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Earth is entering a stream of debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Friday night, Dec. 13th, with a dozen or so meteors per hour visible in bright moonlight. The best time to look is 2 a.m. local time (Saturday morning) when the constellation Gemini is high in the sky.

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Sunspot 3912 erupted today (Dec. 8 @ 0906 UT), producing an X2-class solar flare and a shortwave radio blackout over southern Africa. The impulsive flare is the latest in a series of increasingly intense explosions this weekend:

The explosion produced a CME, but an initial analysis suggests it will miss Earth, passing just ahead of our planet in its orbit around the sun. More X-flares are possible in the days ahead because there are two sunspots (3912 and 3917) with unstable magnetic fields.

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Santa Claus will be on the amateur radio airwaves again this year.

The 3.916 Santa Net will be on the air every night at 7:00 PM CST from November 29 through December 24. Reserve a spot with Santa by making a pre-net check in. You can check in each night starting at 6:30 PM CST online at www.CQSanta.com.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will also be on the air, together, thanks to special arrangements with the Cowley (KS) County Amateur Radio Club. They will be on the air on the 147.000 repeater and the Sunflower Net system, between 10 a.m. and noon on November 30 and beginning at 10 a.m. on December 14 and 21. In addition to the local repeater, the Sunflower Net offers connection options to Allstar, DMR, Dstar, Echolink, Fusion, Hamshack Hotline, M17, and P25. The club is also setting up a radio link at the local library to talk to Santa.

Also, for the 4th year, Santa has sent Elf Chucky and his team of amateur radio operators to northern Colorado, to help make sure children of all ages can talk to Santa on station NØP from the North Pole. Thanks to the Longmont Amateur Radio Club and the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club, children can get into the holiday spirit by talking to Santa on the radio. Both are ARRL Affiliated Clubs. Get the details on that operation at https://w0eno.org/santa/.