Earth & Space Weather

Alert level raised to Phase 3 on Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano

Magikalspirit's picture

Submitted by Magikalspirit on

theextinctionprotocol-July 8,2013

July 8, 2013 – MEXICO - The intensity of the current eruptive phase for Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano remains high. A phase of particularly strong tremor accompanying continuous explosions and ash emissions occurred this morning. As a consequence of the elevated activity, CENAPRED raised the alert level to Yellow, Phase 3. An exclusion zone of 12 km radius around the volcano is in place. During the (intermittent) eruptions, a steam and ash plume is rising about 3 km above the crater. A giant SO2 plume can be seen drifting north from Popocatepétl, which is notorious of its large SO2 output during eruptions. -Volcano
Alert level raised from Phase 2 to
Phase 3 – July 7th

Read More: http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/

Eyes on the Sky: July 8 thru July 14

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Eyesonthesky.com, 7/7/13

Published on Jul 7, 2013

www.eyesonthesky.com With shorter nights and longer days, what better time to see the closest star to Earth than during summer!? Visual solar filters are not very expensive, and because there is plenty of light (with a filter!), telescopes as small 50mm or 60mm are just fine for solar observing. Find out what to see (and what you can see on the Sun this week!) and look for whenever you do solar observing, and also learn about specialized filters for viewing solar flares and prominences. See what's up in the sky every week with "Eyes on the Sky" videos, astronomy made easy.

 

60 Billion Alien Planets Could Support Life, Study Suggests

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Accuweather.com - 7/8/13

Though only about dozen potentially habitable exoplanets have been detected so far, scientists say the universe should be teeming with alien worlds that could support life. The Milky Way alone may host 60 billion such planets around faint red dwarf stars, a new estimate suggests.

 

Based on data from NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, scientists have predicted that there should be one Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of each red dwarf, the most common type of star. But a group of researchers has now doubled that estimate after considering how cloud cover might help an alien planet support life.

Read More

Space Weather Update~ BIG SUNSPOT FACES EARTH

Lia's picture

Submitted by Lia on

BIG SUNSPOT FACES EARTH: Colossal sunspot AR1785 is now directly facing Earth. The active region has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class flares, yet so far the sunspot has been mostly quiet. Could it be the calm before the storm? NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of M-flares and a 10% chance of X-flares on July 8th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

Sprawling more than 11 Earth-diameters from end to end, AR1785 is one of the biggest sunspots of the current solar cycle. In fact, it can barely fit on the screen. Click on the dark core below to see a complete hi-res picture taken by Christian Viladrich of Nattages, France:

At the foot of largest volcano in Solar System - Olympus Mons, Mars

Magikalspirit's picture

Submitted by Magikalspirit on

Adonai- in category Planets-The Watcher

New ESA's images show hundreds of individual lava flows frozen in time on the flanks of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano on Mars and largest known in the Solar System.

Olympus Mons is 624 km (374 mi) in diameter, 25 km (16 mi) high, and is rimmed by a 6 km (4 mi) high scarp. A caldera 80 km (50 mi) wide is located at the summit of Olympus Mons. To compare, the largest volcano on Earth is Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa is 10 km (6.3 mi) high and 120 km (75 mi) across. The volume of Olympus Mons is about 100 times larger than that of Mauna Loa.

It is located between the northwestern edge of the Tharsis region and the eastern edge of Amazonis Planitia and stands about 1,200 km (750 mi) from the other three large Martian volcanoes, collectively called the Tharsis Montes (Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons). The Tharsis Montes are slightly smaller than Olympus Mons.

 

Space Weather Update~ SHAPE-SHIFTING SUNSPOT

Lia's picture

Submitted by Lia on

A MARS ROVER'S IMPROBABLE ANNIVERSARY: When Opportunity left Earth on July 7, 2003, many observers expected the rover to survive no more than a few months on the hostile surface of Mars. Ten years later, Opportunity is still going strong and could be poised to make its biggest discoveries yet at a place named Solander Point. [video] [full story]

SHAPE-SHIFTING SUNSPOT: Behemoth sunspot AR1785 is undergoing a metamorphasis, changing shape by the hour as it turns toward Earth. This movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the action on July 6-7:

In less than 24 hours, AR1785 has stretched and lengthened by more than 40,000 km. It is now more than 11 times as wide as Earth, which makes the active region an easy target for backyard solar telescopes.

Large sunspot group now 11 times wider than Earth

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

EarthSky.org, 7/7/13, Deborah Byrd

Each of largest spots in this sunspot grouping - called AR1785-1787 - are as wide as Earth. Image via NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

One of the biggest sunspot groups of Solar Cycle 24 emerged near the sun’s southeastern limb several days ago and since then as been stretching and lengthening. It is now more than 11 times as wide as Earth, according to spaceweather.com, which also said:

These sunspots are a sign that the sun’s southern hemisphere is waking up. For most of the current solar cycle, the northern half of the sun has dominated sunspot counts and flare production. The south has been lagging behind–until now. June brought a surge in southern sunspots, and the trend is continuing in July. This “southern awakening” could herald a double-peaked Solar Maximum due in late 2013-early 2014.

Read More

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Earth & Space Weather