THE STRANGE SPOTLESSNESS OF THE SUN: On Sept. 15th, NOAA and NASA announced that new Solar Cycle 25 has begun. Since then, the sun has been blank--totally spotless--almost 90% of the time. This sustained lack of sunspots shows that Solar Minimum is not over; Solar Cycle 25 is still too weak to break its icy grip on solar activity. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MARS: Last night, Mars had a close encounter with the Harvest Moon. Alan Dyer photographed the pair rising over the prairie near Gleichen, Alberta:
"Shortly after they rose, the ISS flew over the Moon-Mars pairing," says Dyer. "It was a fine night!"
Now the real show begins. On Oct. 6th, Earth and Mars will have one of their finest close encounters in 20 years--only 62 million km apart. Rising in the east at sunset, red Mars will shine almost 3 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. The planet's disk will grow so large (22.6 arcseconds) that backyard telescopes can produce images reminiscent of Hubble.
All you need is a sky map. Enjoy!
Realtime Mars Photo Gallery
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THE PINK AURORA PEARL: Inspired by the color of rare pink auroras, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a pink pearl to the stratosphere on Sept. 25th. It hitched a ride onboard the students' cosmic ray balloon, and reached an altitude 112,205 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $249.95. The students are selling space pearls to support their cosmic ray monitoring program. Measuring 9 mm in diameter, the Aurora 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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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