THE CARRINGTON EVENT WAS NOT UNIQUE: It might be time to rewrite the history books. New research shows that the Carrington Event--a monster solar storm that hit Earth 161 years ago this week--might not be as unique as previously thought. Historical documents from East Asia suggest that Carrington Events (plural) have happened many times before ... and probably will again. FULL STORY.
APPROACHING MARS: Earth is approaching Mars for one of the best close encounters of the past 20 years. As a result, amateur astronomers are starting to take pictures like this:
"This is perhaps my best planetary image to date," says photographer Maximilian Teodorescu of Magurele, Ilfov, Romania. "It was acquired on Sept. 1st with an 355mm (14-inch) Newtonian telescopee in excellent seeing conditions."
Teodorescu has been monitoring Mars for months. "The southern polar cap is much smaller now compared to just a few weeks ago," he says. This is happening because, on Mars, the seasons are changing. It's late spring in the Southern Hemisphere; waxing summer sunlight is vaporizing and sublimating polar dry ice.
On the other side of the planet, winter is tightening its grip. Teodorescu captured a sign of that, too. Note the North Polar Hood, a vast bank of icy-blue clouds arcing over the Martian north pole. Why blue? That's the color of sunlight scattered from tiny crystals of H2O and CO2 ice floating in the cloud. This feature will expand and intensify in the weeks ahead as northern autumn fully transitions to winter.
Our closest approach to Mars will occur on Oct. 6th. Between now and then, a lot will change on the Red Planet. Stay tuned for pictures.
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CAPT. KIRK BOBBLEHEAD (COLLECTOR'S ITEM): To support their crowdfunded research program, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have launched James T. Kirk to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray balloon. Note the moon over Kirk's shoulder in this photo taken 36 km (118,100 ft) above Earth's surface:
You can have him for $170.10. The price is the serial number of the Enterprise, NCC1701, divided by 10. The students are selling Kirk to buy more helium! He comes with a greeting card showing the high-quality resin bobblehead in flight and telling the story of his journey to the stratosphere and back again.
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