BIG, QUIET SUNSPOT FACES EARTH: A sunspot group that materialized less than two days ago has rapidly quadrupled in size and is now directly facing Earth. AR2733 consists of more than a dozen dark cores scattered across 75,000 km of solar terrain. Its magnetic polarity identifies it as a relic member of decaying Solar Cycle 24, and so no strong flares are expected. Free: SWx News
SOLAR WIND SPARKS ARCTIC AURORAS: Earth is entering a stream of solar wind currently blowing faster than 500 km/s. First contact with the gaseous material during the late hours of Jan. 23rd produced an outburst of green auroras around the Arctic Circle. Markus Varik sends this picture from Tromsø, Norway:
"Thank you, Spaceweather.com aurora predicting team," says Varik. "I was in position when the solar wind arrived, and captured several nice images of auroras over the moonlit landscape."
NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Jan. 24th as Earth moves deeper into the solar wind stream. If such a storm materializes, auroras could penetrate the Arctic moonlight once again tonight. Monitor the realtime photo gallery for sightings. Aurora Alerts: SMS text, email.
FAR OUT VALENTINE'S GIFT: Valentine's Day is only 3 weeks away. Need a far-out gift? Consider the Valentine's Space Rose. This one flew 104,843 feet above the snow-capped Sierras of California on Jan. 19th:
You can have it for $149.95. The rose is laser-etched into a block of optical-quality borosilicate crystal with the words "I Love You" curving below the stem. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling these to support their cosmic ray ballooning program.
Each rose 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 an LED stand that fills the bloom with 4 luminous colors.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
A METEOROID HITS THE MOON DURING LUNAR ECLIPSE: On Jan. 21st at 04:41:43 UT, a meteoroid slammed into the Moon. We know this because so many people witnessed the explosion. It happened during a total eclipse of the Moon, visible from five continents. Dr. Fritz Helmut Hemmerich photographed the eclipse from the Canary Islands of Spain and captured the fireball:
"This is a happy shot!" says Hemmerich. "The shot just before and the shot just a few seconds later show nothing. The fireball was short-lived and I'm glad I caught it in this 2-second exposure."
Dozens of reliable images and videos of the impact have surfaced in the days since the eclipse. Analyzing one sharp image taken by Christian Fröschlin of the Netherlands, geologist Justin Cowart has estimated the selenographic coordinates of the impact site: 29.47S, 67.77W +/- 4km. This puts it just to the west of the lunar crater Lagrange H. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter may be able to use such coordinates to target its cameras and photograph the crater.
Meteoroids hit the Moon all the time. Literally. NASA has been observing impact flashes since 2005. Recently, other groups in Europe have joined the hunt. Flashes are typically recorded once every 2 to 3 hours of observing time. Impactors range in size from softballs to boulders, liberating energies equal to tons of TNT when they strike.
Above: The impact flash, photographed by Hunter McWilliams of Lubbock, Texas
The rare thing about this strike is that it was photographed during a full Moon, when lunar glare usually overwhelms the glow of any fireball. During the eclipse, Earth's shadow turned lunar day into almost-night for an hour, allowing the fireball to be seen.
Readers, were you taking pictures of the eclipse around 04:41 UT? Check your photos. You might have captured an explosion. Submit images here.
Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery