Venus Transit in Hydrogen Alpha close-up just after 1st Contact with Venusian Atmosphere on 06-05-2012. Captured while on top of Kitt Peak, Tucson, AZ. Credit: John Chumack.
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Images and video from the Transit of Venus on June 5/6, 2012 are still pouring in, and we needed to share just a few more. Here’s an awesome close-up look at the event in Hydrogen Alpha from accomplished astrophotographer John Chumack. He used a Lunt Solar Scope 60mm/50F H-Alpha filter and a DMK 21AF04 Fire-wire camera. This is 741 frames & 1/91 second exposure. John has more images on our Flickr page, and on his website, Galactic Images.
Venus transit with a transit of B747 jumbo across the solar disk as seen from Elliots Beach, Madras, India. Credit: Muralikrishna Kanagala.
Venus transit with a transit of B747 jumbo across the solar disk which was captured by one of the members of the Tamilnadu Astronomical Society in India, Mr. Muralikrishna Kanagala during our transit event at Elliots Beach, Madras, India at 6.02 hrs IST, as the Sun rose. He used a Baader filtered Sony DSH H50 Camera.
An image of the June 2012 Venus Transit taken a few minutes after the transit maximum from Quezon City, Philippines. Credit: Raven Yu.
Patrick Cullis put together this amazing time-lapse of the Transit, which features two telescopes, an airplane transit, sunset, and a few different angles of the view.
Transit Sunrise with boat and bird joining the scene, as seen in Romania. Credit: Alex Conu. Montage of sampling of images taken during Venus transit (very cloudy day!) from Morden, Manitoba, Canada. Credit: darethehair on Flickr. Transit Sunrise from Iran. Credit: Khashayar Maroufi
The above video is from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a composite of the entire Transit, set to music.
Transit of Venus as seen in South Carolina, USA. Credit: Blake and Orion Crosby.
And finally, this image and story from Blake Crosby and his son Orion from Charleston, South Carolina, displaying the lengths people would go to witness this event:
“This won’t be the best shot of the transit by a long shot, but my son and I jumped through a lot of hoops just to get it,” Crosby wrote in an email. “We live in Charleston, SC and our horizon is blocked by towering pine trees so we checked into the 9th floor of a Holiday Inn with a westward facing room. After lugging up all of our equipment, we found out that the doors to the balconies had been permanently closed, so we would have to shoot through a pane of glass with our Canon Rebel XS attached to a Celestron Nexstar 4SE with a Seymour filter. Furthermore, we were greeted, like many others, with a thick wall of clouds that just didn’t want to budge. Even worse, the hotel’s wifi was so shoddy we couldn’t stream any of the live views from the internet. However, we got a lucky break at about 8:00 EDT when the clouds parted for about 2 minutes and we were able to snap a couple of pics. My son Orion remarked that he was glad we endured those setbacks just so we could get a glimpse of an event that won’t happen again in our lifetimes.”
You can always see more images of many great astronomical views on our Flickr group page. Join us in sharing your images there and we may post them on Universe Today!
Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University at 6:19 p.m. June 5, 2012. This image was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:19 p.m. as the clouds over Princeton, NJ parted to the delight of hundreds of onlookers and whole families. Hundreds attended the Transit of Venus observing event organized jointly by Princeton University Astrophysics Dept and telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), local astronomy club. Credit: Robert Vanderbei
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Despite a horrendous weather forecast, the clouds parted – at least partially – just in the nick of time for a massive crowd of astronomy and space enthusiasts gathered at Princeton University to see for themselves the dramatic start of the Transit of Venus shortly after 6 p.m. EDT as it arrived at and crossed the limb of the Sun.
And what a glorious view it was for the well over 500 kids, teenagers and adults who descended on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey for a viewing event jointly organized by the Astrophysics Dept and the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), the local astronomy club to which I belong.
See Transit of Venus astrophotos snapped from Princeton, above and below by Astrophotographer and Prof. Bob Vanderbei of Princeton U and a AAAP club member.
Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University - full sized image
This photo was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:26 p.m. on June 5, 2012 - it’s a stack of eight - 2 second images. Stacking essentially eliminates the clouds. Hundreds attended the Transit of Venus observing event organized jointly by Princeton University Astrophysics Dept and telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), local astronomy club. Credit: Robert Vanderbei
It was gratifying to see so many children and whole families come out at dinner time to witness this ultra rare celestial event with their own eyes – almost certainly a last-in-a-lifetime experience that won’t occur again for another 105 years until 2117. The crowd gathered on the roof of Princeton’s Engineering Dept. parking deck – see photos
Excited crowd witnesses last-in-a-lifetime Transit of Venus from campus rooftop on Princeton University. Onlookers gathered to view the rare Transit of Venus event using solar telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP) and solar glasses provided by NASA and lectures from Princeton University Astrophysics Dept.
Credit: Ken Kremer
For the next two and a half hours until sunset at around 8:30 p.m. EDT, we enjoyed spectacular glimpses as Venus slowly and methodically moved across the northern face of the sun as the racing clouds came and went on numerous occasions, delighting everyone up to the very end when Venus was a bit more than a third of the way through the solar transit.
Indeed the flittering clouds passing by in front of Venus and the Sun’s active disk made for an especially eerie, otherworldly and constantly changing scene for all who observed through about a dozen AAAP provided telescopes properly outfitted with special solar filters for safely viewing the sun.
Kids of all ages enjoy the Transit of Venus from a rooftop at Princeton University. Solar telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), solar glasses provided by NASA and lectures from Princeton University Astrophysics Dept. Credit: Ken Kremer
As part of this public outreach program, NASA also sent me special solar glasses to hand out as a safe and alternative way to directly view the sun during all solar eclipses and transits through your very own eyes – but not optical aids such as cameras or telescopes.
Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University - quarter sized image
This photo was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:26 p.m. on June 5, 2012 - it’s a stack of eight - 2 second images. Credit: Robert Vanderbei
Altogether the Transit lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes for those in the prime viewing locations such as Hawaii – from where NASA was streaming a live Transit of Venus webcast.
You should NEVER look directly at the sun through any telescopes or binoculars not equipped with special eye protection – because that can result in severe eye injury or permanent blindness!
We in Princeton were quite lucky to observe anything because other astro friends and fans in nearby areas such as Philadelphia, PA and Brooklyn, NY reported seeing absolutely nothing for this last-in-a-lifetime celestial event.
Transit of Venus enthusiasts view the solar transit from Princeton University rooftop using special solar glasses provided by NASA. Credit: Ken Kremer
Princeton’s Astrophysics Department organized a series of lectures prior to the observing sessions about the Transit of Venus and how NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope currently uses the transit method to detect and discover well over a thousand exoplanet and planet candidates – a few of which are the size of Earth and even as small as Mars, the Red Planet.
NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently speeding towards Mars for an August 6 landing in search of signs of life. Astronomers goal with Kepler’s transit detection method is to search for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone that could potentially harbor life !
So, NASA and astronomers worldwide are using the Transit of Venus in a scientifically valuable way – beyond mere enjoyment – to help refine their planet hunting techniques.
Doing an outreach program for NASA, science writer Dr Ken Kremer distributes special glasses to view the transit of Venus across the sun during a viewing session on the top level of a parking garage at the E-quad at Princeton University to see the transit of Venus across the sun on Tuesday evening, June 5, 2012. Michael Mancuso/The Times
Historically, scientists used the Transit of Venus over the past few centuries to help determine the size of our Solar System.
See more event photos from the local daily – The Trenton Times – here
And those who stayed late after sunset – and while the Transit of Venus was still visibly ongoing elsewhere – were treated to an extra astronomical bonus – at 10:07 p.m. EDT the International Space Station (ISS) coincidentally flew overhead and was visible between more break in the clouds.
The International Space Station (ISS) flew over Princeton University at 10:07 p.m. on June 5 after the sun had set but while the Transit of Venus was still in progress. Credit: Ken Kremer Transit Of Venus image from Hinode Spacecraft. Click to enlarge. Credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin/enhanced by Marco Di Lorenzo
Of course clouds are no issue if you’re watching the Transit of Venus from the ISS or the Hinode spacecraft. See this Hinode Transit image published on APOD on June 9 and enhanced by Marco Di Lorenzo.
This week, local NY & NJ residents also had another extra special space treat – the chance to see another last-in-a-lifetime celestial event: The Transit of Space Shuttle Enterprise across the Manhattan Skyline on a seagoing voyage to her permanent new home at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
The transit of the Hubble Space Telescope across the Sun was taken from Queensland, Australia, simultaneously with the 2012 transit of Venus. Credit: Thierry Legault.
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Astrophotographer Thierry Legault had told us he was traveling to Australia for the Transit of Venus, so we knew he had something special planned. But that still didn’t prepare us for the awesomeness of what he has just achieved. During the Transit of Venus, Legault also captured the Hubble Space Telescope moving across the face of the Sun. Not once, but 9 times, during the HST’s transit time of .97 seconds. “Thanks to the continuous shooting mode of the Nikon D4 DSLR running at 10 fps,” Legault said on his website, which shows his new images. Of course, due to the differences in distance from Earth of Hubble vs. Venus, Venus took a lazy 6-plus hours to make its transit. A few giant sunspots also join in the view.
Below see a close-up of the two transits and a look at Legault’s set-up in the Outback of Queensland.
A close-up of Venus and Hubble (tiny black dots just above Venus) transiting the Sun. Credit: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.Legault's equipment setup for viewing the Venus Transit in Queensland, Australia. Credit: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.
Legault noted that just one of the telescope/camera setups was his. So, he had just one chance of capturing the double transit. And he nailed it.
Here’s the map from CalSky of where the HST transit would be visible, just a thin band across the top of Queensland:
Map from CalSky of the Hubble Transit. Via Thierry Legault.
Legault said he has some more images on the way, including the ring of the atmosphere of Venus around the first contact, images of the transit in H-alpha, and the full ring of Venus 24 hours after the transit, so keep checking his website for more fantastic images.
Congratulations to Thierry Legault for a truly amazing and special capture of the Transit of Venus, something that won’t happen again in our lifetimes. And thanks to Thierry for sharing his images with Universe Today.
Perfect shot of what appears to be a Boeing 727 passing in front of the sun while Venus is transiting. Credit: Jim Nista on Flickr.
Wow! Amateur astronomers around the world looked to the sky last night and early this morning to observe Venus as it passed across the face of the Sun for the last time this century. The images are coming in fast and furious from what was an awesome event! Our lead image is from Jim Nista in Huntington Beach, California who said on Flickr, “Saw the contrails approaching the Sun’s disk and starting snapping as fast as the Canon 7D could go!”
See more below from all around the world, and also check out some of the first images and videos from last night. You can also watch a replay of our live webcast here. For many of the images from Flickr, click on the images for a higher resolution view.
A close-up of the Sun with Venus transiting, along with the silhouettes of buildings in Israel. Credit: Gadi Eidelheit
Our friend Gadi Eidelheit from Israel hosted a transit event, taking this sci-fi- looking image, and many more. He has a full write-up on his Venus Transit blog.
Transit of Venus - Observed from Puerto Rico. Credit: Efrain Morales.
This composite of a sequence of images are from Efrain Morales in Puerto Rico. “Clouds moved out and but the Sahara dust still lingered,” Efrain told Universe Today. “Started my sequence on 22:07ut thru 22:36ut. It was a Spectacular sight.” Equipment: SolarMax40 Refractor, PowerMate 2.5x barlows, P/B LX200ACF 12 in. OTA, CGE mount, PGR Flea3 Ccd, Astronomik Ir filter.
Kaizad Viraf Raimalwala from the Purdue University Astronomy Club in Indiana sent in this image: “In this picture, we were using an 8″ Meade LX-200 and piggybacked my friend’s Nikon D7000 on it. Took this picture myself with my Nikon D90,” he told us. “Had a lot of cloud cover at start so we missed the ‘teardrop’ effect and since we were in West Lafayette, Indiana, the sun set long before Contact 3 and 4.”
The lovely but surreal looking image of the Venus transit caught the exit just in time on Mount Dandenong, Australia, just as the clouds moved in. Credit: andrewm2008 on Flickr.A digital filtergram of the transit of Venus, as seen from Australia. Credit: Monty Leventhal.
Renowned amateur astrophotographer Monthy Leventhal from Australia sent us this ‘digital filtergram’ of the Venus. He said seeing conditions were poor, as it was very cloudy, with showers, but he still managed a great shot. Camera: Canon 600D, Filter: H-alpha 6Å, Telescope: Solaris.
Venus visible transiting the Sun through the clouds, as seen from Navarre Beach, Florida, USA. Credit: M.M. Meeks. Beautiful view of the Transit of Venus from Italy. Credit: Niki GiadaVenus Transit as seen from Malta. Credit: Leonard E. Mercer
Leonard E. Mercer from Malta wrote us, “Here is one of my images taken today at 6.01.57 local time (UT.04.01.57). The conditions were very favourable. I didn’t expect such sharpness considering the sun was so low. From our region we could only view the end of the transit. But still I am very happy with the resulting image.”
Venus against the setting Sun, as seen from Arizona, USA. Credit: Rob Sparks (hale_bopp37 on Flickr)View of the Venus Transit from Alberta, Canada. Some sun spots are also visible. The darker parts on the lower right are caused by passing clouds. Credit: Dave Griffith.
This one from Dave Griffith in Canada, who said, “Made at 6:05 PM with a Pentax K-r, a Takumar-A 2x tele-converter, a Sigma 100-300mm 1:4.5-6.7 DL lens, and a solar filter made from a sheet of Seymour Solar Optical Thin Film. The image was made on the side of Highway 63 between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. This was taken at ISO 100 with an aperture of f/11 and an equivalent focal length of 900mm. A brief tale about how I lucked out in even seeing the sun today is posted here.
Venus Transit as seen from Pakistan. Credit: Ramiz Qureshi
Ramiz Qureshi from Pakistan wrote to tell Universe Today, “We were badly clouded out here in Karachi, Pakistan for the past 2 days. In an awesome coincidence, the clouds stayed still on the morning of transit, doubling as an atmospheric filter. This allowed us to observe the Sun plainly with our naked eyes as it rose with the transit already in progress.” Qureshi added that the two silhouettes actually is a composite/overlap of two shots taken an hour apart.
Venus Transit as seen from Tehran, Iran. Credit: Saeed Amiri
Saeed Amiri from Tehran, Iran took this image at 8:12 AM local time using a Canon PowerShot SX210 with Focal length: 70 mm, Exposure time: 1/640 sec, ISO: 100
F-stop: f/5.9, Filter: Mylar.
An artistic look at the Venus Transit, from Vihtavuori, Laukaa, Central Finland. Credit: Jukka Seppälä
Jukka Seppälä from Finland wrote to show us his artistic views of the Venus transit. “I have tried to get some kind of artistic impression by manipulating photos with extreme exposure, contrast, brightness levels etc.”
Taken with a cheap digital camera through a piece of Welder's Glass. Credit: Bill Schlosser. 'I took this picture with my Omni XLT 120 refractor and Sony A33 camera. Sun was so low on the horizon that I was able to safely take out the solar filter without frying my camera's sensor,' said photographer Gustavo Sanchez.Venus Transit in H-alpha Composite of two images taken June 5, 2012. Taken with Coronado PST & Nikon D7000. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Credit: Andrew Symes (failedprotostar on Flickr)The Transit of Venus - Black Drop Effect. And a few sunspots, as seen from North Carolina, USA. Credit: Tavi Greiner
Another phenomenon observed during the transit included the ‘black drop’ effect – the small black teardrop shape that appears to connect Venus to the limb of the Sun just after it has fully entered the solar disc and again later, when it begins to leave the disc. Tavi Greiner captured it!
Transit of Venus from Brixton, London. 3rd. contact through the clouds. EOS 7D with a Celestron ST80 80mm aperture F5 telescope and mylar Solar filter. Credit: Own Llewellyn on Flickr. A view of a view of the Venus Transit, as seen from Tallinn, Estonia. via @karthikvj on Twitter.
Thanks to everyone who sent in images or posted them to our Flickr page. As always, you can see more great images at our pool page on Flickr.
Here’s the entire 7-hour transit of Venus across the face of the Sun – shown in several views — in just 39 seconds, as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 5, 2012. This view is in the 171 Angstrom wavelength, so note also the the bright active region in the northern solar hemisphere as Venus passes over, with beautiful coronal loops visible. The transit produced a silhouette of Venus on the Sun that no one alive today will likely see again. With its specialized instruments SDO’s high-definition view from space provides a solar spectacular!
Scott Wiessinger from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio wrote this morning to tell us, “If you have the space and the bandwidth, I really recommend downloading this large file on the SVS to view. YouTube compression is hard on solar footage, so it looks even better when you watch it at true full quality.”
Below is a composite image from SDO of Venus’ path across the Sun, as well as another great timelapse view from ESA’s PROBA-2 microsatellite:
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This movie shows the transit of Venus as seen from SWAP, a Belgian solar imager onboard ESA’s PROBA2 microsatellite. SWAP, watching the Sun in EUV light, observes Venus as a small, black circle, obscuring the EUV light emitted from the solar outer atmosphere – the corona – from 19:45UT onwards (seen on the running timer on the video). At 22:16UT – Venus started its transit of the solar disk.
Venus appears to wobble thanks to the slight up-down motion of Proba-2 and the large distance between the satellite and the Sun.
The bright dots all over the image, looking almost like a snow storm, are energetic particles hitting the SWAP detector when PROBA2 crosses the South Atlantic Anomaly, a region where the protection of the Earth magnetic field against space radiation is known to be weaker.
And as if the Sun is just showing off, a Coronal Mass Ejection is visible as well towards the end of the video, seen as a big, dim inverted-U-shape moving away from the Sun towards the bottom-right corner. This is a coronal mass ejection bursting out from the Sun.
The transit of Venus on June 5, 2012 as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Don Pettit
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The guy known as Mr. Fixit in space was also Mr. Prepared. This image is from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit on board the International Space Station, who had the foresight to bring a solar filter for his camera. “I’ve been planning this for a while,” said Pettit. “I knew the Transit of Venus would occur during my rotation, so I brought a solar filter with me when my expedition left for the ISS in December 2011.”
This is his first image, and we’ll add more as they become available. Pettit is trying to download his images almost real-time. He is photographing the historic transit of Venus through the Space Station’s Cupola, removing the scratch panes on the Cupola’s windows to get crisp, clear images.
Pettit is using a high-end Nikon D2Xs camera and an 800mm lens with a full-aperture white light solar filter.
Stack of 15 images taken at about 5:22:00 pm CDT as Venus fully enters the Sun's disc. Credit: Jason Melquist
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The transit of Venus across the face of the Sun — the last one for another 105 years — has begun! Here are some first images from various astrophotographers, telescopes, space missions. This first one comes from amateur astronomer Jason Melquist from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA taken just as Venus began its ingress into the Sun’s interior face.
See more below, and we’ll be adding images as they come in! And if you aren’t watching our live webcast, see it here.
This image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory has a definite ‘WOW!’ factor, with huge coronal loops just under Venus transiting the Sun:
Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Venus transit with stunning coronal loops. Credit: NASA/SDOAn awesome shot of a plane transiting the Sun along with Venus. This is a cross view stereo pair and can be viewed in 3-D by the free fusion method. Credit: BillDavis6959 on FlickrFrom the Solar Dynamics Observatory: Planet Venus transiting the Sun in the 304 Anstrom wavelength at approx. 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Credit: NASA/SDO
This one comes via Camilla SDO, the fearless mascot of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, who says of this image taken in 304 Angstrom wavelength, “This channel is especially good at showing areas where cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. Many of these features either can’t be seen or appear as dark lines in the other channels. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density.”
Below is a quick first movie from SDO of Venus’ ingress in 171 Angstrom!
And here’s SDO’s first “official” image of the transit, in 171 Anstrom wavelength:
Venus transit from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first view. Credit: NASA/SDOView from Mike Phillips, who participated in Universe Today's live webcast feed. Credit: Mike Phillips.Venus Transit and a few Sunspots, through passing clouds. Taken with Canon XTi/400D and hand-held Baader filter. Credit: Tavi Greiner. Screenshot from the NASA Sun/Earth Day webcast feed, with telescopes using a red filter, via Beth Beck on Google+Transit through the clouds. Credit: JCC_Starguy on Flickr.Safe transit viewing setup by Jeremy Smith in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Jeremy Smith from Atlanta Georgia sent us views of his setup for ‘safe’ viewing of the transit. “My safe viewing rig is composed of a cheap tripod, a faulty rifle scope, three FedEx boxes and a FedEx mailer,” he said. “I got to see it with my daughter at home but we lost it behind the trees. We hightailed it to the local park but by the time we got there, it was a wash. We lost it behind clouds. The pictures of the transit didn’t turn out very well though. But I saw it!”
His view, below:
The 'safe' view of the Venus transit. Credit: Jeremy SmithVenus continuing its transit of the Sun. Taken with a Megrez II 80mm, Thousand Oaks Optical Type 2+ White Light Glass Solar Filter and a Nikon 1 V1 camera with the 10-30 mm lens. Credit: Fernando CorradaTransit of Venus photos taken from Matamata New Zealand as clouds allowed. Taken with filer on 400mm filter on Canon 60D. Credit: Alison Thomas
Want to get your Venus Transit image featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
Venus is moving in! The LASCO C3 coronograph on board the SOHO spacecraft has been watching the approach of Venus for its last solar transit until 2117. With coronagraphs, the Sun is blocked by an occulting disk, seen here in blue, so that SOHO can observe the much fainter features in the Sun’s corona. The actual size of the Sun is represented by the white disk. Continue reading “Venus Moving in for a Transit”
Artist's impression of cosmic rays striking Earth (Simon Swordy/University of Chicago, NASA)
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When a moderate-sized M-class flare erupted from the Sun on May 17, it sent out a barrage of high-energy solar particles that belied its initial intensity. These particles traveled at nearly the speed of light, crossing the 93 million miles between the Sun and Earth in a mere 20 minutes and impacting our atmosphere, causing cascades of neutrons to reach the ground — a rare event known as a ground level enhancement, or GLE.
The first such event since 2006, the GLE was recorded by a joint Russian/Italian spacecraft called PAMELA and is an indicator that the peak of solar maximum is on the way.
The PAMELA spacecraft — which stands for Payload for Antimatter-Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics — is designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays streaming in from intergalactic space. But on May 17, scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center convinced the Russian team in charge of PAMELA to grab data from the solar event occurring much closer to home.
This graph shows the neutrons detected by a neutron detector at the University of Oulu in Finland from May 16 through May 18, 2012. (University of Oulu/NASA's Integrated Space Weather Analysis System)
The result: the first observations from space of the solar particles that trigger the neutron storms that make up a GLE. Scientists hope to use the data to learn more about how GLEs are created, and why the May 17 “moderate” solar flare ended up making one.
“Usually we would expect this kind of ground level enhancement from a giant coronal mass ejection or a big X-class flare,” said Georgia de Nolfo, a space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “So not only are we really excited that we were able to observe these particularly high energy particles from space, but we also have a scientific puzzle to solve.”
Fewer than 100 GLEs have been recorded in the last 70 years, with the most powerful having occurred on February 23, 1956. Like most energetic solar outbursts, GLEs can have disruptive effects on sensitive electronics in orbit as well as on the ground, and based on recent studies may even have adverse effects on cellular systems and development.
The M-class flare from AR 1476 on May 17, 2012 (at right) Courtesy NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.
A Digital filtergram of a prominence on the Sun, May 29, 2012. Credit: Monty Leventhal, OAM.
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This unusual prominence on the Sun looks like an exhaust-spewing smokestack. It was captured by noted Australian amateur astronomer Monty Leventhal on May 29, 2012. He used a Canon 600D camera with a Hydrogen-alpha filter and a Meade S.C. 10 inch telescope.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
