A NEW-CYCLE SOLAR FLARE: August 8th began with a bang. At 03:49 UT, the magnetic canopy of new-cycle sunspot AR2770 erupted, producing a C1-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized Earth's upper atmosphere, briefly disturbing shortwave radio propagation across the western Pacific Ocean: map. Mariners and amateur radio operators might have noticed the effects, which were confined to frequencies below 10 MHz.
This flare did not hurl a CME toward Earth, so no geomagnetic storms are expected to result from the blast. Maybe next time. AR2770 will be facing Earth, more or less, for the next week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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THE 2020 PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from giant comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. If forecasters are correct, the display will peak on the nights of Aug. 11th through Aug. 13th with dozens of meteors per hour.
Ian Webster created this interactive visualization of Swift-Tuttle's debris stream cutting across Earth's orbit.
Activity is already picking up; last night NASA's network of all-sky meteor cameras recorded 22 Perseid fireballs over the USA. A fireball is a very bright meteor, at least as bright as the planets Jupiter or Venus.
No other comet produces fireballs like 109P/Swift-Tuttle--probably a result of its oversized nucleus. The comet's core is 26 km in diameter, and naturally crumbles into fireball-sized chunks. Since 2008, NASA has counted more fireballs from the Perseids than any other shower:
When should you look? Perseids may be seen at any time after ~10 pm. However, the best time is during the hours just before sunrise when the constellation Perseus is high in the sky. For best results, lie down in a dark place with a wide view of the heavens. Venus, Mars, and the Moon will be there, too. Enjoy the show! Sky maps: Aug. 11, 12, 13.
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A KILLER GIFT FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: It's the ultimate gift for a Star Wars fan--a Killer Droid from the edge of space. On July 23rd, this bounty-hunting bobblehead namd "IG-11" hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon. Here he is floating 117,454 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of California:
You can have him for $111.11. The students of Earth to Sky are selling IG-11 to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each bobblehead comes with a card showing it floating through the stratosphere, and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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