Shown below is a message from Spaceweather.com that arrived today. Alpine had his solar scope set up at SPOC before the star party yesterday so several of us got to see the spot spaceweather is talking about and it really is HUGE! In other news, SLAS now owns a C-14 on a Losmandy G-11 mount, HD tripod and Celestron's Advanced Astro Master digital setting circles. Retail on all that is pushing $9,000. A fellow called David Nelson has been trying to sell the scope (it was listed here a few weeks ago) and when it did not sell he decided to donate it to SLAS. He dropped it off at SPOC last evening at the start of the star party. Nothing official just yet but as it stand now it will live at SPOC and be wheeled out for star parties. patrick Begin forwarded message:
Space Weather News for Oct. 17, 2014 http://spaceweather.com
A large and active sunspot is emerging over the sun's southeastern limb. Only two to three days ago, this active region unleashed multiple flares and hurled a massive CME over the edge of the sun. If these eruptions continue apace, solar activity could sharply increase in the days ahead as the sunspot turns to face Earth. Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos and updates.