GEOMAGNETIC STORM SUBSIDING AGAIN: Geomagnetic activity is subsiding again following an unexpected second wave of severe (G4-class) geomagnetic storms mid-day on Sept. 8th. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras, however, as the solar wind continues to blow faster than 700 km/s. Isolated periods of strong storming are possible in the hours ahead. Free: Aurora Alerts
CME IMPACT SPARKS AURORAS, STOPS TRAFFIC: The debris from Wednesday's monster X9-class solar flare reached Earth last night--and its impact was everything forecasters expected. A severe G4-class geomagnetic storm commenced, sparking auroras over Scandinavia so bright they actually stopped traffic."I was driving home when the CME hit," reports Jani Ylinampa of Rovaniemi, Finland. "It was such an amazing display, I really had to pull over and shoot some photos."
"The full Moon dampened the lights a bit," says Ylinampa, "but it was a great show."
In the United States, auroras were seen in at least 18 states including Alaska, Maine, Connecticut, New York, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Delaware, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, Vermont, and South Dakota. Incredibly, Northern Lights descended as far south as Arkansas. Brian Emfinger sends this picture from Morillton, AR:
"I set up my camera about an hour after sunset and immediately recognized some reddish aurora with some curtains," says Emfinger. "From the first picture, the aurora was clearly fading and within 15 minutes was completely gone."
ROSE QUARTZ CRYSTAL 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 jewelry. Here is a rose quartz crystal pendant entering the Moon's shadow more than 90,000 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 crystal 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
SOLAR RADIO STORM: All week long, sunspot AR2673 has been seething with activity, producing not only a fusillade of strong flares, but also a roar of shortwave radio static. Amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft has kept his radio telescope trained on the sun since the sunspot first appeared: "I have been listening to a intensifying radio storm on the sun for the past four days," he says. "It is one of the strongest I have ever heard." Click to hear a sample of the static-y sounds emerging from his loudspeakers:
"That was a sonic extract captured at 23 MHz and 25 MHz. Seldom does the sun show purple on my spectrograph but it has hit purple often during this dynamic period. My radios are actually saturating in the stronger flaring moments, and the chart recorder needles are pegging."
These radio sounds are caused by beams of electrons accelerated by explosive solar flares. As the electrons slice through the sun's atmosphere, they generate a ripple of plasma waves and radio emissions detectable on Earth 93 million miles away. Astronomers classify solar radio bursts into five types; Ashcraft's recording captured a mixture of Type III and Type V. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
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