SURFING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: Australian surfing great Mick Fanning was recently caught riding the waves at Unstad beach in Lofoten, Norway. High overhead, a geomagnetic storm with towering green auroras was underway. Must-see images have just been published by several news outlets: #1, #2, #3.
MORE AURORAS POSSIBLE THIS WEEKEND: Surfers, mark your calendars. A solar wind stream is heading for earth and it could spark a new round of Arctic lights on Dec. 16th. The gassy stream is flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere, shown here in a Dec. 14th image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
This is called a "coronal hole"--a region in the sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. Some coronal holes are large, covering a majority of the solar disk. This one, however, is small, and the emerging stream is relatively narrow. Earth will probably remain inside the windy zone, dipping in and out, for little more than a day. Stay tuned for updates.
GEMINID METEORS MINGLE WITH MOONLIGHT: Some forecasters predicted the glaring full Moon of Dec. 13th would doom the Geminid meteor shower, reducing it to near invisibility. Bill Metallinos of Corfu, Greece, begs to disagree. "On Dec. 14th we saw some beautiful Geminids," he says. Indeed, here is the nightscape he recorded above Cape Drastis:
"These two Geminid were easy to see from the clay islets of Peroulades, Corfu," says Metallinos. "The landscape shines under the light of the Supermoon while the colors of water change because of the clay. The sediments are from lower Paleocene age 1-2 million years ago."
Geminid meteoroids are gravelly debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon. They hit Earth's atmosphere traveling ~35 km/s (78,000 mph) and typically disintegrate about 80 km (50 miles) above Earth's surface. Because of the Geminids' rocky origin, big meteoroids and bright fireballs like the ones Metallinos photographed are not uncommon.
Today, Dec. 14th, Earth is passing through the heart of 3200 Phaethon's debris stream and we will begin to exit the debris zone this weekend. The shower should remain active, albeit waning, for the next few nights. If you're out after dark, be alert for occasional fireballs in the moonlight. [sky map]
THIS CHRISTMAS GIFT HAS BEEN TO SPACE: To raise money for their space weather ballooning program, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have flown 10 "Tree of Life" pendants to the edge of space. You can have one for $79.95. The limited edition pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and certifying that it has been to the stratosphere and back again.
The pendants flew to the edge of space on Nov. 20, 2016, alongside an array of cosmic radiation sensors. During the flight, the sensors picked up the highest levels of radiation recorded so far during our 2 year monitoring program. After the balloon exploded, the payload parachuted back to Earth, landing in the snowy San Antonio mountains north of Tonopah, Nevada, where a student team recovered it on Nov. 22nd.
The research of Earth to Sky Calculus is not supported by government grants or corporate donations. Instead, we are entirely crowd-funded. Proceeds from the sale of items like the Space Pendant go right back into cutting-edge student research. More far out Christmas gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky Store.
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