Spaceweather from NOAA, the federal level National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency…who are pretty hip. They’ve seen stuff. Nor do they lie like other Feds.
GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): NOAA has issued a minor geomagnetic (G1-class) storm watch for March 9th when a stream of solar wind is expected to graze Earth’s magnetic field. Normally, this low-impact solar wind stream wouldn’t cause a magnetic storm. However, at this time of year, even a gentle gust of solar wind can do the job because of the equinox Russell-McPherron effect. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
COMET 12P AND THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY: This week, cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is passing by the Andromeda Galaxy in the western evening sky. Petr Horálek photographed the wide conjunction from Revúca, Slovakia:
“This was wild,” says Horálek. “On March 5th, I drove 300 km to Telgart, Slovakia, where the forecast predicted clear skies. But the forecast was wrong!
When I reached Telgart, the sky was hopelessly cloudy. I almost gave up and was returning home through truly thick fog when, abruptly, the sky cleared. I pulled into a field where the comet was low over the horizon and blindly took this exposure.”
It turned out pretty well.
Photographers, if you have clear skies, this is a good week to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. It is about 10 degrees from the Andromeda Galaxy and bright enough to catch with a short nighttime exposure. The Andromeda Galaxy is magnitude +3.4 (visible to the naked eye on moonless nights); Comet 12P is not far behind at magnitude +5.5. Point your cameras here.
more images: from David Blanchard of Wupatki National Monument, Arizona; from Michael Jaeger of Karlstein Austria; from Malcolm Park of Harrowsmith, Ontario; from Graziano Ventre of Bellagio Via Lattea, Italy; from Lionel Majzik of Tápióbicske, Pest, Hungary; from Chris Schur of Happy Jack, AZ
The Andromedans
From Extraterrestrial Species Almanac by Craig Campobasso
Synchronicity is the Source of Consciousness 
