THE FULL WORM MOON: According to folklore, tonight's full Moon has a special name--the Worm Moon. It signals the coming of northern spring, thawing earth, and the first stirrings of earthworms in long-dormant gardens. Step outside tonight and behold the wakening landscape. "Worm moonlight" is prettier than it sounds. Browse: photo gallery.
EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARE: New sunspot AR2736 is growing rapidly in the sun's northern hemisphere: movie. This morning at 1118 UT, it announced itself with a C4-class solar flare. The sunspot is inset in this extreme ultraviolet image of the explosion from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
The Earth-directed explosion sent minor waves of ionization rippling through Earth's upper atmosphere and caused a shortwave radio "brownout" over southern parts of Europe and all of Africa. Anomalies in radio propagation at frequencies below 20 MHz might have been noticed by, e.g., mariners and ham radio operators.
The explosion also hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. First-look images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) suggest that the CME is not heading directly for Earth. However, a glancing blow is possible on March 22nd or 23rd. If the CME does hit our planet's magnetic field--still a big IF--minor (G1) to moderate (G2) geomagnetic storms are possible.
NOAA analysts are modeling the shape and trajectory of the CME, and they will assess the likehood of an impact leter today. Stay tuned for updates. Aurora alerts: SMS text, email.
A GIFT FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Poets, lovers, and artists have long known this simple truth: Nothing is more romantic than a full Moon. Now you can give the full Moon as a gift--the full Moon space pendant, that is. This one flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling these spherical glass pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a Valentine's card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery