Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. NEWS FLASH! Is Comet 17P/Holmes losing its tail? Possibly. Photographers are reporting a major "disconnection event" in the blue tail of this exploding comet. Got a telescope? Monitoring is encouraged: sky map, ephemeris. images: from Jack Newton of the Arizona Sky Village; from Paolo Berardi of L'Aquila, Italy. SPACECRAFT FLYBY: Europe's Rosetta spacecraft is rapidly approaching Earth for a close flyby on Nov. 13th. The gravity assist maneuver, bringing the probe only 5301 km above the Pacific Ocean, will fling Rosetta toward its 10-year destination: Comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Amateur astronomers with mid-sized backyard telescopes and CCD cameras can observe the approach; Rosetta is a 18th magnitude speck of light in the constellation Lynx: ephemeris. SOLAR ACTIVITY: "I'm a sucker for beauty and today's prominence is gorgeous," says John Nassr who sends this picture taken just hours ago from his backyard in the Philippines: Amateur astronomers have been monitoring this magnetic sheet of hot plasma on the sun's southeastern limb for three days. Can it last much longer? Prominences often collapse or erupt in a matter of hours, but this one is persistent, providing a nice and steady photo-op for readers with solar telescopes. more images: from Paul Haese of Blackwood, South Australia; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from Alcaria Rego of Almada, Portugal; from James Kevin Ty of Manila, the Philippines; 3D COMET: Grab your 3D glasses. Graphic artist Patrick Vantuyne has combined two photos of Comet Holmes, one taken by Jack Newton in Arizona and one by Ivan Eder in Hungary, to create an eye-popping stereo portrait: Click on the image for full effect "The stereo effect has nothing to do with the different locations of the photographer," notes Vantuyne. "It is a result of the movement of the comet among between the two pictures." Two weeks after it first exploded, 3D Comet Holmes has faded a little, but it is still a naked-eye object and a fine target for binoculars and backyard telescopes. Look north after sunset for a 3rd-magnitude fuzzball in the constellation Perseus: sky map. Comet 17P/Holmes Photo Gallery [Interactive World Map of Comet Photos] [sky map] [ephemeris] [3D orbit] [Night Sky Cameras] |