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AURORA WATCH:
High latitude sky watchers should be
alert for auroras tonight.
Earth is entering a solar wind stream and this could cause geomagnetic
storms around the Arctic Circle.
GREAT CONJUNCTION:
In the Adirondack mountains of New York,
artist Sally J. Smith creates environmental sculptures, a natural
artform of wood, rock, light and shadow. This one she calls Planet
Portal:
"I wanted to celebrate the triple conjunction of Venus, Jupiter
and the Moon," says Smith, "so on Dec. 1st I positioned
myself behind the portal with my Nikon
D40. It was cloudy all afternoon. The sun set ... still cloudy!
Then, right around 5:30 local time, the clouds parted and the glorious
event was framed in the sculpture. I could not have asked for more!"
But there is more. In the 10-year history of Spaceweather.com,
no single event has generated more photos than this "Great
Conjunction." Submissions have poured in from six continents,
dozens of countries, kingdoms, democracies, theocracies, ships,
planes, cars, and even from a military aircraft refueling 35,000
feet over Iraq. Browse the gallery for highlights and daily new
additions:
Great
Conjunction Photo Gallery
LUNAR OCCULTATION
OF VENUS: On Dec. 1st, en route to the Great
Conjunction, the Moon ran right over Venus. The lunar occultation
happened directly over Europe where Romanian photographer Stanescu
Octavian took this picture:
Photo details: Canon
300D + a homemade 250mm Newtonian telescope
"I caught Venus just before it disappeared behind the dark
edge of the Moon," he says. Venus remained hidden for more
than an hour, then popped out again to form a spectacular triangle
with Jupiter and Luna as opposing vertices. "What a very nice
vision!"
Lunar occultations of Venus happen about twice a year. The next
two: Feb 28, 2009, over Antarctica and Apr.
22, 2009, over North America. The North American occultation
is going to be good, occuring in a lovely pre-dawn Spring sky while
Mars hovers nearby. Mark your calendar.
more images: from
Frank Ryan Jr at The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland; from
Deirdre Kelleghan of Greystones, Co Wicklow Ireland; from
Eduard Masana of Barcelona, Spain; from
Luis Carreira of Leiria, Portugal; from
Erwan Henry of Saint-Rieul, Brittany, France; from
Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Balatonakarattya, Hungary; from
Brian Fitzsimons of Cavan, Ireland; from
Günther Strauch of Borken, NRW, Germany; from
James Canvin of Cullompton, Devon, UK; from
Wojciech Piskorz of Gliwice, Poland; from
Claudio Bottari of Sava, Italy; from
Eddie Guscott of Corringham, Essex, England; from
John Durston of Plymouth, UK; from
Martin Campbell of Dungannon, N.Ireland; from
Elias Chasiotis at the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, Sicily,
Italy; from
Guenter Kleinschuster of Feldbach, Styria, Austria; from
John Fitzsimons of Sligo, Ireland; from
Luigi Fiorentino of Bari, Italy;
Nov.
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Previous Novembers: 2007,
2006, 2004,
2003, 2001,
2000]
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