Space Weather

SOLAR ACTIVITY: On Oct. 31st around 0110 UTC, something exploded just behind the sun's eastern limb. The blast unleashed a C8-class solar flare and hurled a bright CME into space. These events may signal the impending return of large sunspot 978, which has spent the past two weeks transiting the far side of the sun.

Almost a full day after the explosion, astrophotographer Gary Palmer of Los Angeles trained his SolarMax90 on the eastern limb of the sun and saw "no more flares, but plenty of undulating plasma."

The blast site is still seething with activity. But what is it? An old sunspot? An unstable magnetic filament? We should get a better view later today or tomorrow as the sun's rotation brings the tempest over the limb into a direct line of sight from Earth. Stay tuned for updates.

more images: from John Nassr of Baguio, the Philippines

HEAVENLY MEETING: On Sunday night, Oct. 30th, Comet 8P/Tuttle passed by spiral galaxy M33. It was, well... a picture is worth a thousand words:

more galaxy-comet encounter photos

"The emerald-colored comet and M33 were a fantastic late Christmas gift for me," says Gerald DeShirlia who photographed the encounter from his drive way in Wimberley, Texas, using a 7-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 20D digital camera.

Now Comet 8P/Tuttle is heading toward Earth. On Jan. 1st and 2nd it makes its closest approach to our planet--only 24 million miles away. The emerald-colored comet will brighten to a predicted magnitude of 5.8, visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites and a fine target for backyard telescopes: sky map.