The Sun is an incredible sight right now. Three huge groups of sunspots are on view. The newest sunspot spawned one of the biggest solar flares ever seen at 11:10am Tuesday and sent material hurtling towards Earth. We are getting conflicting reports about when the aurora, which it must surely produce, will occur. One source at NASA says it could happen tonight (Tuesday) and another says Thursday. Jonathan King has already texted to say he thinks he can see "bright white green glow in the north" through intermittent breaks in the clouds from Dublin around 8:15pm Tuesday. It will be an unwise astronomer who does not check the sky every night this week therefore. I am to be interviewed on Morning Ireland around 8:30-9am Wednesday about all this.(If you miss it, listen later at http://www.rte.ie/news/morningireland.html) If you do see an aurora please a) immediately TEXT 086 081 99 86 give your location and time you first saw the aurora b) email a report of what you saw to observe@astronomy.ie so we can report it in the Observers Log column of our magazine By the way, last Friday's aurora alert resulted in one report of a possible aurora seen from Co. Clare, but it now appears the aurora was a minor affair with some weak sightings in Germany. As for this week's event it looks far more likely to produce a major aurora. You can see the sunspots causing all this hullabaloo at either of the following sites: SOHO: http://150.144.30.101/data/realtime/realtime-update.html BigBear: http://www.bbso.njit.edu/cgi-bin/LatestImages but nothing can compare to the 'live' view through binoculars or telescopes with proper filters fitted. If you haven't got AstroSolar filters made for your scope or binoculars yet then you may never get a chance like this again, so call and we can post AstroSolar to you. Note that the impressive H-alpha images you see are made with filters like those sold and popularised by Coronado Solar Filters (USA) who will be coming to Astro-Expo Nov. 15 & 16 in D.C.U. Have you booked your place let? It's Ireland's biggest astronomy event each year, with speakers flying in from USA, UK (and Ireland!). It's the one event each year when all members of Astronomy Ireland get together in Dublin so don't miss it! The dinner on the Saturday night will effectively be our 'Christmas Party' with the Beagle 2 Mars Lander team being our guests of honour so do book for the meal also. Details and the booking form were on the insert with your November issue of A&S or go to http://www.astronomy.ie/astroexpo.html for details and download the booking form from there. MY ADVICE: book the WEEKEND PASS and the DINNER. P.S. Don't forget to book THIS WEEK for our "International Speaker" Lecture on Nov. 10 (Dublin) and Nov. 11 (Cork) as booking has been heavier than ever and it is expected to be sold out. Details at http://www.astronomy.ie/nextlecture.html and http://www.astronomy.ie/corklec.html then call to book. ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open to 6pm Mon.-Sat. Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. www.astronomy.ie Email: info@astronomy.ie