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Weird weather


ally

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  • 9 months later...

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http://www.spaceweather.com/

WAKE UP! Did you sleep through the auroras of October? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE

AURORA WATCH: High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for Northern Lights tonight. Earth is entering a high-speed solar wind stream and this could spark geomagnetic storms around the Arctic Circle.

TAURID METEORS: The annual Taurid meteor shower is underway and it could be a good show. 2008 is a "swarm year" for the Taurids: Between Nov. 5th and 12th, Earth is due to pass through a swarm of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When the same thing happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight fireballs for nearly two weeks.

Readers, be alert for more of these in the nights ahead. The best time to look is anytime after dark. The constellation Taurus (where Taurids appear) rises at sunset and hangs high overhead at midnight.

GREAT PROMINENCE: "The sun left two gifts on my doorstep this morning," says Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York. "There was a gorgeous solar prominence and a glorious warm November day that allowed me to observe it in shirtsleeves!"

Other observers saw it, too: Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, Kentucky, called it "a real WOWser!" Jan Timmermans of the Netherlands measured the prominence and found it surging "four times higher than Earth itself. It was huge." John Boyd of Santa Barbara, California, said "it was the biggest prominence I've seen in a long time. I'm glad the sun is getting active again."

Indeed it is. The month of October brought four new-cycle sunspots, doubling the total of the previous nine months. For the first time in 2008, new-cycle active regions are outnumbering their old-cycle counterparts. Solar Cycle 24 is definitely picking up steam and this fiery prominence may be a further sign of things to come.

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I didn't hear about that. :huh:

We get hurricanes in winter in Enumclaw. :o

That was last Jan. Redrum. They are just so rare in the northwest. Hurricanes we've had but I don't ever remember a tornado touching down in these parts.

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That was last Jan. Redrum. They are just so rare in the northwest. Hurricanes we've had but I don't ever remember a tornado touching down in these parts.

Maybe the 'Pineapple Express' had something to do with it. It's really been fairly warm of late and it could have ran into a cold front. :mellow:

I always dread Enumclaw in winter. :blink:

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Maybe the 'Pineapple Express' had something to do with it. It's really been fairly warm of late and it could have ran into a cold front. :mellow:

I always dread Enumclaw in winter. :blink:

I don't really know what to expect around here anymore. The winters seem to be going back to what they were like in the 60's. Early snow etc. The only thing that hasn't changed is the rain :D

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Hey Ally, is that Vancouver Island off in the distance in that photo? I would love to go to Vancouver some day.

No Yukon, that pic is looking north across the harbour with the local mountains in the background.

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Its beautiful! About how much would it cost to rent a two bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood?

Rents are very high and there is a real shortage of rental space. Many of the older buildings have been bought by new owners and those owners are jacking up the rents on the long term tenants. The idea is to try and force those tenants out so the suites can be converted into stratas ( condo's ) and sold. This and some city by- laws is why there is such a shortage. Mind you, the current economic climate will have a huge effect on new stratas that have recently been built and / or ones that have yet to be completed. Those may end up going onto the rental pool and at the end of the day may even force the owners of those older buildings to have a rethink. The one thing that won't change Yukon is the fact that people are tired of commuting and this alone will keep rents in Vancouver proper, on the high end. To try and answer your question, a two bedroom in Mnt Pleasant or Kitsilano would run you about $1200 - $1500 on average. Higher in some cases.

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TAURID FIREBALLS: There's a bright Moon out tonight, but it's not putting a damper on the Taurid meteor shower. That's because Taurids tend to be fireballs:

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"I caught this very long and bright Taurid meteor on Nov. 8th," says Bob Johnson of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan."It really lit up the sky!"

Earth is passing through a swarm of gritty debris from comet 2P/Encke and this is causing fireballs to shoot out of the constellation Taurus. They can appear at any time; Taurus rises in the east at sunset and stays up all night long. Some patience is required. You may have to stay outside an hour or more to see one, but one fireball is enough to make the wait worthwhile: sky map.

I caught these showers walking back from the beach Saturday night. I was suprised I could these them in the vicinity of the moon with it's bright appearence.

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I've been up here going on 10 years and I can attest to that!

B)

Yeah, it's just winter in God's Country. I don't actually mind it as long as we get a few sunny breaks along the way. It can get depressing if a person is not used to it though

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Mysterious glowing aurora over Saturn confounds scientists

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...cientists.html#

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By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:41 PM on 13th November 2008

A stunning light display over Saturn has stumped scientists who say it behaves unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system.

The blueish-green glow was found over the ringed planet's north polar region just like Earth's northern lights.

It was discovered by the infrared instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The northern polar region of Saturn shows both the aurora and underlying atmosphere, as captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft

'We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere,' said Tom Stallard, a scientist working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester.

'This aurora covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise.'

Auroras are caused by charged particles streaming along the magnetic field lines of a planet into its atmosphere.

Particles from the sun cause Earth's auroras. Many, but not all, of the auroras at Jupiter and Saturn are caused by particles trapped within the magnetic environments of those planets.

A green aurora dances over the night side of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station in 2003. Earth, Jupiter and Saturn all have dazzling auroras

Jupiter's main auroral ring is caused by interactions in Jupiter's magnetic environment and remains constant in size. Saturn's main aurora is caused by the solar wind, and changes size dramatically as the wind varies. However, the newly observed aurora at Saturn doesn't fit into either category.

The new infrared aurora appears in a region hidden from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Cassini observed it when the spacecraft flew near Saturn's polar region.

In infrared light, the aurora sometimes fills the region from around 82 degrees north all the way over the pole. This new aurora is also constantly changing, even disappearing within a 45 minute-period.

'There is something special and unforeseen about this planet's magnetosphere and the way it interacts with the solar wind and the planet's atmosphere,' Cassini scientist Nick Achilleos from the University College London said.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I've been up here going on 10 years and I can attest to that!

B)

How'd you make out with the wind storm last night? First of the season for us but I think you get hit more often than we do

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  • 2 weeks later...

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