THE NEXT SOLAR WIND STREAM: A hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind toward our planet. Estimated time of arrival: Dec. 17-18. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras when the gaseous material arrivals. Free: Aurora Alerts.
THE GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The Geminid meteor shower is peaking today, Dec. 14th, as Earth passes through a stream of gravelly debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon. Spotters working with the International Meteor Organization are reporting as many as 80 meteors per hour in ideally-dark observing sites: data. Just hours ago, Todd Salat spotted this bright Geminid streaking over Girdwood, Alaska:
"This one went right over the Alyeska ski slopes," says Salat. "It was an impressive meteor shower!"
A similar Geminid appeared over Rodokipos, Halkidiki, Greece. "I was stunned when a bright fireball split the sky in two," says photographer Constantine Emmanouilidi.
"I managed to spot more than 50 meteors among the clouds in about an hour of good viewing," he says.
Earth will probably begin to exit the Geminid debris stream later today. Nevertheless, meteors should still be visible on the night of Dec. 14-15. The best time to look, no matter where you live, is during the dark hours before sunrise on Friday when the constellation Gemini is high overhead. [sky map]
HAVE A STAR WARS CHRISTMAS: The Last Jedi opens today on movie screens around the USA. To get ready, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a space weather balloon. These kids do science, and the payload of their balloon carried an array of cosmic ray sensors to measure radiation coming from deep space. Oh, and one more thing…. BB-8:
During the 2.5 hour flight, the plucky robot experienced temperatures as low as -67 C and cosmic ray dose rates 100x Earth-normal. After the balloon exploded 107,342 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California, BB-8 parachuted back to Earth, landing in the desert near Silver Peak, Nevada.
You can have BB-8 for $79.95. Each ornament comes with a unique gift card showing BB-8 floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight. It also comes with a bonus photo of BB-8 in the stratosphere. Hang it on your Christmas tree alongside BB-8 to impress holiday visitors!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education