FAILURE TO LAUNCH: Yesterday, June 28th, a dark filament of magnetism erupted in the sun's northern hemisphere: movie. The debris failed to leave the sun's atmosphere; no CME was observed after the explosion. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN IN SPACE: Today, the Moon passed in front of the sun, producing a partial solar eclipse. You had to be in space to see it. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the 35-minute event:
At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon covered 67% of the sun, and lunar mountains were backlit by solar fire. Note the bumps and irregularities in this close-up image of the Moon's limb:
High-resolution images like these can help the SDO science team better understand the telescope. They reveal how light diffracts around SDO's optics and filter support grids. Once these are calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen images of the sun even more than before.
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COMET K2 ENTERS THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM: For the past 3 million years, Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) has been falling toward the sun--a long, slow journey from the Oort cloud. Finally, it's here. Austrian astrophotographer Michael Jaeger photographed "Comet K2" entering the inner solar system on June 25th:
"This is a 22-minute exposure with my 16-inch telescope," says Jaeger. "The comet was about 9th magnitude."
Comet K2 caused a sensation when it was discovered in 2017. At first, it appeared to be one of the biggest comets in modern history, with a nucleus as much as 160 km wide. Hubble Space Telescope observations have since downsized it to 18 km. That's still big (typical comet nuclei measure 1 to 3 km), but not a record setter. K2 is comparable in size to Halley's Comet.
The comet will make its closest approach to Earth (1.8 AU away) on July 14th, brightening to 7th or 8th magnitude. This is too dim to see with the naked eye, but an easy target for backyard telescopes. A good time to look is now before the full Moon of July 13th interferes. Comet K2 may be found high in the midnight sky in the constellation Ophiuchus.
Sky maps: June 29, 30, July 1. Additional resources: current coordinates, 3D orbit, light curve.
more images: from Roland Fichtl of Engelhardsberg, Germany; from José J. Chambó of Valencia, Spain; from Fritz Helmut Hemmerich of Alhama de Granada, Spain; from Alessandro Bianconi of Dolianova, Italy; from Paul Robinson in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California; from Lionel Majzik of Hakos, Khomas, Namibia
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STERLING SILVER RAINBOW DRAGONFLY (GOLDEN HEART): Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider a rainbow dragonfly from the edge of space. On June 3, 2022, this sterling silver pendant hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $172.95. The dragonfly's heart is a golden Celtic love knot, and its wings are decorated with a spray of rainbow-colored crystals. The students are selling dragonfly pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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