Rare sights in the sky

What's going on out there?

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PinkDiamond
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Equinox "Cracks" Forming in Earth's Magnetic Field

Post by PinkDiamond »

I'm with you there, John, but even if I was there, those areas look way too cold for me to stand outside, so I'd be moving my recliner so I could sit by the window with the best view. :lol:

I will be tuned in to the aurora cam to see if they're active in Canada tonight, and hopefully the skies will be clear by then. They were there a few nights ago, looking like giant spotlight rays shining straight up into the sky, with visible waves undulating upward. It was way cool! :D
https://explore.org/livecams/aurora-bor ... lights-cam

From Spaceweather.com today.

"EQUINOX CRACKS IN EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD: The vernal equinox is less than 10 days away. That means one thing: Cracks are opening in Earth's magnetic field. Researchers have long known that during weeks around equinoxes fissures form in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind can pour through the gaps to fuel bright displays of Arctic lights. One such episode occurred on March 9th. "The sky exploded with auroras," reports Kristin Berg, who sends this picture from Tromsø, Norway:

Image

During the display, a stream of solar wind was barely grazing Earth's magnetic field. At this time of year, that's all it takes. Even a gentle gust of solar wind can breach our planet's magnetic defenses.

This is called the the "Russell-McPherron effect," named after the researchers who first explained it. The cracks are opened by the solar wind itself. South-pointing magnetic fields inside the solar wind oppose Earth's north-pointing magnetic field. The two, N vs. S, partially cancel one another, weakening our planet's magnetic defenses. This cancellation can happen at any time of year, but it happens with greatest effect around the equinoxes. Indeed, a 75-year study shows that March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year, followed closely by September-October--a direct result of "equinox cracks."
NASA and European spacecraft have ... "


This link won't work by tomorrow, so you'll have to search for the article by then.
http://spaceweather.com/

My favorite from the aurora gallery:

Image
Taken by Thomas J Spence on March 9, 2018 @ Tofte, MN

http://spaceweathergallery.com/aurora_gallery.html
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PinkDiamond
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

Post by PinkDiamond »

Wow, they have figured out that the purple phenomenon they dubbed "Steve" isn't actually an aurora at all. Way cool. Anybody want to guess what causes it? :)

STEVE IS NOT AN AURORA

"STEVE IS NOT AN AURORA: A new type of aurora nicknamed "STEVE" may not be an aurora at all, according to a new paper published August 20th in the Geophysical Research Letters. A group of researchers combined satellite data with ground-based imagery of STEVE during a geomagnetic storm to investigate how STEVE is formed. "Our main conclusion is that STEVE is not an aurora," said Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, a space physicist at the University of Calgary in Canada and lead author of the new study.

Image
STEVE, photographed by Greg Ash of Ely, Minnesota, on May 5, 2018

STEVE is a purple ribbon of light that amateur astronomers in Canada have been photographing for decades, belatedly catching the attention of the scientific community in 2016. It doesn't look exactly like an aurora, but it often appears alongside auroras during geomagnetic storms. Is it an aurora -- or not? That's what Gallardo-Lacourt's team wanted to find out.

Auroras appear when energetic particles from space rain down on Earth's atmosphere during geomagnetic storms. If STEVE is an aurora, they reasoned, it should form in much the same way. On March 28, 2008, STEVE appeared over eastern Canada just as NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite 17 (POES-17) passed overhead. The satellite, which can measure the rain of charged particles that causes auroras, went directly above the purple ribbon. Gallardo-Lacourt's team looked carefully at the old data and found ... no rain at all.

"Our results verify that this STEVE event is clearly distinct from the aurora borealis since it is characterized by the absence of particle precipitation," say the researchers. "Interestingly, its skyglow could be generated by a new and fundamentally different mechanism in Earth's ionosphere."

Another study has shown that STEVE appears most often in spring and fall. With the next equinox only a month away, new opportunities to study STEVE are just around the corner. Stay tuned and, meanwhile, read the original research here."

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com ... 18GL078509

Realtime STEVE Photo Gallery
http://spaceweathergallery.com/index.ph ... tle2=steve

http://spaceweather.com/
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

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From spaceweather.com, this is a gorgeous dance of color you won't want to miss. The time lapse part with the observatory in it is really funny to watch as it bobbles around back and forth like a crazed robot. LOL! :lol:

Enjoy the show. It's quite spectacular. 8-)

THE NEXT GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A southern hole in the sun's atmosphere is spewing solar wind toward Earth. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible when the gaseous material arrives on Feb. 7th or (more likely) 8th. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Aurora Alerts: SMS text, email.

SOUTH POLE AURORA VIDEO: Imagine living and working in darkness, 24 hours a day for 6 months out of every year. Robert Schwarz does just that. He's a professional telescope operator for the Keck Telescope Array at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. And his hobby is astrophotography. For the past 14 winters, he has been taking pictures of the south polar night, witnessing scenes unlike anyplace else on Earth. His work is highlighted in a newly-released video entitled "South Pole | Night In Antarctica."

A longtime contributor to Spaceweather.com, Robert Schwarz is a pioneer in cold-weather astrophotography. At the South Pole, temperatures routinely drop below -70o C. Modern DSLR cameras are not made for such temperatures. LCD displays freeze instantly, mirror mechanisms get stuck, batteries fail, and time-lapse sequences often end after only 30 or 40 frames. To mitigate these problems, Robert has developed heated camera housings and motorized trackers with insulation, allowing his optics to follow the pirouette of the stars overhead even in deep Antarctic cold.

Cinematographers Christoph Malin and Martin Heck created the video using a year's worth of Schwarz's unique footage. They're looking forward to more. Right now, Robert is traveling to the South Pole for a record-setting 15th "overwinter," and of course he's taking his cameras. Stay tuned!




http://spaceweather.com/
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THE TOXIC TAIL OF COMET BORISOV:

Post by PinkDiamond »

I thought y'all might like to see this one, since apparently it's a first for astronomers, and I'm quoting the whole article since it will fall off their front page any day now. Also, apparently they're redoing the site, so it may not be up for long anyway. I like the video of this comet because I've been feeding tadpoles in my tiny pond on the deck since they hatched in June, and now I only have a dozen or two left in the tub, but there are a whole slew of tiny tree-froglets of various sizes everywhere, so I like this one with the faint tadpole tail.

Good thing we love to hear the racket they make in springtime, eh? :lol:

THE TOXIC TAIL OF COMET BORISOV: For the first time, amateur astronomers are beginning to clearly see the tail of interstellar Comet Borisov, the first known active comet from another star system. New measurements of gas in the tail show that 2I/Borisov is spewing cyanide--a possible clue to the nature of the comet's faraway home. Visit Spaceweather.com for the full story.
THE TAIL OF INTERSTELLAR COMET BORISOV: When interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua flew through our solar system in 2017, researchers could not figure out what the cigar-shaped object was. Ideas ranged from an alien light sail to a fossilized comet. Now another interstellar visitor has arrived: 2I/Borisov. And it's definitely a comet. This Oct. 11th video recorded by amateur astronomer Michael Jäger of Weißenkirchen, Austria, clearly shows Borisov's tadpole-like tail:

Image

Capturing an interstellar comet tail with a backyard telescope is an impressive accomplishment. "2I/Borisov is very faint--about 17th magnitude," notes Jäger. "The seemingly-bright stars in the animation are actually quite dim, ~8th to 9th magnitude. They don't even have proper names."

What's the tail made of? To answer that question, in September an international team of astronomers led by Alan Fitzsimmons took a closer look using the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope on La Palma. They've just reported the results.

Image

Borisov's tail is rich in CN, a.k.a. cyanide. The comet's nucleus is pumping out approximately 4x1024 CN molecules every second. That may sound extraordinary, but it is not. Here in the Solar System, cyanide is commonly found in comet tails, and the production rate in Borisov is similar to that of local comets. Combining the production rate of CN with other factors, such as the comet's brightness and apparent dustiness, the researchers calculate that 2I/Borisov's core is between 0.7 km to 3.3 km wide--again, typical of ordinary comets.

"Overall," the authors note, "we find the gas, dust and nuclear properties for this first active Interstellar Object are similar to normal Solar System comets." In other words, wherever Comet Borisov came from, it must be a lot like here.

https://spaceweather.com/
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

Post by rocks2dust »

Really interesting to see that move, obviously very far away and fast.

Love hearing tree frogs come Spring - had very few this year for some reason. Wouldn't think that they'd be around this arid, semi-desert area, but they usually are - and to me, the most attractive members of the frog family (I don't count those colorful, but poisonous, tropical varieties).
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

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They do get pretty designs, but when they first emerge they're black, then they go through a green phase before getting their adult color and patterns. Here are shots of some from the time they exited the tub, and on as I found them on various things until I came across one that finally morphed into its beautiful adult pattern. It almost looks like a child's stick drawing of a frog to me. :lol:

FrogletsOct2019.JPG
FrogletsOct2019.JPG (36.26 KiB) Viewed 1045 times

FrogletsOct2019b.JPG

FrogletsOct2019c.JPG

FrogletsOct2019d.JPG

FrogletsOct2019f.JPG

FrogletsOct2019g.JPG

FrogletsOct2019h.JPG

FrogletsOct2019i.JPG


It's so much fun getting to observe and interact with nature. :D
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Artfldgr
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

Post by Artfldgr »

well if its not the sky... :roll:
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

Post by Artfldgr »

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Re: Rare sights in the sky

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0829110631.jpg
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Re: Rare sights in the sky

Post by SwordfishMining »

Hiya. TONIGHT 11-21-19 there will be a brief but intense meteor shower around 8:15 PST https://www.disclose.tv/15-magical-minu ... 9u3uus90P0
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