Space Weather News

Space Weather News for Oct. 16, 2010

SOLAR FLARE:

The strongest solar flare in nearly three months erupted from sunspot 1112 on October 16th. Remarkably, the M1-class event did not disrupt a huge magnetic filament passing right by the blast site. Future eruptions might, however, if this active sunspot continues to grow as quickly as it has in the past few days. Visit http://spaceweather.com to view movies of the event from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

COMET 103P/HARTLEY AT ITS BEST:

For backyard stargazers, the next few nights are the best time to see green Comet 103P/Hartley 2 as it approaches Earth for an 11-million-mile close encounter on Oct. 20th. Set your alarm for the dark hours before dawn, go outside, and look straight up. You will find Hartley 2 not far from the bright star Capella. Although the comet is barely visible to the unaided eye, it is easy to locate using binoculars and looks great through a backyard telescope. Sky maps and more information may be found at:
http://spaceweather.com

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory;
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

John.
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Space Weather News for Oct. 20, 2010

SUNDIVING COMET:

A newly-discovered comet is plunging toward the sun for a close encounter it probably will not survive. The comet is too deep in the sun's glare for human eyes to pick out, but it is showing up nicely in coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Visit http://spaceweather.com for latest movies.

ORIONID METEOR SHOWER:

Earth is passing through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, and this is causing the annual Orionid meteor shower. Bright moonlight is reducing the number of visible meteors; nevertheless, sky watchers are reporting some bright Orionids. The best time to look is during the hours before local dawn on Thursday, Oct. 21st, and again on Friday, Oct. 22nd.

Check out: http://spaceweather.com

for a sky map and more information.

Space Weather News for Oct. 28, 2010

SUN TWISTER:

Earlier today, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded a spectacular eruption on the sun's northeastern limb. An unstable magnetic filament hundreds of thousands of kilometers long pirouetted and launched a fragment of itself into space. Earth was not in the line of fire, but the SDO movie is worth seeing anyway.

for cinema Visit: http://spaceweather.com/

ASTEROID FLYBY:

Asteroid 2003 UV11 will fly past Earth on Oct. 29th and 30th at a distance of only 1.2 million miles. Experienced amateur astronomers should have little trouble photographing the 600-meter wide space rock as it glides through the constellation Pegasus on Friday night, glowing about as brightly as a 12th magnitude star. Observers in North America and Europe are favored.

Check out: http://spaceweather.com/

for ephemerides and more information.

Space Weather News for Nov. 3, 2010

FARSIDE SOLAR FLARES:

An active region just over the sun's eastern horizon is crackling with solar flares and hurling material high above the stellar surface. One of today's flares, a C4-class event, created a wave of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere despite the fact that the blast site was not directly visible from Earth. The source of this activity appears to be old sunspot 1112, which has spent the last ~12 days transiting the far side of the sun, and is now about to turn back toward our planet.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for movies of today's activity and updates.

COMET HARTLEY UPDATE:

NASA's Deep Impact (EPOXI) probe is closing in on Comet Hartley 2 for a daring flyby on Nov. 4th. The small but active comet is full of surprises, with spinning jets, geysers of cyanide gas, and a strangely pickle-shaped core. Mission scientists expect to reveal first images from the flyby during a press conference on Thursday afternoon, around 4 pm EDT. Tune into NASA TV to follow events live, and meanwhile read this story for a preview:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/02nov_epoxi2/