There is a chance of Northern Lights tonight

Here is an aurora alert tool to look at and watch if auroras are coming

http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/auralert.html

rare small comet foundSome

Some comets return from the their journey around the sun on a periodic basis every few years like Halley's (every 76 or so years since around 240BC). This small one was found recently with a space telescope.

SOHO Mission Discovers Rare Comet


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/soho/soho_periodic_comet.html

SOHO Mission Discovers Rare Comet
Stuart Clark
European Space Agency
September 26,2007

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has discovered a rare
periodic comet. SOHO has already discovered more than 1,350 comets
during its mission, but this is the first time one of its discoveries
officially has been designated periodic.

Many of the comets SOHO has discovered are believed to be periodic,
meaning they follow their orbits around the sun more than twice and have
orbital periods of less than 200 years. Thousands of comets have been
seen by astronomers, but only around 190 are classified as periodic. The
most famous periodic comet is Halley's Comet, which returns every 76
years. It most recently passed close to the sun in 1986.

SOHO's new find has a much smaller orbit than Halley's Comet. It takes
the comet approximately four years to travel once around the sun. It was
first seen in September 1999 and then again in September 2003. In 2005,
German PhD student Sebastian Hoenig realized that the two comets were so
similar in orbit that they might actually be the same object. To test
his theory, he calculated a combined orbit for the comet and
consequently predicted that it would return on Sept. 11, 2007. Hoenig's
prediction proved to be extremely accurate -- the comet reappeared in
SOHO's Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph camera right on
schedule and has now been given the official designation of P/2007 R5
(SOHO). Credit for the original discovery and recovery of the object
goes to Terry Lovejoy (Australia, 1999), Kazimieras Cernis (Lithuania,
2003) and Bo Zhou (China, 2007).

A puzzling aspect to P/2007 R5 (SOHO) is that it does not look exactly
like a comet. It has no visible tail or coma of dust and gas, as is
traditionally associated with the phenomena. Initially, this led some
scientists to wonder if the object was actually an asteroid, a chunk of
space-rock, rather than a chunk of space-ice. However, P/2007 R5 (SOHO)
did exhibit some characteristics consistent with a comet. As scientists
watched the object pass close to the sun, drawing to within 4.9 million
miles, or around 5% of the distance between the Earth and the sun, they
saw it brighten by a factor of around a million, which is common
behavior for a comet.

"It is quite possibly an extinct comet nucleus of some kind," says Karl
Battams of the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, who runs SOHO's
comet discovery program. Extinct comets have expelled most of their
volatile ices and retain little to form a tail or coma. They are
theorized to be common objects among the celestial bodies orbiting close
to the sun.

This comet faded as quickly as it brightened, and soon became too faint
for SOHO's instruments to see. Estimates show that P/2007 R5 (SOHO) is
probably only 100 to 200 yards in diameter. Given how small and faint
this object is, and how close it still is to the sun, it is an extremely
difficult target for observers on Earth to pick out in the sky.

Now we know for certain that P/2007 R5 (SOHO) is there, astronomers will
be watching closely for it during its next return in September 2011.

SOHO is a cooperative project between the European Space Agency and NASA.

Stuart Clark
European Space Agency

Cave Skylights Spotted on Mars

Someday astronauts will land on Mars. If so placing habitats underground in caves may solve some problems. This article and photos shows some possible caves

Cave Skylights Spotted on Mars
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21sep_caves.htm

object that fell in Peru is confirmed to be a meteorite

http://www.livinginperu.com/news/4758

Astrophysicist in Peru Identifies Properties in Meteorite

(LIP-ir) -- Peru's La Republica newspaper reported today that Ronald Woodman, director of Peru's Geophysical Institute, stated that the meteorite which landed in Puno on Saturday had high levels of iron.

In addition, Woodman stated that astrophysicist José Ishitsuka of Peru's Geophysics Institute, had collected samples of the meteorite and had confirmed that it contained a high degree of iron.

"The specialist José Ishitsuka has confirmed, after analyzing pieces of the object, that it is a meteorite with a high degree of iron and (contains) magnetic properties, characteristic of these objects," explained Woodman.

It was reported that Ishitsuka retrieved a 3-inch magnetic fragment of the meteorite and has based his conclusion after studying its properties.

On Satruday September 15 the townspeople of Carancas, Peru reported to have seen the sky momentarily light up and have heard a loud crashing noise in the afternoon.

Upon further investigation the townspeople found a 17 meter (55 foot) wide and 5 meter (16 foot) deep crater in the earth. The crash site is approximately 6 miles from Lake Titicaca.

On September 18 volcanologist for Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET), Luisa Macedo, confirmed that it had indeed been a meteorite and classified it as a chondrite.

suspected object and crater possible meteorite it is a mystery

There was a big crater but sulfur smell is weird.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/suspected-meteorite-blamed-for-illness/20070918132109990001

meteorite crashed into Peru. But it smelled like sulfur so the jury is still out what this thing was. It happened before a year or two ago and possibly someone is trying to get some headlines and get people to hunt for meteorites there.

Volcano Tungurahua erupted spectacularly

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
if not 9/18/2007 look at archives
Volcano Tungurahua erupted spectacularly last year. Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5,000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud of dark ash is seen being ejected toward the left. Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance. The above image was captured last year as ash fell around the adventurous photographer. Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years since for the last 1,300 years. Volcano Tungurahua has started erupting again this year and continues erupting at a lower lever even today.

how things work

Great site for learning what else-how things work
http://science.howstuffworks.com/

Cloud Appreciation Society

Many admire the clouds but here is a beautiful website that displays many more

Lunar eclipse from South pole

Lunar eclipse from the South Pole
Sept 7 (if you are not looking at 9/7/07 go to archives)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Mars Rover Opportunity set to travel into crater

The two little rovers are still like Energizer bunnies. Even with a huge Martian duststorm, these two, now after a hibernation mode, continue to WORK way after their original date of commission. Next part of this Mission Impossible, the rover Opportunity will stroll into a big crater and investigate what can be seen inside .
more

if not Sept 4, go to archives

Felix comes ashore and an American complains

A big hurricane is bearing down on Central American. However an American has to complain that he has not gotten enough dives in during his vacation. Geeez.
Notice the eye of the storm (little dot) in the picture from outer space. That is the calm area of the storm but it won't be for long on much of the shore.
Felix May Hit as Category 5 Hurricane

By ESTEBAN FELIX,
AP
Posted: 2007-09-04 06:22:09
Filed Under: World News
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Sept. 4) -- Forecasters said Tuesday that Hurricane Felix could strengthen into a Category 5 monster just as it makes landfall near the Nicaragua-Honduras border, home to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians.
http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/felix-may-hit-as-category-5-hurricane/20070901152509990001

Surprise meteor shower results

I heard that there might be a suprise meteor shower called the Aurigids on the morning of 9/1/2007. It was possible due to an old comet trail.

While the projections to see it were West of the Rockies, I decided to take a chance in Olathe, KS (near Kansas City, KS).
From 1-2 am I saw nothing but the bright moon. I then went to sleep after setting the alarm. hoping to get up at 4:30 am.
The alarm did not go off but I got up with surprise at 5:55 am. I got dressed, took out the lawn chair and then starred upward to see if I could catch any Aurigid "falling stars."
Within minutes, I saw a bright yellow one. In the next 30 minutes before it got too light, I saw 4 Aurigids.
Here are the results and the plot map I drew where the meteors sped across the sky and additional information.


aurigids 9/1/07 Olathe. KS Dr. Eric Flescher (kcstarguy@aol.com)
s or Aurigid time color magnitude length degrees duration
1 A 6:01 Yellow 1 6 0.25
2 A 6:11 white 2 10 0.5
3 A 6:19 white 3 20 0.5
4 A 6:19 yellow 2.5 11 0.5