AURORA ALERT:
Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a
wake-up call: Spaceweather
PHONE.
|
|
|
AURORA WATCH:
A solar wind stream is heading toward Earth, due to arrive on Jan.
17th or 18th. High-latitude sky watchers should be
alert for auroras.
HOURS OF VENUS:
Today, Jan. 14th, Venus reaches its maximum elongation (greatest
apparent distance) from the sun. Go outside at sunset, face south,
and take a long look. Venus won't set for more than three hours.
Lukas Ronge sends this photo
of the planet's leisurely descent over Snezka, the tallest mountain
in the Czech Republic:
"This is a stack of 150 images captured by a
webcam located at Snezka's snowy peak," says Ronge. "The
exposures were taken at one minute intervals."
If you have a
telescope, take advantage of the extra time to inspect Venus
through the eyepiece. The view may surprise you: Venus is just half
a planet! Like the Moon, Venus has phases, and at the moment the
phase is near 50%. In Germany, Torsten Hansen photographed the dichotomy
using an 8-inch Newtonian: photo.
more images: from
Ugur Ikizler of Mudanya - Bursa / Turkey; from
Wienie van der Oord of Eilat, Israel; from
Marko of Stojnci, Slovenia;
FANTASTIC ICE HALOS:
Night falls. You grab your halogen lamp and
step outside into the moonlight. A bitter arctic wind tries to push
you back; ice crystals sting your eyes. But what you see overhead
carries you forward into the night:
"Jari Luomanen and Marko Riikonen braved the intense cold
of the Finland night on January 9/10 to research halos and obtain
this stunning shot showing halos from the Moon competing with those
from a halogen lamp," explains atmospheric optics expert Les
Cowley. "Lamps plus crystals from snow-making machines are
the latest way to study ice halos: details.
Here the lamp is acting as the equivalent of a low sun to create
a whole set of rare arcs such as the Hastings
and helic
previously seen only in Antactica."
Luomanen has video-recorded the manmade halos shimmering and flashing
in the night. Click
here for a 6 MB snippet or visit
his web site to view full-length 50+ MB reels. It's the next
best thing to being there.
Comet
Lulin Photo Gallery
[sky
map] [Comet
Hunter Telescope]
|