Astro Bob

Quadrantid meteors stream from a point in the sky below the handle of the Big Dipper. The shower peaks just before dawn on Sunday morning, Jan. 3.  Stellarium The Quadrantid meteor shower provides a dash of celestial fireworks to spice up the start of the new year. This annual shower is unusual in having a narrow peak of intense activity that lasts just 6 hours. If the peak occurs between 2 and 6 a.m. local time under a dark, moonless sky rural observers can see more than 100 meteors per hour. Last year's "Quads" hit max under dark skies over North America. This year's peak takes place around 8:30 a.m. Central Time on Sunday, Jan. 3, at or after sunrise for the eastern two-thirds of the continent. If this is where you live then about 25 meteors per hour will brighten the pre-dawn sky. A NASA camera captures a bright Quadrantid fireball.  NASA, MSFC, MEO Meanwhile, skywatchers on the West Coast, Alaska and locations further west are better positioned to witness the pea...

A partial solar halo made of "diamond dust" brackets the sun on Christmas Eve morning from Duluth, Minn. A faint sun pillar (vertical glow above the tree) is also visible and forms when light reflects off the bottoms of ice crystals floating parallel to the ground.  Bob King Last night's winter storm and plummeting temperatures left us with piles of snow and dazzling sunshine this morning. As I heaved shovelfuls of the stuff to clear a path to the driveway, I caught sight of an arc of rainbow light between the trees. It turned out to be part of a rare diamond dust halo. Ordinarily, a halo forms when minute, hexagonal ice crystals in cirrostratus clouds refract sunlight or moonlight into a circle with a radius of 22°.  But no such clouds streaked the sky this morning. Instead, nearby but invisible ice crystals suspended in the -8° F air took it upon themselves to do the refracting. The halo was partial — twin, arc-shaped stubs — with a hint of the complete semicircle wrapp...

Jupiter and Saturn were less than a degree apart on Dec. 19. Tonight (Dec. 21) they'll be closest. I took this photo with a 200mm telephoto lens. The little string of dots to the upper left of Jupiter are several of its moons! Bob King This is the night we've been waiting for. Jupiter and Saturn will be in close conjunction just 0.1° apart at dusk. You'll find them cozied up together low in the southwestern sky 45 to 90 minutes after sunset or roughly from 5 to 6:15 p.m. local time.  The last observable closest approach of the two distant gas giants occurred on March 5, 1226, while the next close pairing similar to tonight's won't happen until March 15, 2080. Dang, I definitely won't be around for that one, the reason I'm going to hit the road today in search of clear skies.  I hope you get to see their closest approach, but if clouds interfere you have two options. You can continue to watch Jupiter and Saturn huddle together through Christmas night, and tho...

Lawrence Wardzala of Arizona took this striking photo of the moon and the planet pair on Dec. 17 with his handheld iPhone 11. The best time to see the close pairing is about an hour after sunset — from about 5:15 to 6 p.m. — low in the southwestern sky.  Lawrence Wardzala It seems the closer Jupiter and Saturn get the more delicate they appear. That's because we see them in twilight, and the bright sky tames their brilliance. Last night the two giants stood a little less than 0.5° apart alongside the waxing crescent moon. Tonight (Dec. 18) their separation shrinks to 0.3°. Jupiter and Saturn peek out between the trees in this photo made with an iPhone 8 on Dec. 14. Eric Norland Twilight is very useful when it comes to taking photos of the double-planet. In darkness, pictures show an inky sky and two dots, but in twilight you include silhouettes of trees and structures along with a colorful sky to give your images a sense of place. Seasonal lighting displays or a solstice bonfire ca...

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 ...