• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

2013 is going to be the Year of the Great Comets (yes, that's PLURAL)

Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
1,191
Location
Kearney, NE
I don't know if it is making national news yet, but
a comet was just days ago discovered by a couple of Russian
astronomers that appears to have all of the ingredients to be one of
the greatest comets in our lifetimes, and maybe one of the greatest in
human civilization's history.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

Normally it takes a while after discovery to calculate an accurate
orbit, but this comet was found on pre-discovery sky surveys (where it
was previously overlooked as a comet) and so they have 9 months of
data (over 50 orbital datapoints). What makes it incredible is the
nearness with which it is going to skim past the sun (.012 AU) and
then the nearness with which is flies past the earth (.4 AU). This
comet has the chance of being visible in a broad daylight sky,
brighter than the moon. This will be an incredible object from Nov. to
Jan. in 2013/2014. Currently, this comet is known by the following
designation: C/2012 S1 (ISON)

If you want to hang out with the comet nerds, including at least one
of the discoverers of this comet:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/

Before this, we were looking forward to another great comet in the
Spring of 2013 (known by the designation C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS ) This
comet alone would be enough to make most comet lovers wet their pants,
as it is expected to flirt with negative visual magnitudes in March
2013: http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2011L4/2011L4.html but it
has now been joined by a very big brother that looks to wildly
overshadow it.

2013 is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime year for comets.
 
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