» Home > In the News

What a Beauty

27 February 2020
Astronomy

   … Denmark has been enjoying the huge amounts of rainfall we have been experiencing in the UK. The image shown was taken by photographer Ruslan Merzlakov on February 23rd, 2020, on a footpath that was flooded (near the Uggerby River). In fact, the footpath looks like a river, so much rain has fallen on sodden ground. In fact, the actual footpath is nigh on invisible – so much water on the surface of the ground. Wondering how to breach the flood he glanced upwards and saw this colourful haze on the horizon. The image also includes the Milky Way and a shining band of aurora – even a red air glow. The flooded path itself joined in the fun, capturing a reflection of the sky. The moon was new and this allowed Merzlakov to see the first ripple of air glow and a small crack that opened in Earth's magnetic field permitted solar wind to enter and trigger the aurora (see https://spaceweather.com February 25th).

Over at https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/magnetic-field-at-martian-sur… … a magnetic field at the surface of Mars proves to be ten times stronger than expected. Scientists claim it is coming from older rocks buried a couple of hundred feet below the surface – and between those few hundred feet and as deep as 10km below the ground. The magnetic sensor has also provided clues about what is going on in the upper regions of Mars atmosphere. Mars is exposed to the solar wind and the sensor captured fluctuations in the magnetic field between daylight hours and the night time – with mysterious pulsations around midnight (but lasting only a few moments). The sensor also detected Marsquakes – some 450 tremors have been detected since April 2019. Mars is a seismically active planet it would seem – which contradicts what is said at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonics_of_Mars

Skip to content