Solar System

Sunspot AR1476 Visible Without A Telescope

May 10, 2012

Huge sunspot AR1476 is crackling with M-class solar flares and appears to be on the verge of producing something even stronger. The sunspot’s ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field harbors energy for X-class flares, the most powerful kind. Earth is entering the line of fire as the sunspot rotates across the face of the sun. Sunspot AR1476 is so large, people are noticing it without the aide of a solar telescope. The behemoth appears at sunrise and sunset when the light of the low-hanging sun is occasionally dimmed to human visibility. Alberto Lao sends this picture from Manila, the Phillippines. The sunspot...

12 Mile High Martian Dust Devil Spotted By NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

April 5, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) high was captured winding its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14, 2012 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Despite its height, the plume is little more than three-quarters of a football field wide (70 yards, or 70 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has now spotted a gigantic Martian dust devil roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, churning through the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. The HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) captured the event on March 14, 2012. Scientists say that despite its height, the plume is just 70 meters (70 yards) wide. The image was taken during late northern spring, two weeks short of the northern summer solstice, a time when the ground in the northern mid-latitudes is being heated most strongly by the sun. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured imagery of a Red...

Venus Joins The Pleiades For A Spectacular April 3rd Conjunction

March 30, 2012

By Michael Muracco

Venus, Jupiter and the Pleiades April 3, 2012

As the bright planets Venus and Jupiter go their own separate ways Venus continues to grow ever-brighter as the northern spring evenings warm up hovering in the west-northwest sky high above the setting sun. Venus is will continue its celestial display as it passes near the well-known Pleiades (M45) star cluster in the western sky on Tuesday April 3, 2012. There is nothing else like the Pleiades star cluster in the sky. Greek mythology calls the Pleiades the Seven Sisters, the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Atlas, rebelled against Zeus, the king of the gods, who retaliated by sentencing...

Is There Microbial Life On Saturns Moon Enceladus?

March 28, 2012

By Michael Muracco

Do underground oceans vent through the tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring.

In a series of tantalizingly close flybys to the moon, named “Enceladus,” NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed watery jets erupting from what may be a vast underground sea. These jets, which spew through cracks in the moon’s icy shell, could lead back to a habitable zone that is uniquely accessible in all the solar system. “More than 90 jets of all sizes near Enceladus’s south pole are spraying water vapor, icy particles, and organic compounds all over the place,” says Carolyn Porco, an award-winning planetary scientist and leader of the Imaging Science team for NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. “Cassini has...

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Captures Aurora’s On Saturn

March 28, 2012

By Michael Muracco

Since the NASA / ESA Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, astronomers and space scientists have been able to study the ringed planet and its moons in great detail. Now, for the first time, a team of planetary scientists have made simultaneous measurements of Saturn’s night side aurora, magnetic field, and associated charged particles. Together the fields and particle data provide information on the electric currents flowing that produce the emissions. Team leader Dr Emma Bunce of the University of Leicester will present the new work at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on 27 March 2012. Generally,...

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon Spectacular Weekend Show – Watch it Online

March 25, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A month ago, Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon aligned beautifully in the evening sky. Tonight it’s happening again. On March 25th and 26th, the trio will appear side by side in the western sky at sunset. Jupiter and the moon will be closest together at around 9 p.m. EDT. If there are clear skies and good conditions, it should be fairly easy to pick out all three celestial targets with your naked eyes. If you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, the moon and two bright planets are expected to provide a sky watching treat. Venus...

Sunspot AR1429 Sends Strong Solar Flare Hurtling Toward Earth

March 11, 2012

By Michael Muracco

Christopher Freemantle captured this image of the Northern Lights from Chena Hot Springs (just outside Fairbanks) in Alaska. The intensity grew until very bright, multicoloured and fast moving auroras were visible. This image was taken with a 4s exposure, Canon 600D, F2.8, ISO 800.

Sunspot AR1429 is still erupting this weekend. On Saturday, March 10th, it produced a powerful M8-class flare that almost crossed the threshold into X-territory. Space weather scientists use five categories — A, B, C, M and X — to rank solar flares based on their strength and severity. A-class flares are the weakest types of sun storms, while X-class eruptions are the most powerful. The eruption propelled yet another coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud will hit our planet’s magnetosphere on March 12th...

Another Solar Flare Heads Directly For Earth

March 10, 2012

By Michael Muracco

Sunspot AR1429 has unleashed another strong flare, an M6-class eruption on March 9th at 0358 UT. The blast hurled a coronal mass ejection almost directly toward Earth. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will arrive on March 11th at 0649 UT (+/- 7 hr). Strong geomagnetic storms and Aurora, (Northern Lights), are possible when the cloud arrives. The same eruption that hurled the CME toward Earth also produced a monsterous tsunami of plasma on the sun. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the shadowy but powerful wave rippling away from the blast site: The tsumani...

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Photographs Martian Tornado

March 7, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A towering dust devil, casts a serpentine shadow over the Martian surface in this image acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

An afternoon whirlwind on Mars lofts a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high in an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. HiRISE captured the image on Feb. 16, 2012, while the orbiter passed over the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. In the area observed, paths of many previous whirlwinds, or dust devils, are visible as streaks on the dusty surface. The active dust devil displays a delicate arc produced by a westerly breeze partway up its height. The dust plume is about 30 ...

NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Opportunity’ Continues Science Experiments As Martian Winter Approaches

February 1, 2012

By Michael Muracco

NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy production during the winter. Opportunity is conducting regular radio Doppler tracking measurements to support geo-dynamic investigations of the planet, in-situ (contact) science investigations of the target, “Amboy” including an extended Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic, and continued collection of the 13-filter, 360-degree “Greeley” panorama. Decreasing energy levels with the approach to the winter solstice has constrained Opportunity for conducting both a radio Doppler tracking pass and an afternoon Ultra High Frequency...