A HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth and spewing solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Sept. 11-12. Minor geomagnetic storms and Arctic auroras are possible when the gaseous material reaches our planet next week. Free: Aurora Alerts.
AURORAS AND A FIREBALL: As autumn darkness falls around the Arctic Circle, long-absent wonders are returning to the night sky. Yesterday in Tromsø, Norway, photographer Ole C. Salomonsen witnessed two of them--auroras and a fireball:
"What an awesome display!" says Salomonsen. "I shouted out with joy after realizing I had captured this huge fireball mixed with auroras. I was also happy to have some colors from the sun left in the horizon to make the image complete."
The fireball was a random meteoroid scooped up by Earth's atmosphere just as Salomonsen opened the shutter of his camera. The auroras appeared thanks to a CIR (co-rotating interaction region) that hit Earth a few hours earlier. CIRs are shock-like transition zones in the solar wind separating slow- and fast-moving gas. They often contain strong magnetic fields that do a good job sparking auroras. The two events combined for a truly lucky shot.
FUNGI CORONA: How do you make colorful rings around the sun? All it takes is a lawnmower and a mushroom. "On Sept. 5th, I was was cutting the grass and accidentally mowed over a puffball mushroom," reports Randy Hollaway of Pittsburgh, PA. "A huge cloud of fungi spores filled the air, creating a beautiful corona."
Many of us have seen coronas. They appear when sunbeams hit small particles in the air, scattering and diffracting the light into colorful rings. Tiny droplets of water in clouds make most coronas. Pollen from flowers and trees can do it too. This may be the first recorded case of a fungi corona.
Take a closer look at Hollaway's photo. Individual spores may be seen glinting in the sunlight. Never has a lawn-mowed mushroom looked so good.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
LASER-ETCHED MOON CUBE: On August 16, 2018, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This unique laser-etched Moon cube went along for the ride, ascending to an altitude of 101,140 feet:
You can have it for $149.95. The students are selling these cubes as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray ballooning program. It's an authentic representation of the Moon, with all of the craters, mountains and lava plains accurately portrayed.
Each Moon-cube comes with a unique gift card showing the item floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education