Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

AR1734 – “Great Horned Sunspot”

Great Horned Sunspot

I read about this sunspot on SpaceWeather.com today. Seeing the article prompted me to get out the tripod and solar filter out and try to get a picture of my own. In the enlarged version of this image, you can see that I managed to capture the structure of this unusual-looking sunspot (inset). Click on the image to enlarge.

From SpaceWeather.com

Around the world, amateur astronomers are snapping pictures of behemoth sunspot AR1734 as it crosses the solar disk. In Buffalo, New York, photographer Alan Friedman noticed something when he rotated his picture 90 degrees. “Sunspot 1734 has a definite owlish look!” “But who gives a hoot,” he continued, “this grand active region looks fantastic from every perspective.”

The owl could be poised to explode. Sunspot AR1734 has a ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares, almost-certainly Earth-directed because the sunspot is facing our planet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of M-flares on May 6th.

06 May 2013 by Astronomy Environment Photography Science

Quadruple Conjunction

The sun, Venus, Mars and Uranus are all gathered in the sky in tight formation. Unfortunately, without the aid of the scientific instrumentation on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), nobody can observe the event because of the sun’s glare. The animation below shows the event with a solar shield in place as seen by SOHO. Refer to the link below the animation to identify the planets. (Hint: Uranus is pretty hard to see in the noise and clutter in the animation.)

Quadruple Conjunction

Excerpt of the description of the event from SpaceWeather.com:

DAYLIGHT ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS: Venus, Mars and Uranus are gathering for a remarkable alignment. But don’t bother looking for the conjunction; it is happening in the daylight sky within a few degrees of the glaring sun. Using an opaque disk to block the glare, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are able to track the planets.

Venus and Uranus will cross paths within 1.5 degrees of the sun on March 27-28. Mars and Venus have their own very close encounter on April 6-7. Mars will be so close to the sun throughout the month of April that it will limit NASA’s contact with the Mars rovers and orbiters.

25 Mar 2013 by Astronomy Science

Coronal “Rain”

Here is more evidence that variations of the sun are responsible for, not only Earth’s climate, but solar “weather” as well. This is ten hours of solar activity compressed into a little over four minutes. You can mute the weird music in the usual YouTube® manner.

Courtesy NASA and APOD

26 Feb 2013 by Astronomy Environment Global Warming

Conjunction and Occultation

conjunction.jpg

Many of us observed the conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter Monday night. Here in Wickenburg, AZ, we had perfect conditions for observing this beautiful asterism. The amazing astrophoto above, was submitted to the SpaceWeather.com Realtime Image Gallery by an amateur astrophotographer in North America. You see the Moon with Jupiter and three of its four Galilean moons (not sure which three). Click on the image to enlarge.

Another amateur astrophotographer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America took a picture of the actual occultation of the Moon and Jupiter. Click the link to view.

23 Jan 2013 by Astronomy Photography

Cholla Moon

Cholla Moon

Damsel took this image of one of our cholla with the beautiful Arizona blue sky and the waxing gibbous moon today. Invisible in this image is the fact that planet Jupiter is within a fraction of a degree of the moon today. We went out after dark and saw it this evening. Beautiful! Click on the image to enlarge.

21 Jan 2013 by Arizona Astronomy

Sunspot AR 1654

ar1654.jpg

I stepped out into the courtyard today and took this image of the sun. There are several sunspots that my modest solar camera can resolve today, including AR 1654 which could erupt according to SpaceWeather.com:

CHANCE OF FLARES: So far today, solar activity is low. However, that could be the calm before the storm. The magnetic field of big sunspot AR1654 has grown more complex. It is now classified as a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field, which means it harbors energy for X-class eruptions.

If you follow the X-class eruptions link it takes you to a NASA site wherein flare classes are defined. There is a neat little three minute video there, that expands on the classification of solar flares. Click on the image to enlarge.

16 Jan 2013 by Astronomy Science

Solar Flare

I watched this short video of a solar flare captured by SDO on New Year’s Eve. The video was on today’s APOD. They compared the prominence to a ballet:

Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun.

The sun is approaching solar maximum sometime soon. In some circles, scientists believe we may already have passed the maximum which will prove to be a disappointment to greenbats. It will also disappoint some Ham radio operators who delight in ionospheric radio propagation which is enhanced by solar activity.

15 Jan 2013 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment Science

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