Another Venus-directed CME

Another Venus-directed CME

A magnetic prominence dancing along the sun’s southeastern limb became unstable on Nov. 15th and slowly erupted. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the coronal mass ejection (CME), which unfolded over a period of thirteen hours: The eruption hurled a cloud

Venus-directed CME

Venus-directed CME

A coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) that swept past Mercury on Nov. 13th will likely hit Venus later today. Because Venus has no global magnetic field to protect it, the impact could erode material directly from the top of the planet’s atmosphere. Venus has atmosphere

Goodbye Comet Elenin!

Goodbye Comet Elenin!

Comet Elenin, or to be precise, its debris, made its closest pass by Earth on Oct. 16, 2011 without causing any earthquakes, tsunamis, or high tides and it didn’t collide with Earth, either. Strangely, but here was no brown dwarf or Mothership hidden in the

Farside CME hurled toward Mercury and Venus

Farside CME hurled toward Mercury and Venus

An active region on the far side of the sun erupted on October 14 and hurled a significant coronal mass ejection toward Mercury and Venus. Analysts at the Goddard Space Flight Center expect the cloud to hit the innermost planet on October 15 around 08:30 UTC….

New sunspots forming, Venus-directed CME

New sunspots forming, Venus-directed CME

Yesterday, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory witnessed a spectacular explosion on the sun that seemed to pass perilously close to Venus.As the movie shows, the CME passed harmlessly. There was no collision, and it wasn’t even close. Although Venus seems to be

Planetary triangle seen on sky this morning

Planetary triangle seen on sky this morning

Another day, another alignment of planets. “This morning, May 14th, the ‘planetary triangle’ created by Venus, Jupiter and Mercury adorned the eastern sky behind my nearby mosque,” reports Shahrin Ahmad, who snapped this picture from his rooftop observatory of Sri

SkyWatchers: Great Morning Planet Show!

SkyWatchers: Great Morning Planet Show!

The Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011 is underway. Every morning for the rest of this month, you can see a beautiful gathering of four planets in the eastern sky. They are Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, shown here on May 1st over Magnetic Island in east

2011 Skywatching Guide: Planets in the Solar System

2011 Skywatching Guide: Planets in the Solar System

The planets of our solar system are at tomes some of the most rewarding and simplest skywatching targets to spot, if you know when and where to look. Here's a look at how to observe the planets of the solar system in 2011: Tip: Astronomers measure distances in…

Rare sight: Mercury to meet Mars at dawn on Tuesday

Rare sight: Mercury to meet Mars at dawn on Tuesday

Skywatchers set your alarm clocks: On Tuesday morning (April 19), Mercury will appear to have a close encounter with Mars. In reality, the two planets will actually be separated by about 161 million miles (259 million kilometers), but in Earth’s sky they will…