A panel of the International Telecommunication Union - which these days feels responsible for defining time, something astronomers used to do - has postponed a decision to abandon the leap second for another three years as no clear majority was evident: see reports here, here, here, here, here, here, here and hier for further details, context and opinons as well as a nice Al Jazeera news clip and reports before the non-decision here, here, here and here. Perhaps the 3 years gained will now be used for an open debate involving society (and astronomers, please!) as a whole? How the differing opinions of the ITU members came to be is hard to fathom; in the U.S. the State Department was in charge, for example, and in Germany the Bundesnetzagentur. Who asked whom for input prior to the 2012 gathering is also difficult to access, e.g. the members of the American Astronomical Society were not asked for their opinion while the IAU somehow felt it had the authority to support abandoning the leap second (according to documents this blog obtained; sorry, no links). Anyway, it didn't happen, and Earth rotation and Universal Time Coordinated remain linked for the time being, with the next leap second due this June 30 anyway.
The biggest news elsewhere in the Universe is a 13 mag. supernova in NGC 3239 in Leo, SN 2012A, which is also discussed here, here, here and here. • The Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey is making headlines with its many discoveries of variable things in the sky; also more insights about and one amateur's light curve of Epsilon Aurigae's last eclipse. • On the Sun an M flare that may have terrestrial FX tomorrow (or perhaps not so much), a Jan. 2 prominence movie and magnetic measurements. • Jupiter on Jan. 15 (more), Jan. 4 (movie!), Jan. 2 (with moons & Moon) and in Nov. 2011 and Mars on Jan. 16, Jan. 15 (more), Jan. 11, Jan. 9, earlier and still earlier, plus a cool 'trailer' for the Transit of Venus.
Comet Lovejoy is still around but the tail of the - formerly 'great' - comet has faded extremely: pictures of Jan. 20, Jan. 19, Jan. 18, Jan. 18+16, Jan. 16, Jan. 15 (with a 43° tail), Jan. 14 (stark processing; at LMC; dito), Jan. 13 (over the LMC), Jan. 12 (dito), Jan. 7, Jan. 6 (dito), Jan. 5 (dito, dito), Jan. 4, Jan. 3 (dito, dito), Jan. 2 (dito, dito), Dec. 31, Dec. 29 and Dec. 28 (the latter two from the ISS), a movie covering 6 days, picture collections here, here, here, here, here, here and here, a visual report from Jan. 2, coverage of Jan. 3 (dito, dito) and early speculations (related video - and a counterview). • Also the July 2011 case of comet observed being destroyed in the sun has been analyzed: press releases here and here, corollary thoughts and coverage here, here and here.
In other comet news comet C/2010 G2 (Hill) is in outburst: pictures of Jan. 12, Jan. 10, Jan. 5, Jan. 3 and Jan. 2, plus the comet in STEREO images and during an earlier outburst. • Comet Garradd on Jan. 16, Jan. 5 and Jan. 4, Arend-Rigaux among galaxies on Jan. 19, comet C/2012 A2 (LINEAR) and many comets with Faulkes. • A reminder about the Eros Parallax Campaign beginning Jan. 28 (more and more) and detections of Eros by yours truly with a simple camera on a tripod with long and even short focal length. • Also a detection of Apophis with a 60 cm scope (not affecting the impact risk - very low anyway - much), an 'Orwellian' retraction of an asteroid and papers on asteroid activity and rotation. • A rare fall of Mars meteorites last year in Marocco is now confirmed (more, more, more, more and more) - and wine aged with a meteorite is making headlines ...
In other news the Quadrantids 2012 didn't perform that well (with a maximum ZHR of only ~80) but were nice for photographers: composite images here, here, here and here, a comparision DSLR vs. video, a video clip and picture collections here, here and here. • How to photograph the ISS crossing the Moon (more) and utter BS about the X-mas Soyuz stage reentry - sigh ... • A call for amateur radio observations (of meteors in Earth's atmosphere) in support of the LADEE mission to the Moon. • And finally another astrophotography contest and a new astrophotography blog - featuring many pictures taken from Bonn, Germany. High contrast & vivid colors despite the urban location of the 50-cm telescope employed!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Lovejoy's tail still dozens of degrees long but surface brightness way down
Only under the best conditions is the long narrow tail of comet Lovejoy - still stretching for almost 40° - easily visible in the sky, elsewhere it isn't even a naked-eye object anymore: This Great Comet is only a shadow of its former self. Still photographs (exposed for several minutes) continue to show an amazing object, and the fading tail might get even longer by mid-January, though some image enhancement techniques will be necessary to bring its full length out. Some picture collections by Tabur, Garradd, Gerry, Mattiazzo and Hao (more, more, details) from Australia, pictures from Argentina and an undated one.
Selected views of Jan. 1 (more, more and more), Dec. 31 (more and more), Dec. 30 (more, more, more and more in weird projection), Dec. 29 (more), Dec. 28 (more, more, more, more and more), Dec. 27 (more, more, more, more, more, details, more, more, more, more, more, more, a rise video and an ISS view, alt.), Dec. 26 (more and Dec. 21 ... 26), Dec. 25, Dec. 23 and Dec. 22 (in an all-sky video). Also visual reports from Jan. 1 (still 39° tail), Dec. 31 (no longer naked-eye), Dec. 30 (earlier) and Dec. 27 - and coverage of Jan. 1, Dec. 31, Dec. 29, Dec. 28 (dito), Dec. 27 (down; dito, dito) and and Dec. 26. • There are also two new Boattini comets, P/2011 Y2 and C/2011 Y3.
Heavenly highlights in January 2012 - see also hier & hier - include an asteroid transit in front of Betelgeuze (with the star's disk x10 larger than the asteroid; can that be observed?) on Jan. 2, the Quadrantids peaking on Jan. 4 (more & more) and a rare Earth approach of asteroid Eros on Jan. 31: This has led to a call to capture its parallax as a reenactment of a famous technique to measure the AU; concrete details are still being planned. • For the full year 2012 some highlights, what the planets and meteors have in store and what will be occulted by the Moon and minor planets; also a list of planet occultations by the Moon in 2012 and beyond. • Finally a helpful website about the state of space weather, some results from the Eps Aur event - and a FAQ, story (more, more & more), another video, TV coverage and all kinds of stuff (later, still later) about the Dec. 24 Soyuz upper stage reentry over Europe.
Selected views of Jan. 1 (more, more and more), Dec. 31 (more and more), Dec. 30 (more, more, more and more in weird projection), Dec. 29 (more), Dec. 28 (more, more, more, more and more), Dec. 27 (more, more, more, more, more, details, more, more, more, more, more, more, a rise video and an ISS view, alt.), Dec. 26 (more and Dec. 21 ... 26), Dec. 25, Dec. 23 and Dec. 22 (in an all-sky video). Also visual reports from Jan. 1 (still 39° tail), Dec. 31 (no longer naked-eye), Dec. 30 (earlier) and Dec. 27 - and coverage of Jan. 1, Dec. 31, Dec. 29, Dec. 28 (dito), Dec. 27 (down; dito, dito) and and Dec. 26. • There are also two new Boattini comets, P/2011 Y2 and C/2011 Y3.
Heavenly highlights in January 2012 - see also hier & hier - include an asteroid transit in front of Betelgeuze (with the star's disk x10 larger than the asteroid; can that be observed?) on Jan. 2, the Quadrantids peaking on Jan. 4 (more & more) and a rare Earth approach of asteroid Eros on Jan. 31: This has led to a call to capture its parallax as a reenactment of a famous technique to measure the AU; concrete details are still being planned. • For the full year 2012 some highlights, what the planets and meteors have in store and what will be occulted by the Moon and minor planets; also a list of planet occultations by the Moon in 2012 and beyond. • Finally a helpful website about the state of space weather, some results from the Eps Aur event - and a FAQ, story (more, more & more), another video, TV coverage and all kinds of stuff (later, still later) about the Dec. 24 Soyuz upper stage reentry over Europe.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Lovejoy survives perigee - and now plays mini-Ikeya-Seki for Oz et al.
Defying practically all predictions, comet P/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) not only survived perihelion with ease but then formed a long and narrow tail that is well placed for the S. hemisphere now and resembles a small copy of that greatest sungrazer of the 20th century, Ikeya-Seki and giving it a quite good rank among all fine comets. Some picture collections of this amazing comet by V. Tabur, R. McNaught and B. Armstead, protocols of its behavior after and before perihelion, a calculation if its period (roughly 800 years), the lightcurve (that peaked at ~ -4 mag.), various notes in English, French and German, numerous satellite clips around perihelion (also w/an overly dramatic score and as a ballad ...), the geometries for SOHO and STEREO A (more) and various pictures (earlier).
Selected pictures of Dec. 26 local time (dito), Dec. 25 (dito, dito), Dec. 24 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, video, another), Dec. 23 (details, more, more, dito, details, more, dito, more, Dec. 22 from the ISS and from the ground (details, more, cloudy, in motion, more), Dec. 21 from the ISS (more & video) and from the ground (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, details, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 20, Dec. 19 from the ground (earlier) and STEREO A, Dec. 18 from the ground and STEREO A (more), Dec. 17 from the ground (alt., more, explained, dito) and STEREO A (later), Dec. 16/17 LASCO C3 animation, Dec. 14-17 LASCO C3 montage and animation, Dec. 16 LASCO C2 (animation), LASCO C3 and STEREO A, Dec. 15 SDO (alt., alt.) and LASCO C3, Dec. 11 STEREO B and Dec. 4 ground-based.
Visual reports of Dec. 25 (a drawing), Dec. 24 (more), Dec. 23, Dec. 20, Dec. 17 and Dec. 16. Press releases and space agency notes of Dec. 24, Dec. 22, Dec. 16 (more and more), Dec. 15, Dec. 14 and various dates. And news, blog and mailing list coverage of Dec. 25, Dec. 24 (dito), Dec. 23 (dito, dito, dito), Dec. 22 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 19 (dito), Dec. 18 (dito), Dec. 17 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 16 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 15 (dito, dito, dito, dito, more), Dec. 13, Dec. 6 and Dec. 5. • In other small bodies news a big paper on active asteroids (more), a bolide over Canada that may have dropped meteorites (more, more, more, more, more and more), a fine Geminids peak mit a peak ZHR of 200 (picture, another, yet another, composite, more, preview, side effect ...), a preview of the 2012 Quadrantids and a paper on the 2011 Draconids, observed from a plane.
The last total lunar eclipse in 3 years on Dec. 10 was widely observed, with yours truly in an ideal spot in India: this was mentioned in international reports here, here and here. Numerous pictures, reports and websites about this lunar eclipse from around the world can be found e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here (the most unusual report - from the Nordkapp!), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here (anyone volunteering to sort them by country or longitude? :-) - also a preview of what the LRO planned and a bizarre headline ...
In other news insights into the chemistry of Pluto, an apparent detection of the rings of Uranus by an amateur (more), recent hi-res Jupiters, all planets in the sky now (here they are), Moon, Venus & Mercury on Nov. 27, space weather visuals, insights, lunar effects and prediction attempts - and a hectic aurora movie. • Insights into the progenitor of SN 2011fe (more, more, more, more, more, more and more press releases and coverage here and hier). • Finally the reentry of a Soyuz upper stage was widely observed in Central Europe yesterday (official word, more and more analysis, further stories here and here and more witness reports) - and an article (p.10-11) on imaging satellites.
Selected pictures of Dec. 26 local time (dito), Dec. 25 (dito, dito), Dec. 24 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, video, another), Dec. 23 (details, more, more, dito, details, more, dito, more, Dec. 22 from the ISS and from the ground (details, more, cloudy, in motion, more), Dec. 21 from the ISS (more & video) and from the ground (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, details, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 20, Dec. 19 from the ground (earlier) and STEREO A, Dec. 18 from the ground and STEREO A (more), Dec. 17 from the ground (alt., more, explained, dito) and STEREO A (later), Dec. 16/17 LASCO C3 animation, Dec. 14-17 LASCO C3 montage and animation, Dec. 16 LASCO C2 (animation), LASCO C3 and STEREO A, Dec. 15 SDO (alt., alt.) and LASCO C3, Dec. 11 STEREO B and Dec. 4 ground-based.
Visual reports of Dec. 25 (a drawing), Dec. 24 (more), Dec. 23, Dec. 20, Dec. 17 and Dec. 16. Press releases and space agency notes of Dec. 24, Dec. 22, Dec. 16 (more and more), Dec. 15, Dec. 14 and various dates. And news, blog and mailing list coverage of Dec. 25, Dec. 24 (dito), Dec. 23 (dito, dito, dito), Dec. 22 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 19 (dito), Dec. 18 (dito), Dec. 17 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 16 (dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito, dito), Dec. 15 (dito, dito, dito, dito, more), Dec. 13, Dec. 6 and Dec. 5. • In other small bodies news a big paper on active asteroids (more), a bolide over Canada that may have dropped meteorites (more, more, more, more, more and more), a fine Geminids peak mit a peak ZHR of 200 (picture, another, yet another, composite, more, preview, side effect ...), a preview of the 2012 Quadrantids and a paper on the 2011 Draconids, observed from a plane.
The last total lunar eclipse in 3 years on Dec. 10 was widely observed, with yours truly in an ideal spot in India: this was mentioned in international reports here, here and here. Numerous pictures, reports and websites about this lunar eclipse from around the world can be found e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here (the most unusual report - from the Nordkapp!), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here (anyone volunteering to sort them by country or longitude? :-) - also a preview of what the LRO planned and a bizarre headline ...
In other news insights into the chemistry of Pluto, an apparent detection of the rings of Uranus by an amateur (more), recent hi-res Jupiters, all planets in the sky now (here they are), Moon, Venus & Mercury on Nov. 27, space weather visuals, insights, lunar effects and prediction attempts - and a hectic aurora movie. • Insights into the progenitor of SN 2011fe (more, more, more, more, more, more and more press releases and coverage here and hier). • Finally the reentry of a Soyuz upper stage was widely observed in Central Europe yesterday (official word, more and more analysis, further stories here and here and more witness reports) - and an article (p.10-11) on imaging satellites.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
First ground-based discovery of a Kreutz comet since 1970 - by an Aussie amateur!
Many hundreds of sun-grazing comets of the Kreutz family have been found in recent decades by Sun-watching satellites with their coronagraph cameras when they were already very close to the Sun - but with C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) it was different! For the first time since 1970 this Kreutz comet was discovered weeks before perihelion: by Australian amateur Terry Lovejoy who incidentally also was a pioneer in sungrazer detection in SOHO images. Already before it had a proper number, the object's orbit hinted at a sungrazer, and the 1st 'official' orbit has Lovejoy reach perihelion exactly on Dec. 16 at 0:00 UTC at a solar center distance of 0.00589 AU - that means a mere 140,000 km above the solar photosphere. While ground-discovered Kreutz comets have often become great sky shows, it's doubtful that C/2011 W3 - still very faint: pictures here and here (scroll down) - will survive its brush with the Sun and follow the tradition. Then again one never knows - and there should at least be a fine performance when Lovejoy enters the FOV of SOHO's coronagraphs on Dec. 12.
In other comet news there was yet another amateur discovery - and the first from African soil in some time: comet P/2011 W2 (Rinner), now celebrated in France and elsewhere but always staying faint like now. • Comet Garradd remains a dud for visual observers and a beauty for photographers as pictures from Nov. 28 (more!), Nov. 27, Nov. 25. (looks like Halley in April 1986, no?), Nov. 22, Nov. 20, Nov. 19 (more), Nov. 15 and Oct. 28 show; also comets Hill and P/2011 UH55. • The Leonids of 2011 reached only a ZHR of 20, as expected, but produced nice fireballs as seen e.g. here, here and here; also a long report about the Draconids 2011 over Egypt. • And talking about things hitting the Earth - or not - news from 65 Myr ago, 200 Myr ago and 252 Myr ago (more and mehr).
Yet more results re. NEO 2005 YU55 keep trickling in: joint lightcurves (scroll down), a parallax demonstration, the results from Herschel [Deutsch] (some numbers), the Arecibo radar 'images' and processed - kind of - Goldstone data (plus a summary of earlier stuff). • Also a successful observation of an occultation by Kalliope and all chords, a paper on Themis et al. and a press release on a student NEO discovery. • Some fine Jupiter images of Nov. 25, Nov. 21 (amazing; more), Nov. 16, Nov. 12 and Oct. 21, a weird animation from here. • Plus some constellations: Moon & Venus on Nov. 27 and Nov. 26 (also an attempt from Austria), Moon & Saturn on Nov. 23 and Venus & Mercury on Nov. 13.
There was a partial solar eclipse on Nov. 25 which could be observed only in the deepest South: some pictures & stories from South Africa (more) and Antarctica (more), collections here, here, here and here, the funny view from Hinode which saw three eclipses, coverage here, here (more) and here and previews here, here, here and here. • Also a podcast & transcript on upcoming solar eclipse science and stories on the future of the solar cycle, the shape of the solar wind [Deutsch], new Cluster observations (more), solar monitoring by the Proba 2 spacecraft and progress in solar storm forecasting.
In other news SN 2011dh in M 51 is still producing science headlines, like on the pre-explosion variability of the progenitor and early radio interferometry observations of the remnant; the latter paper and many more on 2011dh had already been discussed here (and the former one is here). • An amateur apparently captured the dust disk of Beta Pic with just a 10". • A nice 13-min. movie on Namibia's skies, artistic photographs of star trails and experiences on a ship hunting the Aurora off Norway. • The reentry of the latest Soyuz filmed from the ISS (1st minute), Chinese amateurs watching Tiangong, David Levy's logs online, TGFs and the future of UTC after the likely end of the leap second. • Among the sky events in December the lunar eclipse on the 10th dominates: more previews here, here, here, here and here, with a call for observations.
In other comet news there was yet another amateur discovery - and the first from African soil in some time: comet P/2011 W2 (Rinner), now celebrated in France and elsewhere but always staying faint like now. • Comet Garradd remains a dud for visual observers and a beauty for photographers as pictures from Nov. 28 (more!), Nov. 27, Nov. 25. (looks like Halley in April 1986, no?), Nov. 22, Nov. 20, Nov. 19 (more), Nov. 15 and Oct. 28 show; also comets Hill and P/2011 UH55. • The Leonids of 2011 reached only a ZHR of 20, as expected, but produced nice fireballs as seen e.g. here, here and here; also a long report about the Draconids 2011 over Egypt. • And talking about things hitting the Earth - or not - news from 65 Myr ago, 200 Myr ago and 252 Myr ago (more and mehr).
Yet more results re. NEO 2005 YU55 keep trickling in: joint lightcurves (scroll down), a parallax demonstration, the results from Herschel [Deutsch] (some numbers), the Arecibo radar 'images' and processed - kind of - Goldstone data (plus a summary of earlier stuff). • Also a successful observation of an occultation by Kalliope and all chords, a paper on Themis et al. and a press release on a student NEO discovery. • Some fine Jupiter images of Nov. 25, Nov. 21 (amazing; more), Nov. 16, Nov. 12 and Oct. 21, a weird animation from here. • Plus some constellations: Moon & Venus on Nov. 27 and Nov. 26 (also an attempt from Austria), Moon & Saturn on Nov. 23 and Venus & Mercury on Nov. 13.
There was a partial solar eclipse on Nov. 25 which could be observed only in the deepest South: some pictures & stories from South Africa (more) and Antarctica (more), collections here, here, here and here, the funny view from Hinode which saw three eclipses, coverage here, here (more) and here and previews here, here, here and here. • Also a podcast & transcript on upcoming solar eclipse science and stories on the future of the solar cycle, the shape of the solar wind [Deutsch], new Cluster observations (more), solar monitoring by the Proba 2 spacecraft and progress in solar storm forecasting.
In other news SN 2011dh in M 51 is still producing science headlines, like on the pre-explosion variability of the progenitor and early radio interferometry observations of the remnant; the latter paper and many more on 2011dh had already been discussed here (and the former one is here). • An amateur apparently captured the dust disk of Beta Pic with just a 10". • A nice 13-min. movie on Namibia's skies, artistic photographs of star trails and experiences on a ship hunting the Aurora off Norway. • The reentry of the latest Soyuz filmed from the ISS (1st minute), Chinese amateurs watching Tiangong, David Levy's logs online, TGFs and the future of UTC after the likely end of the leap second. • Among the sky events in December the lunar eclipse on the 10th dominates: more previews here, here, here, here and here, with a call for observations.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Earth visit of big, dark asteroid widely observed with all means
Only a fraction of the scientific data recorded with everything from big radar dishes to a 10-meter telescope with adaptive optics to the large IR satellite Herschel have been reported yet, but it can already be stated 2005 YU55 will probably be the best studied minor planet (not directly visited by a spacecraft) ever: a live-blog tracked the news from Nov. 6 til 10 and has many pictures, videos and links; since wrapping I've seen more videos here, here, here, here and here - also an improved radar movie, a late wire story and a simulation of what would have happened had YU55 impacted Earth.
In other planetary system news a long press release on a meteorite found by a Missouri farmer - a 17-kilogram pallasite! - and pictures of a bright Dutch bolide of Nov. 12. • Another - very faint - detection of (ex-)Elenin on Nov. 8, a great picture of comet Garradd of Oct. 30 - and C/2010 S1 (LINEAR) approaching the Bubble Nebula on Nov. 12. • How Venus & Mercury were easy - when you were in Australia. • Some selected Jupiter images of Nov. 13, Nov. 6 (more) and Oct. 23 - and a breathtaking animation of Jupiter images taken with the Pic du Midi 1 m telescope in October!
The huge sunspot group 1339 is almost history after - despite breathless articles like here, here and here - crossing the solar disk w/o further incidents: some selected pictures of a fine prominence today, the white and H-Alpha Sun (more) and a huge filament on Nov. 12, the white Sun full of spots on Nov. 11, a spotted sunrise on Nov. 10, the full disk + detail on Nov. 9, the group at the center on Nov. 8, the group and a spotty sunset (another one = an APOD) on Nov. 7, the full disk, detail, H-Alpha and spotty sunset on Nov. 6, detailled drawings of Nov. 5 (also a photo) of Nov.5 and earlier drawings of AR 1339. • Plus no superflares (more), strange jumping sundogs - and the likely end of the leap second.
In other planetary system news a long press release on a meteorite found by a Missouri farmer - a 17-kilogram pallasite! - and pictures of a bright Dutch bolide of Nov. 12. • Another - very faint - detection of (ex-)Elenin on Nov. 8, a great picture of comet Garradd of Oct. 30 - and C/2010 S1 (LINEAR) approaching the Bubble Nebula on Nov. 12. • How Venus & Mercury were easy - when you were in Australia. • Some selected Jupiter images of Nov. 13, Nov. 6 (more) and Oct. 23 - and a breathtaking animation of Jupiter images taken with the Pic du Midi 1 m telescope in October!
The huge sunspot group 1339 is almost history after - despite breathless articles like here, here and here - crossing the solar disk w/o further incidents: some selected pictures of a fine prominence today, the white and H-Alpha Sun (more) and a huge filament on Nov. 12, the white Sun full of spots on Nov. 11, a spotted sunrise on Nov. 10, the full disk + detail on Nov. 9, the group at the center on Nov. 8, the group and a spotty sunset (another one = an APOD) on Nov. 7, the full disk, detail, H-Alpha and spotty sunset on Nov. 6, detailled drawings of Nov. 5 (also a photo) of Nov.5 and earlier drawings of AR 1339. • Plus no superflares (more), strange jumping sundogs - and the likely end of the leap second.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Biggest sunspot group in years crossing the disk; already one X flare seen
The new activity region 1339 - a full-disk view of today and another close-up - is now crackling with M-class flares as it approaches the center of the disk. Just after arriving around the limb it had fired off an X-class flare ("Ein Flare der ...") on Nov. 3 that made some headlines but not another one - thus geophysical effects of AR 1339 have so far been absent. • Also some truly great aurora images (in the picture stream, both directions), the anatomy of a geomagnetic storm, a detailled report and 3 videos from the German outburst of Oct. 24/25 (also a Canadian view) and a solar cycle primer. Plus a paper on the solar corona and how and why visual and photographic impressions differ so much.
Elsewhere in the Galaxy the Epsilon Aurigae eclipse is not completely over, with lingering spectroscopic effects; also the 9th campaign newsletter. And some recent images of M 101 and its fading supernovae; some science results (also about the one in M 51) can be found linked here. • Back in the solar system Venus & Mercury on Nov. 5th and Oct. 27, Jupiter's Io covering its shadow and unusual events around opposition (more, more and more). • An amateur non-detection (but great 2006 pics!) of the bright Uranus spot (more and more). • The full paper on Eris' diameter, a press release and yet more stories here, here and here.
The most unusual event of the month - with few other highlights - is the close approach of the 400-meter asteroid 2005 YU55 which already being tracked with radar by Goldstone, supporting planned Herschel observations: more previews of the hard-to-observe event here, here, here, here (earlier), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Also recordings of two related chats here and here and articles in German hier, hier and here, plus more media reax. • Also La Palma crossing M 31 again, the stones from 2008 TC3 and a CBET on the Draconids, a rare visual observation and images of Nov. 1 (animated) and Oct. 27 (processed and explained), a looong rant about and Indonesian coverage of ex-Elenin - and Garradd on Oct. 30.
Elsewhere in the Galaxy the Epsilon Aurigae eclipse is not completely over, with lingering spectroscopic effects; also the 9th campaign newsletter. And some recent images of M 101 and its fading supernovae; some science results (also about the one in M 51) can be found linked here. • Back in the solar system Venus & Mercury on Nov. 5th and Oct. 27, Jupiter's Io covering its shadow and unusual events around opposition (more, more and more). • An amateur non-detection (but great 2006 pics!) of the bright Uranus spot (more and more). • The full paper on Eris' diameter, a press release and yet more stories here, here and here.
The most unusual event of the month - with few other highlights - is the close approach of the 400-meter asteroid 2005 YU55 which already being tracked with radar by Goldstone, supporting planned Herschel observations: more previews of the hard-to-observe event here, here, here, here (earlier), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Also recordings of two related chats here and here and articles in German hier, hier and here, plus more media reax. • Also La Palma crossing M 31 again, the stones from 2008 TC3 and a CBET on the Draconids, a rare visual observation and images of Nov. 1 (animated) and Oct. 27 (processed and explained), a looong rant about and Indonesian coverage of ex-Elenin - and Garradd on Oct. 30.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Bright spot emerges on Uranus - can amateurs track it (and thus help Hubble)?
Observations with one of the Gemini 8-m telescopes show a very bright spot that has suddenly appeared on Uranus and is at least 3 times brighter than the remote planet's disk: "If this is a convectively driven white feature it may evolve to larger size and brighter appearance on the next few days," says an unusual alert message distributed via The Astronomer network earlier today. Moreover amateur images of Uranus are now considered "essential to study this feature and its precise drift rate to assist possible observation with other highly-priority telescopes such as the HST." Uranus subtends 3.7" in the sky, and the bright cloud feature is at least 0.33 arc seconds making this feature potentially accessible to relatively modest telescopes. On 2011 October 26 at 08:06 UTC when the linked picture was taken the spot was at 323° west longitude and 22.5° north; the current estimate for the rotation period of this feature is 17.24 hours. • A slightly easier target is Jupiter, now in opposition: selected images from Oct. 24 (46 cm scope), Oct. 22 (20 cm - animation), Oct. 13 (1 meter), Oct. 3 (25 cm) and Sep. 26 (23 cm).
Comet Elenin has been recovered after all, now that the Moon is out of the way, but only as an extremely diffuse dust cloud with not one individual fragment brighter than 22.5 mag.: reports on the hunt and what one can see (or rather image) from Oct. 25, Oct 24 (more), Oct. 23 (more), Oct. 21 and Oct. 15, pictures of Oct. 24, Oct. 23 (more, more and with just 8 cm aperture), Oct. 22 (more), Oct. 21 (negative), Oct. 15 (positive after looking hard) and Oct. 14 (negative), another claimed visual observation (why such a small 'coma' size?), a long essay on visual comet observing - and a very stupid NASA press release asking for Elenin to "be forgotten". Rather forget such dumb advice and observe the most unusual ... thing that Elenin has turned into while it's still possible (it's now receding from both Sun and Earth).
In other comet news the first Jupiter Trojan comet has been found - and Bressi may be interesting. • Pictures of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova from Oct. 15, Oct. 7 and Sep. 30 (with a mountain) and Garradd - which now has a nice plasma tail as well! - of Oct. 23 (more), Oct. 17 (more), Oct. 15 (more) and Oct. 14 (more). • Another - smaller - comet hit the Sun on Oct. 19 (earlier, still earlier), a video on the Oct. 1 case and 5 years of comets observed by the STEREO mission. • The physics of impacts on Earth, an observing guide for and JPL Release about coming NEO 2005 YU55, an asteroid crossing M 31 (movie) - where it was mistaken for a nova! - and a Subaru Release about Scheila's outburst.
In other solar system news Venus and Mercury low in the evening sky on Oct. 24 (USA) and Oct. 22 (Australia and - w/o Mercury - Austria) - the new evening apparition of Venus will end with the solar transit next June! • The equal diameters of Eris & Pluto also discussed here, here, here, here, hier, hier, hier and earlier here. • The Orionids delivered a nice show, only a maximum ZHR of 50, but it looked great for some (another and another night); also an all-sky sum image, a spectrum (more) and a picture. • From the Draconids a detailled story with pictures from the NE German campaign, another video from the NL, observations by ESA, a German video (AVIS2), the radiant from 6 video cameras and a Spanish composite image and report. • Also a night with 5 showers, no evidence for interstellar meteoroids and a German fireball. • This month's full moon was the smallest of the year: a comparision with the biggest one (alt.) and a list of big ones.
In other news there was an aurora outburst Oct. 24/25 over e.g. Germany and the U.S.: a great German timelapse video, a fine gallery, pictures from all over Germany, Alabama (w/video) and N. Germany and coverage here, here, here, here and here. The CME that caused it was launched on Oct. 22 as was another one that headed towards Mars; there was a lot to see on the Sun that day. • Weird NLC-like looking clouds may have been caused by the 1st S. American Soyuz launch, and a picture of Spektr R deep in space. • A German press release on that rare triple rainbow (with the full paper) - and a double rainbow with a stupid caption (as if it stretches from one place to another). • And then there was a bizarre paper on things in front of the Sun in 1883 which some rightly attacked (mehr) but others found at least intriguing. And as if ordered: a mystery crossing the solar disk just this month ...
Comet Elenin has been recovered after all, now that the Moon is out of the way, but only as an extremely diffuse dust cloud with not one individual fragment brighter than 22.5 mag.: reports on the hunt and what one can see (or rather image) from Oct. 25, Oct 24 (more), Oct. 23 (more), Oct. 21 and Oct. 15, pictures of Oct. 24, Oct. 23 (more, more and with just 8 cm aperture), Oct. 22 (more), Oct. 21 (negative), Oct. 15 (positive after looking hard) and Oct. 14 (negative), another claimed visual observation (why such a small 'coma' size?), a long essay on visual comet observing - and a very stupid NASA press release asking for Elenin to "be forgotten". Rather forget such dumb advice and observe the most unusual ... thing that Elenin has turned into while it's still possible (it's now receding from both Sun and Earth).
In other comet news the first Jupiter Trojan comet has been found - and Bressi may be interesting. • Pictures of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova from Oct. 15, Oct. 7 and Sep. 30 (with a mountain) and Garradd - which now has a nice plasma tail as well! - of Oct. 23 (more), Oct. 17 (more), Oct. 15 (more) and Oct. 14 (more). • Another - smaller - comet hit the Sun on Oct. 19 (earlier, still earlier), a video on the Oct. 1 case and 5 years of comets observed by the STEREO mission. • The physics of impacts on Earth, an observing guide for and JPL Release about coming NEO 2005 YU55, an asteroid crossing M 31 (movie) - where it was mistaken for a nova! - and a Subaru Release about Scheila's outburst.
In other solar system news Venus and Mercury low in the evening sky on Oct. 24 (USA) and Oct. 22 (Australia and - w/o Mercury - Austria) - the new evening apparition of Venus will end with the solar transit next June! • The equal diameters of Eris & Pluto also discussed here, here, here, here, hier, hier, hier and earlier here. • The Orionids delivered a nice show, only a maximum ZHR of 50, but it looked great for some (another and another night); also an all-sky sum image, a spectrum (more) and a picture. • From the Draconids a detailled story with pictures from the NE German campaign, another video from the NL, observations by ESA, a German video (AVIS2), the radiant from 6 video cameras and a Spanish composite image and report. • Also a night with 5 showers, no evidence for interstellar meteoroids and a German fireball. • This month's full moon was the smallest of the year: a comparision with the biggest one (alt.) and a list of big ones.
In other news there was an aurora outburst Oct. 24/25 over e.g. Germany and the U.S.: a great German timelapse video, a fine gallery, pictures from all over Germany, Alabama (w/video) and N. Germany and coverage here, here, here, here and here. The CME that caused it was launched on Oct. 22 as was another one that headed towards Mars; there was a lot to see on the Sun that day. • Weird NLC-like looking clouds may have been caused by the 1st S. American Soyuz launch, and a picture of Spektr R deep in space. • A German press release on that rare triple rainbow (with the full paper) - and a double rainbow with a stupid caption (as if it stretches from one place to another). • And then there was a bizarre paper on things in front of the Sun in 1883 which some rightly attacked (mehr) but others found at least intriguing. And as if ordered: a mystery crossing the solar disk just this month ...
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Comet Elenin gone for good (though some still claim detections, even sightings)
With this negative report, setting tough upper limits on the brightness of whatever may be left of much-expected/hyped/feared comet C/2009 X1 (Elenin) on Oct. 9 and 10 the hunt seemed to be over - yet there are claims that the STEREO satellites can still see it (they probably did in the 2nd half of September; see also this and this tweet) and even of a visual sighting right when the big scopes saw exactly nothing. How could that be? A major mystery right now that puzzles even leading comet gurus ... anyway, this alleged detection of Elenin by Elenin himself (also reported e.g. here [earlier] and here) was probably just noise. Now the Moon is spoiling the view in the morning where the comet - or rather its theoretical positing - is quickly climbing higher; by about Oct. 23 deep observations will again be possible and should settle the issue for good.
In other comet news the plasma tail of comet H-M-P continued to amaze: big picture collection and shots of Oct. 11, Oct. 6 (wider), Oct. 5, Oct. 4, Oct. 3 (b/w), Oct. 2 and Oct. 1. • Comet Garradd on Oct. 10, Oct. 3 and Sep. 29 and the comets C/2011 P1 (McNaught) and C/2011 S2 (Kowalski). • The fate of the Great Kreutz Comet of 2011 - and some funny sungrazer/CME statistics (not proving much yet). • The outburst of Scheila modelled - and modelled again. • The Draconids outburst was covered by a huge live-blog with numerous links; a nice persistent train and meteor. • A meteorite hit a house near Paris in the summer (more, more, mehr), and the complex origin of 2008 TC3 and its meteorites.
In other small bodies news a NEO discovery by amateurs 'working for' ESA's Awareness, a call for observations for an upcoming NEO passage, observations of a past one - and more astrometry of Apophis (strangely missing from the JPL analysis of impact risk). • The moons of Minerva (more and more) and an extremely tilted KBO contact binary (more). • The star occultation's outcome was that the diameter of Eris is just like Pluto's (also covered here and here - after some some embargo problems that suddenly evaporated) - and the temperatures on Makemake.
In other news Jupiter on Aug. 18 til Oct. 4, Oct. 3, Oct. 2/3 (map) and Oct. 2 (more). • Solar eclipses causing wakes in the atmosphere. • The AAVSO is 100 (from there a 100a of SS Cyg video from this source) and private lightcurves of the SN in M 101. • A quadruple rainbow makes headlines here, here, here, here and here. • A story about Damian Peach, the solar system photographer. • Observing NanoSail D in hi-res. • A summary brochure of the Decadal Survey. • The world's largest clock dial in Mekka. • And the smallest full moon was obviously smaller than others (more and more) - don't let them tell you that the effect isn't clear to the naked eye!
In other comet news the plasma tail of comet H-M-P continued to amaze: big picture collection and shots of Oct. 11, Oct. 6 (wider), Oct. 5, Oct. 4, Oct. 3 (b/w), Oct. 2 and Oct. 1. • Comet Garradd on Oct. 10, Oct. 3 and Sep. 29 and the comets C/2011 P1 (McNaught) and C/2011 S2 (Kowalski). • The fate of the Great Kreutz Comet of 2011 - and some funny sungrazer/CME statistics (not proving much yet). • The outburst of Scheila modelled - and modelled again. • The Draconids outburst was covered by a huge live-blog with numerous links; a nice persistent train and meteor. • A meteorite hit a house near Paris in the summer (more, more, mehr), and the complex origin of 2008 TC3 and its meteorites.
In other small bodies news a NEO discovery by amateurs 'working for' ESA's Awareness, a call for observations for an upcoming NEO passage, observations of a past one - and more astrometry of Apophis (strangely missing from the JPL analysis of impact risk). • The moons of Minerva (more and more) and an extremely tilted KBO contact binary (more). • The star occultation's outcome was that the diameter of Eris is just like Pluto's (also covered here and here - after some some embargo problems that suddenly evaporated) - and the temperatures on Makemake.
In other news Jupiter on Aug. 18 til Oct. 4, Oct. 3, Oct. 2/3 (map) and Oct. 2 (more). • Solar eclipses causing wakes in the atmosphere. • The AAVSO is 100 (from there a 100a of SS Cyg video from this source) and private lightcurves of the SN in M 101. • A quadruple rainbow makes headlines here, here, here, here and here. • A story about Damian Peach, the solar system photographer. • Observing NanoSail D in hi-res. • A summary brochure of the Decadal Survey. • The world's largest clock dial in Mekka. • And the smallest full moon was obviously smaller than others (more and more) - don't let them tell you that the effect isn't clear to the naked eye!
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