Daily Archives: February 7, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. February 7, 2014

Catania sunspot group 28 (NOAA AR 1967) is slowly decaying, although still maintaining the beta-gamma-delta configuration of its photospheric magnetic field. It produced the strongest flare of the past 24 hours, the M2.0 flare peaking at 04:56 UT today. Catania sunspot group 27 (NOAA AR 1968,
beta-gamma configuration of the photospheric field) produced an M1.9 flare peaking today at 10:29 UT. Neither of the flares was associated with a CME. We expect further flaring activity on the C- and M-level in these two groups, with an X-class flare being possible but unlikely. Due to position of these groups in the western hemisphere, a major CME in one of them may lead to a proton event, so we maintain the warning condition. The Earth is currently inside a slow (around 350 km/s) solar wind flow with a
slightly elevated (around 6 nT) interplanetary magnetic field magnitude. Due to low solar wind speed, we expect quiet geomagnetic conditions in the coming hours. Later today we expect the arrival of the fast flow from an extended solar coronal hole (currently stretched across the solar central meridian), resulting in a geomagnetic disturbance up to active (K = 4) level.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 100 frames
Date: 02/07/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer!

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 5, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 4, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. January 21, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. January 20, 2014

Night Hides the World

The Milky Way and planet Venus in the evening twilight over Lake Turkana, northern Kenya.
Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)
Stars come out as evening twilight fades in this serene skyscape following the Persian proverb “Night hides the world, but reveals a universe.” In the scene from last November, the Sun is setting over northernKenya and the night will soon hide the shores of Lake Turkana, home to many Nile crocodiles. That region is also known as the cradle of humankind for its abundance of hominid fossils. A brilliant Venus, then the world’s evening star, dominates the starry night above. But also revealed are faint stars, cosmic dust clouds, and glowing nebulae along the graceful arc of our own Milky Way galaxy.

NASA APOD 07-Feb-2014

Related posts:

  1. The Terraced Night
  2. Crescent Moon Meets Evening Star
  3. A New Year’s Crescent
  4. Clouds and Crescents

Supernova remnant – Simeis 147

9485b75b052f65ea9169c849d8eced95.1824x0_q100_watermark
Simeis 147, also known as the Spaghetti Nebula, SNR G180.0-01.7 or Sharpless 2-240, is a supernova remnant (SNR) that may have occurred in the Milky Way, on the constellation borders of Auriga and Taurus. Discovered in 1952 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory using a 25 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, it is a very difficult object to observe due to its extreme low brightness. The nebulous area is fairly large with an almost spherical shell and filamentary structure. The remnant has an apparent diameter that covers approximately 3°, an estimated distance of approximately 3000 (±350) ly away and an age of approximately 40,000y old.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ 106ED
Imaging cameras: SBIG STL-11000
Mounts: Losmandy G11
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion ShortTube 80 f/5
Guiding cameras: Orion Star Shoot Planetary Imager & Autoguider
Focal reducers: Takahashi 0.75x FSQ
Filters: Astrodon Red, Astrodon G, Astrodon Filter: Blue, Astrodon h-Alpha
Dates: Jan. 1, 2014
Frames:
Astrodon G: 8×600″ -25C bin 1×1
Astrodon h-Alpha: 8×1200″ -25C bin 1×1
Astrodon h-Alpha: 8×900″ -25C bin 1×1
Astrodon Filter: Blue: 8×600″ -25C bin 1×1
Astrodon Red: 8×600″ -25C bin 1×1
Darks: ~3
Flats: ~3
Flat darks: ~3
Bias: ~3

Autor: Maurizio Cabibbo

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

07 February 2014

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.

Related posts:

  1. Simeis 147
  2. Jellyfish Nebula: Galactic supernova remnant
  3. The Lagoon Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius
  4. The Spaghetti Nebula (Simeis 147 / Sh2-240) Hydrongen-alpha

The Terraced Night

yuanyang_airglow
Image Credit & Copyright: Cui Yongjiang
Long after sunset on January 25 an unusually intense red airglow floods this south-looking skyscape. The scene was recorded with a long exposure using a digital camera over Yunnan Province in southwest China. At best faintly visible to the eye, the lingering airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Originating at an altitude similar to aurora, it can found around the globe. The chemical energy is initially provided by the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet radiation On this night, despite the luminous atmosphere, the band of the Milky Way clearly stretches above the horizon with bright star Sirius near the top of the frame. Both airglow and starry sky are beautifully reflected in region’s watery Yuanyang rice terraces below.
NASA APOD 06-Feb-2014

Related posts:

  1. Night in the Andes Ice Forest
  2. From the Northern to the Southern Cross
  3. The graceful arc of the Milky Way and beautiful landscapes
  4. SDO’s Multiwavelength Sun