GEOMAGNETIC STORMS ON OCT. 26-27: A high-speed stream of solar wind is swirling around Earth. Will it spark bright auroras for the second night in a row? An aurora webcam in Sweden's Abisko National Park is monitoring the skies for signs of green. Watch it live.
Earlier today, Oct. 26th, Ian Griffin photographed a colorful display from Hoopers Inlet in Otago, New Zealand:
"All I can say is WOW! What an epic night at Hoopers Inlet," says Griffin. "A poor weather forecast meant I wasn't expecting to see much from my favorite location, but the clouds kind of cleared and I witnessed an amazing display of beams and pastel color."
First contact with the solar wind stream on Oct. 25-26 produced a strong response, including a G3-class storm that was one of the strongest magnetic disturbances of 2016. As Earth moves deeper into the solar wind stream on Oct. 26-27, storm levels are subsiding to G1 and G2--weaker than before, but still enough to cause beautiful Arctic auroras. Monitor the photo gallery for sightings. Free: Aurora Alerts.
AVIATION RADIATION EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS: Many people think that only astronauts have to worry about cosmic radiation. Not so. Regular air travelers are exposed to cosmic rays, too. This week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus are conducting an experiment in aviation radiation. They are flying from North America to Europe and back again to measure dose rates on international flights that cross the Arctic Circle. Here are the data they collected on Oct. 23-24 en route from Portland, Oregon, to Frankfurt, Germany:
Radiation levels in the cabin of the Boeing 767 (Condor flight 2091) tripled within ten minutes after takeoff, and were nearly 40 times ground level by the time the plane reached cruising altitude at 33,000 feet. There was no solar storm in progress. The extra radiation was just a regular drizzle of cosmic rays reaching down to aviation altitudes. This radiation is ever-present and comes from supernovas, black holes, and other sources across the galaxy.
The radiation sensors are the same ones that Earth to Sky Calculus routinely flies onboard helium balloons to measure cosmic rays in the stratosphere. They 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.
This is part of our ongoing program to monitor radiation levels inside airplanes. Stay tuned for results from the return flight on Oct. 27th!
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