SOLAR WIND STREAM GRAZES EARTH: Solar wind spilling from a northern hole in the sun's atmosphere is grazing Earth's magnetic field today. The indirect pressure of the gaseous material sparking intermittent auroras around the Arctic Circle, while stopping short of full-fledged geomagnetic storms. Free: Aurora Alerts
SOLAR FLARE! The unstable magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2699 erupted on Feb. 7th (1347 UT), producing a C8-class solar flare. A pulse of extreme UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, browning out shortwave radio transmissions below ~10 MHz over the South Atlantic ocean: map.
This class of explosion would be considered minor during more active phases of the solar cycle, but now on the eve of Solar Minimum it is a significant eruption. AR2699 is becoming larger and more unsettled as it turns toward Earth, so more flares are possible in the hours and days ahead.
TESLA ROADSTER LEAVES EARTH: Elon Musk's cherry red Roadster has left Earth orbit. Just after sunset on Feb. 6th, sky watchers across the southwestern USA saw a flash of light and a cloud of rocket exhaust signaling the electric car's escape from the gravity well of our planet. "The Falcon Heavy's third stage burn was clearly visible from Trinidad, Colorado, around 7:30 pm MST," reports Zachariah Borrego. "While I was watching, my girlfriend Tamera Morton took this incredible picture of the expanding cloud."
"After spending the previous 4 hours in Earth orbit, this final burn propelled the Tesla Roadster toward the orbit of Mars accompanied by David Bowie's music," notes Borrego. "A space oddity indeed."
The event was widely seen from southern California to New Mexico and Colorado. Experienced observers likened the luminous tip of the cloud, where the Tesla Roadster was located, to a 1st magnitude star. An all-sky camera at the University of Arizona's MMT Observatory recorded a fish-eye video of the booster burning across the sky over Mount Hopkins: watch it.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
UNIQUE VALENTINE'S GIFT: 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:
You can have one for $119.95. 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
SOLAR RADIO BURST: Sunspot AR2699 is making some noise--literally. "Yesterday, I heard a surge of static coming from the loudspeaker of my shortwave radio telescope in New Mexico," reports amateur astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. "The source was sunspot AR2699." Turn up the volume and click to play:
These radio sounds are caused by beams of electrons--in this case, accelerated by B-class explosions in the sunspot's magnetic canopy. 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 Type III.
"This may be one the last solar radio bursts of the present solar cycle as we head into deep solar minimum," says Ashcraft. "I am hoping for more activity to appear on the spectrograph today." Free: Solar Flare Alerts