Consider it a Father's Day gift ... from the sun. This morning around 1 a.m. UT, magnetic fields on the sun's eastern limb became unstable and erupted, producing one of the most spectacular explosions of the year. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:
Click to play a 1.6 MB mpeg movie
The explosion did not cause a solar flare (a flash of electromagnetic radiation) but it did hurl a massive cloud of magnetized plasma into space: SOHO movie. Because of the blast site's location on the eastern limb, the cloud will not hit Earth. There won't be any geomagnetic storms or auroras. Future eruptions, however, could have greater effect.
source
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Mystery on Jupiter
This is an interesting article. I recieved this in several e-mails.
Jupiter Impact: Mystery of the Missing Debris - On June 3rd, 2010, something hit Jupiter. A comet or asteroid descended from the black of space, struck the planet's cloud tops, and disintegrated, producing a flash of light so bright it was visible in backyard telescopes on Earth. Soon, observers around the world were training their optics on the impact site, waiting to monitor the cindery cloud of debris which always seems to accompany a strike of this kind. They're still waiting.
"It's as if Jupiter just swallowed the thing whole." "It was thrilling to see the impact, but the absence of any visible debris has got us scratching our heads." Indeed, it is a bit of a puzzle. "We've seen things hit Jupiter before, and the flash of impact has always been followed by some kind of debris." So where is the debris this time?
A possibility offered by some observers is that the flash wasn't an impact at all. Maybe it was a giant Jovian lightning bolt. But "NASA spacecraft have seen lightning on Jupiter many times before, but only on the planet's night side. This day side event would have to be unimaginably more powerful than any previous bolt we've seen. Even Jupiter doesn't produce lightning that big."
Curiously, the impactor (if indeed this was an impact event) struck right in the middle of Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt (SEB), one of the two broad stripes that girdle the planet. This is "curious" because the SEB itself vanished earlier this year. The missing belt may still exist, just temporarily hidden underneath some high-altitude cirrus clouds.
The best remaining hypothesis is that the impactor was small, packing just enough punch to make a flash, but without leaving much debris. One thing is sure: "JUPITER IS GETTING HIT MORE THAN WE EXPECTED. Back in the days of Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL-9), we calculated that we should see an impact on Jupiter once every hundred years or so. We considered ourselves extraordinarily lucky to witness the SL-9 event. But look where we are now. Anthony Wesley has observed two impacts within the past 12 months alone. It's time to revise our impact models
Jupiter Impact: Mystery of the Missing Debris - On June 3rd, 2010, something hit Jupiter. A comet or asteroid descended from the black of space, struck the planet's cloud tops, and disintegrated, producing a flash of light so bright it was visible in backyard telescopes on Earth. Soon, observers around the world were training their optics on the impact site, waiting to monitor the cindery cloud of debris which always seems to accompany a strike of this kind. They're still waiting.
"It's as if Jupiter just swallowed the thing whole." "It was thrilling to see the impact, but the absence of any visible debris has got us scratching our heads." Indeed, it is a bit of a puzzle. "We've seen things hit Jupiter before, and the flash of impact has always been followed by some kind of debris." So where is the debris this time?
A possibility offered by some observers is that the flash wasn't an impact at all. Maybe it was a giant Jovian lightning bolt. But "NASA spacecraft have seen lightning on Jupiter many times before, but only on the planet's night side. This day side event would have to be unimaginably more powerful than any previous bolt we've seen. Even Jupiter doesn't produce lightning that big."
Curiously, the impactor (if indeed this was an impact event) struck right in the middle of Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt (SEB), one of the two broad stripes that girdle the planet. This is "curious" because the SEB itself vanished earlier this year. The missing belt may still exist, just temporarily hidden underneath some high-altitude cirrus clouds.
The best remaining hypothesis is that the impactor was small, packing just enough punch to make a flash, but without leaving much debris. One thing is sure: "JUPITER IS GETTING HIT MORE THAN WE EXPECTED. Back in the days of Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL-9), we calculated that we should see an impact on Jupiter once every hundred years or so. We considered ourselves extraordinarily lucky to witness the SL-9 event. But look where we are now. Anthony Wesley has observed two impacts within the past 12 months alone. It's time to revise our impact models
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Sun becomes active; NASA is Wary
The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and the next few years could bring much higher levels of solar activity. NASA is keeping a wary eye on the sun as officials meet in Washington DC on June 8th to discuss the potential consequences of stormy space weather. Get the full story from Science@NASA.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
MAARC/W8ZHO 2 meter net
The net went well this evening. We had 6 check-ins. 7 when including myself.
Net Start;7pm. Net Conclusion;7:50pm = 50 minutes
KD8BIG NCS
W8QAY
W8KID
KD8FBY
KD8YL
KC8PCJ
Question Pool
When Samuel Morse developed a system of dots and dashes (the Morse Code), where did he find out which letters were used more often than others?
The Bible The Dictionary (X) A newspaper
He went to a newspaper printer's office so he could see which letters were used most often.
VE question=G2E04
Which of the following 20 meter band segments is most often used for most data transmissions?
1-14.000 - 14.050 MHz .
Yes 2-14.070 - 14.100 MHz .
3-14.150 - 14.225 MHz .
4-14.275 - 14.350 MHz .
Training Topic.
The RST Reporting System
I did a review on RST and discused the history of it.
Net Start;7pm. Net Conclusion;7:50pm = 50 minutes
KD8BIG NCS
W8QAY
W8KID
KD8FBY
KD8YL
KC8PCJ
Question Pool
When Samuel Morse developed a system of dots and dashes (the Morse Code), where did he find out which letters were used more often than others?
The Bible The Dictionary (X) A newspaper
He went to a newspaper printer's office so he could see which letters were used most often.
VE question=G2E04
Which of the following 20 meter band segments is most often used for most data transmissions?
1-14.000 - 14.050 MHz .
Yes 2-14.070 - 14.100 MHz .
3-14.150 - 14.225 MHz .
4-14.275 - 14.350 MHz .
Training Topic.
The RST Reporting System
I did a review on RST and discused the history of it.
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