ALL QUIET ALERT: Solar activity is very low, with no sunspots or solar flares for the past 12 consecutive days. This is a sign that Solar Minimum is still underway. If you want to see auroras, you'll have to go to the Arctic Circle, where the lights have temporarily retreated. Quiet conditions are expected to persist for at least the next week. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS: Yesterday, Matt Robinson landed in the airport in Kiruna, Sweden, just inside the Arctic Circle. "I stepped off the plane and immediately noticed incredible clouds overhead," he says. "The colors were unbelievable!" These are polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs):
"The display intensified as I boarded a bus to my hotel," Robinson. "The bus driver wouldn't stop so I had to take these pictures from the back of a moving bus!"
Polar stratospheric clouds are very rare. Normally the stratosphere has no clouds at all. PSCs form when the temperature in the Arctic stratosphere drops to a staggeringly-low -85 C. Then, and only then, sparse water molecules in the stratosphere begin to coalesce into tiny ice crystals -- the "stuff" of PSCs. High-altitude sunlight shining through the crystals creates intense iridescent colors.
In a typical Arctic winter, PSCs appear two or three times at most. This winter is different. The clouds have nearly filled Arctic skies on dozens of occasions, with some longtime residents describing it as the best outbreak in a generation. No one knows why.
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ARCTIC SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus are spending the week inside the Arctic Circle. We're here launching space weather balloons to the polar stratosphere, measuring rising levels of radiation. Today's launch outside Abisko, Sweden,was thrilling. To see why, play the video:
Just before the balloon was ready to fly, a wind squall engulfed the launch site. Team members struggled to control the lively balloon, even diving on the ground to prevent the fragile rubber fabric from touching the faceted snow. Ultimately, the launch was a success.
We've been monitoring atmospheric radiation with global balloon flights for nearly 5 years. Everywhere we've gone--eleven US states, Chile, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, New Zealand--cosmic rays in the atmosphere are intensifying. The sun is to blame. The sun's magnetic field has weakened in recent years due to the onset of Solar Minimum. This means the sun is doing a poorer job protecting us from deep space cosmic rays.
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INFINITY PENDANT FOR VALENTINE'S DAY: Valentine's Day is less than one month away. Nothing says "I Love You" like an Infinity Pendant from the edge of space. On Jan. 8, 2020, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon. This authentic Swarovski crystal pendant hitched a ride, traveling 113,209 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $179.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. The glittering heart-shaped crystal is wrapped in a silver-embossed infinity clasp, symbolizing unending love. Each one comes with a romantic card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
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