SOMETHING NEW: Spaceweather.com is broadcasting a live audio stream from the Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas. When a Geminid meteor passes over the facility, the radar echo sounds like this. Our experimental system can support 1000 simultaneous listeners. Give it a try; feedback welcomed. GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The Geminid meteor shower is underway. Bright moonlight was expected to spoil the show, but readers are reporting a nice display. "I even saw a Geminid 1o from the Moon itself," says Martin Mc Kenna of Northern Ireland. "I observed many fireballs. The highlight occurred before dawn when an incredible fireball dived into the eastern sky. It had a beauty which is difficult to convey." He took this picture using a Fujifilm S6500fd: Onlookers enjoyed the show even from inside their cars. "Last night, I was driving down the highway, testing the video mode of my new Canon 5D Mark II when I caught a Geminid right through the headlights," says Jens Hackmann of Germany. Click here to play his movie. Observations collected by the International Meteor Organization show that the shower may still be on the upswing: live update. So keep an eye out for Geminids tonight. The best time to look is between 10 pm local time and dawn; that's when Gemini is above the horizon spitting meteors across the sky. 2008 Geminid Meteor Gallery [previous years: 2007, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2001] NEW ICE HALOES: Ice haloes are normally found high in the sky among frosty clouds. But lately researchers in Finland have been making their own halos near the ground. They do it by shining halogen lamps into the air downwind of snow-making machines: Marko Riikonen of Rovaniemi, Finland, created these fantastic "angel wings" on November 5, 2008. It's more than just a pretty picture; the wings represent a serious attempt to discover new haloes and to understand old ones. Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains: "Early researchers had to rely on chance sightings of rare displays to unravel the mysteries of ice halos. Later on they journeyed to Polar Regions and especially the South Pole where halos are at their finest. They explained the halos well using models of geometrically perfect crystals aligned in just a few ways in the sky. But mysteries remain. For instance, rare Lowitz arcs refuse to be fully understood, while perfect crystals cannot explain new arcs like Moilanen's or the elliptical halos." "Now researchers in Finland have new lamps and tools. Working at night they use halogen beams to light the high-quality crystals found a mile or more downwind of ski-slope snow guns. It’s almost (but not quite!) a laboratory where the crystals can be collected, examined and compared with the halos they make. Careful lamp and camera placement lets the 'sun' be raised or lowered and even halos normally invisible beneath our feet can be projected into the dark sky. In just one night a few days ago Marko Riikonen captured several new halos. Marko Mikkilä is even experimenting with a home-made 'Halogun.'" "The new methods are starting to teach us that nature is richer than we thought. There are new halos galore, some from crystals with special shapes and others needing particular orientations. Will the new tools ‘clean up’ halo research or remove their mystery? More likely, they will reveal yet more puzzles. But at the same time greater understanding will be gained which will enhance the beauty and enchantment of the halos we all see from that 'old lamp' – the sun." Great Conjunction Photo Gallery |