Morning readers. Thanks for coming by. The traffic’s down on the blog so far I figure I can talk about Lovejoy a bit more without boring too many people back to sleep. First, here’s what’s on Spaceweather dot com about it this morning:
THE AMAZING TAIL OF COMET LOVEJOY: Widespread reports of Comet Lovejoy‘s tail are being received from around the southern hemisphere. The ghostly plume emerges just before sunrise, jutting vertically upward into the eastern sky ahead of the sun.
“I observed the comet with my unaided eye for 55 minutes this morning,” says Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia. “I also captured a timelapse sequence of the comet rising as twilight progressed.” Click on the image at the site to set the scene in motion.
“In the image you can see 2 tails,” notes Clegg. These are the dust and ion tails. The gaseous ion tail is blow almost directly away from the sun by the solar wind, while the heavier, brighter dust tail more closely follows the comet’s orbit.
The visibility of both tails could improve in the days ahead as the comet moves away from the sun and the background sky darkens accordingly. Early-rising sky watchers should be alert for this rare apparition. [finder chart]
Edit 8:00AM: I decided to try to embed that video by Colin Legg here so’s I can watch it without trying to remember how to get back to the site:
Comet Lovejoy (2011 W3) rising over Western Australia from Colin Legg on Vimeo.
Over the next while I’m figuring to attempt to duplicate the behavior of that tail inside a fish bowl full of circulating water orbiting a tube of permanent magnets stacked atop one another, then electromagnets if the permanent ones don’t do the trick. I’ll have an anode on one side of the fishbowl, a cathode on the other injecting, first colloidal iron, then if necessary, other metals into the circulating water.
I’m harboring a lot of curiosity about what that tail’s saying.
But for those of you who don’t click the spaceweather site I’ll give you this thing some guy did with a pinhole camera and a beercan showing the anelemma of the sun over several months:
THE SUN IN A BEER CAN: “I have captured the sun in an empty beer can,” reports Jan Koeman of Kloetinge, the Netherlands. In June 2011, Koeman assembled a solargraph–a simple pinhole camera consisting of a beer can lined with photographic paper–and for the past six months he has used it to record the sun’s daily motion across the Dutch sky. Today he removed the photo-paper for inspection.
“This is what a photo with an exposure time of nearly 6 months looks like,” says Koeman. The highest arcs were traced by the summer sun of June 2011. The lowest arc was made just today, Dec. 21st, on the eve of the 2011 winter solstice. Occasional gaps are caused by clouds.
Curiously, Koeman had more than one empty beer can to work with on that hot summer day in June when he began his project, so there are multiple views to enjoy. Click here for more solargraphs.
Got me thinking maybe all that weirdness we’ve been seeing across the face of Old Sol lately might be the result of a combination of a hangover and spending several months jail-time inside a beer can.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 
Speak’n of trucks, somehows I missed the post where you replaced the starter on the Roadrunner, or whatever it’s called. Last I seen was them 2 bolts keep’n her sit’n at the bottom of a ravine.
Billy Bob: You missed it because the Toyota’s still out in the meadow same as it was. I couldn’t find a way to get to the bolt heads that didn’t round off the heads instead of loosening the bolts. I’ll have to pull the engine or pay a mechanic to get the starter off, I expect. Probably I’ll pull the engine once the other truck’s running. I’ve been needing to replace some seals and some other things too inconvenient to get to without having the engine on an engine stand. It’s got too many pieces of a million miles on it not to need some other attention, as well. Thanks for the visit. Jules
LOVE spaceweather.com and NASA emails, which I’ve been getting for years. Always can’t wait to see what they’re looking at out there in the cosmos. I’ve stood outside on frosty nights to watch the transit of the ever-increasing girth of the Int’l Space Station. …
lahgitana: I agree entirely. Thanks for stopping by. Jules
Love the sun in a beer can. Soon that comet should move away from the sun far enough for us all to see it. I have been lax lately keeping up with the night sky. The older I get the earleir I got to get to bed. Those all night observing times may be a thing of the past.
Hi DizzyDick: I feel your pain. I’m getting so 9:30PM’s the beginning of challenge for anything needs doing by a man awake. I like to think once my vision dims a bit more I won’t be able to tell day from night, though, and it will all equal out. Glad you came by. Gracias, Jules
As always some great photos and never bored.
Constantina: Glad you visited. Gracias, Jules
Exceptional creativity!
Heather: I assume you’re talking about the beer can guy. I emphatically agree. Jules
The beer can trick reminds me of how the sun tracked in Alaska. In summer it nearly circled the sky, dipping below the horizon briefly. In winter, it barely bumped above the southern aspect for a couple of hours.
cool beans
merry christmas Jules (~_~)
Morning zendictive: Likewise. Gracias, Jules
Jules, my blog traffic has been off this month, too. I assume it’s because everybody is busy with holiday stuff, but I’m sure they’ve missed some of my best work!
As for your posts, I don’t always understand what you’re talking about, but I like the pictures!
Happy New Year,
Linda
Linda: You might be right about the holiday thing. On this one it began December 19. Traffic dropped to around 275 reads per day on average and hasn’t been above 300 since. Maybe it will go back to what it was after the holidays are over, maybe not. Thanks for the good wishes and the visit. Likewise on the good wishes. Jules
Awesome pictures!
i ❤ the starz!!!!