Astro Bob

A modest aurora is expected tonight similar to this display in Feb. 2012. Bob King Not much happened with the aurora last night, but I've got some good news. We have another shot tonight (Dec. 10-11). Sometime the best predictions are off simply because it's next to impossible to know if those particle puffs from the sun will arrive with the correct configuration to connect into Earth's magnetic field and shower us with light. In that regard, space storm forecasts can be as tricky to figure as earthly weather. There was a little activity yesterday around 8-8:30 p.m. CST, but then the curve went flat. The next round is expected to arrive this afternoon (U.S. time zones) with a strong G3 storm visible from Europe. Once darkness sweeps in over Canada and the U.S., activity is expected to decline to G1 (minor storm) and then expand into a moderate G2 storm between 9 and midnight CST. It's nice to get a second chance. Let's cross our fingers!   

  Look at those whirls of hot plasma! These formed in the wake of a C-class solar flare in active region 2790 mid-morning (CST) on Dec. 7. The material is now on its way to Earth and could possibly spark a geomagnetic storm and auroras. The photo was made in far ultraviolet (UV) light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory .  NASA / SDO A modest flare that occurred in sunspot group 2790 on Dec. 7 blasted a tsunami of solar ions toward planet Earth. The wave is expected to arrive late Weds. afternoon (Dec. 9) and initiate a minor or G1 geomagnetic storm that will intensify into a G3 or strong storm later that evening. Sunspot group 2790, pictured here on Dec. 5, is no great shakes but somehow pulled off a big enough flare to stir excitement among aurora-watchers down here on Earth. Bob King The arrival is coupled with material expelled from another source, a coronal hole, so we get the benefit of a double whammy. The latest space weather forecast  predicts a G1 storm t...

 China's  Chang'e 5 mission , which lifted off to the moon on Nov. 23, has so far met with great success. As planned, the lander settled down safely near Mons Rümker in the Ocean of Storms then drilled and collected samples of lunar soil and rock. These were stored inside the ascent vehicle which successfully launched to lunar orbit on Dec. 3. After it docks with the sample-return orbiter the pair will leave orbit and head back to Earth. The samples will land in Inner Mongolia on Dec. 15, the first returned to Earth in 44 years. This panoramic view of the lunar surface was made by the Chang'e 5 spacecraft. Click  here  for a high resolution photo that you can explore right down to the nitty-gritty.  CNSA It's all happening so fast it makes me wonder why the U.S. and Russia aren't jutting off to the moon more often. Of course, U.S. priorities are focused on the crewed Artemis III  lunar mission, set to touch down on the moon in October 2024. Likewise, the ...

Jupiter (right) and Saturn huddle about 2° apart on Tuesday night, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m. local time. They're headed for an exceptionally close conjunction on Dec. 21. Bob King Closer... closer... closer... It seems like it's taking forever for these two evening planets to reach conjunction, but rest assured it will happen. The big night is Monday, Dec. 21, when the two outer planets will squeeze together so tightly you'll barely be able to split them apart with the naked eye.  Jupiter and Saturn move slowly across the sky because they're distant from Earth. Jupiter is the closer of the two, so it moves more quickly, taking about a year to pass through each constellation of the zodiac and completing one orbit in 12 years. Farthest of the classical planets, Saturn takes 29 years to make a spin around the sun. Every 20 years, faster Jupiter laps Saturn in a Great Conjunction .  Speedier Jupiter shrinks the apparent distance between the two planets until they're closest o...

Chang'e 5 launches atop a Long March 5 rocket on Monday, Nov. 23.  CNSA  Earlier this week China launched its ambitious Chang'e 5 probe on a 23-day mission to the moon to collect and return lunar samples. Named for the Chinese moon goddess, it would be that country's first sample return mission and the first moon rocks brought back to Earth since 1976, when the Soviet Union's Luna 24 sent back a third of a pound (170 grams) from the Sea of Crisis (Mare Crisium). The China National Space Administration (CNSA) hasn't released a detailed timeline, but we know that the spacecraft is expected to enter lunar orbit on November 27 shortly after the sun rises on its target, the region surrounding Mons Rümker (Mt. Rümker). The lander will descend to the sampling site in the following few days and collect 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of rocks, both from the surface and up to 6 feet (2 meters) underground. The lander will use a drill to unearth (unmoon?) these deeper specimens.  ...

A firefly makes a statement during a 30-second time exposure of the International Space Station made on July 15, 2020 near Duluth, Minn. Bob King It's a pleasure to have the International Space Station (ISS) back in the evening sky. Since it always appears in twilight, and the sun sets early in November, you never have to stay up late to catch a look. Passes start as early as 5:15 p.m. and finish up around 7 p.m.  With the successful SpaceX launch of the Crew-1 mission on Nov. 15, the orbiting laboratory is now full up with seven souls aboard. They're all speeding across the sky at around 17,100 miles per hour (27,600 kph) at an average altitude of 250 miles (400 km). How the heck can you eat Thanksgiving dinner under those conditions? Same as eating a meal on an airplane. Since everything around you is traveling at the same speed, each item is at rest relative to the other as long as you maintain a constant speed. Standard space station menu. NASA Last year's Thanksgivin...

  This bright Leonid meteor flared low in the northern sky below the Big Dipper at the start of dawn. Bob King Maybe you felt the way I did when you got up at 4 a.m. to watch the Leonid meteor shower. The temperature was 14° F with a hearty wind. I donned all my warm weather gear, unlocked the door and snapped open a lawn lounger. As I eased back into the chair, the dotted outline of Leo the lion assumed a commanding position in the southeastern sky like Simba on the hilltop in the movie The Lion King . Venus shines inside the tilted cone of zodiacal light, a phenomenon caused by sunlight that scatters off comet dust in the plane of the solar system. The meteor at top is a bright non-Leonid called a sporadic. Sporadic meteors are seen every night. Light-pollution-illuminated clouds are visible at right.   Bob King Looking at the meteor-less sky I couldn't help but think "naw, this ain't gonna' happen." But not 10 minutes later a modest but spectacularly fast meteo...