LOST SPACECRAFT--UPDATE: Using an antenna at the Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA engineers have picked up signals from IMAGE, an important space weather satellite which has been lost since 2005. If control of IMAGE is regained and if its instruments are in working order (two big IFs), we could expect to gain daily global images of Earth's auroras--a fantastic tool for space weather nowcasting. The Jan. 20th discovery of IMAGE by an amateur astronomer hunting for spy satellites is a must read.
SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: A hole is opening in the sun's atmosphere and it is spewing a stream of solar wind toward Earth. Estimated time of arrival: Jan. 30. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is monitoring the structure, which now stretches more than 1 million kilometers from end to end:
This is a coronal hole, a place where the sun's magnetic field peels back and allows solar wind to escape. A smattering of small coronal holes is combining to make this larger one, allowing gaseous material to form a consolidated stream blowing faster than 500 km/s.
Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms could occur when the solar wind stream reaches Earth. If a storm does materialize, Arctic auroras will mix with the light of a waxing full Moon. This is not bad news, however, because moonlight plus auroras often adds up to magic. Stay tuned! Free: Aurora Alerts.
VALENTINE'S DAY IS COMING: Nothing says "I Love You" like a Valentine's pendant from the edge of space. On Dec. 31, 2017, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of these heart-shaped pendants to the stratosphere, 35.1 km (115,158 feet) above Earth's surface:
The necklaces traveled alongside an array of cosmic ray sensors, which the students use to monitor deep-space radiation penetrating Earth's atmosphere.
You can have one for $129.95. Each glittering pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales of this pendant support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education