Comet Garradd 2009 P1

Many thanks for the images from:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2009P1/2009P1.html
I hope we can image it, starting in September, with the Pueblo High School, Tucson Arizona, and University of Mexico (CCH-Sur UNAM) Tzec Maun Teams.

Orbital Elements

Epoch 2011 Dec. 25.0 TT = JDT 2455920.5
T 2011 Dec. 23.67587 TT                                 MPC
q   1.5505337            (2000.0)            P               Q
z  -0.0006873      Peri.   90.74737     -0.16660816     -0.82691209
 +/-0.0000006      Node   325.99768     -0.58719864     +0.52078381
e   1.0010658      Incl.  106.17747     +0.79211077     +0.21213351
From 1392 observations 2009 Aug. 13-2011 July 29, mean residual 0".4.

Observations and more orbital elements
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mpec/K11/K11O57.html

Le Soleil, notre etoile

http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/La-nuit-des-etoiles/4069200.html

click to see the video

Goodbye to Sunspots

Matthew Penn and William Livingston, observing the Zeeman spliting of the 1565 nanometer infrared neutral iron line, report in:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.0784v1

an 11 year decreasing trend in the sunspot magnetic field strength.

They used the NSO Kitt Peak McMath-Pierce telescope.

Extrapolating the trend means virtually no sunspots in cycle 25 (we are at the beginning of cycle 24) !!

Are we headed to another 70 year long Maunder minimum ?

First Earth based detection of a superbolide on Jupiter

A preprint of a paper on the subject was published in arXiv September 9, and may be downloaded at:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.1824

I am very proud that the lead author is affiliated with the University of the Basque Nation, in Bilbao Spain.
My Family comes from the Basque Nation, located in France and Spain.

0.09 arcsecond resolution Solar images from Big Bear Lake Solar Observatory

The Big Bear Solar Observatory, operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, has obtained wonderful images with its adaptive optics system in the 1.6 meter aperture telescope:

http://www.cieletespace.fr/files/image_du_jour/011-03410-01high.jpg
http://www.bbso.njit.edu/
http://www.njit.edu/news/2010/2010-292.php
http://www.cieletespace.fr/node/5752

Strong type III burst at 16 MHz and C4.4 flare, on 100814 near 10 UT

There is a beautiful movie (171 angstrom wavelength) of the flare and CME.

Save and play this 1.3 MB file:

http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/ssw/ssw_client/data/ssw_service_100814_072736_30420863/www/ssw_cutout_20100814_093001_aia_171_N02W40_20100814_093000_m.mpg

It is a short movie, you can use Windows Media Player with repeat on.


http://www.freelists.org/post/radioastro/Strong-type-III-burst-at-16-MHz-and-C44-flare-on-100814-near-10-UT

http://www.freelists.org/archive/radioastro

Top priority

The LSST has received the top priority for the next large ground based astronomical facility:

http://www.lsst.org/lsst/news

The big mirror for this 3200 megapixel "camera" is being lovingly built by Dean Ketelsen.
I saw it last December during the TAAA Newsletter Folding Party:
http://herrero-victor.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html

LSST headquarters are in Tucson.