SOLAR WIND, SUBSIDING: Earth is exiting a stream of fast-moving solar wind that sparked bright auroras over Canada when it first arrived three days ago. NOAA forecasters say there is a 45% chance of minor geomagnetic storms on Aug. 6th, declining to 25% on Aug. 7th. Free: Aurora Alerts
PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE: On Monday, Aug. 7th, the Moon will pass through the shadow of Earth, slightly off-center, producing a partial lunar eclipse. At maximum (1820 UT), about 25% of the lunar disk will be in shadow. The 2-hour event is best seen from India, China, Australia, and other countries of Earth's eastern hemisphere. This animation created by graphic artist Larry Koehn shows how the Moon's appearance will change:
Sky watchers in the Americas will see ... just an ordinary full Moon, completely illuminated. According to folklore, it's the Sturgeon Moon, named by Native American tribes of the Great Lakes who caught lots of these fish during the month of August. Lake sturgeon are considered to be living fossils because they have survived virtually unchanged for more than 150 million years. A full Moon named after an ancient slimy fish? It's prettier than it sounds.
North Americans who miss this eclipse will get a great consolation prize two weeks from now: A total eclipse of the sun. On Aug. 21, 2017, the new Moon will pass directly in front of the sun. The Moon's cool dark shadow will lance down and touch the surface of the Earth, raking the USA from Oregon to South Carolina. People inside the path of totality will see the rarest of celestial wonders: Baily's beads, the Diamond Ring, and the sun's ghostly corona. Check ShadowandSubstance.com for a complete set of animated maps.
SOLAR ECLIPSE PENDANTS: Would you like to support our Solar Eclipse Balloon Network? Here's one way: Buy a space pendant. This solar eclipse-themed necklace flew to the stratosphere on July 2, 2017, attached to the payload of an Earth to Sky Calculus space weather balloon:
The payload contained more just like it. If you buy one now for $89.95, we will fly it back to the stratosphere during the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017, where it will be enveloped by the Moon's cool shadow above our launch site in Oregon. No additional charge! Just make a note in the COMMENTS BOX of the shopping cart: "Please fly my pendant into the eclipse!" Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.
More items from the edge of space may be found in the Earth to Sky Store. All proceeds support atmospheric radiation monitoring and hands-on STEM education.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education
THE MAGNETIC TENTACLES OF SUNSPOT AR2670: This morning in Uzès, France, amateur astronomer JP Brahic looked down through the eyepiece of his safely-filtered telescope at sunspot AR2670. He saw two magnetic tentacles reaching back:
The spider-like extensions thread the sun's atmosphere high above the sunspot's dark Earth-sized core. "Their scale makes them easy targets for backyard solar telescopes," says Stuart Green who also photographed them from Preston, Lancashire, UK.
The underlying sunspot has been quiet for days, but if these magnetic structures happen to criss-cross above it, there could be a ferocious explosion caused by magnetic reconnection. This possibility makes AR2670 worth monitoring as it crosses the face of the sun in the days ahead.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery