Blog Archives

~ Minerals: Inspirational Treasures from the Earth at Qld Museum ~

2/25/2022

While visiting the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, I came across an awesome mineral exhibition on display on the Mezzanine Level at the museum and it’s FREE.

There are so many beautiful pieces to look at and you’ll be blown away by the beauty and colour of some of the specimens of our Earths minerals.

I think all of us astronomers just love our Earth’s rocks and minerals, and I’m always so excited when I come across beautiful display like these showcasing some of the Earths wonders.

This exhibition began in late January 2022 and will now be on permanent display until further notice, so if you are in Brisbane please visit the museum, which has free entry and enjoy the exhibition :-)

https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Events+and+Exhibitions/Exhibitions/Permanent/Minerals+Inspirational+Treasures+from+the+Earth

Smoky Quartz

Space Rocket Shape (Calcite)

~ Please click on the gallery pictures for a larger view of minerals ~

0 Comments

~ Active Prominences on the limb of the Sun today ~

2/22/2022

0 Comments

~ My Lunt 60mm PT Solar Telescope ~

There was an extremely active prominence on the north eastern limb of the Sun late in the afternoon on the 21st February 2022.

When I showed this picture to my husband he smiled and said it looks like a shark cruising around the limb of the Sun with its big fin :-D

You can just make out the active old sunspot AR 2936 returning on the eastern limb that has been re-numbered AR2954. There are also a few interesting looking filaments and active flares on the surface of the solar surface, its now getting so exciting looking at the Sun!

The images were captured with a Lunt 60mm solar scope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached. 30 images were captured one set for the solar disc and one set for the faint prominences and combined in PS CS4….

The DSLR camera settings for the disc of Sun was exposure of 1/320th second and ISO100, for the faint prominences the exposure was 1/15th second and ISO 200.

0 Comments

~ ‘Tongues of Fire’ Erupting Prominence on Sun 19th February 2022 ~

2/20/2022

0 Comments

~ Erupting prominence on the north eastern limb of the Sun 19th February 2022 ~

Yesterday morning there was an awesome erupting prominence on the north eastern limb of the Sun that looked like tongues of fire!

The images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar scope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached.
30 were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 one set for the disc and one set for the prominences and combined in PS CS4.

0 Comments

~ Two interacting Prominences form plasma bridge on the Sun ~

2/16/2022

0 Comments

The Sun was very exciting yesterday as I watched two very active prominences interacting with one another and making a plasma bridge on the solar limb. At times tenuous pieces floated off into space…it was so fascinating to watch!

I had a little bit of trouble working out the orientation of the Sun as I usually don’t take images early in the morning, so I used the solar disc displayed on the Spaceweather website to lined up the sunspots with the ones on my image and it helped greatly :-D
https://www.spaceweather.com

Images were taken on the 16th February 2022 with a Lunt 60mm PT/Ha Solar Telescope & Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached.

One set of 30 images were taken for the solar disc with exposure of 1/350th second and ISO200 and one set of 30 images for the faint prominence with exposure of 1/15th second and ISO400. Then both images were combined in PS CS4.

Image Credit: Spaceweather.com

0 Comments

~ Active Prominences & AR 2039 on the Sun 10th February 2022 ~

2/11/2022

0 Comments

I took these images late yesterday afternoon with my Lunt solar telescope, the prominences on the western limb were very active and over a period of 30 minutes one of them was arching out into space. There was also a little Hedgerow prominence firing away next to it… they were nowhere as large as the one seen on the eastern limb a few days ago but it was still very exciting to watch at the eyepiece :-)

The images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar scope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached. 40 were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 one set for the disc and one set for the prominences and combined in PS CS4.

Report on Solar Cycle 25 (SC25) by Spaceweather.com
( 4th February 2022)

https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=04&month=02&year=2022

SOLAR CYCLE 25--A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW:
For much of the past year, the space weather community has been buzzing about the strong performance of young Solar Cycle 25 (SC25).

Every month, sunspot numbers seem to blow past official predictions. This means we're about to have a strong Solar Maximum, right?

"Not so fast," cautions Dr. Ron Turner, an analyst at the ANSER research institute in Virginia. "It may be too early to anticipate a strong solar cycle."
This graph shows why Turner is skeptical:

Solar Cycle 25 is doing something interesting. It is mimicking old Solar Cycle 24 (SC24). "I took sunspot numbers from the early years of SC24 (the red dashed line) and overlaid them on SC25," says Turner. "They're an almost perfect match."

This is significant because Solar Cycle 24 went on to become the weakest solar cycle in a century. Its hot start did not lead to a strong maximum. Turner isn't saying that Solar Cycle 25 will likewise be a dud. But, rather, "these early sunspot numbers are not enough to guarantee a strong cycle."
Déjà vu, anyone?

0 Comments

~ Minerals: Inspirational Treasures from the Earth at Qld Museum ~

~ Please click on the gallery pictures for a larger view of minerals ~

~ Active Prominences on the limb of the Sun today ~

~ ‘Tongues of Fire’ Erupting Prominence on Sun 19th February 2022 ~

~ Two interacting Prominences form plasma bridge on the Sun ~

~ Active Prominences & AR 2039 on the Sun 10th February 2022 ~

Report on Solar Cycle 25 (SC25) by Spaceweather.com
( 4th February 2022)

Author

Archives

Categories

~ Minerals: Inspirational Treasures from the Earth at Qld Museum ~

​~ Please click on the gallery pictures for a larger view of minerals ~

~ Active Prominences on the limb of the Sun today ~

~ ‘Tongues of Fire’ Erupting Prominence on Sun 19th February 2022 ~

~ Two interacting Prominences form plasma bridge on the Sun ~

~ Active Prominences & AR 2039 on the Sun 10th February 2022 ~

​Report on Solar Cycle 25 (SC25) by Spaceweather.com ​( 4th February 2022)

Author

Archives

Categories

~ Please click on the gallery pictures for a larger view of minerals ~

Report on Solar Cycle 25 (SC25) by Spaceweather.com
( 4th February 2022)