Without us puny humans, but we can watch ... those in USian Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, anyway ( Read more... )

Lovely world-in-round photomosaic thingie of last night's full moon, seen from a frozen and snowy lake.

This entry is cross-posted from www.dreamwidth.org, where there are
( Read more... )

This evening, after sunset, step outside and look the other way. (A clear sky and line of sight will help, of course ( Read more... )

The Geminid meteor shower* is under way, peaking tonight, tomorrow night, Friday night. Might be hitting 120/hour, says SpaceWeather.com, which has a nice photo up already, plus links, good links ( Read more... )

Have we got a meteor shower for you!

The Taurid meteor shower -- comprising debris "gravelly debris ... the size of pebbles and small stones" shed by comet Encke, is hitting an anticipated peak of "a few fireballs an hour" over the next few nights, reports SpaceWeather.com.Because these bits of comet dust are a little larger, and a little sturdier ( Read more... )

That was fantastic ( Read more... )

The Orionid meteor shower -- of fragments shed by Halley's Comet -- is now in progress ( Read more... )

Tonight -- around 10 pm EDT -- is expected to be the peak of this year's Draconid meteor shower. Best known for its unpredictability, this shower may peak at several meteors per hour or (twice, so far) several thousand ( Read more... )

... or does today's Aurora Borealis photo over on Space Weather dot com look like something Georgia O'Keeffe might have painted, while on acid?

Also, a brand new comet has been spotted, big but still way out there. It's too soon to say whether it'll be fiery or just fizzle. But ...

This entry is cross-posted from www.dreamwidth.org, where there ( Read more... )

STARS FALLING / VENUS,
JUPITER, AND LUNA RISING
The biggest of the annual meteor showers (or maybe the second-biggest; it varies by year, and the competition doesn't swing by until December) is now underway.

Tonight is expected to be the peak of the Comet Swift-Tuttle* derived Perseid meteor shower, which has been known to hit 100 shooting ( Read more... )