THE CHANGING SHAPE OF BETELGEUSE: Betelgeuse isn't just dimming, it's also changing shape. The European Southern Observatory has just released new images of Betelgeuse from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile's Atacama desert. The unstable red supergiant is definitely lopsided. See what it looks like.

TWO WEEKS WITHOUT SUNSPOTS: The sun has been without spots for 14 consecutive days--a sign that Solar Minimum is still underway. Hoping to see something, Jim Fakatselis photographed the solar disk using a safely-filtered telescope at the Peppermill Skies Observatory in Huntington, NY:

"No doubt Solar Minimum is here!" says Fakatselis. "The disk is practically featureless."

Fakatselis used an H-alpha filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen. It reveals the roiling motions of gas in the sun's lower atmosphere. This gives the solar disk a "shag carpet" texture--but, in this case, nothing else. There are no sunspots, no dark magnetic filaments, none of the usual structures visible on an even slightly active sun.

Recently, there have been signs of life from the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 25 sunspots are starting to appear from time to time, heralding the end of Solar Minimum. Clearly, though, it's not over yet. More blank suns are very likely in the days and weeks ahead.

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A GIFT FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch cosmic ray sensors to the stratosphere, they send a little something extra along for the ride. For example, this moonstone wrapped in a sterling silver Celtic love knot:

You can have it for $179.95. The students are selling these pendants as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray monitoring program. They make great anniversary, birthday and Mother's Day gifts. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.

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