SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: A hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth and spewing a stream of solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Nov. 16-17. There is a slight chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms when the gaseous material reaches Earth. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
STARLINK SATELLITES VISIBLE AGAIN: They're back. A new train of Starlink satellites is crossing the night sky following SpaceX's Monday launch of 60 more internet-orbiters. "I saw them last night completely by accident," reports Paul Johnson of Mecca, California. "I was setting up my camera to photograph the moonrise in Box Canyon when the train appeared. They looked like planes flying by."
On the outskirts of Los Angeles, Jim Young saw them as well. "I counted 49 of them!" says Young, who couldn't quite fit the entire train in these photos:
"They were easy to see in bright moonlight even with the glare of Los Angeles in the background," says Young. "I estimate their magnitude to be +3 to +4. For comparison, the bright 'star' in the photo above is Jupiter."
The satellites were even brighter over San Diego where Evan Zucker recorded this video on Nov. 12th:
"I've looked very carefully at the stars in my video," says Zucker. "I estimate that the satellites are about as bright as Rasalhague--that is, 2nd magnitude."
Both Zucker and Young used Heavens Above to predict the Starlink flybys. Go to Heavens-Above.com, set your location, and select "Starlink Launch 2" under the "10-day predictions for satellites of special interest" section. "Their predictions were accurate as usual," says Young.
Look now, because these satellites will fade in the nights ahead as they ascend to their operational orbits 500+ km above Earth. Even at that altitude, however, satellites from the first Starlink launch in May are visible at magnitudes ranging from +4 (naked-eye) to +7 (easy for telescopes). So they won't vanish completely. Ultimately, SpaceX hopes to surround Earth with 30,000 Starlink satellites to provide widespread internet access. With that many artificial stars in the offing, astronomers are understandably concerned.
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FAR-OUT CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: Impressive. Most impressive. On Nov. 2nd, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. Darth Vader went along for the ride, floating 109,580 feet above the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have him for $97.95. The students are selling Vader to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. This 5-inch tall blown glass ornament will look great on your holiday tree. It comes with a greeting card showing the Sith Lord in flight and telling the story of his journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
TRANSIT OF MERCURY--OUT OF THIS WORLD IMAGES: Millions of people on Earth witnessed the transit of Mercury on Nov. 11th when the tiny black form of the first planet crossed the face of the sun. The best views were out of this world--literally. More than 22,000 miles above Earth's surface, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded an incredible movie of the transit. Click to play it:
Having trouble playing this movie? An alternate version is available on Vimeo.
This movie is unlike any recorded on Earth. High above our planet's atmosphere, extreme ultraviolet telescopes onboard SDO were able to see Mercury making first contact with the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona. The wavelengths required to gain this view are blocked by air and only visible from space.
More out-of-this-world images of the transit may be found in our photo gallery. Browse and enjoy!
Transit of Mercury Photo Gallery
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