Go out. Look up.

There was an X-class solar flare on Valentine's Day, flinging a coronal mass ejection right at us, like a bullet out of a gun. Except faster. And much more powerful. It doesn't mean the end of the world, or even a zombie apocalypse, but it does mean some seriously cool auroras for the next several days. Don't know if it'll make it as far south as I live, but if you live in Minnesota or Canada, you might want to keep an eye on the sky for the next few nights. Could be the chance of a lifetime.

Here's what it looked like in Norway last night. Thanks to Space Weather for the pic and the info.

And thanks to John at One speed: Go for letting me bastardize his slogan.

Analemma 2010

What goes around, comes around.

A picture of the sun taken at exactly 9 a.m. 36 times throughout the last year (the foreground was superimposed; the neighborhood in Hungary from where the pix were taken). The bottom-most image was taken on the December 21 solstice, the top-most taken on the June 21 solstice. The middle bits: on the equinoxes, March 20 and September 23.

Have a very merry New Year's Eve. Drive safe. Make exactly as much of a fool of yourself as you choose. See you in the New Year.

Thamks to APOD for the pic.