Monday, September 12, 2005
And the Northern Lights Commenced to Glow
This is a press release I received today from the American Astronomical Society:Cambridge, MA- The U.S. could be in for quite a show tonight! Astronomers are predicting that the Northern Lights will shine on and off, periodically coating the northern sky in brilliant greens and reds.
"This evening, there is about a 70 percent chance of medium-strength aurorae at our Boston latitude," says Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan Cirtain of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "Aurorae could reach even further south."
To see the Northern Lights, Cirtain recommends getting away from city lights. "The darker your sky, the better. Then, all you have to do is look north. No telescope is necessary. The best way to see an aurora is to use your eyes alone."
Aurorae occur during geomagnetic storms, which are triggered by eruptions on the Sun. "A geomagnetic storm is already in progress," says Cirtain. "It will last at least through tonight."
Several flares already have come from a large active region on the Sun's surface. This area of complex magnetic fields and seething energy has produced several X-class flares, which are the most energetic variety. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a 75% chance of additional X-class flares within the next 24 hours.
Cirtain, who works with the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) satellite, has produced movies of the recent flares. "In one case, we recorded 5 separate flares over the course of 6 hours. That's very unusual."
As the sunspot region generating the flares continues to rotate across the Sun's surface and face the Earth head-on, the chance that we will be affected grows because more material from future eruptions will reach us.
"We're going to be under the gun for at least the next 3 to 8 days," says Cirtain. "As long as this active region keeps producing flares, we're going to keep getting hit."
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
About Me
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- Name: Matthew Shindell
- Location: San Diego, California, United States
Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.
The Poetry Postcard Project:
Stay tuned to this blog for updates on the status of the Poetry Postcard Project.
Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.
My Vocabulary Radio Show:
Find out about My Vocabulary, the weekly poetry radio show hosted by Matthew Shindell and James Meetze.
Where are my poems?
Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.American Letters and Commentary (Coming Soon) - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"
American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"
Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"
FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"
Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"
Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"
Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."
The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Birdâs Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"
No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.
Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"
Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"
Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."
Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"
Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"
Listen to my Pandora station? Why not?
Online Poetry Magazines
B A L A K L A V ACan we have our ball back?
Castagraf
Conjunctions
Double Change
Drunken Boat
Ducky
Failbetter
Gut Cult
HOW2
H_NGM_N
Jacket
La Petite Zine
LVNG
Mark(s)
Moria
No Tell Motel
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Piplit
PomPom
Puppyflowers
Shampoo
Slope
Tarpaulin Sky
The Canary
Typo
Unpleasant Event Schedule
Word For/ Word
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