Total eclipse 2015 - live from Svarlbard!

Svarlbard! Svarlbard! Svarlbard!

The total eclipse of 2015 was predicted to be a good one, with totality lasting longer than many due to the Moon being at perihelion at the time.  However it was only making landfall on the Faroe Islands and Svarlbard.  So you could travel to Svarlbard like Tim did, or you could watch the webcast in the warm comfort of your own home and play cards - like we did.

The Faroe Islands were clouded out, but fortunately the skies over Svarlbard were clear and the was a great stream coming from the local news station.  We panicked a couple of times as the feed seemed to get overloaded and lag, but it cleared up in time and we got to see it all.

Not quite like being there, but pretty awesome anyway.

St Patricks Day Aurora Australis

I've always wanted to see an Aurora, and I still do.

Ón St. Patrick's day, 17 March 2015, a fairly big CME hit and caused awesome Aurora in the Northern Hemisphere - that much I was aware of - but then I discovered that we had unusually large effects down here in the Southern Hemisphere as well!  Amazingly, there were sightings of the Aurora even in Goulburn - here's a link to a YouTube video taken early on the morning of the 18th.

I'm not sure how good the Aurora looked in Melbourne, because - of course - we had total cloud cover that night.

Typical...