SUNSET SKY SHOW: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. The crescent Moon is approaching Venus and Mars for a beautiful sunset conjunction on Jan. 31st. Try to catch them before the sky fades to black. A conjunction of bright planets framed by twilight blue is extra beautiful. Sky maps: Jan. 30, 31.
A HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A large, canyon-shaped hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind directly toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the structure, which stretches more than halfway across the face of the sun:
This is a "coronal hole" (CH)--a region where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. NASA's STEREO spacecraft recently sampled the stream flowing from this hole and the velocity was unusually high: nearly 750 km/s. Such a fast-moving stream will likely spark Arctic auroras when it arrives on Feb. 1st.
The action could begin even before the stream arrives. NOAA forecasters say there is a 65% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Jan. 31st when Earth crosses through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet--a vast undulating system of electrical currents in space shaped like the skirt of a ballerina. Earth dips in and out of it all the time. These crossings are called "solar sector boundary crossings," and they can trigger their own form of geomagnetic activity. Free: Aurora alerts.
ALTERNATE AURORAS: On Jan. 24th, photographer Dave Bell of Pinedale, Wyoming, witnessed a display of colorful lights in the sky. They looked liked auroras--but they were not.
They're light pillars, caused by ice crystals in the air which intercept urban lights and spread them into colorful columns. Sometimes called "false auroras," no solar activity is required for the phenomenon. The only ingredients are ice and light pollution.
"We had a really terrific snowstorm in Pinedale for 36 hours," says Bell. "As the storm cleared and temperatures plummeted, fine crystals of ice filled the air and we were treated to a spectacular display of pillars. A friend recently commented that light pillars are like our version of the aurora borealis."
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
FAR-OUT VALENTINE'S GIFT: Nothing says "I love you" like a bear from space. To raise money for their cosmic ray research program, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have flown a payload-full of Valentine's bears to the edge of space. This was a special flight, timed to photograph the bears at sunset in the stratosphere, wrapped in the romantic light of the fading sun 98,000 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have one for $49.95. Each bear comes with a Valentine's card showing the bears in flight and telling the story of their trip to the stratosphere.
More far-out Valentine's gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky store. All proceeds support cosmic ray balloon flights and STEM education.
Realtime Airglow Photo Gallery