The Space News Archive *Warning, massive resolution pictures inside*

[LLR]

URGENT!
---------------

EXPLOSION IN PROGRESS:  An explosion is underway on the sun. The source of the blast lies out of sight somewhere over the sun's western limb, but the ejecta is visible as it billows into space:




A coronagraph onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is monitoring the progress of the expanding CME. The cloud is not directed at Earth and should cause no geomagnetic activity on our planet. It is, however, a promising "sign of life" on the sun. Slowly but surely, solar minimum is coming to an end.

Solar wind
speed: 408.8 km/sec
density: 6.4 protons/cm3

All I can say is thank goodness this was pointed away from us.  Had this been facing us it would have been called a "Full Halo" and we would have gotten the full force of the solar flare.   That aint good..... srsly..

[LLR]

THE OTHER CONJUNCTION:  While all eyes are on Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky, another conjunction is taking place at high noon. Mars and Mercury are having a close encounter of their own within 3o of the sun:


The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) took the picture on Nov. 30th. SOHO's onboard coronagraph blocked the glare of the sun to reveal the planets and first-magnitude star Antares nearby.

As for the OTHER conjunction.



Almost there, tomorrow they should align as much as possible..  which might trigger a quake, however on the 12th is a full moon and the moon will be exactly opposite these planets.  Which might also trigger a quake.  Either way, if no quake happens it certainly is pretty to look at!

Movie...  amazing.. wow.
New Moon is aligned with Pluto making its final transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn.   According to this.. the Moon is also aligned with Pluto..  I missed that.. 
 :o





 November 30, 2008 - Shuttle Endeavour Landed
At Edwards AFB Today.
At 2:25 PM Pacific, the Space shuttle Endeavour
and the STS-126 crew landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California,
after completing a mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV.



November 29, 2008 - Canadian Fireball Fragments Found.


Full story
Meteorite fragment weighing 250 grams from November 20, 2008,
explosion near Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada, was found by University
of Calgary researchers south of Lloydminster in an area called Buzzard Coulee.
Image © 2008 by Bruce Edwards, Edmonton Journal.

On Thursday, November 27, 2008, University of Calgary student, Ellen Milley, was traveling south of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, with meteorite expert, Alan Hildebrand, when she discovered a 250-gram piece of dark space rock lying atop a frozen pond. A dozen meteorite pieces have now been found in the Ian Mitchell ranch near the Battle River valley on frozen ponds where the dark space rocks are more clearly seen.

If I failed to post the video of the asteroid earlier, here it is.



November 26, 2008 - Canadian Fireball A 10-Ton Space Rock
“At least half a dozen infrasound stations ranging from Greenland to Utah,
including Canada's Lac Du Bonnett, Manitoba and Elgin Field, Ontario stations,
recorded energy from the fireball's explosions. The indicated energy is approximately
one third of a kiloton of TNT.”  - Peter Brown, Ph.D., Univ. of Western Ontario

On Thursday, November 20, 2008, at 5:26:40 to 5:26:45 PM Mountain,
this 5-second fireball came in at a steep 60-degree-angle from the horizon, exploding
as it fell, with the largest explosion at 5:26:44 PM. The location was NNE of Lloydminster,
Saskatchewan, Canada, traveling SSE towards the Battle River valley. The fireball was recorded
on all-sky and security cameras across Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, and was witnessed by
thousands of people. Image source SkyNews.  Also see Devon, Alberta,

Full Story

Video

[LLR]

Update!


GREAT CONJUNCTION:  Postulate: One moon + two planets = the sky show of the year. The proof may be found in this photo submitted by Jamie Russell from the United Kingdom's Isle of Wight:

He opened the shutter of his Canon 300D on the evening of Dec. 1st moments after Venus emerged from behind the Moon. Meanwhile, Jupiter looked on from above. Together, the ensemble beamed down on St. Catherine's Lighthouse, built 170 years ago atop the Niton Undercliffe. "It was a lovely scene," he says.

All around the world, sky watchers watched with pleasure as Venus, Jupiter and the Moon gathered in one tiny patch of sky and then dispersed again. But was it really the sky show of the year? Browse the gallery and decide for yourself:

Gallery








Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope




PROTO-SUNSPOTS:  Magnetic fields are pushing through the surface of the sun today, producing a pair of planet-sized dipoles with the potential to form sunspots. Circles denote their locations in this SOHO magnetic map of the sun:

The high-latitude and magnetic polarity of these "proto-sunspots" identify them as members of new Solar Cycle 24. Even if they fail to coelesce into truly dark-cored sunspots, they are still significant. They remind us that Cycle 24 is approaching and the eerie quiet of solar minimum won't last forever. Readers, if you have a solar telescope, target the proto-sunspots for a sign of things to come.



RETURN OF THE LEONIDS:

 Astronomers from Caltech and NASA are predicting a near-storm of meteors in 2009 based on a surprising outburst of Leonids just a few weeks ago. Get the full story from Science@NASA.
Full story here




Dec. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Name:2008 WY94                LD:3.2                  Magnitude:19                              Size:35M       
Solar Map










Heres a neat one:

      Invisible Lights on Mars Mapped

Source

Mars' ultraviolet auroral lights have been mapped for the first time. The map could in turn shed light on the way the red planet interacts with electrically charged particles spit out by the sun.

The aurorae on Mars were discovered in 2004 with the SPICAM ultraviolent and infrared atmospheric spectrometer on the Mars Express orbiter, which is still circling the planet. The phenomenon is not visible in regular light, so there are no photos.

Using the SPICAM and other instruments aboard Mars Express, a group of scientists have observed nine new auroral emission events, which allowed them to make a crude map of planet's auroral activity.

Prettier on Earth

On Earth, aurorae are more commonly known as the northern and southern lights. They are confined to the polar regions of the planet and shine brightly in the visible as well as the ultraviolet wavelengths. They produce spectacular shows now and then for anyone living near the Arctic Circle.

Similar aurorae are known to exist on Jupiter and Saturn. They occur wherever a planet's magnetic field channels electrically charged particles into the atmosphere.

Mars lacks the large-scale internal mechanism to generate a planetary magnetic field. Instead, Mars has small pockets of magnetism where areas of rocks in the crust are themselves magnetic -- essentially, Mars has many magnetic pole-type regions all over its surface.

Mars Express' observations suggest that like the aurorae of other planets, Mars' aurorae are caused by charged particles, likely electrons, colliding with molecules in the atmosphere. (These electrons almost certainly come from the sun, which constantly blows them out into space, a phenomenon known as the solar wind.)

The spacecraft's instruments showed that the aurorae seem to be located near regions where the Martian magnetic field is strongest. The findings were detailed recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Mystery remains

Just how the electrons are accelerated to sufficiently high energies to spark aurorae on Mars is still a mystery.

"It may be that magnetic fields on Mars connect with the solar wind, providing a road for the electrons to travel along," said study team member Francois Leblanc of the Service d'Aeronomie IPSL/CNRS in France.

Unfortunately, Mars' aurorae won't give any future visiting astronauts a spectacular light show.

"We're not sure whether the aurorae will be bright enough to be observed at visible wavelengths," Leblanc said.

The molecules responsible for the visible light show on Earth -- molecular and atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen -- are not abundant enough in the Martian atmosphere to spark the spectacular visible displays seen on Earth.

 Has an alien comet infiltrated the solar system?

Source









Planet Found Orbiting Puffed-Up Star
Source

A planet outside of the solar system has been discovered orbiting a dying, puffed-up star called a red giant.

The finding could help astronomers learn more about the fate of our solar system.

The newly discovered exoplanet is nearly six times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the red giant star HD 102272, which is located 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Leo. To date, about 20 red giants are known to support planets.

The researchers suspect another world is orbiting farther out in the system. If confirmed, the system would be the first red giant star known to support more than one planet...

Thats all this time.

<S>

[Hyruleansoldier]

Wow, I didn't know such a lineup was happening now!  That only happens once every ...... years, right?

Quite awesome.  And I love how those pics are all art-like, and not just with attention to the planets in the sky.  Makes it all the more awesome!

Thank again

[LLR]

Wow, I didn't know such a lineup was happening now!  That only happens once every ...... years, right?

A similar alignment will happen May 2012 however this exact alignment will not happen again until 2056.   

Here is another one I like..



Pages 3 through 15 are coming in the next month or so.  Supposedly theres an awesome picture taken on board an Air Force refueling jet in the desert.

Stay tuned!

*edit*

Found a new one.


Smiley Face!   

[Hyruleansoldier]

Smiley faces!

That's Venus and Mars, right?

I'm showing these to some people now, heheh.

[LLR]

Its Jupiter and Venus.   A neat thing you can do is you know that Solar Map I posted, well you can change the center point to the Sun and then zoom out with the buttons.  Pay no attention to the blue line orbit (astroid) and just click the days forward to watch the planets align!  Its pretty neat!  This is how I found out back in June that we would have this alignment this week!   Its really easy to use and entertaining as it is educational.  And yes, I'm a total nerd.



 




Small update:

MONSTER PROMINENCE:   A large plume of plasma is dancing there and may soon erupt: SOHO image.

[Link Reborn]

Nice Stuff LLR!

I'm a little worried about 2012. xD

And HS, he mentioned the planets in his posts. READ THE FINE PRINT OR I'LL SMACK JOO! xD

He opened the shutter of his Canon 300D on the evening of Dec. 1st moments after Venus emerged from behind the Moon. Meanwhile, Jupiter looked on from above. Together, the ensemble beamed down on St. Catherine's Lighthouse, built 170 years ago atop the Niton Undercliffe. "It was a lovely scene," he says.

[LLR]

lol


update:
An enormous filament of plasma is swirling over the eastern limb. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) took this picture just hours ago:

This plasma-filled filament of magnetism popped up yesterday and it could collapse again just as rapidly. When a filament abruptly collapses and hits the sun's surface, it can produce a rare type of explosion called a "Hyder flare." Could one be in the offing? Stay tuned!

[Hyruleansoldier]

Nice Stuff LLR!

I'm a little worried about 2012. xD

And HS, he mentioned the planets in his posts. READ THE FINE PRINT OR I'LL SMACK JOO! xD

I'm a little worried about 2012 too.  Though mostly I'm expected to what will happen and what beautiful pics and factoids it will give on a regular basis

Yeah, I was just guessing for that one, I didn't quite remember when I was reacting to the pics of the beautiful sky.

[LLR]

NP Man!  I don't mind repeating info.  I know that I always post a wall of text.  I don't expect everyone to read everything.  But one thing I do suspect is someone sees a nifty picture and reads a bit of the text above it or below it.   And thus, their interest is sparked.  Perhaps they will read more in the thread that is related to the picture, maybe not.  I'm just trying to get folks at least a little interested in this kinda stuff.  I'm pretty sure that there will be a day in the near future that in the main stream news this sort of thing will get more and more common.  So all you folks that paid attention to this thread can school all the n00bs around you about whats going on and why. 
 

Heheheeh.

Just speaking off the top of my head.  Does anyone know what happened to the Hubble?  I know its fixed now, but right before we moved they had 2 space shuttles on the launch pad (posted some where here, maybe page 4)  and were getting ready to launch a mission to fix the Hubble.  As far as I know, that mission never took place but lo-and-behold, Hubble is fixed and no one seemed to ask "How".   I'll research this, just found it odd.



Anyway, heres the news!  (boy, theres a lot of it this week!)




AURORA WATCH:  High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight. A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, sparking Northern Lights as far south as Michigan:
Gallery


Shawn Malone,
Marquette, Michigan






Got another explosion in the sky!  Although not as cool as the one in Canada last month!

COLORADO SUPERBOLIDE:  Last night, Dec. 6th at 1:28 a.m. MST, a meteor of stunning brightness lit up the skies of Colorado. Astronomer Chris Peterson photographed the event using a dedicated all-sky meteor camera in the town of Guffey, near Colorado Springs:


 "In seven years of operation, this is the brightest fireball I've ever recorded," says Peterson. "I estimate the terminal explosion at magnitude -18, more than 100 times brighter than a full Moon."

Fireballs this bright belong to a rare category of meteors called superbolides. They are caused by small asteroids measuring a few to 10 meters in diameter and massing hundreds of metric tons. Superbolides trigger seismic detectors on the ground, produce waves of infrasound that can travel thousands of miles, and they are tracked by military satellites scanning Earth for nuclear explosions. Recent examples include the El Paso fireball of 1997 and the Slovenian Superbolide of 2007.

Last night's fireball is on the low end of the superbolide scale. Nevertheless, it was still a beauty and likely peppered the ground with meteorites when it exploded. Sighting reports are welcomed; they could help guide the tracking and recovery of debris.







TUMBLING TOOLBAG:  The space station's famous sidekick, the ISS Toolbag, is circling Earth and producing flashes of light bright enough to record using off-the-shelf digital cameras. Peter Rosén sends this report from downtown Stockholm, Sweden:

"I photographed the toolbag when it passed above the moon on Dec. 3rd. It was invisible to the naked eye, but my camera (a Canon 40D) detected it in a series of 4 second exposures. The toolbag must be rotating as the light seems to flash and disappear.



Larger image

He combined 26 images to create this composite. "The other paths are from airplanes; the short interruptions in their lights are caused by the lag between shots." Longer "black-outs" in the path of the toolbag appear to be genuine, a result of tumbling and flashing.



Readers, the toolbag and the ISS are making a series of evening passes over Europe and North America this weekend. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times.




**Edit**
More conjunction pix!







Kinda looks like Darth Vader, Luke and Chewy! lol





My fav one so far..

Makes a nice desktop .  :D

[LLR]

BIGGEST FULL MOON OF THE YEAR:  Tonight's full Moon is the biggest of the year, as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser Moons earlier in 2008. An astronomer would say this is a "perigee Moon" because it occurs at perigee, the side of the Moon's elliptical orbit closest to Earth. Go outside tonight and soak up some moonlight. There's plenty of it: full story.

Last night's 99% full Moon was already impressive: "Boy... the Moon was very bright and BIG!" says Ron Hodges of Midland, Texas. "Watching it through my scope was actually exciting." For the record, he took this picture using a Canon 300D:





*wonders if it will cause a quake..*

More info coming soon on other solar news.  Got the flu and haven't felt like updating much!  Sorry folks!  I'll get back on it!

[Hyruleansoldier]

I always love full moon, for some reason.  Biggest of the year, that's what she said

Get well soon, LLR, and thanks for the (at least) weekly updates!

[Link Reborn]

The full Moon makes me really hyper. :3

Nice Pic.

Makes me sad to know each year the moon moves an inch away from earth. =[

[Beh]

Makes me sad to know each year the moon moves an inch away from earth. =[

Motherfuckin' oceans rejecting my moonz. D=

Anyway:

Magnetism. A Freshman science textbook has told me it only applies to Iron and similar metals (Nickel, Cobalt, etc.) but then they tell us gravity is caused by the Earth's magnetic core pulling us down via magnetism.

Explain, plox.

[Adam]

Magnetism. A Freshman science textbook has told me it only applies to Iron and similar metals (Nickel, Cobalt, etc.) but then they tell us gravity is caused by the Earth's magnetic core pulling us down via magnetism.

Uh, I'm pretty sure they're lying.  I'm not an expert in physics, but as far as I know, magnetism and gravity are completely different forces.

Also, magnetism can affect things that aren't iron, nickel, cobalt, etc..  It's just most prominent in these elements.  Due to electron orbitals/having multiple unpaired electrons with the same spin/blah blah blah.

[Beh]

Damn Freshmen textbook, simplifing gravity.

[Hyruleansoldier]

Gravity is not a matter to be simplified.


On a completely random note, each time I check this thread and see the pictures of solar flares I think of one of my favorite (though no longer running) sci-fi show of which the intro actually starts with some impressive solar flares...

Guess what show I'm talking about

[LLR]

Ok!  I'm up!  lol.  Flu/strep throat sucks.   


I'll get back in the groove of posting.  First I gotta catch up on the past week or so.


COLOR-CODED SUNSPOTS: According to one leading solar physicist, the sun is turning blue. David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is using red and blue to tag sunspots of the old and new solar cycles. When he plots the color-coded sunspot numbers, it's clear a change is taking place:



"New Solar Cycle 24 is on the upswing while old Solar Cycle 23 is decaying," he says. The sun is still in the pits of a deep solar minimum, he points out, but the little blue bars in Hathaway's plot show that it won't last forever. An increasing number of new-cycle sunspots in the months ahead should propel the sun out of the doldrums, eventually leading to a full-fledged Solar Max around 2012.

Feeling blue? Now you know why. Stay tuned for updates.





GEMINID METEOR SHOWER
Gallery
Movie





This picture is kinda neat.  How often do you see the space shuttle flying above you head?

Thats exactly what happened here, only it was getting a piggy back ride from a modified 747.  This picture was taken outside a Texas Airport and the jet was headed for California.



**editing last weeks news** Archive site is currently down.. grr..

Ocean worlds may be dying stars' last haven for life
Neat story, also contains some interesting links IN the story about surviving when the sun goes into its red giant mode. 


Study Illuminates Star Explosion from 16th Century[16th Century





Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on Extrasolar Planet






New lander by NASA


Movie






Now about the gravity questions.  I've had the same problem with text books in school.  I was one of the kids reading a 20 year old text book and saying "this information is not correct.  Here, I'll show you what it should say" and get in trouble for doing so.  I was sent to the hall for this sort of behavior.. lol.  Ahh well.  I guess they gotta teach what ever books they have, doesn't matter if its right or not.  Bah.

What I always thought to be true about gravity is that its due to an object spinning, the mass of the object (moon, planet, ship.. and the rate of spin on the object = amount of gravity it has.  Now, about the magnetic fields and such.  I didn't think that sounded right..  not in the context of space..  Now things like THIS and THAT.... I can see how it makes "antigravity."  Reversed  magnetic fields and such.  I just didn't see how that could relate to huge planets and moons getting their gravity.  I think Torsion field physics makes more sense. 

Click to check out:
Warner Von Braun discovers torsion field physics by mistake part 1
and
Warner Von Braun part 2

And while you read that, I'll dig up more info on gravity and try to get back into those solar archives...and take more cold meds..

<S>

[LLR]

Update:

GIANT BREACH IN EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD:  NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. The size of the opening and the strange way it forms could overturn long-held ideas of space physics: FULL STORY


SOLAR ACTIVITY:  Hours ago, something on the far side of the sun {but rotating into our range} exploded and hurled a massive cloud of debris (a CME) over the eastern limb. Using a coronagraph to block the sun's glare, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) photographed the cloud expanding into space:



NASA's Stereo-B spacecraft is stationed over the sun's eastern limb, but it was not taking pictures at the probable time of the eruption, so details of the blast are unknown. The CME could herald an active region (e.g., a sunspot or perhaps an unstable magnetic filament) turning to face Earth in the days ahead. Stay tuned for updates.