Today’s Weather For Monday Sept. 18th, 2017

Mix of sun and cloud with moderate winds and a high of 14C for today. Currently we have a few clouds, a chilly temperature of 3C  and our winds are calm but will increase to 10 km/h by this afternoon.

Our FIRE DANGER sits at LOW and all risks are almost over. There is a MARINE WIND WARNING for the LAKE today into tonight and there are no other weather warnings for our area.

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!

Winds

Issued 03:00 AM CDT 18 September 2017

Today Tonight and Tuesday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind west 10 knots becoming light early this morning then becoming southeast 10 early this afternoon. Wind increasing to southeast 20 Tuesday afternoon. 
Orion above Easter Island
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)
Explanation: Why were the statues on Easter Island built? No one is sure. What is sure is that over 800 large stone statues exist there. The Easter Island statues, stand, on the average, over twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass. Few specifics are known about the history or meaning of the unusual rock sculptures, but many believe that they were created about 700 years ago in the images of local leaders of a lost civilization. Featured here, one of the ancient Moai sculptures was imaged in 2016 before the constellation of Orion, including the famous line of three belt stars and brilliant stars Betelgeuse (far left in red) and Rigel (upper center). The stone giant appears, however, to be inspecting the brightest star in the night sky (far right): Sirius.

Follow APOD on: Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, or Twitter
Tomorrow’s picture: wisps of the veil

IT’S FRIDAY!! Today’s Weather For Sept. 15th, 2017

Mostly cloudy for today with a 30% chance of a shower, low to moderate winds and a high of 16C. Saturday will be the same as today with showers on Sunday, winds will be moderate to high and high’s for both days will be in the mid to high teens. Currently we have mostly cloudy skies, a temperature of 9C, our winds are from the NNE at 5 km/h and will increase to 20 km/h.

We currently have no FIRE DANGER. There is a MARINE WIND WARNING today and tomorrow for the LAKE. There are no other weather warnings for our area.

HAVE A GREAT FRIDAY AND WEEKEND!!

Winds

Issued 03:00 AM CDT 15 September 2017

Today Tonight and Saturday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind northeast 10 to 15 knots increasing to northeast 20 after midnight. Wind northeast 20 Saturday.

 

100 Steps Forward
Image Credit & Copyright: Camilo Jaramillo
Explanation: A beautiful conjunction of Venus and Moon, human, sand, and Milky Way is depicted in this night skyscape from planet Earth. The scene is a panorama of 6 photos taken in a moment near the end of a journey. In the foreground, footsteps along the wind-rippled dunes are close to the Huacachina oasis in the southwestern desert of Peru. An engaging perspective on the world at night, the stunning final image was also chosen as a winner in The World at Night’s 2017 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest.

Mission: Farewell Cassini
Tomorrow’s picture: light-weekend

Today’s Weather For Thursday Sept. 14th 2017

Another cool gloomy, wet day with low to moderate winds and a high of only 12c. Currently we have clouds with light rain, a temperature of 11C,  our winds are from the ESE at 3 km/h and will increase to 11 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER has now dropped to LOW TO MODERATE and we have no weather or marine wind warnings for our area at this time.

HAVE A GREAT THURSDAY!

Flare Well AR2673
Image Credit: NASA, SDO, GSFC
Explanation: Almost out of view from our fair planet, rotating around the Sun’s western edge giant active region AR2673 lashed out with another intense solar flare followed by a large coronal mass ejection on September 10. The flare itself is seen here at the right in an extreme ultraviolet image from the sun-staring Solar Dynamics Observatory. This intense flare was the fourth X-class flare from AR2673 this month. The active region’s most recent associated coronal mass ejection collided with Earth’s magnetosphere 2 days later. Say farewell to the mighty AR2673, for now. For the next two weeks, the powerful sunspot group will be on the Sun’s far side.

Mission: Farewell Cassini
Tomorrow’s picture: 100 steps forward

Today’s Weather For Wednesday Sept. 13th, 2017

A system is approaching our area that will bring clouds, cooler temperatures and showers by early this afternoon and will be here for through Thursday. Today’s high will reach 17C. Currently we have cloudy skies, a temperature of 12C and our winds are calm but will increase to 10 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER continue to sit at VERY HIGH TO EXTREME but will decrease with showers today. There is a MARINE WIND WARNING for the LAKE today/tomorrow and there is no other weather warnings for our area at this time.

HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY!

Winds

Issued 03:00 AM CDT 13 September 2017

Today Tonight and Thursday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind north 20 knots diminishing to north 10 early this morning then increasing to north 15 late this afternoon. Wind north 15 tonight. Wind north 10 to 15 Thursday.
NGC 6334: The Cat’s Paw Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: George Varouhakis
Explanation: Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat’s Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat’s Paw is an emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there in only the past few million years. Pictured here is a deep field image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula in light emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur.

Tomorrow’s picture: open space

Today’s Weather Tuesday Sept. 12th, 2017

Things are really starting to turn orange now! Another mostly clear, sunny day with low to moderate winds and a high of 25C. Currently we have clear skies, a temperature of 11C, our winds are from the SSE at 2 km/hand will increase to 10 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER continues to sit VERY HIGH TO EXTREME, so please be careful with your open fires! We do not have any weather or marine wind warnings at this time.

HAVE A GREAT TUESDAY!

A Total Solar Eclipse Close-Up in Real Time
Video Credit & Copyright: Jun Ho Oh (KAIST, HuboLab);
Music: Flowing Air by Mattia Vlad Morleo
Explanation: How would you feel if the Sun disappeared? Many eclipse watchers across the USA surprised themselves with the awe that they felt and the exclamations that they made as the Sun momentarily disappeared behind the Moon. Perhaps expecting just a brief moment of dusk, the spectacle of unusually rapid darkness, breathtakingly bright glowing beads around the Moon’s edge, shockingly pink solar prominences, and a strangely detailed corona stretching across the sky caught many a curmudgeon by surprise. Many of these attributes were captured in the featured real-time, three-minute video of last month’s total solar eclipse. The video frames were acquired in Warm Springs, Oregon with equipment specifically designed by Jun Ho Oh to track a close-up of the Sun’s periphery during eclipse. As the video ends, the Sun is seen being reborn on the other side of the Moon from where it departed.

Tomorrow’s picture: in a cat’s paw
<iframe width=”960″ height=”540″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/G4q_wTTnlJU” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Today’s Weather Monday Sept. 11th, 2017

Sunny, breezy with wind gusts in and around the 30 km/h range and a high of 22C today. Currently we have clear skies, a temperature of 16C, our winds are from the WNW at3 km/h gusting to 30 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER has increased to VERY HIGH TO EXTREME. We do have a MARINE WIND WARNING and there are no other weather warnings for our area at this time.

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!

Winds

Issued 03:00 AM CDT 11 September 2017

Today Tonight and Tuesday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind west 15 to 20 knots diminishing to southwest 10 to 15 late this afternoon then becoming north 10 Tuesday afternoon. Wind increasing to north 20 Tuesday evening.
Cassini Approaches Saturn
Video Credit & Copyright: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA, S. Van Vuuren et al.;
Music: Adagio for Strings (NY Philharmonic)
Explanation: What would it look like to approach Saturn in a spaceship? One doesn’t have to just imagine — the Cassini spacecraft did just this in 2004, recording thousands of images along the way, and hundreds of thousands more since entering orbit. Some of Cassini’s early images have been digitally tweaked, cropped, and compiled into the featured inspiring video which is part of a larger developing IMAX movie project named Outside In. In the concluding sequence, Saturn looms increasingly large on approach as cloudy Titan swoops below. With Saturn whirling around in the background, Cassini is next depicted flying over Mimas, with large Herschel Crater clearly visible. Saturn’s majestic rings then take over the show as Cassini crosses Saturn’s thin ring plane. Dark shadows of the ring appear on Saturn itself. Finally, the enigmatic ice-geyser moon Enceladus appears in the distance and then is approached just as the video clip ends. The Cassini spacecraft itself, low on fuel, is scheduled to end on Friday when it will be directed to approach so close to Saturn that it falls in and melts.

Tomorrow’s picture: real time eclipse
<iframe src=”https://player.vimeo.com/video/11386048″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Today’s Weather For FRIDAY! Sept. 8th, 2017

Sunny with moderate to high winds and a high of 22C today and much the same for the weekend. Currently we have clear sunny skies, a temperature of 10C and our winds are from the SE at 6 km/h gusting to 25 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER has increased to HIGH TO VERY HIGH. There is a MARINE WIND WARNING for the LAKE today and no other wind warnings for our area.

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND WEEKEND!

 

Winds

Issued 11:30 AM CDT 08 September 2017

Today Tonight and Saturday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind south 15 knots increasing to south 20 early this evening. Wind south 20 Saturday.
The Great Gig in the Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)
Explanation: There were no crowds on the beach at Phillips Lake, Oregon on August 21. But a few had come there to stand, for a moment, in the dark shadow of the Moon. From the beach, this unscripted mosaic photo records their much anticipated solar eclipse. In two vertical panels it catches the last few seconds of totality and the first instant of 3rd contact, just as the eclipse ends and sunlight faintly returns. Across the US those gathered along the path of totality also took pictures and shared their moment. And like those at Phillips Lake they may treasure the experience more than any planned or unplanned photograph of the total eclipse of the Sun.

Tomorrow’s picture: lighter weekend

Today’s Weather Thursday Sept. 7th, 2017

A mix of sun and cloud with moderate to high winds and a high of 20C. Currently we have mostly cloudy skies, a temperature of 13C and our winds are from the ENE at 8 km/h increasing to 20 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER continues to sit at MODERATE to HIGH. We a MARINE WIND WARNING for the LAKE today and no other weather warnings for our area at this time.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Winds

Issued 03:00 AM CDT 07 September 2017

Today Tonight and Friday. Strong wind warning in effect. Wind north 15 knots veering to east 15 early this evening then increasing to south 20 Friday morning.

 

The Flash Spectrum of the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Yujing Qin (University of Arizona)
Explanation: In clear Madras, Oregon skies, this colorful eclipse composite captured the elusive chromospheric or flash spectrum of the Sun. Only three exposures, made on August 21 with telephoto lens and diffraction grating, are aligned in the frame. Directly imaged at the far left, the Sun’s diamond ring-like appearance at the beginning and end of totality brackets a silhouette of the lunar disk at maximum eclipse. Spread by the diffraction grating into the spectrum of colors toward the right, the Sun’s photospheric spectrum traces the two continuous streaks. They correspond to the diamond ring glimpses of the Sun’s normally overwhelming disk. But individual eclipse images also appear at each wavelength of light emitted by atoms along the thin, fleeting arcs of the solar chromosphere. The brightest images, or strongest chromospheric emission, are due to Hydrogen atoms. Red hydrogen alpha emission is at the far right with blue and purple hydrogen series emission to the left. In between, the brightest yellow emission is caused by atoms of Helium, an element only first discovered in the flash spectrum of the Sun.

Tomorrow’s picture: a great gig in the sky

Today’s Weather For Wednesday August 6th, 2017

A mix of sun and cloud, low to moderate winds with a high of 22C for today. Currently we have mostly cloudy skies, a temperature of 12C, our winds are from the SSW at 3 km/h and will increase to 10 km/h throughout the day.

Our FIRE DANGER site at MODERATE to HIGH and we have no weather or marine warnings for our area at this time.

 

Today’s Weather September 5th, 2017

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! A mix of sun and clouds with moderate winds and a high of 18C for today. Currently we have a mix of sun and cloud, a temperature of 12C, our winds are from the SSW at 2 km/h gusting throughout the day to 15 km/h.

Our FIRE DANGER sits at MODERATE TO HIGH and there are no weather or marine warnings for our area at this time.

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!

Europa and Jupiter from Voyager 1
Image Credit: NASA, Voyager 1, JPL, Caltech; Processing & License: Alexis Tranchandon / Solaris
Explanation: What are those spots on Jupiter? Largest and furthest, just right of center, is the Great Red Spot — a huge storm system that has been raging on Jupiter possibly since Giovanni Cassini‘s likely notation of it 352 years ago. It is not yet known why this Great Spot is red. The spot toward the lower left is one of Jupiter’s largest moons: Europa. Images from Voyager in 1979 bolster the modern hypothesis that Europa has an underground ocean and is therefore a good place to look for extraterrestrial life. But what about the dark spot on the upper right? That is a shadow of another of Jupiter’s large moons: Io. Voyager 1 discovered Io to be so volcanic that no impact craters could be found. Sixteen frames from Voyager 1’s flyby of Jupiter in 1979 were recently reprocessed and merged to create the featured image. Forty years ago today, Voyager 1 launched from Earth and started one of the greatest explorations of the Solar System ever.

Free 40th Anniversary Downloads: Voyager Posters
Tomorrow’s picture: eclipse climber