A "SUPER SPRITE" OVER CHINA: Last week in China, a photographer captured a rare photo of a "super sprite"--a gigantic tentacled jet leaping up from the stormy wake of Typhoon White Deer. See the picture and learn more about these strange forms of upward-directed lightning here.
AURORAS TOUCH THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS: Earth is beginning to exit a stream of fast-moving solar wind that sparked episodes of G2-class geomagnetic storming over the weekend. On Aug. 31st and Sept. 1st, sky watchers in both hemispheres saw auroras--the strongest of the year so far. In New Zealand, the geomagnetic glow reached all the way up to the Magellanic Clouds:
"A small crowd of photographers gathered on the evening of Sept. 1st, the (unofficial) first day of Spring here in New Zealand," says Mike White, who photographed the display from Port Hills outside Christchurch. "As astronomical twilight faded to night, a brilliant naked eye display of tall rays formed reaching up towards the Large Magellanic Cloud. There were plenty of excited gasps amongst the crowd."
Although the solar wind is still blowing faster than 600 km/s, the storm is subsiding. Sky watchers around the Arctic circle *might* see some auroras mixed with late-summer twilight on Sept. 2-3. Other than that, auroras are not likely tonight. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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160 YEARS AGO, A GEOMAGNETIC MEGA-STORM: Picture this: A billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) slams into Earth's magnetic field. Campers in the Rocky Mountains wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they see is sunrise. No, it's the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis. Earth is peppered by particles so energetic, they alter the chemistry of polar ice.
Hard to believe? It really happened--exactly 160 years ago. This map shows where auroras were sighted in the early hours of Sept. 2, 1859:
As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The "Victorian Internet" was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.
The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause a trillion dollars in damage to society's high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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THE SPACE 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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education