The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), using data from ground based telescopes in Arizona and Chile, plotted the locations of over a million galaxies. The amazing result shows that the locations of these galactic structures with respect to each other is that they are all locked into a gravitational dance that produces galaxies, galaxy groups and even larger superstructures in the universe. Read the article at Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Image courtesy NASA/2MASS. Click image to enlarge.
At last the days will be starting to grow longer rather than shorter. This is a still screenshot from Archaeoastronamy.com who provides an interesting animated depiction of seasonal changes and cross-quarter celestial events.
Earth’s annual orbit is The Master Clock because the common yardstick of our lives is the year. Years are divided by the seasons just as calendars are segmented by months. Mechanical and digital timepieces measure intervals that split into hours, minutes and seconds each spin of our planet on its axis. Yet, it is the earth’s regular, rhythmic loop around the sun that standardizes our timeframe of reference, regardless of geographic distances separating us from our acquaintances or generational distances separating us from our ancestors.
In addition to two very active sunspots, this huge solar flare erupted this week.
From SOHO:
A very long solar filament that had been snaking around the Sun erupted (Dec. 6, 2010) with a flourish. STEREO (Behind) caught the action in dramatic detail in extreme ultraviolet light of Helium. It had been almost a million km long (about half a solar radius) and a prominent feature on the Sun visible over two weeks earlier before it rotated out of view. Filaments, elongated clouds of cooler gases suspended above the Sun by magnetic forces, are rather unstable and often break away from the Sun.
The latest sunspot (number 1130) formed suddenly over the past two days. The image at the right shows the two day period in time lapse. You can see the spot forming in the top hemisphere just above the solar equator. You can see the full sized video here.
This winter, according to several AGW skeptic blogs and websites, promises to be quite cold. Our experience in Southern California over the last fifteen days is reported to be the record coldest for this period – and it’s not even winter yet.
I guess the lackluster return of solar activity in the solar cycle has contributed to the cold weather. We have written several articles over the past few years that show how the Sun affects global climate. Two important ones are:
In the latter article, I listed some conclusions about the climate change scam:
Unfortunately, even after Climategate, these conclusions still are valid.
Several years ago, I visited Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. Some friends and I took the guided tour that brought us into several of the telescope domes on the mountain. One statement the tour guide made stuck in my memory. He said “We get more light pollution from Phoenix than we do from Tucson which is less than half the distance from the observatory.”
Tuscon, which is home to the main campus of the University of Arizona (go Wildcats). The University does a lot of optical and astronomical research and was a main influence on Tucson’s Dark Sky Ordinance. Most of the Phoenix Metro cities do not have a dark sky ordinance. We can stand in the 18 wheeler lot after nightfall at our Wickenburg hotel and see the glowing dome of light pollution to the southeast.
The Town of Wickenburg is considering a dark sky ordinance. The ordinance isn’t yet in effect, so we don’t have to comply when selecting our outdoor fixtures, but we want to be compliant. The image above shows the light pattern that our compliant fixtures will deliver – no upward light.
We have two telescopes – serious ones – 10″ and 90 cm catadioptrics, but we don’t use them much because of the terrible seeing in Southern California. We want to be able to take them out on clear Arizona nights and be able to see the planets, stars, galaxies and nebulae without competition from our own lights.
An Interesting eclipse occurred earlier this month when the moon passed between the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Sun. This is the first recorded lunar/solar eclipse taken by SDO although earth/solar eclipses happen often. SDO is like the Hubble Space Telescope but is totally devoted to solar activity.
The image at the right shows the partially-eclipsed solar disk (courtesy NASA – click to enlarge). I also uploaded a close-up image in which the mountains along the lunar limb can be discerned against the solar disc. This demonstrates the excellent resolution of the instruments aboard SDO.
The following is taken from the SDO website where you can download and watch a Quicktime video of the eclipse.
This was a first for SDO and it was visually engaging too. On October 7, 2010, SDO observed its first lunar transit when the new Moon passed directly between the spacecraft (in its geosynchronous orbit) and the Sun. With SDO watching the Sun in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, the dark Moon created a partial eclipse of the Sun.
These images, while unusual and cool to see, have practical value to the SDO science team. Karel Schrijver of Lockheed-Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Lab explains: “The very sharp edge of the lunar limb allows us to measure the in-orbit characteristics of the telescope e.g., light diffraction on optics and filter support grids. Once these are characterized, we can use that information to correct our data for instrumental effects and sharpen up the images to even more detail.”
Speaking of solar activity, a giant coronal hole opened up in the Sun’s northern hemisphere earlier this week, triggering auroras at high latitudes. Image made by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), via APOD. Click image to enlarge.
