Waveform

LOL, I remember reading an article several years ago about 'Araneidan' species were' fed LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) to see if there was any difference in web building. Obviously, this was done in the late sixties. Evidently they (spiders) metabolized the LSD in the same way we do. The web's were quite interesting. The geometry's did not resemble a spider's web in any shape or forum. <h3 class="r"> </h3><h3 class="r"> </h3>

I think spiders are cool. We have some rather large one's here. The species is 'Wolf Spider'. Here is a pix I caught of one. He was looking directly at me. Note his eyes (all eight). He stood there for about 2 seconds before beating a hasty retreat. Most larger spiders are more afraid of you that you are of them. I'm not posting this to make anyone feel creepy. Just to show the pretty mottled coloration. Some spiders are quite beautiful.

I think there are two things on the go here. The great impending catastrophe of 2012. The Mayan calendar thing, which for the want of a better term is absolutely nuts. The other event would be the Apopis asteroid pass. This one is not from the nutter society. Apopis is a 300-meter-wide asteroid. On April 13 2029 will pass by extremely close to us, as asteroids go. In fact it's track will actually be closer to us then our geosynchronous satellites. It will pass between the satellites orbit and us. Should be a bright as a 3rd or 2nd magnitude star. This 2029 close pass will slightly alter the orbit of the asteroid. This will determine what events will unfold in 2036. LOL, April 13 2029 will be a Friday.....

Hi trebor, Yup, absolutely right, Canada does not go anywhere the UK goes. However, remember the aura is an interaction of 'solar disturbances' with the earth's magnetic field. The earth's magnetic field is a function of the iron and displacement of the earth's interior. The magnetic north pole is not a constant but a variable. Over the period of several years the magnetic north can travel several hundreds of kilometers, thus varying the location of aura. I have the same problem as you. I live close to 45̊N, but observation of aura can greatly vary. Thing is, what you see or don't see in aura is more attuned to several hundred kilometer under the earth than several hundred kilometers above. Also, as frogesque pointed out, if the topography of the Eastern seaboard may be endowed with a higher ferrous mineral quantity (which I am not sure of) it would certainly account for then anomaly. One last thing, Canada extends (or so they think) geographically to > 80̊ N. This puts it in league with Greenland and higher than Iceland. Regardless, it would be nice to see more aura for here and you guys in the UK.

I'm not so sure that aural activity is and better over Canada at the same latitude. Remember the Earth has a ~ 23° tilt. The solar disturbance will not target the exact North pole. This is not a 'circular' pattern. Also the earth rotates 'under' those graphic displays. So, if you observe them at, let's say 1:00pm local time as opposed to 3:00am local time the whole observing time will be biased or skewed. It's just one of those things where the observance of local time will seem to appear to favor or not favor a certain event. Just a thought. :lol:

Finally got a chance to read the site. Thanks for the interesting post.

Hi Bryan, Had to dig up some corroborates of the WOW signal. I knew the region it came from but not right down to the pinpoint. Anyway, the WOW signal originated at RA 19h 23m 22s. Dec -27° 03" 20'. Epoch 1950.0 This puts it in the constellation Sagittarius just at the end of the 'tea pot handle'. Keplar will be looking at a larger region of the sky. They have it divided up into squares. More or less boarding RA 20h 00 00 to RA 18h 00 00, Dec +30° 00 to Dec +50° 00. This puts it to the left of Vega in the constellation Lyra and to the right of constellation Cygnus. So there is quite a difference in the locations. I think they may have chosen that part of the sky because it has quite a few star the same class as our sun. Also they are able to pack something like 100,000 stars into look at, in that area. Looking into Sagittarius is looking toward the center of the galaxy. Probably not the best choice for something of this nature. LOL, would have been sort of neat though if the WOW event had happened in the area.

Certainly keeping my fingers crossed this gets up OK, and functions well for the time frame. It could well provide some accurate numbers to plug into the Drake Equation. We might actually get some kind of 'handle' on the numbers of earth like planets that orbit in the 'Goldie Locks' zone of their stars (suns). If all goes well this could provide to be quite interesting over the next several years.

No, it just will pass very close.

On the night of March 1st (2nd UTC) we will have a small asteroid pass by us very close. At this point it looks like .00030 lunar distances. Sort of neat to see something like this once in awhile although this is calling it kind of close. Unfortunately, (or better still most fortunately) it is small enough it will probably not be visible to the unaided eye. If it was big enough to be readily seen it may have a posed much bigger problems..... LOL, things like this put everything in perspective. Sort of show us once in a while where we are on the 'pecking' order.

I observed Lulin early Friday morning. The conditions were not ideal with a very slight haze. I got in less than a minute with the binoculars (10X50). It was probably magnitude 5.5, it was primarily Grey in color. I did not note any green. But then this could have been due to the hazing. When I was finished with the binos, I used the 10 inch Dob scope. I was surprised the quality did not improve that much. Again probably due to the atmospheric transparency. However, it is still very much worth try to observe it. Especially if one has dark skies. If we get better weather during the week I will try for a photo or CCD. But the weather looks real iffy as of now. I'll attach a sky chart of Lulins position in proximity to Saturn for tomorrow night (Feb 24). Just right of Saturn, designated with a red cross, center screen. View is to the South, time is 21:00 hrs from the UK. It's really starting to 'pick-up' velocity now and changes position night to night .

Yes, this should be very interesting over the next three years. Evidently it will be looking at 100,000 stars. It also has quite a sensitive CCD for measuring light levels of stars.

Hi Debs, Theses thing can be quite unpredictable at times. I noticed the area here is quite right now. However, here is a link to NRC that has information specific to 'local' areas. Check here when you hear or suspect there may be aural activity. I find the site quite accurate. LOL, hope you guys on the other side of the Bay have clearer skies than over here. NRC Link..

A neat anaglyph of Redoubt for anyone who still has those old red and green 3D glasses. Link

Hi Gray-Wolf, I was aware and had read some stuff on cosmic ray interaction in the upper atmosphere. I was not aware though there was a cyclic nature to it. Quite interesting. As for cosmic rays they are generated in deep space and some very distant galaxies. They come into being from pulsars, neutron stars, black holes and quasars. It requires extremely large amounts of energy to produce them. For instance when matter spins into the accretion disk of a black hole it's velocity increases. As it gets closer to the event horizon it has acquired so much energy it starts to emit x-rays and gamma rays. Cosmic rays emit from the same sort of deal. They are highly energetic in nature being 10 GeV (10 x 10^9 eV) at the low end of energy .( eV being electron volts) Subdivided, of this are extreme-energy cosmic rays and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. These can have energies in excess of 10^21 eV. Cosmic radiation can be deflected by magnetic fields in space although the can hit the earth from any conceivable 'direction'. The sun also emits cosmic rays but because of the solar 'make-up' they are not as energetic. They also tend to follow the 11 year solar cycle. Description of an eV. 'This only barely scratches the surface of the subject, cosmic radiation. '