Daily Archives: March 24, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. March 24, 2014

Several C-class flares in past 24h. The strongest one was a C4.5 flare from AR 2014 peaking at 00:10 UT. AR 2010, 2014 and 2015 have potential for M-class flares.Geomagnetic conditions are quiet, solar wind speed is around 400 km/s with IMF values lower than 5 nT. The conditions may reach active and minor storm levels when/if the CME of March 23 arrives to the Earth, expected early on March 26.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 03/24/14
Time UT: 13:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 13, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 14, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 06, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 08, 2014

Orion and Aurora over Iceland

auroraIceland_arnason_481
Image Credit & Copyright: Þorvarður Árnason
If you see a sky like this – photograph it. A month ago in Iceland, an adventurous photographer (pictured) chanced across a sky full of aurora and did just that. In the foreground lies the stratovolcanoÖræfajökull. In the background, among other sky delights, lies the constellation of Orion, visible to the aurora’s left. Auroras are sparked by energetic particles from the Sun impacting the magnetic environment around the Earth. Resultant energetic particles such as electrons and protons rain down near the Earth’s poles and impact the air. The impacted air molecules obtain excited electrons, and when electrons in oxygen molecules fall back to their ground state, they emit green light. Auroras are known to have many shapes and colors.

NASA APOD 24-mar-2014

Related posts:

  1. Time-Lapse Auroras Over Norway
  2. Aurora over New Zealand
  3. NGC 1999: South of Orion
  4. A Particle Beam Jet forms HH 24

NGC 253: Sculptor Galaxy

b581f983ec1da3810dfba10e6c9faf4c.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-5_watermark_position-6_watermark_text-David Nguyen

As one of the brightest galaxies in the sky, the Sculptor Galaxy can be seen through binoculars and is near the star Beta Ceti. It is considered one of the most easily viewed galaxies in the sky after the Andromeda Galaxy.

The Sculptor Galaxy is a good target for observation with a telescope with a 300 mm diameter or larger. In such telescopes, it appears as a galaxy with a long, oval bulge and a mottled disc. Although the bulge appears only slightly brighter than the rest of the galaxy, it is fairly extended compared to the disk. In 400 mm scopes and larger, a dark dust lane northwest of the nucleus is visible, and over a dozen faint stars can be seen superimposed on the bulge.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Astro-Physics 152mm f/7.5 Starfire EDF
Imaging cameras: FLI ProLine Proline 16803
Mounts: Software Bisque Paramount MX
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FS-60C
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Superstar
Focal reducers: Astro-Physics AP 4.0″ Field Flattener
Software: PixInsight 1.8, Software Bisque TheSky6 Professional, FocusMax, Cyanogen Maxim DL Pro 5, Photoshop CS Photo Shop CS5, CCD Autopilot 5
Filters: Astrodon E-series LRGB Ha 5nm
Accessories: Sirius Dome
Dates: Nov. 27, 2013
Locations: Sydney Australia
Frames: 70×600″
Integration: 11.7 hours

Author: David Nguyen

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

24 March 2014

Related posts:

  1. NGC253 – the Sculptor Galaxy
  2. The Sculptor Galaxy
  3. The Sculptor Galaxy, the Silver Coin, NGC 253
  4. The Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253