Science Odds and Ends

Orionids: October 21-22

The second meteor shower of the month peaks on the night of October 21-22, with the best activity between midnight and dawn’s early light. This major shooting star display is called the Orionids, for the meteors appear to radiate out of the sky just above Orion’s head and not far from his bright red super giant star Betelgeuse, which marks his right shoulder. These remnants of Halley’s Comet intercept the Earth’s orbit nearly head-on at 41.6 miles per second, so they quickly blaze across the sky.

Orion can easily be found. At 3:30 a.m. this giant of a constellation will be due south of your location and about halfway up above the horizon. A thin Waning Crescent Moon will be towards your east and will not affect observing conditions. Therefore, one could expect the typical hourly rate to peak at around 20 or so yellow and green meteors per hour. The Orionids are also noted for producing fireballs that create persistent dust trains high in the atmosphere.

There are a few constellations I can actually find. Orion's belt being one, but most get lost in the maze. I think I need a iphone with the app that helps me find the constellations and stars. Saw one demonstrated last week and I was captivated. I think it makes a great learning tool. It was so much fun too. Oh, we also got to find the space station. Neat. Ok Holly, here is my Christmas gift idea )

Ready or Not, here it (may) come...
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/01/24/solar-storm-hitting-the-earth-increases-radiation-levels-may-disrupt-satellites-and-flight-paths/

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence of oxygen.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-ama ... xygen.html

LOVE IT!!!
The biggest solar storm in years is battering the planet
Unusual combination of disturbances could affect air travel, power grids, communications

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46664100

Yikes! Doesn't sound like a good day to work on the sun tan, or fly around in airplanes.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/ ... -on-earth/

"A massive solar storm is due to arrive at Earth early Thursday, and is expected to shake the globe's magnetic field while expanding the Northern Lights.

A giant blast of plasma spat from the sun at as much as 4 million miles per hour Tuesday -- by some measures the largest solar event since late 2006 -- and it could lead to serious issues on Earth, forcing some planes to reroute, knocking out power grids, and blacking out radios."

Aurora Forcast
http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/

Full moon will prolly blow it for this area.

But it was an AWESOME FULL MOON!, This morning!

Could be a connection with the x5 Flare????

Magnitude: 6.8
Mercalli scale: 8
Date-Time [UTC]: 14 March, 2012 at 09:08:56 UTC
Local Date/Time: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 09:08 in the moorning at epicenter
Location: 40° 42.000, 145° 12.000
Depth: 10.00 km (6.21 miles)
Region: Asia
Country: Japan
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/read/index.php?pageid=seism_read&rid=234253

I say YES!
Also Note all the recent activity...
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php