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Last Updated: Thursday, 2 October, 2003, 10:00 GMT 11:00 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/wales/south_east/3155928.stm
Schoolboy's photo amazes Nasa
A schoolboy has impressed experts at US space agency Nasa after capturing a rare picture of a meteor burning out above his home town in south Wales.
Jonathan Burnett, 15, was taking snaps of his friends performing skateboarding stunts near his home in Pencoed near Bridgend when a bright light in the sky caught his attention.
Jonathan Burnett captured the meteor as it burned out</img>
"We were really keen to find out what it was, and so without us realising it, Jonathan had emailed the picture to experts at Nasa to ask for an explanation.
"The next thing we knew that they had used the picture on their website," he said.
Jonathan, who attends Pencoed Comprehensive School, said:"It was such a coincidence that we happened to be in the street at the time.
"I was trying out my new camera to take pictures of my friend who was doing a skateboarding trick.
"I took the first picture and then about two minutes later I took the second one before it burned out.
"One of our first thoughts was that it was the sun reflecting off the clouds.
"Everyone in school is amazed - most of my friends believe me but there are some who said they don't believe me.
"I am really interested in photography - but I don't think I will ever manage to take another picture like that," he added.
On its website Nasa described the teenager's picture as a"sofa-sized rock came hurtling into the nearby atmosphere of planet Earth and disintegrated".
"By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular meteor images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing meteor trial.
"Bright fireballs occur over some place on Earth nearly every day.
<font color=#FF0000>"A separate bolide, likely even more dramatic, struck India only a few days ago." </font>
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What could it be? Tell us what you think the fireball is? Send in your suggestions using the form below.
It's a thing of beauty and mystery, two things there are not enough of in the world today.
Anthony Harper, England
How come the fire ball is still there 1 or 2 minutes after the first picture. I always thought these events were over in seconds?
Dan Curwood, UK
I agree with Chris Roussel: I've seen an F1-11 do this when dumping fuel over Norfolk some years ago. Although the USAF denied it!
Carl Brooker, UK
It could well be a meteor, then again it may not be.
The fact is, that the young man has captured an image that has impressed NASA. As a photographer, I know the importance in getting the image, and has done a good job.
Simon, Jersey
Up until last year I lived in Cardiff, just up the road from Pencoed. I have seen this before on several occasions when Concorde has flown over.
Colin, UK
It's obviously a meteorite. If NASA is claiming otherwise, it sounds they're trying to cover it up! I can't see why, unless they're worried because it's a meteorite they didn't detect. Or it's a satellite they've crashed deliberately, but didn't tell anyone.
Ash, England
It can't have been a meteor if he took those pictures two minutes apart as the article says.
Hugh, Scotland
Right now, I'm getting a strange feeling that I need to build a model of a mountain on my coffee table...
Dougie Lawson, Basingstoke, UK
When I was about 9 at home, my friends and I were outside one evening and saw something in the sky, it was smaller but brighter as it was night, I always wondered what it could have been, but thought it too big to be a meteor, now I've read this, I think it probably was.
Emily, UK
If it was a meteor breaking up, would the orange glow last so long, once it had burnt up wouldn't the glow stop as the smoke trail did? No combustion, no light?
Ian, UK
It looks very different to the meteor that I saw last December hurtling across the M27 towards Southampton. It had a very bright concentrate sphere of light with a long tail of (less bright) light that changed from yellow through orange to red. It did not look on fire as this picture shows.
Melanie Richardson, United Kingdom
The NASA website today says that a"better hypothesis is an unusual airplane contrail reflecting the setting sun." They've thought better of their initial meteor hypothesis.
Neil, England
I saw something similar when I was up on Dartmoor at dusk in April about 4 or 5 years ago. It started as a very bright light hurtling across the sky, then it broke into 3 parts and burned out. About a 30 seconds later there was a loud bang followed by 2 sonic booms. It left a small circular cloud in the sky were it entered. Many people in the south west UK saw it and it was reported as a meteor. At the time I thought it might be the second stage of a rocket re-entering with the remaining fuel exploding. I sent the details to Dr Geoff Perry of the Kettering Group, but he said that no space debris re-entered at the time.
A Buchan, England
Just a theory, but it does look very similar to what happens when an F1-11 vents fuel which is then ignited by it's afterburner.
Just a thought!
Chris Roussel, Great Britain
If only he'd aimed more to the left he'd have gotten a unique picture of the dragon itself!
Sophie, UK
I think it's a terrible photo - if only he'd aimed more to the left he'd have gotten a unique picture of the dragon itself!
Sophie, UK
I believe this to have really been a sofa sized sofa from a large furniture store, you know the prices these days are out of this world!
Alex Stephens, UK
It's Wales' rugby World Cup chances...
Andy Hedger, England
Meteor, rubbish; it's a large orange balloon that is deflating.
Richard Wright, UK
I think it was Dr Who's Tardis breaking up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere
Ken Spearpoint, UK
The fireball is Tony Blair's ego after it came hurtling back down to Earth after his massive disaster that was the foundation hospitals vote.
Leigh Porter, UK
In years gone by, fireballs in the sky were thought to herald forthcoming disaster - indeed, the very word 'disaster' means 'bad star'. One look at the news would seem to confirm this possibility!
Jasmine, Wales
The contrail is darker on one side (away from the sun) which is against it being a meteor. I see many contrails that begin and end abruptly. They are often in a variety of shapes.
Richard Evans, Wales
Almost certainly a meteor fragmenting in the upper atmosphere. If it was sunlight off a contrail why does it end so abruptly?
I work in Heathrow and see thousands of contrails a day, and never seen one like this before.
Dave Barlow, UK
Its Geoff Hoon's reputation going down in flames!
Paul Attard, UK
It's quite obviously a large meteor - but judging by the number that have been hitting us in the past few days, I hope Nasa are looking for next Harry Stamper! (Bruce Willis in Armageddon)
Brian P James, UK
As a Frenchman, I would say it's an Alien space ship who could not understand the orders - given in Welsh - to slow down as they were approaching Earth!
Eric, France
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Meteorite Smashes Through New Orleans House
Times-Picayune
September 30, 2003
Uptown resident finds his roof, floors ripped through by fallen rock; Tulane scientists say tests indicate rare, otherworldy object: a meteorite
Saturday September 27, 2003
By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer
When Roy Fausset walked into his Joseph Street home after work Tuesday evening, he knew immediately that something was very, very wrong.
"The powder room door was open and it looked like an artillery shell had hit the room," he said.
Something had fallen with enough force to punch a hole through the roof and two floors before coming to rest in the crawl space beneath the house.
It was a sandy-colored rock that appeared to have been burned around its edges. Preliminary tests by scientists at Tulane University indicate this particular rock came from outer space.
If so, that makes it an exceedingly rare phenomenon. Meteorites enter the Earth´s gravitational field with some frequency; all but a tiny percent of them burn up during their passage through the atmosphere -- what are commonly called"shooting stars." So far as could be determined, the Joseph Street landing was a first for the city.
"We found olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and troilite," a combination of minerals often found in meteorites, said Stephen Nelson, chairman of Tulane´s earth and environmental sciences department.
Nelson used X-ray diffraction Friday afternoon to double-check the type of individual minerals that make up the rock. He had first identified the rock as rhyolite, a form of volcanic rock found in Mexico and south Texas.
The minerals Nelson found don´t automatically mean it´s a meteorite, he said, because they´re also found in the Earth´s mantle, deep underneath the planet´s crust.
"But we don´t commonly see pieces of mantle falling out of the sky," he said."And the black crust, which I thought was a weathering line at first, perhaps it´s a fusion crust -- material that melted as it passed through the atmosphere."
Nelson said the rock is known as a"stony meteorite," a type more common than the black, ironlike rocks that have become the archetypal meteorites in the public imagination.
Fausset said neighbors told him they heard what sounded like a car crash just after 4 p.m., but they didn´t know it was his home being hit.
"One of my neighbors on South Tonti Street had two children in her back yard, eating Popsicles, and they heard a terrific noise," he said."And a lady next door to her heard it. She was indoors and ran out into her back yard, but didn´t see anything."
"But if it had hit 100 feet away in that back yard, it could have killed one or all of those people," Fausset said.
Finding the damage inside his home came as a shock, he said:"We had just renovated the powder room and now there was plaster everywhere. I looked up at the ceiling and saw this big hole."
A quick check in the adjoining utility room revealed another hole in the ceiling and what looked like a broken ceiling joist.
"I went outside and looked up and about midway down the front of the roof, there was a hole about the size of a basketball," he said.
Fausset immediately called his insurance agent, who suggested he check upstairs to look for any more damage.
In his daughter´s second-floor room, Fausset discovered that something had smashed through the ceiling there, too, and it had demolished an antique wicker desk before cutting a neat hole in the wall-to-wall carpet and the flooring beneath it.
Back in the first-floor bathroom, Fausset found another hole leading through the floor to the crawl space.
"That´s when I called the police," he said. When officers arrived, they found several chunks of rock beneath the hole in the bottom floor that matched fragments found in Fausset´s daughter´s room.
"I´m in shock," Fausset said Friday after learning the rock had been identified as a meteorite."Oh, that´s scary. I will certainly go to church this Sunday, because the Lord was certainly sending me a message."
And the meteorite?
"I guess I´ll go put it in my safe-deposit box, or just frame it," he said.
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-->The Pope, Earthquakes, Meteors, Solar Flares and Blackouts...09/28/03
by Mitch Battros (ECTV)
Let me say up front, the story you are about to read is not based on pure science. This is one you may wish to place in your"gray box". Meaning it is based on conjecture and speculation, but then again, it could be true.
The Pope
I have noticed bits and pieces mostly found on foreign news services, suggesting the Pope John Paul is near death, or at minimum, ready to give up his region as the highest held position of the Catholic faith. On Sunday, he is widely expected to name a new batch of cardinals who will help to choose his successor.
The Pope on Saturday met the Philippines president and presided over a memorial mass, partially allaying recent fears
for his health after he skipped his general audience last week. Concern for the health of the pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and can no longer walk without help, has increased in recent weeks. Earlier this month on a trip to Slovakia he was particularly weak and needed help reading his sermons. Last Wednesday, he skipped his general audience because of what the Vatican (news - web sites) said was an intestinal problem.
Pope John, who has delegated the active role in some masses to aides so that he can conserve his strength, was wheeled up the main aisle of Christendom's largest church while sitting on a chair. As the Vatican had previously announced, the pope sat on a throne near to the altar of St. Peter's Basilica as a cardinal celebrated Saturday's mass for him.
Vatican and Italy Blackout
Then we have this unforeseen blackout blinding 58 million people in the Vatican and Italy. Almost all of the country's 58 million people were affected. This was on a similar scale to last month's collapse in the U.S. Northeast and Canada. But coming on a weekend night its initial impact was less dramatic and caused less economic damage.
"It's chaos, and until the electricity comes back on it will continue to be chaos," said policeman Fabio Bragazzi, 21, at Rome's main Termini train station where passengers, among more than 30,000 stranded across the country, slept on the ground. It was the fourth major Western blackout in two months, after cuts in North America, parts of London and Scandinavia.
Blackout in the Philippines
Then we have this latest report of a blackout in the Philippines where the Pope had just presided over a memorial mass.
"It is now 9:00pm, September 28, 2003 in the Philippines, and power has just been restored after being out the entire day.
Although power outages are not unusual on Sundays in the Philippines, it is very unusual that they would last more than 2 or 3
hours. I will quickly post this message while we have power (this is the 3rd time power has been restored, but each time it has
never lasted more than 15 to 30 minutes). I understand that the entire nation of Italy also blacked out today. Thanks for your
patience while waiting for our September prophetic report, which will be posted on our web site ASAP ~ Timothy Snodgrass"
Meteor Strike
Now we have a meteor shower in which one meteorite injury five people as it crashes to Earth near Bhubaneswar, India. An (AFP) report states - Five people were injured and two houses gutted when a meteorite crashed to earth in eastern India after panicking hundreds of villagers as it shot across the sky, reports and residents said.
The meteorite crashed Saturday in a remote village near the Bay of Bengal in the state of Orissa, local media said, adding five people were sent to hospital with injuries. The meteorite lit up the sky and caused windows to rattle as passed overhead, sending hundreds of people rushing outside unsure what was happening, a resident of Kendrapara town said by telephone.
Kendrapara said:"It was all there for just a few seconds but it was like daylight everywhere,". Jaydev Kar a scientist at the Pathani Samant Planetorium in Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar made this statement."Such celestial occurrences are common in space but not visible to the naked eye. This is a rare phenomenon in this region,"
Solar Flares
Today's sunspot count continued increase over the past week. Today's count is at 137. Geomagnetic storms are expected. Watch for M-Class and possible X-Class flares to occur. Sunspot region 464 has grown so large, you could fit (15) fifteen planet Earths lined up in a row.
Earthquakes
A large 8.2 mag. earthquake hits Hokkaido, Japan on Saturday September 27th. Soon after we see a Magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Southwestern Siberia, Russia. Shortly after the Siberia quake, a 7.4 earthquake hit Northeastern China then a 6.9 mag. quake hit Tuva-Buryatia, Mongolia, followed by a 7.1 earthquake hit Eastern Kazakhstan.
And just to sweeten this whole linkage of conjecture and speculation, at 03:14:55 UTC a 3.0 magnitude earthquake hits"Central Italy". I don't know about you, but perhaps it is time to take another look at our Mayan Elders message.
Mayan Elders Message: http://www.earthchangestv.com/breaking/2003/july_2003/19details.htm
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Is This The Culprit for Meteors Crashing To Earth?...09/30/03
by Mitch Battros (ECTV)
As reported by my colleague David Whitehouse of BBC, an asteroid discovered just a month ago is making a close approach to the Earth. The name of this NEA (near earth asteroid) is '2001 YB5'. Although there is no danger of collision with it,
astronomers say that its proximity reminds us just how many objects there are in space that could strike our planet with devastating consequences.
Moving closer to the Sun, the asteroid is passing by at less than three times the Moon's distance from us - just 830,000 kilometers (510,000 miles) away on 7 January, which is close in cosmic terms. It is thought to be 300 meters in size - large
enough to wipe out an entire country if it struck the Earth.
2001 YB5 was discovered in early December by the Neat (Near Earth Asteroid Tracking) survey telescope observing from Mount Palomar in California, US. Astronomers call it an Apollo object because it has a highly elliptical orbit that crosses the
orbits of Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury. It circles the Sun every 1,321 days.
Astronomers also add that it is"potentially hazardous", meaning there is a slim chance that it may strike the Earth sometime in the future. Such a"close encounter" is rare but not unprecedented. However, the only other known object that will come closer to the Earth is an asteroid called 1999 AN10, which will pass a shade closer on 7 August, 2027.
Could the events we have seen in India and New Orleans be a"chip off the old block"?
2001 YB5's brightness suggests it is a rocky body about 300 meters across. If it struck the Earth a 300-meter object would
not be a global killer: to wipe all life off the face of our planet an object would have to be about 1 km in size. But 300 meters is more than enough to cause widespread devastation.
If it struck land, it would wipe out an entire country. If the impact point were London, then scientists estimate there would be
total devastation for 150 km and severe destruction for a further 800 km, meaning that not only would the UK be destroyed but France and the Low Countries as well. If it struck the ocean, the destruction would be more widespread. It would trigger tsunamis that would devastate most coastal cities.
According to experts, the recent discovery and close approach of 2001 YB5 suggests that something nasty could creep up on us at any time. Dr Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, told BBC News Online:"The fact that this object was discovered less than a month ago leads to the question of if we would have had enough time to do anything about it had it been on a collision course with us.
"Of course the answer is no; there is nothing we could have done about it. It is a reminder of the objects that are out there. It is a reminder of what is going to happen unless we track them more efficiently than we do and make better preparations to defend our planet," says Dr Peiser.
Stunning Update to India's Meteor Blast
Bhubaneswar, India - The search for the remnants of the huge meteorite which sped across the sky in the coastal Orissa last night continued today amid reports of villagers in Kendrapara district stumbling upon two strange objects this morning. While the object at Benakand a village was blown to smithereens, the one at Paschima suniti weighing 5.7 kg was intact. The"ball of fire", described by scientists as a meteorite, streaked across the sky from west to east before landing on a thatched house at about 6.30 p.m. yesterday and was witnessed by the people in at least 11 districts in the coastal belt.
One dies... One of the 11 persons admitted to hospitals in Kendrapara, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj districts after witnessing the spectacle died in the SCB Medical College Hospital at Cuttack today. Sukadeb Singh age 75, who along with two others, had been shifted from Kendrapara hospital to Cuttack, died this morning. Five persons, including three from one family, were admitted to hospitals in three different places of Jajpur district while three others were hospitalized at Kaptipada in Mayurbhanj district.
The three persons, who fell unconscious after the incident, were recovering in the Kaptipada Hospital. A 75-year-old man, Harekrushna Behera, complained that he had lost his vision after seeing the fire. In Kolkata, M.P. Brila Planetarium clarified that the small streak of luminous yellow light which turned to orange and finally brilliant blue before disappearing from the sky was a typical meteorite, though it came a wee bit closer to the earth than the normal ones. It was a normal cosmic phenomenon and had nothing to do with the tidal ebb.
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Tonights Special Presentation
Tonight I will have Colin Andrew as my guest at our regularly scheduled time from 7 PM to 8 PM (Pacific). I can't wait to ask him if there have been correlation's between current events, and crop circles he has recently made 'eyewitness' reports.
Directly after Colin's show, I will have a special presentation on the current"mega swarm" we have witnessed concerning earthquakes. I will bring Jim Berkland - Geologist and expert in earthquakes. He will be on"live" from 8 PM to 9 PM (Pacific). So yes, it will be a power packed 2 hour presentation tonight only. It is free to all!!!
**I would suggest you tune in early to ensure you get in - before bandwidth gives out! The link will be on 20 minutes prior to
each show. Link is"live" 20 minutes prior to each show: http://www.live365.com/stations/earthchanges?site=earthchanges
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Breaking News Events Have Overtaxed The Source
by Mitch Battros (ECTV)
World events related to earth science and space weather are now occurring so rapidly, Earth Changes TV cannot keep up. Whether it be natural or human origin phenomana, it has become crystal clear we are in the time of change. We know today’s incidents are having a considerable affect on each one of us in ways we can understand, and in ways we are not yet certain.
Events are unfolding so rapidly, it is now apparent ECTV simply needs more staff. Earth Changes TV is fast becoming the number one alternative news source in the country. As prestigious as this may be, it has it drawbacks. A last generation term used to describe this position is “it is crunch time”. This means we are right in the middle. On one side we have over-extended human and financial resources. On the other side we are breaking through to a triple-A ranking among advertisers and investors. So here we sit right in the middle of two extreme forces.
This is the “critical zone”, where we either punch through the gravitational pull of growth atmosphere, or plunge back to Earth.
If you believe in what we do, if knowledge of your surrounding world has been made more comprehencable, if you feel you are getting the truth with credible sources to make personal decisions, we need to hear from you. And we need you now. It will be your decision today, which determines what happens to Earth Changes TV news services.
When “Solar Rain” is released, we will be able to re-capture some of today’s investment, but this is only a small portion and it is for future planning. What we need is your subscription to ECTV. As you have noticed, most all reputable news services and information sites have converted to subscriptions. It is the only way any one of us can survive. We at ECTV simply had the insight to this prior to most others.
For those of you who have the ability to help with more than a subscription, now is not the time to be shy. Step forward and fund what feeds you most. We have made available favorable gifts for your contribution. Please write to this address to find out more.
If would like to see Earth Changes TV continue, please subscribe today.
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New Third Meteor Caught On Film…10/01/03
by Mitch Battros (ECTV)
This new and first time seen photo was released earlier today after being sent to NASA. It was taken as it flew across South Wells, UK by teenager Jon Burnett. He was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange.
High in the distance, a sofa-sized rock came hurtling into the nearby atmosphere of planet Earth and disintegrated. By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular meteor images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing meteor trial.
NASA admits connection to ‘bolide’ (meteor) which struck within a period of 48 hours in India as reported by ECTV.
Incredible Photo: http://www.earthchangestv.net/U_K_Meteor.jpg
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Klyuchevskoy Volcano Active Again
The Klyuchevskoy Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, the highest in Eurasia (4,833 meters), has become active again. For one day now it has been ejecting gases and ashes to the height of three thousand meters. The train of the ashes has already stretched for seventy kilometers to the east of the volcano whose activity is gradually increasing.
Here are some comments by Erwin Luna of San Fernando Valley who has followed up on this story. “Today now it's been confirmed it's spewing ashes and gases to claimed up to three thousand meters! that's roughly some 9,000 feet. What a force. Ashes are raining down up to 35 miles away down wind. I think this volcano is in a relatively similar area to that of Yellow Stone but In Russia, where there are geysers and hot streams. So I begin to wonder if all the"Super-Volcano" or known caldera areas are somehow interconnected OR they are simply reacting to the same phenomenon. “
According to data from local observers, the luminescence in the crater is becoming more intensive, which testifies to the appearance of new lava. The seismic stations in the area of the volcano are seeing a large number of earthquakes on the surface and at a depth of thirty kilometers under the central crater.
Experts forecast a new powerful eruption from Klyuchevskoy in the near future, which will be dangerous for the town of Klyuchi situated some thirty kilometers from the volcano. The last powerful eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano took place in 1994.
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Pray for Pope, Aide Says
By Helen Kennedy - Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Fears for Pope John Paul's health deepened yesterday when one of his closest aides said it was time for the faithful to pray for him."He is in a bad way," Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was quoted as saying in the German weekly Bunte."We should pray for the Pope."
The Vatican has not denied - or confirmed - recent reports in Italian papers that John Paul has stomach cancer. Ratzinger's aide, the Rev. Georg Gaenswein, said the comment did not mean the Pope's health had worsened. He said it was simply an attempt to brush off two German brewers seeking a private audience that was overheard by a reporter.
"The cardinal said we all have to pray for the Pope. But that is something that can be said at any time," Gaenswein told Catholic News Service."To present this as a piece of news is a complete exaggeration." But Archbishop Phillippe Barbarin of Lyon, France, who is about to be elevated to cardinal, also said the Pope's health is fast failing.
"The Pope is reaching the end of the road," he told Europe 1 Radio."It's a big responsibility for us. The Pope is in really bad shape."
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M-Class Flare Fires Off Today
Most likely todays M-Class flare came from sunspot region 464. Now region 464 is rotating out to the western limb, but here comes sunspot region 471 coming in from the eastern limb, and it looks very nasty. More on this later this week. (see equation)
Equation:
Sunspots => Solar Flares => Magnetic Field Shift => Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents => Extreme Weather and Human Disruption (mitch battros)
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Tomorrow on ECTV 'Radio Hour'
Thursday October 2nd - Ernest Hildner - Director, Space Environment Center; Manager, NOAA Space Weather Program. Ernest Hildner is the director of the space weather agency in which all researchers gather their information. It is Hildner's organization that has produced sunspot and solar activity data from which most predictions are made. We will discuss the importance of space weather and how its future impact on weather forecasting is eminent. Website: http://www.spaceweather.com/
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