8/13/10

Perseid Meteor Shower Lights The Sky


Spectacular Night Sky

The 2010 Perseid meteor shower lived up to its promise of a meteor per minute just before dawn today, providing an excellent celestial spectacle for people around the globe who had dark and clear skies.

The Perseid meteor shower is caused by ancient debris left by multiple orbits around the sun of the comet Swift-Tuttle. They name comes from the fact that the meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which was high overhead just before dawn. The meteors all streaked away from that point of origin, called the radiant. A few non-Perseids, called sporadic meteors, were also observed on very different trajectories.

"I counted 20 Perseids in a 20-minute period starting at 4:10 a.m," said Robert Roy Britt, space.com editor in chief. "Most were faint, but two were as bright as Jupiter, leaving brief vapor trails that marked their path."

Jupiter presided over the annual event, hovering high in the southern sky as the brightest object in the early morning sky.

Britt observed the shooting stars from reasonably dark skies at the north edge of Phoenix. There were bursts of up to a half dozen meteors in a two-minute period and lulls that lasted up to four minutes, he said.

The Perseid shower is known for being reliable, and for the occasional bright fireball, or bolide -- an exploding meteor. Other observers reported fireballs in recent days. The Perseids began in late July, peaked last night and this morning, and will continue but tail off over the next several days.

If you missed the peak of the shower, late tonight into early Saturday morning offers another opportunity, experts say. While the number of meteors will drop off significantly, a patient observer with dark skies could see several meteors per hour in the predawn Saturday. Those in urban or suburban areas will see far fewer.

From space.com

How is you Friday the 13th? Have a great one!

Kaye

8/11/10

The Galaxy Express Features Erotic SFR and Forbidden Love!


News Flash: -- SF Signal a premier site/blog for Science Fiction has just picked up The Galaxy Express article featuring Forbidden Love... in the SF Tidbits section for August 11. (Scroll down to find it-- but hey-- it is there!)

What's happening today?

The Galaxy Express is discussing worldbuilding in SFR (Sci-Fi Romance) especially as it relates to erotic SFR. And guess what? They are featuring examples from FORBIDDEN LOVE as good worldbuilding! The post is up now. Heather Massey, the extraordinary keeper of The Galaxy Expess has fascinating concepts. She and I have had a few interesting conversations about worldbuilding and with her permission, I've shared some of our email talks in the comment section of  the TGE post:


In this case, it means do erotic SFR authors need to be more informed and research Science Fiction and know their stuff when it comes to writing SFR. To pique your interest, here is some of what I shared  in the comments from a private conversation with Heather Massey in an email:

Kaye: I emphasize woldbuilding so much when I write SFR or talk about it. I'm such a Sci-Fi girl from the get-go, so it was just natural for me to write in this genre.

Heather: I can be happy with a good-faith effort. It's the stories that seem as though the author just phoned it in that concern me. Like you said, why bother writing SFR at all if your heart's not in it?

Kaye: I have author friends (a few are erotic authors) who have mentioned they would like to write SFR. I say, well, do you love the genre? Do you immerse yourself in the books constantly and search for new releases, can you not wait for the next SF movie or TV show to air, do you love finding and researching scientific theories, and is your mind always creating 'strange new worlds'? Do you know the terminology? ETC.

Heather: Exactly. They don't have to be hardcore, just a fan on a regular basis. Because readers will know...

Fantastic topic! Stop by for a visit, read the post/comments and leave a comment of your own at


Kaye