Tuesday, December 1, 2015
FLOURISHING LOOPS Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.
A bright set of loops quickly appeared as if out of nowhere after a small eruption upset the magnetic field above an active region just at the edge of the Sun. The video taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light covers about 12 hours (Nov. 25, 2015). All of these loops show energetic particles spiraling along magnetic field lines.
NEBULAE IN AURIGAE Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Rich in star clusters and nebulae, the ancient constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga) rides high in northern winter night skies. Composed from narrow and broadband filter data and spanning nearly 8 Full Moons (4 degrees) on the sky, this deep telescopic view shows off some of Auriga's celestial bounty. The field includes emission region IC 405 (top left) about 1,500 light-years distant. Also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, its red, convoluted clouds of glowing hydrogen gas are energized by hot O-type star AE Aurigae. IC 410 (top right) is significantly more distant, some 12,000 light-years away. The star forming region is famous for its embedded young star cluster, NGC 1893, and tadpole-shaped clouds of dust and gas. IC 417 and NGC 1931 at the lower right, the Spider and the Fly, are also young star clusters embedded in natal clouds that lie far beyond IC 405. Star cluster NGC 1907 is near the bottom edge of the frame, just right of center. The crowded field of view looks along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, near the direction of the galactic anticenter.
TWO CMEs, BOTH MISS EARTH: A pair of CMEs--one bright and one faint--billowed away from the sun on Nov. 29th.
According to NOAA storm tracks, neither will hit Earth. Click to view a movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:
The bright CME (pictured above) will miss Earth; it came from an explosion on the far side of the sun and is not heading in our direction. The faint one, which appears later in the movie, was launched by a minor eruption in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2459. Although the sunspot was facing Earth, the CME sailed wide of our planet.
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