ARCTIC AURORAS POSSIBLE TOMORROW: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Dec. 28th when a CIR is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. "CIR" means co-rotating interaction region--a transition zone between streams of slow- and fast-moving solar wind. CIRs contain plasma shocks and intense magnetic fields that often do a good job sparking Arctic auroras. Free: Aurora Alerts.
FOUR DAYS TO ULTIMA THULE: On Christmas Eve, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft used its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) to photograph Ultima Thule, a mysterious object almost 4 billion miles from the sun. At the moment it is little more than a speck of light among the stars, but soon that will change as the spacecraft heads for a daring flyby on Dec. 31st/Jan. 1st. In only 4 days, Ultima Thule will be revealed as a world like we've never seen before.
"On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, New Horizons will map Ultima, determine how many moons it has and find out if it has rings or even an atmosphere," says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern. "It will make other studies, too, such as measuring Ultima's temperature and perhaps even its mass. In the space of one 72-hour period, Ultima will be transformed from a pinpoint of light — a dot in the distance — to a fully explored world. It should be breathtaking!"
Why are researchers so excited? Ultima Thule is very old and primitive. It has been circling the sun in the distant deep freeze of the Kuiper Belt for more than 4 billion years. It was around when the planets formed and has remained substantially unchanged ever since. Ultima Thule is a time capsule, waiting to share its secrets about the genesis of Earth.
"From Ultima's orbit, we know that it is the most primordial object ever explored. I'm excited to see the surface features of this small world, particularly the craters on the surface," says Deputy Project Scientist Cathy Olkin of the Southwest Research Institute. "Young craters could provide a window to see the composition of the subsurface of Ultima. Also by counting the number and impactors that have hit Ultima, we can learn about the number of small objects in the outer solar system."
The New Horizons spacecraft is on course to fly by Ultima Thule on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, at 12:33 a.m. EST. For a listing of flyby programming and where to watch it online, visit the New Horizons website at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Where-to-Watch.php.
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BUY A TICKET TO THE EDGE OF SPACE: Extended by popular demand! For the holiday season only, we're reducing the cost of payload space on Earth to Sky Calculus balloons from $500 to only $299. Buy an edge of space gift certificate before New Year's Eve and you can send an experiment, photo, or keepsake item to the stratosphere, completely supported by an Earth to Sky Calculus launch and recovery team.
This is not only a great belated Christmas gift, but also a good kickstarter for science fair projects. Experiments will be flown and returned along with video footage, GPS tracking, temperature, pressure, altimetry and radiation data.
To take advantage of the discounted rate, payment must be received before Dec. 25th. However, the flight can take place at any time in the next 12 months. You'll receive the ticket electronically so you can print it out and give it as a Christmas Day gift.
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