| BEHOLD THE SUN:
Would you like to see fiery prominences and new-cycle sunspots
with your own eyes? On sale now: Personal
Solar Telescopes. |
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TAURID METEOR WATCH:
The annual Taurid
meteor shower peaks Nov. 5th through 12th, and it could be a
good show. 2008 is a "swarm
year" for the Taurids: Earth is due to pass through a swarm
of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When the same thing
happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight
fireballs for nearly two weeks. Be alert for Taurids: sky
map.
SUNSPOT 1007:
"There is a lovely swirling plasma maelstrom approaching the
sun's western limb," reports astrophotographer Pete Lawrence,
who sends this picture from his backyard observatory in Selsey,
UK:
Most of us call it "sunspot 1007." It is only the eighth
sunspot of young Solar
Cycle 24; it is also the biggest and most active. On Nov. 3rd
and 4th, sunspot 1007 unleashed a series of B-class solar flares
that bathed Earth's dayside in X-rays and caused ionospheric disturbances
over Europe. After many months of deep solar minimum, the sun is
finally showing signs of life.
Solar rotation is about to carry sunspot 1007 over the western
limb where it can no longer be seen from Earth. Readers, if you
have a solar
telescope, catch the "lovely maelstrom" before it
goes.
sunspot photos: from
M. Ugro et al. of South Portland, Maine; from
Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from
Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, Kentucky; from
Pavol Rapavy of Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from
Paul Maxson of Surprise, Arizona; from
Guenter Kleinschuster of Feldbach, Styria, Austria;
KASATOCHI, WEEK 12:
Twelve weeks ago in Alaska's Aleutian islands,
the Kasatochi volcano erupted. More than a million tons of ash and
sulfur dioxide rocketed into the stratosphere, giving rise to sunsets
of rare beauty around the northern hemisphere. Those sunsets are
still with us....
On Nov. 2nd, "we had another great Kasatochi sunset with bright
light and colors!" reports P-M
Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden. He snapped this picture using a
Canon
450D:
"This sunset has several volcanic hallmarks,"
says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "Stratospheric ash
and sulfate aerosols have scattered light near the horizon to produce
an intense yellow twilight
arch. Higher up, the sky shows signs of the purple
light, a mixture of dust-scattered blue light and reddened sunset
rays. Finally, to the left is a long dark
shadow across the stratosphere
where a low-hanging cloud over the horizon has blocked the sun’s
light." (Note: The shadow is best seen in the full-sized
photo.)
"It’s been 12 weeks since Kasotochi erupted.
Some volcanoes have given years of colorful sunsets and, who knows,
this one could also!"
more images: from
Lionel Bernardi of Toulouse, France; from
Aymen Ibrahem of Giza, Egypt: from
Bizik Péter of Eger, Hungary; from
Elaine Parker of Westover, Maryland; from
Anne Patterson at the Dingle peninsula, Ireland; from
Valentin Grigore of Targoviste, Romania; from
John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland.
Oct.
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Previous Octobers: 2007,
2006, 2004,
2003, 2002,
2001,
2000]
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