luzbybernal.com: ECLIPSE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN PHOTOGRAP

jueves, 2 de junio de 2011

ECLIPSE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN PHOTOGRAP

What's up in space

They came from outer space--and you can have one! Genuine meteorites are now on sale in the Space Weather Store.

CO-ORBITAL ASTEROID FLYBY: Small asteroid 2009 BD is flying through the Earth-moon system today about 215,000 miles from Earth. The 10m wide space rock poses no threat to our planet, but it is of acute scientific interest. "It's notable because it remains close to Earth for months at a time and is actually a co-orbital object with a very low delta-V (velocity) relative to Earth," writes Lance Benner of JPL. "A recurring question about objects with very low delta-V values is whether they may be ejecta from the Moon." Goldstone radar observations by Benner and colleagues in the nights ahead might illuminate the origin of this curious object.
ECLIPSE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN: A solar eclipse at midnight? It's not only possible, it actually happened last night. On June 1st, the new Moon passed in front of the midnight sun above the Arctic circle, producing a partial eclipse of exquisite beauty. Bernt Olsen photographed the event from Sommarøy, Tromsø, Norway:

"A rain shower threatened to spoil the show, but just before midnight the clouds parted and I got a fairly clear shot of the eclipse," says Olsen. "I'm glad I did, because we won't experience an eclipse like this again for 73 years."
Until then, browse the links for more eclipse shots: from Renate Westlien of Tana, Finnmark, Norway; from Kulkova Svetlana of Bratsk, Russia; from Travis Stagg of Fairbanks Alaska; from B.Art Braafhart of Sallatunturi, Finnish Lapland; from Thomas Hagen of Tromsø, Norway; from Johan Kero of Bergfors, Kiruna, Sweden; from Joerg Schoppmeyer of Akureyri, Iceland;
SOUTH POLE AURORAS: Earth is exiting a solar wind stream that sparked colorful auroras on May 28th-30th. At the height of the display, Southern Lights over the geographic south pole became so bright, "they were tricky to photograph without overexposure," reports J. Dana Hrubes, science leader at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. "The ice surface as well as the 10m primary mirror of the South Pole Telescope were well illuminated." (continued below)

"When I went outside to take these pictures on May 30th, the air temperature was about -94 F (-70 C)," says Hrubes. "Just days earlier, the temperature had dropped all the way to -103.4 F (-75.2 C), so the aurora photo-shoot was relatively warm."
Photographers at the South Pole, bundle up! Another solar wind stream is due to arrive on or about June 4th. Its impact could trigger renewed geomagnetic activity, and you might want to go outside. Aurora alerts: text, voice.
more images: from Brian Larmay of Pembine, Wisconsin; from Minoru Yoneto of Queenstown, New Zealand; from Neva Andersen of Saint Cloud, Minnesota; from Dave Curtis of Dunedin, New Zealand; from Ian Stewart of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; from Tom Luttrell of Mount Nelson Signal Station, Hobart, Tasmania; from Beatrice van Eden of Antarctica;

April 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]

Near Earth Asteroids

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On June 2, 2011 there were 1224 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Mag.	Size
2011 KG13	May 24	3.2 LD	--	31 m
2002 JC	Jun 1	57.5 LD	--	1.6 km
2009 BD	Jun 2	0.9 LD	--	10 m
2011 KE15	Jun 3	3.7 LD	--	18 m
2011 KV15	Jun 5	8.3 LD	--	25 m
2002 JB9	Jun 11	71.5 LD	--	3.2 km
2001 VH75	Jun 12	42.2 LD	--	1.1 km
2004 LO2	Jun 15	9.9 LD	--	48 m
2011 GA55	Jul 6	64.1 LD	--	1.0 km
2011 EZ78	Jul 10	37.3 LD	--	1.5 km
2003 YS117	Jul 14	73.9 LD	--	1.0 km
2007 DD	Jul 23	9.3 LD	--	31 m
2009 AV	Aug 22	49.7 LD	--	1.1 km
2003 QC10	Sep 18	50 LD	--	1.2 km

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Essential web links