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SOLAR CYCLE PREDICTION:
An international panel of experts says Solar
Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.
Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
MAGNETIC MAELSTROM:
"Sunspot 1019 continues to put on a
show," reports astronomer Pete Lawrence of Selsey UK. "Two
distinct main spots are visible with a number of smaller pores scattered
around a vast field of magnetic fibrils. The view through an H-alpha
'scope is stunning."
Since the sunspot emerged on May 31st, it has rapidly grown and
reorganized itself into the double spot visible today: movie.
The region is crackling with A-
and B-class solar flares, which nicely highlight the sunspot's
surroundings for astrophotographers. Readers, if you have a solar
telescope, take a look!
more images: from
B. Atkins, P. Fitzpatrick and J. Stetson of South Portland,
Maine; from
Etienne Lecoq of Mesnil Panneville Normandy, France; from
Jérôme Grenier of Paris, France; from
Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from
Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from
Ehsan Rostamizadeh of Kerman, Iran; from
Steve Wainwright of Swansea S.Wales, UK; from
Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida
THINGS YOU CAN SEE
AT A TRAFFIC LIGHT: "Yesterday, I pulled
up to a traffic light in Florida. Right there in front of me I saw
the space shuttle flying across the sky on top of a NASA 747,"
reports George Fetter of Daytona
Beach. "I'm just glad I had my trusty Nikon
D50 sitting on my passenger seat!" His first shot caught
the piggy-backed spaceship emerging from behind a green light:
Quickly, he pulled to the verge and zoomed in for
a closer look.
"It was Atlantis returning home to Florida from the Hubble
repair mission (STS-125)," he says.
On May 24th, bad weather over Florida forced Atlantis
to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California. That set the stage
for a 2,500-mile cross-country ferry flight. Fetter spotted Atlantis
near the end of the journey, less than an hour before it touched
down at the Kennedy Space Center.
With the STS-125 mission finally completed, NASA's
shuttle team is shifting its attention to the next flight, space
shuttle Endeavor's STS-127 mission to the International Space Station.
Among other things, Endeavour will deliver a new "space porch"
for Japan's Kibo science lab. Experiments that require, e.g., hard
vacuum can then be placed out on the porch for direct exposure to
space. Liftoff is tentatively scheduled for June 13th.
April
2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003, 2002]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle
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