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: Who says the sun is quiet? "This
morning I looked through my SolarMax60
and saw this prominence
starting to get really big," reports Paul
Haese of Blackwood, Australia. The flame-like eruption is now
dancing over the sun's western limb. If you have a solar telescope,
take a look!
EXPLODING COMET: When
the core of Comet 17P/Holmes erupted on Oct. 23rd, at first the
comet looked like a dimensionless point of light in the night sky.
But now "the comet's disk is visible to the naked eye,"
reports Doug Zubenel of
Lincoln County, Kansas. The expansion of the debris cloud is shown
in this doublet of images taken Oct. 25th and 26th by amateur astronomer
Wah! of Hong Kong using
an 8-inch
LX200 telescope:
What is happening to Comet Holmes? It remains a mystery--one that
you can behold with your naked eyes. Step outside after sunset,
face north, and look for the growing and fuzzy "star"
in the
thigh of Perseus: sky
map. Comet Holmes is similar in brightness to the stars of the
Big Dipper, very easy to see!
Comet
17P/Holmes Photo Gallery
[sky map]
[ephemeris]
[3D
orbit] [Night
Sky Cameras]
BIG MOONLIGHT: Two
nights ago in Ireland, Frank
Ryan Jr and David Lillis were observing Comet Holmes with a
20-inch Dobsonian
telescope when the bright full Moon rose in the east. Says Ryan,
"we couldn't pass up the opportunity of projecting the Moon
onto a wall to see the effect."
Photo details: Canon
350D, ISO 800, 2 Sec.
"It turned out to be pretty cool," he says.
Readers, the Moon will be big and bright for some nights to come.
After you see the comet, try swinging your telescope over for a
quick lunar projection. Be careful, though. This is a real crowd
pleaser and before you know it you may have your hands
full.
October
2007 Aurora Gallery
[September
Gallery] [Aurora Alerts]
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