Astronomical Events!

[Crazybob]

I wanted to start this thread for everyone who is even mildly interested in the goings on around us in the Universe. I wanted to post this in the Astronomy section, but since it was under Project Discussion, I decided to go ahead and put it here.

First of all, if you are going to be outside tonight doing anything, the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower reaches its peak. Although it's a pretty weak shower with around 10-20 meteors an hour, viewing should be good with a moonless night. Look to the Southeast after dark, but the best viewing will be when the radiant, Aquarius rises higher towards the early hours of Saturday morning. Also, the best shower of the year has begun. Rates right now are very weak with only a couple an hour. These should seem to come from the Northeast. Remember, you don't have to be looking in the exact direction to see meteors. I will post updates to the Persied Shower as the peak gets closer on the 12th and 13th of August. They can be in any part of the sky, but their track will lead back to the radiant. Clear Skies and good luck.



If you have any news, please post it to this thread so we can all enjoy it!

[YoDude9999]

Sweet! I'll be watching!

[Fire$torm]

Sweet! I'll be watching!

+1

[Crazybob]

Went out Friday night for about a half hour. Whether was great and surprisingly the bugs weren't bad. Saw 1 from each shower, so not a bust.

[Crazybob]

Heads up for Friday the 5th. Sun Spot 1261 has released 3 M class solar flares. The latest being an M9.3 almost into the X range. The latest CME is earth bound and should actually engulf the first 2 CME's before it's arrival. It should hit earth sometime tomorrow and create the possibility of Northern Lights. Keep your fingers crossed and you eyes on this.


Hopefully it will update itself everytime someone opens the thread. The BZ component needs to be as far South as possible and the higher the speed and pressure of the solar wind is the better.

[Crazybob]

Say Hello to Vesta.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/video...a_id=104094441

[Crazybob]

As you can see above, it looks like the CME has impacted us. Magnetic field is tipped slightly South and Solar wind speed and pressure is up significantly. Now if it will last into the night, we might see some lights!

[Crazybob]

Update on the perseid meteor shower. Was able to go out for a little while over the weekend. Mosquitos were nasty, so we didn't stay out long. We did see 2 pretty decent meteors in about 20 minutes, so all in all not too bad. Remember, Thursday through probably Saturday are going to be the best night, weather permitting. Set up some chairs with the family and watch the show.

This morning, sunspot 1263 burped and belched out an X7 solar flare. It also through out a Coronal Mass Ejection, but fortunately, or unfortunately, it was not Earth directed. We might get a glancing blow though.

[Crazybob]

Sunspot 1283 erupted twice in the last day with an M class flare and an X class flare. It is directly pointed at Earth, so the chances for Northern Lights goes way up. Impact should happen sometime on the 8th, to the 10th depending on the speed of the cloud. If I see any new updates, I'll post them here.

http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...11/x2flash.mov

[Crazybob]

Shock waves from the recent eruptions by sunspot 1283 have impacted Earth and are causing a geomagnetic storm. Electrical currents have already been detected by ground instruments in Norway. Be on the look out for Northern Lights tonight as more shock waves are expected to impact Earth.

Of course it's cloudy by me.