RED RING OF LIGHT APPEARS OVER EASTERN EUROPE: On April 2nd, high above a thunderstorm in the Czech republic, an enormous ring of light appeared near the edge of space. Amateur astronomer Martin Popek photographed the donut-shaped apparition using a low-light video camera:
"It appeared for just a millisecond alongside the constellation Orion" says Popek.
This is an example of an ELVE (Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources). First seen by cameras on the space shuttle in 1990, ELVEs appear when a pulse of electromagnetic radiation from lightning propagates up toward space and hits the base of Earth's ionosphere. A faint ring of deep-red light marks the broad 'spot' where the EMP hits.
ELVES often appear alongside red sprites. Indeed, Popek's camera caught a cluster of sprites dancing nearby the ~300 km-wide ring.
ELVEs are elusive--and that's an understatement. Blinking in and out of existence in only 1/1000th of a second, they are completely invisible to the human eye. For comparison, red sprites tend to last for hundredths of a second and regular lightning can scintillate for a second or more. Their brevity explains why ELVEs are a more recent discovery than other lightning-related phenomenon.
Learn more about the history and physics of ELVEs here and here.
TIME TO PLANT YOUR SPACE GARDEN: Northern Spring has arrived, and that means it's time to plant your garden. Your SPACE garden, that is. On March 26th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of tomato and sunflower seeds to the edge of space. Carried 115,500 feet high by a giant helium balloon, the packets experienced temperatures as low as -63 C and cosmic ray dose rates 100 times Earth-normal. Here they are at the apex of the flight:
What will these far-out seeds yield? Find out for yourself! For only $39.95 we will send you a packet of space seeds along with control samples that remained on the ground during the flight. Plant them side by side for a backyard science experiment.
Each shipment comes with a card telling the story of the flight and certifying that the seeds have been to the stratosphere and back again. Please specify your seed preference (Beefsteak tomato, cherry tomato, or sunflower) in the comments box at checkout.
More far-out gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky store. All proceeds support STEM education and our atmospheric cosmic ray monitoring program.
GOOD-BYE SUNSPOT AR2644: Spitting plasma and crackling with flares, active sunspot AR2644 is disappearing over the sun's western limb. Photographer Philippe Tosi took a parting shot from his observatory in Nîmes, France. "Good-bye sunspot AR2644," he says.
Since April 1st, AR2644 has erupted nearly a dozen times, producing a series of M-class solar flares. Almost every part of Earth experienced a shortwave radio blackout at least once during the fusillade. Earth-effects will subside as the sunspot rotates onto the farside of the sun.
There is still a chance of flares, however. Another large sunspot remains on the solar disk: AR2645. The behemoth active region has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class flares and a 15% chance of X-flares on April 5th. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
ACCIDENTAL SATELLITE SPOTTED: Last Thursday, astronauts spacewalking outside the International Space Station (ISS) had an accident. Just as they were about to install a fabric shield to protect a portion of the station from micrometeoroid impacts ... oops ... the un-tethered shield floated away. On April 3rd, Marco Langbroek of Leiden, the Netherlands, spotted the accidental satellite zipping through the Big Dipper:
"The shield was 1 minute in front of the ISS when I made this image using my Canon EOS 60D digital camera," says Langbroek. "The two bright stars are kappa and iota Uma. "
Weighing about 18 pounds, the 3-inch thick shield measures 5 feet long by 2 feet wide. That's how much of the space station's surface was left exposed to micrometeoroid impacts. No problem. An article in the Washington Post describes how engineers at Mission Control brainstormed a replacement shield using supplies readily available on the ISS.The stray shield poses no threat to its mother ship. NASA says it is moving away from the ISS and already starting to experience orbital drag. "It will probably re-enter Earth's atmosphere in late summer of 2017," notes Langbroek.