... The Russian TESIS/ CORONAS-PHOTON Solar Observatory, which has been working in orbit since January 30th, 2009, has photographed one of the most important events in the build up to the upcoming solar cycle - the formation of our star's new southern belt of activity. The first magnetic fields of the new cycle in the southern hemisphere appeared on the Sun's surface on May 23-24th. ... The belt of activity is one of the primary concepts, characterizing the solar cycle. ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Last week's Snack talked about how black holes can affect the environment around them in such a way as to be very bright . ... It's a common misconception that black holes always have matter swirling into them. ... As this matter gets closer and closer to the black hole it piles up and a large, fairly flat disk forms. This is called the accretion disk , because matter from this disk accretes (that is, falls in) on the black hole. ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

The Sun is our nearest star and the source of energy for life on Earth. ... For centuries astronomers wondered whether they were clouds floating in the Sun's atmosphere, but we now know that they really are huge regions of magnetic field, about as intense as the field at the poles of an iron magnet. ... Such abrupt events were named solar flares , and what made them especially interesting was that occasionally, after a prominent flare, a magnetic storm would erupt on Earth. ...

... GLAST Gamma Ray Sky Simulation . ... This simulated image models the intensities of gamma rays with over 40 million times the energy of visible light, and represents how the sky might appear to the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) after its first year in orbit. ... AR9077: Solar Magnetic Arcade . ... M19 appears to be a typical globular cluster of stars - except for its shape. ... Star Trails in Southern Skies . ... As the Earth spins on its axis, the stars seem to rotate around us. ...

... The TRACE images may be used without restrictions in publications of any kind. ... These two images, taken on 18 November 2000 at 15:54UT and 16:11UT, respectively, show such an event: the red circle in the image to the left shows a region where many loops are cooling, with bright loop tops (the intensity scales with the square root of the image to reduce the dynamic range). ... See also a collection of images related to the Sun, other cool stars, and solar-terrestrial effects . ... Images | ...

... February 5, 1997 . Running Red Rings Around Jupiter . ... Explanation : Jupiter has rings, too. Unlike Saturn's bright rings which are composed of chunks of ice, Jupiter's rings are darker and appear to consist of fine particles of rock. ... Quite visible are Jupiter's rings , bands and spots in the outer atmosphere . ... The origin of Jupiter's rings remains unknown , although hypothesized to be created by material scattered from meteorite impacts onto Jupiter's moons . ... About APOD > . ...

We present new images of the reflection nebula surrounding the R Coronae Borealis Star, UW Centauri. ... Instead, the morphology of the nebula appears to change as different parts are illuminated by light from the central star that is modulated by shifting thick dust clouds near its surface. ... In this way, the central star acts like a lighthouse shining through holes in the dust clouds and lighting up different portions of the nebula. ... ADS Citation Query . citations = 21 . ...

... Data Reduction FAQ > The reduced science spectrum displayed in the Reflex window appears good but when I try to plot it, it is quite different. How can I get it? ... Observing with ESO Telescopes . ... ESO-MIDAS . ... Reflex . ... ESO Data . ... ESO HST Image Galleries . ... ESO Data Access Policy . ... ESO Science Newsletter . ... ESO Annual Reports . ... Seminars at ESO Santiago . ... Seminars at ESO Garching . ... ESO Telescope Bibliography . ... Last Update: 01.04.14 ESO . ...

... Energy . ... Solar Wind . ... Field . ... The Sun is our nearest star and the source of energy for life on Earth. ... For centuries astronomers wondered whether they were clouds floating in the Sun's atmosphere, but we now know that they really are huge regions of magnetic field, about as intense as the field at the poles of an iron magnet. For some reason the field slows down the flow of heat from the Sun's interior and keeps sunspots slightly cooler than their surroundings. ... Solar Eclipses . ...

A quite amazing and extensive aurora was visible from Northern Ireland during much of last evening and into the early morning. Astronomers at the Armagh Observatory were occupied for much of the evening in recording observations and taking photographs of the spectacular display. The display was first seen when twilight ended as a prominent blue glow in the northeast. About 15 minutes later, at around 7:00 pm, a green aurora could be seen in the northeast. ...

... On the morning of Thursday, 26 February, amid the Gal pagos Islands, the Sun will fade from view. Not the culmination of ancient prophecy, but none less mystical, Earth's small Moon will be executing a slow slide past the enormous Sun. ... And anyone living in southern North America, Central America, northern South America, or on islands and cruise ships in the Caribbean Sea will, weather permitting, have the opportunity to experience the wonder of a solar eclipse. ...

... The ancient chronical said about the colour rings around the Sun and the Moon, about three suns in the sky, light columns, bright lightning, different "comets" rushing to the Earth, moving among the stars or round the Earth with the sky. All these occurrences may be divided into three categories: one that occur in the near or far space, processes going on in the Earth atmosphere under the influence of cosmic factors and at last the occurrences connected with the Earth atmosphere. ... Rainbow . ...

... The eleven years cycle of Sun's activity is approaching its maximum! From August 24th to 29th a team of astronomers, engineers and astro-photographers will travel to southern Greenland to observe the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), a phenomenon expected to be particularly spectacular during this period. ... Auroras . The wonderful celestial spectacle of the aurora occurs when very energetic particles from the Sun reach the Earth's atmosphere via the solar wind. ... About GLORIA . ...

Since the light from galaxies represents the integrated contribution of its consitutient stars, then we can learn about stellar populations in galaxies by modelling their light by summing up individual stellar spectra for different kinds of stars. ... The data cover the wavelength range 3500 - 9000 angstroms. ... Retrieve Digital Stellar Spectra Click on the appropriate spectral type. ... Note that the designation V means main sequence, IV means subgiants, III means giants, I means supergiant. ...

... part 1 | ... The Basic Stages in Earth's Pre-geological Development . ... After fragments of the Vortex sleeves separated, whirlwinds of second and third orders ("NC" - new micro-vortex) were generated- future planet cores and their satellites - all of them developing independently, governed by the common laws of development of cosmogenic vortexes. ... Our planet's core today is comprised of considerably deteriorated cosmogenic vortex; consequently, the Earth has a moderated magnetic field. ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... Sky this Month . ... Star Atlas . ... stars . ... The Sky This Week: April 1 - 10 . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... Why do some stars appear to flash a variety of different colors when you look at them through a telescope? ... So, Earthт??s atmosphere will bend some colors from especially bright stars more so than others, which makes the source look like itт??s flashing colors. Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ...

... Special Reports Giant space cloud may be powered by black holes 17:57 23 April 2007 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga An enormous cloud of roiling plasma in space may be drawing its energy from black holes, new observations suggest. Such clouds might be sources for the mysterious particles that occasionally crash into Earth's atmosphere at ultra - high speed. ... But higher energy particles in the cloud may be able to escape, he says. ...

... Takuya Akahori "Faraday Rotation Measure due to the Intergalactic Magnetic Field" . Shae Brown "Cross-correlation of ATLAS and Spitzer-SWIRE Surveys: Probing intergalactic magnetic fields" . Roger Clay "Using low energy cosmic rays to investigate local galactic magnetic fields" . Roland Crocker "A new lower limit on the magnetic field around the Galactic Centre" . ... JinLin Han "Rotation measures of pulsars and radio sources for Galactic magnetic fields" . ...

Next: A Universal Diagram for Up: ``Ecology'' of Magnetic Rotators Previous: The Corotation Radius . The interaction of a magnetic rotator with the surrounding plasma to a large extent depends on the relation between the four characteristic radii: the stopping radius, , the gravitational capture radius,   , the light cylinder radius,   , and the corotation radius,   . ... Hence, the classification of the interaction regimes may well mean the classification of magnetic rotators. ...

... 2 April 1999 . The Nobeyama Radioheliograph data show that in the microwave range, besides large-scale trans-equatorial chains (see, e.g., the May 11-15, 1993 and November 1-4, 1993 events), there are also many examples displaying large and strongly evolving "longitudinal" or "internal" chains connecting remote active regions inside an active zone in one (northern or southern) hemisphere (the August 20-September 3, 1998 event). ... Last update: 2 April 1999 . ...