# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  Sky Watching Event Guide For 2015

## Suzanimal

Handy dandy list.





> Make a resolution in 2015 to head outside and check out some of the amazing celestial events that will be happening in the night sky. Whether youre an experienced astronomer or just taking a look at the night sky for the first time, youll want to check out these events. Nearly all of these events can be seen with the naked eye, but can be better enjoyed with a telescope or a decent set of binoculars.
> 
> Unless otherwise noted, these events can be best seen from mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.
> 
> January 
> 
> 3-4  Quadrantids Meteor Shower  The first meteor shower of the year will be visible from January 1-5, but will peak overnight on the 3rd and into the early hours of the 4th. This shower typically produces about 40 sightings per hour, but the full moon on the 5th will wash out all except for the brightest meteors. These meteors are leftover pieces of comet 2003 EH1, and will appear to be originating from the constellation Bootes, though they may be visible throughout the sky.
> 
> February
> ...


http://www.iflscience.com/space/sky-...ent-guide-2015

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## axiomata

I'm going to Alaska for the next three months. I'd really like to see some northern lights but I'll be mostly confined to Anchorage without a car so I might not escape the city light pollution.

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## Suzanimal

I couldn't resist.








> Green comet Lovejoy lights New Year's skies
> 
> The New Year’s first celestial object to light up the skies in the Northern hemisphere is Lovejoy comet, already visible to the naked eye and expected to get even brighter over the next week.
> 
> The comet C/2014 Q2, named after an amateur Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy, is flying our way from the edge of the solar system. The comet discovered back in August has brightened to 5 magnitude late December and will be visible high in the dark winter sky through January.
> 
> On January 7 it will pass at its closest, about 70 million kilometers from Earth. Although visible to unaided eye, spotting it in suburban light pollution would likely require at least a pair of binoculars.
> 
> *To a naked eye the comet will appear grey, but in reality the celestial body produces a green glow due to ionization by the Sun.* Photographers are expecting to take breath-taking pictures as the Lovejoy comet passes near the Orion constellation, as well as Taurus, Pleiades and the Aries.
> ...

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## Suzanimal

Meteor shower peaks this weekend; here’s where to look




> TORONTO – If you have clear skies and are willing to brave frigid temperatures that are expected across the country, you might want to bundle up and head outside to catch the first significant meteor shower of the year.
> 
> *The Quadrantid meteor shower, which occurs from Dec. 30 to Jan. 12, peaks on the night of Jan. 3.
> 
> The maximum is expected to peak at 2 a.m. Universal Time (11 p.m. EST, 8 p.m. PST),* meaning that we’re not exactly in the prime viewing location. That’s because the radiant, or area from which the meteors seem to originate, will be low in the north (almost at the horizon) at the time. However, as the night progresses, the radiant will rise higher. By 5 a.m. EST (2 a.m. PST), it will have risen almost 42 degrees above the horizon (about the width of your thumb to pinky held at arm’s length; think of the Hawaiian surfing shaka or hang-ten symbol).
> 
> Where to find it in the night sky? The easiest way is to just look for the asterism of the Big Dipper (the Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major), which can be found to the northeast. Find the first star in the handle and you’re looking in the general direction of the radiant.
> 
> 
> ...

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## Suzanimal

> The Quadrantid meteor shower, which occurs from Dec. 30 to Jan. 12, peaks on the night of Jan. 3.


Bump for the Quadrantid meteor shower, it's suppose to peak tonight and keep an eye out for the Lovejoy comet.

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## Suzanimal

Jupiter's moons are showing off this January!



> Jupiter's moons are putting on an amazing show this month. The orbital path of the moons is tilting edge-on to Earth and the sun. This lineup makes it possible to watch the moons pass in front of each other and even eclipse each other with their shadows.
> http://www.sciencedump.com/content/j...howing-january







Great balls of fire!!!



_An amazing shot of a fireball in the sky above Rundle Mountain, CA._

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## Suzanimal

I wonder if it rains men (Hallelujah!) on Mars...

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## Suzanimal

> I couldn't resist.





> Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, is still about at its peak brightness: about magnitude 3.8, as bright as it should get. Use the finder charts at the bottom of this page to find its location among the stars. Although magnitude 3.8 ought to make it a naked-eye object, its diffuse fuzziness means that most viewers, who live under light pollution, still need optical aid. In binoculars it's a biggish gray fuzzball, with a brighter core slightly off center. Can you see signs of the dim tail?
> 
> "Using 8×42 binoculars on the evening of the 8th I scooped it up easily, even with the skyglow in Boston’s outer suburbs," says S&T's S. N. Johnson-Roehr. "It was a slightly irregular fuzzy. No sign of a tail, but this is the first time I’ve seen even a hint of green in the blur. It may be a naked-eye object in dark skies, but not from the suburbs."


- See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro....pQjlbWYv.dpuf

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## Suzanimal

Get your binoculars: Huge asteroid to pass close to Earth next week




> A huge asteroid is headed toward Earth, and NASA says that all it will take is a pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse of it as it makes its closest approach later this month.
> 
> The asteroid 2004 BL86 is about a third of a mile in size and will come within approximately 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of Earth on Jan. 26. NASA said it will be the closest any space rock comes to Earth until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past in 2027.
> 
> The 2004 BL86 asteroid is expected to pass safely by.
> 
> "While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it's a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more," Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said.
> 
> ...
> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/get-your...rth-next-week/

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## jllundqu

> Get your binoculars: Huge asteroid to pass close to Earth next week


I've got some nice Nikon binos... Monarch 7 (12 x 42).... but I think I'll dust off the old Celetron C8 for this one

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## Suzanimal

Asteroid That Flew Past Earth Today Has Moon


This GIF shows asteroid 2004 BL86, which safely flew past Earth on Jan. 26, 2015




> Scientists working with NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, have released the first radar images of asteroid 2004 BL86. The images show the asteroid, which made its closest approach today (Jan. 26, 2015) at 8:19 a.m. PST (11:19 a.m. EST) at a distance of about 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers, or 3.1 times the distance from Earth to the moon), has its own small moon.
> 
> The 20 individual images used in the movie were generated from data collected at Goldstone on Jan. 26, 2015. They show the primary body is approximately 1,100 feet (325 meters) across and has a small moon approximately 230 feet (70 meters) across. In the near-Earth population, about 16 percent of asteroids that are about 655 feet (200 meters) or larger are a binary (the primary asteroid with a smaller asteroid moon orbiting it) or even triple systems (two moons). The resolution on the radar images is 13 feet (4 meters) per pixel.
> 
> The trajectory of asteroid 2004 BL86 is well understood. Monday's flyby was the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next two centuries. It is also the closest a known asteroid this size will come to Earth until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past our planet in 2027.
> 
> Asteroid 2004 BL86 was discovered on Jan. 30, 2004, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey in White Sands, New Mexico.
> 
> Radar is a powerful technique for studying an asteroid's size, shape, rotation state, surface features and surface roughness, and for improving the calculation of asteroid orbits. Radar measurements of asteroid distances and velocities often enable computation of asteroid orbits much further into the future than if radar observations weren't available.
> ...

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## euphemia

Thanks for sharing.  I'm not typically a skywatcher, but I think I will take some of these opportunities.

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## Suzanimal

Black Supermoon Will Be Visible Wednesday Night




> The new moon that will grace our skies on Wednesday evening (or Thursday morning, depending on where you are in the world) appears to have employed some advanced publicity agents: It has been dubbed both a black moon and a supermoon.
> 
> While it will no doubt be as beautiful as any new moon, and well worth checking out for that reason, it won't actually look very different from ordinary new moons.
> 
> Black moons, like blue moons, are not actually colored any differently than others of the same phase. The name refers either to the second new moon in a month or to the third in a season with four new moons. If you use astronomical, rather than meteorological seasons, the northern hemisphere's winter runs from the December solstice to the March equinox, and there will indeed be four new moons this winter. The first was on December 22, less than three hours after the North Pole was tilted furthest from the sun.
> 
> The origins of the term are obscure, but probably an imitation of blue moon, which in turn seems to be an adjustment of the obsolete “belewe.”
> 
> Supermoons are a more recent invention, possibly by people wanting to make money out of scaring the public with predictions of huge earthquakes. Nevertheless, the name has taken off as a reference to when a full or new moon occurs at the time when it's closest to Earth, making it appear larger. It's a bit more catchy than “perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system,” which is the technical name.
> ...


http://www.iflscience.com/space/new-...lack-and-super

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## Acala

Saw an awesome meteor this morning by accident when taking out the garbage.  Major fireball!

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## Ronin Truth

Any sign of Nibiru?

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## Natural Citizen

> Saw an awesome meteor this morning by accident when taking out the garbage.  Major fireball!


Yeah? That's neat. I see them a lot too. Sometimes they're soooo close , though.

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## Acala

> Yeah? That's neat. I see them a lot too. Sometimes they're soooo close , though.


Someday there will be a direct hit with a BIG one.  Just a matter of time.  So live it up while you can.  Before you are blasted into space by the shock wave.

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## Suzanimal

> Saw an awesome meteor this morning by accident when taking out the garbage.  Major fireball!


Where are you? Could it have been this one?







> 500lb meteor spotted over Pennsylvania
> 
> Americans in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania reported seeing a fiery, 500-pound meteor soar through the sky this week before the space rock apparently broke up somewhere over the Keystone State, according to scientists.
> 
> NASA said on Tuesday this week that the meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere in the sky above western Pennsylvania earlier that morning and was reportedly witnessed by spectators stretching for hundreds of miles across the United States from the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest.
> 
> Three cameras maintained by the American space agency captured the meteor making its way over the US, including one at the Allegheny Observatory near Pittsburgh, PA that NASA says shows the space rock traveling roughly 60 miles above the Earth at a speed of 45,000 miles per hour.
> 
> “It flared brighter than the full moon before the cameras lost track of it at an altitude of 13 miles above the town of Kittanning” near Pittsburgh, NASA said in a statement on Tuesday.
> ...

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## Acala

> Where are you? Could it have been this one?


Unlikely.  I'm in southern Arizona.

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## Suzanimal

Venus, Mars, moon set to dance in night sky this weekend




> Mars, Venus and the moon will meet up in a particularly beautiful cosmic display starting Friday.
> 
> If you've been watching the evening twilight sky over the past few weeks, you will have seen the brilliant planet Venus gradually moving away from the sun, setting slightly later every evening. At the same time, the planet Mars has been gradually moving downward toward the sun, setting slightly earlier every evening.
> 
> On Friday, the moon, moving much faster than either of the planets, will pass by them, so three hands on the celestial clock will almost coincide. The three cosmic bodies will form a triangle only 2 degrees across, small enough to fit into a low-power telescope's field of view. Mars and Venus were also closely paired in the night sky Thursday. [Watch a video about Mars, Venus and the moon meeting up]
> 
> The two planets will pass close to each other on Saturday, but that close encounter will happen in the daylight sky, shielding the meeting from view. The best time to see the two bodies will be the evening before, on Friday.
> 
> Currently, both Venus and Mars are on the far side of the sun, so their disks are both very small. Venus is only 12 arc seconds in diameter, and Mars is even smaller, at less than 5 arc seconds. These planets are comparable in size to very small craters on the moon. The lunar surface should be partially lit up by earthlight, sunlight reflected off the planet Earth.
> ...


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/venus-ma...-this-weekend/

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## Natural Citizen

> Someday there will be a direct hit with a BIG one.  Just a matter of time.  So live it up while you can.  Before you are blasted into space by the shock wave.


Meh. Maybe we'll luck out and it'll just take out Georgia or something. Heh...

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## Suzanimal

> Someday there will be a direct hit with a BIG one.  Just a matter of time.  So live it up while you can.  Before you are blasted into space by the shock wave.





> Meh. Maybe we'll luck out and it'll just take out Georgia or something. Heh...


I guess I'd better get to living it up.

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## Natural Citizen

> I guess I'd better get to living it up.



Oh, I was talking about Georgia, the country, Suzanimal. Why would I wish an asteroid upon you in your own thread, woman? Whatsamatter wit you?

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## Suzanimal

> Oh, I was talking about Georgia, the country, Suzanimal. Why would I wish an asteroid upon you in your own thread, woman? *Whatsamatter wit you?*


Lol, enough to fill up the Personal Health forum.

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## Suzanimal

Four Planets Await After Sunset



> Right now, in the night sky just after sunset, you have a chance to see three alien worlds at the same time.
> 
> Venus and Uranus are currently undergoing a close encounter; tonight (March 5) they’ll be a little over a degree apart, just about three times the width of the full Moon on the sky. Below them, not far away (maybe 10° or so) is red Mars.
> 
> To see them look to the west after sunset. It’s best to wait a few minutes for the sky to get dark. Venus is pretty obvious; it’s the third brightest natural object in the sky (after the Sun and Moon). Mars is still fairly bright and easy to spot below it. Uranus, though, is just on the edge of visibility to the naked eye even from dark sites, so you’ll probably need binoculars to spot it. I found it really easy to see last night using mine.


http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...l?wpsrc=fol_fb

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## Suzanimal

> The first of two lunar eclipses visible in the U.S. this year will take place early Saturday morning.
> 
> Skywatchers in the western third of the U.S. will get to see a total eclipse, while folks in the central and eastern U.S. will only see a partial eclipse before the moon sets.
> 
> You'll have to look low in the western sky to see the eclipse. As with all lunar eclipses, its safe to look at the moon during the eclipse, unlike during solar eclipses.
> 
> *According to NASA, the total phase of the eclipse will only last about five minutes, making it the shortest lunar eclipse of the century. In the West, the total eclipse will begin at 4:58 a.m. Pacific Time and end 5 minutes later.*
> 
> *In the East, the partial eclipse lasts from 6:15 a.m. ET until the moon sets.*
> ...


http://www.usatoday.com/story/weathe...moon/70831278/

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## Suzanimal

> Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks on April 22 (Earth Day) With ‘Unpredictable’ Show
> 
> At the end of a day devoted to Earth (Earth Day on April 22, 2015), people can look to the heavens for a beautiful shower of Lyrid meteors.
> 
> The Lyrid Meteor shower will reach its peak late Wednesday night when as many as 20 meteors per hour are expected to whiz through the night sky.
> 
> “The Lyrids are really unpredictable,” Bill Cooke, director of NASA‘s Meteoroid Environment Office, said in a statement. “For the 2015 shower, I’m expecting 15 to 20 Lyrid meteors an hour.”
> 
> Peak meteor action should happen after 10:30 p.m. local time in the northern hemisphere, while Cooke said people in the southern hemisphere should be able to catch a glimpse after midnight local time.
> ...

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## invisible

> Handy dandy list.


Wow, we get to see Uranus in October!    I'm surprised no one else has remarked on that yet.

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## Suzanimal

> Wow, we get to see Uranus in October!    I'm surprised no one else has remarked on that yet.


I don't want to be the butt of your joke. I love Uranus, be respectful.

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## Natural Citizen

I'm getting ready to go outside and lay back. The last time I watched, there were some really nice ones. Purples, greens, blues, orange, red...

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## Suzanimal

> The Best Planet Duo Of 2015 - Venus And Jupiter
> 
> They are the two brightest planets in the night sky – the cloud-covered world of Venus and the enormous gas giant Jupiter. Put them together and it’s a double delight. We are set for a stunning sight at the end of the month that’s sure to attract attention.
> 
> Over the next fortnight, the two planets will slowly make their way towards each other in the north-western sky. They are visible each evening for a few hours after sunset.
> 
> On Saturday, June 20, the thin crescent moon will sit alongside the duo, with Venus below and Jupiter above.
> 
> But by July 1, the distance between the two planets will have dramatically shrunk - the pair will mimic a splendid double star.
> ...


http://www.iflscience.com/space/best...us-and-jupiter

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## Acala

Venus is bright, but featureless through a telescope.  The one thing that is interesting about it as a visual object is that it has phases like luna.  You can see them with a modest telescope.

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## Scrapmo

It's been $#@!ty weather for the telescope here in Louisiana. It's been months since we have had a haze free night.

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## Suzanimal

Christmas full moon rises for first time this century




> If you're younger than 38, this will be your first chance to see a full moon on Christmas.
> 
> The last time it happened was 1977, and it won't happen again until 2034, according to The Weather Channel.
> 
> The Earth's pale satellite will take a nice, long trip across the sky starting Christmas Eve, just a few days after the winter solstice. Watch for it rising over Detroit in the east-northeast at 4:52 p.m. Dec. 24 and setting in the west-northwest at 7:45 a.m. Dec. 25, according to timeanddate.com.
> 
> December's full moon is called the "cold moon" because, appropriately enough, "it is the month when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark," according to the Farmer's Almanac.
> 
> The winter solstice occurs at 11:49 p.m. Dec. 21, which is at or near the longest night of the year before the days start to lengthen again. The day of winter solstice is exactly 6 hours and 12 minutes shorter than June's summer solstice, according totimeanddate.com.
> ...


http://www.11alive.com/story/weather...moon/77147526/





> How to see the best meteor shower of the year
> 
> You can catch what astronomers are predicting will be the best meteor shower of the year Sunday evening into Monday morning.
> 
> The annual Geminids meteor shower is billed as the best because it produces more meteors per hour than other showers. The show starts around  9 or 10 p.m. and continues overnight. This year a crescent moon on Sunday will set early, making it easier to spot the meteors.
> 
> Another bonus: Near-record warmth for most of the eastern half of the nation Sunday and Monday (though some clouds could obscure the view in the East and Northwest). Through Monday morning, temperatures are not expected to drop below the freezing mark for most areas east of the Mississippi River, according to weather.com.
> 
> The Western U.S. will stay on the chilly side, however.
> ...

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## Danke

If I am traveling and working over Christmas, I'll keep my eye out for one.

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## Suzanimal

> Perseid Meteor Shower Expected To Be The Best In Many Years
> 
> The annual Perseid meteor shower is back again, and the shooting stars promise to be especially spectacular this time around.
> 
> Up to 200 meteors per hour are expected on the peak night of Aug. 11-12, a NASA spokesperson said. That’s double the normal rate, making this the first Perseid “outburst” since 2009. 
> 
> The Perseids ― so named because they seem to come out of the constellation Perseus ― return every summer, when Earth crosses paths with the wake of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Tiny particles in the wake are zooming along at about 132,000 miles per hour, and when they hit our planet’s atmosphere they disintegrate with a brilliant flash of light.
> 
> This year more shooting stars than usual are expected because Earth will pass closer to the middle of the comet’s debris stream rather than its edge.
> ...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...p_ref=science&

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## Suzanimal

I hope the clouds clear up around here, I love watching these things and I live far enough out of the city to get a great view.

I also occurred to me that this may be a teaser from SMOD. @Lucille @GunnyFreedom




> Perseid meteor shower will bring 100 – 200 meteors per hour
> 
> Astronomers are expecting an outburst of Perseid meteors, with the peak viewing times being late Thursday night August 11th into Friday morning, August 12th. This outburst may show up to 200 meteors per hour, which is double the usual rate. NASA says there are more meteors than usual this year because Jupiter’s gravity has tugged some streams of comet material closer to Earth.
> 
> 
> Once the moon sets Thursday night/Friday morning at 1:08am PT, start to look up in the northeast direction towards the constellation Perseus, the stars Capella and Aldebara, and the Pleiades star cluster.  The meteors will radiate from Perseus.
> 
> What causes this meteor shower every year? It’s because the Earth will collide with material coming from the ancient Comet Swift-Tuttle. That comet orbits the sun every 133 years, leaving behind a trail of particles as it goes. Most of those particles have been around for a thousand years. According to NASA, when Earth crosses paths with Swift-Tuttle’s debris, specks of comet hit the atmosphere and disintegrates in flashes of light. The meteors are called Perseids because they seem to fly out the constellation Perseus.
> 
> ...


http://www.fox5atlanta.com/weather/188658801-story

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## oyarde

Supposed to rain cats & dogs here Sat , 2 to 4 inches

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## oyarde

I ended up with 6 1/2 inches of rain

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## Danke

> I ended up with 6 1/2 inches of rain


Your rain dancing, correlation vs causation.

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## oyarde

> Your rain dancing, correlation vs causation.


I have not needed a rain dance in at least a couple years .

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## oyarde

Still raining , I may not get to see any Aug. meteors this yr . That will be a first.

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