We get so many of these beautiful sunsets, but I never get tired of posting them. Click on the image to enlarge.
Something Shiny
Sky Bow
When I took the dogs out for their first run this morning, I thought I heard an airplane going over. I didn’t see a plane, but I was astonished at the sight of a rainbow in the clouds overhead. The sun is out of the bottom frame in the image above. I can’t remember seeing a rainbow arc away from the sun until today. Click on the image to enlarge.
Update: I uploaded the image to SpaceWeather.com and found out that this is a circumzenithal arc:
The circumzenithal arc, CZA, is the most beautiful of all the halos. The first sighting is always a surprise, an ethereal rainbow fled from its watery origins and wrapped improbably about the zenith. It is often described as an “upside down rainbow” by first timers. Someone also charmingly likened it to “a grin in the sky”.
Look straight up near to the zenith when the sun is fairly low and especially if sundogs are visible. The center of the bow always sunwards and red is on the outside.
Large Sunspots
One of the biggest sunspots in years is crossing the center of the solar disk, putting Earth in the way of potential eruptions. The sprawling sunspot contains dozens of dark cores, the largest big enough to swallow Earth three times over. This makes it an easy target for amateur solar telescopes — or even regular cameras.
I took this photo this morning using my Canon SX40 camera with a Rainbow Symphony solar filter. I added the sunspot group designations to the original photo. Click on the image to enlarge.
Update from NOAA/NWS:
2014-01-09 00:03 UTC S3 (Strong) Solar Radiation Storm In Progress
The ongoing S2 (Moderate) Solar Radiation Storm has intensified to an S3 (Strong) event as of 2320 UTC (6:20 p.m. EST) today, January 8. Protons should stay at this same approximate level for the next few hours, then likely take another jump with the passage of the shock ahead of the CME, expected to occur around 0900 UTC (4:00 a.m. EST) tomorrow, January 9. However, this increase is not expected to exceed the S3 level. The CME is forecast to set off G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm activity through January 9 and 10. Aurora watchers should be ready; updates here as things unfold.
Harvest Moon
Last night was the Harvest Moon. I took a photo of the moon rising behind the saguaro cactus in our front yard. Click on the image to enlarge.
Sunspot AR1711
I did a little amateur solar photography this afternoon. From SpaceWeather.com:
BIG, QUIET SUNSPOT: Ten days ago, big sunspot AR1711 was on the farside of the sun hurling CMEs at Venus. Now it is rotating over the sun’s southeastern limb where we can see it from Earth.
Click on the image to enlarge.
65th Annual Gold Rush Days Classic Car Show
Verna and I spent part of the afternoon in attendance of the Wickenburg 65th Annual Gold Rush Days Classic Car Show. There were dozens of classics parked on Frontier Street. In fact, there were more classics than last year. The current venue was packed. We think that they should extend the show to one more block, but I guess that’s up to the powers that be.
Most of the photo credits go to Verna with a few of mine mixed in. Click on the slideshow images to advance.
