THE NEXT STREAM OF SOLAR WIND: Earth is passing through a void between streams of solar wind. The next stream lies ahead. Estimated time of arrival: Aug. 19-20. The gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. Its grazing impact could spark geomagnetic activity just below the level of a G1-class storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
WATCH A COMET DIVE INTO THE SUN: The solar system has one less comet. Yesterday, Aug. 15th, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) watched a comet dive toward the sun. The dirty snowball went in--but it didn't come back out again.
The comet, R.I.P., was a member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. They get their name from 19th century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who studied them in detail. Several Kreutz fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see, but occasionally a bigger fragment like this one (~10 m to 50 m) attracts attention.
Because of their common parentage, sungrazers often come in clusters. For this reason, it wouldn't be surprising to find yet another one in the offing. Monitor Karl Battam's Sungrazing Comet twitter feed for more sightings.
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APOLLO 11 PROOF SILVER DOLLARS: The students of Earth to Sky Calculus weren't even born when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon in 1969 years ago. Nevertheless, they "get it." On July 20th, the students launched 50 Apollo 11 silver dollars to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray balloon. The coins touched the edge of space 50 years to the day after Neil and Buzz made footprints in the Sea of Tranquillity:
You can have one for $197.95. The students are selling these coins to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Quantities are limited and more than half have already been sold. 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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