When is the best time to see auroras? Where is the best place to go? And how do you photograph them? These questions and more are answered in a new book, Northern Lights - a Guide, by Pal Brekke & Fredrik Broms. |
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EARTH THROUGH THE
RINGS OF SATURN: One month from
now, on July 19th, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will
photograph Earth from Saturn. The unprecedented
image will show the "Pale Blue Dot" in
natural color, as it would appear to the human eye,
framed by the rings of another world. Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
CORONAL HOLE:
A large "coronal hole" has formed in the
atmosphere above the sun's northern hemisphere,
and it is spewing solar wind into space. NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture of
the UV-dark gap during the early hours of June 19th:
Coronal holes are places where the
sun's magnetic field opens up and allows the solar
wind to escape. A wide stream of plasma flowing
from this particular coronal hole will reach Earth,
and brush against our planet's magnetic field, on
June 23-24. High-latitude sky watchers should be
alert for auroras on those dates.
Aurora alerts:
text,
voice.
Realtime
Space Weather Photo Gallery
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON
LAUNCH: On June14th high school
students in Bishop, California, launched their seventh
"space weather balloon." Its mission:
To investigate the effect of solar flares and radiation
storms on Earth's ozone layer. The
group's mentor, Dr. Tony Phillips, photographed
the balloon moments before liftoff from their "Edge
of Space Port" in the Sierra Nevada mountains:
The balloon's payload carried two
cameras, an ozone sensor, a cryogenic thermometer,
and a GPS altimeter to an altitude of 110,000 feet
above Earth's surface. All of the payload's core
space weather instrumentation was built by the students
themselves. After the balloon popped, as planned,
the payload parachuted back to Earth, landing near
the ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California's
White Mountains. A recovery team has already retrieved
the payload, and students are inspecting the data
now.
The students launched the balloon
on June 14th, a period of low solar activity, because
they wanted to compare quiet sun data with a similar
data set they collected on May 22nd during a strong
solar radiation storm. Stay tuned for their results!
Sponsor
a space weather balloon: Would you
like to sponsor a flight? The students, who call
themselves Earth
to Sky Calculus, offer a service for sponsors
called "Edge of Space Advertising." During
the "ozone flight" on June 14th they flew
an ad for Interpret America (flight
photo), which paid for the helium in the balloon.
The students have also flown banners,
cards,
cows,
running
shoes, presidents
and other items. If there's something you'd like
to fly, please contact Dr.
Tony Phillips for rates and details.
Realtime
Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008,
2009,
2011]
Realtime
Aurora Photo Gallery
Realtime
Comet Photo Gallery
