KOLD Climate Community Blog

FROM: Lori Stiles ( lstiles@u.arizona.edu )

Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Astronomer Takes 'Astronomy Picture of the Day'

A stunning new astronomical image of the "Witch's Broom" Nebula taken by Adam Block of The University of Arizona Mount Lemmon SkyCenter is today's "Astronomy Picture of the Day."

Block of the UA's Steward Observatory, who coordinates public programs in astronomy at the SkyCenter, used the SkyCenter's 24-inch telescope to produce the image.

The telescope is the same one that the public uses in SkyNights, the astronomy evenings that Block runs atop 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

It is also the telescope that Block, an astrophotographer of renown, is using this week to teach a 3-day SkyCenter workshop called "Making Every Pixel Count." Block will share his expertise in producing spectacular images of deep sky objects with a dozen enrolled participants.

The Astronomical Picture of the Day Website, known as APOD, was founded in 1995 by two professional astronomers, Robert Nemiroff of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., and Jerry Bonnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The team, who continue to write, coordinate and edit APOD, has by now assembled the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the Internet.

Block used the SkyCenter's 24-inch RC Optical Systems telescope with an SBIG STL-11000 CCD camera and Custom Scientific filters to acquire the image on July 29.

"I took three hours of unfiltered data and combined it with 50 minutes of color data in each filter (red, green and blue), so the total exposure time was 5.5 hours," he said.

Nemiroff and Bonnell posted this explanation along with Block's image:

"Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an exploding star and record the colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula.

"Pictured here is the west end of the Veil Nebula, known technically as NGC 6960, but less formally as the Witch's Broom Nebula. The expanding debris cloud gains its colors by sweeping up and exciting existing nearby gas. The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light years away towards the constellation of Cygnus.

This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size of the full moon. The bright star Cygnus is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but is unrelated to the ancient supernova."

The UA's Mount Lemmon SkyCenter offers public observing opportunities, workshops and hands-on learning experiences in many sciences.

WEBLINK - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

CONTACT -

Adam Block ( ablock@as.arizona.edu)

Tropical Storm Fay Makes Landfall...Twice

Well...twice in the U.S.  The storm also made landfall over the weekend in Hispaniola and Cuba.  Late Monday afternoon Tropical Storm Fay passed over the Florida Keys.  Tuesday morning, at around 5 AM Florida time, it made a second landfall just south of Naples.  The storm never became a hurricane before landfall.  It is not the wind, but the rain that poses the greatest threat with this storm.  Heavy rains quickly flood this relative flat state.  Drainage is a problem in many areas.  Another threat is tornadoes.  As the storm interacts with land, the friction may create small torndadoes.  The photo above is possible tornado damage at a horse stable in Palm each.  Mark Randall from the Sun Sentinel took this photo. 

The storm will slowly move to the northwest today, crossing the state and possibly exiting into the Atlantic Ocean near the Space Coast by midnight.  The remnants of the tropical storm is expected to linger in this area for a few days. By the weekend the circulation may be pushed back over north Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico.  If this happens it may regain strength because the warm water is the energy source for the storm. 

For the latest updates from the National Hurricane Center click here. 

First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan

Lunar Eclipse On Saturday

A partial lunar eclipse takes place on Saturday.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to see it in the sky as it is occuring on the other side of the world, but with the power of our modern technology we can see it live on-line.  You can catch a live webcast from the Canary Islands beginning at 1 PM Arizona time.  A live webcast from Norway begins at 1:30 PM.  For an animated timetable of the eclipse click here.  This animation breaks down what happens during the eclipse.  The photo to the right is from the August 28th 2007 lunar eclipse. This photo was taken in New Zealand by James Tse.  Have a good weekend! - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan

Powerful Storm Wednesday Night

A strong monsoon storm dumped rain on the Catalina Foothills and Midtown Wednesday night. The photo at left is from Rebecca Herbig.  This storm knocked down powerlines with high winds and exploded transformers with lightning strikes.  The big winner for rainfall was the Rillito River at Dodge Blvd, near the Jewish Community Center, with 2.13" of rain.  But perhaps the biggest legacy from this storm was the power outages.  Over 35,000 people had power knocked out, including countless businesses.  With the powerlines snapped and transformers knocked out of commission it took quite some time to get the power back on in areas.  If you have photos of this storm or the aftermath, send them to See It, Snap It, Send It.  You may see your photo online or on the air. - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan

Spacecraft Skirts Past Saturn Moon

The University of Arizona lends their expertise to quite a few spacecraft missions.  One such mission is that of Cassini.  The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team of this particular spacecraft is based at U of A.  That means they decipher the images that the spacecraft sends back from it's high-tech color camera. 

Last night Cassini flew within 30 miles of the surface of one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus.  Scientists are collecting data on south pole fissures that are ejecting a mix of debris and water vapor.  These materials and gasses supply one of Saturn's rings.  Scientists want to know if liquid water is the driving force behind the ejections from the fissures. 

You can see the raw data by clicking here.  But you may want to wait for the VIMS team to take a look at the images and color correct them, making for easier interpretation.  You can get the latest Cassini news at NASA.gov.  Also, check out the Cassini blog by clicking here. 

First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan