THE NEXT SOLAR WIND STREAM: A hole in the sun's atmosphere is turning toward Earth and spewing a stream a solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Aug. 1st. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on those dates. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
STRANGE SUNSETS OBSERVED AS THE ARCTIC BURNS: The Arctic Circle is on fire. Right now in Siberia alone more than 2 million hectares are ablaze--making it one of the worst boreal wildfires in 10,000 years. Is it any coincidence that sky watchers around the world are witnessing strange sunsets? "We have been seeing extreme twilight colors near the German-Czech border," reports Heiko Ulbricht of Saxony:
Photo credit: Heiko Ulbricht of Saxony, Germany
Ulbricht took the picture on July 27th from the Zittau Mountains in southeastern Germany. "Curtains of dust in the atmosphere formed rippling lines and waves similar to those we have seen this summer in noctilucent clouds," says Ulbricht. "Shortly after sunset an extreme purple light appeared as well."
Far away in Joshua Tree, California, veteran observer Don Davis saw them, too. "They reminded me of volcanic sunsets I saw in 1991 following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo," he says. Davis's photos show the same purple hue and streaky textures that Ulbricht witnessed in Germany.
Photo credit: Heiko Ulbricht of Saxony, Germany
"The glow and cloud structures definitely look stratospheric," notes atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley, "but I'm not aware of any data confirming that smoke from the wildfires has made it so high in the atmosphere."
Something's going on up there. Aerosols from Arctic wildfires are a chief suspect, but we cannot rule out the fumes of several active volcanoes. Sky watchers around the world are encouraged to be alert for strange sunsets.
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ALBERT EINSTEIN AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: What would Einstein think!? On June 8, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This Albert Einstein bobblehead went along for the ride:
Albert contemplated the curve of the Earth for almost 3 hours as the balloon ascended 111,222 feet above the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.
You can have him for $99.95. The students are selling these bobbleheads 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.
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