Spaceweather News for 06 July 06

Photo credit: Philippe Vercoutter of Ypres, Belgium.

SOLAR RADIO: Giant sunspot 898 is splitting in two, sending shock waves through the sun's atmosphere and radio bursts toward Earth. Yesterday in New Mexico, radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft recorded an impressive 18 MHz outburst: listen.

If you have a solar telescope, keep an eye on this sunspot. It has been active for days and shows no signs of quieting.

more images: from Philippe Vercoutter of Ypres, Belgium; from Pavol Rapavy of Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from Gianluca Valentini of Rimini, Italy; from Jan Timmermans of The Netherlands.

RED vs. RED JR: The long-awaited collision between Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Red Jr is underway. So far, both storms are holding their own:

Closest approach "should happen late next week," says Philippine astronomer Christopher Go who has been tracking the storms's convergence. Although no one knows what will happen, researchers have offered some possibilities: Storm bands may peel off, forming new turbulent curly-cues. Red Jr might lose its red color, turning white. Or the two storms could pass unscathed and unaltered.
See for yourself: Jupiter is an easy target for backyard telescopes. It appears in the evening sky, popping out of the twilight about halfway up the southern sky: finder chart.

Oh Yes - I've been seeing Jup shining like a beacon for months now.

I'm very interesting.