CHANGES ON JUPITER: "On July 30th, it was evident that there is rapid evolution of Jupiter's impact debris cloud," reports amateur astronomer Raffaello Lena of Rome, Italy. "It is becoming very elongated." A polar projection shows the extent of the debris:

The changes are caused by turbulence and especially high-altitude winds in Jupiter's atmosphere. Polar winds blowing 25 m/s and faster could stretch the cloud all the way around Jupiter's south pole in the weeks ahead. Whether such a stretched-out cloud will be visible in small telescopes remains to be seen.

Amateur astronomers are encouraged to continue monitoring. The cloud is located near Jupiter's System II longitude 210°. For the predicted times when it will cross the planet's central meridian, add 2 hours and 6 minutes to Sky and Telescope's predicted transit times for Jupiter's Great Red Spot. [sky map]

more images: from Giovanni Coltro of Pesaro, Italy; from Romulo Liporaci of Maracaibo, Venezuela; from Sid Leach of Scottsdale, Arizona; from Tamas Ladanyi of Bakonykoppany, Hungary; from Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; from Andreas Murner of Lake Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany; from John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio USA

Solar wind stream flowing from
 the indicated coronal hole could
reach Earth on or about July 31st.
 Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

Endeavour and the ISS will be in orbit together for just one more day. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for last-chance flybys.

more images: from Fox Keri of Marion, Massachusetts; from Todd Hahn of Sugar Land, Texas; from Jonathan Sabin of Ellenton, Florida; from Michael Prokosch of Huntsville, Texas

A solar wind stream flowing from the
 indicated coronal hole could reach
Earth on or about July 31st.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

JUPITER'S IMPACT CLOUD EXPANDS: Jupiter's impact cloud is expanding. On July 19th, when it was discovered by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley, the dark mark near Jupiter's south pole was barely visible in backyard telescopes. Five days later Wesley photographed the impact cloud again and found that it had approximately tripled in size:

High-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal what's happening: turbulence and jet streams in Jupiter's atmosphere are causing the cloud to spread out. The vast impact site is now tens of thousands of times wider than the 100m-class comet or asteroid that created it.

The expansion of the cloud makes it easier than ever to see through a backyard telescope: sky map. The cloud is located near Jupiter's System II longitude 210°. For the predicted times when it will cross the planet's central meridian, add 2 hours and 6 minutes to Sky and Telescope's predicted transit times for Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

more images: from Mike Hood of Kathleen, Georgia; from Didier Favre of Brétigny-sur-orge, France; from Enzo De Bernardini of Martínez, Buenos Aires, Argentina; from Sadegh Ghomizadeh of Iran Tehran; from David Kolb of Lawrence, Kansas;

"I caught the fireball and its smoke trail using my Canon Digital Rebel XT," says Emfinger. "It flew through the field of view during a one minute exposure."

This early Perseid whets the appetite for the greater show ahead. Meteor rates, low now, will increase as Earth moves deeper into the debris stream. On peak-night, sky watchers could see more than 60 Perseids per hour.

JUPITER SPOT SPREADING OUT

Editor's note:  These are clear photos but confusing as to what they are trying to show.

SOHO UNKNOWN

"It was a very impressive show that lasted 4.5 hours!" says Kenwell.

Forecasters did not predict this display. It began on when a seemingly minor solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field. The minor hit turned into a not-so-minor display because a crack opened in Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar wind to pour in and fuel the storm. Northern Lights descended as far south as the Dakotas, Montana, Iowa and Wisconsin. The solar wind is still blowing, but the crack has closed, bringing an end to the lights. Until next time, browse the gallery:

UPDATED:

/gallery_01jul04_page3.htm?PHPSESSID=gsddenpm0vfgigj7vun15nq7q2"> 2004, 2003]

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: Chasing an eclipse can be a nerve-wracking experience. Just ask Alan Dyer, who on July 21st was sailing through the path of totality in the south Pacific Ocean when clouds began to gather overhead. "The early, partial stages of the eclipse were blocked," says Dyer. "We had to chase into a clear hole to catch this view of totality."

"The sight of the low-hanging Sun in eclipse was spectacular with an impressively large Sun/Moon disk caused by the 'moon illusion' effect," he says. "In the end, we were a happy ship of 300 eclipse chasers!"

7-22-09

Eclipse 7-22-09

Browse the gallery for more scenes from the path of totality:

UPDATED: July 22nd Eclipse Gallery
[previous eclipses: Jan 26, 2009; Aug. 1, 2008; Mar. 19, 2007]

"These are the first auroras I have been able to photograph in more than a year," says Tenho Tuomi. "It was a pleasant surprise."

The display was sparked by a solar wind stream which hit Earth's magnetic field on July 21st. The ensuing geomagnetic storm registered 6 on the 0 to 9 K-index scale of geomagnetic activity. "My magnetometer picked up the disturbance and I rushed outside to see the show," says Tuomi.

July 2009 Northern Lights Gallery

SOLAR ACTIVITY: A big show is underway on the sun today. Two massive prominences are dancing along the northwestern limb with such allure that the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has boosted its frame-rate to capture the motions. Stay tuned for movies, and meanwhile, keep an eye on the sun.

2040 UT Jul20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2040 UT

JUPITER IMPACT? On July 19th, a veteran observer of Jupiter in Australia photographed a fresh dark "scar" in Jupiter's cloudtops; the feature resembles the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts of 1994.  It is possible that Jupiter has been struck anew by an asteroid or comet.  Astrophotographers around the world should train their optics on Jupiter to confirm the event and monitor its progress. 

"I have imagery of that same location from 2 nights earlier without the impact mark so this is a very recent event," he adds. "This image shows that the material has already begun to spread out in a fan shape on one side, and should be rapidly pulled apart by the fast jetstream winds. I'm sure this will generate some interest around the astronomy community, as impacts like this are rare. I recorded a lot of footage, and will be generating more images and a rotation animation."

Amateur astronomers around the world should train their telescopes on Jupiter tonight to monitor the progress of this possible impact event. Stay tuned for more images and updates.

  COSMIC COLLISION: Evidence is mounting that something hit Jupiter no more than a few days ago. The impact site was discovered by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley on July 19th. Using a 14.5-inch telescope at his backyard observatory in Murrumbateman, Australia, he photographed a dark scar in Jupiter's clouds. NASA astronomers rushed to confirm the find, and with this photo from the Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, they did:

The bright spot is near-infrared sunlight reflected from particulate matter floating through the top of Jupiter's atmosphere. These particulates are likely debris from something that hit the planet and exploded. "This has all the hallmarks of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts of 1994," says Leigh Fletcher of JPL who gathered the infrared data along with colleague Glenn Orton.

If the impact hypothesis is indeed correct, the "scar" should become spread out by jet streams in the days ahead. Amateur astronomers can monitor events using mid-sized backyard telescopes: sky map. The spot is located near Jupiter's System II longitude 210°. For the predicted times when it will cross the planet's central meridian, add 2 hours and 6 minutes to Sky and Telescope's predicted transit times for Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

UPDATE: On July 20th, Dennis Simmons of Brisbane Australia recorded a 75-minute movie of the impact site. Click on the image to launch a gif animation:

Play the movie

"It is quite fascinating to observe the white spot (a Mars-sized storm) appearing to overtake the impact scar," notes Simmons. "To make the movie I used a 7-inch Takahashi Mewlon 180 telescope with a Vixen x2 Barlow and a DBK21AF04 ccd camera."

more images: from Antonello Medugno of Italy; from Robert Lunsford of Chula Vista, California; from Jeremy Perez of Flagstaff, Arizona; from Theo Ramakers of Social Circle, Georgia; from Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman, Australia; from Ian Sharp of Ham, West Sussex, England, UK; from David Kolb of Lawrence, Kansas; from David Storey of Isle of Man, Great Britain; from Frank Ryan Jr of Shannon, Ireland; from Russell Hawker of Eastleigh, Hampshire; from Lars Zielke of Tvis, Denmark; <
24-hr: A1 0155 UT Jul18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
 

APOLLO LANDING SITES PHOTOGRAPHED: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned its first imagery of Apollo landing sites. The pictures show lunar module descent stages, scientific instruments and even 40-year-old foot trails made by astronauts walking across the dusty lunar surface: full story.

Solar Cycle Triggers La Nina, El Nino-like Climate Shifts

A solar wind stream flowing from
the indicated coronal hole should
reach Earth on or about July 21.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

NOTE: Whether we went to the moon or not has been a big controversy, even this week, I was in several conversations about this topic.  Was it real or wasn't it?  There are proponents and adversaries on this issue. I doubt anyone wants to believe that we really didn't go and that it was all a hoax and that our government has been lying to us about it all this time.

I've done webpages on this issue myself. I've had heated arguments about it as well and listened to numerous radio shows and television documentaries. 

The truth is about to come out, thanks to Mrs. Stanley Kubrick, whose husband's company made the fake film of the moon landing in case the camera didn't work for the astronauts on the moon.  Her film is about to be brought to the public and will the answer the question once and for all.  All those men who were involved in the coverup film have already been named and all that is already in the public domain.

The only question left is,  "Did we really go?  Or is it a lie?"

Current conditions

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

STEREO-A is stationed over the sun's western horizon where it can monitor sunspots no longer visible from Earth. The spacecraft will track sunspot 1024 for as much as four more days, gathering valuable data on the sunspot's rate of growth or decay. Indeed, if the sunspot can hold itself together for only two more weeks, the sun's rotation will carry it around to face Earth once again. Stay tuned for updates from around the bend.

Current conditions

Readers with solar telescopes should train their optics on the edge of the sun. Even minor eruptions from sunspot 1024 could hurl photogenic blobs of hot plasma high over the limb where they would shine in beautiful relief against the black of space beyond. The parting shots could be the best of all.

more images: from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from David B.V. Tyler of Buckinghamshire UK; from D. Booth, T. Emerson, J .Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Andy Yeung of Hong Kong; from Stephen Yeathermon of Santa Fe, Texas;

July 9, 2009: On June 29th, neighbors of Paul Mortfield in Ontario, Canada, heard "cheers of excitement" coming from the astronomer's house. What caused the commotion?

"I had just observed NASA's LCROSS spacecraft," explains Mortfield. Using no more than a backyard telescope, he caught it zipping past spiral galaxy IC3808:

Above: LCROSS photographed on June 29, 2009, by Paul Mortfield using a remotely-operated 16-inch telescope. The spacecraft was about 480,000 km from Earth.

LCROSS is the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. It left Earth June 18th atop an Atlas V rocket on a mission to crash into the Moon. On Oct. 9th, NASA plans to plunge LCROSS headfirst into a deep crater near the Moon's south pole. Researchers hope the debris it kicks up will reveal water and other minerals of use to future lunar explorers.

Meanwhile, LCROSS is circling the Earth-moon system in a long looping orbit, and NASA is inviting amateur astronomers to help track it.

Mortfield estimates the brightness of the spacecraft to be 16th magnitude, similar to that of many near-Earth asteroids. To find it, he recommends pointing your web browser at JPL's online Horizons ephemeris system (link) and entering 'LCROSS' as the target body. The program will generate a set of coordinates you can plug into the tracking system of almost any modern backyard telescope.

Since Mortfield first caught sight of LCROSS on June 29th, others have seen it too. Portuguese amateur Paulo Lobao photographed LCROSS using a refracting telescope only 4-inches in diameter: details.

"Today's technology is truly amazing, allowing amateurs to capture images far beyond what professionals were doing just a couple of decades ago," says Mortfield.

Indeed, says Day, LCROSS is a fairly easy target for experienced amateurs, and he'd love nothing better than to recruit hundreds of observers to keep track of LCROSS in the months ahead. How does an astronomer get started? "Go to the LCROSS observer's group (link). Start reading the articles and chatting with other observers," he suggests.

The really big event comes in October when LCROSS crashes into the Moon. Amateur astronomers will be able to observe that, too.

Breakfast is almost over. Sunspot 1024 is approaching the sun's western limb where it will disappear in 24 hours. That will bring an end to the best display of sunspots in nearly two years. Fortunately for astrophotographers, sunspot 1024 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24 and it probably heralds more to come. Solar activity is not eggs-tinct, after all.

more images: from David B.V. Tyler of Buckinghamshire UK; from K.Greene, G. Harmon and J.Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Juan Miguel González Polo of Cáceres, Spain; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands; from Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from Steve Boyce of Sidmouth Devon, UK; from Paul Haese of Blackwood, South Australia; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Fulvio Mete of Rome, Italy; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from Andy Yeung of Hong Kong; from John Nassr of Baguio, Philippines; from Ehsan Rostamizadeh of Kerman, Iran;

Current conditions

more images: from John Nassr of Baguio, Philippines; from Ehsan Rostamizadeh of Kerman, Iran; from Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from Steve Wainwright of Swansea South Wales, UK; from Keith Davies of Swansea, South Wales, United Kingdom; from David Leong of Hong Kong; Solar wind
speed: 318.8 km/sec
density: 5.6 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1707 UT

Scientists and astronomers must be seeing something different in this sunspot because they don't agree: 

ASTRONOMERS are claiming that Earth is witnessing the biggest and most powerful Sunspot ever seen and the sunspot is yet to peak in intensity.

A sunspot is a magnetic storm on the surface of the sun and the area of the spot is colder than the normal surface.

The normal surface is about 5000 degrees, the temperature of a sunspot is about 3000 degrees.

The size of a sunspot varies, ranging from the size of the moon to 65 times larger than the size of earth and lasts for about a month then fades away.

This newest sunspot is thought to be 60 to 80 times the size of Earth and has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.

Wappa Falls Observatory head astronomer Owen Bennedick describes the sunspot shape like the letter S and thinks it to be approximately 150,000 km long and 30,000 km wide.

“It's flares have not yet been measured,” Owen Bennedick said, “but it is like hundreds of thousands of hydrogen bombs.”

The flares have been so bright that NASA has had trouble taking accurate pictures of the sunspot.

Mr Bennedick said the sunspot is still growing in intensity but predicts it could climax by today.

The sunspot will cause the Earth's atmosphere to heat up, potentially creating problems to powerlines, radio transmitters and delicate equipment such as mobile phones and computers.

Mr Bennedick suggests powerline filters be installed on computers and people should put on extra sunscreen.

Sunspots appear on the sun in cycles, occurring every 11 years, the current cycle has four years until it reaches it peak.

The last sunspot happened two years ago and was the most powerful flare yet measuring x28.

Most sunspot flares measure around x12 which is still considered powerful.

The Sunspot two years ago was 45 times larger than the earth and lasted for 45 days.

Since that sunspot, no more had been seen until Sunday, this latest one considered the most powerful yet.

The Wappa Falls Observatory is in the process of installing a new 12 inch telescope which will allow a greater view of the sky.

The new telescope was bought in honour of Kerry Mounter who recently passed away.

Mr Mounter was an inspiration to all who worked at the Wappa Falls Observatory. The telescope will be dedicated to his memory.
 

Solar wind
speed: 336.4 km/sec
density: 9.8 protons/cm³

explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1846 UT X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A9 1700 UT Jul07 
24-hr: A9 1700 UT Jul07 
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1840 UT

Solar observers haven't seen an active region like this one in more than two years. It is big, complex, and rapidly growing: movie. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot, revealed by SOHO magnetograms, show that it is a member of new Solar Cycle 24. This makes sense: New research shows that solar jet streams are beginning to stimulate new-cycle sunspot production. Sunspot 1024 appears to be a sign of the process at work, heralding more to come. Monitoring is encouraged.

more images: from Anthony Ayiomamitis of Athens, Greece; from Didier Favre of Brétigny-sur-Orge, France; from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from Steve Wainwright of Swansea, S. Wales UK; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands; from Mark Townley of Brierley Hill, West Midlands, UK; from David B.V. Tyler of southern England; from Brian Woosnam of In North Wales UK; from Lecoq Etienne of Mesnil Panneville Normandy ,France; from Florin Marc of Tirgu Mures, Romania

The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares
or "Solar Flare Alphabet Soup"

A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. [more information]

Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.

This figure shows a series of solar flares detected by NOAA satellites in July 2000:

 

Each category for x-ray flares has nine subdivisions ranging from, e.g., C1 to C9, M1 to M9, and X1 to X9. In this figure, the three indicated flares registered (from left to right) X2, M5, and X6. The X6 flare triggered a radiation storm around Earth nicknamed the Bastille Day event.

Peak (W/m2)between 1 and 8 Angstroms

ceweather.com/images2009/04jul09/1024_anim.gif?PHPSESSID=ar45r7tl5v3ichc5r9f20mchv2"> movie. Sunspot 1024 has at least a dozen individual dark cores and it is crackling with B-class solar flares. This morning, amateur astronomer David Tyler caught one of the flares in action from his backyard solar observatory in England:

Scientists studying recent crop circles are predicting that this sunspot will go CME on 7-7-09
 

Sarychev's emissions are causing some beautiful sunsets. Here's what to look for: When the sun goes down, delicate ripples of white appear over the western horizon. The ripples are volcanic aerosols--a mixture of ash and sulfur compounds. Then, as twilight deepens, the sky turns a lovely shade of "volcanic lavender." Lavender is what you get when you mix blue light scattered by fine aerosols with ordinary red sunset rays.

Is a plume passing over your area tonight? Keep an eye on the western sky for Sarychev sunsets.

2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery
[See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery]

GEO-FLARE: One night last month, Miroslav Grnja of Bratislava, Slovakia, opened the shutter of his camera (a Canon 400D) and settled back to watch the stars go by. He was looking forward to recording a nice set of star trails--but one of stars refused to move:

"At first I thought I had a hot pixel in my camera," says Grnja. "Upon closer inspection, however, I realized I had photographed a geostationary satellite." Geostationary satellites (geosats) remain fixed above one point on Earth's surface, so they do not move with the stars.

Usually, geosats are too dim to show up in star-trail photos. This one was different. "It flared," says Grnja who made a movie of the flash by stiching together consecutive 90-second exposures. "The satellite brightened to magnitude +2 as sunlight glinted from one of its flat surfaces--perhaps an antenna or a solar panel."

UPDATED: 2009 Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003]

7-3-09 - There are no sunspots today

7-2-09 - No sunspots today

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

7-1-09 No sunspots today - the small sunspot that was evident on June 30 has vanished.

Similar reports are pouring in from France, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada and many US states. Here's what to look for: When the sun goes down, delicate ripples of white appear over the western horizon. Then, as the twilight deepens, the sky turns a lovely shade of "volcanic lavender."

The source of the phenomenon is Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano. It erupted on June 12th, hurling massive plumes of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other debris into the stratosphere. The white ripples that herald these sunsets are made of volcanic aerosols--a mixture of ash and sulfur compounds. Blue light scattered by fine volcanic aerosols combines with ordinary red sunset rays to produce the telltale lavender.

Earth-orbiting satellites are monitoring Sarychev's sulfur dioxide plume as it circumnavigates the globe at high latitudes, spreading the phenomenon from Russia to the USA to Europe and back again. All northern sky watchers should be alert for volcanic sunsets.

UPDATED: 2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery
[See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery]

ART OR SCIENCE? Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, have created an unprecedented 3D supercomputer model of a sunspot. The result is not only scientificially informative, but also a thing of beauty:

To create the virtual sunspot, researchers programmed NCAR's IBM bluefire supercomputer with the laws of magnetohydrodynamics, sprinkled in some ground-based observations of actual sunspots, and hit "go." The bluefire is capable of 76 trillion calculations per second; even so, the program took weeks to complete. The final model contains 1.8 billion points and covers a 3D domain 31,000 miles by 62,000 miles wide and 3,700 miles deep.

Physcists are now studying movies of the virtual sunspot to develop new insights into the dynamic behavior of these planet-sized behemoths. More than one onlooker has gasped in amazement when shown the surprisely lovely subsurface structure of the 'spot.

Is it art or science? You decide.

2009 Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003]