MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

CSM – “The sun unleashed a powerful solar flare late Monday (Oct. 22), releasing waves of radiation into space that have already caused a short radio blackout on Earth.

The flare erupted from the sunspot AR 11598 (short for Active Region 11598), and reached peak brightness at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT this morning, Oct. 23), according to scientists working on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a space telescope that constantly monitors the sun with high-definition cameras. It ranked as an X1.8 solar flare, one of the strongest types of solar flares, according to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) run by NOAA and the National Weather Service.

The same sunspot produced three strong flares before this one in just the two days since it became visible from Earth’s perspective. ‘This means more flares are probably in the offing, and they will become increasingly Earth-directed as the sunspot turns toward our planet in the days ahead,’ astronomer Tony Phillips wrote on Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks skywatching and space weather events…

Monday’s solar flare was captured in photos and video by SDO, and appears as a bright white flash coming off the sun. The flare was a short-lived type of solar eruption called an impulsive flare (as opposed to the other type, called a gradual flare).

‘Impulsive flares aren’t generally associated with severe space weather, and additionally, this region is still several days away from directly facing Earth from center disk,’ SWPC officials wrote. ‘Nonetheless, the potential for continued activity remains, so stay tuned for updates as Region 1598 makes its way across the visible disk.'” Read more.

“The National Weather Service (NWS) received numerous calls last night (October 17) from Central Valley to the Bay Area in California, with callers claiming they had witnessed a giant fireball blazing across the night sky. The fireball was reportedly witnessed between about 7:45 and 7:55 p.m. PST.

‘We’ve had a lot of calls about people who have seen a big fireball,’ said Stefanie Henry, a meteorologist with the NWS. ‘The speculation is that it’s part of the Orionid meteor shower that peaks about Oct. 21.’

Although professional observers are calling it part of the Orionid meteor shower, most, if not all, call-ins claimed they had only witnessed a single fireball.

Henry said the actual cause of the fireball has not yet been confirmed, and she stressed that meteorologists are not experts on meteor showers.

Reports of the fireball were heaviest in the San Francisco Bay Area and parts of Northern California, with several reports of loud booms from Santa Cruz County and Mendocino County, according to the Oakland Tribune.

NWS forecaster Steve Anderson told the Tribune that a ‘cloud-free sky and the warm temperatures that are pushing out the clouds will make the showers more and more visible as the weekend approaches.’

The general consensus among professional observers is that the fireball is part of the Orionid meteor shower and not a rogue celestial visitor.” Read more.

BY PETER GREGO, ASTRONOMY NOW – “A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013. With a perihelion passage of less than two million kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at up to magnitude —16. That’s far brighter than the full Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history, far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997 and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March 2013.

The new comet, named C/2012 S1 (ISON) was found by the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) in Russia on 21 September when astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok captured it on CCD images taken through a 0.4-metre reflector. Its near-parabolic orbit suggests that it has arrived fresh from the Oort Cloud, a vast zone of icy objects orbiting the Sun, pristine remnants of the formation of the Solar System.

C/2012 S1 currently resides in the northwestern corner of Cancer. At magnitude +18 it is too dim to be seen visually but it will be within the reach of experienced amateur astronomers with CCD equipment in the coming months as it brightens. It is expected to reach binocular visibility by late summer 2013 and a naked eye object in early November of that year. Northern hemisphere observers are highly favoured. Following its peak brightness in late November it will remain visible without optical aid until mid-January 2014.

Comet brightness predictions sometimes exceed their performance. Amateur astronomers of a certain age may remember the Comet Kohoutek hype of 1973 – not quite the ‘damp squib’ it has been portrayed, since it reached naked eye visibility! Even if C/2012 S1 takes on the same light curve as Kohoutek it is certain to be spectacular, quite possibly a once-in-a-civilisation’s-lifetime event.” Source – Astronomy Now.

Hat tip to AHF for the link …

“A newfound asteroid that may be the size of three football fields will whiz by Earth Thursday Sept. 13, and you can watch the close encounter live online.

Asteroid 2012 QG42 is between 625 feet to 1,400 feet wide (190 to 430 meters) and was first spotted by scientists last month. Researchers say the space rock has no chance of hitting Earth this week when it makes its closest approach on Thursday.

The asteroid will pass by at a safe distance of about 7.5 times the Earth-moon distance. The moon is, on average, about 238,000 miles from Earth.

Asteroid 2012 QG42 is, however, listed as a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ by the Minor Planet Center at Cambridge, Mass., meaning it may pose a threat in the future.

At least two online observatories are tracking the asteroid’s pass by Earth.

The Virtual Telescope Project run by astronomer Gianluca Masi in Italy began providing a live video stream today at 6 p.m. EDT (22:00 UTC). You can see that video stream on the project’s website.

The Virtual Telescope Project has been tracking asteroid 2012 QG42 since last week and posting images online.

On Thursday, the Slooh Space Camera night sky observing website will provide a live view of asteroid 2012 QG42’s closest approach in a webcast starting at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT), offering views from at least one of its telescopes at its observatory in the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. You can tune into the Slooh webcast here.” Read more.

Reuters: “The flare had been observed hovering inside the Sun’s atmosphere before it exploded on August 31st, sending a filament more than half a million miles into space at a speed of 900 miles per second. NASA says the charged particles ejected by the flare did not travel directly towards Earth, but did deliver Earth’s magnetosphere a glancing blow, producing aurora but no damage. Images of the flare were captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the Sun. With four telescopes recording in different wavelengths, it transmits highly detailed images of the sun every ten seconds, seven days a week. This latest ejection is part of an 11-year cycle of activity which is expected to peak next year.” (Transcript)

The Telegraph – “A meteor has exploded above Wales causing a sonic boom which shook windows and set off car alarms.

Hundreds of people saw the fireball shoot across the night sky before exploding near their homes.

Sleeping children were woken by a ‘sonic boom’ created as the golf ball sized meteor exploded above South Wales.

Homeowner Steve Edwards, 56, said: ‘There was an enormous boom – It sounded like a bomb going off.

‘The force of it shook the windows in my house, woke up my children and caused car alarms to start going off in the streets.

‘I’m just glad none of it landed on my roof.’

Police and coastguards in South Wales had dozens of reports of a bright flash in the sky followed by a loud bang.

Witness Nathan Jones, 34, who lives in nearby St Athan, said: ‘I’ve never seen something so amazing in my life.

‘It had a heat trail behind, It was orange and white and very bright, and also seemed very close.

‘It looked like it was skimming through the atmosphere due to the curved path it was taking.’

The meteor was first spotted in the North West and amateur astronomers watched as it sped towards the border of Wales and the South West.

Hannah Sabido, 33, who spotted the meteor from her home in Bristol, said: ‘I first noticed it as a very bright glowing light behind cloud, travelling very fast.

‘It looked like a bright white ball with a long bright tail and possibly a green hue. It was brighter than the moon.'” Read more.

By NED POTTER – “Go outside in the wee hours of Sunday morning and if the night sky is clear, you might see exquisite showers.

The Perseid meteor shower of 2012 is expected to peak Sunday between midnight and dawn, and if you’re in a good, dark place, you might see more than 60 meteors — shooting stars — per hour.

Every year at this time, the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet called Swift-Tuttle, and we see meteors streaking across the night sky as pieces of debris from the comet — most no larger than grains of sand — enter the earth’s atmosphere and burn up.

Although the comet is far away now, in an elliptical orbit that brings it close to the sun once every 133 years, rock and ice from it have spread out along its path. The comet itself will probably be pretty good to see if you can hang on until July 2126, but in the meantime, like clockwork, it gives us an annual meteor shower in mid-August.

This is a good year to look. There is a crescent moon that will rise in the east Sunday around 2 a.m., but it should not be bright enough to interfere with seeing in other parts of the sky. The weather is another matter; the forecast, especially for the eastern United States, is not promising.” Read more.

Sky News – “Power grids, communications and satellites could be knocked out by a massive solar storm in the next two years, scientists warn.

Experts say the sun is reaching a peak in its 10-year activity cycle, putting the Earth at greater risk from solar storms.

Mike Hapgood, a space weather specialist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot, Oxfordshire, said: ‘Governments are taking it very seriously. These things may be very rare but when they happen, the consequences can be catastrophic.’

He warned that solar storms are increasingly being put on national risk registers used for disaster planning, alongside other events like tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

There is 12% chance of a major solar storm every decade – making them a roughly one-in-100-year event. The last major storm was more than 150 years ago.

The threat comes from magnetically-charged plasma thrown out by the sun in coronal mass ejections.

Like vast bubbles bursting off the sun’s surface, they send millions of tons of gas racing through space that can engulf the Earth with as little as one day’s warning.

They trigger geomagnetic storms which can literally melt expensive transformers in national power grids.

Satellites can be damaged or destroyed and radio communications – including with jet airliners – could be knocked out.

Teams of scientists in North America and Europe monitor the sun and issue warnings to governments, power companies and airline operators.

In 1989, a solar storm was blamed for taking out the entire power network in Quebec, Canada, which left millions without electricity for nine hours.

The largest was known as the Carrington event in 1859, when British astronomer Richard Carrington observed a large solar eruption that took just 17 hours to reach the Earth’s atmosphere.

It caused the aurora borealis – or Northern Lights – to be seen as far south as the Caribbean.” Source – Sky News.