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ALDEBARAN and Earth of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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Mount Megantic Magnetic Stor
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Mount Megantic Magnetic Storm |
| Explanation |
Plasma from the Sun and debris from a comet both collided with planet Earth last Saturday morning triggering magnetic storms [ http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/ ] and a meteor shower in a dazzling atmospheric spectacle [ http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ ast14aug_1.htm ]. The debris stream from comet Swift-Tuttle is anticipated [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000812.html ] yearly, and many skygazers [ http://www.imo.net/news/news.html ] already planned to watch the peak of the annual Perseids [ http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/ perseids.html ] meteor shower in the dark hours of August 11/12. But the simultaneous, widely reported [ http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrummel/Aurora/ Aurora.html ] auroras were [ http://www.infowest.com/personal/s/schmutz/ aurora.HTML ] triggered by the chance arrival of something much less predictable -- a solar coronal mass ejection [ http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/ cmes.htm ]. This massive bubble of energetic plasma was seen leaving the active Sun's surface on August 9, just in time to travel to Earth and disrupt the planet's magnetic field [ http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/ Intro.html ] triggering extensive auroras [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/ apod_ts?aurora ] during the meteor shower's peak! Inspired by the cosmic light show, Sebastien Gauthier photographed the [ http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Station/3622/ AlbumPhotoAstronomie/AlbumAstronomie3.htm ] colorful auroral displays above the dramatic dome of the Mount-Megantic [ http://astrolab.interlinx.qc.ca/ ] Popular Observatory [ http://astrolab.interlinx.qc.ca/Obs_pop/ OPMM/ob_pop_choix.htm ] in southern Quebec, Canada. Bright Jupiter and giant star Aldebaran can be seen peering through [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ] the shimmering northern lights at the upper right. |
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September Sky
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September Sky |
| Explanation |
Star clusters, planets, and a red giant posed for this portrait of the night [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000708.html ] sky from rural Jasper County, Iowa, USA. Astrophotographer [ http://geocities.com/stanzman_2001/ ] Stan Richard recorded the four minute time exposure looking east around midnight on September 3rd at Ashton-Wildwood Park. To avoid star trails [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeTrails.html ], his camera was mounted on a barndoor-style [ http://casa.colorado.edu/~rachford/widefield/ barndoor.html ] tracker to compensate for the Earth's rotation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000715.html ]. Can you identify his celestial subjects? (Click on the image for a labeled version.) The Pleiades [ http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/p/ pleiades.html ] and Hyades [ http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/h/hyades.html ], the closest open or galactic star clusters [ http://www.seds.org/messier/open.html ] to the Sun, should be recognizable to beginning stargazers [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]. Of course gas giant Jupiter [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter.html ] rules as the brightest object in the picture and the largest planet in the Solar System, but second largest planet Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/Kids/stories/ ] is also visible nearby. For sheer size cool red giant star Aldebaran [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/aldebaran.html ] is more impressive though, spanning about forty times the diameter of the Sun. Sixty light-years away and yellowish in this picture, Aldebaran is known as Alpha Tauri, the brightest star in Taurus [ http://aibn47.astro.uni-bonn.de/~gallery/constellations/ taurus/ ], the Bull. |
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Moonless Perseid Sky
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Moonless Perseid Sky |
| Explanation |
Last weekend, dark, moonless night skies brought many sightings of Perseid meteors [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/ 11jul_greatperseids.htm ] to skygazers all over [ http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_12aug07.htm ] planet Earth. Early Sunday morning astronomer John Chumack's camera captured this Perseid [ http://meteorshowersonline.com/perseids.html ] meteor streak with a flare near the end of its track over Yellow Springs, Ohio. The single, four minute long exposure looks toward the constellation of Taurus and the eastern horizon. The meteor streak points back to the annual meteor [ http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?meteor_streams ] shower's radiant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070812.html ] in Perseus off the upper left corner of the picture. Of course [ http://spaceweather.com/meteors/perseids/images2007/ skymap_north.gif ], the view includes the well-known Pleiades [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/pleiades-p.html ] Star cluster (near top center) with a bright yellowish planet Mars below it. Also seen with a yellowish tint but not quite as bright as Mars, the giant star Aldebaran [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/aldebaran.html ] anchors the V-shaped Hyades [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/hyades-p.html ] star cluster left of center, above the trees. |
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The Winter Hexagon
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The Winter Hexagon |
| Explanation |
Some of the brightest stars [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/ ] form a large and easily found pattern [ http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/geometry/hexagon/ ] in the winter sky [ http://www.astro.uu.nl/~bassa/gallery/wintersky.htm ] of Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ]'s northern hemisphere [ http://www.sel.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html ]. Dubbed the Winter Hexagon [ http://www.earthvisions.net/bcp/aster/constellations/win6.htm ], the stars involved can usually be identified even in the bright night skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010827.html ] of a big city. The six stars that compose the Winter Hexagon are Aldebaren [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/aldebaran.html ], Capella [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/1708.html ], Castor [ http://einstein.stcloudstate.edu/Dome/constellns/castor.html ], Procyon [ http://www.solstation.com/stars/procyon2.htm ], Rigel [ http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/astron/const/orion/Rigel.html ], and Sirius [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000611.html ]. Rolling your cursor over the above image [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/SHOWCASE/HEXAGON.HTM ] will identify them. The Winter Hexagon [ http://newton.dep.anl.gov/newton/askasci/1993/astron/AST015.HTM ] asterism [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Const/asterism.html ] engulfs several constellations [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/constellations.html ] including Orion [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/orion.html ] and Canis Major [ http://www.astronomical.org/constellations/cma.html ]. |
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Canaries Sky
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Canaries Sky |
| Explanation |
This gorgeous view of [ http://www.mclink.it/personal/MC7872/deepvoid/deepskyen.htm ] stars, nebulae, and the Milky Way comes from the dark night sky [ http://www.mclink.it/personal/MC7872/deepvoid/index.html ] above the lovely island of La Palma in the Canaries archipelago [ http://www.ing.iac.es/lapalma/history.html ]. The picture was made by a group of experienced astrophotographers who traveled there to take advantage of the ideal observing conditions [ http://www.ing.iac.es/ ] near La Palma's Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos [ http://www.ing.iac.es/orm/orm.html ]. Skygazers can easily pick out several of their favorite astronomical objects [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980214.html ] in this wide angle time exposure which covers about 40 degrees on winter the sky. Faint stars along the plane of our Galaxy compose the delicate, luminous band of the Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980226.html ] stretching across the image from the bottom left. The familiar constellation [ http://www.adler.uchicago.edu/ISE/menu.html ] of Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970817.html ] the hunter is also easy to find, with glowing nebulae [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980127.html ] highlighting [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980201.html ] the hunter's belt and sword. Orion's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961202.html ] famous red giant star Betelgeuse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970216.html ], near picture center, has a yellowish cast and Rigel is [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980209.html ] the bright star in Orion at lower right. Brilliant white Sirius [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960902.html ], near the bottom, is the brightest star in the picture (and in Earth's night sky). Sirius, is part of the constellation Canis Major [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ constellations/Canis_Major.html ] (Big Dog). Across the Milky Way, above and to the left of Sirius, is slightly less brilliant Procyon, brightest star of Canis Minor [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ constellations/Canis_Minor.html ]. A V-shaped group [ http://www.adler.uchicago.edu/ISE/HYAPLEIA.HTM ] of yellowish stars at the upper right, part of Taurus the bull [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ constellations/Taurus.html ], is dominated by the red giant Aldebaran [ http://www.bo.astro.it/copernic/alde-eng.html ]. |
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