronomers
can find it using this
ephemeris.
BIG SUNSPOT:
By unleashing six C-class
solar flares in the past 48 hours, sunspot 1029 has become
the most active sunspot of the year so far. This morning,
Paul Haese photographed the maelstrom from his backyard observatory
in Blackwood, South Australia:
"It's a fantastic beauty," he says. "I took
the picture using my Coronado
SolarMax60 and a Lumenera Skynyx 2-0 digital camera."
The sunspot is growing rapidly (movie),
making it an expanding target for backyard solar telescopes.
If you have one,
take a look!
sunspot images: from
Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from
Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia;
from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Gianluca Valentini of Rimini, Italy; from
Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, California; from
Emiel Veldhuis of Zwolle, the Netherlands; from
Alan Friedman of Buffalo, NY; from
Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from
Steve Rismiller of Milford, Ohio; from
Fabio Mariuzza of Biauzzo, Italy; from
Bruno Nolf of Otegem, Belgium; from
Brian Colville of Maple Ridge Observatory - Cambray, ON
MONDAY NIGHT SKY SHOW:
Last night, people around the world witnessed
a bright and beautiful alignment of Jupiter and the Moon.
"Here they are with some tasteful Halloween decorations
in Los Angeles," says California photographer Bob Northup:
The scenery was a little spookier in Buffalo, New York, where
amateur astronomer Alan Friedman caught the pair beaming
through gnarly trees outside his house. "I also found
some ghosts
of the first quarter Moon reflected in the lens of my camera,"
he says.
Readers who missed the conjunction can see it happen again
on Nov. 23rd, almost a month from now. That's how long it
will take for the Moon to circle the sky and rejoin Jupiter.
Mark your calendar.
more images: from
Darrell Oake of Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada; from
Aaron Top of Shallow Lake, Ontario, Canada; from
M. Raşid Tuğral of Ankara, Turkey; from
Azhy Chato Hasan of Erbil city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq;
from
Stefano De Rosa of Turin, Italy; from
Florin Marc of Tirgu Mures Romania; from
John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland; from
Doug Zubenel of De Soto, Kansas; from
Mohammad Mehdi Asgari of Arak,Iran; from
Stephen McCaul of NW Scotland
October
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Octobers: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2004, 2003,
2002, 2001]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle |
