NO SOLAR FLARES TODAY: All five sunspots on the solar disk are stable and quiet. NOAA says the odds of an X-flare today are no more than 1%. The quiet is likely to persist for the next 3 days at least. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
GREAT GEMINIDS: The Geminid meteor shower peaked on Dec. 14th when Earth passed through a gravelly stream of debris from 'rock comet' 3200 Phaethon. "This year's shower ranks as the best I've ever seen," reports Dan Bush, who photographed a Moon-bright fireball from his backyard in Albany, Missouri:
"It was incredible," says Bush. During the peak, observers reporting to the International Meteor Organization counted as many as 120 Geminids per hour-- a couple of meteors per minute under ideal skies. Meteor rates should decrease on Dec. 15th, but not to zero. Between 20 and 30 meteors per hour are possible tonight as the shower subsides. [sky map]
more images: from David Blanchard at Mormon Lake, AZ; from Greg Connor of Ridgecrest, CA; from Marcus Prazniak of Tonopah, NV; from Eliot Herman of Tucson, AZ; from Jan Curtis of Cheyenne, WY
DO YOU HAVE GEMINIDS ON YOUR ROOF? The question is not as crazy as it sounds. Researchers estimate that micrometeorites 0.1 mm wide fall about once a year per square meter. A typical rooftop therefore collects hundreds per year. In the Lofoten Islands of Norway, Rob Stammes thinks he may have recorded the pitter-patter of meteorites on his own roof. Listen to a sample impact, then scroll down for the full story.
Above: The microphone under Rob Stammes' roof. Inset: A sample 0.4 mm micrometeorite collected from a rain gutter in Alabama.
"For years I have been listening with microphones on my roof for potential sounds during the Northern Lights," says Stammes, who is a respected citizen scientist with a space weather lab deep inside the Arctic Circle. "Occasionally, I noticed small stones rolling into the microphone on my roof."
"My roof, like many houses here, is made of thin steel sheeting. Its surface area is approximately 320 square meters. Under the roof, the space is mostly empty. I decided to mount a microphone there. It is an ideal place because there is no snow or wind, and the temperature is around zero. Again, I recorded rolling stones."
"Two weeks ago, I realized it might be coming from space," he says. "Looking in the Store Norske Leksikon, I read that micrometeorites of 0.1 mm fall about once a year per square meter. So, on my large roof, there's a good chance, and yes, I've had three audio observations in the past few nights, two of which were in the early hours of Dec. 12th."
"Perhaps this would be a fun experiment for others as well," says Stammes. "All you need is a condensor microphone, inline amplifier and a pro digital recorder." Just don't forget the metal roof.
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