 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. SOLAR ACTIVITY ALERT: A sunspot located just out of sight over the sun's eastern limb has unleashed two strong C-class solar flares in the past 24 hours. The sun's rotation should bring this active region into view later today or tomorrow allowing us to evaluate its potential for more explosions. If you have a solar telescope, monitor the limb. UPDATE: NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft has spotted a bright CME emerging from behind the eastern limb: movie. HEAVENLY MEETING: Last night, Comet 8P/Tuttle passed by spiral galaxy M33. It was, well... a picture is worth a thousand words: 
more galaxy-comet encounter photos
"The emerald-colored comet and M33 were a fantastic late Christmas gift for me," says Gerald DeShirlia who photographed the encounter from his drive way in Wimberley, Texas, using a 7-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 20D digital camera. Now Comet 8P/Tuttle is heading toward Earth. On Jan. 1st and 2nd it makes its closest approach to our planet--only 24 million miles away. The emerald-colored comet will brighten to a predicted magnitude of 5.8, visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites and a fine target for backyard telescopes: sky map. Comet 8P/Tuttle Photo Gallery
[World Map of Comet Sightings]
[sky maps: Dec. 31, Jan 1] [ephemeris] [orbit] [comet binoculars] WINTER SUN: "After weeks of cloud cover, we had a brief sun break here in upstate New York--just long enough to enjoy a small prominence as the solar disk passed through tree branches that line the southern exposure from my backyard observatory," says Alan Friedman of downtown Buffalo, NY: 
"The sun is currently at 23 degrees in altitude from Buffalo, but it's on the rise! This photo is a composite of several exposures captured with my 92mm Astro-Physics refractor and a Coronado SolarMax hydrogen alpha filter." more images: from John Nassr of Baguio, the Philippines; from Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas; | 
