Comet ISON is getting all the press, but it’s not even the brightest comet in its own patch of sky. That would be Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1), one of four comets now rising in the east before dawn:

Pictured from left to right are exploding Comet LINEAR X1, sungrazing Comet ISON, short-period Comet Encke, and the brightest of them all, Comet Lovejoy. All four are visible in binoculars or backyard telescopes, and Comet Lovejoy (mag. +6.0) is visible to the naked eye from dark-sky sites. Comet ISON is actually one of the faintest of the group; only expanding Comet LINEAR X1 (mag. +8) is more difficult to see.

An apparition of so many comets at once is a rare thing, and amateur astronomers are encouraged to wake up early for a tour of the pre-dawn sky. Dates of special interest include Nov. 15-18 when Comet LINEAR X1 passes by the bright star Arcturus, Nov 17-18 when Comet ISON has a close encounter with Spica, and Nov. 18-20 when Comet Encke buzzes Mercury. These stars and planets make excellent naked-eye guideposts for finding the comets. Meanwhile, bright Comet Lovejoy is approaching the Big Dipper; if you can’t see it with your unaided eye, a quick scan with binoculars will reveal it. Sky maps: Nov. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.

Comet ephemerides: Comet ISON, Comet Lovejoy, Comet Encke, Comet LINEAR X1

http://spaceweather.com/

As predicted, sunspot AR1890 has unleashed another strong flare, an X1-class explosion on Nov. 10th at 05:14 UT. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a bright flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation from the blast site:

This is the third X-flare from AR1890 since Nov. 5th, and all three have something in common: brevity. AR1890 tends to produce impulsive flares, peaking sharply in a matter of minutes or less. Often, brief flares do not produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but this one could be an exception. A movie of the flare shows a plume of material lifting off the sun shortly after the UV flash. That could be the beginnings of an Earth-directed CME. Stay tuned for further analysis. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

http://spaceweather.com/

Sunspot 1890 has a Beta-Gamma-Delta magnetic field that harbors energy for strong X-class solar flares.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/xray_5m.html

It’s almost upon us. The final eclipse of 2013 occurs this coming weekend on Sunday, November 3^rd. This will be the fifth eclipse overall, and the second solar eclipse of 2013. This will also be the only eclipse this year that features a glimpse of totality.

This eclipse is of the rare hybrid variety— that is, it will be an annular eclipse along the very first 15 seconds of its track before transitioning to a total as the Moon’s shadow sweeps just close enough to the Earth to cover the disk of the Sun along the remainder of its track.

An animation of the path of the November 3rd hybrid solar eclipse. (Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center).

How rare are hybrid solar eclipse? Of the 11,898 solar eclipses listed over a 5,000 year span from 1999 BC to 3000 AD in Fred Espenak’s Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses, only 569, or 4.8% are hybrids.

Who can see this eclipse?

People from northern South America, across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and up through the Canadian Maritimes will see a brief partial solar eclipse finishing up around 30 minutes after local sunrise. The brief annular “ring of fire” portion of the eclipse begins at sunrise just ~1,000 kilometres east of Jacksonville, Florida, as it races eastward across the Atlantic. See our timeline, below.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2392690/pg1

COMET EXPLOSION: Almost 450 million km from Earth, Comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) has exploded. Amateur astronomers are reporting a 100-fold increase in the comet’s brightness compared to predictions, and the comet’s atmosphere or “coma” now resembles that of exploding Comet 17P/Holmes in 2007. Using a remotely-controlled 0.5 meter telescope in New Mexico, European observers Ernesto Guido, Martino Nicolini and Nick Howes took this picture of the spherical explosion on Oct 21st:

“The predicted magnitude of the comet on Oct. 20th was about +14,” says Guido. “Now it is close to +8.5.” This is below the threshold for naked-eye visibility, but bright enough for backyard telescopes equipped with digital cameras

spaceweather.com

SOLAR FLARE! Earth-facing sunspot AR1877 erupted on Oct. 24th at 00:30 UT (Oct. 23rd at 5:30 pm PDT), producing an M9-class solar flare. A flash of extreme UV radiation from the flare ionized Earth’s upper atmosphere and created a brief HF radio blackout on the sunlit side of the planet. Stay tuned for updates about this significant event. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

SOLAR TSUNAMI AND RADIO BURST: Sunspot AR1875 erupted on Oct. 22nd (21:20 UT), producing an impulsive M4-class solar flare and a loud burst of shortwave radio static. Amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico was listening at the time of the eruption. “I knew this flare was a strong one by the force of the radio shock front,” he says. “It nearly lifted me out of my chair!” Click on the image to hear what emerged from the loudspeaker of his radio telescope:

Advice: Listen to the sound file using stereo headphones. The two channels correspond to two radio frequencies–21 and 28 MHz.

At the time of the flare, Ashcraft was also monitoring the sun using an “H-alpha” solar telescope tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen. The telescope recorded a tsunami of plasma emerging from the blast site. “It’s the shadowy wave that races away to the right of the sunspot,” Ashcraft points out.

The tsunami was the source of the radio emission. Shock waves at the leading edge of the tsunami cause plasma instabilities in the sun’s atmosphere. Those instabilities, in turn, generate shortwave radio emissions. Ashcraft is a regular listener of the sun and he classifies the Oct. 22nd outburst as “one of the strongest radio blasts of the solar cycle so far. Hopefully it bodes well for future activity.”

http://spaceweather.com/