Its almost like coming out of hybernation …. the wet season is drawing to a close and The Science Guru is emerging from his wet season adventures. Yes, that’s right, its almost time for the Astronomy season to begin here in NE Arnhem land NT with the official end of the wet season this coming Friday.

I have been on many adventures of the mind, body and dare I say Spirit on my own science site. Much of this Activity has turned into written stories and even a little poetry.  For those of you that dont know, I am also the convener of our local writing group, Arnhem Writers that has been busy over the past few months too.

The science show has continued on Gove FM and I will be featuring some of the best of those segments on ATSG very soon ….stay tuned !

Well, the ATSG has been on the move again. This time at the International Science Education Conference 2009 in Singapore. I had the chance to speak with Sue John from Cardiff University Wales UK. We speak about the work Sue has been doing to bring universities and science educators together, for the benefit of both education and the environment …..

Earth Science Education Outreach Play Now

Haley’s comet is the best known of all the comets, and this meteor shower is one of 2  chances each year to catch some of its dusty debris burning up in our Atmosphere … It has passed us now having peaked on the 22nd of October, but it is a timely reminder to watch out for the upcoming Geminid Meteor Shower on the 14th of December ….

The Orionid Meteor Shower and Haleys Comet Play Now

With the upsurge in Cosmic ray activity in the atmosphere of mother earth and in line with the article I published recently. I speak of the matter with my Co-host Rob on the science Hour at Gove FM. So what is the signifigance of these cosmic rays and how does it interact with climate change on our planet …. ?

Tuesday 17-11 (CST) Australia:

I was able to observe 20 leonids this morning between 4 and 5 am.
2 of them were quite bright and prolonged (2 to 3 sec)
2 more were point source and quite surprising to see.

We will be out there again in the am tomorrow, for what I hope will be a much better show
on the leading edge of the predicted asian peak Asian Peak of up to 500/hr.

Wednesday 18-11 (CST) Australia:

Another good morning for the Leonids here in Nhulunbuy.
Six of us from GAA were out at out at “Middle Carpark” looking over the Arafura sea.
Notch was the first there at 3:30am and along with Dave and Peter were lucky enough to see one Leonid fireball, moving from east to west and lasting several seconds.
They were joined by myself, Francois and Bruce & all up there were 70 Leonids sighted till the sky grew too bright at 5am.
So I guess an average of 50/hr is a fair assesment. More than double yesterday mornings count.
One of the best Leonid showings since 2001, so worth getting up for !

I would love to hear some reports of the Asian Leonids peak, did you get a “1/2 storm” as predicted ?

Preserving the dark skies of the world and raising awareness of this critical conservation effort is one of the cornerstone projects of the International Year of astronomy. I speak with Graham Murry of the Earth and Sky observatory at Mt John on their efforts to take a leading role in this field, in my third and final interview of my NZ tour …..

Dark Sky Reserve - Mt John NZ Play Now

In this interview I speak further with prolific US Author, Teacher and Astronomer Jeffrey Bennett. http://www.jeffreybennett.com/
In part two we discuss life beyond our solar system just what it may look like and what it means for us as a race ….

[podcast] http://www.nightskysecrets.com/Jeff%20Bennett%20Interview%20%20part%202%20Feb09%20(FINAL).mp3 [/podcast]

In the continuation of my discussion with Dr Selina Ward, we explore what can be done to slow the advance of climate change and how we can better protect our reefs.

[podcast] http://www.nightskysecrets.com/Dr%20Selena%20Ward%20Reef%20Search%20-%20Part%202.mp3 [/podcast]

I talk with Dr Selina Ward about the reef search program. We explore what the research is telling us about the reality of climate change ….

[podcast] http://www.nightskysecrets.com/Dr%20Selena%20Ward%20Reef%20Search%20-%20Part%201.mp3 [/podcast]

In this breaking story, Asteroid TC3 2008 only just discovered yesterday is predicted to hit earths atmosphere above Sudan and be visible across most of eastern Africa.

Estimated time for the strike is 02:46 UTC on the 7th of October

Fortunately for the people of Sudan this Asteroid will explode harmlessly in the upper Atmosphere with a force of 1 Kiloton. This should be quite a spectacular event and we can only hope that it is well filmed.

The significance of this event is not so much the impact itself, but the fact that we have been able to identify and track an object which will intersect the earths orbit and very likely hit the upper atmosphere. Especially an object that is only a few meters in diameter, this bodes well for finding larger and potentially more dangerous objects.

The Predicted entry charicteristics from JPL:

“The fireball, which could be brilliant, will travel west to east (from azimuth = 281 degrees) at a relative atmospheric impact velocity of 12.8 km/s and arrive at a very low angle (19 degrees) to the local horizon. It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth’s atmosphere ”

Stay tuned to AskTheScienceGuru for more updates as events unfold ……..

UPDATE: OK … Asteroid TC3 should have impacted the Atmosphere above Sudan by now, crossing over the red sea.

I would so love to be there to see this. I guess i will have to watch it on Utube too …. Stay tuned for more updates !

Post Impact Update:

Meteorologist Jacob Kupier from the Netherlands has the following report:

“I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction.”

The latest confirmation comes from spaceweather.com on the 8-10

“An infrasound array in Kenya recorded the impact. Dr. Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario has inspected the data and he estimates that the asteroid hit at 0243 UTC with an energy between 1.1 and 2.1 kilotons of TNT. Most of the 3-meter-wide space rock should have been vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces reaching the ground as meteorites”

Spacefans the world over are still waiting for some photographs and I would like to bet meteorite hunters are pretty excited too  !

[podcast] http://www.nightskysecrets.com/Asteroid%202008%20TC3.mp3 [/podcast]