• Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon alignment this week

    On March 24th, 25th and 26th, Venus, Jupiter and crescent Moon will appear side by side again in the western sky at sunset. Best time for observing the sky show is before the sky fades completely black. These bright objects are extra-beautiful when they are framed by

  • Returning Sunspot 1431 produced moderate M1 solar flare

    Old Sunspot 1431 is now rotating back into view off the southeast limb and is also producing solar flares. So far this afternoon it produced a minor C6.5 flare, followed by a moderate M1.0 event at 19:40 UTC. Various small sunspots did form including regions 1441, 1442

  • World Water Day: 22 March 2012

    International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992

  • Magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea

    Magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck 9 km east of Kainantu (with population of 8,509 people) at Papua New Guinea, on March 21, 2012 at 22:15:05 UTC (08:15:05 AM by local time) according to USGS and EMSC. The epicenter was located 66 km (41 miles) east-southeast of

  • Historic spring record heat in North America

    A huge, lingering ridge of high pressure over the eastern half of the United States brought summer-like temperatures to North America in March 2012. The warm weather shattered records across the central and eastern United States and much of Canada. The unseasonable

  • Vernal equinox auroras

    March 20th began with the vernal equinox and ended with this outburst of Spring-green over Tromsø, Norway: Spring is aurora season. For reasons not fully understood by scientists, the weeks around the vernal equinox are prone to Northern Lights. Auroras are

  • “Super sandstorm” over the Arabian peninsula

    Super sandstorm is whipping up winds and dust across the Arabian Peninsula. On March 20, 2012, a giant dust plume stretched across the Arabian Sea, from the coast of Oman in the west to the coast of India in the east.  This extensive plume followed days of dust-storm