Above the Sky
How many times have you been outside at night and never once look up into the nightime sky. We have all been guilty of it at one time or another. This page was created for those few who are drawn to glance Above the Sky into the Celestial Canvas that is dotted with the stars spoken into existence by Our Heavenly Father.
I will never forget the time my older brother woke me up at three in the morning. I was about nine or ten years old at the time, and I thought my brother was going nuts! He took me out side and together we looked up into the sky to see the most spectacular light show I had ever seen. It was the Perseid Meteor Shower. We stood outside for hours and watched meteors streak across the sky. Now that I am older, and we have things like the web at our fingertips, we are able to search out things about our solar system in a matter of moments. I have put this web page together to first of all show you a few things I am interested in, and to make your search for the Astronomer in you easier. I still like to enjoy the sight of a falling star, but to see a shower of stars is even better. If you want to find out more about the Persieds, keep your eyes glued to Meteor Showers for the next predicted Meteor Shower.
Just like our weather conditions are constantly changing, the weather Above the Sky is always changing too. One of the things that greatly affect our solar weather is the Sun. Solar flares are regularly emmited from the sun, and sometime can affect our everyday lives like the Solar flare that affected us in 1989.
When A CME or Coronal Mass Ejection(See image)strikes the earth,it is called a Geomagnetic Storm. Geomagnetic Storms can cause satillite disruptions, and power failures, but the most spectacular thing (I think) is the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights. Sometimes the geomagnetic storms are so powerful that the Northern Lights can be seen as far south as Mexico! I have not been fortunate to see this phenomenon, but I hope to be able to one day. If not, I will just have to hop a plane and visit my cousin in Alaska!
Have you ever wondered Where the International Space Station is Right this Very moment. I used to wonder the same thing. There were many times while watching the stars at night that I would see a very unusual "moving star" and recognize it to be a satillite, but was it the International Space Station? Well, with the help of Modern Technology you can now be able to tell if you are looking at the ISS or not. Now, by going to Liftoff, (a Nasa website) you are able to see for yourself! "So...where is it!" you ask. Check it out! I just have to insert here that I was priveledged to see the ISS fly over head on 4-27-01. It was very exciting to see it swiftly sail across the sky. It was just after sunset and the reflection from the sun made it look like a very bright star. You can keep track of the ISS using J-Track. The nice thing about this web site is that you are also able to keep track of the Space Shuttle Missions when they launch, and many of the weather satillites up there too.
