| AURORA ALERTS:
Did you miss the Northern Lights of June 14th? Next time get
a wake-up call from Space
Weather PHONE. |
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BRIGHT LIGHTS AT DAWN:
Set your alarm for dawn. On Friday morning, June 20th, Jupiter and
the Moon will gather for a beautiful meeting in the southern sky:
finder chart.
They're bright enough to pierce the morning twilight. Indeed, Jupiter
and the Moon surrounded by soft blue is a truly splendid sight.
Start your day just before the sun; you'll be glad you did.
MOON ILLUSION:
It is often said that cameras do not experience the Moon
Illusion. So why does the Moon look so large in this photo,
taken last night at the 2500-year-old Temple of Poseidon at Sounio,
Greece?
"The Moon Illusion was very strong and the Moon
looked huge!" says photographer Elias
Chasiotis.
Humans looking at photos of moons behind trees, buildings
and temples do experience something akin to the Moon Illusion.
"That's one big Moon," is a typical reaction to images
like these: #1,
#2, #3.
The key ingredient seems to be foreground objects altering our perception
of the Moon's true diameter. Ultimately, though, the camera splashes
cold water on our fancies. Multiple exposures prove that the low
Moon is no larger than the high Moon, as shown here,
here
and here.
In summary, you can't always believe your eyes--not even when reading
Spaceweather.com!
more photos: from
Robin Smith of Terre Haute, Indiana; from
Chris Picking of Kaituna, North Island, New Zealand; from
Ivica Skokic of Zagreb, Croatia; from
Mustafa Erol of Antalya, Turkey; from
Anthony Ayiomamitis of Sounion, Greece; from
Terry Mann of West Manchester, Ohio; from
Jacques Vincent of Breil-sur-Roya, France; from
Tom Soetaert of Lawrence, Kansas; from
Stefan Seip of Weilimdorf, Germany;
SNOW WHITE:
Phoenix is digging a new trench on Mars and mission scientists have
named it "Snow
White." Slip on your 3D
glasses and check out the progress so far:
Belgian graphic artist Patrick
Vantuyne created the anaglyph using right- and left-eye images
captured by Phoenix's stereo camera. Stare a while for full effect;
you may even feel as if you're about to fall in. Don't worry, the
trench is only about 1 inch deep.
It's about to get deeper. In the days ahead, Phoenix will excavate
more topsoil in search of a mysterious white
material first seen in a nearby test trench. Mission scientists
would like to gather an abundance of the mystery substance for analysis
by Phoenix's onboard mass spectrometer. Then they may discover whether
it is ice, salt, or something entirely new. Stay tuned for updates.
2008
Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
["Noctilucent
Clouds"--the song] [NLC
Basics]
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