Beautiful ice pillars brighten a frigid night in Northeastern Ohio.
When the air is especially cold and conditions just right, ice crystals form and, suspended in the air, can do amazing things. This night (January 22) tiny plates of ice reflected artificial lights to make a brilliant display of ice pillars. CAA member Matt Franduto witnessed the show and braved single-digit temperatures (~7 degrees F) to record the scene. Ice pillars are often mistaken for auroras (“northern lights”) which are a whole other kind of phenomenon.
Notes: Sony A-500, manual focus, ISO 400, f/4.5, 8 sec., 18mm lens cropped.
Auroral display over Lake Erie. Photo by Christopher Christie.
A group of CAA members took advantage of beautiful night sky conditions to set up and observe from Medina County Parks’ Letha House Park — site of our Observatory. Among them was Christopher Christie. “I got home about 2:00 AM after a great, but cold night out at Letha House” he wrote. “I was starting to wind down around 3:00 AM when I noticed the Kp index was kicking up as the solar wind increased, it wasn’t much at the time but I kept an eye on it.”
He kept tabs on the situation. “About 3:30 the KP was up at 6, so I went to my front porch and didn’t see anything, but checked some of the other sites I use to check on the aurora and one showed a possibility of some moving in. So I went to the lake shore just inside Rocky River, and, well after about an hour and 175 images or so I was very happy.” We’re pretty pleased to see his results.
Auroral display over Lake Erie. White light at left-horizon is a passing boat. Photo by Christopher Christie.
It turns out Christie had tapped into the beginning of a big geomagnetic storm. By Saturday afternoon SpaceWeather.com was reporting that the storm continued to light the skies over nighttime areas of the globe and was expected to be active through Saturday night. Of course Saturday night brought clouds and rain to the Greater Cleveland Area. Still, it was a noteworthy event.
SpaceWeather.com explained, “The ongoing storm was triggered by a knot of south-pointing magnetism from the sun. During the early hours of Oct. 13, the knot bumped into Earth’s magnetic field, opening a crack in our planet’s magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in to fuel the auroras.”
The 2004 Venus transit as seen by the Solar and Helospheric Observatory (SOHO). SOHO/EIT/ESA/NASA
Observers on the North Coast are well-positioned to see the last transit of Venus in our lifetimes on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. The event is rare, indeed, with the next transit taking place in the year 2117 — and then not visible from Northeastern Ohio!
The Cuyahoga Astronomical Association, with several other astronomical and educational organizations, will host a major event celebrating the 2012 transit of Venus. The public is invited to Cleveland’s Edgewater State Park where telescopes will be set up, exhibitor booths and hands-on demonstrations operated, and solar viewing glasses made available. Observing of the transit begins just after 6:00 and ends with sunset, the transit still in progress. As darkness falls, the telescopes will turn toward other objects: the Moon, Mars, Saturn, even the International Space Station will put in an appearance! The lakefront event ends at 11:00 PM.
The transit begins at about 6:04 PM EDT, when Venus appears to straddle the solar limb and is then visible until the Sun sets, having progressed halfway across the solar disk. In times past, transits of Venus were significant to astronomers as a means to accurately determine the size of the solar system. Astronomers from around the world embarked on expeditions to make observations from widely-separated locations. Today the rare alignment demonstrates how astronomers can detect planets orbiting distant stars using the transit method. For much more information on the 2012 transit of Venus, visit TransitOfVenus.org.
NOAA Space Weather Bulletin August 4, 2011
NOAA Region 1261, very active over the past few days, produced the third of a sequence of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and Solar Radio Blackout Events early today. The net effect of that activity is convergent CMEs expected to disturb the geomagnetic field in the early hours, Universal Time (UTC) of August 5. G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm conditions are likely as well as a distinct chance of S2 (Moderate) Solar Radiation Storm levels being surpassed.
From SpaceWeather.com….
Moving at an estimated speed of 1950 km/s, this CME is expected to sweep up two earlier CMEs already en route. Analysts at the GSFC Space Weather Lab say the combined cloud should reach Earth on August 5th at 13:55 UT (9:55 AM EDT) plus or minus 7 hours: “The impact on Earth is likely to be major. The estimated maximum geomagnetic activity index level Kp is 7 (Kp ranges from 0 – 9). The flanks of the CME may also impact STEREO A, Mars and Mercury/MESSENGER.” High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Please visit SpaceWeather.com for full details and latest news!
If we happen to have clear(ish) skies Friday night, Aug. 5, it might be worth stepping outside well after twilight and taking a look. You never know, we might get auroras!
