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Skywarden,
Ursa Astronomical Association
Kopernikuksentie 1
00130 Helsinki
taivaanvahti(at)ursa.fi

Ursa Astronomical Association

Great halos in the sky on Wednesday and Thursday

20.5. On Wednesday, fine halos were seen mainly in Muurame and Jämsä. From the latter location on the right is an image by Petri Martikainen showing Wegener arc. On Thursday, in southwestern Finland an exceptionally good odd radius displays was visible as shown by Lasse Nurminen's picture. The quality is also indicated by the fact that some observers saw the 35° halo with the naked eye. Normally, this halo is only detected in the images afterwards.

18 and 19 May halos »

Deep sky from southern Europe

17.5. Two observations from southern lands. On the left, an image by Otto Vehviläinen from the area of Antares and Rho Ophiuchi "in completely dark sky" in Madeira. On the right, UGC 9749, or Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy, photographed by Tapio Lahtinen with Spanish remote telescope in the Fregenal de la Sierra. "I've photographed some of these Milky Way dwarf galaxies, and now in the spring I saw a picture of this rather challenging galaxy online," Lahtinen explains the background for his photo.

Deep Sky category in May »

Lightning in Nurmes started the season

16.5. The first lightning strikes in the spring were reported to Skywarden on Sunday, when Eero Karvinen got a few pictures in Nurmes. Coincidentally, 15 May was also the first lightning day last year in Warden. Of course, lightning has been seen much earlier in some years, even in January. These are caught on film much less often, but the lightning that took place on 13 January 2012 in Mikkeli was captured by Aki Taavitsainen's fireball camera.

Recent events in the lower atmosphere

14.5 . The birch pollen corona photographed by Petri Martikainen in Juva on the 13th is the summer's first from this tree. On the same day, Kati Pursiainen noticed a fine mammatus in Helsinki, where also a first-class rainbow was visible. This observation was left by Terhi Hirviniemi, who says the picture was taken by her child. And the day before, Antero Ahola reported the season's first roll cloud to Taivaanvahti at the bird tower in Jyväskylä.

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Pollen corona

Pollen corona

24.5.2022 at 20.00 - 21.30 - Lieksa (III)
Petri Martikainen, Ursa (Itä-Suomi)

Birch pollen ring in the light of the setting sun in Lieksa's Susuuo.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 3 pcs

Observation information »

IC 2944

IC 2944

4.5.2022 at 00.00 - Observatorio El Sauce, Rio Hurtado, Chile (V)
Jari Saukkonen, Kirkkonummen komeetta

Finally again in the picture (oi). It doesn’t take more than a year to get Chile’s remote equipment, plagued by misfortune and equipment failure, back under attack. Murphy had to be cursed very many times, the delivery times of the equipment are what they are and it is not made any easier by the rigidity of the logistics in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, the technicians at the telescope farm are first class, so isn’t this starting to roll again. The object of the new first light was selected to be the open constellation IC 2944 found in the constellation of Centauri and the surrounding em...

Images: 4 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Sun

Sun

24.5.2022 at 11.00 - Espoo (IV)
Kimmo Lehtinen

Such a fine loop was visible in the Sun. I first wondered which blob is far from the surface of the Sun, then by extending the exposure time, the whole loop appeared. After all, that’s pretty big compared to the size of the Sun. In the pictures, the Sun is completely overexposed, and the ‘shadow’ near the edge of the Sun can be a reflection in the telescope (?) That appears in long exposures. When shooting the surface of the sun, the appropriate exposure time was 0.0015 seconds, while in these images the time was 0.1 second, or about 67 times longer. The two images are otherwise the same, but ...

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Rare halos

Rare halos

22.5.2022 at 19.55 - 19.59 - Joensuu (IV)
Marko Riikonen

I got a series of pictures from the reflection sun. 1. A stack of 36 images of the best stage during 1m 43s at 19:56:35-19:58:18. Little usm given. 2. Single organic image 3. A video with a whole series of 71 shots during 3m 27s at 19:55:37 - 19:59:04. Framerate 20 / s. Squares slightly hazy. (Video quality suffered from the transfer to the Watch pretty much). But is that a haa? There are equally sharp reflected cloud rays in the stack (only the cloud rays move faster and blur away). Although the potential hook dominates the view. Whether it is. If not, let the observation be moved to the cate...

Images: 3 pcs • Comments: 3 pcs

Observation information »

Several halo forms

Several halo forms

24.5.2022 at 14.05 - 18.50 - Turku (II)
Paula Mattila

The dark ring or parts were poorly visible in the main between two and four, but were still noticeable. Shortly before seven, the side sun was visible.

Images: 3 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Other special clouds

Other special clouds

22.5.2022 at 13.35 - Rautavaara (III)
Jari Huttunen

Sunday's 'UFOs'.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Several halo forms

Several halo forms

22.5.2022 at 05.33 - 19.23 - Turku (II)
Paula Mattila

There were no halos all day, 22r visible without interruption for many hours, the best 22ys + as phase I watched from the pool of the inland swimming pool. In the morning and now in the evening, the side sun also stood out again.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

Reflected sunbeams

Reflected sunbeams

21.5.2022 at 20.15 - Puumala (II)
Kati Summanen

Reflected cloud rays, I guess. If, so special, because from this very same point I have already made the very same "rare" observation several times. In the Saimaa archipelago, there is enough water for reflections.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Rare halos

Rare halos

20.5.2022 at 10.45 - 11.00 - Juva (IV)
Petri Martikainen, Ursa (Itä-Suomi)

A dim 23-degree slag observed during field work. There was also a hint of 18-degree stuff, but it didn’t grab the image of the cell phone and remained uncertain. The wind was heading southwest. The situation was over in about a quarter and I didn’t have time to stack.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Rare halos

Rare halos

19.5.2022 at 16.03 - 18.25 - Turku (IV)
Paula Mattila

The working day ended at 4 pm and when I got out I glanced at the sky, there was a nice halo arc, it was obviously something other than the basic 22r.

Images: 4 pcs • Comments: 3 pcs

Observation information »

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