BIG NEW SUNSPOT: A big new sunspot is rotating into view over the sun's eastern limb: movie. AR2674 has two dark cores larger than Earth and sprawls more than 150,000 km from end to end. The active region is crackling with minor C-class solar flares. It is too soon to say if bigger explosions are in the offing. Amateur astronomers with safe solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
AURORAS LIKELY THIS WEEK: For reasons researchers do not fully understand, the weeks around equinoxes have more geomagnetic disturbances than any other time of year. Data prove it: Auroras love equinoxes. We are now just weeks away from the northern autumnal equinox and, right on cue, the auroras have appeared:
This is a picture taken through the window of an aircraft flying just south of Greenland on August 24th. Photographer Sebastian Voltmer explains: "During our flight from Detroit (USA) to Frankfurt (GER) we saw these impressive and fast-moving Northern Lights. What a fantastic start to the season!"
More auroras are in the offing this week. A canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere is spewing solar wind toward Earth. Estimated time of arrival: Aug. 31st. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms (G1-class) when the gaseous material arrives. Free: Aurora Alerts
EDGE OF SPACE ECLIPSE PENDANTS: On Aug. 21st during the Great American Solar Eclipse, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched 11 space weather balloons from the path of totality. They aimed to photograph the Moon's shadow from the stratosphere--and they succeeded! As a fundraiser, some of the balloons carried pendants into the eclipse. You can have one for $149.
The composite image, above, shows a pendant dipping in and out of the Moon's shadow more than 86,000 feet above the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon. During the 2.5 hour flight, pendants were wrapped in the Moon's shadow for more than two minutes, experiencing a spooky darkness colder than -50 C.
Each pendant comes with a unique gift card showing the jewelry passing through the Moon's shadow and floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: Connoisseurs of total eclipses don't always agree on what is the best part. Some prefer the beginning, when the sudden appearance of the sun's corona draws startled gasps from onlookers. Others prefer the middle, when the starry-dark core of the Moon's shadow turns the landscape into an alien wonderland. After looking at this picture, however, you might be inclined to cast a vote in favor of the end:
Photographer John Chumack took the picture Aug. 21st during the Great American Solar Eclpse just as the disk of the Moon was uncovering the sun. Piercing beams of sunlight shot through gaps in lunar mountains creating a dazzling "Diamond Ring" effect.
"The Diamond Ring was so beautiful, plus the large pink prominences were amazing to see," says Chumack. "I was so fortunate to have decent clear weather at my friends' home in Hopkinsville, KY."