SOLAR WIND SPARKS AURORAS: Today, Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. First contact during the early hours of Nov. 6th produced an outburst of auroras over northern Finland. Those have subsided, but more auroras are possible in the Arctic as Earth moves through the stream on Nov. 6th and 7th. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
SOMETHING STRANGE IN CYGNUS: Sky watchers across the eastern USA were surprised last night when a strange cloud appeared in the constellation Cygus. It had a bright core and emitted luminous spiral clouds. "Did something explode over Earth?" wondered eyewitness Lee McClurg, who quickly photographed the spiral from Lake Amistad in western Texas:
"I knew it was something unusual, and by the time I got out my camera to get a very blurry pic, the clouds was fading out," reports McClurg. "So unusual but cool!"
The cloud was seen all the way from Texas to Maryland around 9 pm Eastern Time on Nov. 5th. What was it? We believe it was excess fuel dumped by the second stage of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket launched earlier in the evening from Cape Canaveral. The rocket successfully propelled a GPS satellite to orbit for the U.S. Space Force. Such fuel dumps are routine, and they get their spiral shape from the tumbling/rotation of the discarded rocket stage.
Got a picture? Submit it here.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
SUNSPOT BOMBS AWAY: Bombs are exploding in the magnetic canopy of giant sunspot AR2781. Ellerman Bombs. Maximilian Teodorescu of Magurele, Romania, captured the phenomenon in this photo he took on Nov. 5th:
"AR2781 was sparkling with flashes of light," says Teodorescu. "Lots of them were detectable." (A few are circled for guidance.)
Each flash is an "Ellerman bomb"-- a magnetic explosion about one-millionth as powerful as a true solar flare. They are named after Ferdinand Ellerman who studied the tiny blasts in the early 20th century. Of course, "tiny" is relative. A single Ellerman bomb releases about 1026 ergs of energy--equal to more than a hundred thousand atomic bombs.
In the image above, Teodorescu inserted a picture of Earth for comparison. Each Ellerman bomb is about the size of a US state. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
Realtime Spaceweather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
PIONEER 10 CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: In 1972, NASA launched a gold-anodized aluminum plaque onboard the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Its purpose: To tell alien civilizations about Earth. Today the plaque is at the edge of interstellar space. On Oct. 24, 2020, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched their own copy onboard a cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $71.95. This ceramic Pioneer 10 plaque traveled 102,362 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, experiencing near-vacuum, cosmic rays, and space-like cold. It's the closest thing on Earth to the actual plaque.
The students are selling these replicas to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a red ribbon for hanging on your Christmas tree. You'll also receive a greeting card showing the ornament in flight 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
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter