Solar＆Planetary LtE Now for
CMO/ISMO #27 (CMO #401)
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¤·····Subject: RE: Huge prominence lift off movie
Received;
Hi Martin
The Mars rotation video and Albedo map are beautiful! Stunning work.
I thought I would share this huge prominence
lift off movie I caught today sequence between
Regards
Andy DEVEY (the
¤·····Subject: Updated Mars 2012 Map and
Rotational Video
Received; 31 July 2012 at 06:53 JST
Hi,
Just to let everyone know that I have spent
time in the last month making improvments
to my Mars 2012 Albedo Map and Mars Rotational
Animation to better match the surface details on the orginal
images and to remove some minor artefacts introduced during the blending
process.
The attached image shows a comparison
between the original 7 images used to make the albedo
map and frames from the animation video at the same CMs.
The video was was created in Winjupos
from the albedo map from the 7 images- so making
the whole process go full circle.
Hope
you like the results which can be seen at;
http://www.skyinspector.co.uk/Mars-Rotation-Animations(2369874).htm
http://www.skyinspector.co.uk/Mars-Albedo-Maps(2376972).htm
Regards,
Martin LEWIS (
¤·····Subject: RE: How are you?
Received;
Dear Masatsugu,
I suspect that you are right about the Parkinson's having come on
gradually
at first--I think it can be perceived as tiredness, fatigue,
stiffness. I do
hope the medications (Sinemet I recall) has been helpful. I suppose it must
be very difficult for you to slow down given your ambition and inquisitiveness
--it may be lucky that Mars is not in good position this year.
I have been rather overworked this summer, and actually all year
(last year
I also had the deaths of my parents to deal with). I made
astronomy-related
trips in January (to
then to Nice and
and the transit of Venus), then again last week (to
Light of the Discovery Channel Telescope and to see Neil Armstrong).
Needless
to say, these absences must be paid back, and since my main job is to run
a
neurodevelopmental disorders program, here, I have
been tasked heavily with
keeping that running, often short-staffed as many colleagues are also on
vacations
This week I also have to prepare and present a major presentation for the
state of Minnesota on neurodevelopmental disorders; a
complex and difficult
subject. The hard thing is just finding time for it.
Then I have finished translating James Lequeux's
biography of Le Verrier
(from French), I still have to write up the transit observations I made at Lowel
l with the coronagraph Paolo Tanga brought from Nice,
and I also have to rush
to the end of a Galaxies book I have been working on for many years now (with
Julian Baum and Chris Conselice). I also have a
new edition of a book on transits
(expanded to cover eclipses and occultations) with John Westfall and am also
starting to gear up for a book on the Air Force Moon-mapping project at Lowell
and the astronaut training in and around Flagstaff, which is a geological
wonderland (I had hoped to get you to Lowell sometime, but now it appears
the
window of opportunity has passed).
Whew! I really have hardly a spare moment these days,
my head spins, and
when I do have a spare moment I am not inclined to spend it on writing.
Also,
Mars is as far from my mind as it is from us in space these days.
The upshot is: I don't think I can realistically write anything
new; but perhaps
I can dig out an old essay on Mars for you and you can publish that if you
wish.
Let me see what I can find.
With best wishes to you,
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤·····Subject: jupitermap
2012-07-25/26/27
Received;
Hi all,
last weak I had the chance to test a DBK21AU618 at the 80 cm Cassegrain
f=10 of the Observatory Zollern-Alb in
The seeing and humidity was different from day to day, so I had to
process with care and fit the colours. Here my map of a complete
rotation between 25 and 27 July...
All
images captured during 60 seconds at 60 fps while the sun was over
horizon...
Cheers
Silvia KOWOLLIK (
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
My last Mars set in poor seeing and low
conditions
To fuzzy for now to much work to make it look good..
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120728/FWl28July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS
(
¤·····Subject: MARS - Images from July
29th
Received;
Hi all,
A lovely clear run yesterday with some decent seeing too. Plenty
of wonderful activity to enjoy on the Sun at the moment. Here are a
couple of full disc mosaics - h-alpha and white light, together with a couple
of close-ups of the main region of activity close to the south-eastern limb.
Best regards,
Pete LAWRENCE (Selsey, WS, the
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
What was I thinking when I recorded this set ?
Hardly any detail, all blurry, sorry guys for this fuzzy Mars pictures.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120727/FWl27July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS
(
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
My Mars set from
It's hard to get a good image from Mars at my location
these days.
The NPC is very small now...hardly any detail.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120722/FWl22July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS
(
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
My Mars set from
It's hard to get a good image from Mars at my location
these days.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120721/FWl21July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS
(
¤·····Subject: Some cool happenings on
the sun's limb today!
Received;
Hi
Folks--
Captured
today, July 28, one big prominence lifting off, one just watches...
Luntanado 100 at .5A and DMK 41
camera
Thanks
for looking!
Jim LAFFERTY (
http://scopetrader.com/jimlafferty
¤·····Subject: Re: CMO #400 uploaded
Received;
Thanks
for the report,
I still have 3 sets that I still need to process, and they show some detail.
That will be my final images....
Mars is still reasonable high in the sky.
Freddy WILLEMS (
¤·····Subject: July 25 Ha sola
Received;
Hi
folks,
Yesterday, July
25, the sun seemed to be sporting a little of everything from a large bright
prominence to some nice active regions. Attached are some images of the
day with a
Enjoy!
Jim LAFFERTY (
http://scopetrader.com/jimlafferty
¤·····Subject: 2 more Jupiter image sets
Received;
Hi
Guy these two images conclude a most rewarding imaging session from the
24th, with Jupiter climbing from 24 to 31 deg alt throughout. I would never
have believed such seeing was possible at that altitude. I also imaged on the
23rd and have yet to complete those, as the 24th's stole my attention rather.
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks,
the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: Jupter 1 of 3 24thJuly
2012
Received;
Hi
Guys after a month of rain we now have a heat wave, but it brought some fine seeing
with it too. for two days . The GRS does not look well
at all , very pale. In fact the all the
"red" Jovian parts seem very pale on
everyone's images I feel. The Oval within BA has
a nice dense orange.
The
EZ is very dramatic and different in each filter, looking quite spectacular in
blue.
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks,
the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: jupiter-2012-07-24
Received;
Hi all,
here my first light with DBK 21AU618. Jupiter at
10%
of 1800 images used. Image processing with daylight images of colour cam is a
new experience, now I have to learn to use it best...
All
my images this morning show the orange belt in the middle of the EZ, a lot of
brown knobs, outbreaks? and a lot of blue spots and strikes. I have to process
10 more sequences between
Cheers
Silvia KOWOLLIK (
¤·····Subject: Mar:
Received;
Hi
-
I have attached my latest image of Mars
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120723/FMl23July12.jpg
Thanks,
Frank J MELILLO (
¤·····Subject: Sunspot AR1525 -
Received;
Hi
all,
Now
that the big spot 1520 has gone all we are left with is tiny AR1525 which is
about 20" across. Patches of fairly good seeing this morning allowed a
high resolution view of this small spot and surrounding granulation.
http://www.damianpeach.com/solar12/2012_07_22_0833utc_col.jpg
Best
Wishes
Damian PEACH (Selsey, WS, the
*************************************************
Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/
FB: http://www.facebook.com/peachastro
Email: dpeach_78@yahoo.co.uk
*************************************************
¤·····Subject: Coronal
Loops
Received;
Thanks
for the superb animation Andy that's excellent , a really great job there. I
got a few avis before the clouds spoilt things here in
Here
is a still from one avi run.
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks,
the UK)
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: Post flare loops SW limb
19 July
Received;
Hi
Guys 
I
thought I would share this capture with you, here is a 3-hour animation giving
a look at a large post flare loop structure on the
I
have over exposed one to obviate and concentrate the eye on the loops but the
sequence also shows some solar rotation.
I
hope you like them and if not sorry for the intrusion
Regards
Andy DEVEY (the
¤·····Subject: Drawings of Mars
Received;
Dear
Dr. Minami, Finally I managed to adjust my new scanner/printer. So I am
attaching here my piled up drawings.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120626/Kn26June12.jpg
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120627/Kn27June12.jpg
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120710/Kn10July12.jpg
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120711/Kn11July12.jpg
Today
I opened my dome wide just after lunch, preparing for the Mars time of this
evening, expecting to catch Alba Mons cloud in its
mid summer second maximum at the local late afternoon. Around
Best Wishes,
Reiichi KONNAÏ (Fukushima,
Japan)
¤·····Subject: MARS
Received;
Sorry
made a mistake in my earlier upload, this set is from
You can check the date with the previous one from
My last Mars images, very crappy seeing here lately.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120713/FWl13July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS (
¤·····Subject: MARS
Received;
Almost
my last Mars images, absolutely no detail and crappy seeing.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120712/FWl12July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS (
¤·····Subject: solar images 15th
July-2012
Received;
Hi
Guys here's an image of ar11520 heading off the disc.. I has been one of the
most entertaining active regions this cycle I think.
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: solar images
Received;
Hi
Guys here is an Ha and an IR 742nm image of AR11520 and
neighbours. A wowsome sight in the
eyepiece too. We are back in the drafty rain
conditions again, 15C and 94%RH. After the driest of Springs and
wettest of Summers I wonder what winter will bring ?
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: Scanner trouble
Received;
Dear
Dr. Minami,
Sorry
to keep you waiting for my drawings of Mars. I'm now adjusting my newly
purchased scanner/printer…however, somehow my PC and the new scanner don't seem
to be compatible again(!). Just hope I can submit my recent nine drawings
within a couple of days.
Attached here is a montage with the images from the latest releases of MRO
MARCI Weekly Weather Peport.
The mid
summer second maximum of Alba Mons cloud might have
started just as Christophe Pellier
had mentioned and predicted in his latest CMO/ISMO note：The First Maximum of
the Alba Mons’Orographic Cloud (ISMO 11/12 Mars Note
(1), CMO#399. Adding the following MRO MARCI images may show a complete“curve”of the Alba cloud's activity beautifully
showing the second maximum.
Though I am still chasing now tiny Martian disc every clear evening, orographic activities of the huge volcanoes might almost be
impossible to catch visually (CMO imagers' Big Guns still can, I guess)；So I am hoping for the
next coming apparitions in 2014 and 2016 when we'll be able to watch for the
second peak of Alba cloud with our instruments under favorable
conditions！
Best Wishes,
Reiichi KONNAÏ (Fukushima,
Japan)
¤·····Subject: Sunspot AR1520 - July15th,
2012.
Received;
Hi
all,
A
brief clear spell amongst constant fast moving clouds (which quickly became
solid cloud cover) allowed this view today of the main AR1520 sunspot. Seeing
was fair overall. Links to both colour a BW versions are below.
Colour:
http://www.damianpeach.com/solar12/2012_07_15_0918utc_col.jpg
B&W: http://www.damianpeach.com/solar12/2012_07_15_0918utc.jpg
Best
Wishes
Damian PEACH (Selsey, WS, the
*************************************************
Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/
FB: http://www.facebook.com/peachastro
Email: dpeach_78@yahoo.co.uk
*************************************************
¤·····Subject: Solar images
Received;
Hi guys
Crackling
with flares they were. Here are two images taken 31 mins
apart of the active regions. The brightest most visually noticeable, was the roughly
circular flare just
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks,
the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: Mars:
Received;
Hi
-
I
have attached my latest image of Mars
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120713/FMl13July12.jpg
Thanks,
Frank J MELILLO (
¤·····Subject: Mars:
Received;
Hi
-
I have attached my latest image of Mars
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120711/FMl11July12.jpg
Thanks,
Frank J MELILLO (
¤·····Subject: STARTLING NEW DEVELOPMENT AT THE SOUTH POLE OF TITAN...FROM CASSINI
Received;
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Cassini's recent travels to
high orbital inclination around Saturn have
already won us some startling new finds.
Yesterday, it was our first views of Saturn's rings in about two years
that brought new revelations and insights concerning the orbits of tiny,
gap-forming moons in the rings and their likely interactions with the
ring particles they orbit among.
Today is even better. Today, the Cassini
imaging team is releasing a
near-true-color image and a movie that reveal a
swirling, whirling
vortex forming high in the atmosphere overlying the south pole of Titan,
Saturn's largest moon, as the moon's southern hemisphere slowly becomes
engulfed in the darkness of deep autumn. We've long known that the
entire winter hemisphere of Titan can exhibit a polar `hood' of haze
made of condensing organic compounds. We suspect that this maelstrom,
clearly forming now over the south pole and spinning more than forty
times faster than the moon's solid body, may be a harbinger of what will
ultimately become a south polar hood as autumn there turns to winter.
Of course, only time will tell.
In the meantime, go to ...
http://www.ciclops.org/view_event/177/Titans_Swirling_South_Polar_Vortex?js=1
... and check out the motions and beautifully detailed cloud patterns --
very likely the result of open-cell convection -- already visible in
this fascinating phenomenon that we on Cassini have
been fortunate to
capture, for the first time, in the process of being born.
(Note: Attached please find an image advisory released to the public
only a short time ago.)
Enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CICLOPS/Space Science Institute,
Jia-Rui C. Cook (818)354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Image
Advisory:
CASSINI
FINDS VORTEX FORMING OVER TITAN'S SOUTH POLE
With
its recent excursion out of Saturn's equatorial plane, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has benefited from a bird's-eye view of
the south pole of the planet's largest moon where its cameras spied a polar
vortex in Titan's atmosphere.
Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus and Earth also have polar vortices.
Images
captured by Cassini's imaging team during a flyby on
June 27 show the polar vortex, or a mass of swirling gas around the pole in the
atmosphere of the moon, as it appears to execute one full rotation in about
nine hours -- faster than the moon's rotation period.
A
color image and a movie showing the vortex's rotation
can be seen at http://ciclops.org , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .
"We've
been watching this vortex become more developed in the last three to four
months, and now, captured in exquisite detail, we're seeing finer scale
features within the detached haze than have been seen to date," said Jason
Perry, an imaging team associate at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Since
Cassini arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, Titan
has had a visible "hood" high above the north pole.
It was northern winter during this period, and much of the high northern
latitudes were in darkness. But the hood, or an area of denser, high altitude
haze compared to the rest of the moon's atmosphere, was high enough to still be
illuminated by sunlight. The seasons have been changing since Saturn's August
2009 equinox signaled the beginning of spring in the
northern hemisphere and fall in the southern hemisphere for the planet and its
many moons. Now the high southern latitudes are moving into darkness. The
formation of the vortex at Titan's south pole may be related to the coming
southern winter and the start of what will be a south polar hood.
The
massing of clouds around the south pole was seen as early as May 22 in infrared
wavelengths by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer. And Cassini's visible light cameras
have seen a concentration of yellowish haze in the detached haze layer at the
south pole since at least March 27.
These
new, more detailed images are only possible because of Cassini's
newly inclined orbits which are the next phase of Cassini
Solstice Mission. Previously, Cassini was orbiting in
the equatorial plane of the planet, and the imaging team's images of the polar
vortex between late March and mid-May were taken from a location over Titan's
equator. At that time, images showed a brightening or yellowing of the detached
haze layer on the limb, or edge of the visible disk of the moon, over the south
polar region.
"I
believe we are seeing some fascinating events on the way to the formation of
the south polar vortex, said Bob West, an imaging team member and an
atmospheric scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif. "Future observations of this feature will
provide good tests of dynamical models of the Titan circulation, chemistry,
cloud and aerosol processes in the upper atmosphere."
On
Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus and Earth, similar vortices are centered on the north or south pole. However, the polar
vortices on these planets each differ from each other in some ways. Titan's
south polar vortex also appears extraordinary in that it contains what appears
to be a cloud of condensing organic material, or material that contains carbon,
hydrogen and nitrogen. The puffy structures in this cloud are especially
intriguing.
Scientists
interpret these new images to show open cell convection. In open cells, air
sinks in the center of the cell and rises at the
edge, forming clouds at cell edges. However, because the scientists can't see
underneath the layer visible in these new images, they don't know what
mechanisms may be at work.
"The
structure inside the polar vortex is reminiscent of the open cellular
convection that is often seen over Earth's oceans, said Tony Del Genio, a member of the Cassini
imaging team at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y. "But
unlike on Earth, where such layers are just above the surface, this one is at
very high altitude, maybe a response of Titan's stratosphere to radiative cooling as southern winter approaches. But so
soon in the game, we're really not sure."
The
Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of
NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of
Technology in
-end-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carolyn PORCO
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
Director, CICLOPS
http://ciclops.org
http://twitter.com/carolynporco
http://www.facebook.com/carolynporco
¤·····Subject: CASSINI, NEWLY ON HIGH,
RECOVERS SIKORSKY IN SATURN'S RINGS
Received;
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
One of the main contributing factors to the enormous success we on the
Cassini mission have enjoyed in the exploration of
Saturn is the
capability to view the planet and the bodies around it from a variety of
directions. Setting the spacecraft high into orbit above Saturn's
equator provides us direct views of the equatorial and middle latitudes
on the planet and its moons, while guiding it to high inclination above
the equator plane affords the opportunity to view the polar regions of
these bodies and be treated to vertigo-inducing shots of the planet's
glorious rings.
After a residence time of almost 2.5 years in near-continuous equatorial
orbits, Cassini recently took off on a steeply
inclined orbital
excursion that will send it above and below the rings, over and over
again, for three years. Already, new results on Saturn's rings and its
largest moon, Titan, are in hand from our first few months on this new
trajectory.
As a dramatic opening, the Cassini imaging team is
releasing today our
recent findings on the famed `propeller' features. These features are
actually small, longitudinally limited, orbiting gaps in the rings that
are cleared out by bodies smaller than known moons but larger than
typical ring particles. First sighted a few years ago in our images,
their reappearance in approximately the position we predicted indicates
that we understand their behavior well enough to know
where they should
be years later, but not well enough to get it exactly right. Our best
guess is that their orbits are being altered by interactions with the
particles in Saturn's ring ... interactions we are keen to understand as
they may hold a key to the behavior of newly formed
planets growing out
of disks of matter in orbit around other stars in our galaxy and beyond.
To see our recent sighting of the propeller nicknamed "Sikorsky",
after
Russian-American aviator Igor Sikorsky, go to ...
http://www.ciclops.org/view_event/176/The_Rings_Are_Back
... and have a look.
In the coming days, we will be releasing our latest,
rather startling
results on the polar regions of Titan. So, watch this space!
Best,
Carolyn PORCO
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
Director, CICLOPS
http://ciclops.org
http://twitter.com/carolynporco
http://www.facebook.com/carolynporco
¤·····Subject: Sunspot AR1520
Received;
Hi all,
Here
are some high resolution visible lights images of spot 1520 and surrounding. A
brief clear spell allowed some images. Very windy which made things a bit of a
nightmare. Seeing was mostly poor. Clouds came in again before any further
attempts could be made so i count myself lucky to
have managed anything.
1520 main spot: http://www.damianpeach.com/solar12/2012_07_09_1207ut.jpg
1520 outlier: http://www.damianpeach.com/solar12/2012_07_09_1133ut.jpg
Best
Wishes
Damian PEACH (Selsey, WS, the
*************************************************
Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/
FB: http://www.facebook.com/peachastro
Email: dpeach_78@yahoo.co.uk
*************************************************
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
Just
a late and small Mars in some better seeing conditions, very windy here lately.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120701/FWl01July12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS (
¤·····Subject: Mars 2012 Albedo Map
Received;
Hi,
Please
find attached my albedo map of Mars for the 2012
apparition, based on several images taken around opposition and compiled
using Winjupos.
For
more details have a look at the link below which also gives maps from the 2010
and 2007-2008 apparitions.
http://www.skyinspector.co.uk/Mars-Albedo-Maps(2376972).htm
I
also hope to create a full rotation animation from this map in the next few
weeks.
Thanks,
Martin LEWIS (
¤·····Subject: Mars:
Received;
Hi
-
I
have attached my latest image of Mars
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120703/FMl03July12.jpg
Thanks,
Frank J MELILLO (Holtsville, NY)
¤·····Subject: Solar images
Received;
Hi
Guys the sun was busier today during another brief solar appearance.
There were two impressive prominences and plenty of active regions, but still
no really big spots.
All
images SM90 SS on AP130 EDT @ 80inches efl
Best
wishes
Dave TYLER (Bucks, the
www.david-tyler.com
Ham call G4PIE
¤·····Subject: MARS -
Received;
Very
poor seeing for this set, Couldn't
get the color right this time.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2011/120629/FWl29June12.jpg
Freddy WILLEMS (