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SATELLITE DECAY:
According to US Strategic Command, Iran's Omid
satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere yesterday, April 25th,
during an 8-hour window centered on 0342 UT. The most likely reentry
location is over the south Atlantic Ocean approximately east of
Buenos Aires, Argentina. No sightings have been reported.
NOTE: The Safir-2 rocket that launched Omid is
still in Earth orbit. Check the Simple Satellite
Tracker for viewing opportunities.
WEEKEND SKY SHOW:
When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. You
might see something like this:
Dale Ireland of Silverdale, Washington, created the
graphic to illustrate the April 26th conjunction of the crescent
Moon, Pleiades and Mercury.
Start watching early. The Moon pops out of the twilight
long before the sky fades to black. A slender crescent Moon surrounded
by colbalt blue is one of the loveliest sights in the heavens. Mercury
and the Pleiades are a wonderful bonus: full
story.
April 26th photos: from
Tamas Ladanyi of Veszpremfajsz, Hungary; from
Richard Fleet of Pewsey Vale, Wiltshire, England; from
Uriel Goldvais of Rehovot, Israel; from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Gadi Eidelheit of Givat Shmuel, Israel; from
Achim Schaller of Marzell, Germany; from
André of Bath, UK; from
Erkki Rauhala of Uurainen, Finland; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from
Luke Broom-Lynne of Attleborough, Norfolk, UK; from
Donatas Tamonis of Kaunas, Lithuania; from
Marcin Grzybowski of Forslo, Sweden; from
George Tarsoudis of Melia of Evros - Greece; from
Catalin M. Timosca of Mihai Viteazul, Romania; from
Miroslav Znášik of Žilina, Slovakia; from
Sorin Hotea of Sighetu-Marmatiei, Romania; from
Jesper Gronne of Denmark; from
Honor Wheeler of Wilmington, Kent, UK; from
Carlos Briggs of Great Dunmow, Essex, England, UK; from
Reinhard Nitze of Barsinghausen, North Germany; from
Stephan Brügger of Lübeck, Germany
NOT-SO-QUIET SUN:
The sun produced an unexpected burst of activity on April 23rd when
an enormous prominence rose over the northeastern limb and erupted.
SOHO recorded the blast from beginning to end with a series of high-cadence
UV snapshots. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:
Click
to view a movie
The complex explosion produced not one but two coronal
mass ejections (CMEs): movie.
An impact from such a double-CME would almost surely spark magnetic
storms around the poles of Earth, but it is not heading in our direction.
The chance of auroras remains
low.
April
2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003, 2002]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle
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