WEEKEND STORMS: A minor G1-class geomagnetic storm is underway on Oct. 29th as Earth continues to pass through a stream of high-speed solar wind. Conditions should quiet later this weekend as our planet begins to exit the stream. Until then, Arctic sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. Free: Aurora Alerts.
CRAZY PINK AURORAS: During this week's solar wind event, observers around the Arctic Circle reported auroras of an unusual color. "Crazy pink," says Frank Meissner, who photographed the phenomenon on Oct. 26th from Tromsø, Norway:
"It was awesome," he says. "Flash-like bursts were zooming all over the sky."
Watching from Tromsø on the same night, veteran observer Terence Murtagh says "even with many hundreds of aurora sightings under my belt, I've never witnessed such distinct pink colors clearly visible and bright to the naked eye. They were almost too bright to photograph properly."
The pink color is probably a sign of nitrogen. Most auroras are green--a verdant glow caused by energetic particles from space hitting oxygen atoms 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Seldom-seen pink appears when the energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below. More examples may be found in the realtime photo gallery:
CHINA's NEW SPACE STATION IS SURPRISINGLY BRIGHT: China's new space station, the Tiangong 2, isn't very large. For comparison, the International Space Station is 5 times longer and almost 50 times more massive. Nevertheless, the newly-occupied outpost in space is surprisingly easy to see. "The Tiangong-2 with 2 taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) onboard was a spectacular sight as it passed over Fort Davis, Texas, on Oct. 23rd," reports Gary Dowdle, who took this picture using a Sony a6300 digital camera:
"The space station was brighter than a 1st magnitude star as it maneuvered between the Bear (Ursa Major) and Cat (Lynx) heading for the Heart of the Lion (Leo)," he says. "The 42% illuminated last quarter Moon was nearby in Cancer, and the station was visible in spite of the glare."
China's presence in the night sky will grow even brighter in the years ahead. Taikonauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong are currently onboard the Tiangong 2 conducting science experiments and rehearsing procedures for future missions: By the end of this decade, China plans to start launching modules for a much larger Mir-class space station slated for completion in the 2020s.
Monitoring developments is easy: Check Heavens Above for flybys of the Tiangong 2 over your backyard.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Realtime Airglow Photo Gallery