AURORAS EXPLODE OVER FINLAND: Earth is entering a stream of solar wind flowing from a sprawling hole in the sun's atmosphere. First contact with the gaseous material on March 22nd sparked a bright display of auroras over Scandinavia. "The sky literally exploded right above our heads," says Didier Van Hellemont, who sends this picture from Luosto, Finland:
"We enjoyed fine auroras for several hours as we walked through the woods from a snow-covered mountain in northern Finland," says Van Hellemont. "And I hope there will be more in the nights ahead."
Indeed there will be. Earth is only in the outskirts of the stream now. Our planet is about to move deeper into the stream where we will experience faster-moving rivulets of solar wind, with speeds exceeding 600 km/s (1.3 million mph). NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on March 24th and 25th. Free: Aurora Alerts
SOUTHERN LIGHTS: Autumn has just begun in the southern hemisphere. With the change of seasons, skies are darkening to provide a velvety backdrop for the return of aurora australis. Mike White spotted some on March 23rd from the window seat of an airplane flying ~35,000 feet over the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand:
"These images were taken onboard Flight to the Lights II--the second charter flight from New Zealand to the southern auroral oval organised by Ian Griffin and Orbit Travel," explains White. "Our Air New Zealand 787 departed Christchurch a little before 8 pm local time on March 22nd and headed south over the Southern Ocean. The auroras were elusive at first, competing against lingering twilight to the west, but by 1 am we could easily see bright auroral activity with the naked eye. After a couple of hours zig-zagging under the auroral oval, we returned to Christchurch."
"The photos don't do justice to the effect of watching the lights moving and changing with your own eyes," adds White. "For us in New Zealand, this was an amazing experience and fantastic opportunity to get under the aurora rather than observing from afar."
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
GET READY FOR MOTHER'S DAY: Are you looking for an outlandish Mother's Day gift? Consider this: On March 5, 2018, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere, more than 94,000 feet above Earth's surface. Something for Mom went along for the ride:
The students are selling these pendants as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray monitoring program. You can have one for $79.95. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!