Monthly Archives: March 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. March 31, 2014

The most prominent flaring activity of the past 24 hours was an M1.4 flare in NOAA AR 2014 with peak time at 8:07 UT and a C7.6 flare in NOAA AR 2017 with peak at 21:15 UT on March 30. NOAA AR 2026 produced a further number of C flares. C flaring activity is expected to continue over the next 48 hours, with a slight chance for an M flare. Yesterdays M2.1 flare in NOAA AR 2017 which peaked at 11:55 UT on March 30 was associated with a partial halo CME, first visible in the LASCO C2 field of view at 12:24 UT. The CME had an angular width of about 170 degrees and a speed of around 500 km/s (as determined by the CACTUS software). Although the bulk of the CME mass was expelled in NorthWest direction of the
Sun-Earth line, an equatorial component was present. A glancing blow from this partial halo CME is possible and can be expected early on April 3. Both the C7.6 flare in AR 2014 and the M1.4 flare in AR 2014 had eruptions associated with them, but preliminary analysis with STEREO COR2 ahead seems to indicate that they had a relatively small angular width and are therefore not expected to become geoeffective. The solar wind speed is steady at 400 km/s with the magnetic field at around 4 nT.
Geomagnetic conditions are quiet to moderate, with Kp not above 2, while the local K Dourbes reaching 3.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 03/31/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

2012 VP113: A New Furthest Known Object in Solar System

Image Credit: S. S. Sheppard (CIS) & C. Trujillo (Gemini Obs.), NOAO

What is the furthest known object in our Solar System? The new answer is 2012 VP113, an object currently over twice the distance of Pluto from the Sun. Pictured above is a series of discovery images taken with the Dark Energy Camera attached to the NOAO’s Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile in 2012 and released last week. The distant object, seen moving on the lower right, is thought to be a dwarf planet like Pluto. Previously, the furthest known dwarf planet was Sedna, discovered in 2003. Given how little of the sky was searched, it is likely that as many as 1,000 more objects like 2012 VP113 exist in the outer Solar System. 2012 VP113 is currently near its closest approach to the Sun, in about 2,000 years it will be over five times further. Some scientists hypothesize that the reason why objects like Sedna and 2012 VP113 have their present orbits is because they were gravitationally scattered there by a much larger object – possibly a very distant undiscovered planet.

NASA APOD 31-mar-2014

Monkey Head Nebula (in HaR-OIIIGB)

NGC 2174 (also known as Monkey Head Nebula) is an H II emission nebula located in the constellation Orion and is associated with the open star cluster NGC 2175. It is thought to be located about 6,400 light-years away from Earth. The nebula may have formed through hierarchical collapse.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Orion 8″ f/3.9 Newtonian Astrograph
Imaging cameras: QSI 683 wsg-8
Mounts: Celestron AVX
Focal reducers: Baader MPCC
Software: PixInsight
Filters: Orion SkyGlow 2″ Imaging Filter
Dates: March 7, 2014
Frames:
Astrodon 3nm Ha: 8×600″ bin 2×2
Astrodon 3nm OIII: 8×600″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Blue Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×240″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Green Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×240″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Red Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×240″ bin 2×2
Integration: 3.5 hours

Author: Charles Ward

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
31 March 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. March 30, 2014

NOAA AR 2017 released an X1.0 flare with peak at 17:48 UT on March 29, associated with radio bursts, a full halo CME and an increase in GOES proton fluxes (not passing the threshold). This region is expected to
produce M-class flares and probably X-class flares, it has a beta gamma delta magnetic configuration. A type II radio burst was detected at 11:52 UT, close in time of a C-class flare, this may mark the presence of another CME, but there is no data available yet.The full halo CME related to the X1.0 flare was first seen at 18:12 UT by LASCO-C2. The speeds measured are of 510 km/s (LASCO-C3), giving an expected arrival time (using DBM) to the Earth of 04:30 UT on April 2. Geomagnetic conditions are quiet, the situation may change when/if the CMEs from March 28 arrive to the Earth early on April 1 (expected 05:00 UT).
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 03/30/14
Time UT: 13:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

Io in True Color

Image Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA

The strangest moon in the Solar System is bright yellow. This picture, an attempt to show how Io would appear in the “true colors” perceptible to the average human eye, was taken in 1999 July by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io’s colors derive from sulfur and molten silicate rock. The unusual surface of Io is kept very young by its system of active volcanoes. The intense tidal gravity of Jupiterstretches Io and damps wobbles caused by Jupiter’s other Galilean moons. The resulting friction greatly heats Io’s interior, causing molten rock to explode through the surface. Io’s volcanoes are so active that they are effectively turning the whole moon inside out. Some of Io’s volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark.

NASA APOD 30-mar-2014

Flaming Star Nebula

The Flaming Star nebula lies about 1,500 light years distant, spans about 5 light years, and is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga).

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Orion 8″ f/3.9 Newtonian Astrograph
Imaging cameras: QSI 683 wsg-8
Mounts: Celestron AVX
Focal reducers: Baader MPCC
Software: PixInsight
Filters: Orion SkyGlow 2″ Imaging Filter
Dates: Feb. 22, 2014
Frames:
Astrodon 3nm Ha: 8×600″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Blue Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×420″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Green Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×420″ bin 2×2
Astrodon Red Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2: 4×420″ bin 2×2
Integration: 2.7 hours

Author: Charles Ward

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
30 March 2014

A Milky Way Dawn

Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN), ESO Ultra HD Expedition

As dawn broke on March 27, the center of the Milky Way Galaxy stood almost directly above the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory. In the dry, clear sky of Chile’s Atacama desert, our galaxy’s dusty central bulge is flanked by Paranal’s four 8 meter Very Large Telescope units in this astronomical fisheye view. Along the top, Venus is close to the eastern horizon. The brilliant morning star shines very near a waning crescent Moon just at the edge of one of the telescope structures. Despite the bright pairing in the east, the Milky Way dominates the scene though. Cut by dust lanes and charged with clouds of stars and glowing nebulae, the center of our galaxy sprawls across the darker zenith even as the deep blue sky grows brighter and buildings still glint in moonlight.

NASA APOD 29-mar-2014

Triangulum galaxy – M33

The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.

With a diameter of about 50,000 light years, the Triangulum galaxy is the third largest member of the Local Group of galaxies. It may be a gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda Galaxy. Triangulum may be home to 40 billion stars, compared to 400 billion for the Milky Way, and 1 trillion (1000 billion) stars for Andromeda.

The disk of Triangulum has an estimated mass of (3-6) × 10⁹ solar masses, while the gas component is about 3.2 × 10⁹ solar masses. Thus the combined mass of all baryonic matter in the galaxy may be 10¹⁰ solar masses. The contribution of the dark matter component out to a radius of 55 kly (17 kpc) is equivalent to about 5 × 10¹⁰ solar masses.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ 106ED
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NQ6
Guiding cameras: Meade DSI I
Software: Photoshop CS5.1, CCDSOFT v5.0, Pixixinsight 1.8
Filters: Baader RGBL, Baader Ha
Dates: Nov. 2, 2013
Frames: 60×600″
Integration: 10.0 hours

Author: Theodore Kavourinos

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

29 March 2014

Stripping ESO 137-001

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CXCSpiral galaxy ESO 137-001 hurtles through massive galaxy cluster Abell 3627 some 220 million light years away. The distant galaxy is seen in this colorful Hubble/Chandra composite image through a foreground of the Milky Way’s stars toward the southern constellation Triangulum Australe. As the spiral speeds along at nearly 7 million kilometers per hour, its gas and dust is stripped away when ram pressure with the cluster’s own hot, tenuous intracluster medium overcomes the galaxy’s gravity. Evident in Hubble’s near visible light data, bright star clusters have formed in the stripped material along the short, trailing blue streaks. Chandra’s X-ray data shows off the enormous extent of the heated, stripped gas as diffuse, darker blue trails stretching over 400,000 light-years toward the bottom right. The significant loss of dust and gas will make new star formation difficult for this galaxy. A yellowish elliptical galaxy, lacking in star forming dust and gas, is just to the right of ESO 137-001 in the frame.

NASA APOD 28-mar-2014

M76: The Little Dumbell Nebula

The Little Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 76, NGC 650/651, the Barbell Nebula, or the Cork Nebula, is a planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included in Charles Messier’s catalog of comet-like objects as number 76. It was first recognised as a planetary nebula in 1918 by the astronomer Heber Doust Curtis. However, there is some contention to this claim, as Isaac Roberts in 1891 did suggest that M76 might be similar to the Ring Nebula (M57), being instead as seen from the side view. The structure is now classed as a bipolar planetary nebula (BPNe).

Distance to M76 is currently estimated as 780 parsecs or 2,500 light years.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Celestron C1100 Edge HD
Imaging cameras: Atik 428EX
Mounts: Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Celestron C1100 Edge HD
Software: Stark Labs Nebulosity 3.1, PixInsight, PHD, Adobe Photoshop CS5 CS5
Filters: Baader Planetarium L,R,G,B,Ha,Oiii,Sii
Accessories: Celestron OAG, Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Dates: Oct. 1, 2012

Author: Tim Jardine

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

28 March 2014

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