Astronomy Toadfish Nerds Unite!

[Opsa]

We know who we are.

The orionids meteor shower peaks this Saturday between 10 and 11 p.m.! Keep an eye out for shooting stars!

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Bah.  They're forecasting clouds all weekend.

Here's hoping conditions improve.

[Vita Curator]

I'll be out in my parka and sleeping bag!  Yeah for meteor showers!

Just adding today the message I received from Space Weather News:

ORIONID METEOR SHOWER:  This weekend, a mild but pretty flurry of meteors will shoot out of the constellation Orion. The source is Halley's Comet. Although the comet itself is far away, ancient clouds of dust from the comet are nearby, and Earth is about to run through them. The best time to look is Saturday morning, Oct. 21st.  Dozens of meteors might streak across the sky during the hours before sunrise.  Dark skies are recommended!

AURORA WATCH:  A solar wind stream is heading toward Earth, and it could spark a display of auroras when it arrives on Oct. 20th or 21st

[Opsa]

Oh wow! That is so exciting about the auroras!

The last time I saw them was three or four years ago. I heard the meteorologist on the television mention them and I ran out back to look at the sky.

At first, I saw a red glare. As it intensified I called some nice science-oriented pals of mine who are from Texas and had never seen them. I took the phone out to my back steps just as the show began. Long greenish yellow streaks drifted in, made ribbed patterns with sparkles on the ends and drifted out silently. My friend and I just said "Wow... wow..." to eachother on the phone for about fifteen minutes. It was very cool.

Coincidentally, the same people are supposed to watch for orionids with me tomorrow night. It would blow our minds if we got to see the aurora borealis again!

[Aggie]

Hmmm... gotta keep me posted on the aurora watch, 'specially if I'm headed up north for work.  I've seen a few in the past, but nothing very spectacular.

[anthrobabe]

Phil Platt
www.badastronomy.com

he is awesome and he has some of the best photo links ever on his blog like this one...

http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=2230&flash=1

hurry over to it and be amazed

[Opsa]

Didn't see any aurora last night, but did catch a couple of orionids!

[Vita Curator]

I didn't see any aurora either, and worse yet, I slept through the meteor shower! 

Edit:  Just received this from Space Weather News:

NORTHERN LIGHTS:  As predicted, a solar wind stream hit Earth on Oct. 20th.  The impact did not trigger a full-fledged geomagnetic storm.  Nevertheless, colorful auroras appeared over Scandinavia and Iceland--and the display is still active almost two days later.

I guess since most of us don't live in Scandinavia or Iceland most of us probably did miss the colorful auroras.

[Aphos]

For those of you who do not know about it, here is a link to NASA's Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD).  Lots of cool pictures.

[Aphos]

Cool picture from APOD...



The big arc is the Moon, the little arc is Venus.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

That picture is fishtastic! Thank you.

(my kid liked it too!).
:toadfish:

[Vita Curator]

From my e-mail, from spaceweather.com.  I thought that this was really cool.

DEATH PLUNGE: Yesterday, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) caught a comet plunging toward the sun. It went in--but not out again. The sungrazing comet disintegrated like an ice cube in an oven. See the movie:

http://spaceweather.com./images2006/04nov06/c3_big.gif

[goat starer]

I like looking at stars and stuff but know nothing about it. anyone recommend a good book?

[Vita Curator]

From Science At NASA
Return of the Leonids


Nov. 14 , 2006: On Sunday, Nov. 19th, Earth will pass through a stream of debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The result: a shower of Leonid meteors.

"We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, AL. This pales in comparison to the Leonid storms of 2001 and 2002, when sky watchers saw thousands of meteors. Even so, a hundred per hour would make the Leonids one of the best showers of 2006.

Forecasters differ on when the outburst will occur. Estimates range from 0445 UT to 0630 UT on Nov. 19th (11:45 p.m. on Nov. 18th to 1:30 am EST on Nov. 19th). The timing favors western Europe, Africa, Brazil and eastern parts of North America.


Extra: Don't believe everything you read. While meteor forecasters have done a splendid job predicting Leonid outbursts in recent years—sometimes "nailing the peak within minutes"—they could be wrong in 2006. The outburst might happen at an unexpected time or it might be better than expected. Cooke urges enthusiasts everywhere to keep an eye out for Leonid meteors the nights of Nov. 17th – 19th. "The best time to look," he says, "is just before local dawn when the constellation Leo is high in the sky."

[Opsa]

Oooh! Oooh!

I'll be looking for them. Gotta look up where the constellation Leo is located at this time of year. I'm often up before dawn.

Thanks, Vita!