SLIGHT CHANCE OF FLARES TODAY: There are two sunspots on the Earth-facing side of the sun today: AR2671 and AR2672. Both have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters say there is a 15% chance of such explosions on Aug. 24th and 25th. Any flares from AR2672 would be especially geoeffective as the sunspot is almost directly facing Earth. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
UNEXPECTED GEOMAGNETIC STORM: With little warning, an unexpected geomagnetic storm occurred on Aug. 23rd, ringing Earth's poles with the luminous glow of auroras. Peter Sayers photographed the display from the banks of the Forth River in Tasmania, Australia:
"These fantastic auroras came out of left field while I was watching the southern horizon," says Sayers. "There were beams like search lights for hours--a beautiful naked eye display."
What happened? The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetosphere. Solar wind blew in through the opening and fueled the display.
THE GREAT AMERICAN SOLAR ECLIPSE ... IN EUROPE: Americans weren't the only ones who witnessed an eclipse on August 21st. Some Europeans saw it too. In Portugal, Spain, the UK, Norway and Iceland, the Moon took a bite out of the sun at sunset. Diego González sends this picture from Oviedo, Spain:
"The Aug. 21st eclipse was visible from northern Spain, but only as a shallow partial eclipse starting around 25 minutes before sunset," says photographer Diego González. "It wasn't the same as totality, but it was still beautiful."
SOLAR ECLIPSE IN THE STRATOSPHERE: During the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21st, Spaceweather.com and Earth to Sky Calculus launched 11 high-altitude balloons carrying more than 20 cameras from the path of totality. We hoped to catch the Moon's shadow sweeping across the landscape from a vantage point in the stratosphere--and we succeeded! This picture shows the inky-black shadow of the Moon darkening a 70 mile-wide patch of Wyoming/Nebraska:
Sponsored by the Southern Maine Community College, the balloon was launched from Ft. Laramie, Wyoming, by a joint team of Earth to Sky students from Maine and California. This is just a single frame of a much longer HD video still being processed by the launch crew. Stay tuned for footage of the shadow in motion.
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