frogesque

New volcanic island apears off Tonga This may have been covered but some superb and surreal pics here. http://yacht-maiken.blogspot.com/2006/08/s...nd-volcano.html Also Guardian report http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/stor...6202944,00.html

Superb CME profile caught by SOHO from a sunspot just over the limb featured on today's Spaceweather. You can also hear it too! http://www.spaceweather.com/

Sunspot complex 921 looks quite interesting and 922 seems to be growing as well. http://www.spaceweather.com/

I remember the 1999 show, standing at the top of a local hill watching them. There was a couple up there with their young children oohing and ahhing and I mentioned they would be a bit tired for school later in the day. Their dad said,"They can go to school any day, this may be their one chance in a lifetime to see this!" It was absolutely fantastic, brilliant white and green meteors with red trails lasting up to 30 seconds. I even saw one abruptly change direction and skip off the Earth's atmosphere and on out into space again. If this year's show is anything like 1/4 as good it will be well worth staying out to watch.

Thanks for the 'heads up' :blink:

Glad you all enjoyed The reality of space never ceases to bring a sense of wonder and awe and it really brings home how tiny and insignificant we are.

APOD : In the Shadow of Saturn Just when you think Cassini can't possibly throw up any more suprises. Absolutely gobsmacking stunning B)

Don't know is the short answer We'll just have to keep looking

Don't go overboard with the Doom 'n gloom. East Antrim Astronomical Society "DISCOVERY Michael Mattiazzo and Rob Matson found an object in SWAN images from late June 2006, which was found on images taken by Terry Lovejoy on June 30. The comet was confirmed with images taken by Rob McNaught with the Uppsala Schmidt on July 12. It passed through the SOHO LASCO coronagraph field between August 11 and the end of the month, but was barely visible." It didn't exactly sneak up on us from behind the Sun - it was spotted well before it went behind the sun and re-emerged a bit brighter than expected. It's an Ort Cloud object and won't return to the solar system. We could get hit with a space rock at any time but the probablity of significant damage to Earth is slight to non existant though locally it could give someone a bad hair day. Tunguska type events are very, very rare Wikipedia Comets and such have always been associated with fear and life changing events though no Great Comet has collided with Earth during historical times yet there is seriously more risk crossing a road. Keep it all in perspective and just enjoy the show while it lasts.

Hi Daisy,Generally you would need a Kp of 9 to see the aurora that far south which is roughly 49 deg magnetic North. You also need a good dark sky location with no light pollution from the NW to the NE. The orange bar is an indication of some activity and could possibly produce aurora in Shetland. It really needs to be red for any chance on mainland UK. For my location, East Central Scotland, for instance I need a minimum of Kp 7 for anything like a good show. We are in solar minimum at the moment so there's not a lot of activity but keep checking because if anything is likely to happen someone will come on to spread the news!

Nice one Stella :blink: Glad you saw it. Another fantastic pic on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

Now visible in the early morning sky, though faint at mag 6 should be OK with a decent pair of binocs. Comet C/2006 M4 (Swan): http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?ID=dK06M040;orb=1;cov=0#orb Pic on Spaceweather http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/01oct06/cook.jpg Looks pretty and developing a good tail

Problem with viewing aurora during summer is the lack of dark sky and the further north you go the worse it gets. In winter there is something like a 14 hour window of good darkness whereas in summer there is virtually none so any aurora would have to arrive at the right time, be strong enough to be visible (Kp 7 or above) and you would need a clear sky to boot! All that said, I have seen a bright aurora at sunset during October and the sky was definitely not dark (it developed into a full overhead corona later ) Aurora watching is very much about being in the right place at the right time.

If it was summer then as Shuggs has said, could be Noctilucent Cloud but the rainbow colours suggest it could have been rarer Nacreous Cloud. I've only ever seen them once on a bitter cold February evening - stunningly beautifull.

I want one

Shuggs: From spaceweather - "AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream hit Earth yesterday, causing a mild geomagnetic storm and pretty auroras over Scandinavia. The storm has subsided, but it could flare up again; the solar wind is still blowing against Earth. High-latitude sky watchers, remain alert for auroras. " I was camping in Montrose over the weekend. Had been cloudy at nightfall with rain later but was a beautifull clear sky at 4.00am this morning, no sign of any aurora though.

Reversals happen, I don't think it's anything to get too distracted by. Plenty other things to worry about that could be having a bigger effect. Meanwhile, back at the ranch Spaceweather "AURORA WATCH: A coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) is heading toward Earth and could spark a geomagnetic storm when it arrives on August 18th or 19th. The cloud was hurled into space yesterday by a C3-class explosion in the magnetic field of sunspot 904. Sky watchers, prepare for auroras. " C3 isn't particularly strong but it is headed our way and could have some strong reversed polarity mixed in it so here's hoping for clear skys and a good light show!

First frame of CME from LASCO C2 Edit: another beauty

PRESTO FROM SIDC - RWC BELGIUM " PRESTO FROM SIDC - RWC BELGIUM Wed Aug 16 2006, 1309 UT A post-eruption arcade with coronal dimmings has been observed by GOES-12/SXI (and SOHO/EIT) starting around 07:00 UT on August 16, to the north-west of NOAA AR 0904. It was accompanied by a partial halo CME first seen in the LASCO C2 field of view at 08:30 (after 7 hours of data gap). The arrival of an ICME to the Earth is possible on August 19 and may lead to a geomagnetic storm. In spite of the arrival of a fast forward shock (detected by SOHO/CELIAS at 16:26 UT on August 15), both solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field remain low. We thus do not expect any significant geomagnetic disturbance in the coming hours. " In short. Sunspot 904 has popped! :lol: Edit: Latest LASCO C2 Images

I know! We've been here before and been dissapointed but sunspot 904 looks a real cracker and it's growing. Spaceweather "When sunspots grow very quickly, their magnetic fields can become unstable and explode. Sunspot 904 harbors energy for M-class eruptions and poses a gathering threat for X-flares. Stay tuned for further developments. "

Normally Lavateria just keep on blooming from about June through to October so my guess is it's too dry. If you can give the roots a good deep soaking and it should bounce back. I've a L. 'Barnsley' planted last year that's looking magnificent at the moment.

Caught this one last weekend taking a rest and maneuvering the leaf section. In flight it looked like a wierd moth! More info on bees here: InsectPix: Solitary Bees

Nice M Class flare, possibly from the huge sunspot, 898. :blink: LASCO

Check your sheds, garages, outhouses and lofts, etc. So easily sorted out when there's only the queen to deal with but later in the year could be a real problem. Discovered this one yesterday lurking in a kiddies' wendy house. The intial nest (or byke) being made by the queen. It's about the size of a golf ball View from underneath showing the chambers with developing lavae. Tell-tale debris on the floor The queen, chewing wood to make paper pulp to extend the nest Later, when the young adult wasps emerge the queen will only lay eggs and control her colony. The workers take on all the other duties of nest building, collecting food, defence and tending young. By Autumn there can be over 2000 wasps and it's something you definitely don't want to tackle in a confined space.

At this time of year in there are very few worker wasps. What you are seeing is probably queen wasps looking for nesting sites, scavenging wood to chew for pulp to make the nest with and food to feed her developing young. Once the first young emerge they will take over the worker duties and the queen will adopt her primary role of egg layer and nest matriach. Hornets are much larger than an ordiany wasp and quite rare in the UK We've had a peculiar winter this year and the weather, though cold, has been dry and this enables many more queen wasps (and other insects) to survive hibernation. Last year was a wet and dreech spring and numbers were well down but this year I think we can expect a wasp population explosion. Just part of the natural cycle they go through. On a side note I've also seen loads of Red Mason Bees collecting mud for their nests. These bees are something like a small bumble bee and are covered with orangy red hair, they are very docile and will not sting unless severely provoked. They are beautiful gentle creatures and fantastic early pollinators (especially of fruit trees) so if you can, please encourage them to make homes in your garden.