Daily Archives: June 1, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. June 1, 2014

There are currently 5 sunspot regions visible. Three C-class flares were recorded over the last 24 hours. Near the time of its disappearance from the solar surface, active region NOAA 2076 produced a C1-flare peaking at 15:56UT. The strongest event of the period was a C2-flare in NOAA 2079 peaking at 01:37UT. The associated CME was directed away from Earth. NOAA 2077 produced a C1-flare peaking at 11:53UT. Further C-class flaring is expected, in particular from sunspot regions NOAA 2077 and NOAA 2079.
Solar wind speed declined from about 350 to 300 km/s, Bz being mostly positive with maximum excursions to +8 nT. The geomagnetic field was quiet. A small coronal hole that passed the central meridian on 29 May can
influence the geomagnetic field as of 2 June.
Geomagnetic conditions are expected to remain quiet, though locally a brief active episode is possible.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 06/01/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

Halo of the Cat’s Eye

Image Credit & Copyright: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group), Nordic Optical Telescope

The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture, processed to reveal the enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material, over three light-years across, which surrounds the brighter, familiar planetary nebula. Made with data from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands, the composite picture shows extended emission from the nebula. Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a sun-like star. Only much more recently however, have some planetaries been found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier active episodes in the star’s evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years.

NASA APOD 01-Jun-14

NGC253 – the Sculptor Galaxy

The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation.

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: Ceravolo 300 Astrograph (f/9)
Imaging cameras: Apogee Alta U16M
Mounts: Astro-Physics AP900
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Ceravolo 300 Astrograph (f/9)
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Software: DC-3 Dreams ACP, Pleaides Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8
Filters: Astrodon E-series 2 LRGB, Astrodon 3nm Ha
Accessories: FLI Atlas focuser
Dates: Sept. 6, 2013
Frames: 72×900″
Integration: 18.0 hours

Author: Rick Stevenson
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 01 June 2014

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