Aurora Watch, plus the Moon and Mars

AURORA WATCH: An ongoing geomagnetic storm could spark auroras tonight bright enough to see with the unaided eye from, e.g., Canada and northern-tier US states such as Maine and Wisconsin and Washington. Dim "photographic auroras" (visible to the camera, but not to the eye) could descend to even lower latitudes. Visit spaceweather.com for updates.

THE MOON AND MARS: On Tuesday morning, May 31st, the Moon and Mars will have a beautiful close encounter in the early morning sky. To see them, look east about an hour before dawn. Mars, nestled close to the Moon, is almost twice as bright as a first magnitude star.

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The Aurora Watcher's Handbook

Northern Lights: The Science, Myth, and Wonder of Aurora Borealis

New Astronomy and Space News Pages

New Astronomy and Space News Pages have been added to the Night Sky Observer site. The headlines, from various organisations are available via links at the top of the News page.

More headline sources will be added over the coming days and weeks.

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Express RSS: In Just 5 Minutes You Can Have Hundreds of Talented WritersDoing All The Work To Keep Your Website Filled With The Latest News, Articles, And Information, And It Won't Cost You A Dime!

Skynotes Page Update

The Skynotes page has had the audio & video links updated for this month so there are now programmes to view and listen to such as StarStruck (Discovery Channel), Let's Talk Stars (David Levy), Jack Horkheimer's Stargazer and Patrick Moore's Skyat Night.

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The Observer's Sky Atlas: With 50 Star Charts Covering the Entire Sky

Atlas of the Sky DVD

Two More Telescopes At Sale Prices

There are another two telescopes at sale prices at Binoculars.com:

DS-2080AT 80mm Refracting Telescope (with AutoStar) for $279.99
ETX-105AT Astro Telescope - UHTC Coatings (with AutoStar) for $870.00

Meade 6-inch Refractor for Near Half Price!

Binoculars.com are having a closeout sale on some telescopes, amongst them some Meade 6 Inch 152ED models. The MSRP for these scopes is $8999.95 but they're being offered for $4999.95 in the sale (about a 45% saving).

Here's the product description: Exquisite optical imaging combined with the most advanced German-type equatorial mounts ever made available. It has long been known that the refracting telescope is capable of yielding perhaps the finest optical imaging performance of any telescope design. Because, however, light passes through the lens elements of a refractor (as opposed, for example, to the design of the Newtonian reflecting telescope, where light is reflected by two mirrors), chromatic aberration has traditionally had a significant, negative effect on optical performance.

1370 mm focal length, GOTO features and suitable for astrophotgraphy. The objective is 152mm in diameter. Comes with a 26mm Plossl eyepiece and 8x50 finder scope.

Just thought you might be interested!

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated today:

News page
Mars page
Space Tourism page
Saturn page

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Issue 7 of the Photon astronomy PDF ezine is still available

Equipment Page Revamped / Site Update News

The Equipment page has been revamped so it now fits in with the design of the rest of the site and there's now an article discussing the merits of various astronomical equipment on the page. The Mars page was revamped a few days ago as well.

The pages that have been updated today are:
News - quite a lot of new stories today
Moon - news about the dark maria on the Moon, first lunar crescent times have been added to The Moon This Month page and two new resources debunking the Apollo Hoax conspiracy theorists have been added to the Moon Resources page
Space Tourism - the FAA ia setting up a plan for spaceflight permits
Mars - evidence of Mars' violent past
Saturn - a bright spot on Titan has scientists perplexed

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Looking for astronomy equipment? - Binoculars.com has a huge range available

Site Update News / eBay Auction Reminder

The following pages have been updated today:

News page
Moon page
Mars page
Space Tourism page
Saturn News page

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There's now less than a day left to bid on the space memorabilia items I have foe auction on ebay

Space Memorabilia Items Posted on eBay

I've posted a number of space memorabilia items on eBay which include astronaut photographs, First Day and commemorative postal covers and some signed memorabilia, notably:

Buzz Aldrin signed 1960s vintage photo of himself (contains both genuine and autopen signatures)
Mercury 7 Astronauts photo signed by Cooper, carpenter and Schirra
First Day cover signed bu Apollo 12 Commander "Pete" Conrad
First Day cover signed by Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto
A check signed by Morris Jeppson, navigator on the Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb
"Space Trivia" book written and signed by Skylab astronaut William Pogue
Apollo 16 NASA Facts sheet signed by astronaut Charlie Duke
A photo signed by German astronaut Ulrich Walter

Also of note: Volumes I and II of the NASA Ranger VII Photographs books

You'll find these space memorabilia items listed here.

If you're not already signed up with eBay, you can do so here .

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated today:

News page
Mars page
Space Tourism page

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Don't forget that Issue 7 of the Photon astronomy ezine is now available

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated today:

News page
Mars page
Saturn page
Space Tourism page

Aurora Alert (May 14)

MAJOR SOLAR FLARE PROMPTS AN AURORA WARNING

The Sun is known for producing energetic spurts of activity, even during the less active periods around the solar sunspot minimum years. We are now a little more than one year from reaching the solar minimum. The frequency of energetic solar events has diminished over the last year, as has the number of sunspots that pepper the face of the Sun. But as has been the case with most solar cycles in recorded history, the Sun is not always quiet. It occasionally hiccups and produces large and complex sunspots capable of influencing space weather at the Earth.

We are currently experiencing one of those 'hiccups.' Several large sunspots have appeared recently that have had the potential to produce energetic solar flare activity. Region 10759, now nearing the central solar meridian, spawned a major class M8.0 solar x-ray flare at 16:57 UTC on 13 May. The event was associated with strong radio bursts across the spectrum. Such bursts have the potential to disrupt cellular phone services when the Sun is aligned with the direction of cellular signal propagation (most dominantly near sunrise and sunset when solar elevation angles are more in-line with cellular signal trajectories). This event has also been blamed for producing a weak space radiation storm, where energetic particles (protons) arrive from the Sun travelling at near relativistic velocities. Such storms have the potential to affect the health and stability of satellites orbiting the Earth.

Perhaps most significantly, this solar flare was associated with a coronal mass ejection that appears to be directed squarely at the Earth. Sometime on 15 May (perhaps during the early to mid UTC hours of 15 May, corresponding to the late evening to early morning hours of 14/15 May for North Americans), this cloud of solar plasma will impact the Earth's magnetosphere and energize it. What follows will depend upon the energy of the impact and the orientation of the embedded solar magnetic fields that interact with the Earth's magnetic field. If the embedded magnetic fields are oriented appropriately, they will generate a potentially strong geomagnetic storm and produce auroral activity ("northern lights") that may become visible across extensive middle latitude regions (central United States through perhaps central Europe, New Zealand and southern Australia).

Given our proximity to the solar minimum and the decreasing frequency of auroral storm events, it may be prudent to watch the skies carefully for activity this weekend (particularly on Saturday and Sunday nights). Current information can be found at www.spacew.com or www.sec.noaa.gov. Those who succeed in observing activity are encouraged to report their observations to the Global Auroral Activity Observation Network at: www.spacew.com/submitsighting.html. A near-realtime accounting of reported sightings can be found at: www.spacew.com/www/auroras.html.

This disturbance is expected to last roughly 18 to 24 hours and may only provide an opportunity to observe auroral activity for one evening. There may be additional opportunities to observe activity over the coming week, as the active sunspot complex responsible for producing this disturbance may yet spawn additional major flares and Earthward-directed CME's in the days ahead.

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated in the last day:

News page
Skynotes page
Articles page
Space Tourism page
Astrophotography page

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Photon Issue 7 Now Available

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated (I'm too tired to write up the descriptions tonight!):
News, Moon, Mars and Space-Tourism

Aurora Surprise

Earlier than expected, a solar wind gust hit Earth on May 7th, sparkng auroras as far south as upstate New York in the United States. The display has subsided, but might continue over Canada, Alaska and other northern latitudes tonight.

Photon Issue 7 Now Available

Photon Issue 7 is now available. I've had to introduce a charge to cover production costs for the ezine as I didn't have much success lining up advertisers/sponsors for it, but this will allow me to pay contributors a small amount for their efforts. The ezine charge is $1.50 per issue or $8.00 for six issues. Details at:

http://www.photonezine.com

Contents:
Deepsky Astronomy Software Review By Rod MolliseBrainless Astronomy 101 By Jack Huerkamp
The Ancient Astronomers of Newgrange By Anthony Murphy
2005 Tucson Meteorite Show By Mark Bostick
Long Night of the Comets By Mark S. Deprest
MallinCam Video CCD Observational System By Jack Huerkamp
Ancient Irish Divisions of Time: The Months By James O’Connor
Aerial Explorations of Terrestrial Meteorite Craters - Sudbury Crater: Part 2 By Charles O’Dale
RawShooter Essentials 2005 By Gary Nugent
Great Astronomers By Tim Carr
Showcase Astrophotos

Site Update News

The following pages have been updated today:

News: today's stories include: Enter the Great Comet Crater Contest!, Cleaner air makes brighter skies and Launch rehearsal for shuttle crew
Moon: Finding a source of water on the moon will be necessarywhen astronauts return there
Mars: Has the Mars Polar Lander wreckage been found? Emulating the surface of Mars amd Mars Express deploys its radar boom
Saturn: Complex patterns of bright and dark regions on the surface of Titan and Phoebe is an interloper to the Saturn system

The eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

Earth is about to glide through a stream of space dust trailing Halley's Comet, producing a mild but beautiful shower of meteors called the eta Aquarids. The shower is most intense over the southern hemisphere, where dark-sky observers might see one meteor every few minutes or so. Northern hemisphere rates are much lower but not zero.

When should you look? The shower's peak spans May 5th and 6th. Try the hours before local dawn on both dates.
Eta Aquarid meteors emerge from a point in the constellation Aquarius that is, coincidentally, close to the planet Mars. Mars is approaching Earth for a close encounter later this year; already it's one of the brightest objects in the pre-dawn sky. So if you wake up early in the days ahead to look for meteors, you can see Mars, too--a nice bonus.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and more information.

Site Update News

The site has undergone a minor update to its navigation menu. Not all pages have been updated - these will be fixed in the coming days, but all the major pages have been upgraded.

The following pages have been updated today:

News: today's stories include a mission to conquer Venus, NASA receives proposal for next spaceship and international conference probes the origins of life beyond Earth
Moon: Rosetta Eyes Earth and Moon
Mars: NASA's Next Mars Spacecraft Arrives in Florida for Final Checkout and the search is back on for the Mars Polar Lander
Saturn: Twelve new moons for Saturn and Phoebe moon may be captured comet

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Jupsat Pro - Jupiter Observer's Software Toolkit