Daily Archives: August 28, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. August 28, 2014

Only two small C-class flares were observed in the past period. All active regions at the frontside are relatively stable. No Earth directed CMEs were observed. Flaring activity is expected to remain at the level of C-flares. A equatorial coronal hole has crossed the central meridian, which is likely to influence the solar wind conditions near Earth starting on August 30.The magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field declined from 15 to 9 nT, with Bz mainly being southward. The solar wind speed is fluctuating between 300 and 380 km/s.
Geomagnetic activity reached active levels (local K=4 at Dourbes), with even an single time slot of minor storm level (NOAA Kp=5). A return to quiet to unsettled conditions is expected, till the potential arrival of a shock related to the August 25 CMEs later today.
SIDC

 

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. August 27, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. August 24, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. August 26, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. May 22, 2014

Messier 20 and 21 

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Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

 The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrastsshares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (top right). Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20’s, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21’s stars are much older, about 8 million years old.

APOD NASA 28-Aug-14

Related posts:

  1. Hubble’s Messier 5 
  2. Star Factory Messier 17 
  3. The Cone Nebula from Hubble 
  4. A Sagittarius Triplet

NGC 1333 in Perseus

9d8c78d8eaafa9d04f9fa6aeccbe112e.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-20_watermark_position-6_watermark_text-Copyright Stefan Westphal
NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It belongs to the Perseus molecular cloud. In 2011 researchers reported finding 30 to 40 brown dwarf objects in the cloud and in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Orion Optics UK SPX 250
Imaging cameras: Artemis Atik 383L+
Mounts: Vixen New Atlux + Skysensor 2000
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion Optics UK SPX 250
Guiding cameras: M-Gen Guiding Kamera
Focal reducers: GPU Komakorrektor
Software: Fitswork4, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.3 Beta 51 DSS DeepSkyStacker
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm Luminance, Baader Planetarium 36mm Red, Baader Planetarium 36mm Green, Baader Planetarium 36mm Blue
Accessories: Lacerta MGEN2
Dates: Oct. 30, 2013
Locations: Kreben
Frames: 
Baader Planetarium 36mm Blue: 7×360″ -15C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Green: 7×360″ -15C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Luminance: 15×360″ -15C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Red: 7×360″ -15C bin 1×1
Integration: 3.6 hours
Darks: ~7
Flats: ~31
Bias: ~150

Author: Stefan Westphal
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 28 Aug 2014

Related posts:

  1. NGC 1491 in Perseus
  2. NGC 1333 in the constellation Perseus
  3. Sharpless 308 in Canis Major
  4. Helix Nebula in Aquarius