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>>> Transmission from THE TRONA LO-FI SOLAR OBSERVATORY -- WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017. OK, AND F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, AN IMAGE OF 2665!
Prost. 8^)
This image shows a section of the Taurus Molecular Cloud based on a combination of data from ESA’s Herschel and Planck space telescopes. The bright areas in the picture shows the emission by interstellar dust grains in three different wavelengths observed by Herschel (250, 350, and 500 microns) and the lines crossing the image in a ‘drapery pattern’ represent the magnetic field orientation (based on the Planck data.)
This molecular cloud is one of the closest regions of star formation, at around 450 light years from us, and is known to contain more than 250 young stellar objects. The section in this image shows the archetypical example of a filament in a star-forming cloud. The main filament that stretches from the left of the image and curves up to the hub is known as the Lynds Dark Nebula 1495 (L1495).
L1495 contains several Barnard Dark Nebulae, which are dust-filled regions cataloged by astronomer Edward Bernard in 1919 and known as Barnard Objects. Dark nebulae are extremely dense regions of dust that obscure visible light. The central bright region is known as B10, with B211 and B213 stretching out from the bright area.
The B213/L1495 nebula is a clear example of a star-forming region where the magnetic field lines are perpendicular to the main filament, and also contains striations, or material that appears perpendicular to the filament.
Credits: ESA/Herschel/Planck; J. D. Soler, MPIA
The surface of the sun. The largest sunspot group, identified as AR3836, had beta-gamma magnetic fields capable of producing M-class solar flares. An explosive solar flare happens when energy contained in twisted magnetic fields above the sunspot is suddenly released producing a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. 26 Sep 2024.
- www.kevin-palmer.com - The solar eclipse was absolutely incredible. There's no way to capture it in 1 picture or 1,000 pictures and there's nothing really to compare it to. During the minutes surrounding totality the light changed so fast and there was so much to observe and photograph that it was overwhelming. It felt like time stood still and yet it was all over in an instant. I listened to the dozens of people around me who also climbed the 10,276' Laramie Peak to observe this eclipse. Cheering and exclamations of "WOW" were an almost involuntary reaction.
This is a composite showing 3 partial phases of the eclipse with a solar filter, as well as 3 of the features that are visible during totality. A group of sunspots was visible before being hidden by the moon. The red fringes on the left are solar prominences. Bigger than any planet, prominences are made up of dynamic loops of hot plasma and will often explode, triggering the aurora when it impacts earth's magnetic field. At the top the sun's corona can be seen. This outer atmosphere of the sun is sculpted by it's magnetic field. The temperature of the corona is up to 450 times hotter than the surface of the sun and no one knows why. At the top right is an effect known as the "diamond ring." It is the moment the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. I was surprised by just how suddenly it popped out, with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point.
Another shot from The Left Bank of Paris-this one is a shot of the building where Hemingway lived for about a year I guess. If you view in large, you can see there is a sign marking it for the buidling on the right hand side.
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission*8
Iron filings held in a magnetic field as an alternate take on this week's Smile on Saturday theme: Magnets.
From the lovely show last evening here in Stillwater, Maine. Thanks for looking!
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See more at www.samhessphoto.com
Apologies for the repetitive series of posts today, but it's rare to have the opportunity to photograph a good display from the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in East Yorkshire. A strong and persistent solar storm hit the Earth on 23rd March 2023 and my aurora alert App started to ping. A quick glance out of a north facing window confirmed both clear skies AND visible aurora! That was enough to send us all scurrying for coats, boots, camera and tripod and see us on a brisk trot up a hill behind the house to get clear of the streetlighting. Thankfully, the mild weather and the exertion was enough for us to stay warm for over an hour of aurora watching and photography. I took over 200 frames, almost back to back, so will likely post a pseudo time-lapse movie once I have assembled the frames to export them as an mp4 or avi.
Processed from raw using Capture One Pro 23 and then denoised using Topaz denoise v3.7.
This image shows the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex based on a combination of data from ESA’s Herschel and Planck space telescopes. The bright areas in the picture shows the emission by interstellar dust grains in three different wavelengths observed by Herschel (250, 350, and 500 microns) and the lines crossing the image in a ‘drapery pattern’ represent the magnetic field orientation (based on the Planck data.)
The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a nearby star-forming region, at around 440 light years from us, in the constellation Ophiuchus. The main bright region on the right side of the image is known as L1688, with L1704/L1709 on the upper left and L1712 on the lower left.
L1688 is a well-studied region of low-mass star formation. It contains young stellar objects and is the most active star-forming region within the cloud complex. L1688 is a dense filament whereas the areas on the left of the image are less dense and are known as streamers rather than filaments. Filaments are well-defined whereas streamers are broader and fainter.
Credits: ESA/Herschel/Planck; J. D. Soler, MPIA
This image shows a portion of the Lupus cloud complex based on a combination of data from ESA’s Herschel and Planck space telescopes. The bright areas in the picture shows the emission by interstellar dust grains in three different wavelengths observed by Herschel (250, 350, and 500 microns) and the lines crossing the image in a ‘drapery pattern’ represent the magnetic field orientation (based on the Planck data.)
This cloud complex, which contains four main star-forming regions, lies in the constellation of Scorpius. The Lupus clouds form one of the largest regions where low-mass stars form, in terms of its angular extent across the sky.
Shown here is Lupus I, which is thought to be the youngest of the clouds. As such, it has sparse star formation compared to Lupus III (not shown), which is a dense region with rampant star formation and is the most evolved of the Lupus clouds. Lupus I contains B228, also known as the Dark Wolf nebula, which is the long filament visible in the picture.
Credits: ESA/Herschel/Planck; J. D. Soler, MPIA
i love boy writing. this isn't *the* boy's writing, but it is boy writing, anyway. : )
this is a list of songs that were potentially meant to go on a cd that he was making for me. apparently there was some process of elimination going on there. you love to fail was the song that managed to make the cut.
and that sounds about right.
you love to fail - magnetic fields
maybe tomorrow I'll see love in your eyes and mine will dry
maybe tomorrow we can learn how to fly on these nasty little wings
and I wanna take you out but you always refuse
'cause you only play the games that you know you can lose
you love to fail, that's all you love.
we don't know why you've been gone
somebody said you're on the run
you're living where wild horses run
well, hey, whatever turns you on
i'll be your confidante
come and go as you please
i'll honor and protect my Wagner in dungarees
- www.kevin-palmer.com - This was my favorite image of the corona during the solar eclipse. The effects of the magnetic field can be clearly seen, with the coronal streamers aligned to the north and south poles of the sun. The star Regulus can also be seen on the lower left.
One last photo of the Left Bank, this one is of the little park sort of in the center of everything.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX8xHXcAEiY&list=PLF598080EC4...
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
This was from the night of June 26, 2015. As usual we were unsure whether there would be anything to see, since the Aurora are unpredictable, and since it was just after sunset when we headed over to Perch Pond. At first there was just a simple green glow above the horizon, but soon it turned into one of the most glorious displays of the Northern Lights I have ever seen. While at times the waves and curtains reached all the way to the zenith, the show also lasted long enough to allow me to try several different compositions, including this one. The water's surface stayed calm, producing mirror-like reflections, and it was warm, so we kept enjoying and taking pictures for more than half the night. Thanks for looking!
See more at samhess.zenfolio.com
IMG_8135-5BCSH
The Earth has passed through the strongest Solar storm of this cycle, with G3-G4 geomagnetic storms, and many accounts of dramatic Aurora. My part of Maine was socked in last night, so we didn't get to see the height of the lights. But tonight there were still Aurora to see, and despite the below-zero wind chill, my friend and I decided to go for it. Initially, columns of light were clearly visible by eye, but soon the storm had faded, and only the camera could see them. This image is the first one I took, when the lights were quite visible by eye, just on the edge of the Stillwater River, in Stillwater, Maine. Thanks for looking!
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Technical properties:
Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Lens: Sigma 70-200mm f/2,8 EX DG Makro HSM II
Processing-program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
Framed and signature: Photo Scape
Copyright © 2009 by pixel@work . All rights reserved.
My friend Rory is amazing and I had the best time of my life in Paris this summer. One thing this friend of mine did is to take me to this 1950s-esque surfer bar that was in homage to, oddly enough, American surfer music (The Beach Boys being the most recognizable) The bartenders were really nice and they gave us this French whiskey I'm still convinced was part of one of my best waking dreams forever. I had to take a picture so that I could make sure I would never forget, even if a car crashed into me and hit me on my bicycle once I was back in Chicago.
Lyrics from the Magnetic Fields "Infintely Late at Night"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX8xHXcAEiY&list=PLF598080EC4
**All photographs are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
A composite image of the Solar Chromosphere from just after C2 and just before C3 during the 2017.08.21 Total Solar Eclipse. Taken from Oregon along the Snake River on the OR/ID border.
100mm, f/5.5
5D4, ISO 100
1/6400s
The visualisation software Uniview allows visitors of the Ars Electronica Center’s Deep Space 8K to explore the universe not only in a breathtaking resolution - but also in 3-D.
A best of Ars Electronica photos can be found here.
Ars Electronica Center Linz
Ars-Electronica-Straße 1
4040 Linz
Austria
Credit: Ars Electronica / Robert Bauernhansl
Apologies for the repetitive series of posts today, but it's rare to have the opportunity to photograph a good display from the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in East Yorkshire. A strong and persistent solar storm hit the Earth on 23rd March 2023 and my aurora alert App started to ping. A quick glance out of a north facing window confirmed both clear skies AND visible aurora! That was enough to send us all scurrying for coats, boots, camera and tripod and see us on a brisk trot up a hill behind the house to get clear of the streetlighting. Thankfully, the mild weather and the exertion was enough for us to stay warm for over an hour of aurora watching and photography. I took over 200 frames, almost back to back, so will likely post a pseudo time-lapse movie once I have assembled the frames to export them as an mp4 or avi.
Processed from raw using Capture One Pro 23 and then denoised using Topaz denoise v3.7.
This image is a view of the Sun taken by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) Full Disc Telescope on ESA’s Solar Orbiter on 18 June 2020. This is a visible light image and represents what we would see with the naked eye. There are no sunspots visible because the Sun is displaying only low levels of magnetic activity at the moment.
Credits: Solar Orbiter/PHI Team/ESA & NASA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX8xHXcAEiY&list=PLF598080EC4...
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
From Earth, we always look towards the Sun's equator. This year, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission broke free of this ‘standard’ viewpoint by tilting its orbit to 17° – out of the ecliptic plane where the planets and all other Sun-watching spacecraft reside. Now for the first time ever, we can clearly see the Sun’s unexplored poles.
This image shows Solar Orbiter's view of the Sun's south pole on 23 March 2025. It was taken by the spacecraft's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument, which captures the ultraviolet light sent out by the million-degree gas in the Sun's outer atmosphere (the corona).
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.
[Image description: Photograph of the bottom half of the Sun, with a highlighted square region around the Sun's south pole. Taken in ultraviolet light, the image shows the hot gas in the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, glowing yellow as it extends outwards in threads and loops from the Sun.]
Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, D. Berghmans (ROB); CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Apologies for the repetitive series of posts today, but it's rare to have the opportunity to photograph a good display from the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in East Yorkshire. A strong and persistent solar storm hit the Earth on 23rd March 2023 and my aurora alert App started to ping. A quick glance out of a north facing window confirmed both clear skies AND visible aurora! That was enough to send us all scurrying for coats, boots, camera and tripod and see us on a brisk trot up a hill behind the house to get clear of the streetlighting. Thankfully, the mild weather and the exertion was enough for us to stay warm for over an hour of aurora watching and photography. I took over 200 frames, almost back to back, so will likely post a pseudo time-lapse movie once I have assembled the frames to export them as an mp4 or avi.
Processed from raw using Capture One Pro 23 and then denoised using Topaz denoise v3.7.
Not sure if the stone was designed to look like this. If not, how did it wind up this way? Anyhow, I love it. It looks very much like a magnetic field.
The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument on the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft got its first good look at the Sun's south pole in March 2025.
The image shows an intensity map, revealing the locations of clumps of carbon ions.
The data shown here were recorded on 22–23 March 2025, when Solar Orbiter was facing the Sun from an angle of 17° below the solar equator. The images are each composed of three observations that were subsequently stitched together.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a European-led facility instrument, led by the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) in Paris, France.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.
Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/SPICE Team, M. Janvier (ESA) & J. Plowman (SwRI); CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Despite how it looks, this is not a computer generated image. It's a real object; a distorted reflection of a grid in a rumpled film of shiney Mylar.
Uniview allows visitors of the Ars Electronica Center’s Deep Space 8K to explore the universe not only in a breathtaking resolution - but also in 3-D.
A best of Ars Electronica photos can be found here.
Ars Electronica Center Linz
Ars-Electronica-Straße 1
4040 Linz
Austria
Credit: Ars Electronica / Robert Bauernhansl
My mother should have murdered me, what jury would convict her, babe? For
love is wrapped around my heart like a boa constrictor, babe.
This was taken from the Stillwater River in Old Town, Maine, near Gilman Falls.
Please view on black.
It comforts me that the Northern Lights are a signal that our Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field are protecting us from radiation coming from the sun and space. The light show we see is also grounded in physics and chemistry; the Lorentz force causes the path of a charged particle to bend in a magnetic field, and to twist around magnetic field lines. Charged particles emitted by the sun after a coronal mass ejection, if approaching the Earth with the right trajectory, can be trapped by the Earth's magnetic field, causing them to spiral inward toward the Earth's magnetic poles. As these high-energy particles reach lower altitudes, they can collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, causing these molecules to become excited and to emit light. The colors depend on the type of molecule and the altitude, which both affect the types of molecular transitions that can occur before other types of non-radiative decays.
This is my first time seeing the Aurora Borealis in 13 years. I feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to capture it.
Thanks for looking!
File reference: 9493
Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.
On Nov. 3, 2010, a supernova was discovered in the galaxy UGC 5189A, located about 160 million light years away. Using data from the All Sky Automated Survey telescope in Hawaii taken earlier, astronomers determined this supernova exploded in early October 2010 (in Earth's time-frame).
This composite image of UGC 5189A shows X-ray data from Chandra in purple and optical data from Hubble Space Telescope in red, green and blue. SN 2010jl is the very bright X-ray source near the top of the galaxy.
A team of researchers used Chandra to observe this supernova in December 2010 and again in October 2011. The supernova was one of the most luminous that has ever been detected in X-rays.
In optical light, SN 2010jl was about ten times more luminous than a typical supernova resulting from the collapse of a massive star, adding to the class of very luminous supernovas that have been discovered recently with optical surveys. Different explanations have been proposed to explain these energetic supernovas including (1) the interaction of the supernova's blast wave with a dense shell of matter around the pre-supernova star, (2) radioactivity resulting from a pair-instability supernova (triggered by the conversion of gamma rays into particle and anti-particle pairs), and (3) emission powered by a neutron star with an unusually powerful magnetic field.
In the first Chandra observation of SN 2010jl, the X-rays from the explosion's blast wave were strongly absorbed by a cocoon of dense gas around the supernova. This cocoon was formed by gas blown away from the massive star before it exploded.
In the second observation taken almost a year later, there is much less absorption of X-ray emission, indicating that the blast wave from the explosion has broken out of the surrounding cocoon. The Chandra data show that the gas emitting the X-rays has a very high temperature -- greater than 100 million degrees Kelvin – strong evidence that it has been heated by the supernova blast wave.
The energy distribution, or spectrum, of SN 2010jl in optical light reveals features that the researchers think are explained by the following scenario: matter around the supernova has been heated and ionized (electrons stripped from atoms) by X-rays generated when the blast wave plows through this material. While this type of interaction has been proposed before, the new observations directly show, for the first time, that this is happening.
This discovery therefore supports the idea that some of the unusually luminous supernovas are caused by the blast wave from their explosion ramming into the material around it.
In a rare example of a cosmic coincidence, analysis of the X-rays from the supernova shows that there is a second unrelated source at almost the same location as the supernova. These two sources strongly overlap one another as seen on the sky. This second source is likely to be an ultraluminous X-ray source, possibly containing an unusually heavy stellar-mass black hole, or an intermediate mass black hole.
These results were published in a paper appearing in the May 1st, 2012 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The authors were Poonam Chandra (Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Canada), Roger Chevalier and Christopher Irwin (University of Virginia, Charlottsville, VA), Nikolai Chugai (Institute of Astronomy of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University, Sweden), and Alicia Soderberg (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA).
Read entire caption/view more images: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/sn2010/
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Royal Military College of Canada/P.Chandra et al); Optical: NASA/STScI
Caption credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
This image shows the line-of-sight direction of the magnetic field on the Sun's disc. This kind of map is also called a ‘magnetogram’. It was measured by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) onboard the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on 22 March 2023.
This map shows that the Sun's magnetic field is concentrated within and around sunspots. It either points outward (red) or inward (blue) wherever the sunspots lie. Elsewhere the magnetic field is much smaller, indicated by grey (no magnetic field), yellow or green (small magnetic field). The strong magnetic field inhibits convection in the Sun, because charged particles are forced to follow the magnetic field rather than following the heat-mixing convective flow. As a result, sunspots are colder than their surroundings.
Assembled from multiple high-resolution images taken by the PHI instrument, the diameter of the Sun's disc is spanned by around 8000 pixels. It is one image of a set of four, three being the first high-resolution full-disc views of the Sun from PHI and the fourth an image of the Sun's corona taken by Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI).
Read the full story here
Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/PHI Team; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Image processing by PHI Team members at MPS
#1: Thee Silver Mt. Zion: 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons(Montréal, Canada)
Though my brother in law may cringe at this, without a doubt, Thee Silver Mt. Zion put out the best album this year. I know they aren't for everyone but when Efrim Menuck sings, his sense of passion and desperation...the way he communicates devastation speaks to me in a way that makes me think...this, this is the reason why music is here.
I know some have criticized Thee Silver Mt. Zion as pretentious but as someone who has been following Efrim Menuck from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to this point, I feel more than anything it's disarming and also...well, honest. Every time I put on this record, I feel a storm of emotion inside of me waiting to pour out. It startles me but I can't help it. When Efrim sings "Some hearts are true," it's the most hopeful moment. When Efrim sings "One Million Died to Make This Sound," my body was meant for collapse. He's singing my thoughts. He's singing my fears, my prayers. All that is in me is coming out of that dear man's throat.
And let's not forget the strength of the instrumentation and the joint choral effect (of the tra la la band) the album and live performance takes on. It creates the sense we're all in this together and we're all feeling it together. We may each have 13 blues for thirteen moons but we're sharing it together and, in a way, that redeems this pitiful life.
It's true that Thee Silver Mt. Zion, particularly because of Efrim's pained vocal delivery, is an acquired taste. If, like me, you acquire it, you'll probably never let it go.
#2 Karkwa: Le Volume du Vent
(Montréal, Canada)
Yes, another band from Montréal but this one sings in French! Ok, I literally first heard this band for the first time yesterday...skeptical? How 'bout if I told you that they are at times like, as Bill Pearis ( soundbites.typepad.com/soundbites/) aptly describes , a French Canadian Radiohead?
The album begins with a real intensity with Le Compteur before settling down into tracks like Oubile Pas, Le Frimas, and Le Temps Mort later on.
Well, anyhow, I'm in love with this record. It's passionate but also very melodic and urgent at the same time. Sort of like being simultaneously heavy and ethereal. Too bad they won't accept my American money but you can buy this most recent album on itunes. Have a listen...if melodramatic songs are your thing, I think you'll be pleased:
#3 Portishead: Third
(Bristol, UK)
I know there were many who were disappointed with this album but, if you're like me, you're grasping for just about every last scrap Beth Gibbons will give you
Now, I know this one is a little unpredictable and I know it's also a bit inconsistent. The album starts out with a startling track, "Silence" that builds in a completely hypnotizing way (especially if you are listening to it for the fourth time that night whilst editing photos at around 3:30 am when you begin to realize the next day is coming.) It cuts you off just as you truly sense the overall motion of it, though and the jarring effect is a testament to just how effective the song is.
"Machine Gun" has a similar overall feel and I think it could be said that it's Beth Gibbons at her most overtly powerful. But, we must also try to appreciate the random unpredictability of the album overall which I feel Beth Gibbons makes work in a very atypical way. Quite a few of the tracks are those that cannot be easily taken out of context and they are also the kinds of songs you need to give some extra time to. In a way, it feels like we see a portrait of a woman in all of her moods and this feels not only right but very honest. Just listen to "The Rip" as the day starts to peak through the dark curtain of night and you'll see what I mean.
www.myspace.com/portisheadalbum3
#4 The High Dials: Moon Country
(Montréal, Canada)
If you were to ask me what genre of music I love the most, above all others, I would look at you and say, without any hesitation: Psychedelic. It's something within me that I can't describe. Oh, shoegaze is wonderful and punk has it's place but it's the psychedelic music that speaks to me most. Without it, life is a very bleak place indeed.
That said, The High Dials have put out their third full length double album, Moon Country, and it is magnificent. What amazes me every time I hear the band on album or see them play is how utterly talented every member is. I feel most alive by listening and, even though they are playing songs in the genre that made bands like The Pretty Things and Love great, every time I listen to The High Dials, it seems so fresh to me. In other words, even though the influences peaked so long ago, there's such a joy and bliss renewed that comes to me. It's like I was experiencing it for the first time and it's wonderful. This album as well as 2005's War of the Wakening Phantoms are stellar and if you get a chance to see them live, do whatever you can not to miss it. As I told lead singer Trevor Anderson recently when I saw him play a show in Chicago, "I swear, if aliens were to land on this planet and hold everyone hostage, demanding even just one reason why the entire human race shouldn't be obliterated, I would play them your music."
"How can you be so sure, " he said, "that the aliens wouldn't like reggae dub better?"
#5 Spiritualized: Songs in A&E
(Rugby, England)
I really thought Spiritualized had lost it. Seriously! I felt 2003's Amazing Grace was just an album full of rehashed melodies from previous albums and that, frankly, Jason Pierce was starting to lose his magic. Then, another proper full length live album took five years to emerge. In that time, Pierce was going through so many issues including a serious hospital stay. No doubt he did some soul searching to produce this brilliant album, complete with tracks that suggest the power and energy of "Electricity" such as "You Lie You Cheat" but with a delicateness that suggest a fallen angel as in "Sweet Talk." Don't tell me I'm the only one that cries every time I hear "Death take your fiddle."
Needless to say, the gospel choir Pierce chose to back him up both live and on album was one of the best musical decisions he's ever made. Jason, you set my soul on fire.
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#6 Juana Molina: Un Dia
(Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Dear Juana,
You make my days complete...how could anyone be so complex and yet so soothing. I listen to you in my darkest hour and you are so comforting and at the same time incredibly intriguing as a songwriter...your compositions of songs work in a way no American songwriter that I know of can come close to. You are the reason why music will never die. In this modern age, you can be innovative and still provide a sense of stability somehow to this ever changing world. For that, no words seem to do you justice. You are creative in a way that mere syllables strung together seem almost wrong to describe as they are not enough.
Your devoted listener,
Kirstie
#7 The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
(Boston and NYC)
It probably comes to some of you as no surprise that I am a fan of Stephin Merritt's wry and insightful lyrics...his way of analyzing relationships and intimacy in a way that few can. I have such a history with this band, beginning so long ago when I was a college student. I loved all of Merritt's stories and even his lyrics when he was most jaded. I couldn't settle for one disc of the 69 Lovesongs...I had to have all three.
Distortion is not without a great deal of classic Merritt wit but the great guitar fuzz effect on much of the album makes it even more engaging to listen to. In a way the feedback and lo fi quality of it makes it seem dated but it's the kind of dates that got you through many of your years so far.
It's always interesting to me how live they tend to strip this down into an acoustic set. Both have their Merritt but I greatly prefer to hear the songs in this way with their full energy realized and without the strange personality of Stephin's making me feel more than slightly uncomfortable.
www.myspace.com/themagneticfields
#8 Orouni: Jump Out the Window
(Paris, France)
Orouni came out with his/their second full length album this year and the only way I'd like these magical songs better is if they were sung in French. Instead, they are sung in English but with a rather enchanting accent.
The cello arrangements are really lovely and so are the beautiful backup vocals of Mina Tindle, Mlie, and Emma. There's a real depth that Orouni has reached at times lyrically and some don't strike you at first but get stuck in your head with the accompanying melody line. There's an odd sense of innocence to the songs, especially the melodies, that make them all the more endearing like a bunch of comforting friends.
#9 Clinic: Do It!
(Liverpool, England)
Ok, you know those times when it's 8am, your parents are visiting in less than 24 hours and you've slept only about five in the last three days???? Well, you may be crawling to the shower and broom but, before that, do yourself a favor and put on Clinic's Do It! It's the get yourself in gear and get some work done type of album. Oh, and also, you might have to take some breaks to dance. Though I found Clinic's live show a little shticky with the surgical masks and the Hawaiian shirts, their live sound even more so brought out these gems.
Even though it's really upbeat overall and just gives me so much more artificial energy, I think Clinic is probably more of an acquired taste, especially relative to more typical music in all three genres of rock, pop, and even dance. Mainly, it's the overly nasal vocals that might turn some off again.
Funny thing about Clinic, when Walking With Thee hit the independent radiowaves back in 2002, I was so repulsed with the sound of it. I literally couldn't stand it and the college radio station in Chicago (WLUW) played it to death! I got to the point where I was changing the radio station any time the title track was played. I HATED Clinic. I wanted to scream how much I hated them! Why were they taking up space on the airwaves, I wanted to know!?!?!
Then, one day I woke up. It was still 2002 and it was on a Sunday. I looked out of the window and it was pouring rain. I turned on the radio but that didn't have what I was looking for. What did I want? Need? Crave with every fiber of my being? That's right! I had to have Walking With Thee and I would travel across the city at warp speed during a thunderstorm just to have it. I tell you this story just so if you're turned off for the first time, realize those songs you listen to might somehow come back to haunt you...they have very strange powers.
#10 Lost Wisdom
(Washington and Canada)
A joint venture between Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie fame and Julie Doiron has led to such lush and beautiful melodies that really resonate. The chemistry and dynamics of their two voices work together so well it recalls the harmony and beauty of the way Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang together so long ago at times, only if Art was a female. Hmmm...imagine the possibilities that might have brought!
Sometimes I hear two songs ing my head at once. So listen, this is the end of my Infinitely Late at Night series which focused on lyrics by The Magnetic Fields for their song "Infinitely Late at Night" but PJ Harvey's A Woman A Man Walked By also happened while it was Infinitely late at night. The woman is in the center of the frame sitting down in the the infinitely late evening. The man is on the left hand side, ready to pass her.
Will he look while he passes? Will he say a word or two? Will he hum a song? Will he speed up or will he go slow? Will he take the woman and the night all in together?
**All phtoos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
All images you have ever seen of the Sun were taken from near the Sun's equator, from within the ecliptic plane where all planets and nearly all spacecraft orbit the Sun. In February 2025, Solar Orbiter became the first Sun-watching spacecraft ever to tilt its orbit out of the ecliptic plane.
In June 2025, the ESA-led mission to provided humanity with the first-ever clear views of the Sun's south pole. All ten of Solar Orbiter’s scientific instruments will collect unprecedented data in the years to come.
As we've never clearly seen the poles before, Solar Orbiter may uncover unexpected structures or movements, including polar vortices (swirling gas) similar to those seen around the poles of Venus and Saturn. Additionally, more of the Sun's magnetic field at the poles opens up to space, and Solar Orbiter will be able to see how this changes throughout the solar cycle.
Solar Orbiter’s groundbreaking high-latitude observations are key to understanding the Sun’s magnetic field and why it flips roughly every 11 years, coinciding with a peak in solar activity. Current models and predictions of the 11-year solar cycle fall short of being able to predict exactly when and how powerfully the Sun will reach its most active state.
Additionally, particle and magnetic field detectors on the spacecraft will be the first to track the movement of solar material – including solar wind, bursts of charged particles called coronal mass ejections, and particles moving close to the speed of light – away from the Sun’s equator. This can inform and improve space weather forecasts, important for reducing its impact on Earth.
Finally, measurements of the Sun’s magnetic field at higher latitudes allow Solar Orbiter to map more of the Sun’s global magnetic field as it changes throughout the solar cycle. While the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument can measure local magnetic fields at the Sun’s surface, Solar Orbiter’s magnetometer (MAG) instrument measures the magnetic field near the spacecraft. The latter can reveal the large-scale structure of the Sun’s magnetic field.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.
[Image description: This infographic by the European Space Agency, titled "Why Solar Orbiter is Angling Towards the Sun's Poles", illustrates the mission’s unique trajectory and scientific goals. At the centre of the image, the Sun is shown with dynamic magnetic field lines, emphasizing polar activity. To the left, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is depicted with its orbital path marked for 2025 and 2028, showing how it gradually tilts to observe the Sun’s poles. The top right explains the solar dynamo mechanism, while the bottom right highlights the role of polar observations in understanding space weather and the Sun’s global magnetic field.]
Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Acknowledgements: ATG Europe. Sun images based on data from ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI and SPICE Teams.
Apologies for the repetitive series of posts today, but it's rare to have the opportunity to photograph a good display from the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in East Yorkshire. A strong and persistent solar storm hit the Earth on 23rd March 2023 and my aurora alert App started to ping. A quick glance out of a north facing window confirmed both clear skies AND visible aurora! That was enough to send us all scurrying for coats, boots, camera and tripod and see us on a brisk trot up a hill behind the house to get clear of the streetlighting. Thankfully, the mild weather and the exertion was enough for us to stay warm for over an hour of aurora watching and photography. I took over 200 frames, almost back to back, so will likely post a pseudo time-lapse movie once I have assembled the frames to export them as an mp4 or avi.
Processed from raw using Capture One Pro 23 and then denoised using Topaz denoise v3.7.
The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument on the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft got its first good look at the Sun's south pole in March 2025.
Here we see SPICE's velocity map of charged carbon particles (ions) at the Sun's south pole. These ions live in the transition region, a thin layer around the Sun where the temperature rapidly increases from around 10 000 °C to hundreds of thousands of degrees. (Click here to see a comparison to SPICE's intensity map.)
Blue and red indicate how fast the carbon ions are moving towards and away from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, respectively. Darker blue and red patches are related to plasma flowing faster due to small plumes or jets.
The data shown here were recorded on 22–23 March 2025, when Solar Orbiter was facing the Sun from an angle of 17° below the solar equator. The image is composed of three observations that were subsequently stitched together.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.
[Image description: This image is a velocity map of the Sun’s south pole, captured by Solar Orbiter’s SPICE instrument. The map is filled with red and blue colours, which represent motion. Red areas show material moving away from the observer, while blue areas show material moving toward the observer. The background is black, making the coloured regions stand out clearly. Curved lines and a faint grid overlay the image, indicating lines of solar latitude and longitude. A label in the bottom right corner notes that the data was taken in ultraviolet light at a temperature of 32 000 °C.]
Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/SPICE Team, M. Janvier (ESA) & J. Plowman (SwRI); CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO