you guys wanna see something neat

[UserRemoved1]

I guess I was close. This is coming Dec 14...could get interesting, they already moved the shuttle/space station guys to the most protected areas.

I'm searching ebay for a 1/2" steel helmet

The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight. Start watching around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Dec. 13th. The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14th, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two Geminids every minute.

[UserRemoved1]

TOMORROW NITE! This could be a real big one. I have to leave for Maine at 2am..hope the show is good.

Space weather forecasters revised their predictions for storminess after a major flare erupted on the Sun overnight threatening damage to communication systems and power grids while offering up the wonder of Northern Lights.

"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.

The storm is expected to generate aurora or Northern Lights, as far south as the northern United States Thursday night. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are not expected to be put at additional risk, Kunches said.

Radio communications, satellites and power grids could face potential interruptions or damage, however.

Solar flares send radiation to Earth within minutes. Some are also accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CME), clouds of charged particles that arrive in a day or two. This flare unleashed a strong CME that's aimed squarely at Earth.

"It's got all the rights stuff," Kunches said.

However, one crucial component to the storm is unknown: its magnetic orientation. If it lines up a certain way with Earth's magnetic field, then the storm essentially pours into our upper atmosphere. If the alignment is otherwise, the storm can pass by the planet with fewer consequences.

Kunches and his team are advising satellite operators and power grid managers to keep an eye on their systems. In the past, CMEs have knocked out satellites and tripped terrestrial power grids. Engineers have learned to limit switching at electricity transfer stations, and satellite operators sometimes reduce operations or make back-up plans in case a craft is damaged.

Another aspect of a CME involves protons that get pushed along by the shock wave. Sometimes these protons break through Earth's protective magnetic field and flood the outer reaches of the atmosphere—where the space station orbits—with radiation. The science of it all is a gray area, Kunches said. But the best guess now is that there will only be a slight increase in proton activity. That's good news for the astronauts.

"When the shock goes by, we don't expect significant radiation issues," he said.

The astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution last night.

Now that sunspot number 930 has flared so significantly—after several days of being quiet—the forecast calls for a "reasonable chance" of more major flares in coming days, Kunches said.

[UserRemoved1]

Remember this flare?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/200704...ouldcripplegps

[Duke41]

That looks like the same whole that all my boat money goes onto.

[Chris in Mass]

Better keep those "Dead Reckoning" skills sharp!

[stripersnipr]

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here's a smaller picture probably load faster

Hmmmm....Looks like it might be that Hell place they've been telling us about.

[Fish On]

One heck of a corn hole. Mine feels like that looks on some days after a weekend of the hot stuff.