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ASTEROID FLYBY: Today, newly-discovered asteroid 2012 TV is flying through the Earth-Moon system about 2/3rd of the way between the Earth and the Moon. The 40m-wide space rock is glowing like a 13th-magnitude star, which makes it a good target for experienced amateur astronomers with mid-sized telescopes. [3D orbit] [details]
DRACONID METEOR SHOWER: The notoroiusly unpredictable Draconid meteor shower peaks this year on the night of Oct. 7-8. In most years, the Draconids come and go with a barely noticable peak of 10 or so meteors per hour. Occasionally, however, Earth passes through a dense clump of debris from parent comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and a meteor storm erupts. Just last year, Europeans witnessed a faint but furious outburst of 600 per hour. There is no reason to believe that 2012 is a "storm year." Nevertheless, northern hemisphere sky watchers are encouraged to be alert for slow-moving Draconids on Sunday night. [sky map] [meteor radar]
EARTH-DIRECTED CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading for Earth. The cloud, pictured below in a coronagraph image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is expected to deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on Oct. 8. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% to 35% chance of strong polar geomagnetic storms on Oct. 8-9. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras, especially during the hours around local midnight. Aurora alerts: text, voice
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
AURORAS AND DINOFLAGELLATES: Last night, Frank Olsen went to the beach outside Sortland, Norway to photograph the colors of aurora borealis in the sky. He also found some colors at his feet. The beach was aglow with bioluminescent dinoflagellates:
"I was photographing the auroras when the Noctilucales washed up on the beach," says Olsen. "The moonlight was a nice bonus."
There is an interesting link between the auroras and the dinoflagellates. Both use oxygen to create their glow. In the case of the marine organism, a chemical pigment (luciferin) reacts with oxygen to create light. Meanwhile up in the sky, charged particles from the solar wind rain down on the atmosphere, colliding with oxygen molecules to create the telltale green hue of auroras.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
A RAINBOW AT NIGHT: Everyone has seen a rainbow during the day. Bright sunlight bounces off raindrops to produce a colorful arc of red, green and blue. But what about at night? Without sunlight, a rainbow would seem to be impossible. Nevertheless, Martin McKenna saw one on the night of Oct. 3rd over Ballintoy Harbour in Northern Ireland:
This is a type of rainbow called a "moonbow," formed by the light of the Moon instead of the sun.
"I was fortunate enough to catch these rare moonbows over the surreal moonlit Atlantic Ocean at Ballintoy Harbour," says McKenna. "The gibbous moon rising in the east produced enough light to illuminate the off-shore showers, which produced a near complete moonbow. I could see red, yellow, and white colours with the naked eye. The scene looked amazing over the ancient coastline."
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]