Lights Over Lapland has a full catalogue of exciting adventures in Abisko National Park, Sweden! Check out our daytime and evening activities and book your adventure!

SOLAR ORBITER TO BUZZ EARTH: The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft is about to fly by Earth for a gravity assist, bending its orbit toward the sun. At closest approach (Nov. 27th @ 4:30 UT), the probe will speed just 460 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean. It's the riskiest maneuver of the entire mission as Solar Orbiter dips into the debris zone of Russia's recent ASAT test. Heaven's Above has local flyby times for potential observers; the spacecraft will glow like a 9th magnitude star.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Nov. 27th when a CME is expected to sideswipe Earth's magnetic field. Click to watch the storm cloud leaving the sun yesterday:

The CME was hurled into space by an erupting filament of magnetism in the sun's southern hemisphere. Flying upward, the filament split the sun's atmosphere, carving out a "canyon of fire" as it ascended. The glowing walls remained intact for more than 6 hours after the blast.

NOAA models of the CME suggest a glancing blow during the late hours of Nov. 27th. Much of the CME will miss, sailing south of our planet. But the fraction that hits should be enough to spark bright Arctic auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

COMET LEONARD AND THE WHALE: The brightest comet of 2021 just had a close encounter with a whale. On Nov. 24th, Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) passed a tails'-width from NGC 4631, also known as the "Whale Galaxy." Amateur astronomer Tapio Lahtinen photographed the pair using a remote-controlled telescope in Spain:

"It was so nice to see this cosmic rendezvous," says Lahtinen. "The comet was shining like a 9th magnitude star, making it a good match for the Whale Galaxy."

Next stop: Earth. Comet Leonard will pass near both Earth and Venus in December before it swoops around the Sun in early January 2022. If current trends continue, Comet Leonard will brighten to magnitude +4, an easy target for small telescopes and potentially visible to the naked eye from dark-sky sites. Stay tuned for updates as Comet Leonard draws near.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.

Carried aloft by giant helium balloons, these unique gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out.

Don't forget to enter coupon code "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% holiday discount.

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

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

On Nov 25, 2021, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(5 sporadics, 1 gamma 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)
2016 JG12	2021-Nov-20	14.4 LD	7.5	111
2021 TR15	2021-Nov-20	11.9 LD	7	42
2021 WK	2021-Nov-20	5.7 LD	6.2	19
2021 VP10	2021-Nov-20	2 LD	8.3	9
2021 KH2	2021-Nov-21	19.3 LD	6.5	31
2021 VW5	2021-Nov-21	15.6 LD	3.4	17
3361	2021-Nov-21	15.1 LD	8.1	504
2021 VQ26	2021-Nov-22	4.6 LD	10.4	47
2021 WH	2021-Nov-22	2.6 LD	23.7	32
2021 VL16	2021-Nov-23	14.3 LD	8.4	19
2021 WC	2021-Nov-24	14.3 LD	7	53
2021 WG	2021-Nov-24	2.3 LD	6.1	6
2014 WF201	2021-Nov-24	13.2 LD	5.5	27
2021 VR4	2021-Nov-25	2.1 LD	7.7	18
2009 WB105	2021-Nov-25	15.1 LD	18.9	71
2021 VQ27	2021-Nov-25	2.7 LD	10.2	15
2021 VF11	2021-Nov-25	18.6 LD	1.3	14
2019 BB5	2021-Nov-25	18.8 LD	8.3	16
2021 VM	2021-Nov-27	9.4 LD	8.9	30
2021 VO12	2021-Nov-28	7.3 LD	13.5	52
1994 WR12	2021-Nov-29	16.1 LD	8.8	123
2021 UP4	2021-Dec-04	13.9 LD	8.3	53
2021 VX7	2021-Dec-06	14.8 LD	6.1	41
4660	2021-Dec-11	10.3 LD	6.6	759
2021 VW27	2021-Dec-13	18.7 LD	8.4	42
2019 XQ1	2021-Dec-13	14.1 LD	9.1	30
2021 VT6	2021-Dec-14	7.7 LD	6.9	55
2004 YC	2021-Dec-15	18.4 LD	8.1	27
163899	2021-Dec-17	14.2 LD	5.6	1093
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
2016 TR54	2021-Dec-24	16.9 LD	15.5	135
2018 AH	2021-Dec-27	11.9 LD	12.7	112
2017 AE3	2021-Dec-29	9.3 LD	19.1	155
2014 YE15	2022-Jan-06	19.3 LD	6.4	8
2020 AP1	2022-Jan-07	4.6 LD	5.7	4
2013 YD48	2022-Jan-11	14.6 LD	14.8	107
2021 BA	2022-Jan-18	9.8 LD	9.1	22
7482	2022-Jan-18	5.2 LD	19.6	1732
2018 PN22	2022-Jan-21	11.4 LD	2.7	11

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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Going above and beyond to provide the best homes listings in the Comox real estate market to keep you up to date and informed

NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page

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