T MINUS ONE WEEK: The Great American Solar Eclipse is one week away. On Aug. 21, 2017, the Moon will pass directly in front of the sun, revealing a Diamond Ring, Bailey's Beads, and the sun's ghostly corona. It's a magical experience. The narrow path of totality stretches across the USA from Oregon to South Carolina. What will you see? These animated eclipse maps cover all 50 states.
WEEKEND METEOR SHOWER: The Perseid meteor shower peaked over the weekend, Aug. 12-13, while a stream of solar wind gently buffeted our planet's magnetic field. Alan Dyer captured both phenomena from the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada:
This is a composite of 14 bright meteors accumulated over 3 hours of time," says Dyer, who explains his photo processing techniques here. "One bright meteor obligingly appeared at center and left a long-lasting 'smoke' train. A faint aurora is on the northern horizon at left."
The shower is subsiding now as Earth exits the debris zone of parent Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Sky watchers may see some straggling Perseids in the nights ahead. The best time to look is during the hours before local sunrise when shower's radiant in Perseus is high in the sky. Free: Aurora Alerts
SOLAR FLARE ACTIVITY: Suddenly, the eastern limb of the sun is crackling with minor solar flares, heralding the approach of a new sunspot. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this C1-class explosion during the early hours of Aug. 14th:
During Solar Maximum, such a solar flare would be considered too minor to report. Now, however, the sun is close to Solar Minimum, so even a C-flare is noteworthy. In fact, it is noteworthy. A typical C-class solar flare releases as much energy as 1 billion WWII atomic bombs. Only on the sun, which is itself a 1027 ton self-contained nuclear explosion, would such a blast be considered puny.
Amateur astronomers with safely-filtered solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor the eastern limb for further developments.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
THESE PENDANTS HAVE TOUCHED SPACE: On April 15, 2017, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of heart-shaped Venus pendants to the stratosphere onboard a high-altitude helium balloon. Here's one, 111,550 feet above the Sierras of central California:
These blue jewels make great birthday and Christmas gifts--and you have have one for $129.95. Each glittering 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 our Solar Eclipse Balloon Network and hands-on STEM education.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery