Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Sometimes the night sky is full of surprises. Take the sky over Lindis Pass, South Island, New Zealand one-night last week. Instead of a typically calm night sky filled with constant stars, a busy and dynamic night sky appeared. Suddenly visible were pervasive red aurora, green picket-fence aurora, a red SAR arc, a STEVE, a meteor, and the Moon. These outshone the center of our Milky Way Galaxy and both of its two satellite galaxies: the LMC and SMC. All of these were captured together on 28 exposures in five minutes, from which this panorama was composed. Auroras lit up many skies last week, as a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun unleashed a burst of particles toward our Earth that created colorful skies over latitudes usually too far from the Earth's poles to see them. More generally, night skies this month have other surprises, showing not only auroras -- but comets. Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day

Photo by Tristian McDonald

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

How bright and strange will the tails of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS become? The comet has brightened dramatically over the few weeks as it passed its closest to the Sun and, just three days ago, passed its closest to the Earth. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) became of the brightest comets of the past century over the past few days, but was unfortunately hard to see because it was so nearly superposed on the Sun. As the comet appears to move away from the Sun, it is becoming a remarkable sight -- but may soon begin to fade. The featured animated video shows how the comet's tails have developed, as viewed from Earth, and gives one prediction about how they might further develop. As shown in the video, heavier parts of the dust tail that trails the comet have begun to appear to point in nearly the opposite direction from lighter parts of the dust tail as well as the comet's ion tail, the blue tail that is pushed directly out from the Sun by the solar wind. Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024

Video by Nico Lefaudeux

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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Go outside at sunset tonight and see a comet! C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has become visible in the early evening sky in northern locations to the unaided eye. To see the comet, look west through a sky with a low horizon. If the sky is clear and dark enough, you will not even need binoculars -- the faint tail of the comet should be visible just above the horizon for about an hour. Pictured, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was captured two nights ago over the Lincoln Memorial monument in Washington, DC, USA. With each passing day at sunset, the comet and its changing tail should be higher and higher in the sky, although exactly how bright and how long its tails will be can only be guessed. Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024

Photo by Brennan Gilmore

..."Since deer move, some experts predict 1.5 million accidents yearly. Other sources suggest that deer collision statistics are much higher" On average, 440 people die. There were over 1.8 million animal collision insurance claims in the U.S. in one year, and State Farm reported 1,288,714 deer collisions. On top of deer-vehicle accidents"..... More at the World Animal Foundation ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Did you see last night's aurora? This question was relevant around much of the world a few days ago because a powerful auroral storm became visible unusually far from the Earth's poles. The cause was a giant X-class solar flare on Tuesday that launched energetic electrons and protons into the Solar System, connecting to the Earth via our planet's magnetic field. A red glow of these particles striking oxygen atoms high in Earth's atmosphere pervades the frame, while vertical streaks dance. The featured video shows a one-hour timelapse as seen from Cortina d'Ampezzo over Alps Mountain peaks in northern Italy. Stars from our Milky Way Galaxy dot the background while streaks from airplanes and satellites punctuate the foreground. The high recent activity of our Sun is likely to continue to produce picturesque auroras over Earth during the next year or so. Gallery: Global aurora during October 10/11, 2024

Video by Cristian Bigontina

"How does poverty in the US compare with what’s going on in similar economies? ... ..."The U.S. has one of the highest rates of poverty among Western industrialized nations. Whether the focus is on working-age adults,  children, people over 65 or the population as a whole, the U.S. is near the top in terms of the extent and depth of its poverty. More at The Conversation ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A gravel country lane gently winds through this colorful rural night skyscape. Captured from Monroe County in southern West Virginia on the evening of October 10, the starry sky above is a familiar sight. Shimmering curtains of aurora borealis or northern lights definitely do not make regular appearances here, though. Surprisingly vivid auroral displays were present on that night at very low latitudes around the globe, far from their usual northern and southern high latitude realms. The extensive auroral activity was evidence of a severe geomagnetic storm triggered by the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME), an immense magnetized cloud of energetic plasma. The CME was launched toward Earth from the active Sun following a powerful X-class solar flare. Growing Gallery: Global aurora during October 10/11, 2024

Photo by Jonathan Eggleston

Saratoga Passage, Camano Island, WA

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The second solar eclipse of 2024 began in the Pacific. On October 2nd the Moon's shadow swept from west to east, with an annular eclipse visible along a narrow antumbral shadow path tracking mostly over ocean, making its only major landfall near the southern tip of South America, and then ending in the southern Atlantic. The dramatic total annular eclipse phase is known to some as a ring of fire. Also tracking across islands in the southern Pacific, the Moon's antumbral shadow grazed Easter Island allowing denizens to follow all phases of the annular eclipse. Framed by palm tree leaves this clear island view is a stack of two images, one taken with and one taken without a solar filter near the moment of the maximum annular phase. The New Moon's silhouette appears just off center, though still engulfed by the bright disk of the active Sun. Growing Gallery: Global aurora during October 10/11, 2024

Photo by Yuri Beletsky

"Every year has been catastrophic for Palestinians around the world, but the past 12 months have been unimaginable".... More at The Guardian ➜