ARCTIC AURORAS LIKELY THIS WEEK: An irregular hole in the sun's atmosphere is spewing a stream of solar wind toward Earth. Estimated time of arrival: Oct. 24th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras when the gaseous material arrives. A bright full Moon on Oct. 24th will add its luminosity to that of any geomagnetic storm, creating some nice landscape photo-ops around the Arctic Circle. Free: Aurora Alerts.
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION OF VENUS: On Oct. 26th, Venus will pass almost directly between Earth and the sun--an event astronomers call "inferior solar conjunction." As Venus approaches the sun, the planet is turning its night side toward Earth, reducing its luminous glow to a thin sliver. Shahrin Ahmad of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, took this picture on Oct. 20th:
"I took this picture in broad daylight," says Ahmad. "Venus was really big in the eyepiece of my telescope--almost a full arcminute in diameter. And the crescent shape was easily visible in the 8x50 finder scope."
In the days ahead, the crescent of Venus will become increasingly thin and circular. The horns of the crescent might actually touch when the Venus-sun angle is least (~6 degrees) on Oct. 26th. This is arguably the most beautiful time to observe Venus, but also the most perilous. The glare of the nearby sun magnified by a telescope can damage the eyes of anyone looking through the eyepiece.
Anthony J. Cook of the Griffith Observatory has some advice for observers: "I have observed Venus at conjunction, but only from within the shadow of a building, or by adding a mask to the front end of the telescope to fully shadow the optics from direct sunlight. This is tricky with a refractor or a catadioptric, because the optics start at the front end of the tube. Here at Griffith Observatory, I rotate the telescope dome to make sure the lens of the telescope is shaded from direct sunlight, even through it means that the lens will be partially blocked when aimed at Venus. With our Newtonian telescope, I add a curved cardboard mask at the front end of the tube to shadow the primary mirror."
Earlier today, Richard Nugent of Framingham, Massachusetts, used a 10-inch telescope (masked down to 60 mm) and an iPhone 8Plus to photograph Venus in broad daylight:
"Venus is 1.3% illuminated and only 9°20' from the sun!" says Nugent.
RED SOX IN THE STRATOSPHERE: The Red Sox are in the World Series! Boston fans, why not celebrate by getting a ball that's out of this world? On Oct. 20th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this authentic Major League ball to the stratosphere, more than 112,530 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $149.95. The students are selling Red Sox space baseballs to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Not an Astros fan? No problem. You can also purchase space baseballs for the Dodgers, Brewers, Astros, Braves, Cubs, Cardinals, Royals, Angels, Padres, Giants or any other team.
Each baseball comes with a greeting card showing the ball in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere. Plus, you'll receive a UV-resistant cubical display case with decorating stickers depicting the ball at the edge of space.
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