TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN: Tuesday ended .. with a hole in the sky. Across the South Pacific and parts of South America on July 2nd, the New Moon passed directly across the face of the sun, producing a total solar eclipse. Paul D. Maley photographed the eclipse from the ocean 5 days sail southeast of Tahiti:
"I led a group of 146 persons on the MV Wind Spirit for the total solar eclipse," says Maley. "We experienced a fantastic 2 minutes 43 seconds of totality. Venus and 5 stars were visible to the unaided eye as was the cone of the lunar shadow low in the northeast sky. We were the first group to see this as our land group in Chile would have to experience it about 2.5 hours later. This was my 74th solar eclipse."
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SUNSPOTS FROM THE NEXT SOLAR CYCLE: Solar Minimum is here, but it won't last forever. In fact, the next solar cycle made a brief appearance this week. On July 1st, a small sunspot materialized in the sun's southern hemisphere (S21W02), then, hours later, vanished again. The polarity of its magnetic field marks it as a likely member of Solar Cycle 25:
Above: A magnetic map of the solar surface on July 1, 2019. Credit: NASA/SDO
Southern sunspots from old Solar Cycle 24 have a -/+ polarity. This ephemeral sunspot was the opposite: +/-. According to Hale's Law, sunspots switch polarities from one solar cycle to the next. The unnumbered sunspot of July 1st appears to be a herald of Solar Cycle 25.
Solar cycles always mix together at their boundaries. Indeed, ephemeral sunspots belonging to Solar Cycle 25 have already been reported on Dec. 20, 2016; April 8, 2018; Nov. 17, 2018; and May 28, 2019. Now we can add July 1, 2019, to list. The slow transition between Solar Cycle 24 and Solar Cycle 25 is underway.
Earlier this year, an international panel of experts predicted that Solar Minimum would deepen in 2019 and begin to rebound sometime next year. The increasing pace of ephemeral sunspots from the next solar cycle is roughtly consistent with their forecast.
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APOLLO 11 PROOF SILVER DOLLAR To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the United States Mint has created a commemorative 2019 Proof Silver Dollar. We decided to celebrate even more by flying the coins to the edge of space. On June 23rd, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this 99.9% silver dollar 102,034 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $197.95. The students are selling the coins to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. The silver dollar is curved and reproduces the helmet of astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Reflected in Buzz's visor are Neil Armstrong, the United States flag, and the lunar lander. The opposite side of the coin shows Neil's iconic footprint on the Moon. Each of these coins comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and a certificate of authenticity.
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