ARCTIC AURORA WATCH: Around the Arctic Circle, localized geomagnetic storming is possible on Dec. 17th and 18th as Earth passes through a minor stream of solar wind. This event will probably not register on NOAA storm scales because those scales measure global, not local activity. Locally, however, there could be some notable auroras around the poles even as the K-index remains nominally low. Free: Space Weather Alerts
A BIG CORONAL HOLE TURNS TOWARD EARTH: For the third month in a row, a large hole in the sun's atmosphere is turning toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the yawning structure on Dec. 16th:
This is the same coronal hole that lashed Earth's magnetosphere with solar wind on Oct. 25-28 and again on Nov. 23-26. It is spinning around with the sun, strobing Earth lighthouse-style every ~27 days. The last two times we experienced its solar wind, intermittant G1-class geomagnetic storms and bright auroras were observed in the Arctic. A repeat performance is likely when the solar wind returns on Dec. 20-22.
ORDER NOW FOR CHRISTMAS DELIVERY: It's out of this world: the Sirius Space Pendant. To raise money for their space weather ballooning program, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have flown 3 dozen pendants to the edge of space–and you can have one for $79.95. The 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 measured the highest radiation levels in the history of our 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 Sirius Pendant go right back into cutting-edge student research. More edge of space Christmas gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky Store.
THIS CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT HAS BEEN TO SPACE: Would you like to hang something far out from your Christmas Tree? We offer for your consideration the Space Santa Christmas ornament. Using a helium balloon, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a dozen of these to the edge of space, and you can have one for $49.95:
These ornaments have been on an adventure. En route to the stratosphere, they experienced temperatures as low as -55 C and cosmic ray dose rates more than 100x Earth normal. After the balloon exploded more than 117,000 feet high, the payload parachuted back to Earth, landing in the Eureka Valley at the edge of Death Valley National Park.
Each ornament comes with a Christmas card showing the ceramic disk in the stratosphere and telling the story of its flight.
The cosmic ray research of Spaceweather.com and Earth to Sky Calculus is completely crowd-funded. Everyone who sponsors a balloon flight or buys an item from the Earth to Sky store contributes to a growing body of knowledge about radiation in our planet's atmosphere.
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