Tag Archives: Aurora

Astronomy News

Watch for Aurora on the night of the 20th

HERE COMES THE SOLAR WIND: The Arctic Circle is about to turn green. Forecasters say there is a good chance of bright auroras around the poles on Sept. 20th when a solar wind stream engulfs Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers have long known that auroras favour equinoxes. The timing of the stream could scarcely be better as it is expected to arrive only two days before the beginning of northern autumn. Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

Astronomy News

Sunspots and Aurora Watch

From Space Weather.com

AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth late on July 19th, and this could spark G1-class geomagnetic storms around the poles. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras, especially in the southern hemisphere where dark winter skies favour visibility of faint lights. [aurora gallery]

BIG SUNSPOTS: Solar activity has been low for months. This could soon change. Two big sunspot groups are directly facing Earth, and one of them has an unstable magnetic field that poses a threat for M-class solar flares. Bill Hrudey photographed the active regions on July 16th from Cayman islands:

“Sunspots AR2567 & AR2565 are great imaging targets surrounded by many granules,” says Hrudey.

What are granules? The sun is so hot, it literally boils. Granules are bumps on the boiling surface, much like the bumpy surface of water boiling on a hot stove. One difference: While the granules on your stove are only a few centimeters across, granules on the sun are as wide as Texas.

As if granules weren’t big enough, the primary dark cores of these sunspots are twice as wide as the entire Earth. Great targets indeed. If you have a solar telescope, take a look.

 

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

2016 Prix Aurora-Boréal

Prix Aurora/Boréal 2016 • Nominees and Winners

(Recipients are in bold)

Prix Aurora-Boréal • Best Novel

Best novel of science fiction or fantasy published in French by a Canadian writer published in Canada in 2015.

  • Philippe-Aubert Côté: Le Jeu du Démiurge (Alire)
  • Frédérick Durand: Au rendez-vous des courtisans glacés (version intégrale) (Les Six Brumes)
  • Frédérick Durand: Quand s’éteindra la dernière chandelle (Black Coat Press)
  • Éric Gauthier: La grande mort de mononc’ Morbide (Alire)
  • Yves Meynard: Les Marches de la lune morte (Alire)

 Prix Aurora-Boréal • Best Short Fiction

Best short science fiction or fantasy published in French by a Canadian writer published in Canada in 2015.

  • Geneviève Blouin: « L’Enchanteresse portait des Lévi’s » (Solaris 195)
  • Élise Lucie Henripin: « Baptême » (Clair/Obscur 13)
  • Pierre-Luc Lafrance: « Dans ses pas » (L’arracheur de rêves, Les Six Brumes)
  •  Jean-Louis Trudel: « Garder un phénix en cage » (Solaris 195)
  • Guillaume Voisine: « Le contraste de l’éternité » (Bizarro, La Maison des viscères)

 Prix Aurora-Boréal • Best related work

Best literary criticism, review, book review, critical works, scenario anthology or collection of science fiction, fantasy or fantasy published in French in 2015 by a Canadian.

  • Pierre-Alexandre Bonin : Article « Je me souviens : modalités de la mémoire artificielle chez Isaac Asimov et Philippe K. Dick » (Solaris 196)
  • Brins d’éternité : Revue, ed. Ariane Gélinas, Alamo St-Jean et Guillaume Voisine
  • Pierre-Luc Lafrance : Recueil L’arracheur de rêves (Les Six Brumes)
  • Solaris : Revue, ed. Joël Champetier
  • Mario Tessier : Chronique « Les Carnets du Futurible » (Solaris 193-196)

Prix Boréal • Audiovisual Artistic Creation

Open to cartoonists, illustrators, painters, sculptors, film-makers, animation directors, and musicians whose work falls in all or part of the science fiction or fantasy genre. There will be only one entry per artist. The award is for the body of work of the year 2015.

  • Grégory Fromenteau : Couvertures, Le Jeu du Démiurge, Les Marches de la Lune morte, etc.
  • Marie-Claude Landry [Mary Khaos] : Couvertures, Quand s’éteindra la dernière chandelle, Écorché, Bizarro, etc.
  • Érick Lefebvre : Couverture, Clair/Obscur 13, illustrations, Brins d’éternité 40-41, etc.
  • Émilie Léger : Couvertures, Brins d’éternité 40, Solaris 195; illustrations, Solaris 196, etc.
  • Laurine Spehner : Couverture, La Grande Mort de mononc’ Morbide, illustrations, Solaris 193-194, 196, etc.

Prix Boréal • Fan Creations

Non-professional contributions to enrichment the genre that can not be classified in the above categories are eligible. Includes, fanzines, webzines and blogs. A webzine or blog must have published during 2015 a minimum of 10 issues and deal with science fiction, or fantasy, provided that it is not only devoted to self-promotional ads.

The Prix Aurora-Boréal (Awards) were presented at the Congrès Boréal May 22, 2016.