luni, 8 noiembrie 2010

Cometa IKEYA-MURAKAMI

Nou descoperita cometa  C/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami) ofera un spectacol bun pentru oricine are un telescop, o curte şi un ceas cu alarmă. Ceasul este pentru a va trezi înainte de zori, şi telescopul este pentru a o vedea, in aproprierea lui Saturn. 

Leonid Elenin a obtinut aceasta fotografie cu un telescop robotic in New Mexico.

sâmbătă, 6 noiembrie 2010

ACTIVE SUNSPOT

 NOAA forecasters say there is a 70% chance of M-class solar flares during the next 24 hours. The source of the blast would be active region 1121 emerging over the sun's eastern limb:

Image credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory [larger image]
Indeed, AR1121 is already crackling with an M2-flare on Nov. 4th and an M1-flare on Nov. 5th. So far none of the flares has been geo-effective, but this could change as the sun's rotation turns the blast site toward Earth in the days ahead. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.

joi, 4 noiembrie 2010

Comet Hartley 2's nucleus

COMET ENCOUNTER UPDATE: NASA's Deep Impact (EPOXI) probe has just completed its 435 mile flyby of Comet Hartley 2's nucleus. The spacecraft has turned its high-gain antenna toward Earth and data are being transmitted to mission control at JPL. The first raw images have just arrived and, even without processing, they are spectacular:

The first five close-up images: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 

A press conference will be held this afternoon at 4 pm EDT to discuss the results and to reveal even higher-resolution images. Tune into NASA TV to follow events live.