Author - Charles M0OXO

Solar Storm engulfs Earth……

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For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet.

The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting.

CMEs are billion-ton clouds of solar plasma launched by the same explosions that spark solar flares.When they sweep past our planet, they can cause auroras, radiation storms, and in extreme cases power outages.  Tracking these clouds and predicting their arrival is an important part of space weather forecasting.

GB2WHL qrv this weekend for ILLW……

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GB2WHL will be qrv this weekend (19-21 August 2011) as part of the ”International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend” (ILLW).

The location is ‘Whitby High Lighthouse’ on the East Coast of the UK. Operators this year are Ian M0IAA and Andy M0GGR.

They will be qrv all weekend on the usual HF Bands so please give them a call and make their effort for putting on the station worthwhile!

Qsl via M0OXO

Fraser Island (VK4NM/p) Cards now designed….

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The Qsl Cards for the recent Fraser Island trip have now been designed and are awaiting printing by Gennady UX5UO.

We expect the cards in a few weeks time and as soon as they are received, the requests I have received Direct will be done within 24 hours, bureau cards will take a little longer.

Qsl via MØOXO

London burns after third night of rioting….

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(Slightly off topic) –

Parts of London became ‘no-go’ areas last night as gangs of youths went on the rampage for the third night running, starting fires, looting and attacking police.

The violence that started in Tottenham at the weekend after a man was shot dead by officers spread throughout the capital. “Inexcusable” marauding saw major fires started in Hackney, Peckham, Lewisham, Clapham, Ealing and Croydon, where a man was injured in a shooting. London_Burns

A furniture shop in Croydon which had been in the same family for five generations was completely destroyed after being torched.

A huge blaze at a Sony distribution centre near Enfield, north London sent plumes of thick smoke billowing into the sky.

Scotland Yard said 334 people had been arrested, 69 charged and two cautioned across the capital, as over 1,700 extra police were deployed across London, some from neighbouring forces.

Dawn’s Smooth Move

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When a NASA spacecraft goes into orbit around a new world for the first time, the control room is usually packed to capacity with scientists, engineers, and dignitaries ready to leap and shout when the retro-rockets fire. It’s a big, noisy event.

The 15th July 2011, was one of those days. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft approached Vesta and became the first probe from Earth to orbit a main belt asteroid.

Dawn’s cameras revealed a desolate world of transcendent beauty, thrilling everyone who worked on the project.Needless to say, the control room was …. silent?

Using its framing camera, Dawn obtained this image of Vesta on 24th July, 2011, from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). The three vertically-aligned craters on the left have been nicknamed “the snowman” by camera team members.

For Sale

 

FOR SALE


 
 
Kent Classic Straight Morse Key
 

****SOLD****

 

What lies inside Jupiter?

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NASA’s Juno probe, scheduled to launch on August 5th, could change all that. The goal of the mission is to answer the question, What lies inside Jupiter?

There are many basic things researchers would like to know—like how far down does the Great Red Spot go? How much water does Jupiter hold? And what is the exotic material near the planet’s core?

Juno will lift the veil without actually diving through the clouds. Swooping as low as 5000 km above the cloudtops, Juno will spend a full year orbiting nearer to Jupiter than any previous spacecraft. The probe’s flight path will cover all latitudes and longitudes, allowing us to fully map Jupiter’s gravitational field and thus figure out how the interior is layered.

Jupiter is made primarily of hydrogen, but only the outer layers may be in gaseous form. Deep inside Jupiter, researchers believe, high temperatures and crushing pressures transform the gas into an exotic form of matter known as liquid metallic hydrogen–a liquid form of hydrogen akin to the slippery mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer. Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field almost certainly springs from dynamo action inside this vast realm of electrically conducting fluid.

Unlike Earth, which lights up in response to solar activity, Jupiter makes its own auroras. The power source is the giant planet’s own rotation. Although Jupiter is ten times wider than Earth, it manages to spin around 2.5 times as fast as our little planet.       Click the image below for you tube clip…..

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‘VK4NM’ From Fraser Island OC-142 VKFF-216 this weekend……

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Andrew and his colleagues will be qrv from Fraser Island IOTA OC-142 this coming weekend.

The Island is also valid for WFF with the reference ‘VKFF-216 Great Sandy”. Fraser Island is also named the ”Great Sandy National Park”.

They will be using the Callsign ‘VK4NM’ and will be operating as part of the RSGB IOTA Contest.

Please give Andrew and his team your support and maybe also try to bag yourself a new IOTA at the same time!

Qsl is Via MØOXO

GBØWSD Cards issued……

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Cards for GBØWSD were received this weekend and are all now processed.

GBØWSD is operated by Scouts from the Wakefield Scout District who are tutored, supervised and assisted by members of the Wakefield & District Radio Society.

All Direct and Bureau Cards have been completed and will be mailed this week.

GB0HI, GB1HI & GB2HI Qsl Cards issued…..

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Qsl Cards for the following operations were received from the printer at UX5UO Qsl Print on Friday;


GBØHI Holy Island
GB2HI Hilbre Island (MØTNX et al)
GB1HI Holy Island  (MØOXO et al)




All the Direct and Paypal requested Cards have been prepared over the weekend and will be mailed
this week. GB1HI_2The next job is the OQRS requested cards for the RSGB Bureau. Again these will be processed
this week ready for a large bureau drop on the second week in August.

Thanks to Gennady UX5UO again for the excellent service and to all of you who supported and worked
us on the trips.

Don’t forget IOTA this weekend!!!!