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PERSEID EARTHGRAZERS: When the Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th, the nearly-full Moon is going to spoil the show. But there might be something to see before the Moon rises: a side-show of Perseid Earthgrazers.
STURGEON MOON: Have you ever looked into the eyes of a sturgeon? Some people say it produces a strange sensation of great age, of primeval forests and terrifying dinosaurs. And so it should: Sturgeon are ancient creatures that have changed little for hundreds of millions of years. (continued below)
If you don't have a sturgeon handy, try looking at tonight's full Moon. It's the Sturgeon Moon, named long ago by Native Americans who fished for sturgeon during the month of August. The Sturgeon Moon is even more ancient than sturgeon; you get all the same sensations without the fishy smell.
(Don't like fish? There is an alternative.)
AURORA SURPRISE: A solar wind stream hit Earth yesterday, sparking a geomagnetic storm. The arrival of the stream was unexpected, but the auroras it produced were a pleasant surprise.
"At 3:59 am, I pointed my camera north. Even though my eyes couldn't see the auroras, the camera captured them in this 75-sec exposure," says photographer Thad V'Soske in Grand Valley, Colorado:
Auroras over Colorado. August 7, 2006. Credit: Thad V'Soske.
North of Colorado, the auroras were bright enough to see with the unaided eye, but V'Soske's photographic auroras were most interesting. They show that, sometimes, auroras are "up there" even when you can't see them. All it takes is a well-timed click of the camera to make a very pretty picture.
August 2006 Aurora Gallery