impressive auroras as aurora max 2012 nears

Take a brief and beautiful tour of auroras (or aurorae) from around the world, then depart for more pix from other points in the solar system, Saturn (red) and Jupiter (blue). Auroras are building and will reach an aurora max in 2012. First stop, Northern Lights in Iceland are pictured on The Telegraph UK website. The next stop is in Scotland, where Jim Henderson captured exceptional images in, "Awe-inspiring auroras: The psychedelic majesty of the Northern Lights captured in the skies over Aberdeen. The Jovian planets are huge magnets, Jupiter's magnetosphere is 20,000 times greater than the Earth's and UV studies at the University of Arizona go into detail with auroras pictured here. The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft captured pix of Mars aurora here. Our neighbor Venus is, perhaps, unique with little intrinsic magnetic field, but has a "night glow" from the solar wind. You can learn more about how auroras form here. The viewing will only get better as we approach the Solar Max and Aurora Max of 2012.

solar storms: risks of rising solar activity

A burst of solar activity this past week generated, also, dire warnings such as, "Catastrophe Looming? The Risks of Rising Solar Activity," at SPACE.com. The present writer is left with the impression of covert preparation for tragedy, an inculcation of sorts, in such warnings. "'Even if this is a really lackluster solar cycle — as it looks like it's shaping up to be — that doesn't mean you can't have a real bell-ringing event,' said Joe Gurman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, project scientist for the agency's sun-studying STEREO spacecraft." An element of possibility is planted in a reader's mind, even while acknowledged there's a lack of any clear threat.

Is it just recognition of a remote chance, as the Solar Max of 2012 is anticipated to be the largest in years, or something more? The average citizen would never question the official explanation for a knock-out punch of the nation's power grid. It would likely never come to mind to ask, whether the source was a solar flare, coronal mass ejection or an EMP event from a weapon? Is it an ingenious coupling of natural and artificial sources in a predictive program to prepare us for tragedy in the making!

earth's magnetic fields cause of bird & fish die off

The Earth's magnetic fields are surfacing in the press as an explanation for several recent mass bird and fish die-offs! Donna Pravel writes in, "Earth's Magnetic Fields May Be Causing Bird and Fish Die-Off", about massive breaches detected in the magnetosphere by five NASA Themis spacecraft. Breaches allow highly charged particles to enter and can result in large geomagnetic storms. Pravel offers disruptions in the magnetic fields as disorienting both birds and fish, who use the magnetic fields to navigate, although she leaves open the possibility the fish kills are unrelated. The article fails to convince, under a critical eye, although a geomagnetic storm may explain the trauma to the dead birds. The die offs, at least in Arkansas, seem too specific to be explained by a storm as primarily blackbirds and drum fish died. How did other birds survive? How did other fish manage to navigate? It could be a coincidental disease killed the fish? A mass die off roundup at news.com.au should raise questions in any rational mind?

In June 2007, Themis spacecraft recorded a breach 10 times larger than anticipated. There is an audio version of the article by Tony Phillips as well as a video version available here. The present writer's concern is the growing number of sources capable of taking down our civilization in a single sweeping blackout. Will it be a electromagnetic pulse from a rogue terrorist nuke or ruined circuitry from a solar maximum, a solar flare and/or geomagnetic storm? What else can cause a breach in the magnetosphere? The possible sources of attribution seem on the rise, but how will we know the real source with any certainty in such an event? Is it predictive programming?

update: the mystery of dead birds, fish & other weird events

lunar eclipse to unlock apocalypse?

Nicholas West, in Activist Post entry,considers metaphysical effects on human consciousness of impending lunar eclipse to occur early Tuesday, December 21, 2010. This is a rare coincidence of lunar eclipse and winter solstice, the last incident occurred over a half millenia ago. There is an additional dimension of the galactic crossing of the ecliptic a rare once in 26,000 year event. West explains his article's title, "Will the Lunar Eclipse on December 21st, 2010 Unlock the "Apocalypse?", to clarify "...apocalypse, as it is purely translated, actually means a 'great revealing/revelation' or 'unveiling' or 'end of a cycle'," in contrast, to biblical use of apocalypse that may imply, "...effects from solar maximum predictions, magnetic pole shifts, new galactic radiation fields...".

West describes his view of our world as composed of vibrational waves of energy. The author suggests this lunar eclipse may mark the beginning of the great revealing, it "...may provide a cosmic magnifier for collective thoughts...", a reference to Mike Bara's belief from his book, "The Choice: Using Conscious Thought and Physics of the Mind to Reshape the World".

It is suggested the coming apocalypse is not to be feared but rather embraced as transformational--an enlightenment of what has been hidden! "Many point to our solar system's coming brush with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy as a time when new vibrational energy fields will radiate our planet, resulting in a massive transformation in what our conscious mind and five senses can 'decode'," West believes, "...at the very least it provides us with an excuse to have a party and howl positive vibes at the moon and beyond".

solar max of 2012

The solar max of 2012 will be the brightest since 1958, when Mexico City residents were able to view the aurora borealis on three occasions. Scientists predict the auroras will be visible as far south as Rome, Italy. Icelandic photographer Orvar Thorgiersson has documented the phenomena in pictures since 2007. The picture at left is from 2010 and the best is yet to come in 2012. An article from Mail Online adds a caveat: an increase in charged particles hitting the Earth's magnetosphere, may play havoc with technology!