Earthquake in Alaska

"A major earthquake measuring a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 has rocked remote portions of Alaska, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The USGS issued, then canceled, a tsunami warning for Alaska's Aleutian Islands. It also lowered the magnitude to 6.8."

Click here for more details.

Hurricane Irene heads for the United States coastline

Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday warned Americans to take Hurricane Irene seriously and urged them to obey orders to evacuate from the path of what is likely to be an "extremely dangerous and costly" storm.

"All indications point to this being a historic hurricane," Obama said in a statement to reporters from the farm where he is vacationing on this island off the Boston coast.

Fifty-five million people are potentially in Hurricane Irene's path, from the Carolinas to Cape Cod on the U.S. East Coast, and tens of thousands are evacuating as cities including New York brace for the powerful storm to hit.

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Track Hurricane Irene with your students! 

Use this graph: http://tinyurl.com/3u9375a 

and this site for the data: http://tinyurl.com/4xu452m. (Put cursor over dot for coordinates.)

Or try this:

Hurricane Student Booklet from NOAA.

Full Moon May Washout Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight

Where to look!

Info from Stardate.com:
"Though the shower technically peaks at about 1 a.m. CDT on Saturday, August 13, prime viewing time begins when the constellation Perseus rises into fine view in the northeast around midnight on Friday, August 12. The full Moon will rise in early evening Friday and will be directly overhead after midnight, coinciding exactly with the predicted time of the shower’s peak intensity. The Moon’s brilliant light will overpower most of the meteors."

What a good viewing might look like.

Go here for more information!

Northern Lights Video

Aurora Borealis @ Tibbitt Lake, NWT from Michael Ericsson on Vimeo.

All Eyes on Vesta

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta on July 9, 2011. More details on the Dawn spacecraft mission here.

It's always a good idea to keep your students "up" on what spacecraft NASA currently has floating around "up there!" Check out the NASA website for a wealth of information on several current missions.

Example: The Final Mission of the Space Shuttle.

Go here for a search engine for educator materials for teachers, all grades!