Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

Solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)

cme-still.jpgI just love these 3D colorized graphics that depict the motion of solar events in space. This one shows a CME directed almost directly toward Earth and Mars. Click on the image at right to view the animated CME path as forecast.

From SpaceWeather.com:

CME TARGETS EARTH, MARS:

A coronal mass ejection (CME) launched from the sun on Feb. 24th appears set to hit both Earth and Mars. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud should reach Earth today, Feb. 26th around 1330 UT, followed by Mars two days later. Click to view the CME’s animated forecast track.

26 Feb 2012 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment

Planning for the 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse

path.jpgAs Jack Horkheimer used to say (before passing) “keep Looking Up.” That’s why we’re starting to plan for a fairly short trip in May to witness an annular solar eclipse. The path of maximum eclipse extends from Asia, across the Pacific and then through the western United States. The path in Arizona will pass over Page and continue into New Mexico to Albuquerque.

Image: Path of maximum annular eclipse. Click to enlarge

Our target destination will be to go to Chinle, AZ, adjacent to the Canyon De Chelly National Park. In the image, you can see that the red path goes right over Navajo land and just along the southern part of the national park. Our plan is to tow a travel trailer to the area and find a place to camp after the eclipse that will occur on May 20, 2012.

I’m ordering some eclipse shades and a solar filter for each of our two cameras for the event. We are hoping for some excellent pictures of one of the most spectacular events to happen on Earth.

01 Feb 2012 by Astronomy Environment Retirement Travel

Solar Radiation Storm and CME

These colorful solar animations are always very interesting to me. Click animation below to view full-sized version.

From SpaceWeather.com:

A radiation storm that began on Nov. 26th when a magnetic filament erupted on the sun is subsiding. Nevertheless, the Earth-effects are just beginning. The same explosion that caused the radiation storm also hurled a CME into space at about 930 km/s (2 million mph). According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will reach our planet on Nov. 28th at 17:21 UT (+/- 7 hours).

solar-rad-cme.gif

28 Nov 2011 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment Rocket Science

Solar Plasma Flow

This video compresses about an hour of solar activity around a sunspot to a little over ten seconds.

Via APOD:

The Sun’s surface keeps changing. The above movie shows how the Sun’s surface oozes during a single hour. The Sun’s photosphere has thousands of bumps called granules and usually a few dark depressions called sunspots.

06 Nov 2011 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment

Four Moons of Saturn

rings.jpg

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a spectacular view of four of the moons of Saturn and a partial view of the rings. Image and the explanation below courtesy of APOD and NASA. You may need to click on the image to enlarge it to original size to see the fourth moon “Pan.”

Explanation: A fourth moon is visible on the above image if you look hard enough. First — and farthest in the background — is Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and one of the larger moons in the Solar System. The dark feature across the top of this perpetually cloudy world is the north polar hood. The next most obvious moon is bright Dione, visible in the foreground, complete with craters and long ice cliffs. Jutting in from the left are several of Saturn’s expansive rings, including Saturn’s A ring featuring the dark Encke Gap. On the far right, just outside the rings, is Pandora, a moon only 80-kilometers across that helps shepherd Saturn’s F ring. The fourth moon? If you look closely in the Encke Gap you’ll find a speck that is actually Pan. Although one of Saturn’s smallest moons at 35-kilometers across, Pan is massive enough to help keep the Encke gap relatively free of ring particles.

26 Oct 2011 by Astronomy Rocket Science

A Secondary Consequence of Solar Minima

I browsed through my copy of QST magazine yesterday. QST is the publication of the American Radio Relay League, an amateur radio (ham radio) organization. In it, I read an interesting scientific hypothesis explaining the dearth of sunspots we have seen over the past several years. The theory holds that plasma currents deep inside the sun may have interfered with the formation of sunspots and prolonged the solar minimum.

Later in the article, there is mention of a secondary consequence of the minimum in that “space junk” can remain in low Earth orbit due to the upper atmosphere collapsing. You can read this very interesting article at this link.

cut-away-sun.jpgNASA-sponsored research has resulted in the first computer model that explains the recent period of decreased solar activity during the sun’s 11-year cycle.

This recent solar minimum, a period characterized by a lower frequency of sunspots and solar storms, was the deepest observed in almost 100 years. The solar minimum has repercussions on the safety of space travel and the amount of orbital debris our planet accumulates.

. . .

During this deep solar minimum, the sun’s magnetic field weakened, allowing cosmic rays to penetrate the solar system in record numbers, making space a more dangerous place to travel. At the same time, the decrease in ultraviolet radiation caused Earth’s upper atmosphere to cool and collapse.

As a consequence space debris stopped decaying and started accumulating in Earth orbit due to decreased atmospheric drag. These effects demonstrate the importance of understanding the entire solar cycle, during both minimum and maximum.

Emphasis added.

12 Apr 2011 by Astronomy Environment Science

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