Each type of light, from radio waves to gamma-rays, reveals something unique about the universe and its electromagnetic spectrum. Some wavelengths are best for studying black holes; others reveal newborn stars and planets; while others illuminate the earliest years of
Last week SOHO’s SWAN instrument discovered a bright comet on its way to dive into Sun. It has been named COMET SWAN and it is one of the brightest Kreutz-group comets ever observed by SOHO beside Comet Lovejoy from December last year. Sungrazing Comet SWAN dove
Sunspot 1429 still gives a thrilling time for night skywatchers. Recent solar activity produced numerous CME impact that sparked aurora displays around polar circles.Aurora tour guide Chad Blakely of Abisko Sweden made a wonderful movie on March 12th with beautiful
Another bright comet is diving into the sun. It was discovered just last week by SOHO’s SWAN instrument, so it has been named “Comet SWAN.” The comet’s death plunge ( or “swan dive”) comes just as the sun has unleashed a strong flare and radiation storm around
Venus and Jupiter are the second and third brightest objects in the night sky, after the Moon. Every evening Venus has appeared higher and Jupiter lower on the western sky. Now they’re about to cross paths. From now until March 17th the two planets will be within 5°
Sunspot 1429 just produced a strong M6.3 Solar Flare. AR 1429 is now located in the center of the visible solar disk so this solar flare and its CME is heading straight toward Earth. The Bz Component of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) is pointing south and
Two major X-class solar flares (X5.4 and X1.3) produced direct Full halo plasma cloud which is heading toward Earth. The solar wind is expected to increase to over 800 km/s, resulting with strong geomagnetic storming on March 8th. You can see the CME forecast track on
A recent study, appearing online in the Journal of Geophysical Research on February 29, 2012, has found clear evidence on Venus for a type of space weather outburst quite common at Earth, called a hot flow anomaly. These anomalies, also known as HFAs, cause a temporary
A CME impact followed by a gusty solar wind stream have combined to produce bright lights around the Arctic Circle on Feb. 26-29. Arctic sky watchers should be on alert for more auroras tonight. The green flash, the fleeting emerald light that sometimes appears
If the weather is clear this weekend, even those who normally do not look at the sky may be struck by a dazzling celestial scene in the west after sunset: a view of two bright planets and an even more eye-catching crescent moon. You can catch them before the sky fades
