31.12. On New Year's Eve, immediately after sunrise, pearl clouds were observed in large areas of Finland. Of particular interest were the pearl clouds formed from type II water ice, which shimmer in the colors of the spectrum. Especially around sunset, these were especially bright and spectacular (photo: Mattias Aho).

25.12. An exceptionally long-lasting fireball was spotted on Christmas morning. The subject’s bright dive into the Earth’s atmosphere took more than 20 seconds. Esko Lyytinen of the fireball working group estimates that it was a mass of up to a couple of tons. The fireball flew over Southern Estonia around latitude 58, ie south of Tartu. The large meteoroid either returned to space or ended up on the Russian side as a meteorite. (Photo by Panu Lahtinen)

20.12. In the days before Christmas Eve, a rapid stream of particles from the Sun spreaded northern lights over the Arctic. In most parts of the country, the weather did not favor admiration for the phenomenon. However, small northern lights were tasted through the veil of clouds, which all the way to Central Finland. You can submit your own observation using the Northern Lights form . Photo by Anssi Kaunismäki

Located in the constellation of Pegasus, 8 billion light-years away, the quasar CTA 102 has brightened from a normal 17-magnitude level to about 13 magnitudes. Observations about the object are collected using the Deep Space form in the Active Galaxy category. Photo by Teppo Laitinen .

12.12. Shortly after 7 a.m., a bright fireball was seen over a wide area in southern Finland. The phenomenon attracted the attention of many who travel to work. Observations on the case are requested on the fireball form .

11.12. beautiful icicle plays were seen especially in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Heavy frost weather favors the view of the halos and many ski slopes are snow-covered. The crystal clouds resulting from snowmaking easily spread easily to nearby areas, creating spectacular halos. Photo of Tuire Suvitie

4.12. and 5.12. The occurrence of pearl clouds will start relatively early this year. In Oulu, Raija Ollikainen noticed brown on Sunday, which is probably related to the occurrence of pearls. Monday 5.12. Matti Helin and Mikko Peussa photographed clear pearl clouds in southwestern Finland and Lasse Nurminen made a visual observation of the same play. The normal pearl-like months are December, January, and February.

3.12. Heikki Mahlamäki photographed wonderful weaving in Kaskinen. December is quite an atypical time for spectacular sea weaving, where a distant object like the lighthouse in the picture seems to “rise into the air” and “mirror” below. The birds in the foreground of the picture bring their own tone to the atmosphere.

1.12. Jyrki Haajanen (Ursa, Helsinki) published IC 1396, which he worked on from October to November. It is an emission mist in the constellation of Kefeus, located about 2,400 light-years from us. The color handling of the object is interesting. The image is the result of 15 hours of exposure (Canon 300mm / F2.8 and SBIG STF-8300M).

1.12. Marko Riikonen has published the Kerni arc observed in Aurigo's halo play on November 12 in Rovaniemi. So far, there are nine observations of this very rare halo form in the astronomer. Five of the plays have been photographed in the Sun. The oldest of the observations, Marko Mikkilä's report from Sotkamo on November 17, 2007, was the world's first photographic documented Kern.

14.11. The full moon, which was widely featured in the media and was a little closer than usual, inspired the photographers to move. Mikko Silvola captured a particularly wonderful phenomenon (regardless of the so-called "super moon"). In vegetables, the full moon rose, heavily woven, sliced into a Chinese paper lantern in the processing of layers of different temperatures in the atmosphere.

11.11. in the evening from 23.28 to 23.35, a light with a tail moving slowly to the north was seen all over Finland. It was the rocket phase of a satellite launched from the United States at Vandenberg's base, from which fuel was discharged. The observer received several observations of this rare object at night, which was also photographed from Sweden . The movement of the object stands out in the picture of Tampere's Ursa tower. (Photo by E. Bruus, J. Raunio and K. Kuure)

5.11. An exceptionally spectacular halo play was performed in Kittilä, which was captured by Esa Palmi. In the ice crystal cloud that remained local, the Sun saw numerous rare halo forms magnificently developed - including a powerful lower-back-solar arc. (Photo by Esa Palmi )

18.10. several clouds of holes were observed, first in eastern Uusimaa at noon and later around sunset at 6 pm in the Lahti region. Photo: Carita Uronen.

17.10. Thursday 13.10. Northern lights were seen in many places on the west coast and northern Finland. The rest of the country was left under a pile of clouds. Also 17 / 18.10. there is again an increased chance of northern lights if the cloud curtain cracks. Photo by Satu Rajamäki

8.10. During the day on 29 September, the fireball working group will investigate the bang heard in Pirkanmaa caused by the day fireball. Flash and sound observations of the case are requested on the fireball form . If possible, take a landscape photo of your flash location, mark the flash location, and check the Orientation on which the target was located on the map. The direction, duration, and nature of the sound can be assessed for sound observations. All the findings from the case are valuable. Photo by Timo Kantola

17.9. Lunar eclipse of the moon 16.9. was left under clouds in some parts of the country, but the weather favored the west coast in particular. The half-shadow eclipse was reflected in a slight darkening of the lunar disk and is best seen in photographic observations. 2017 will see a lunar eclipse of the moon at dawn on 17 February. and partial lunar eclipse in the evening 7.8. Photo by Laura Vuoksenmaa

4.9. The rapid flow of particles from the Sun increased the probability of northern lights all the way to southern Finland. Rain and cloud areas hampered the observation of northern lights in many places. Photo by Taisto Niskanen

23 / 24.8. On the night between, the earth's magnetic field turned to a position favorable to the northern lights. Although the fog cloud hampered observation in many places, the northern lights could be admired all the way to the Helsinki metropolitan area. Photo by Emma Bruus

The peak of the meteor flock was observed in varying weather around Finland. Star flights were expected to occur the most in the morning of 11.8. and 12.8. . Individual flocks of meteors can still be seen after the maximum until August 24th. Fireballs can be captured in an image with long exposure times ( fireball form ) or detected by counting the number of asses during the observation period ( solar system form , target Meteor Swarm, named Persids ). Photo by Samuli Ikäheimo

5.7. The end of July is the best time for bongling the illuminating overnight stays. Illuminating night clouds are filamentous, bluish clouds, often in the direction of the northern horizon. Unlike ordinary clouds, these light streaks of summer night fly at an altitude of more than 80 km. The most favorable observation time is around midnight (more observation instructions ). Photo by Matti Helin

16.6. In the Kuusamo and Kajaani area, an exceptionally spectacular halo play was admired, which was also accompanied by numerous rare halo forms. Magnificence was recorded in the observations of Juha Pöllänen , Heikki Ketola, Voitto Pitkänen and Mikko Silvola. Photo Victory Pitkänen

Around midnight 11 / 12.5. an exceptionally bright fireball was seen in southern Finland. If you saw a fireball, we ask that you record your own observation on the fireball form .

Observations of Mercury's overrun are collected with the Solar System form . Mercury's passage is chosen as the target. The crossing was successfully monitored throughout the country. The beautiful weather favored star shows organized by local associations and attended by a large crowd. Photo by Jari Kankaanpää

2.5. the first perimeters caused by birch pollen were seen in Southwest Finland and Pirkanmaa, and the next day also in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The hoops were quite dim and slightly diffuse, but still clearly visible. The picture below was taken by Veikko Mäkelä 3.5. In Helsinki.

The first pollen rings of the year were already seen at the turn of March-April, and then the cause was most obviously alder pollen.

24.4. at 00.13, a remarkably bright fireball was observed, mainly in the area south of Oulu. The song burned almost completely in the atmosphere. According to Esko Lyytinen , a mathematician in the fireball working group, small remnants of the meteoroid ended up east of Leivonmäki. In the modeling, the mass that survived to the ground is only in the order of twenty grams. Mika Sairanen reports a video of a fireball falling . (Photo by Aki Taavitsainen )

On the weekend of April 22-24. heavy rainfall in many places in southern and western Finland. The size of the granules was a few millimeters, with a maximum size of 8 millimeters. The attached picture was taken by Mikko Peussa on 22.4. In Raisio.

April 12-14 there had been an increased chance of northern lights appearing throughout the country. 12.4. In the evening, northern lights activity was observed all the way to Helsinki. Although the horizon greened throughout the country, the dance of the northern lights again remained largely to the delight of the more northern parts of the country. Seija Ropponen immortalized the beginning of the play in pictures in Kuusamo.

12.4. In March, the comet 252P / LINEAR, which passed close to Earth in March , finally rose to the Finnish morning sky. At its best, the head of a comet has appeared even to the naked eye as a target of about 5.5 magnitude. The height of the comet from the horizon increases and is visible even earlier at night. At the same time, however, its brightness decreases slowly. The attached photo was taken by Jorma Ryske on April 12.

7.-8.4. The object, interpreted as a SAR arc or its relative phenomenon, appeared in the Finnish night sky. The essence of the phenomenon resembling a stable red arc of northern lights was supported by a video by Artjärvi Tähtikallio ( M. Takala, L. Kangas ). The subject was confusingly sometimes next to and sometimes covered by conventional northern lights, which is not typical of a stable red northern arc. Attached photo Kari Kuninkaanniemi .

5.4. The online hobby magazine Zeniitti 2/2016 has been published. Available e.g. an overview of the winter season observations of the Catalina comet and an article on the Hyginus crater of the Moon. Upcoming events in the sky will be presented e.g. The passage of Mercury on May 9, 2016 and the covering of the stars of Hyads behind the Moon on November 10, 2010. Interview with star photographer Jari Saukkonen in the podcast. (Photo: Timo Kantola 10.12.2015).

31.3. The traditional Halohu April capture of Ursa's group of optical phenomena will be held again. The aim is to intensify the detection and description of visible halo phenomena during April. April is statistically one of the best halo months. The findings are reported on the Sky Watch halo form . The attached halo phenomenon was photographed by Anita Raunio in Espoo on March 29.

28.3. at 21.45 a bright fireball was observed. Based on the images and modeling of the Finnish and Swedish meteor cameras, the song burned to a large extent over Estonia. Possible meteorites probably ended up in the Baltic Sea. It is possible that some chips have survived in Saaremaa, Estonia. In the attached picture of Samuli Vuorinen's Helsinki, a fireball draws a sharp and cylindrical wide bead as it falls into the sky.

27.3. More than a hundred observations of a fine fireball seen at 10:36 p.m. on Sunday night have arrived at the Sky Watch. The phenomenon was widely visible in the skies of Southern and Central Finland and was also recorded at several chamber stations. According to the preliminary modeling of the mathematician of the fireball working group Esko Lyytinen , a small meteorite of about 200 grams emerged from the piece about 20 kilometers northwest of Kuusankoski. The estimate will be specified later.

Kirkkonummi's comet Jari Saukkonen has captured a great view of the Messier galaxy number 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, located 21 million light-years away. "The M101 ended up in sight, as it was as far away from the moon as possible in my sky and visible almost all night," Saukkonen says. "I collected a total of 9.5 hours of exposure from this handsome spiral galaxy over two nights, and the end result was surprising."

22.3. in the evening Oulu and its surroundings experienced an unusually wonderful lunar halo play. More than twenty observations have already been made of Oulu, Oulunsalo, Kempele and Muhos to Taivaanvahti. The most striking feature was the bright and colorful side moons. The observation of the national Ursa Jarmo Leskinen has so far the most versatile halo catch, which includes e.g. To hear in the upper clouds a very rare annular arch of Lowitz.

March 15-16 replay. A northern lights show a week ago, seen from Muonio, comes to life in Satu Juvonen's observation. Juvonen brings out the finest northern lights animations in the history of the Sky Guard, an example of which is attached. "The wish of the trip to Lapland was that if someone came to see me," says Juvonen. Mikko Lönnberg's observation from the previous night in Kittilä has now also been published.

March 19-23 In recent days, the moon has been located near the bright giant planet Jupiter. At its best, the conjunction was today, March 22. in the morning. A picture taken by Petteri Lyytinen from the Estonian village of Alliku shows how the Moon approached Jupiter three days ago. The attached composite image of the nationwide Ursa Vesa Vauhkonen distinguishes four moons of Jupiter and one moon of the earth. Emma Wälimäki reached Jupiter and the Moon landing on the Tampere horizon.

19.3.-21.3. Spring higher clouds of better quality in terms of halos have arrived in Finland in recent days. This has brought bright 22 ° tires that have been seen in large areas , such as the attached Vaasa Andromeda Marko Takala on March 19th. Observed by the sun . See also Mikko Lönnberg's compact and bright 22 ° ring of the Moon 20.3. In Pori and earlier that day Sofia Kuusela in Maalahti a view captured around the Sun.

20.3. at 9.22 p.m. a fireball was observed mainly in the central parts of southern Finland . At least four camera stations from Ursa's fireball team have recorded the flight. One of them is the attached picture from Mika Järvinen . Seen from Joutsa, a meteor pierced a 22 ° ring visible around the Moon. Another picture is from Aki Taavitsainen, Ursan, Mikkeli. According to Esko Lyytinen's preliminary modeling, only a rather small chip in the direction of Mikkeli survived from the atmospheric flight of the song.

19.3. The national Ursan Timo Kantola (photo) in Pieksämäki and the Southern Finland Cosmological Society Jorma Ryske in Helsinki have animated the movement of the tail star C / 2014 S2 (PANSTARRS). The dim telescope comet is currently in the constellation of the Dragon. Harri Kiiskinen of Sirius in Jyväskylä managed to photograph the PANSTARRS comet, coded P / 2016 BA14, which has been making the closest known comet overrun from Earth for 246 years.

18.3.-19.3. During the night, a small northern lights play (pictured by Kimmo Kantola ) and three bright starburst flights were observed around Finland at 21.35, 23.20 and 00.37. It doesn’t seem like any of them were significant as a dropout. Some of the observations are from deep sky and some from the solar system. Joni Alavesa from Keminmaa was the first to alert the Sky Watch to the Northern Lights. The best meteor picture so far is from Esko Lyytinen .

17.3. Ville Miettinen of Saturn in Kuopio photographed the craters of the Moon . The photo was taken at the Huuhanmäki observatory in Kuopio, which has been awakening to both observation and star display activities after a couple of quieter years. About 50 observations of the Earth's pale orbit have been made to the Sky Watch during March. In one of them, Juha Ojanperä apparently noticed the illumination of a couple of mountain peaks as bright spots in the middle of an otherwise dark area.

March 16-17 for the second night in a row, a large-scale Nordic fire was seen. This time the clouds agreed to give way to southwestern Finland . "At first it was a dim arc, but then it intensified into a spectacular play," Antero Ohranen describes the scene in Kyyjärvi (photo). Markku Siljama from Mäntyharju will be the first to report on the bottom fire to Taivaanvahti between Wednesday and Thursday. So far, the southernmost observation is from Pentti Arpalahti in Helsinki .

March 15-16 Northern lights were observed in almost the entire territory of Finland, as the map of the observations shows. Most of the large coastal cities were covered with clouds, such as Helsinki, Turku and Oulu. So far, the southernmost observation is from Juho Kinnunen in Tuusula. Juho Pöllänen from Kajaani was the first to report to Taivaanvahti. The picture below is from Rovaniemi , where Aarni Lehto of Turku Ursan followed the celestial phenomenon.

15.3. Jarmo Leskinen noticed an unusually beautiful Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud in the Kempele sky. Most of the Sky Guard's Kelvin-Helmholtz identifications are made from distant and relatively poorly formed KH clouds. In the case of widow's observation, the Kelvin-Helmholtz hooks are pure in style and the whole formation is impressive.

March 11-12 enough for northern lights observations were mainly in western Finland ( see map of observations ). The maximum moments of the Northern Lights play brought wonderfully red shapes to the sky, among other things, as in the picture by Kimmo Kantola below. About a dozen observations have arrived in the sky about the night play between last Friday and Saturday. Antti Rinne from Lapua was the first to report the phenomenon, who compiled an animation of the evening's pictures.

Timo Kantola photographed the comet Catalina on the evening of March 12 in Pieksämäki. In the animation below, the rather long tail and the movement of the comet against the starry sky stand out beautifully. There have already been 99 observations of the tail star C / 2013 US10 (Catalina) in the Sky Watch. It is originally a comet of the Oort cloud that has been in orbit for millions of years and will escape the circle of the Sun's gravity.

In the direction of the Pacific, a complete solar eclipse was experienced this morning. In neighboring Indonesian countries, such as Thailand, the eclipse was partial. In Phuket, Thailand, the event was followed by Pekka Oilinki , who was the first to publish his pictures in Taivaanvahti. In the zone of perfection, at least Janne Pyykkö , an experienced blackout hunter, was one of the Finns who managed to see the phenomenon through the thick upper clouds .

Tero Turunen exposed the Swirl Galaxy (M51) in Kankaanpää at night. "Moonlight and occasional subtle cloudiness made processing quite a challenging task, but the total exposure time of 14 hours saved a lot," says Turunen. The result is a spectacular sight at a classic deep sky destination 23 million light-years away.

29.2. A local and short-lived but especially spectacular halo play was seen in Klaukkala today. The extremely rare Kern arc possibly stood out very faintly with the naked eye in the Sun. Marko Pekkola and Emma Bruus also photographed and observed a large number of other rare halo shapes.

17.2. The Sentinel-3 remote sensing satellite of the European Space Agency's Copernicus program was launched yesterday at 19.57 Finnish time from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Jukka Brusila (pictured) managed to detect the launch in Sodankylä, Joni Virtanen in Kokkola, Heikki Annala Ii, Antero Isola in Utsjoki and Mari Pulska in Savukoski.

16.2. Observations have been received from the northern lights of the evening from almost the entire territory of Finland. Most of the easternmost part of Finland had areas where clouds completely blocked the phenomenon. The play was great, especially in northern Finland ( attached photo by Esa Palmi from Kittilä) and on the other hand in the latitudes of Central Finland (eg view of Vesa Vauhkonen ). Juho Pöllänen from Kajaani was the first to alert the Northern Lights at 18.16.

15.2. The clear weather gaps promised around Tuesday and Wednesday raise expectations in the night sky graphs. Despite the long periods of clouds, the Sky Guard has recently received a reasonable sample of images of the deep sky and the solar system. One of the most impressive shots at the beginning of the year is the attached gas mist of Samuli Vuorinen Orion, the master of PixInsight image processing (which shows the middle area of the image).

Marko Riikonen, Jarmo Moilanen, Marko Mikkilä and French researcher Nicholas Lefaudeux have taken full advantage of Rovaniemi's top conditions this winter. With different configurations, they have hunted lamp-induced halo plays in ice mist. The catch includes three previously unknown halos photographed on December 16 and January 6 . The traditional aesthetics of the lunar halo play is represented by the attached 20.1. pyramid play.

13.2. In the afternoon, Mikko Peussa and Paula Mattila noticed handsome brown rays in Turku. The former observation is one of those that has also received comments about the new version of the Sky Guard released on Thursday. The comment field of Mikko Peussa's observation can now, with his permission, be used for feedback and questions related to the reform. (Photo by Mikko Peussa)

Today 11.2. The Sky Watch has been extensively updated. The new version includes improvements to the home page, performance, search functionality, and interface, among other things. We ask users to report any deviations after the update by e-mail to taivaanvahti (ät) ursa.fi. If the site looks broken, there are still old style files in your computer's cache - press ctrl at the bottom of the "F5" key. (Photo by Matti Helin)

In January, Mikko Lönnberg photographed special and bright northern lights. These included the attached pink, handsomely developed bottom fire vortex on 21.1. Drinking belt recorded in Muonio and Kittilä 19.1. At the beginning of February, the latitude of Pori was enough for a bright northern lights play.

Pearl clouds were observed above our country on several days from January 28 to February 6. The first observations of the chain were made by Satu Juvonen from Inari. Juvonen's 29.1. photographed play featuring pearl clouds of both acid and water ice type (photo).

A new dwarf nova was detected in Perseus on January 16 in an ASAS-SN survey. Finnish star enthusiast Jari Saukkonen had already photographed the same object in Kirkkonummi two days earlier, but at that time had not yet reported the phenomenon. Looking at the area in the lower right corner of the image below, you can notice a star appearing and disappearing in the gif animation.

23.1. On Saturday night at 8:12 p.m., the sky was lit by an unusually bright fireball . So far, most of the observations are from less cloudy areas at the time of the incident in Southern Finland, such as between Tampere, Lahti and Helsinki. If you saw the phenomenon, please record your observation on the fireball form .

22.1. An article was published in Stars and Space to confirm the identification of the special northern lights ribbon observed in November. It was a stable red northern lights arc (SAR arc) . The phenomenon was successfully documented by 11 observers in the Sky Guard. The first report was made by Mauri Korpi (photo).

15.1. Artificial light pillars are a fairly common phenomenon in Finland in winter. However, Mia Heikkilä noticed and described something particularly exceptional in Eura, as the halopillars formed a very clear map of the place in the sky. The observation is unique in its kind.