VENUS AND THE MOON: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. The crescent Moon is passing by Venus in the sunset sky. Catch them, if you can, before the sky fades to black. A Venus-Moon conjunction framed by twilight blue is extra beautiful. [sky map] [photo gallery]
SOUTHERN LIGHTS FROM THE STRATOSPHERE: Last night, there were no geomagnetic storms. A research aircraft in the stratosphere saw auroras anyway. "Last night, I was a guest on a flight of SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) out of Christchurch New Zealand," reports astronomer Ian Griffin. "Our flight path took us down to latitude 61 in the general direction of the magnetic pole." Before long, green lights were shimmering across the southern Milky Way:
"Despite a low Kp value of 1, lady aurora graced the southern sky as the astronomers aboard SOFIA collected their precious data. I even got to take some pictures of auroras from the cockpit," says Griffiths.
The high-flying astronomers witnessed Earth's persistent southern auroral oval, a ring-shaped region surrounding the south pole where the geomagnetic field guides solar wind particles down onto the upper atmosphere. This extraterrestrial rain may ebb, but it never stops. Inside the oval, sputtering auroras can suddenly blossom into magnificent sprays of green and purple light--no geomagnetic storm required.
Tonight's space weather forecast calls for more quiet. Auroras, anyone? Monitor the realtime photo gallery for sightings. Free: Aurora Alerts.
A HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A stream of solar wind is approaching Earth. Estimated time of arrival: June 18-19. The gaseous material is flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere, shown here in an extreme UV image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
This is a coronal hole, a region where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. Coronal holes are dark because the hot glowing gas formerly contained in them is missing--in this case, nearing our planet.
NOAA forecasters say there is a 25% chance of geomagnetic activity on June 19th as the solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field. This will be a minor space weather event. Nevertheless, it could spark polar auroras best seen in the southern hemisphere where winter darkness favors visibility. Free: Aurora Alerts.
ONE RING TO RULE THE STRATOSPHERE: The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are about to fly from California to New Zealand to launch a trio of cosmic ray balloons over Earth's 8th continent. To get ready, on June 12th they launched a ring of power to the stratosphere. Here it is floating 33 km above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have one for $119.95. The students are selling these Tolkien-inspired rings as a fundraiser for their trip. They are made of golden-colored tungsten and inscribed with the authentic Mordor script of the One Ring.
Buy one now, and we will fly it again for you over Hobbiton, located in the North Island of New Zealand where our cosmic ray balloons will be released. Just note "Please fly it again!" in the comments section at checkout.
Each golden ring comes with a greeting card showing the ring in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales 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