PERSEID METEOR UPDATE: Perseid meteor rates are climbing as Earth moves deeper inside the debris zone of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Observers with the International Meteor Organization are reporting as many as 40 meteors per hour from dark-sky sites. These rates could double or triple by the time the shower peaks on Sunday night-Monday morning. No matter where you live, the best time to look is during the dark hours before sunrise when the shower's radiant is high in the sky. Resources: photo gallery, sky map.
THE MOON TAKES A BITE OUT OF THE SUN: Earlier today, the New Moon passed in front of the sun, off center, producing a partial solar eclipse visible across northern Europe and much of Asia. This is how it looked from Stockholm, Sweden:
"Today's partial eclipse as observed from Stockholm lasted only 39 minutes," says photographer Peter Rosén. "It was beautiful despite the tiny indentation of only a few percent."
Look carefully at the curved edge of the Moon. "It clearly shows lunar topography," notes Rosén. "That is not turbulence."
The eclipse was deeper (as much as 74%) inside the Arctic Circle, places from which photos are sometimes slow to arrive. Stay tuned to the Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery for new submissions.
Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery
RED RAINBOW: Rainbows are normally red, yellow, green and blue--in short, all the colors of a rainbow. But the rainbow Giorgio Baldi photographed from Tromsø, Norway, on Aug. 10th was simply red:
"I was watching a movie in my house in Tromsø, when I looked out of the window and saw a burning sunset," says Baldi. "I went outside and there was this red rainbow. I've never seen anything like that before."
What made the rainbow red? It was the only color available. All of the other colors of the rainbow had been scattered away by air molecules and dust particles in front of the low-hanging sun.
A faint secondary rainbow is also visible in Baldi's photo. While the bright primary 'bow is caused by light reflected once inside raindrops, the second 'bow is caused by light reflected twice. That makes this a double red rainbow. "It was incredible," says Baldi.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
FLY ME TO THE MOONSTONE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from the edge of space. On Jan 27th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this moonstone wrapped in a hand-crafted sterling silver Celtic love knot 35.1 km (115,158 feet) above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $179.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. All sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery