SOLAR WIND UPDATE: A small hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth and spraying solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Dec. 14th. The impact of this minor solar wind stream is unlikely to cause geomagnetic storms. Nevertheless, Arctic sky watchers should be alert for a brightening of auroras when the gaseous material arrives. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
VENUS AND SATURN AT SUNSET: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. Venus and Saturn are in conjunction just under 2 degrees apart. Piotr Wieczorek photographed the two planets converging over Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Dec. 10th:
"Venus has returned to the evening sky, and her brightness is quite remarkable," says Wieczorek. "Using Venus as my guide, I had no trouble finding Saturn nearby. It was a beautiful view from the Myślślińska mountain overlooking Bydgoszcz."
Observing tips: Try to catch them before the sky fades to black. Brilliant Venus pops out of the twilight first, followed ~15 minutes later by 1st-magnitude Saturn. The sight of the two planets framed by twilight blue is out of this world. Sky maps: Dec. 11, 12.
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THE NORTHERN LIGHTS PENDANT: On Dec. 6, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This Northern Lights pendant went along for the ride, flying more than 107,612 feet above the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. It makes an out-of-this-world Christmas gift!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE? Google this: "Star Trek Doomsday Machine." Next, play the movie below. See the resemblance?
Movie credit: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
Yesterday, Dec. 10th, an explosion on the farside of the sun produced a cone-shaped coronal mass ejection (CME). Fans of Star Trek (the Original Series) may think it resembles the menace of Season 2/Episode 6, first broadcast in Oct. 1967. That cone devoured planets. This cone, however, will completely miss Earth. The CME of Dec. 10th is not heading in our direction and, even if it did hit our planet, no damage would occur--at most a moderate geomagnetic storm.
The CME is a reminder that even during a deep Solar Minimum (underway now), solar activity is possible. Perhaps the next explosion will head our way...
Bonus: The circled streaks are caused by cosmic rays hitting SOHO's digital camera. During Solar Minimum, cosmic rays intensify, speckling images from observatories in space.
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