Daily Archives: May 18, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. May 18, 2014

Solar activity remains low with only low C-class flares reported. The strongest flare in last 24 hours was a long duration C3.8 flare (peak time at 06:54 UT) observed this morning. The flare originated from the Catania
sunspot group 43 (NOAA AR 2056) currently situated at the west solar limb. From the currently available data it seems that the flare was associated with a rather narrow CME. We expect flaring activity on the C-level.The Earth is still inside a slow solar wind flow with the speed of about 350 km/s. The interplanetary magnetic field magnitude is 4 nT.  The geomagnetic conditions are at the moment quiet and expected to remain so in the following 48 hours.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 30 frames
Date: 05/18/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. May 7, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. January 16, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. May 6, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 14, 2014

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot from Voyager 1 

redspot_voyager1_3072
Image Credit: NASA, JPL; Digital processing: Björn Jónsson (IAAA)

What will become of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot? Recorded as shrinking since the 1930s, the rate of the Great Red Spot’s size appears to have accelerated just in the past few years. A hurricane larger than Earth, the Great Red Spot has been raging at least as long as telescopes could see it. Like most astronomical phenomena, the Great Red Spot was neither predicted nor immediately understood after its discovery. Although small eddies that feed into the storm system seem to play a role, a more full understanding of the gigantic storm cloud remains a topic of continued research, and may result in a better understanding of weather here on Earth. The above image is a digital enhancement of an image of Jupiter taken in 1979 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it zoomed by the Solar System’s largest planet. NASA’s Juno spacecraft is currently heading toward Jupiterand will arrive in 2016.

NASA APOD 18-May-14

Related posts:

  1. Hubble’s Jupiter and the Amazing Shrinking Great Red Spot 
  2. Voyager’s Neptune 
  3. Comet Lovejoy over the Great Wall
  4. Gibbous Europa

Orion Nebula

497ffd98a75f96fff830470104db6ad2.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-10_watermark_position-6_watermark_text-© Peter Folkesson
The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.

The entirety of the Orion Nebula extends across a 1° region of the sky, and includes neutral clouds of gas and dust, associations of stars,ionized volumes of gas, and reflection nebulae.

The Nebula is part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard’s Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78, and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infrared.

The nebula forms a roughly spherical cloud that peaks in density near the core. The cloud has a temperature ranging up to 10,000 K, but this temperature falls dramatically near the edge of the nebula. Unlike the density distribution, the cloud displays a range of velocities and turbulence, particularly around the core region. Relative movements are up to 10 km/s (22,000 mi/h), with local variations of up to 50 km/s and possibly more.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Skywatcher Esprit 80ED
Imaging cameras: Canon 600D
Mounts: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Celestron 80mm Guidescope
Guiding cameras: Sky-Watcher Synguider
Software: PixInsight, Adobe Photoshop, BinaryRivers BackyardEOS
Dates: Feb. 17, 2014
Frames:
10×120″ ISO400
20×180″ ISO400
20×30″ ISO400
20×60″ ISO400
Integration: 1.8 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~20
Bias: ~20

Author: Peter Folkesson

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
18 May 2014

Related posts:

  1. M42: The Orion Nebula
  2. The Orion Nebula
  3. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex
  4. M42: Inside the Orion Nebula

The Sun Online and solar activity. May 17, 2014

Solar activity has been low in the past 24 hours, with only C class flares. One noticeable event, a C3.3 flare, took place in NOAA AR 2066 on May 17,  0229 UT (peak time). There is no clear signature of a CME associated with that event. Two wide CMEs were observed in the past 24 hours. The first one, on May 16, 1424 UT is associated with a backside flare. The second one, on May 17, 0125 UT, is associated with a filament eruption, also on the backside. We expect eruptive conditions in the next 48 hours, with risks of C flares from NOAA ARs 2063 and 2066.Geomagnetic activity has been very low in the past 24 hours. We expect quiet conditions to prevail for the next 48 hours.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 30 frames
Date: 05/17/14
Time UT: 18:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 14, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 13, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. March 14, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. Abril 6, 2014