SPIRAL LIGHTS ON MARS: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft has discovered a vast spiral of ultraviolet light swirling over the South Pole of Mars. A new paper just published in JGR Space Physics explains the chemistry of the aurora-like glow, but not its shape. Researchers say the spiral is a mystery. FULL STORY.
THE SUN IS SWALLOWING A COMET TODAY: A comet is plunging toward the sun--and it's not going well for the comet. New images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show the supersonic snowball evaporating furiously as it approaches the sun on August 27th:
Discovered just yesterday, the comet is a Kreutz sungrazer--a fragment from the breakup of a giant comet many centuries ago. SOHO has discovered thousands of Kreutz sungrazers; tiny ones divebomb the sun almost every day. This fragment is bigger and brighter than usual, however.
"The comet made its closest approach to the sun today, Aug. 27th, at 15:58 UT," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. "It was only half a solar radius above the surface of the sun."
Looking at close-up images from SOHO's C2 coronagraph, Battams notes that the comet's tail is not typical. "It's more of a boulder-strewn debris trail," he says. "The comet is being entirely deconstructed by solar radiation in our solar system's most hostile environment!"
In the hours ahead, the comet might emerge from its close encounter--most likely headless, just a stretched-out tail dissipating into the sun's hot corona. R.I.P. comet? Movies will be updated as SOHO data become available.
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AURORAS VS. ARCTIC TWILIGHT: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on August 26th. The impact sparked a competition: Auroras vs. Arctic twilight. The score was tied when Rayann Elzein took this picture from Utjsoki, FInland:
"The auroras are finally back at nearly 70°N latitude!" says Elzein. "The sky still does not become very dark after our long season of the midnight sun, but for a few minutes, it did get dark enough. The new aurora season is now officially launched here in the far north of Finnish Lapland, exciting months ahead!"
Another, similar stream of solar wind is due to arrive on Aug. 29-30, bringing a new mix of twilight and auroras. Stay tuned for Round 2. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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THE INFINITY PENDANT: Are you looking for a romantic gift? Nothing says "I Love You" like an Infinity Pendant from the edge of space. This authentic Swarovski crystal hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, traveling 113,209 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $179.95. The students of Earth to Sky are selling the pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Glittering with the colors of a rainbow, the 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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