GEOMAGNETIC STORM FORECAST: A large hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth and spewing solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Sept. 1st. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms and high-latitude auroras are possible when the gaseous material arrives. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
ARCTIC AURORAS: As predicted, a solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 27th. The gentle impact did not spark a geomagnetic storm, but it did create some colorful lights around the Arctic Circle. Alexander Kuznetsov sends this picture from Rovaniemi, Finland:
"Aurora season has started on the Arctic Circle!" says Kuznetsov. "The nights are still pretty bright, and auroras struggled with sunlight from the horizon, but with some patience we got the shot we wanted."
"We decided to experiment a little," he adds. "Kudos to model Saara Rahkamaa who got a bit frozen in the lake water, but did her part well. I myself spent 1.5 hours with my bare feet in the water. Luckily this is as warm as it will be in the Finnish Lapland for 10 months to come. What a great start of the season!"
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WHY ARE SUNSETS TURNING PURPLE? Every year, on average, about 60 volcanoes erupt somewhere on Earth, shooting ashy plumes of sulfurous gas thousands of feet into the air. Rarely do those plumes make it all the way up to the stratosphere. This summer, however, two volcanoes have done it. The Raikoke volcano in the Kirul Islands (June 22nd) and the Ulawun volcano in New Guinea (Aug. 3rd) both punched through to the stratosphere, sending material as high as 60,000 ft.
The action of these two volcanoes may explain why many sky watchers are starting to notice purple sunsets. Juli Fowler of Albuquerque, New Mexico, photographed this example on Aug. 24th:
"Spectacular sunsets are a regular thing here in the Land of Enchantment, but imagine my surprise when I saw these violet beams caused by volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere," says Fowler. "Wow!"
Why purple? Fine volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere scatter blue light which, when mixed with ordinary sunset red, produces a violet hue. The purple color is often preceded by a yellow arch hugging the horizon. As the sun sets, violet beams emerge from the yellow, overlapping to fill the western sky with a soft purple glow. High-quality pictures of the phenomenon often show horizontal bands cross-crossing the yellow arch. These bands are the volcanic gas.
Ray Majoran of London, Ontario, Canada, captured this dramatic image using a drone:
"Sunsets lately have a beautiful purple/pink glow to them, so I have been launching my Mavic 2 Pro drone to photograph them," says Majoran. "This picture was taken just a few days after the Ulawun volcano eruption in New Guinea."
Sky watchers shouldn't expect to see purple every night. The volcanic gas appears to be patchily distributed, bringing strange sunsets on some nights, not all. Clear air, lack of clouds, and country settings improves their visibility. If you photograph one, send us your pictures!
A sharable version of this story may be found here.
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YES, THAT'S A REAL PEARL: It's the first pearl in the stratosphere. On Aug. 19, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the edge of space, 104,002 ft high. This sterling silver pearl necklace went along for the ride:
You can have it for $169.95. The students are selling these pearls to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each cultured "space pearl" comes with greeting card showing the necklace in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again. These make great birthday and Christmas gifts.
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