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What's in the sky tonight?
November 2, 2013

-A partial eclipse of the Sun will be in progress as the Sun rises on Sunday morning for the Eastern Seaboard of North America and points inland. The partial eclipse happens in the daytime on Sunday for Africa, the Middle East, southernmost Europe, and elsewhere. The eclipse is total for a narrow track crossing the Atlantic and Equatorial Africa. You can find some good information here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser...229133421.html

-Daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday morning for most of North America. Clocks fall back an hour. When planning for the sunrise eclipse, be sure that your expected sunrise time and your clocks are both in standard time!

-Sunspot AR1884 is directly facing Earth, and it has a mixed-polarity magnetic field that harbors energy for strong eruptions. On Nov. 1st at 1953 UT the active region unleashed a brief but intense M6-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash. Although the flare was aimed directly at Earth, its effect on our planet was minimal--mainly because the duration was so short (less than 1 minute). A brief blackout of HF radio signals might have occured on the daylit side of Earth, while low-frequency navigation signals could have been disrupted for ~tens of minutes. Any such disruptions have since subsided.

-Sunspot AR1884 poses a threat for longer and stronger flares this weekend. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-class flares on Nov. 2nd and 3rd.

Astro Picture of the Day:
November 2, 2013

Source:
What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth of course, on the dark and stormy night of September 12 at Hverir, a geothermally active area along the volcanic landscape in northeastern Iceland. Geomagnetic storms produced the auroral display in the starry night sky while ghostly towers of steam and gas venting from fumaroles danced against the eerie greenish light. Tonight, there is still a chance for geomagnetic storms triggered by recent solar activity, so high-latitude skygazers should beware.