Dave Gradwell in Birr, Co. Offaly just called Astronomy Ireland (5:36pm) to say there is a major aurora in progress! There was a corona overhead! Keith Geary in Cavan just sent a TEXT saying RED aurora overhead. I can see it from our Shop window in the brightly lit Butterly Business Park in Dublin 5! Heading to country-side soon! Checking the web sites and emails confirms a massive geomagnetic storm is in progress and has been since 8am (been a little too busy in the aftermath of our extremely successful Astro-Expo to be checking as regularly as I usually do! see website for Astro-Expo report by the way, with photos!). The aurora was caused by a CME (coronal mass ejection) from sunspot group number 484 that has survived a complete rotation around the back of the Sun and is nicely on view again (I saw it from the office just before the Sun set in a pair of 10x50s fitted with AstroSolar filter). The CME happened on Nov. 18. So get out and watch all night long and tell you friends! This could be bigger and better than the one 2 days before Halloween which you may have seen on the TV news and in the newspapers the day after? Moon rise is not until 4am tonight and clear skies are forecast so conditions are ideal again. We are very lucky! I'll tell you another time about how I got a private audience with Neil Armstrong last Monday and don't forget to book tickets for our Christmas Lecture on December 8 when Prof David Hughes will fly in from the UK (Sheffield University) to give a lecture on the subject of his book and video documentary "The Star of Bethlehem" (available from our mail order dept) in Dublin City University at 8pm on Dec. 8. Ticket only so call during office hours to book seats. TEXT any sightings of the aurora along with your name and location to 086 081 99 86 all night long! And send us an email with your comments and observations, and any photos to observe@astronomy.ie ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open until 6pm Mon.-Sat. Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. www.astronomy.ie (Subscribe FREE to AI's Events emailing list) Email: info@astronomy.ie