EXITING THE SOLAR WIND STREAM: Earth is exiting a solar wind stream that turned Arctic skies green earlier this weekend. As a result, geomagnetic storm probabilities are subsiding to ~20%, according to NOAA forecasters. Free: Aurora Alerts
SUNSPOT SURPRISE: Two huge sunspot groups are facing Earth. Behemoth AR2674 has been growing for days, while newcomer AR2673 has suddenly quadrupled in size, with multiple dark cores breaching the surface of the sun in just the past 24 hours. This movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows sunspot genesis in action:
The rapid pace of change in these sunspot groups could destabilize their magnetic fields, resulting in Earth-directed solar flares. AR2674 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for moderately strong M-flares. AR2673 is a wild card; it is changing so rapidly we don't know its magnetic classification or potential for explosions. Amateur astronomers with safe solar telecopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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. Here's one 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, the pendants were wrapped in the Moon's shadow for more than two minutes, experiencing a spooky darkness colder than -50 C.
You can have one for $149.95. 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
BIG FROTHY SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR2674 is huge. It has three dark cores larger than Earth and sprawls across more than 140,000 km of the sun's surface. "Active region 2674 is becoming a very photogenic archipelago of sunspots," says Alan Friedman who took this picture yesterday using a safely-filtered solar telescope in Buffalo, NY:
Friedman used a "Calcium K" (CaK) filter that passes violet-colored light from singly-ionized calcium atoms in the sun's atmosphere. CaK filters are excellent detectors of magnetic froth--the bubbly, turbulent sea of magnetism that surrounds many large sunspot groups. AR2674 is very frothy, indeed.
AR2674 has been growing every day since it first appeared on Aug. 30th, and it now has an unstable 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for moderately strong M-class solar flares. Any such explosions this weekend will be geoeffective as the sunspot is turning to face Earth. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery