Green Comet Approaches Earth

Source - Space Weather News for Oct. 1, 2010: http://spaceweather.com

APPROACHING COMET: Green comet 103P/Hartley 2 is approaching Earth for a close encounter on Oct. 20th. At that time, the comet will be only 11 million miles (0.12 AU) from our planet and should be dimly visible to the naked eye from dark sky sites. It already looks great through backyard telescopes, as shown by images featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com. NASA's Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft is en route to this comet for close-up studies and a daring flyby on Nov. 4th.

UPSIDE-DOWN LIGHTNING OVER THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: An amateur photographer has photographed rare lightning-like discharges called "gigantic jets" shooting up from storm clouds near NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Visit http://spaceweather.com for a movie and more information about the phenomenon.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: With the coming of northern autumn, aurora season is underway. Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms erupt at your latitude? Sign up for Space Weather Phone: http://spaceweatherphone.com

Strange 'Squid-like' Lightning Spotted over France

Source - Space Weather News for June 8, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

STRANGE LIGHTNING: Over the weekend, an atmospheric scientist in Europe photographed something that resembled a giant luminous squid floating over a thundercloud in France. It was a strange form of lightning known as a "sprite." His high-resolution images are featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com along with observing tips for anyone who would like to see and photograph these fantastic bolts during the upcoming thunderstorm season.