Daily Archives: March 9, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. March 09, 2014

There are currently 7 sunspot groups visible. They are small and stable, except for NOAA 1996 and NOAA 2002 who gradually gained some sunspot area and developed a small delta in their middle portion. Most flaring activity came from NOAA 2002, with at least 7 C-class flares and one M1-flare peaking at 23:41UT, the strongest event of the period. Based on the currently available imagery, none of the observed CMEs has an Earth directed component. The CME first visible in LASCO/C2 at 18:24UT on 8 March seems to be related to a backside event (coronal dimming near an active region). Eruptive flaring conditions are expected, with a small chance for an M-class flare. Over the last 24 hours, solar wind speed has gradually decreased to values near 350km/s, with Bz varying between -3nT and +3nT. A small coronal hole on the southern hemisphere reached the central meridian (CM) and may have a geomagnetic influence on 12-13 March.
Geomagnetic conditions have been quiet. The coronal hole solar wind stream (CM passage 5 March) has not arrived yet. A local active geomagnetic episode remains possible.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 03/09/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

A Hole in Mars

Image Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance in 2011 on images of the dusty slopes of Mars’ Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

APOD NASA 09-Mar-2014

M13: Great Cluster in Hercules

Messier 13 (M13), also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules. M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable star V11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764. It is located at right ascension 16^h 41.7^m and declination +36° 28′. With an apparent magnitude of 5.8, it is barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. Its diameter is about 23 arc minutes and it is readily viewable in small telescopes. Nearby is NGC 6207, a 12th magnitude edge-on galaxy that lies 28 arc minutes directly north east. A small galaxy, IC 4617, lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13, north-northeast of the large globular cluster’s center.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: AT6RC
Imaging cameras: Canon EOS 1000D / Rebel XS
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-G
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion Mini Guide Scope
Guiding cameras: Orion Star Shoot Planetary Imager & Autoguider
Focal reducers: TeleVue 0.8x
Software: DeepSkyStacker, PHD guiding, photoshop, Canon EOS
Accessories: DIY thermoelectric camera cooler
Dates: June 9, 2012
Locations: Elkins, WV
Frames:
23×240″ ISO1600
50×60″ ISO1600
Integration: 2.4 hours

Autor: Mike Carroll

09 March 2014

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

The Sun Online and solar activity. March 08, 2014

There are currently 7 sunspot groups visible, all are small and have a simple magnetic configuration. Five C-class flares were recorded. The strongest was a C3-flare peaking at 00:07UT in a new region near the
southeast limb. The two most notable CMEs detected over the last 24 hours, seen first by LASCO/C2 at resp. 12:12UT and 13:36UT, are related to backside events and have no Earth-directed component.

Eruptive flaring conditions are expected. Over the last 24 hours, solar wind speed has gradually decreased to values near 370-400 km/s, with Bz varying between -4nT and +4nT. A small coronal hole on the southern hemisphere may reach the central meridian (CM) early on 9 March with possible geomagnetic influences on 12-13 March.
Geomagnetic conditions have been quiet and are expected to remain so until the arrival of the coronal hole solar wind stream (CM passage 5 March). This may result in episodes of active geomagnetic conditions starting later today or tomorrow 9 March.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 03/08/14
Time UT: 18:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

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