THE NEXT GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Geomagnetic storms (G1-class) are likely on Nov. 30th or Dec. 1st when a stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a large hole in the sun's atmosphere. This is a long-lasting hole that has lashed Earth with solar wind about once a month since July. The last time it happened on Nov. 4th, auroras were sighted in multiple northern-tier US states. Free: Aurora Alerts.
INCREDIBLE SKI HALOS: Ski resorts are one of the best places to see sun halos--rings of light that surround the sun when ice crystals fill the air. Spaceweather.com reader Julie Morris was skiing at the Snowbasin Resort in Huntsville, Utah, on Nov. 25th when she witnessed this incredible specimen:
"I had never seen anything like it," says Morris. "It lasted for more than 15 minutes, and other skiers stopped to photograph it as well. I was so glad that my iPhone photo turned out because my hands were numb and I also couldn't see that well because I had stared at the brightness for so long!"
Ordinary sun halos are caused by ice crystals floating high above Earth's surface in cirrus clouds. "Ski halos," on the other hand, are formed by ice crystals near the ground, kicked into the air by the action of skis and snow-making machines.
"There were snow-making machines in operation at the time," says Morris. That's important because snow-making machines produce a very special type of ice. Crystals called "diamond dust" grow slowly downwind of ski-slope snow blowers. These man-made crystals tend to be more optically perfect than natural crystals in clouds, producing extra-bright, extra-sharp halos.
Morris's quick iPhone photo captured a rare variety of forms: a 22-degree halo, sundogs, sub-sundogs, a sub-sun, a lower sun pillar, an upper tangent arc, a supralateral arc, a Parry arc, a 46-degree halo, a circumzenithal arc, and a parhelic circle--all sculpted from sunlight by floating diamond dust.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
A GIFT FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a moonstone from the edge of space. 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