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MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT: Tonight, June 20-21, is shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The northern summer solstice is at 1:04 a.m. on the 21st EDT and 10:04 p.m. on the 20th PDT.
EMERGING ACTIVE REGION: For the past few days, a sunspot group on the farside of the sun has been crackling with flares and propelling CMEs into space. Now, this still-unnumbered active region moving onto the Earthside of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught it coming over the eastern limb on June 20th (circled):
By week's end, the emerging sunspot will reveal itself fully to telescopes on Earth. If it has a complex magnetic field that harbors energy for strong eruptions, Earth-directed flares could be in the offing.
Meanwhile, big sunspot AR1775 already poses a threat for Earth-directed flares. It has a 'beta-delta' class magnetic field that poses a threat for M-class eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-flares on June 20-21. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
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SIX MONTHS IN A BEER CAN: The summer solstice is coming, and in the Netherlands that means it's time to open up the beer cans around the Philippus Lansbergen Observatory in Middleberg. It's not what you think! There's no beer inside, only photo paper. Every year, astronomers at the observatory help members of the public make beer-can solargraphs to record the motion of the sun across the sky. Yesterday, after six months in the field, the solargraphs were opened, and this is what they revealed:
"This shows the movement of the Sun with 1 single shot of 6 months exposure time," explains Jan Koeman of the Philippus Lansbergen Observatory. "We deployed the beer-can solargraphs in December and opened them yesterday."
The lowest arcs were traced by the winter sun of Dec. 2012. The highest arc was made by the sun yesterday on the eve of the 2013 summer solstice. Occasional gaps are caused by clouds.
"It seems the sun has been shining a lot the last 6 months," notes Koeman. "This does not match with the general view of cloudy weather in the Netherlands!"
6-month Solargraph How-to Guides: #1, #2, #3
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.
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