daily timewaster

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Volcanic ash plume from space

In late October 2015, a 3,726-meter (12,224-foot) volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok began erupting. In the days that followed, ash from Mount Rinjani blanketed towns and farmland across three Indonesian islands and shut down air traffic to a number of airports.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites acquired this natural-color image of the plume. Ash drifted westward from Lombok toward Bali and Java. A small segment of eastern Java’s coast is visible to the southwest of Bali.

Via NASA

The Baltic Sea from space, looking west.

I like the angry eyes painted on the front

LAKE TAHOE, Calif (Oct. 29, 2015) A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3d Marine Aircraft Wing (3d MAW), flies during Mountain Exercise (MTNEX) 6-15 over South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Oct. 29, 2015. VMM-163 participated in MTNEX 6-15 to develop the squadron's expeditionary proficiency in a dynamic high altitude, cold weather training environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Allison J. Herman).

Friday, November 6, 2015

Taurid meteor time. Slow streakers

The radiant, or location of origin, of the Taurids by day.

The Taurid meteors originate from the periodic Comet 2P/Encke. Like the comet, the stream follows an unusually short period orbit ( about 3.3 years ) near the plane of the ecliptic. Taurus catch up to Earth roughly from behind, so they are unusually slow. The shower also is as strong in the evening as in the early morning hours.

Ordinarily the Taurus are a modest shower, offering only about 20 meteors per hour under ideal dark sky conditions, but this year the shower promises something more. This occasion offers the chance of occasionally really bright fireballs, moving slowly, the kind that make the public call the police.

A night or two ago, I saw one, and it was very slow, and left a streak that remained for several seconds, slowly dimming and going out as I watched in amazement. I for one will keep an eye peeled when I'm out at night.