Daily Archives: August 31, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. August 31, 2014

A handful of C-class flares were observed, with NOAA AR 2149 and AR 2152 as source regions. NOAA AR 2152 has grown in size and complexity and has developed to a beta-gamma region. More C-class flares are expected, with a slight chance for an M-class flare. No Earth-directed CMEs were visible in
coronographic images.
The solar wind is under influence of a coronal hole (CH) high speed stream (HSS). The solar wind speed, as observed by ACE, reached values between 400 and 450 km/s. The magnetic field is relatively stable around 6 to 7 nT, with a fluctuating Bz. Geomagnetic conditions are unsettled to active and are expected remain so for the next few hours, until quiet conditions
return.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 08/31/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

Observatory Sponli

Space Shuttle and Space Station Photographed Together

Image Credit: NASA

How was this picture taken? Usually, pictures of the shuttle, taken from space, are snapped from the space station. Commonly, pictures of the space station are snapped from the shuttle. How, then, can there be a picture of both the shuttle and the station together, taken from space? The answer is that during the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s last trip to the International Space Station in 2011 May, a supply ship departed the station with astronauts that captured a series of rare views. The supply ship was the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 which landed in Kazakhstan later that day. The above spectacular image well captures the relative sizes of the station and docked shuttle. Far below, clouds of Earth are seen above a blue sea.

APOD NASA 31-Aug-14

NGC 6888, Crescent Nebula

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away. It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

It is a rather faint object located about 2 degrees SW of Sadr. For most telescopes it requires a UHC or OIII filter to see. Under favorable circumstances a telescope as small as 8cm (with filter) can see its nebulosity. Larger telescopes (20cm or more) reveal the crescent or a Euro sign shape which makes some to call it the “Euro sign nebula”.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TSA-102
Imaging cameras: Atik 383L+ mono
Mounts: SkyWatcher NEQ6 pro II
Guiding telescopes or lenses: EZG60
Guiding cameras: QHYCCD QHY5 Mono
Focal reducers: Takahashi TOA-35
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto, S.L. PixInsinght 1.8 RC7
Filters: Baader Planetarium OIII, Baader Planetarium Ha 7nm 2″
Dates: Aug. 15, 2014, Aug. 16, 2014
Locations: Pantano
Frames:
Baader Planetarium Ha 7nm 2″: 69×600″ -20C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium OIII: 66×600″ -20C bin 1×1
Integration: 22.5 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~16
Bias: ~20

Author: Jose Luis Ricote
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 31 Aug 2014

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