Arnie Pie

Excellent links here Dreckly.....especially the Interpreting the images section from the Chilbolton Weather Web Thanks

Thinking back the best predictors we found last year was the array of European NLC webcams to the East of the UK...from where the NLC`s drift into the uk Overview - Research - Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik, Kühlungsborn WWW.IAP-KBORN.DE and then theres always the current radar information (which i`m hoping that this year....Someone will be able to explain in laymens terms what they actually indicate) Current radar observations - Research - Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik, Kühlungsborn WWW.IAP-KBORN.DE Tuesday evening`s(19-5) growing NLC clouds...at around the 75-80° latitude. Which from last years experience would have been visible at around the 5-10° altitude...unfortunately they was clouded out imby

Good to hear from @Cal5 and @mushymanrob Heres to another roller coaster of a NCL season and the first indications are starting to appear from the AIM Satelllite

Following on from the Express article above here`s my attempt to narrow down the chances of seeing Comet Swan. The first thing we need is a cloud free morning....and looking at a couple of forecasts i believe that the first chance will be next Wed morning (20th) and as the article alluded to an hour or so before Sunrise. Taking these facts into concideration my calculations are based on 20-5-2020 at 3.00am (towards the end of astronomical twilight and before Nautical twilight starts.) This will see the comet at 9 degrees altitude which is enough to take it above the pollution level and into clearer skies. to Help postion the comet i have selected 4 stars which are normally visible with the naked eye. * this really depends on the light pollution where you are situated* (Imby its horrendus....which means that i can only see 2 of the 4 positioning stars selected with my eyes) Capella, which is one of the brightest stars is easily visible and just about due N.......also at 3am is at the same altitude as the Comet the next star to look for is Mirach the brightest star in the Anrdomeda constellation and is just off NE at a slightly higher altitude than Capella These 2 stars will give you a rough idea of where to look...ie about half way between and at the same altitude as Capella Around half way between Capella and Mirach and at the same altitude as Mirach is the brightest star in the Perseus constellation...Mirfak Also aroud half way between Capella and Mirach but on the same altitude as Capella is the slightly less visible star Algol.....and as you can see by the diagram the comet is situated next to Algol I hope this helps in anyway.....Happy hunting

livestream

With NASA`s AIM spacecraft beginning to publish it`s Northern hemisphere images...although not likely to show for a couple of weeks now seems the right time to start this topic below are the latest predictions for the upcoming NLC season SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids WWW.SPACEWEATHER.COM NOCTILUCENT CLOUD FORECAST: Last summer, sky watchers in the northern hemisphere witnessed the finest outbreak of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) ever. Normally confined to polar regions, the rippling blue clouds spread as far south as Las Vegas, Nevada, and Los Angeles, California, smashing old records for low-latitude visibility. One of the brightest displays occurred over Paris, France: "On June 21, 2019, the day of the summer solstice, these rare noctilucent clouds were visible over Paris," says photographer Kulik Bertrand. "It was amazing!" NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. Seeded by meteoroids, they float at the edge of space more than 80 km above the ground. The clouds form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise up to the mesosphere, allowing water to crystallize around specks of meteor smoke. Given that 2019 was such a record-breaker, researchers are naturally wondering what will happen in 2020. Could NLCs spread even farther south? To try to answer that question, Lynn Harvey of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics has taken a look at data from NASA's Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). She prepared the following plots, which show moisture and temperature in the mesosphere for the past 14 years--including 2020: Moisture and temperature are key ingredients of NLCs. The clouds flourish when the mesosphere is cold and wet. Harvey's plots show 2020 (red) splitting right down the middle of other recent years. "So far, 2020 is shaping up to be fairly average," says Harvey. In other words, 2020 does not look a repeat of 2019. No one will know for sure, however, until NLC season actually begins. Daily images of NLCs from NASA's AIM spacecraft are posted right here on Spaceweather.com. "Based on the MLS data, I would guess that the first NLCs will be spotted in two weeks or so," she says. Stay tuned to see if the forecast is correct! Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

Very. close yesterday but no cigar...although i did hear a rumble of thunder on checking my video with no lightning recorded. A chance over the next couple of days Theres a bit of rapid radar delelopment to my West....Black Country way atm...

wow what just happened in the last hour.....cell and a half just developed out of know where, just behind me to my East......a lightning strike was recorded on the radar.... which i never heard but will go through my video recording later to see if i`ve caught something apart from a rainbow

The lively cells from the SW have just come in to our extreme Western view.....currently over The Severn valley and heading towards the Black Country.....still a chance

Simmering nicely here @22c atm... and using my trusted V4 radar i can see we have cape at 140 and a CIN value of 0.....just awaiting the cells to come over from the SW

An Outburst from Comet SWAN | Spaceweather.com SPACEWEATHERARCHIVE.COM May 6, 2020: What just happened to Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8)? The newly-discovered comet surprised observers this week when it suddenly became visible to...

Excellent posts from W-man above...with the video giving some balanced information...a must see

Live coverage News 9 WWW.NEWS9.COM

yes looking good for non-tweeters

Tomorrow morning (5-5-2020) marks the start of when Comet Swans becomes potentially visible over UK skies. Realistically we may have to wait a week or so to actually view... when it appears higher in the sky above the pollution layers and low horizon clouds. It`s going to be visible for a couple of months.... so hopefully there will be plenty of opportunity for viewing In June it will be visible in the NNE skies where it will coincide with this years Noctilucent Cloud season For the non-tweeters the finder chart which Weather-History posted above

Following on from my ealier post (above) and a little more research....Comet Swan could be visible, pre-dawn from May 10th onwards.... just before the Sun rises... very low on the Horizon Due East

Looks like Comet Swan could be visible in the UK from 16 th May onwards....Where it will be pressent very low on the NWW horizon just to the right (N) of where the sunsets Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky | TheSkyLive.com THESKYLIVE.COM Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky | TheSkyLive.com

Skies over Brum atm....high altitude sheer

Some great cloud tops to my West right now from that line of showers!@ChezWeather From the decaying line of cells crossing central England

Live Breaking News | FOX23 WWW.FOX23.COM Watch FOX23's coverage of Breaking News.

I feel your pain emmett....try Live Storm Chasing & Tornados WWW.SEVERESTUDIOS.COM Experience live storm chasing & watch top storm chasers stream dashboard video of tornados and extreme weather as it happens. Compatible with Android & iOS.

Begining to build and darken up to my West now....Wolverhampton way

yep difficult to capture.... I`ve only managed once to capture a meteor, from the 2015 Perseid shower live streaming on Brumcam fingers crossed for tonight when i`m attempting a capture with my DLSR.

"Astronomy fans may be looking to the skies the next couple of nights because the Lyrids meteor shower is set to hit its peak. The amazing sight happens every year and will be particularly visible this year between 21 and 22 April. It has to be dark to see it properly so people wanting to catch a glimpse will have to stay up late with the time between midnight and 3.00 am in the UK expected to be the best time to take a look." Lyrids meteor shower: When and how to see it - CBBC Newsround WWW.BBC.CO.UK Astronomy fans may be looking to the skies the next couple of nights to try and spot the Lyrids meteor shower, but what is it and how can you see it? Where to look....High in the NE sky just to E of the bright star Vega The images below show where Vega is between midnight & 3pm ish.... tonight and into the early hours Lyrids Meteor Shower 2020 WWW.TIMEANDDATE.COM The 2020 Lyrids meteor shower will peak on the night of April 21 and early morning of April 22. Use the meteor shower animation to find out how...

Ouch FRAGMENTS OF COMET ATLAS: There's no longer any doubt. Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) is falling apart. Around the world, amateur astronomers are beginning to witness the breakup, even imaging individual fragments. Jose de Queiroz photographed 3 pieces on April 11th: "I took the picture using the 90 cm telescope at Observatory Mirasteilas in Falera, Switzerland," says de Queiroz. "This is a stacked 20x120 sec exposure." Confirming images from the Lulin One-meter Telescope in Taiwan have just been reported in an Astronomer's Telegram. The observing team, led by Zhong-Yi Lin of Taiwan's National Central University, estimates that the leading fragment is about 3400 km ahead of the trailing pair. The breakup of Comet ATLAS coincides with a sharp decline in its brightness. The Comet Observation Database shows a drop of two full magnitudes (a factor of more than 6): These trends suggest that the comet *might* completely dissolve before its close approach to the sun inside the orbit of Mercury at the end of May. "Follow-up observations of C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), both imaging and spectroscopy, are highly recommended to investigate the cause of this cometary breakup event," says Lin and colleagues.