SOLAR WIND APPROACHES EARTH: A stream of solar wind is about to hit Earth's magnetic field. Estimated time of arrival: Feb. 20th. The gaseous material is flowing from a trans-equatorial fissure in the sun's atmosphere. Arctic sky watchers can expect minor geomagnetic storms and auroras mixed with bright moonlight. Aurora Alerts: SMS text, email.
PERIGEE SUPERMOON: On Tuesday, Feb. 19th, there's going to be a full Moon--the biggest and brightest of the year. The best time to look in North America is before sunrise on Tuesday morning, while in Europe the best time is after sunset on the same day.
Above: Josep Julia Gomez created this comparison of apogee vs. perigee Moons photographed at Observatory Marxuquera, Spain.
Full moons vary in size because the Moon's orbit is not a circle, it's an ellipse: diagram. One side of the Moon's orbit, called "perigee," is 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other side, "apogee." This Tuesday's "supermoon" becomes full just 6 hours away from perigee, a coincidence that makes it almost 8% wider and 16% brighter than an average full Moon.
But will we be able to tell the difference just by looking? A 16% difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds or the glare of urban lights. Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon looks much like any other--that is, all beautiful! Monitor the realtime gallery for photos.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
ISS LUNAR TRANSIT: Many astronomers have photographed the International Space Station (ISS) passing in front of the Moon. On Feb. 10th, Szabolcs Nagy of London, England, tried something different. He photographed the ISS skimming the edge:
"I used the ISS Detector app to find out when the ISS would pass close to the edge of lunar disk," says Nagy. "This way I could record a video where the space station wasn't only in front of the lunar disk, but instead a bit of both. When I watched the recorded video I was jolly happy!"
"It happened in the blink of an eye," he continues. "I took a high frame rate video (around 120fps), then slowed it doen to make it easier to see." More of Nagy's photography of the space station may be found at SpaceStationGuys.com/gallery. Take a look!
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Spaceweather.com is proud to announce our new and improved space weather alert system. Sign up now and you'll never miss another solar storm in 2019. Subscribers receive instant text messages when there are solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and CMEs about to strike Earth. And if you sign up for the PRO PLAN, you'll receive a type of alert available no where else--"Magnetic Crack" alerts. Keep reading after the graphic to learn more:
PRO PLAN subscribers get a text message whenever a crack is opening in Earth's magnetosphere. Magnetic cracks are caused by south-pointing magnetic fields ("BsubZ") in the solar wind, which partially cancel Earth's magnetic defenses. Solar wind pours in through these cracks to fuel bright auroras and geomagnetic storms. Veteran aurora chasers know that watching "BsubZ" is the best way to anticipate geomagnetic activity. Now your cell phone can do this job for you, alerting you when cracks are forming in the invisible magnetic field overhead.
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