AN EXPLOSION ON THE SUN: Today, May 30th, a long dark filament of magnetism is lifting off the surface of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is recording the action:
As the filament lashes through the sun's atmosphere, it could propel a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space--much like the one that sparked a strong geomagnetic storm on May 28th. This possibility is still hypothetical, however. Stay tuned for updates in the hours ahead as we monitor coronagraph images for evidence of a CME.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
CALIFORNIA AURORAS: Compared to many other photos of the May 28th geomagnetic storm, which were visually spectacular, this one might not seem noteworthy. Except for one thing: It was taken in California.
"I saw the magnetic storm alert at 11:00pm," says photographer Dan McBride. "When the K-index hit 7, I left my house and drove for 1 1/2 hours to the helipad at Big Hill Lookout, west of Lake Tahoe. I could barely see it, but after my first test shot I knew I had just caught purple pillars from California at latitude 38.8 degrees N."
Auroras in California are rare and remarkable. They are visible to the naked eye typically no more than a few times a decade. The May 28th display was even more remarkable considering the phase of the sunspot cycle: The sun is rapidly plunging toward Solar Minimum. Sunspots are scarce and solar flares are weak at best. Nevertheless, we just experienced a strong geomagnetic storm. The CME that sparked auroras over California this weekend was hurled toward Earth by a seemingly minor magnetic reorganization in the sun's atmosphere.
And so space weather continues--no sunspots required. Free: Aurora Alerts
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.