Solar Eclipse on Thursday, October 23rd.

Solar activity is surging on the eve of Thursday's solar eclipse. Giant sunspot AR2192 is crackling with M- and X-class solar flares as the Moon approaches the sun for a partial eclipse that will be visible across almost all of North America on Oct. 23rd.  The eclipse will be particularly beautiful in the Central Time Zone where maximum coverage occurs at sunset.

 SOLAR FLARE ALERT:  Giant sunspot AR2192 is poised to erupt again.

For more information on AR2192 or other solar flares head on to SpaceWeather.com.

Solar Eclipse

Early Sunday morning, Nov. 3rd, sky watchers along the east coast of North America might notice something missing--a piece of the sun. A partial solar eclipse will be underway at sunrise. In the United States, visibility stretches all the way from Maine to the southern tip of Florida. Later, the Moon will cover the entire sun producing a total eclipse over parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Africa.

  Early Sunday morning, sky watchers along the east coast of North America might notice something missing--a piece of the sun. A partial eclipse will be underway at sunrise. Dawn will look something like this:

As much as 54% of the sun will be covered by the New Moon; the size of the bite depends on location. To see it, look east between about 6:30 am and 7 am EST. Although low-hanging clouds might dim the sun to naked-eye visibility, safe solar filters are strongly recommended. Aluminized Mylar and #14 welder's glass are popular choices. Also, don't forget that Daylight Time changes to Standard Time at 2 am on Nov. 3rd. Set your clocks back one hour before the eclipse begins!

Sunrise is just the beginning. Next, the eclipse races across the Atlantic toward Africa where coverage reaches 100%. Inside a narrow path of totality, sky watchers can see the sun's ghostly corona spring out from behind the Moon. The dark core of the Moon's shadow will touch parts of several African nations including Gabon, the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. In those places, totality can be seen. Meanwhile, a partial eclipse will be visible across the entire continent.  You can view the visibility map here.

You can find out more about the upcoming Solar Eclipse at SpaceWeather.

TAURID METEOR SHOWER

From SpaceWeather:

TAURID METEOR SHOWER:  Earth is passing through a stream of gravelly debris from Comet Encke, source of the annual Taurid meteor shower. Because the debris stream is not very congested, Taurid meteor rates are low, no more than 5 per hour. The special thing about Taurids is that they tend to be fireballs. Check http://spaceweather.com for the latest videos and images of the display, which is expected to peak around Nov. 12th.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN: Scientists and sky watchers are converging on the northeast coast of Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef, for a total eclipse of the sun on Nov. 13/14. For researchers, the brief minutes of totality open a window into some of the deepest mysteries of solar physics.

The sky this weekend will be interesting to say the least.

The Afternoon Sky Will Darken

The West Coast of the United States (and a good part of the Pacific Ocean) should get ready for one of the wildest journeys they can experience.

This comes right off the Super Moon Event of earlier this month.  This spectacular event will out do even that Magnificent Spectacle.

From SpaceWeather:

On Sunday, May 20th, the Moon will pass in front of the Sun, producing an annular solar eclipse visible across the Pacific side of Earth. The path of annularity, where the sun will appear to be a "ring of fire" stretches from China and Japan to the middle of North America:

SOLAR ECLIPSE THIS WEEKEND: On Sunday, May 20th, the Moon will pass in front of the Sun, producing an annular solar eclipse visible across the Pacific side of Earth. The path of annularity, where the sun will appear to be a "ring of fire" stretches from China and Japan to the middle of North America

An animated eclipse map prepared by Larry Koehn of ShadowandSubstance.com shows the best times to look. In the United States, the eclipse begins at 5:30 pm PDT and last for two hours. Maximum coverage is around 6:30 pm PDT.

Because this is not a total eclipse, some portion of the sun will always be exposed. To prevent eye damage, use eclipse glasses, a safely-filtered telescope, or a solar projector to observe the eclipse. You can make a handy solar projector by criss-crossing your fingers waffle-style. Rays of light beaming through the gaps will have the same shape as the eclipsed sun. Or look on the ground beneath leafy trees for crescent-shaped sunbeams and rings of light

Full Story

Remember to never look directly into an eclipse.  Magnified sunlight can cause serious eye damage even during an eclipse.

And Enjoy The Show!!!!

Solar Eclipse and Other Space Weather

On Friday, August 1st, the Moon will pass directly in front of the Sun producing a total solar eclipse. The narrow path of totality stretches from arctic Canada through Greenland, Siberia, and Mongolia, and comes to an end in China, where millions of people will witness the event. Even more people will see the partial eclipse, visible from almost all of Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and a corner of North America. The action begins at approximately 09:20 UT (5:20 am EDT) when the Moon's shadow first hits Earth in northern Canada and begins its rapid sweep toward China.

The crescent sun rising above the waves marks the beginning of a solar eclipse. The narrow path of totality stretches from arctic Canada through Greenland, Siberia, and Mongolia, and comes to an end in China, where millions of people will witness the sun's ghostly corona. Even more people will see the partial eclipse, visible from almost all of Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and a corner of North America.



On July 31st, the SOHO spacecraft detected a comet plunging toward the sun and it appears headed for closest approach during Friday's total eclipse. Experienced astronomers in the path of totality may be able to photograph the doomed comet shining like a 5th or 6th magnitude star about 2^o from the edge of the eclipsed sun. The Minor Planet Center has just released an ephemeris for the comet, newly named C/2008 O1 (SOHO).

SPACE WEATHER