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. 7th. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
SUNSPOT SUNSET: Sunspot AR2781 is so big that ... "I could see it clearly in the dense haze of the unfiltered sunset," reports Paolo Bardelli of Sumirago (Varese), Italy. He photographed the setting sunspot next to the bell tower of the church of Menzago:
"The sun was deformed by temperature inversions in the atmosphere," notes Bardelli. "There was also a green rim on top of the sun--a result of the prismatic action of the low atmosphere."
Caution: Even when the sun is dimmed by low-hanging clouds or haze, it can still be dangerously bright, especially when magnified by unfiltered optics. If you chose to photograph the low sun, as Bardelli did, use the camera's LCD screen for safe viewfinding. Never look at the sun through the eyepiece of an unfiltered camera.
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SOMETHING STRANGE IN CYGNUS: Sky watchers across the eastern USA were surprised Thursday 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.
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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
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