ORIONID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual Orionid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Oct. 21st with as many as 20 meteors/hr. Orionids strike Earth's atmosphere traveling 148,000 mph. At that speed, they often leave glowing "trains" (incandescent bits of debris) that linger for minutes, swirling among the glittering stars of Orion, Gemini, and Taurus. The best time to look is between 1:00 am and sunrise. https://spaceweather.com/images2019/10oct19/skymap_orionids.png

ALL QUIET: There are five sunspot groups on the solar disk. None poses a threat for strong flares; they all have stable magnetic fields unlikely to explode. NOAA forecasters say there is a 5% chance of M-class solar flares and no more than a 1% chance of X-flares on Oct. 24th.

WATCH TWO COMETS DIVE INTO THE SUN: Over the weekend, the sun swallowed a comet. Correction: Make that two. Karl Battams of the US Naval Research Lab took a closer look at SOHO coronagraph images, and this is what he found:https://www.spaceweather.com/images2022/24oct22/doublegulp_slower_strip.gif

"Saturday's bright comet turned out to have a smaller, leading companion," says Battams. "This isn't particularly uncommon. I'd estimate that at least 30% of the really bright sungrazers we see in SOHO coronagraph images end up having a small leading or trailing companion."

Both comets in Battams' movie are Kreutz sungrazers. These are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. Since SOHO was launched in 1995, the observatory has watched more than 4000 Kreutz fragments fall into the sun. None have survived.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Oct. 29th when a stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a cheerful hole in the sun's atmosphere. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: NOAA forecasters say that minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Oct. 29th and 30th when a high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a cheerful hole in the sun's atmosphere. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.