SpaceWeather.com Archive — Sun, Sep 29, 2024

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QUIET WEEKEND: No CMEs are heading for Earth and no sunspots are actively flaring. As a result, space weather is expected to be quiet for the third day in a row. Solar flare alerts: SMS Tex t

COMET TSUCHINSHAN-ATLAS CONTINUES TO BRIGHTEN: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) has become so bright, you can take a picture like this in less than 1 minute:

"This is a single 15-second exposure with my Canon R5 camera at ISO 800," says Alan Dyer, who watched the comet rise over Bryce Canyon National Park at dawn on Sept. 28th. "The location was Fairyland Point looking almost due east."

"The comet was not visible to the naked eye, but could be seen in 10x50 binoculars — indeed, its tail rose first and was visible before the head cleared the distant butte," says Dyer. "The full field of view is 15º by 10º so the tail is at least 7º to 8º long."

The comet is currently as bright as a +2.5 magnitude star. In a dark sky, that would be very easy to see. At sunrise, it's not so easy, but this could soon change. On Oct. 9th, the comet will pass between Earth and the sun. Sunlight forward scattered by comet dust will amplify the comet's brightness to negative magnitudes. If the most optimistic predictions ( m < -5.0) come true, it could be visible even in broad daylight like Comet McNaught in 2007.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
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ASTRONAUT SNOOPY COFFEE CUP: Coffee tastes better in a cup that's been to space. On July 16th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the 'I Need My Space' Snoopy cup to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here it is floating more than 105,315 feet above Earth's surface:

You can have it for $99.95. It's Peanuts for a cup from space! The students are selling Snoopy cups to support their cosmic ray monitoring program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.