SUBSIDING STORMS: Earth's magnetic field is quieting again after a night of storming. G1- and G2-class storm conditions were observed on Nov. 4th and 5th when a high-speed stream of solar wind made contact with our planet's magnetic field. The show's not over. Although the storms are subsiding, intermittent Arctic auroras remain possible tonight as the solar wind continues to blow faster than 500 km/s. Free: Aurora Alerts.
NORTHERN LIGHTS IN THE USA: During last night's G2-class geomagnetic storm, Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into the USA. It wasn't a big display, but many observers noticed the sky turning gently green. "I was glad to see it for the first time in awhile," reports Kevin Palmer who took this picture from Parkman, Wyoming:
"I even caught a meteor in one of the frames," he says.
Sightings in other US states include Montana, Iowa, Washington, North Dakota and, last but not least, Alaska. Another episode of geomagnetic storms is expected about 5 days from now. Northern-tier sky watchers, warm up your cameras and stay tuned.
A RED ARC OVER FINLAND: You've heard of auroras--green and purple lights that dance in the sky during geomagnetic storms. But have you ever heard of an SAR? Stable Auroral Red arcs (SARs) were discovered in 1956 at the beginning of the Space Age and have been recorded by cameras on satellites hundreds of times since. Most aurora watchers have never seen one, though, because they are usually invisible to the human eye. Last night in southern Finland, Matti Helin saw one:
"The SAR was visible to the naked eye for nearly 30 minutes and, after fading a bit, remained visible to my camera for another hour and a half," says Helin. "Normally we see auroras in the north, but this stable red arc appeared to our south. It was strange shooting in that direction :D"
SARs are related to auroras, but they are not the same. Regular auroras appear when high-energy particles rain down along polar magnetic field lines, hitting the atmosphere (100-200 km high) and causing it to glow like the picture tube of an old color TV. SARs form differently. They are a sign of heat energy leaking into the upper atmosphere (~400 km high) from Earth's ring current system. Normally, SARs become visible to the naked eye only during strong geomagnetic storms. Last night's G1-storm was far from strong, but the arc appeared anyway--further proof that auroras can be full of surprises.
CRYSTAL STARSHIP ENTERPRISE: Last month, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the starship Enterprise to the stratosphere. Riding onboard a high-altitude cosmic ray balloon, the laser-etched crystal spaceship traveled 34.7 km (113,845 feet) above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $149.95. The students are selling the Enterprise to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each starship comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Also included is a multi-colored LED illuminated stand (shown in the picture above). This creates a colorful visual effect and allows the Enterprise to be used as a far-out night light.
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