POSSIBLE FARSIDE SUNSPOT: The Earthside of the sun has been blank for nearly a month. That could soon change. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft has detected an ultraviolet hotspot on the farside of the sun. It's probably a sunspot, due to turn toward Earth early next week. Stay tuned. Aurora alerts: SMS text.
VENUS'S GREAT RED SPOT: Some people say "Venus is boring." Viewed through a normal telescope, the second planet appears to be a dull, pale sphere without any distinguishing features. But that's not what amateur astronomer Carmine Gargiulo saw when he looked on Sept. 18th:
"Venus showed several cloud formations and what appears to be a hurricane," says Gargiulo. In the false-color image at right, Venus seems to have its own Great Red Spot.
Transforming Venus from a featureless billard ball into a dynamic planet with obvious storm systems requires one thing: An ultraviolet filter. Venus's atmosphere is s piced with a molecule, OSSO, that absorbs UV radiation. Variations in the density of OSSO trace winds, clouds, cyclones and more.
Gargiulo used a 16-inch telescope and a UV filter (325-405 nm) almost perfectly tuned to the absorption band of OSSO. Viewed this way, the second planet is not so boring, after all.
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INFINITY BLACK PEARL: It came from Tahiti--and now it's been to the edge of space. On April 15, 2020, this genuine Black Tahitian South Sea Cultured Pearl flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, soaring 107,611 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $249.95. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling these exotic space pearls to fund their cosmic ray monitoring program.
Measuring 8 mm in diameter, the pearl is mounted on a 925 sterling silver infinity twist and suspended on a matching 17 inch long sterling silver chain. Each pearl comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.
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