The largest solar storm since 2005 is now in progress, causing fluctuations on the power grid and disruptions to the Global Positioning System. But worst thing is the ongoing strong solar proton storm—ranking S3 on a 5-level scale—which is in full rage now and gradually increasing because of this Coronal Mass Ejection impact.

For anyone who is interested in a little spot of skywatching this year, I came across a nice, handy little calendar detailing all the best times to see meteor showers. 

I’m sure many of you will already have seen this stunning new music app by Bloom.io. Planetary, in a nutshell, visualises your iTunes library as a star map, a far cry from the long dull lists you normally have to scroll through.
 

Each letter of the alphabet is initially represented, but as you delve deeper you’ll see artists represented by stars and albums represented by planets and songs represented by moons or satellites. A lot of attention has been paid to detail here, with the size of the orbit of each song corresponding to the run time. It’s a delight to play with, and would look simply stunning projects onto a wall.

Planetary is the latest in a long line of apps that have been using various visualisation methods to overhaul standard, basic tasks (One of the most intriguing being Stephen Fry’s book designed by Stefanie Posavec.) Planetary however, in my opinion, is one of the few that does it with great success. And although it may not be the easiest way to find your favourite track, you’ll definitely still have fun doing it.

You can download absolutely free here

I remember seeing this a while ago, but I came across it again today and as it’s still completely relevant I thought I’d post it as I haven’t before.

This is a beautifully simple illustration by DMTR.org of the phases of the moon for 2011. Each day of the year is represented with the moon’s phases being shown at each stage in an elegant, eye-catching pattern. Sublime!

Check out more pictures of the graphic here