Skylab: America’s Humanity’s First Home in Space Launched 40 Years Ago Today

With all the futuristic talk today about missions to Mars, lunar bases and asteroid mining, it’s easy to forget that man has already been living off of the planet on and off for decades. Forty years ago today, Skylab — America’s Humanity’s first outpost in space — was launched. The three-man orbiting laboratory was designed to conduct scientific experiments in space, such as studies of the effects of weightlessness on man and other living organisms, and observations of the sun.

Here’s a look back at the pioneering Skylab mission, including mechanical failures, an aborted rescue mission, a crew mutiny and an unplanned crash landing on Earth.

View Wired Skylab Gallery

video: NASA, space.com
article: wired.com

Solar prominence in CaK light (Calcium II K)

I present more awesome solarphotography and calcium filters from my friend Kokehtz / Álvaro for you to marvel at :)

Light from singly-ionized calcium ions in the Sun’s upper photosphere and chromosphere (up to 2000 km altitude). Because the blue Calcium K Line (393.3 nm) is sensitive to magnetic fields, magnetically active structures show up in high contrast against the surrounding chromosphere. Places where moderate magnetic fields exist show up bright whereas images of high magnetic fields are dark.

Image Copyright: Álvaro Ibáñez Pérez

In this CaK image, you typically see brightness along the edges of large convection cells called supergranules and in areas called plages. Dark sunspots are also visible.

Spots on the sun are areas of high magnetic field which appear dark to their surroundings (5,800K) due to their cooler temperature of around 3000-3500K. Spots consist of a dark central region (umbra) and are surrounded by an annular region of dark and bright filaments called the penumbra. Within a developing active region (sunspot group) tiny spots form initially without a developed penumbra and are called pores. These are usually relatively short lived or can develop a penumbra and become a fully developed spot.

The chromosphere is a place of high solar activity. In the course of a few minutes we can observe changes in the ejecta and prominences, in the path of the filaments, and as matter flows following very characteristic arches. Chromosphere is also visible in the light emitted by the ionized calcium, in the violet part of the solar spectrum in a wavelength of 393.4 nm. This light comes from calcium atoms that have lost an electron.

(Source: ikenbot)

The Sun Blasts Out Two X-Class Flares, Strongest of the Year

The Sun gets active! On May 12, 2013, the Sun emitted what NASA called a “significant” solar flare, classified as an X1.7, making it the first X-class flare of 2013. Then earlier today, May 13, 2013, the Sun let loose with an even stronger flare, an X2.8-class. Both flares took place just beyond the limb of the Sun, and were also associated with another solar phenomenon, a coronal mass ejection (CME) which sent solar material out into space.

Neither CME was not Earth-directed, and according to SpaceWeather.com, no planets were in the line of fire. However, the CMEs appear to be on course to hit NASA’s Epoxi, STEREO-B and Spitzer spacecraft on May 15-16. NASA said their mission operators have been notified, and if warranted, operators can put spacecraft into safe mode to protect the instruments. Experimental NASA research models show that the CMEs were traveling at about 1,930 km/second (1,200 miles per second) when they left the Sun.

The sunspot associated with these flares is just coming into view, and the next 24 to 48 hours should reveal much about the sunspot, including its size, magnetic complexity, and potential for future flares.

Watch! Both the X1.7 and the X2.8-class solar flare, plus a prominence eruption, all in one video.

image 1: A close-up of an an X1.7-class solar flare on May 12, 2013 as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. credit: NASA/SDO/AIA.

image 2: SDO image of an X2.8-class flare on May 13, 2013. Credit: NASA/SDO

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this X1 flare (largest of the year so far) in extreme UV light

“This video shows a solar flare that occurred earlier this month by sunspot AR1692. The solar wind that hit earth on March 17th resulted in this Aurora Borealis, shot over four hours by photographer Göran Strand.” Original link to article here, by clever person Lily Newman

(Source: cozydark.com)

Galactic Habitable Zone

One of our Sun’s unusual features is its orbit around the center of the galaxy, which is significantly less elliptical (“eccentric”) than those of other stars similar in age (and therefore metallicity, or proportion of an object’s chemical composition other than hydrogen and helium) and type and is barely inclined relative to the Galactic plane. This circularity in the Sun’s orbit prevents it from plunging into the inner Galaxy where life-threatening supernovae are more common. Moreover, the small inclination to the galactic plane avoids abrupt crossings of the plane that would stir up the Sun’s Oort Cloud and bombard the Earth with life-threatening comets.

In fact, the Sun is orbiting very close to the “co-rotation radius” of the galaxy, where the angular speed of the galaxy’s spiral arms matches that of the stars within. As a result, the Sun avoids crossing the spiral arms very often, which would expose Earth to supernovae that are more common there. These exceptional circumstances may have made it more likely for complex life and human intelligence to emerge on Earth. According to Guillermo Gonzalez (an astronomer at Iowa State University), fewer than five percent of all stars in the galaxy enjoy such a life-enhancing galactic orbit. Other astronomers point out, however, that many nearby stars move with the Sun in a similar galactic orbit.

The Sun resides in a pancake region of the Galaxy called the “disk” with a strong concentration of stars (and gas and dust) within 3,000 light-years (ly) of the galactic plane, which includes the so-called “thin disk” that has more relatively younger stars within 1,500 ly of the plane (more on stellar population groups in our Milky Way Galaxy). This region contains relatively young to intermediate-aged stars that within around five billion years old with relatively higher average metallicity than other galactic regions located outside of the galactic core, in a circular band that broadens with time. Generated by the deaths of older stars, the greater availability of elements higher than hydrogen and helium in this galactic region favor the formation of rocky inner planets as large as Earth, or bigger (Gonzalez et al, 2001). Moreover, the galactic orbits of stars in this region tend to be relatively circular — with low to moderate eccentricity. According to one recent definition of the galactic habitable zone, as much as 10 percent of all stars in the Milky Way may have experienced chemical and environmental conditions suitable for the development of complex Earth-type life over the past eight to four billion years for evolutionary development (press release; and Lineweaver et al, 2004, in pdf). (Further discussion of the different galactic regions and their distinctive stellar populations is available from ChView’s “The Stars of the Milky Way.”)

In recent millenia, the Sun has been passing through a Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) that is flowing away from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association of young stars dominated by extremely hot and bright O and B spectral types, many of which will end their brief lives violently as supernovae. The LIC is itself surrounded by a larger, lower density cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) called the Local Bubble, that was probably formed by one or more relatively recent supernova explosions. As shown in a 2002 Astronomy Picture of the Day, located just outside the Local Bubble are: high-density molecular clouds such as the Aquila Rift which surrounds some star forming regions; the Gum Nebula, a region of hot ionized hydrogen gas which includes the Vela Supernova Remnant, which is expanding to create fragmented shells of material like the LIC; and the Orion Shell and Orion Association, which includes the Great Orion Nebula, the Trapezium of hot B- and O-type stars, the three belt stars of Orion, and local blue supergiant star Rigel.

Top Image credit: Yeshe Fenner, STcI, AURA, NASA, ESA

(Source: stellar-indulgence, via atomstargazer)

First X-Class Solar Flare of 2013

The picture above is a blend of two images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, showing a significant solar flare which peaked at 10pm EDT on May 12th, 2013. One image shows light in the 171-angstrom wavelength, the other in 131 angstroms. The flare classified as an X1.7, making it the first X-class flare of this year, and was also associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME).

Image credit: NASA/SDO/AIA (High-res)

(Source: astronemma, via astronemma)

Solar Flares: A User’s Guide 

(Source: astronemma, via astronemma)

The moon will block part of the sun today (May 9) to create a potentially amazing “ring of fire” and you can watch the celestial sight live online

Stay Curious: How To Safely Photograph The Sun

(Source: facebook.com)

(Source: space.com)

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum | Public Observatory Project (POP)

Look through the Observatory’s 16-inch telescope to discover craters on the Moon, spots on the Sun (using safe solar filters), the phases of Venus, and other wonders of the universe. Participate in hands-on activities related to astronomy.

Location: The Observatory is located outside on the east terrace outside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Hours (weather permitting): Wednesday through Sunday 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

Live USTREAM.

Sun Emits Mid-Level Flare

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 1:32 pm EDT on May 3, 2013. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation.

Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is ongoing, and the radio blackout for this flare has already subsided.

This flare is classified as an M5.7-class flare. M-class flares are the weakest flares that can still cause some space weather effects near Earth.

Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, as the sun’s normal 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected in late 2013.

(Source: ikenbot, via thescienceofreality)

On July 22 2009 the longest and brightest solar eclipse of the 21st century lasted for 6 minutes, 39 seconds. The shadow from the eclipse was only visible on the ground in certain regions across the Pacific and Indian oceans for a very brief period of time.

A mathematician from the Czech Republic and some of his colleagues were able to capture and composite 31 photographs from that day’s events. The wispy lines visible around the moon are actually the sun’s corona.

Another solar eclipse of that magnitude is not expected until 2132. 

(Source: quantumlotus)

Incredible Photo of Giant Solar Filament

On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. Pictured here is a lighten blended version of the 304 and 171 angstrom wavelengths.

(image/text: NASA Solar Dynamics Laboratory)

(Source: rhamphotheca)

NASA Sees Giant Solar Wave Erupt from the Sun

The sun celebrated May Day with a spectacular solar eruption Wednesday, unleashing a colossal wave of super-hot plasma captured on camera by a NASA spacecraft.

The solar eruption occurred over a 2.5-hour period Wednesday (May 1) and appeared as a “gigantic rolling wave” on the sun in a video recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, agency officials said in an image description. The solar eruption is what scientists call a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a type of sun storm that can fire off billions of tons of solar material at more than a million miles per hour, they added.

When aimed directly at Earth, the most powerful CME events can pose a risk to satellites and astronauts in orbit, as well as interfere with communications and navigation networks. They can even damage ground-based power infrastructure.

But the May Day solar eruption occurred on the side of the sun and was not aimed at Earth, NASA officials said. It produced a dazzlingly bright wave of plasma that expanded from the sun’s surface and then erupted from the sun’s side, or limb, into open space.

The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is expected to reach its peak activity this year.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is one of several sun-watching spacecraft that keeps constant watch on Earth’s nearest star to track solar weather patterns and storm events. The $850 million SDO mission launched in 2010 and records constant high-definition views of the sun in several different wavelengths, including the extreme ultraviolet range of the light spectrum used to make the video of the May 1 solar eruption.

Coronal Helix

An unusual helix-shaped coronal mass ejection was observed by a NASA spacecraft in June 1998. The main body of the sun—outlined in white—is blocked by a coronagraph.

Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are mammoth clouds of charged particles that get hurled through the sun’s atmosphere at millions of miles an hour. A CME contains billions of tons of charged particles and can expand until it’s larger than the sun itself.

Credit: LASCO

(Source: spaceplasma)