Space Weather

The 'mushroom rains' have arrived here in Oregon. I had a lovely dish of sauteed coral mushrooms this morning for breakfast, and plan to go hunting for shaggy parasols and shaggy manes this weekend. But the weather above the atmosphere, while less productive of mushrooms, perhaps (although you never know what might be buried in that meteorite that actually makes it down to the ground), is more interesting. If you don't have mushroom rain right now, watch for the Orionid meteor shower this weekend. These are pieces of our old friend Haley's comet, come 'round again to entertain the sleepless. Saturday morning, just before dawn (which is actually a civilized hour, sort of, this time of year) is the best time to view. And old Sol has sneezed again. A great big coronal hole has opened up on the sun's atmosphere and the solar wind has blown through, to join the fall winds here on Earth and maybe bring some auroras our way. So you might get to see northern lights instead of meteors, but oh well.