Look Out Of Your Window Now! Astronomical events.

That pix has given me a bit of a complex because where I'm living now there's no lights at all showing .... (runs out and puts outside light on.)

 

The lights are off and there's nobody in...

 

50 years ago today I saw a large fireball fly over Staffordshire. It landed in Northern Ireland and became famous as the Bovedy Meteorite.

A number of years ago I managed to acquire a small piece of my own witnessed fall. A piece of rock going about its own business, in space, for billions of years, before ending its long flight right in front of me.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-48023047

 

Although we are deep into a Solar Minimum the Sun has been throwing a few wobblers in recent weeks. A giant sunspot has been straffing the Earth's atmosphere and knocking out HF (short wave) radio frequencies. This is the sort of thing that used to knobble my work long ago, and trying to explain it to irate ship's Captains was definitely peeing over the weather side of the ship.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

"Ye canna alter the laws of nature, Cap'n"

 

I'm afraid Chief Engineer Scottie would not have gone down well.

I remember one episode when the mighty Starship Enterprise was dead in the water (space ?) because of the failure of a 'di-lithium' crystal, which was about the size of a matchbox.
Scottie couldn't fix it because: "We hav'nae got a spare Captain."

To which Kirk's reply should have been:

"A thing the size of a matchbox cripples the ship … AND YOU HAVEN'T GOT A SPARE ? …...

HEY, YOU MEN IN RED JUMPERS, GRAB HOLD OF THE CHIEF AND SPACE THE F***ER !!"

 

A bit late for it now, but the daylight ended nicely today.

 

Must admit I'd never heard of this 'Golden Handle' before. Formed by a rising Sun clipping the mountain tops along the edge of a vast Luna lava plain Sinus Iridum.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Then I found this incredible satellite footage of Mare Imbrium and Sinus Iridum showing the transition from flat lava plain to fearsome looking Lunar mountains.



"There are more things in heaven and Earth ….. " (and all that.)

 

Nice Moon squeezing through the clouds - low down to the southeast.

 

And, as we head towards the fiftieth anniversary, this is always worth watching - in a darkened room.

 

Fifty years ago...

 

How NASA stopped Stafford from being first on the moon: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/science/apollo-10-moon-nasa.html

 

Aldrin looks like Hopper without the tache.

 

So what you boys up to?

 

Partial Lunar eclipse visible tonight. If you've got a good view to the southeast you should see it as the Moon rises.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

. . . with Saturn and Jupiter to its right

 

A bit dim but taken with a pocket camera

S

 

WOW. As if the Kiwi's haven't already got one of the most spectacular countries in the world (it's the only country I've ever visited where I would be prepared to live other than the UK.)
Couple of days ago they saw this red aurora, caused by unusual geomagnetic activity on Oxygen at very high altitudes. You'd almost think the sky was on fire.

https://spaceweathergallery.com/full_image.php?image_name=Minoru-Yoneto-7478_1565103804.jpg