A SATELLITE WITH 'SPACE BRAIN'? Astronauts aren't the only ones whose brains are affected by cosmic rays. NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has the same problem. Cosmic rays rebooting DSCOVR's main computer have caused the space weather satellite to drop offline at least five times in the past year, amounting to 42 hours of downtime. This could occasionally affect NOAA's ability to pinpoint the arrival of solar storms. Get the full story from Nature
THE AURORAS JUST WON'T STOP: Six days after Earth entered a stream of high-speed solar wind ... we're still inside. The solar wind continues to blow faster than 600 km/s on Oct. 30th. Although it is not as gusty as it was during first contact on Oct. 25th, the relentless pressure of the sun's electrically charged wind on Earth's magnetic field is causing the poles to glow with beautiful auroras. Marketa S. Murray sends this picture from Fairbanks, Alaska, on Oct. 29th:
"When you stand there and the whole sky is just dancing overhead, your adrenaline and endorphin get so high," says Murray. "It's mind blowing every time it happens. It never gets old, even for an Alaskan!"
Until Earth fully exits this stream, polar auroras remain likely. A good way to follow the action is to tune into a live webcam in Sweden's Abisko National Park. "We have seen the lights nearly every night in October!" says Chad Blakley of Lights over Lapland, who operates the camera. Watch it now.
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