Lenticular clouds in the water and sky (Cloud ships)

Earthsky.org - 6/4/13, Chris Comfort

Lenticular clouds reflecting in the water at 20 Lakes Basin, photographed by EarthSky Facebook friend Lenticular clouds captured in the sky and in the water’s reflection at 20 Lakes Basin by photographer John A. Rossetto Jr

Today’s image of lenticular clouds – lens-shaped clouds at high altitudes – comes from EarthSky Facebook friend, John A. Rossetto Jr. He captured this photo at 20 Lakes Basin, near Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada. He wrote:

Earth & Space Weather

Flooding in Germany Highest Levels in 500 Years.

USAToday.com-6/3/13

PASSAU, Germany (AP) — Swollen rivers gushed into the old section of Passau in southeast Germany on Monday, as water rose in the city to levels not seen in more than five centuries.

The city was one of the worst hit by flooding that has spread across a large area of central Europe following heavy rainfall in recent days. At least eight people were reported to have died and nine were missing due to floods in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

The German news agency dpa said the water levels were the highest recorded since 1501 in Passau, a city that dates from before Roman times.

Earth & Space Weather

Hubble Sees the Remains of a Star Gone Supernova

Nasa.com- 6/4/13

These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star — a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life.

SNR 0519 is located over 150 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish), a constellation that also contains most of our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Because of this, this region of the sky is full of intriguing and beautiful deep sky objects.

For more on this story please see NASA.com

Earth & Space Weather

Earth's 'Home' In Milky Way Much Bigger Than Previously Thought, Astronomers Say

Huffington Post - 6/4/13, Miriam Kramer

Our home in the Milky Way could be much larger than ever thought before, according to a new study.

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) found that the area of the galaxy that holds Earth and the rest of the solar system is a prominent feature of the spiral galaxy.

The solar system exists in a part of the galaxy known as the Local Arm. Until now, scientists thought that this particular part of the Milky Way was just a tiny spur between two large branches known as the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

For more on this story please see The Huffington Post

Earth & Space Weather

Pole Shift Update [Magnetic/Axial/Geodetic Components] & 4MIN News June 4, 2013

Suspicious Observers, 6/4/13

Earth & Space Weather

Hurricane Season Begins

RedOrbit.com, 6/3/13

Hurricane Barbara, a compact category 1 storm, hit the coast of southern Mexico on May 29, 2013, before weakening over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this view of the storm as it made landfall. According to NOAA records, only one other eastern Pacific hurricane—Agatha in 1971—has made landfall in May.

For complete story please see RedOrbit.com

Earth & Space Weather

Never-Before-Seen Alien Planet Imaged Directly in New Photo

Space.com- 6/3/12, Miriam Kramer

A newly discovered gaseous planet has been directly photographed orbiting a star about 300 light-years from Earth. Imaging alien planets is difficult, and this world may be the least massive planet directly observed outside of the solar system, scientists say.

For more on this story please see Space.com

Earth & Space Weather

June 2013 guide to the five visible planets

Earthsky.org, 6/3/13, Deborah Byrd

Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are all visible in the western sky after sunset in the first few days of June. Jupiter is exceedingly low in the sky, nearly buried in bright twilight, and disappears within the first week of June, only to return before dawn in late July 2013 for a spectacular conjunction with Mars in the predawn sky. For the Northern Hemisphere, June will provide the best evening showing of Mercury for 2013. Better yet, you can use Venus, the sky’s most brilliant planet, to locate nearby Mercury. Meanwhile, Saturn – shines noticeably brightly and highest up for the night around nightfall.

Link: Earthsky.org