A VERY SLOW-MOVING CME: On March 12th, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory detected a faint coronal mass ejection (CME) slowly billowing away from the sun. Five days later, the storm cloud may be approaching Earth. How slow is it? Slower than the surrounding solar wind. In fact, the solar wind may be dragging the CME toward us. The impact of this leisurely CME could occur on March 17th, painting Arctic skies green for St Patrick's Day. Aurora Alerts: SMS text, email.
THE SOURCE OF AURORA BOREALIS: For thousands of years, Arctic sky watchers have marveled the Northern Lights and wondered, where do they come from? "After two decades of photographing auroras in the Lapland of Sweden, I may have finally found the answer," says Peter Rosén of Kiruna, Sweden. "They appear to be coming from my sauna!" Here is the evidence from March 14th:
"Old folklore says it is due to the mirroring effect of schools of herring in the ocean (Norway), an Arctic fox moving its tail (Finland), spirits who play football with the skull of a walrus (Inuits) or the spirits of the dead people (the Sami in Sweden)," says Rosén. "What do you think?"
Not having access to Rosén's sauna, NASA researchers have come up with a different explanation. It's a little more complicated, but may be correct. Watch the movie, then read the summary below:
Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field, loading magnetic field lines with electrified plasma and causing the field to quiver and vibrate with latent energy. Thus charged, Earth's magnetosphere crackles with explosions. Magnetic lines of force cross, cancel, reconnect and—Bang! Magnetic energy is unleashed, with charged-particles flying off near the speed of light. These particles stream down toward Earth's poles, igniting the Northern Lights.
MOTHER'S DAY SPACE PENDANT: Tell Mom how much you love her -- to the Moon and Back! On March 5, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched an array of cosmic ray sensors to the edge of space onboard a helium balloon. This Mother's Day pendant went along for the ride:
The silvery crescent declares "I love you to the Moon and Back" and surrounds a 14K gold plated heart labeled "Mom."
You can have it for $119.95. 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. 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
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery