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SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: Suddenly, the northeastern limb of the sun is bursting with activity. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this frenetic 5-hour sequence during the early hours of Oct. 26th:

At least half a dozen explosions occured during that brief movie. The blast site is hidden just behind the edge of the sun. It's almost certainly an unstable sunspot. The sun's rotation will bring it into view within the next 24-48 hours, creating a geoeffective source of solar activity. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

more images: from Martin Wise of Trenton, Florida; from Apollo Lasky of Naperville, Illinois;

COMET 29P ERUPTS AGAIN: The British Astronomical Association (BAA) is reporting another strong outburst of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. The volcanic comet suddenly brightened 10-fold on Oct. 23.75 UT when a sunlit vent opened, spewing 'cryomagma' into space. Dr. Richard Miles of the BAA provided this light curve:

Comet 29P is one of the strangest objects in the solar system. In fact, it strains the definition of "comet." 29P is a ball of ice 60 km wide (much larger than a typical comet) trapped in a planet-like orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. It appears to be festooned with ice volcanoes which erupt ~20 times a year.

A rapidfire "super-eruption" of 4 volcanoes in late September created an expanding shell of vaporized cryomagma, which astronomers have been monitoring. Yesterday's eruption propelled a new compact shell into the old larger one:

Above: Comet 29P photographed less than 12 hours after the Oct. 23rd eruption. Credit: Jean-Francois Soulier of France.

29P rotates once every ~58 days. As sunlight sweeps across its frozen surface, cryovolcanoes erupt under the high sun. "The latest eruption has taken place some 59 days after a similar event on August 25th, and may be an example of an outburst from the same cryovolcano erupting a second time on the next rotation of the nucleus," says Miles.

Amateur astronomers with mid-sized telescopes and astrophotography experience are encouraged to monitor 29P. It changes every night. The comet is located in the constellation Auriga, high in the northern sky at midnight. Point your optics here and check the BAA's Mission 29P website for updates.

more images: from Eliot Herman using a telescope in Mayhill, New Mexico

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD ORNAMENT: This is a must-have Christmas ornament for space fans: The Voyager Golden Record. On Oct. 15th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:

You can have it for $129.95. The 4-inch aluminum disk is imprinted with instructions intended for extraterrestrials, telling them how to play the phonographs now sailing through interstellar space onboard NASA's Voyager probes. Having touched the edge of space, it's the closest thing on Earth to an actual Golden Record.

The students are selling these unique ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and extra materials decoding the markings on the disk.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

On Oct 25, 2021, the network reported 17 fireballs.
(8 sporadics, 5 Orionids, 2 Leonis Minorids, 1 epsilon Geminid, 1 chi Taurid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Velocity (km/s)	Diameter (m)
2021 US	2021-Oct-20	7.8 LD	11.1	21
1996 VB3	2021-Oct-20	8.8 LD	15.3	135
2021 TV3	2021-Oct-21	13.2 LD	12.6	47
2021 UQ	2021-Oct-21	8 LD	14	63
2021 TE4	2021-Oct-21	8.3 LD	6	15
2021 SG2	2021-Oct-21	15.9 LD	5.9	25
2021 RE10	2021-Oct-21	15.5 LD	5.1	56
2021 TE1	2021-Oct-23	9.4 LD	12.4	47
2017 SJ20	2021-Oct-25	18.7 LD	15.7	120
2021 TO15	2021-Oct-25	7.3 LD	12.6	33
2019 UW6	2021-Oct-26	8 LD	11.1	17
2009 WY7	2021-Nov-02	19.2 LD	14.7	54
2021 TJ14	2021-Nov-02	19 LD	9.6	40
2017 TS3	2021-Nov-02	13.9 LD	9.9	131
2005 VL1	2021-Nov-04	17 LD	5.2	18
2020 KA	2021-Nov-06	14.9 LD	4.8	11
2021 SP3	2021-Nov-08	15.6 LD	9.3	70
2019 XS	2021-Nov-09	1.5 LD	10.7	65
2017 WG14	2021-Nov-10	18.6 LD	11.6	45
2007 VD138	2021-Nov-12	16 LD	7.7	44
2004 UE	2021-Nov-13	11.1 LD	13.2	224
2016 VR	2021-Nov-15	8 LD	8.7	20
2010 VK139	2021-Nov-15	6.4 LD	13.9	65
2019 VL5	2021-Nov-15	8.6 LD	8	23
2021 TR15	2021-Nov-19	11.8 LD	7	39
2016 JG12	2021-Nov-20	14.4 LD	7.5	112
2021 KH2	2021-Nov-21	19.3 LD	6.5	31
3361	2021-Nov-21	15.1 LD	8.1	511
2014 WF201	2021-Nov-24	13.2 LD	5.5	27
2009 WB105	2021-Nov-25	15.1 LD	18.9	71
2019 BB5	2021-Nov-25	18.8 LD	8.3	16
1994 WR12	2021-Nov-29	16.1 LD	8.8	123
4660	2021-Dec-11	10.3 LD	6.6	774
2019 XQ1	2021-Dec-13	14.1 LD	9.1	30
2004 YC	2021-Dec-15	18.4 LD	8.1	27
163899	2021-Dec-17	14.2 LD	5.6	1083
2021 LX3	2021-Dec-18	19.7 LD	6.5	124
2016 YY10	2021-Dec-21	11.3 LD	9.2	23
2017 XQ60	2021-Dec-21	13.7 LD	15.7	47

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 6 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.

Latest results: Our most recent flight on June 25, 2021, confirms a trend of decreasing cosmic radiation:

Cosmic ray dose rates peaked in late 2019, and have been slowly declining ever since. This makes perfect sense. Solar Minimum was in late 2019. During Solar Minimum the sun's magnetic field weakens, allowing more cosmic rays into the solar system. We expect dose rate to be highest at that time.

Now that Solar Minimum has passed, the sun is waking up again. Solar magnetic fields are strengthening, providing a stiffer barrier to cosmic rays trying to enter the solar system. The decline of cosmic radiation above California is a sign that new Solar Cycle 25 is gaining strength.

.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. Somewhat more controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) llink cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb.

Technical notes:

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Data points in the first graph ("Stratospheric Radiation") correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

Essential web links

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

The official U.S. government space weather bureau

Atmospheric Optics

The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.

Solar Dynamics Observatory

Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.

STEREO

3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.

SolarMonitor.org

information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary

Daily Sunspot Summaries

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts

fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.

Aurora 30 min forecast

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

Heliophysics

the underlying science of space weather

To get the best views of the cosmos, check out the Phoenix Window Glass Replacement experts for all your window and glass needs

To get an up close view of the heavenly bodies surrounding Earth, think about selling your junk car for cash and buying a high quality telescope.

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NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page

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