Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.
SURPRISES FROM THE EDGE: NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new realm of space, and it's beaming back some surprises. Get the full story from Science@NASA.
LOOK EAST: "Everyone knows the sun rises in the east," says Anthony Ayiomamitis of Athens, Greece. "But is this really true and, if so, is it true all year-round?" (continued below)
Sunrise in Athens: full-year image. Credit: Anthony Ayiomamitis.
"This photo depicts the wild swings in the sun's azimuth at sunrise, which varies by more than 65 degrees during the course of a year here in Athens. Yes, the sun does rise due east, but only at equinox."
In other words, today. Today is the first day of northern fall, the day when the sun crosses the celestial equator and rises in the east. Day and night are of almost equal length--hence the name equinox or equal night.
"Happy equinox!" says Ayiomamitis.
RING OF FIRE: The place to be yesterday morning was Novotel Beach in French Guiana. There, the rising sun was a ring of fire:
"I used a 22 year old solar filter and a simple digital camera to take this picture," says photographer Sascha Zipf. She went to the beach along with hundreds of others to see the annular solar eclipse.
Annular eclipses occur when the Moon passes in front of the sun, but fails to cover the entire solar disk. A little bit of sun pokes out in all directions producing a bright "ring of fire." This is not to be confused with a total eclipse, which reveals the sun's ghostly corona. Annular eclipses are less prized, but are they less beautiful? You decide:
Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery