Daily Archives: May 2, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. May 2, 2014

Flaring activity has slightly increased during the past 24 hours. Two C-class flares were produced by Catania sunspot group 33 (NOAA AR 2047). The C4.4 flare, peaking at 9:40 UT, on 2 May was accompanied by a coronal dimming located at the south of the region. This hints at the occurrence of
CME oriented to the south, but no coronagraphic imagery is available yet to analysis this. Catania sunspot groups 33 and 34 (NOAA AR 2047 and 2049 resp) showed some growth and sunspot group 33 now also has a beta-gamma magnetic configuration of its photospheric field. Two new sunspot groups emerged with Catania numbers 36 and 37. More C-class flares can be expected, especially from sunspot groups 33 and 34. There is moderate chance (around 40%) for M-class flares. We are currently under the influence of a slow solar wind. The solar wind speed decreased 400 to 340 km/s. The magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field went from 8 to 2 nT. Geomagnetic conditions were quiet to unsettled and are expected to remain as such for the next 48 hours. The slow CME of UT night of 29-30 April could arrive at around 5 May 0:00 UT, possibly  leading to a limited time of active conditions.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 05/02/14
Time UT: 15:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. April 16, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. January 21, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 4, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. April 30, 2014

That Night over Half Dome

2013-05_mb_YosemiteAquarids
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

Captured one night last May this eight frame mosaic starts on the left, down Northside Drive through Yosemite National Park. It ends thousands of light-years away though, as the arc of the Milky Way tracks toward the center of our galaxy on the right, far beyond the park’s rugged skyline. That night was still moonless when the storm clouds retreated, so the rocky faces of the surrounding mountains are lit by campfires and artifical lights. Yosemite Falls is at the left. The granite face of Half Dome juts above the far horizon, near the center of the view. The remarkable flash above it is a bright meteor. Part of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower the colorful streak is moving up, its trail pointing directly back to the shower’s radiant, low in Aquarius. This year’s Eta Aquarids should peak in the moonless early morning hours of May 6 as the Earth sweeps through dust from the tail of Comet Halley.
NASA APOD 02-May-14

Related posts:

  1. The Terraced Night
  2. Lyrids in Southern Skies 
  3. Night Hides the World
  4. Geminid Meteor Shower over Dashanbao Wetlands

Saturn

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Saturn is the most distant of the five planets easily visible to the naked eye, the other four being Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter (Uranus and occasionally 4 Vesta are visible to the naked eye in very dark skies). Saturn appears to the naked eye in the night sky as a bright, yellowish point of light whose apparent magnitude is usually between +1 and 0. It takes approximately 29½ years to make a complete circuit of the ecliptic against the background constellations of the zodiac. Most people will require optical aid (very large binoculars or a small telescope) magnifying at least 30× to clearly resolve Saturn’s rings.

While it is a rewarding target for observation for most of the time it is visible in the sky, Saturn and its rings are best seen when the planet is at or near opposition (the configuration of a planet when it is at an elongation of 180° and thus appears opposite the Sun in the sky). During the opposition of December 17, 2002, Saturn appeared at its brightest due to a favorable orientation of its rings relative to the Earth, even though Saturn was closer to the Earth and Sun in late 2003. Twice every Saturnian year (roughly every 15 Earth years), the rings appear edge on and briefly disappear from view because they are so thin. This will next occur in 2025, but Saturn will be too close to the sun for any ring crossing observation.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Celestron C8 SCT
Imaging cameras: QHYCCD QHY5L-II Mono
Mounts: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Goto
Software: Registax, photoshop
Accessories: GSO Barlow 2.5 x Triplet
Date: April 8, 2014
Frames: 4000
FPS: 10.00000
Focal length: 5000

Author: Leandro Fornaziero

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
02 May 2014

Related posts:

  1. Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturn’s Ring Plane
  2. Saturn in Blue and Gold
  3. Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn’s Enceladus
  4. Two Rings for Asteroid Chariklo