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The sky at night (meteors, Iridium flares, the moon)


Colin
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  • 2 weeks later...

Absolutely!

 

http://www.softservenews.com/Aurora.htm  The highest number I've ever seen them use is 5… and they're thinking 6 or 7?!!

 

Could be communications blackouts etc if it's that strong?

 

 

I just minded earlier-when we were young and had CB radios - the 'skip-talking' was amazing when the northern lights were out -          

spoke to folk all over the UK / northern europe as if they were just soon the road!

could be quite interesting tonight / tomorrow?

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Heard a few squeeks and rattles plus a couple of very faint voices.  Usual aurora borne noises but, only listened and never "gave a shout".  Dipole was horizontal, not well orientated and, only roughly tuned.  Verticals are much more forgiving.

 

FWIW.  In my heyday, I used to make a lot of contacts throughout Norway/Sweden/Finland/Faroe/Iceland and Greenland during aurora type conditions.  Also (rarely) made some contacts with Orkney and the North of Scotland.  Didn't seem to matter to much if we had "the lights" around here, just so long as they did and the "path" was open.

 

Came to an end when I got fined £600 for using a "naughty" CB and had my gear confiscated as well...  :cry:

 

Radio was a Cobra 148 GTL DX (Rolls Royce in those days) and antenna was a 3 element Yagi on a rotator.

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Leonid meteor shower

 

The 2015 Leonid meteor shower is expected to be at its best on the night of November 17-18.

The predawn hours on November 18 are the optimum time, no matter where you live on the globe.

 

 

{Is mentioning a meteor shower on here just tempting fate for a cloudy night??}

 

 

Gosh Colin - your CB exploits bringing back some memories! - The Grand Apricot at Chapel House!

Bummer they confiscated your stuff :(

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  • 4 weeks later...

Weather forecast for Monday 14th December - it will be a very cloudy, overcast, weet, cold & windy night.

 

 

And then again, it might not be!

 

 

Geminid Meteor Shower 2015.

 

The Geminids are expected to put on a good showing this year, 2015. Activity is likely to occur between December 8 to December 17, reaching a peak on the 14th in late afternoon/early evening. The crescent Moon (phase 12.2%) sets at 19h 06m UT on the 14th.

At maximum, one may expect to see up to 100 meteors an hour, always weather permitting of course.

 

From The Orcadian online

 

http://www.spanglefish.com/northernskies/index.asp?pageid=274754

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 1 month later...

Last night there was a strange almost orange glow in a gap in the cloud cover low to the North. I first saw this about 8pm looking out the North mouth from the back of Mareel. Its reasonably dark there, but still a lot of light from the docks etc. So later on (9.45) I went for a drive. From the Burradale windmills it was really clear, a white/orange glow, possibly on the bottom of clouds almost due North. Could this be a reflection from the new flare at the gas plant? Its over 20 miles, and maybe not quite in the right direction. Also there was no sign of any flicker, it was a steady glow, although it did wax and wane slowly over a 20 minute period. Does anybody who regularly drives North form Lerwick in the evening see this sort of thing regularly. The only other explanation I can come up with is the Aurora, but I've never seen them this colour before. Any thoughts?

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