A rare series of celestial events will line up on Friday, that should make the day of any backyard astronomer!
Eclipses have long been viewed as bad omens throughout history, and Friday's full solar eclipse will be seen throughout the North Atlantic and in Iceland and a large swath of northern Europe, including the UK. Solar power companies throughout Europe are preparing for the sudden loss of light and how this might affect energy output during the sun's down time.
Friday will also see a Super Moon, or perigee moon, as the satellite makes its closest approach to Earth. Super moons have been known to create higher-than-normal tides as well as influence the weather. Friday is also the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, much to the delight of the millions who have suffered through a completely miserable winter season.
All of this comes as NASA and NOAA warned that the planet was hit by a very strong geomagnetic storm on Tuesday, created by a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun. Aurora borealis (Northern Lights) were seen as far south as the US Midwest and Southern states. This as the US space agency quietly launched four satellites into space to monitor the sun to understand why the current solar maximum has been relatively quiet.
In possibly related news, several thousand snow geese fell dead from the skies in Idaho yesterday. Although the "official" reason given was avian cholera, it should be noted that geese and other birds use the Earth's magnetic field as a guidance system. This is how they can fly in near-perfect formation and know precisely what direction to fly. Any disruption of the Earth's magnetic field, which NASA has confirmed is weakening and changing direction dramatically, would have a direct effect on the migration patterns and overall health of animals who rely upon it for their very existence. Simple fact...
Eclipses have long been viewed as bad omens throughout history, and Friday's full solar eclipse will be seen throughout the North Atlantic and in Iceland and a large swath of northern Europe, including the UK. Solar power companies throughout Europe are preparing for the sudden loss of light and how this might affect energy output during the sun's down time.
Friday will also see a Super Moon, or perigee moon, as the satellite makes its closest approach to Earth. Super moons have been known to create higher-than-normal tides as well as influence the weather. Friday is also the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, much to the delight of the millions who have suffered through a completely miserable winter season.
All of this comes as NASA and NOAA warned that the planet was hit by a very strong geomagnetic storm on Tuesday, created by a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun. Aurora borealis (Northern Lights) were seen as far south as the US Midwest and Southern states. This as the US space agency quietly launched four satellites into space to monitor the sun to understand why the current solar maximum has been relatively quiet.
In possibly related news, several thousand snow geese fell dead from the skies in Idaho yesterday. Although the "official" reason given was avian cholera, it should be noted that geese and other birds use the Earth's magnetic field as a guidance system. This is how they can fly in near-perfect formation and know precisely what direction to fly. Any disruption of the Earth's magnetic field, which NASA has confirmed is weakening and changing direction dramatically, would have a direct effect on the migration patterns and overall health of animals who rely upon it for their very existence. Simple fact...