What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Our ongoing quest to understand our star, the Sun, just got a huge boost with the world's largest solar telescope located in Hawaii, the   Inouye Solar Telescope . This 4-meter telescope is designed to observe the Sun better than we have ever been able to do. And as we say in astronomy the proof is in the images. I have been observing the Sun with my own telescopes (with safe solar filters) for decades and there have been other solar observatories. But this solar telescope is simply astounding in the detail it can see on our star. Here is a sample of the first images taken by the telescope. Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA Close Up Of Previous Image Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA The telescope still needs another six months of testing before it can become fully operational. Images will be taken daily when the sky is clear and will be analyzed to see what they reveal. It is not an exaggeration to say that the   Inouye Solar Telescope is going to revolutio...

Hey Space Placers! Our star is still a mystery in lot of ways. Learn about our star and one of its biggest mysteries - how and why does the Sun's temperature go from 6,000 F to well over 1 MILLION F in the span of a few hundred miles? The Sun's Corona is visible as are Baily's Beads - sunlight coming through lunar features on the Moon's limb - during the July 2, 2019 total solar eclipse in Chile. Credit: Greg Redfern Enjoy this video of the Sun as you have probably never seen it before. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Everybody knows we are totally dependent on the Sun for our very existence. But what people may not know is that the Sun does affect our planet in ways that can be dangerous to us and our electrical infrastructure. Credit: NASA/Steele Hill New research has found that extreme solar storms may be more frequent than previously thought and that can have big impact in us. The Sun is currently monitored using spacecraft and telescopes so hopefully we will have sufficient warning to protect our power grid and space-based assets if a "Big One" is headed our way. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this quick did bit on the Sun. Maybe in a few years we will finally know the mystery of coronal heating. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I've been off planet reviewing the final proofs of my book the past week and have 1 week more to go. Here is an article that discusses space weather   and a new ESA mission to provide alerts . Space weather affects our daily lives in a variety of ways. Adding a new mission to monitor the Sun and the space weather it generates will go a long way in helping to protect our technologies and ourselves. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Listen to and learn about the Sun ! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! The Earth was hit by a major solar storm today    that has made Aurora, the glowing Northern Lights, visible in many Northern Hemisphere locations including Europe, the U.S. and the International Space Station (ISS). Aurora from ISS 3/17/15 Astronaut Terry Virts Check here to see if the Aurora will be visible tonight from your location. Take your camera out and try to get some time exposures from a tripod. I last saw Aurora in VA (and photographed them) in 2003. Let me know if you see any. Sky Guy in Hopefully Clear VA

Hey Space Placers! The Sun remains active into 2015 as it produced the year's 1st solar flare visible on the right: NASA SDO As provided by NASA: The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 11:24 p.m. EST on Jan. 12, 2015. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.  We'll see how the Sun behaves in 2015 but it should be heading into less activity as it winds down from the last Solar Maximum into a new Solar Minimum. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! If you have a fast Internet connection, you HAVE to see these videos put togther following the spectacular solar outburst on June7th.You can see my blog on the event and then view this link to see the videos and background information.   http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/11jul_darkfireworks/ You can catch me on Fox 5 here in Washington DC tomorrow (7-14-11) at 0645. I'll be talking about the Dawn mission. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I have had a few blogs on the Sun and space weather recently. You should follow the link to read about a meeting taking place this week in Washington, D.C. that addresses the issue of space weather and modern technology. "In 2011 the situation (a powerful solar flare event) would be more serious. An avalanche of blackouts carried across continents by long-distance power lines could last for weeks to months as engineers struggle to repair damaged transformers. Planes and ships couldn’t trust GPS units for navigation. Banking and financial networks might go offline, disrupting commerce in a way unique to the Information Age. According to a 2008 report from the National Academy of Sciences, a century-class solar storm could have the economic impact of 20 hurricane Katrinas." It is worth your time: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/22jun_swef2011/ Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I have seen a lot of solar eruptions, flares and prominences in my day but I have NEVER seen anything like what happened on the Sun 6-7-11. Neither have some of the solar scientists who studied the outburst. There was even a press release from Goddard Space Flight Center about the event: "The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class (minor) radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7, 2011, from sunspot complex 1226-1227. The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed the flare's peak at 1:41 a.m. EDT (06:41 UTC). SDO recorded these images (above) in extreme ultraviolet light that show a very large eruption of cool gas. It is somewhat unique because at many places in the eruption there seems to be even cooler material -- at temperatures less than 80,000 K." Spectacular vide...