One thing I find odd is they have spent decades getting to suborbital flight with current technology. On the other hand Kennedy put man on the moon in 7 years using a fraction of the computing power which many watches now have.  

True, Brian - and a humbling thought. I have to say I liked the mental picture of Branson and Besos being little more than expensive parcels to be delivered. Left with your neighbour, perhaps?

R

Meteor wows Norway after blazing through night sky

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57962384 

Roger

Heads up for the Perseids!

Perseids peak - Aug. 12 - incoming now.

Meteor Shower Guide 2021
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/best-meteor-showers-in-2021/

A beginner’s guide to meteor showers
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/a-beginners-guide-to-meteor-showers/

Roger

Solar activity: Possible Geomagnetic Storm? Great clip.
"SOLAR TSUNAMI AND CME: An explosion on the sun yesterday produced a massive "solar tsunami" and a CME apparently heading for Earth. The eruption was accompanied by a loud clap of radio static, which roared from the loudspeakers of shortwave radios in North America."

https://spaceweather.com/

Roger

Watch Geomagnetic activity:

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/

Roger

Only if it knocks out the electric grid will the common pleb take any notice!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome 

Essentially we are doing to the space above our heads what humans have been doing on the planet’s surface, i.e. making a mess and not thinking about cleaning it up. 

Something to cheer us up? [Independent]

"... long-distance optical fibre lines and submarine cables which are a vital part of the global internet infrastructure are vulnerable to the currents produced on the Earth’s crust by solar superstorms, also known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME)."

Once-in-a-century solar superstorm could plunge the world into ‘internet apocalypse’, study says
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/once-century-solar-superstorm-could-100917202.html

Roger

Musk and bitcoin, two peas out of that fetid pod labelled 'Yes, you read it's all a great advance on the internet so it must be so'.

BIG SUNSPOTS: Two of the biggest sunspots in years are turning toward Earth. Wide enough to swallow planets, the active regions are entering Earth's "strike-zone", meaning any flares or CMEs this week would probably be Earth-directed.

https://spaceweather.com/ 

Data: some activity already!

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

Roger

Roger

https://spaceweather.com/ 

See: Aurorawatch magnetometer

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

Roger

I thought it was Venus, the really bright one - so is it Jupiter?

I checked on Stellarium, Beast. See:

"Once the sky becomes darker then over towards the southern horizon we find the two largest gas giant planets of Saturn and Jupiter. The view above is set for September 10th with Venus and the Moon at right and Jupiter and Saturn on the left. Neptune is also just above the horizon but not shown above. You can see there is quite a gap between Venus and Saturn! "

See:

'Monthly Night Sky' webpage will be found on:

http://www.astrospace.co.uk/Astrospace/monthly-sky/monthlynightsky.html

I see, I think it was  Venus, but I cant see the others with my naked eyesight which is rubbish. Will try and get the binoculars out tonight if its clear

Jupiter and Saturn visible in southern sky tonight = worth a look with your knockers, Beast.

If you don't use Stellarium as an app you can use it on line. Very handy.

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

On-line:

https://stellarium-web.org/

App:

https://stellarium.org/

Enjoy.

Roger

I thought this was a plane with landing lights on but has been seen too widely.
It did look odd though.
(video removed for commercial reasons)

Cheers Great website

Venus is in the western skies at dusk now. It's the brightest "star".

https://spaceweather.com/ 

Roger