Fire in the SkyS


Sun

CMEs Target Earth and Mars


Space Weather
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:49 UTC
The odds of a geomagnetic storm on Dec. 28th are improving with the launch of two CMEs toward Earth in less than 24 hours. NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft photographed this one on Dec. 26th:

261211 CME
© Space Weather
According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud should squarely strike Earth's magnetic field on Dec. 28th at 20:22 UT (+/- 7 hours). Another CME could deliver a glancing blow a few hours earlier on the same date. The double impact is expected to spark mild-to-moderate geomagnetic storms at high latitudes.

Mars is also in the line of fire. The first of the two CMEs is squarely directed toward the Red Planet--estimated time of arrival: Dec. 30th at 1800 UT. Using onboard radiation sensors, NASA's Curiosity rover might be able to sense the CME when it passes the rover's spacecraft en route to Mars.
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Extinguisher

Failed Mars Probe To Crash Back To Earth Mid January 2012


Sky News
Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:19 UTC
Phobos Grunt
© Sky NewsThe £105m Phobos-Grunt would have been Russia's first interplanetary mission since Soviet times
A Russian space probe that failed in its attempt to reach one of Mars' moons will crash back to Earth next month, officials have said.

The unmanned Phobos-Grunt craft was successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in November.

However, the probe got stuck in Earth's orbit after its engines failed to fire up - quickly ending its planned journey toward the Red Planet.

Russia's space agency said it expects the Phobos-Grunt to plummet back through our atmosphere between January 6 and 19.

Toxic fuel from the craft will burn on its fiery re-entry, but several dozen fragments weighing up to 200kg (440lbs) will crash into the Earth's surface, officials said.

Comment: There has been an alarming number of alleged defunct space debris falling to earth of late. See Here We Go Again! Another Dead Satellite to Fall From Space in November

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Sun

Christmas Eve Solar Eruption


Space Weather
Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:51 UTC
A filament of magnetism connected to sunspot AR1386 erupted during the early hours of Dec. 24th. Extreme UV-wavelength cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the picturesque blast:


The C5-class eruption hurled a billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) into space, but not toward Earth. With the cloud sailing wide-left of our planet, Christmas geomagnetic storms are unlikely. Nevertheless, this active region merits watching as it turns toward Earth in the days ahead, possibly positioning itself for the first storms of 2012.
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Meteor

Astronaut Photographs Comet Lovejoy - from Space

Ian O'Neill
Discovery News
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:19 UTC
Images of space observations from the Hubble Space Telescope often leave me speechless. Pictures taken by amateur astronomers in their backyards also leave me speechless. Space, in general, has that effect -- peering deep into alien space-scapes, views that are very rarely experienced by our terrestrial existence, can be an incredible eye-opener.

However, if you put an astronaut into space, with a camera, often those photographs have the most profound impact. Sometimes you just need a human to compose the best pictures.

Take this beautiful view of the "sungrazing" Comet Lovejoy for example.
Image
© NASA/Dan Burbank.Comet Lovejoy
NASA astronaut and Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank photographed the dazzling comet as it hung above the Earth's horizon yesterday (Dec. 21). The green haze is known as "airglow."

Wow.
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Meteor

Another Stunning Image of Comet Lovejoy

Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:23 UTC
It's been one more day since Colin Legg posted his previous amazing photos and videos of Comet Legg. This new version is even better, especially with it reflecting off the water.
Image
© Colin LeggComet Lovejoy
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Meteor

The Amazing Tail of Comet Lovejoy


Space Weather
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:28 UTC
Lovejoy's Tail
© Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia.
Widespread reports of Comet Lovejoy's tail are being received from around the southern hemisphere. The ghostly plume emerges just before sunrise, jutting vertically upward into the eastern sky ahead of the sun.

"I observed the comet with my unaided eye for 55 minutes this morning," says Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia. "I also captured a timelapse sequence of the comet rising as twilight progressed."


Comet Lovejoy (2011 W3) rising over Western Australia from Colin Legg on Vimeo.

"In the image you can see 2 tails," notes Clegg. These are the dust and ion tails. The gaseous ion tail is blow almost directly away from the sun by the solar wind, while the heavier, brighter dust tail more closely follows the comet's orbit.

The visibility of both tails could improve in the days ahead as the comet moves away from the sun and the background sky darkens accordingly. Early-rising sky watchers should be alert for this rare apparition. [finder chart]
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Meteor

Best of the Web: Surprising Comet Lovejoy Now Becoming Merry and Bright

Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today
Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:36 UTC
Lovejoy_1
© kommet.czComet Lovejoy photographed remotely with the FRAM telescope in Argentina on Dec. 17 by a Czech team of Jakub Cerny, Jan Ebr, Martin Jelinek, Petr Kubanek, Michael Prouza and Michal Ringes.

It was almost a pre-holiday miracle that Comet Lovejoy survived its close encounter with the Sun on Dec. 15, 2011. But now, the feisty comet is making a 'merry and bright' comeback, re-sprouting its tail and showing up brilliantly with binoculars and in telescopic images from southern hemisphere skywatchers.

"It was a big surprise that after going through the solar atmosphere it re-emerged with a beautiful tail," Karl Battams told Universe Today. Battams is with Naval Research Laboratory and has been detailing the Comet Lovejoy's incredible journey on the Sungrazing Comets website. "And basically within a day it was as bright after the encounter as it was before."

The beautiful image above was taken on Dec. 17, 2011, clearly showing two gorgeous tails on Comet Lovejoy. See more from the Czech team that took the image at their website, Kommet.cz.

As much as this comet has surprised everyone, no one is going out on a limb and predicting it will become visible with the naked eye. But who knows? The comet's discoverer, Austrailian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy was able to image the comet in the day time! " I am hopeful of a nice binocular comet low in the dawn around Christmas time," Lovejoy said on the Ice in Space website.
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Meteor

Update: Comet Lovejoy in the morning


Space Weather
Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:00 UTC
Noted astronomer John Bortle urges observers (especially in the southern hemisphere) to "begin searching for Comet Lovejoy's bright tail projecting up out of the morning twilight beginning at dawn. The tails of some of the major sungrazing comets have been extraordinarily bright. Comet Lovejoy's apparition has been so bizarre up to this point that it is difficult to anticipate just what might happen next ... [including] the exact sort of tail it might unfurl in the morning sky."

UPDATE: This morning in New Zealand, Minoru Yoneto photographed the ghostly tail of Comet Lovejoy shining through the twilight:
Image
© Minoru Yoneto

"I couldn't see the comet with my naked eye, but a 1.3 sec exposure with my Canon Kiss X2 digital camera revealed Lovejoy's long tail." In the clearer skies of Devonport, Tasmania, amateur astronomer Peter Sayers did see the tail with his unaided eyes--"but just barely," he says. "The tail was just naked-eye and perhaps a degree long in our Tasmanian summer early morning twilight." [image]
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Satellite

Russia's Failed Mars Probe Will Come Crashing Down to Earth Next Month, Space Agency Says

Vladimir Isachenkov
The Associated Press
Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Russian Space Probe
© The Associated Press/The Canadian Press/Russian Roscosmos space agency/HOIn this Nov.2, 2011 file photo distributed by Russian Roscosmos space agency shows technicians working on the Phobos-Ground probe.
A Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars and stuck in Earth's orbit will come crashing back next month, but its toxic fuel and radioactive material on board will pose no danger of contamination, the Russian space agency said Friday.

Between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will survive the fiery plunge and shower the Earth's surface, Roscosmos warned in a statement.

The agency said the unmanned Phobos-Ground spacecraft will plummet to Earth between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19, and the rough area of where the fragments could fall could only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.

As of now, it said only that the probe's fragments could rain down anywhere along a broad swath between 51.4 degrees north to 51.4 degrees south, which would include most of land surface.

While the agency had lost contact with the probe following its launch on Nov. 9, this was the first time acknowledged that the $170-million craft has been lost and will come crashing down.

Since its November launch the engineers in Russia and at the European Space Agency have attempted unsuccessfully to propel it away from Earths orbit and toward its target.

Comment: SOTT wonders what is UP with all the recent alleged man-made space objects falling out of the sky? We've gone for years and years without this repeated showering of space-junk and now, all of a sudden, in just the past year, there have been at least three, and now four raining debris down on our heads? Is it possible that it is not really man-made and these explanations are being offered to cover up the fact that the planet is already being subjected to cometary fragment bombardment? Just asking.

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Meteor

Continued Adventures of Comet Lovejoy


Space Weather
Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:27 UTC
The scorched core of sungrazing Comet Lovejoy is still intact as it recedes from the sun. Even the comet's flamboyant tail, temporarily lost in transit through the solar corona, has regrown. Click here to view the last 24 hours of coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).


SOHO images show two tails: the ion tail and the dust tail. The ion tail is made of gas and is blown directly away from the sun by the solar wind. The heavier dust tail is curved and more closely traces the comet's orbit.

Now that the comet is more than five degrees from the sun, it is possible (albeit still not easy) for amateur astronomers to photograph it just before sunrise. A team led by Czech astronomer Jan Ebr captured this image at sunrise on Dec. 17th:
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