CME TO SIDESWIPE EARTH THIS WEEK: On Tuesday, May 23rd, the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory observed a CME leaving the sun: movie. NOAA analysts say the plasma-filled cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field midday on May 26th, causing geomagnetic unrest and polar auroras. Free: Aurora Alerts
HEDGEROW PROMINENCE: Yesterday, Randy Shivak of Prescott Valley, Arizona, pointed his solar telescope at the sun ... and this is what he saw:
"There is a very large prominence on the sun's western limb," he says.
The structure is 5 times taller than Earth, and if you put one end on our planet, the other end would stretch beyond the orbit of the Moon more than 400,000 km away. "Very large" indeed.
This is a type of prominence commonly called a "hedgerow prominence." Hot glowing plasma inside the structure is held aloft by unstable solar magnetic fields. NASA and Japanese space telescopes have taken high resolution images of similar prominences and seen some amazing things such as (1) tadpole-shaped plumes that float up from the base of the prominence; (2) narrow streams of plasma that descend from the top like waterfalls; and (3) swirls and vortices that resemble van Gogh's Starry Night.
It's still there today. Got a solar telescope? Take a look!
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
STEVE, IN MOTION: On May 19th and 20th, a solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field. The impact summoned "Steve"--a mysterious form of filamentary aurora that researchers do not fully understand. "I saw 'Steve' through the window even though the lights were still on in the house, so it must have been quite bright," reports Matthew Wheeler of Robson Valley, BC, Canada. Grabbing his camera, he rushed outside for a better view, and captured a rare movie of Steve in motion:
"I have seen Steve here a few times in the past decades," says Wheeler. "This was a dramatic apparition, especially overhead where fine fingers of color moved very fast almost at right angles to Steve, quite finely detailed at times. The 10 second exposures I stitched together to make the animation don't do it justice."
Realtime "Steve" Photo Gallery
THIS PENDANT HAS TOUCHED SPACE: The radiation monitoring program of Earth to Sky Calculus receives no support from corporate sponsors or government grants. Instead, we are crowd-funded. Or, to be more precise, bling-funded:
To raise money for more cosmic ray balloon flights, on May 6th the students launched a payload of these Northern Lights pendants to the top of Earth's atmosphere. You can have one for $79.95. Each piece of space jewelry comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back. They make great birthday and belated Mother's Day gifts.
More far-out gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky Store. All proceeds support atmospheric radiation monitoring and hands-on STEM education.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery