This may be a once in a lifetime celestial event for Earthlings to witness. A sun-grazing comet, McNaught, is visible to the naked eye in broad daylight! If you have clear skies, you should step outside today and try to observe the comet.
SOHO also “sees” the comet, but it’s so bright in the sky it badly blooms the image.
Image: SOHO LASCO C3 view of McNaught.
Read more about how to observe this spectacle from SpaceWeather.com:
NASA Scientists studying the relationship between the Sun’s magnetic activity and the peak number of sunspots, have discovered a six-year relationship between the two phenomena. If the trend continues as it has since 1868, we should experience a count of about 160 sunspots during the next solar cycle peak, due in 2011. Previous correlations between climate and sunspot count may also indicate a warmer climate during this cycle.
Right: An erupting solar prominence photographed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
On a very cold (for us) and clear December morning, the moon showing a thin crescent rises above the eastern horizon.
Earlier, I was able to see Saturn about 10° to the left of “la bella Luna” but the morning twilight obscured the normally dazzling planet as dawn drew closer.
Not seen in this view are the crisp outlines of the San Gabriel and Santiago peaks jutting up from the horizon.
This was a very nice morning for vistas, both terrestrial and celestial.
I took this shot with my little Canon PowerShot 3.2 Mega Pixel camera. Not as high resolution as Damsel’s Digital Rebel, but does a fair job. I used a little tripod to steady the camera for a longer exposure in the reduced light.
This may be more evidence that the Sun is entering one of it’s most active solar maximums in modern times. The solar flare from December 6, 2006 was so intense that it caused a virtual tsunami of solar plasma to ripple away from sunspot 930.
The interesting thing about this event is that it occurred far enough ahead of the maximum to allow it to be studied in detail without having to deal with the chaos associated with the maximum. Hang on and enjoy the ride. I have a feeling we’re in for an interesting display of climate and electromagnetic effects from our Sun.
Image courtesy SpaceWeather.com
A new very active sunspot sent a coronal mass ejection Earthward which interacts with our magnetosphere to produce bright auroras.
In Finland, a photographer captured the aurora’s glow over snow-tufted conifers to produce this wonderful picture that looks like it was staged to become the front of a Christmas card. (Click on the image to see a larger version.)
From SpaceWeather.com:
AURORA WATCH: Sky watchers, be alert for auroras. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to brush past Earth tonight, sparking a mild geomagnetic storm. The display will probably favor high latitudes–e.g., Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska–but it could descend as well to northern-tier US states such as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. (continued below)
The source of the CME is sunspot 930, which has been exploding regularly since it first appeared on Dec. 5th. The “angry sunspot” is slowly turning to face Earth. As it does, it might send more CMEs our way, and they would hit head-on rather than merely brushing past. By next week, Northern Lights could reach deep into the United States. Stay tuned. (And keep your fingers crossed.)
Picture: Auroras over Finland on Dec. 8th. Credit: Vesa Särkelä
Visit the December 2006 Aurora Gallery for more beautiful pictures.
A major solar flare associated with a new, giant sunspot, indicates increasing solar activity as our Sun approaches its 11-year peak (maximum is forecast to occur in 2011). If the sunspot count is particularly high this cycle, we can expect increasing global temperatures as the predominant climatological change generator (the Sun) heats up the planet.
From SpaceWeather.com:
Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X9-class solar flare this morning at 1035 UT (5:35 a.m. EST). The source: big, new sunspot 929, which is emerging over the Sun’s eastern limb. GOES-13 captured this X-ray image of the blast:
Because of the sunspot’s location near the limb, the flare was not Earth-directed. Future eruptions could be, however, because the Sun’s spin is turning the spot toward Earth. Sunspot 929 will be visible for the next two weeks as it glides across the solar disk.
Al Gore and his band of Greenbats ought to get a clue about actual climate science. How dare they compare anthropogenic climate effects to those of this giant stellar monster? HOW DARE THEY?
APOD has a nice astrophoto of the Great Orion Nebula today.
I highly recommend watching the The San Diego Supercomputer Center’s great video Volume Visualization of the Orion Nebula to get an amazing perspective on this immense phenomenon.
The Great Nebula in Orion, an immense, nearby starbirth region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. In the above deep image, faint wisps and sheets of dust and gas are particularly evident. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. In addition to housing a bright open cluster of stars known as the Trapezium, the Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries. These nurseries contain hydrogen gas, hot young stars, proplyds, and stellar jets spewing material at high speeds. Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun.
Image, story courtesy APOD and NASA.
