Solar "storm" sends aurora borealis south

When it's okay to directly look at the sun.

The next two days may light up the night sky--if you live in Manhattan, NY.
It's probably the one event storm chasers don't want to chase. But NASA scientists want to study: the solar storm of 2012. On March 6 the sun produced not one, but two solar flares. They are expected to hit the earth today (and maybe tomorrow). It takes about 48 hours to reach earth because we're 93 million miles away from the sun. The particles that hit the earth are called coronal mass ejections (CME). They can create all sorts of havoc--disrupting communication satellites and power grids.

But the interaction of CMEs with Earth’s magnetic field also produces the incredible displays known as the northern lights or aurora borealis. The lights will glow shades of green and red and appear to dance in the sky.

Sometimes storms wreck havoc. Sometimes they produce beautiful images.

SOURCE: Wired Science

Summer time...

time for the earth to get close to the sun.


Technically, the longest day of the year doesn't exist. All days are the same length--24 hours. However, on June 21 the amount of daylight goes from about 8 to 12 hours at the equator.

The summer solstice (Latin for sun stands still), occurs every June 21 (June 20 in 2008) and marks the beginning of the season of summer. The season lasts about 3 months or 63 days. Then fall begins. But let's not rush things.

Sources: http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/uwsp_lectures/lecture_earth_sun_relations.html, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080619-solstice-facts.html

The Last Blog of the "Year"

In honor of the New Year -- 2008, here are some facts about Leap Years:

Technically, non-leap years are not true years--they are 8 hours short.

After 4 non years, the calendar adds a full day to make one bonus or leap year of 366days

The year is not measured in chronological time, but in distance, the distance it takes to revolve around the sun is aproximately 364 days and 8 hours.

Golden Leapers are those born on February 29 who celebrate their 29th birthday (although they are 116 years old).

--Source: LeapZine