Skywatchers' Journal

[Buffy]

state roads are empty and straight, nothing to worry about!

That's what the gators think too and that's why you have to watch out for them! And I've spent enough time to know that the Smokies do have their favorite spots to sit with their radar guns. I'm always very careful on the drive from Orlando out to KSC...

 

As I am not your attorney, I will not advise you to do or not do anything....

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Queso]

grrrr. the 5-0's! i have yet to receive a speeding ticket, BALANCE!! my time is coming. i have a good eye for police, but someday that just won't be good enough.

[Turtle]

___If you are stopped, show your binoculars & sky chart & claim you were just hurrying to catch the fading nebulosity of comet Imadaupa.

___Observing conditions here aren't good lately, but I noted a new sunspot has emerged & is growing. The Sun has been relatively blank the last few weeks.

___Keep looking skyward!

[Turtle]

___Meteor shower coming May 5 & 6 composed of debris from Halley's Comet. :xx:

Find more specifics at:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

or your favorite astronomy source. :)

[Turtle]

___Anyone watching the skys tonight in mid to high lattitudes may have an opportunity to see some aurora as a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) is speeding our way.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Turtle]

___Well, it was too cloudy with rain here for skywatching last night, but the aurora were seen widely. A photo is now up at spaceweather of the aurora borealis from California.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

___Any of you get a chance to look, or better yet any of you see some aurora? How 'bought down under? Keep looking skyward! :friday:

[Turtle]

___Many more reports & phtots now at spaceweather of the fabulouse aurora. Now, NOAA has issued a space weather warning after the largest class of electrogmetic storms erupted from the Sun on Sunday. They are wwarning when it reaches Earth it may intterupt power systems and other electrical equipment. :friday:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2437.htm

[Turtle]

___Warm & clear weather upon us & skywatching is looking more appealing. Venus is once again in our sky as the evening star; look to the west just after sunset near the horizon.

___I am moving to a new location where I have no longer a view to the West out my window, but I have a South window with a view from about 35 degrees to about 80 degrees altitude. I did see the moon out the South window briefly last night, but I was too tired from moving to spend any time observing.

___Keep looking skyward! :naughty:

[Queso]

when's the full moon? looked pretty full last night.

[Turtle]

___NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS :rant:

___Any of you in Europe see the noctilucent clouds? Apparently their cause is yet undiscoved! Here's a link to start you off:

Strange Clouds

 

:rant:

[Turtle]

___Perseid meteor showers coming up in August & a very actice sunspot system is emerging.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

:)

[Turtle]

___Just a final reminder for skywatchers that the Perseid meteor showers start ramping up tonight & peak on the night of August 12th. The SpaceWeather site is already posting peoples' photos of some early meteors. Maybe if it's warm enough tonight I'll set up a chair outside & watch a few hours. :rant:

[Turtle]

___If you can't get out to watch the meteors, you can listen to them on US Naval Radars. Links on fronts page of :

http://www.spaceweather.com/

___I watched outside 'till my neck took a spasm; didn't see any. I have the radar link on in the background. Pretty cool. If you didn't know, the Perseid meteors come from the dusty remains of comet Swift-Tuttles repeated passes through our neighborhood. Someone up here thinks one hit their car yesterday. :rant:

[Turtle]

___Tonight just after sunset, look WSW to see Jupiter, Venus, Spica, & the waxing crescent Moon together near the horizon. :lol: :)

[Turtle]

____The Sun is putting on quite a show for a solar minimum! Fifth largest ever recorded flare this week they're saying! :xx: The giant sunspot 789 is now pointed directly at Earth for the next several days.

___Oh, & don't forget the Harvest Moon is Saturday; if you stay up past midnight to see Luna you may also catch some aurora.

 

Star Struckingly, Turtle :eek2:

[Buffy]

___Oh, & don't forget the Harvest Moon is Saturday; if you stay up past midnight to see Luna you may also catch some aurora.

"Shine on..." we always enjoy those, but we folk in the lower latitudes miss those aurora...

 

Luna Park (a long lost great place for fun like NO, and don't forget to click here.),

Buffy

[Turtle]

___Can't sleep so went out on the deck & sky watched for a while. Almost 4 am in my neck of the woods. Eastern & Southern view of the sky from about 15 deg to 90 altitude. Patchy clouds, mostly fast moving low cumulus. Gibbous crescent Moon rising in the East about 25 deg or so; directly South Jupiter in the vicinity of Pleadies at about 40 deg maybe. Cassiopea(sp) just past the zenith behind me if I crane my neck; vertigo. 3 small meteors over about 20 minutes gazing SSE perhaps coming out of the NW; just caught them in the periphery. Off to try & sleep. Keep looking skyward.